That One Rich Fan of Mine

Lin Xiting and a group of fans were taken on a tour around the BLK gaming house. She often participated in idols’ fan activities to show support, but this was the first time that she did anything for esports. Her bag held Lin Xizhou’s keyboard, team uniforms, mouse pads, posters…It was like Lin Xizhou’s list contained everything in his apartment.

Lin Xiting, who knew almost nothing about esports and BLK, followed the excited straight male fans with a calm expression while they admired the championship trophies, which she took pictures of for Lin Xizhou. She wanted to wander around and look for the BLK members.

Her main purpose today was to obtain signatures on all the uniforms and sell them to earn some extra money.

However, the staff took them around for a long time and none of the members were sighted—the staff said they were still training and another meeting would be arranged later. 

Her shoulders were sore from carrying her brother’s things. She exhaled and told herself to remain calm and not show an impatient attitude.

Finally, when the fan meetup really began, the BLK players came from the villa next door. One or two of them looked more energetic than in their livestreams. As if they had freshened up their images.

Ji Beiling, who followed behind his team members, wore a black turtleneck sweater and the team uniform jacket. His expression was indifferent. Before they were near the fans, he heard several people whispering in front of him.

“Hey look! That one in the black dress at the front looks like a beauty!”

“Woah, I wanna see. She really is!”

“She’s looking at me! So beautiful, is she one of our fans? Why don’t I have any impression of her?”

“Did someone draw her in the Weibo raffle? Whoever drew her, give that man an award!”

“What are you guys thinking? Let me tell you now. If she has nothing to do with us, she must be North God’s fan!” 

Ji Beiling glanced at the tall and slender girl who wore a black satin dress with her calves exposed to the cold. He shifted his gaze away disinterestedly and searched for anyone in the crowd whose profile matched that of Custard Cream Pineapple Bun.

According to the staff, Pineapple Bun received and accepted the invitation.

He took a closer look and didn’t find any young man with a figure similar to the video message.

Ji Beiling surveyed for a long time before realizing what he was doing was stupid. He moved his eyes away silently—how could he unintentionally search for a specific fan? He blamed the existence of this Pineapple Bun, who kept currying favour this month. 

There were few fans. A dozen people greeted all the members excitedly. Only the girl in the black dress stood calmly behind the crowd and didn’t seem interested.

Taking photos with favourite team members, signing autographs…At the beginning of these regular sessions, two-thirds of the people basically flocked to Ji Beiling. The girl’s expression froze for a while, and then she glanced at the other team members who didn’t have as long of a line and pulled out a bunch of team uniforms from her bag.

The staff who was keeping order beside them was flabbergasted—could she really be a fan of the team? She didn’t seem like one before.

Lin Xiting picked out a team uniform and started with Bighead first, seeing he had the least fans. 

She handed the uniform to the surprised Bighead and gave a sweet smile.

“Hello Bighead. Your Lee Sin was amazing. Please continue your hard work next year in the spring competition! Could I please have your autograph?”

Bighead was flattered and accepted the uniform. He signed his name on it—who said that this pretty lady was a fan of Northland only. Didn’t he have a part now?

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

After receiving the autograph, she thanked him and found the next player the same way. The small prideful flame that had ignited in Bighead was immediately extinguished—it turned out she was a team fan and not his personal fan. He wiped away the invisible tears. 

Dfmjerf rtf vlvc’a kjca jc lcvlnlveji qtbab klat atf wfwyfgr, tfg jeabugjqt mbiifmalbc pby qgbmffvfv gfijalnfis delmxis. Vtf mjwf ab Al Dflilcu’r ilcf klat j ofk eclobgwr atja tjv yffc oliifv klat batfg DOB wfwyfgr’ rlucjaegfr.

Coafg Al Dflilcu abbx j qtbab klat atf ijra ojc, Olc Wlalcu kjixfv obgkjgv lc ogbca bo Al Dflilcu jcv bqfcfv tfg ylu yju.

The girl brushed her hair back and began to unload things one by one.

A mechanical keyboard, a few posters of Ji Beiling, a mouse pad of Ji Beiling, and what felt like endless similar merchandise… 

Ji Beiling: “…”

Onlookers: “……”

Bighead’s heart burned into ashes—it turned out she wasn’t even a fan of the team, but Ji Beiling’s personal fan. It was obvious by how casual she appeared when she had asked for other members’ autographs!

The girl before Ji Beiling finally dug out everything and gave him a somewhat embarrassed smile. 

“Hello North God. I am Custard Cream Pineapple Bun’s younger sister. My brother couldn’t come this time because he has something to do. He asked me to come to the meetup in his place.”

From the very beginning, Ji Beiling knew Pineapple Bun had a younger sister from his explanation, but he didn’t expect her to appear in person.

Lin Xiting awkwardly handed a bunch of things to Ji Beiling for his signature and scolded Lin Xizhou eight hundred times in her heart—now that the rest of the fans were done, being the only one getting an autograph was really awkward.

Ji Beiling didn’t make any objections. The amount Custard Cream Pineapple Bun spent in his livestream could hardly be compared to a few signatures. 

Not seeing the actual person was still a little disappointing, but this was something he couldn’t say out loud and could only keep in his heart. The regular fans in his livestream have also speculated about Custard Cream Pineapple Bun. It was bound to arouse some curiosity.

Looking at the younger sister’s appearance and trying to imagine what Pineapple Bun would look like, Ji Beiling sketched the face of a handsome and beautiful teenager in his mind.

He vaguely felt that this face was familiar but couldn’t recall why.

The activity lasted for about two hours, and it was over after a group photo was taken. 

