Chapter 50

The team made an official announcement, and several of the members exaggeratedly opened their mouths in shock to humor him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rong Yi noticed Xiao Yin’s lips curve slightly, as if he was smiling.

It was brief and barely noticeable.

Rong Yi said, “Alright, now that we’re done, can we start the meeting and pay attention?”

When Rong Yi is working, he can be somewhat intimidating, which is the opposite of Xiao Yin.

Xiao Yin is scary in daily life, making people afraid to get close, but in the team, several members often talk back to him, argue with him, and even try to challenge his authority.

However, when it comes to Rong Yi, they behave obediently and don’t dare to make a sound.

He is completely focused and serious when he’s working, carrying a formal and business-like demeanor.

Everyone listened to him attentively and became serious.

After the meeting, they played team battles together and did post match analysis.

But the guys in the team were clearly not as focused as yesterday. They played quickly and well, eager to finish and chat.

During the break, the three of them indeed got together sneakily.

They pulled out their phones, scrolling and chatting excitedly from time to time.

“Holy crap, Yin-Ge is dating the Captain.”

“Haha!”

“Hehehe, look at these fans guessing. Only we know the truth, haha!”

Rong Yi shrugged, pretending he didn’t hear them.

Let them gossip for two weeks, and the topic will pass.

He just wondered how much more excitement this topic would bring before it died down.

At noon, the cafeteria served VIT’s all-time favorite Three Cup Chicken rice.

The Auntie was off today, and with the hot weather outside, no one wanted to go out for food, so Wu Daogu suggested, “Why don’t we all eat in the cafeteria?”

No one objected, and Rong Yi agreed.

“What about Yin-Ge? Will he join us?”

Wu Daogu turned to Xiao Yin, urging him, “Come eat with us.”

Xiao Yin, looking down at a document, replied, “I’ll have Little Tang bring it up for me later.”

Little Tang is one of Xiao Yin’s assistants and occasionally helps with their personal errands.

“Don’t burden Little Tang with such a small task. Besides, it’s not that busy today.” Wu Daogu mercilessly exposed him, “It’s not like you’re too busy to eat.”

Hydralisk continued, “So the Boss has never eaten in the cafeteria with us? Is there a reason for that?”

“Could it be that he looks down on us common folks’ food?”

“Definitely not,” Grey Cat said. “Just the other day, the Boss was eating those five-cent coffee biscuit sticks.”

Rong Yi and Xiao Yin both looked up at the same time.

Grey Cat was puzzled, “—What’s wrong? Did I say something incorrect?”

Rong Yi’s heart skipped a beat, and it took him a few seconds to realize Grey Cat was talking about the time they all watched a match together while snacking.

Not about last night.

Xiao Yin gave another slight chuckle.

Rong Yi kept a straight face and looked away.

“Join us for a meal?” He invited Xiao Yin, “We should finish eating early so we can get back to training and rest sooner.”

Xiao Yin didn’t respond verbally but nodded and followed them.

When they arrived, Rong Yi finally understood why Xiao Yin usually avoided the cafeteria.

When the Boss ate in the cafeteria, it created a no-man’s zone around him. Within a three-meter radius, no one dared to come close.

Employees kept their distance, and gossip was hushed.

The VIT members didn’t mind sitting together to eat, but Hydralisk and Grey Cat had their own age-specific topics, while Wu Daogu needed a quiet corner to eat and watch his movies.

As Rong Yi was getting his food, he suddenly realized that only he and Xiao Yin were left.

The cafeteria was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Rong Yi served himself while Xiao Yin stood beside him.

From both nearby and afar, people discreetly but uniformly stared in their direction.

Some of the whispers were still audible.

“Holy crap, the Boss is eating in the cafeteria today, just him and Easy.”

“It really is Easy. The Boss must be with him. Oh my god, can we even talk about this? I feel like starting a discussion thread.”

“OMG, the Boss is standing so close—he’s talking to him! If I take a sneaky photo now, will I get in trouble?”

“Yes, you will! Our VIT forbids private photos of players! It’s written in the contract! Calm down! The Boss pays well, remember! Ahhh—”

Rong Yi kept his head down, selecting dishes, while Xiao Yin followed beside him. Whenever Xiao Yin saw something Rong Yi picked that he found interesting, he would choose the same.

Xiao Yin didn’t talk much, meticulous and calm, as if he were handling official business.

The only sounds were the occasional clinks of trays and cutlery.

“Can you eat this now?”

Xiao Yin asked, looking at the small portion of Scallion Oil Noodles on Rong Yi’s plate.

