58. Cheer for the Match
“So…”
At six in the afternoon, inside the Fearless Arena.
Jiang Zhi was being pulled by Jiang Ruyan as she staggered through the security check: “Why do I have to come too, Sister Jiang?”
“You can’t waste both tickets!”
Jiang Ruyan replied confidently: “Besides, it’s really boring to watch alone. Having you and Qian Qian with me makes it much better.”
But I don’t want to watch!
Jiang Zhi complained wildly in her heart.
If she could, she would rather stay in the coffee shop, at least there she could make some money.
“Mom.”
Qian Qian tugged at Jiang Zhi’s sleeve and innocently asked, “Are we going to cheer for Dad?”
“Shh!!!”
Jiang Zhi’s hair instantly stood on end. She quickly covered Qian Qian’s mouth, lowered her voice, and made a gesture to hush: “What did I tell you when we came? You can’t mention Dad in front of Sister Jiang!”
She reflexively glanced at Jiang Ruyan—
Fortunately, Sister Jiang was enthusiastically checking the seats and completely unaware of their conversation.
“But…” The little girl blinked innocently.
Jiang Zhi decided to employ her long-unused skills of coaxing children: “If Qian Qian behaves and listens, Mom will make you your favorite fried rice with eggs tonight, okay?”
Su Ziqian: 😟
Is Mom treating me like a fool?
The little girl pouted and suddenly yelled at Jiang Ruyan beside her: “Sister Jiang! Dad—”
“Don’t say it, master, don’t say it!”
Jiang Zhi was at her wit’s end: “You can eat whatever you want, I’ll pay for it all!”
“Okay! Mom is the best!”
Qian Qian beamed with joy.
This child…
Has she already evolved to this extent?
Just when Jiang Zhi was still feeling apprehensive about her daughter’s eagerness, Jiang Ruyan had already found their seats.
Since Qian Qian was still too young, she didn’t need a ticket and obediently sat on Jiang Zhi’s lap.
“Eh? Front row?”
Once the two were settled, Jiang Ruyan looked at Jiang Zhi with even more enthusiasm: “Xiao Zhi, your friend is too **.”
“Ha… he is quite **…”
Jiang Zhi thought, can’t his idol do anything less **? He could probably work hard enough to get us both into their training room.
Jiang Zhi adjusted Qian Qian on her lap to relieve the burden on her legs and looked around. To be honest, being there in person was quite overwhelming.
Especially the two giant screens in the very center.
Probably because the BLB team was popular, even though the match hadn’t started, the seats were already packed.
However, the air conditioning inside was a bit too cold.
Jiang Zhi silently draped her small jacket over Qian Qian; she couldn’t make the same mistake twice.
Then she noticed Jiang Ruyan’s bare legs, cold and shivering in high heels.
“Sister Jiang…”
Jiang Zhi’s gaze swept from Jiang Ruyan’s exquisite makeup to her sexy dress: “You’re dressed so provocatively.”
“What? That’s called beautiful, okay!”
Jiang Ruyan was quite dissatisfied with her friend’s word choice: “But you, ah, I’m already fed up. When are you going to take off that forever unchanged t-shirt? It’s so out of style.”
“What about that off-shoulder outfit I picked for you? Wear it out!”
How could I wear something like that out?!
Jiang Zhi weakly retorted: “Is it really necessary to dress up so seriously just to watch a match, Sister Jiang?”
“You wouldn’t understand this, would you?”
Jiang Ruyan mysteriously pointed to an object hanging from the ceiling: “Look, what’s that?”
“A camera?”
“Right.”
Jiang Ruyan was extremely excited and her whole body couldn’t help but shiver… though it might also be from the cold:
“The director will pan the camera to the audience during breaks. If we aren’t dressed nicely and we get filmed, wouldn’t that be terrible? Do you want to look ugly on screen?”
Jiang Zhi was speechless: “Are you so certain the director will film you?”
“Hmph!”
Jiang Ruyan scoffed: “I might not understand the director, but the director definitely understands the audience. How could they not film someone as good-looking as me?”
“Fine…”
As long as you’re happy.
Jiang Zhi tightened her hold on Qian Qian. She didn’t watch matches often, so whether Jiang Ruyan was right or not, she just hoped the director wouldn’t film the two of them.
If they were filmed…
Do you believe I’ll embarrass myself on the spot right in front of you?
The wait for the team to come on stage was long. As Jiang Zhi waited, she grew tired and was just thinking about dozing off for a bit when her phone vibrated.
Yan: Come out.
What’s going on?
Jiang Zhi instinctively looked up and scanned the layered audience, but she didn’t see Su Yan’s shadow.
“Um, Sister Jiang,” she poked at Jiang Ruyan who was swaying to the warm-up music: “I’m taking Qian Qian to the bathroom.”
Before waiting for a response, Jiang Zhi crouched down to take her daughter.
“Mom, where are we going?” the little girl asked, confused.
“How would I know?”
Leading Qian Qian to a secluded corner outside the arena, Jiang Zhi shot the little girl a glare: “Ask your dad.”
What was Su Yan calling her out for without saying anything?
Just as Jiang Zhi was about to message Su Yan to question him, suddenly, a warm hand grabbed her arm.
Before she could react, she and Qian Qian were pulled into a dimly lit security passage by an irresistible force.