If the fans were willing, they could also experience the gaming house’s dining hall—of course, most of the players rarely ate there. It was usually only the staff.

Most of the fans chose to try it. Lin Xiting followed the army and went to the cafeteria. She ate relatively little and quickly finished her meal. She carried her bag and walked to the small garden at the back to get some fresh air.

In front of the house was a functional activity centre. There was a small garden in the middle, and in the back was the area where the team members train and live.

The small garden was well-decorated with a wine rack set up. Lin Xiting took a few selfies and then suddenly spotted a figure wearing a BLK uniform appear in her camera. She flinched slightly from the fright. 

She turned back to see it was a boy sitting on a stone bench playing with a cat.

She had heard of this tabby from her brother. It was probably the team’s mascot? She walked over and wanted to take a few pictures of the cat for her brother.

The boy in the team uniform looked up. When he saw her, he frowned as if he remembered something.

“Are you one of the fans for the meetup?” 

She nodded. “Yup”

The boy didn’t speak, lowering his head again and continuing to play with the orange cat.

She examined his short red hair and delicate facial features. He didn’t appear old—there was childishness between his eyes. She screamed internally at the black studs in his ears. He was totally donning a rebellious teenager look.

She licked her lips in slight excitement. 

It turned out that BLK has another handsome guy besides North God—completely her type: rebellious little puppy!

She took the initiative to speak. “Are you a member of BLK?”

The boy said in an unkind tone, “Second team.”

She didn’t care about first team second team nonsense, since she didn’t know the details anyway. She took out a BLK uniform from her bag and handed it to him. 

“Then could you sign this for me?”

Internally, she was cheering at her great find. With a look like this, this kid’s autograph would definitely sell for a high price in the future!

The boy was shocked. He pointed at the uniform and, with a questioning tone, said, “Me?”

“Of course. North God also signed for me.” She smiled at him. 

The boy took the uniform and the pen unprofessionally placed it on the stone bench and wrote ‘Glutinous Rice’ crookedly. The ink pen wasn’t up for the task because of the number of strokes in ‘glutinous‘. He almost forgot how to write the word.

Lin Xiting watched him sign and held back her laughter. It was really true that most professional esports players were dropouts and illiterate.

Glutinous Rice signed his very first autograph for a fan with a complicated mood. He hasn’t officially played on the stage yet. Most BLK fans didn’t know BLK recruited him as Northland’s substitute.

He watched the girl take back the uniform and smile brightly at him. 

“Glutinous Rice! I know you. You are that famous formidable player. I didn’t expect you to join BLK. I look forward to seeing you on the field! You’ll definitely be amazing. Good luck and do your best!”

Actually, when Glutinous Rice was signing his Riot account username. She used the power of Baidu to search him up, resulting in her praising the boy without the slightest change in her tone. She stuffed the uniform into the bag, and after she had her fill with petting the tabby’s soft hair, she calmly waved goodbye to the dumbfounded boy and left.

She returned to the dining hall just in time for the fans to leave. Everything was perfect.

She flipped through her phone’s album. When she was snapping a picture of the cat, she captured the boy’s side profile. He was pretty good looking. 

She sent it to Lin Xizhou with some words attached.

[Do you know there is a second handsome guy who will be a threat to your North God?]

Lin Xizhou was able to reply to her in seconds while filming.

Zhou Not Porridge: [!!!] 

Zhou Not Porridge: [!!! Glutinous Rice was really recruited to BLK as North God’s substitute?!]

Zhou Not Porridge: [Also, if Glutinous Rice’s level was good enough then why wasn’t mine?! I’m better than him in terms of strength and appearance!]

…

Huh? Excuse me. 

When did her brother have such overconfidence in his ability?

After all the fans left, the BLK gaming house returned to its former tranquillity.

After Glutinous Rice gave the orange cat a full body massage, the girl with a bright smile flashed through his mind.

Being only sixteen this year and spending most of his time in internet cafes, there was truly nothing in his life except gaming. The total number of words that he said to a girl did not exceed a hundred, and he could count the number of beauties he had met on both hands. 

His first autograph—the first autograph in his life was given out just like that.

And that girl even said she knew him.

Glutinous Rice fiddled with the corner of his clothes as he walked to the training room.

When Ji Beiling saw Glutinous Rice floating like a wandering soul, he raised his eyebrows with doubt. 

Glutinous Rice asked, “The fan who came over today…Was there a girl in a black dress?”

“?”

Custard Cream Pineapple Bun’s younger sister?

Ji Beiling watched an unclear blush bloom across Glutinous Rice’s face. 

Then, the younger man raised his head and said to Ji Beiling with a little embarrassment, “North God, I think I got my first fan.”

Fan…was he talking about the younger sister?

Although Ji Beiling didn’t want to damage the other’s spirit…But, Glutinous Rice was probably overthinking it, right? Custard Cream Pineapple Bun’s younger sister was here to complete tasks for her older brother. It didn’t look like she was interested in the game in the slightest.

Ji Beiling patted Glutinous Rice’s red hair. 

“Train hard and don’t let your first fan down in the future.”

Glutinous Rice’s gaze was firm as he nodded fiercely, and then he floated out again, full of fighting spirit.

Ji Beiling sighed.

Why did he feel like BLK’s future was filled with nothing but darkness. 

The real Custard Cream Pineapple Bun has something to add:

Lin Xizhou: Don’t stop me. Glutinous Rice could enter the second team at his level. I should have gone professional back then!!

Ji Beiling: No, you can’t, you can only be my fan.

Champions Mentioned: 

Lee Sin (That blind monk)