His voice was very clear in the otherwise silent cafeteria.

Everyone’s attention was fixed on them.

With the surrounding so quiet, Rong Yi coughed lightly and lowered his voice, “Yeah.”

Rong Yi used to avoid scallions and garlic, but he had grown to tolerate them depending on how they were prepared. He could handle sautéed garlic and fresh scallion oil, for instance.

“Got it.”

After getting his food, Rong Yi found a nearby table and sat down, with Xiao Yin naturally taking the seat across from him.

As soon as Xiao Yin settled his tray, Rong Yi heard a collective gasp from a group of colleagues behind him.

“Holy crap, the Boss sat across from him, right across!”

“Damn, damn, I never noticed before, but they are really something.”

“This is so thrilling, so thrilling. Is this what office romance looks like? I need to post an anonymous thread.”

Rong Yi wasn’t sure if Xiao Yin could hear them.

But he figured Xiao Yin could, since he himself could hear them.

In-game, Xiao Yin could accurately pick up the smallest sounds during a ten-player team fight, so these whispers were certainly within his hearing range.

Xiao Yin’s expression remained calm and composed, like a still pond.

Rong Yi also pretended everything was normal, going about his pre-meal routine.

He picked out the things he didn’t want to eat first.

Removed the sautéed scallion pieces.

Picked out the ginger mixed with the potatoes.

Separated the fatty meat, as he didn’t like it, and set the fatty parts aside.

He had just picked up a chunk when Xiao Yin said, “Let me.”

Rong Yi responded with a soft “Hmm?”

Xiao Yin took a clean small plate and began removing the items Rong Yi didn’t like.

With their trays taking up space, Xiao Yin pulled Rong Yi’s tray closer to himself, picked out the unwanted items, and then pushed the tray back.

He also handed Rong Yi a spoon.

Now, the plate was filled with food that Rong Yi could eat without any hesitation.

Xiao Yin managed to pick out all the scallions from the Scallion Oil Noodles, something notoriously difficult to do. His hands were steady and quick.

A collective gasp came from the crowd behind them.

“Holy shit, the Boss is picking out scallions. This is Xiao Yin we’re talking about.”

“This dog food is choking me! I’m full already! Help!”

In front of so many onlookers, Rong Yi felt a bit embarrassed. “It’s fine, I can do it myself.”

“No worries.”

Xiao Yin’s tone was calm and unwavering, “From now on, let me handle it.”

Rong Yi wanted to say something to ease the situation, but his ears were burning, so he just lowered his head and ate in silence.

It was his first time in a relationship, and now he was being watched and teased by so many people.

“And since it’s already out in the open, I’d like to discuss this with you.”

Xiao Yin said.

“About what?”

Rong Yi asked, picking up a piece of green bean and looking up at him.

Xiao Yin stared into his eyes. “You said before that you didn’t want to go public. Now that people know, what do you think? How should we handle this?”

Rong Yi thought for a moment. “Let’s leave it as it is. Making a point of it would seem too deliberate.”

Xiao Yin paused for a moment.

Rong Yi tried to sound as composed as possible. “What the audience cares about is the match results. Internal relationships in the team aren’t worth bringing up publicly. No need to make a special announcement.”

“No need to make a special announcement. But what about mentioning it casually?”

Xiao Yin continued to gaze at him, his focus seemingly elsewhere. “Do you mind that people know the one with me is you?”

Rong Yi tilted his head slightly. “I don’t mind. What’s there to mind?”

He picked up his soup bowl, using it to hide his expression, and spoke as naturally as he could. “We are together, after all.”

Xiao Yin nodded. “Got it.”

“Okay.”

Rong Yi put down the soup bowl and looked at him again. “I prefer to keep things low-key, but if you need me to say something, I will.”

“Alright.” Xiao Yin nodded again. “No worries, I was just asking.”

After finishing their meal, Rong Yi and Xiao Yin cleared their trays and left.

A few department heads who were familiar with Xiao Yin came over to say hello, and now they included Rong Yi in their greetings.

“Good afternoon, Yin-Ge, Captain Rong.”

“Good afternoon, good afternoon.”

Rong Yi noticed that all the departments were quite full today and casually asked the Operations Xiao Jiejie, who had arrived late.

“Is there an event today? I see the night shift team is here too.”

Operations replied, “No special event, just shooting the second episode of the previous esports mini-show. The League said our VIT episode set the highest viewership record, and they hope to shoot a few more episodes here. Today, they’re mainly filming the daily routines of the departments, not planning to shoot inside the team, so we didn’t inform you.”

“Oh, I see.”

