Early spring in Shanghai was still somewhat cold. The moment Chu Bai stepped off the bus, he couldn’t help breathing out a puff of white mist.
The morning sun had just risen on the horizon and looked very warm, but that was all it did—look warm.
At the very least, Chu Bai truly couldn’t feel the slightest bit of heat.
After he got off, the few young girls who had been standing in front of him on the bus, acting perfectly calm, thought he could no longer hear them. Only then did they fail to hold back their hushed discussion.
“He’s so handsome. Is he some new artist signed by an agency?”
“Ahhh, what a shame I still have to go to school. I regret not asking him for his WeChat!!!”
“I seriously didn’t even dare say anything just now.”
“He’s already out so early. He’s way too disciplined. I like handsome guys like that.”
Chu Bai silently glanced at the clock hanging in the dining area of the breakfast shop by the roadside.
It was already eight. Going out at this hour counted as early?
People in Shanghai really were relaxed, huh. No wonder he often heard people talking about Citywalk events here.
Good thing Mixue Bingcheng didn’t exist yet. Otherwise, someone as poor as me would get blasted by the Oriental Pearl Tower the moment I stepped outside, wouldn’t I?
He walked to the place he had arranged to meet Han Jin.
No one was there.
Looks like he really had come very early.
Chu Bai let out a slight breath of relief.
He was someone who placed great importance on courtesy. Han Jin had chatted with him quite well these past few days, and he felt they could try becoming friends.
So he didn’t want to be late the very first time they met.
That was also why, even though they had agreed on nine o’clock, he had still arrived at eight.
Someone was taking you to visit the WE club. You couldn’t possibly be late, could you?
How rude would that be?
But since there was still time, he might as well go have breakfast first.
Thus, when Han Jin arrived in front of the convenience store a little after eight-thirty and saw Chu Bai for the first time, the scene that appeared before his eyes was this:
The young man squatting at the shop entrance and eating steamed buns was dressed in a classic black-and-white combination—white on top, black on the bottom.
What he wore was actually very simple.
Beneath his smooth, jet-black hair was a face that looked rather noble, yet somewhat cool and distant.
His nose bridge was high, his skin fair with a healthy tinge of color, his eyes bright as shining stars, his brows like distant mountains.
The slightly upturned corners of his eyes gave him an aggressively beautiful air.
What an otherworldly handsome face.
Damn it, this modeling quality is a bit too high!
Nüwa, I hate that you made me look like a rock.JPG
If one looked only at his face, then at this moment, as he focused on eating with little expression, he gave off a faint sense of world-weariness. Yet the way he held the steamed bun and ate it bite by bite somehow revealed a bit of seriousness and dazed cuteness.
Han Jin suddenly thought of a saying:
Some people, even if they were pedaling a tricycle, would still look like they were shooting a pictorial.
“…Isn’t he a little too young?”
Han Jin muttered inwardly.
He had thought about what the other person might be like, and his voice had sounded very young too.
But you look way too young, don’t you?!
Same question as before: whose kid is this?
“Chu Bai!”
Han Jin raised his hand, waved, and called out.
The handsome young man was slightly startled and looked over in the direction of the voice.
The next moment, an obvious smile bloomed on his face. With a steamed bun in his mouth, he cheerfully walked over.
“I’m Chu Bai. Are you Han Jin?”
Looking at the young man’s brilliant smile before him, Han Jin couldn’t help revealing a faint smile as well.
—One did not strike a smiling face, not to mention he really had chatted quite well with Chu Bai.
“You came way too early. Didn’t we agree on nine?”
Chu Bai smiled indifferently.
“You’re taking me to visit WE. I can’t make you wait, can I?”
Han Jin nodded and said nothing more, but in his heart, he felt a little more approval toward him.
A proper guy, huh.
“Then you eat first. I’ll take you over after you’re done.”
Chu Bai nodded, swallowed the last steamed bun in one bite, and wiped his hands with a napkin.
“Let’s go.”
The two chatted along the way, and the unfamiliarity of meeting for the first time quickly faded.
Many people thought Han Jin, also known as Sima Laozei, was an extremely withdrawn person. That really made no sense.
