You’re Beautiful When You Smile

After Tong Yao returned to her own room, she chatted on WeChat with Lu Sicheng for a while.

Then she felt hungry.
Little Fatty kindly invited her to their room to get some crackers and Lao Gan Ma…… Little Fatty and Lu Sicheng’s room was one floor above hers.
Tong Yao put on a jacket and hotel slippers and went out of the door.

She took the elevator up.
When she stepped out of the elevator, she felt a cool breeze blowing over…… Tong Yao looked over and saw the window on the other side of the hallway half open.
A tall young man was leaning against the window in the shadows.
He had a lit cigarette in his hand.

Tong Yao took a look at the young man, but immediately looked away.

The young man was TAT’s Ah Tai.

Shit, the saying “enemies often cross each other’s path” was so true.

Tong Yao pretended that she hadn’t seen him, gathered her jacket, took a look at the room number directional signs, and went straight past Ah Tai to go to her target room.
Just as she passed by Ah Tai, the man leaning against the window suddenly straightened up and called out: “Smiling.”

Tong Yao tripped, all sorts of ideas went by her mind: “wtf,” “what are you calling me for,” “don’t mind him,” “didn’t hear him,” “pretend not to hear him,” “even if you’re chickening out, do it in style”.
Tong Yao freezed with her back to the man for a moment, then she sighed and turned around to say goodnight in English to him– —

……She thought, I’ll just acknowledge you for a second.

China is a country that values etiquette anyway.

When Ah Tai saw the uneasy smile on Tong Yao’s face, he snickered.
Then he spoke in English with great pronunciation: “You guys better not lose to OP tomorrow.”

Tong Yao was surprised but nodded: “That’s for sure.”

Ah Tai extinguished the cigarette in his hand and threw it together with a pack of cigarettes which he was holding into the trash can.
He paused a little then lifted up his chin: “I’ll see you at the semi-finals and we won’t ban Leblanc then.
Let’s prove to the world who’s truly the number one Leblanc?”

Tong Yao blinked.

For a moment she didn’t realize that he was challenging her.

What went through her mind instead was all the “trauma” he had created for her– –The first time she cried from being under too much pressure after joining a professional team and realized that Leblanc wasn’t exclusively hers; she got drunk and acted like a madwoman on her captain’s back; she practiced Azir throughout the night.
She still remembered the feeling of humiliation and bitterness at the time…… Tong Yao cast down her eyes and didn’t say anything.

Then at the end of the hallway, a room door opened from inside.
Lu Sicheng stretched out his head, looking at Tong Yao who was standing still in the hallway.
He raised his eyebrows: “What are you doing there?”

Tong Yao came back to herself.

A cool breeze brushed over her face, giving her a chilling sensation.

But her head was burning.

The looks in her eyes changed, the momentary hesitation became a look of determination.
She nonchalantly gave the young man a look and calmly said with a faint smile: “Sure, looking forward to the match against TAT.
The championship trophy will be even more shinier after beating you.”