Rong Yi glanced around and noticed that all the departments were present, and the Business Department employees were in formal attire, giving the place a different vibe than usual.

Looking more closely, he saw that the filming truck was already parked in the basement.

If the VIT team hadn’t suddenly decided to have lunch in the cafeteria today, Rong Yi wouldn’t have known about this at all.

Seeing the worried expressions on several people’s faces, Rong Yi smiled, nodded, and said, “It’s fine. So who’s being interviewed for the team this time?”

Seeing his calm demeanor, the others relaxed a bit.

Operations Xiao Jiejie chimed in, “Yin-Ge and Kitten, they plan to do a member interview for each episode.”

“Got it.”

Rong Yi placed his tray in the recycling area and asked Xiao Yin, “Shall we head over now?”

Xiao Yin checked the time, “We still have half an hour. The filming crew hasn’t arrived yet. Do you want to go have some fun?”

Rong Yi thought for a moment, “Sure.”

He didn’t have a habit of taking afternoon naps, so a post-lunch walk would help with digestion and refresh his mind.

Even though there were no strict rules, everyone knew that filming daily routines meant they should clean up a bit to avoid looking too messy on camera.

Operations Xiao Jiejie said, “They’ll be filming in the Training Room later, just having everyone guess whose workstation is whose.”

“That’s too easy to guess.”

Hydralisk looked around one by one.

Wu Daogu’s desk was cluttered with all sorts of collectible models, while Hydralisk’s desk had anime character stickers all over it.

Grey Cat loved collecting notebooks. His desk was adorned with several notebooks, each serving a different purpose: one for summaries, one for jotting down game details and patch notes, and one for sketching diagrams and simulating tactical routes.

Rong Yi’s desk, on the other hand, was always immaculate. He washed his desk mat and mouse pad weekly, and his keyboard was spotless.

Most of his tasks were recorded on his computer or tablet. All physical documents were printed out and stored in a filing cabinet. His desk was free of clutter, with only a small Little Black Cat figurine, a gift from Grey Cat, sitting in front of him. The blue cat eyes of the figurine were clear and vibrant.

“Grey Cat’s figurine, huh? This is too obvious. Anyone who watched the previous streams would know this has to be the Captain’s desk.”

Hydralisk suddenly felt he was at a disadvantage. He began scouting around to see if he had anything he could give to place on Rong Yi’s desk.

He regretted not being the first to give a gift that day!

“Captain, Captain.”

Hydralisk reported, “How about a Dancing Music Sunglasses Trumpet Flower?”

The others all showed expressions of disdain.

Rong Yi, however, didn’t mind and welcomed the gift: “For me? Sure.”

And so, a Dancing Music Sunglasses Trumpet Flower appeared on his minimalist desk.

Xiao Yin frowned at the Dancing Music Sunglasses Trumpet Flower and lightly clicked his tongue.

This Dancing Music Sunglasses Trumpet Flower had been quite popular online. Hydralisk had bought ten of them at once and used them to play music every morning, waking everyone in the villa.

After getting scolded, he took them back and kept three on his own desk. Occasionally, he would still turn them on, and everyone could hear the flower’s peculiar dancing while it played a saxophone tune.

“Even if I was neglected, I managed to get by~

Obsessed, I deserved the torment I brought upon myself~”

Hydralisk, sensitive to Xiao Yin’s disapproving sound, raised his eyebrows and prepared for a showdown: “What’s your problem?”

“Yin, put away your cold and aloof attitude!”

Hydralisk exclaimed, “Now, I’m the most eye-catching thing on the Captain’s desk! I hereby name this flower Hydralisk Flower. Anyone can tell it’s from me.”

Everyone fell silent.

Outside, the crew members had already taken their positions. The filming team was still being held back, unable to enter, so only the faint sounds from inside could be heard.

The livestream event was also ready to go.

Rong Yi smiled and said, “Alright, we’ll call it Hydralisk Flower. Are we about to start shooting? Let’s clear the area first.”

“Wait a moment,” Xiao Yin suddenly said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

Xiao Yin’s voice was cool, “I’ll go upstairs to get something.”

Operations Xiao Jiejie had an internal monologue.

No way, Big Shot, are you really competing with a kid like Hydralisk?

In a tense silence filled with anticipation, Xiao Yin went upstairs and then returned.

He looked as calm and composed as ever, placing the item on Rong Yi’s desk with a serene demeanor.

When everyone saw what he had brought, the silence deepened.

It was something striking enough to be the most eye-catching object on Rong Yi’s desk, and it would clearly indicate who had given it.

Xiao Yin’s World Champion Trophy.