“Ugh…”
Her curse abruptly stopped.
In the green light of the emergency lamp, Su Yan’s annoying face was right in front of her. Jiang Zhi’s forehead pulsed with veins as she swiftly pinched his side with her right hand, spinning him around 360 degrees.
“Are you crazy?!”
“Ugh… don’t, don’t, don’t! Wrong, wrong, wrong!”
Su Yan quickly begged for mercy. Once Jiang Zhi released him, he covered his waist and gasped for air: “How did you know to pinch here?”
Oh my, why is Jiang Zhi so bad?!
In his impression, only boys would know about that pressure point.
Jiang Zhi rolled her eyes, too lazy to explain.
“Dad!”
Seeing her dad, the little girl rushed into Su Yan’s arms: “Qian Qian is here to cheer for you!”
“Oh, really?”
Su Yan smiled and hugged Qian Qian, pinching the little girl’s chubby cheek: “You like Dad that much?”
“Of course!”
Qian Qian danced excitedly in Su Yan’s arms, suddenly remembering something and pointed at Jiang Zhi:
“And Mom too! Mom is here to cheer for Dad too!”
“Is that so?”
Su Yan raised an eyebrow, his gaze ablaze as he looked at Jiang Zhi.
Jiang Zhi immediately looked away: “Don’t make it awkward. I’m just here for the fun.”
Cheering? I’ll give you a headache!
“You still haven’t answered my question!”
Jiang Zhi felt a surge of anger: “Can’t you speak properly? Why did you call us out here?”
“Do I need a reason to see my daughter?” Su Yan countered.
He teased with a smile: “You know you look like the evil stepmother in a fable, right?”
“Shut up… Is there really a need to sneak around like this?!”
Jiang Zhi pressed her lips together, rubbing her arms uncomfortably, too lazy to argue with Su Yan.
She thought Su Yan must have some issues. Did they really need to sneak away to the security passage just to meet?
She almost thought he was a bad guy!
And…
This mysterious feeling of sneaking around with Qian Qian to meet Su Yan made her feel like…
Like…
Like she was having an affair (blushing).
Aside from that…
Wasn’t there a little bit of a visual connection to those situations in the stories where a single mother meets a guy with blonde hair for some illicit fun?
What the hell?!
No, what bull—?!
What does meeting Su Yan with Qian Qian even classify as? Let alone Qian Qian being his! If one followed the original development trajectory, she was his too!
What crazy thoughts am I having?
Jiang Zhi felt like she was losing her mind.
Su Yan was oblivious to Jiang Zhi’s chaotic thoughts and continued to explain: “Didn’t you say we had to keep our relationship hidden?”
He had to be careful not to let those loudmouth teammates discover them, so he sneaked out too.
Actually, being found out by them would be a mild problem; if his fans saw him meeting the mother-daughter duo, the next day he’d likely find himself forced to climb a mountain.
Although he didn’t manage a fan club, it wasn’t as simple as saying he didn’t want to; the feelings of the fans had to be considered.
He had to find an opportunity to introduce Qian Qian…
Su Yan thought about how he couldn’t keep hiding Qian Qian from the fans forever, but if he did reveal her, it would definitely have to wait until after his retirement.
“Come, let’s do a peace sign.”
Jiang Zhi snapped back to reality and saw Su Yan holding his phone up for a selfie with Qian Qian. The little girl was beaming, her eyes practically disappearing, making a peace sign and burrowing into Su Yan’s arms.
“Documenting a beautiful life?”
“Documenting a beautiful life.”
Su Yan nodded in agreement: “This is my first time having family cheering for me; I have to record this well!”
As he said this, he raised his phone symbolically towards Jiang Zhi: “How about you join in?”
“Forget it…”
Jiang Zhi paused, then shook her head, her mind drifting back to what Su Yan had just said.
First time having family cheer for him.
Had his mother never come to cheer for her son even once? Even though he was struggling for her?
She suddenly noticed Su Yan’s slightly raised smile.
Jiang Zhi realized she had never seen Su Yan laugh out loud. What was he pretending to be… okay, she was the least qualified to say this since she rarely laughed either.
Could he really just be acting aloof for the sake of it?!
“Alright, I have to go on stage for the match.”
Su Yan gently set Qian Qian down, smiling as he patted her head: “Be good and listen to your mom, okay?”
“Qian Qian will cheer for Dad!”
“Hmm…”
Su Yan was quite pleased with his daughter’s encouragement. He glanced at Jiang Zhi, who was clearly lost in thought, and, after a moment’s consideration, didn’t say much before planning to leave the security passage.
He simply wanted to see Qian Qian.
Just like he said earlier, isn’t it normal for a father to want to see his daughter?
He should hurry back. Considering how long he had been away, the other guys should be going crazy looking for him by now.
By the way…
Having been gone for this short while, it shouldn’t affect his paycheck, right?
“Su Yan.”
Suddenly, he heard Jiang Zhi’s voice calling from behind.
“Um, good luck in the match.”
He heard her say this to him.
Su Yan turned around in surprise, only to see Jiang Zhi mindlessly picking at her nails, her toes rubbing against the ground.
Under the dim green emergency light, her fair cheeks seemed to have taken on a faint blush… wait, was she really blushing?