In the early days, Sima Laozei had been a genuinely sunny and cheerful big boy. This could be fully proven by the statements of Weishen and Shan Niru.
At most, he was a bit sullen and coy, but you couldn’t say he was withdrawn.
As for Chu Bai, that went without saying even more.
If someone like him, who streamed every day like a corporate slave, could still be considered socially anxious, then there were truly no normal people in the world.
Chu Bai’s mentality had always been good, from the past until now.
After all, when he was young, his family had suddenly met with disaster. Since then, Chu Bai had already learned to face life with a smile.
Because he knew very clearly that crying could not solve any problem.
Just like that line in a certain movie:
Crying takes time too, you know.
By the time they neared the main gate of WE’s base, a strange look appeared in Sima Laozei’s expression as he gazed ahead.
“…Why is the gate open?”
Chu Bai followed his gaze forward, somewhat confused.
Seeming to notice his confusion, Sima Laozei said in a low voice,
“Something’s not right. When I went out, I took the side path. That was a route made in the past to prevent fans from blocking the gate.”
“But now the main gate, which is usually closed, is actually open. Could it be the coach?”
If he was bringing someone to the club, he definitely had to tell the coach.
At the time, the coach hadn’t seemed to care much and had approved it very readily.
“Haha, you must be Han Jin’s friend, right?”
Sima Laozei hesitated for a moment.
But the person inside the gate had already noticed them.
A middle-aged man wearing glasses walked out. The moment he saw Chu Bai, his eyes clearly lit up, and he greeted them warmly.
“Uh, hello? I’m Han Jin’s friend, Chu Bai.”
Although Chu Bai couldn’t figure out what was going on, he still behaved very politely.
Right now, he was Sima Laozei’s friend. He couldn’t just come in and put on a cold face toward someone from the other party’s club, could he?
“Good, good, good. You’re here to visit the club, right? Come on, come on. It’s cold outside. Let’s go in first.”
The middle-aged man smiled amiably and waved his hand, walking at the front to lead the way.
Chu Bai and Sima Laozei exchanged a glance, then silently followed behind.
When they were about to enter, Sima Laozei finally lowered his voice to a volume only the two of them could hear and said,
“Something’s not quite right. He’s too enthusiastic. Be careful later.”
Chu Bai’s eyes shifted slightly.
As a transmigrator who had returned to the age of fourteen and whose mind was in fact already mature, his appearance seemed like that of a child, but his wisdom was far from ordinary.
If he were truly a young boy, he probably really would have been at a loss.
But Chu Bai quickly guessed the most likely possibility:
This coach might have accidentally found out who he was.
Because when he saw Chu Bai, his eyes had very obviously lit up.
He probably hadn’t expected Chu Bai to be this young either, right?
As for how he knew, it was probably because he had seen him when Laozei was playing ranked?
After all, they were in the same club. This sort of thing was very normal.
Sima Laozei probably hadn’t thought of keeping it secret either.
One of Sima Laozei’s friends, and Sima Laozei’s friend who was second on the Chinese server and the highest-scoring mid laner on the Chinese server, were two completely different concepts.
The first was purely a visitor. There was no need for the coach to come out and welcome him.
The second… naturally meant he hoped Chu Bai would join WE.
Sima Laozei had probably seen through this as well, which was why he had reminded him in a low voice.
What he was likely afraid of was Chu Bai being coaxed into signing some trash contract after a couple of lines.
Even though they had already chatted a lot over the past few days, Chu Bai still felt a little more approval toward Sima Laozei at this moment.
—He really was a good guy!
The WE coach wanted to invite him into WE?
He did not find that sudden, because his purpose in coming was precisely to see whether WE was suitable.
But that did not mean he was truly as easy to fool as an ordinary teenager.
Thus, Chu Bai nodded slightly at Sima Laozei.
Sima Laozei felt much more at ease and let out a breath.
Sima Laozei, whose mood was inexplicably uneasy, walked through WE’s main gate together with Chu Bai, who wore a smile.
Those who didn’t know might have thought Sima Laozei was the one visiting.
[First update for today. The second update will be at six o’clock this afternoon. From now on, the update time will be adjusted. See you all every day at six in the afternoon.]