You’re Causing Chaos Again

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Shen Yanming innocently raised an eyebrow and poked He Changkong’s face with his finger. Then, he turned to Meng Yan and said, “Yeah, Kong jiang is really spicy.”

“…,” Meng Yan’s gaze seemed empty. “Haha, Luan jiang’s joking skills are getting better and better.”

Even though Meng Yan had just listened to the whole thing from the sidelines, what he heard had come from Andrew’s mouth. After all, neither He Chongkong nor Shen Yanming had openly admitted to the matter. The atmosphere within their team was certainly playful, but that was normal. Among ten young men, nine of them enjoyed teasing each other. Although Meng Yan often seemed to see through everything, when it came to the relationship between He Chongkong and Shen Yanming, he confidently assumed they must be involved romantically. However, in reality, he hadn’t taken their relationship seriously.

After all, he liked to mess around and play pranks too.

It was like how some people shipped couples in media, believing in the affectionate interactions and may vocally declare their unshakable belief in the relationship, but deep down, they don’t truly believe that the people involved are actually in love.

So, when the truth was laid bare before Meng Yan, he still found it hard to believe and attempted to pass off Shen Yanming’s words as a joke.

He entered the room somewhat numbly, followed by Sunday.

Sunday had his hands covering his face, but his index and middle fingers were slightly parted, his small eyes peeking through the gap, watching his two older brothers.

Once they were all inside the room and had closed the door, He Changkong glanced at Shen Yanming and lightly brushed his hand on Shen Yanming’s back, “Hmm… It wasn’t a joke.”

His voice was low, but the room was quiet, so the other two could hear clearly.

After he finished speaking, He Changkong felt his face getting warm. He wasn’t accustomed to expressing his emotions openly in front of others, but at this point, he couldn’t keep it from his brothers. He maintained his composed exterior even after admitting it. When he looked at Shen Yanming, the latter was swaying his upper body like a member of an elementary school choir, his gaze drifting somewhere else, as if this swaying could ease his embarrassment.

Sunday’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shape, “Ah, you idiot!”

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“…Ah!!! You damned gays!!! Ah!!!” Meng Yan directly collapsed onto the bed they used to place things on. Looking at the unused bed that was right there, he felt helpless and angry, after a few howls, he angrily complained, “And you guys even lied to me! What ‘accidentally spilled water and slept together’! Ah!!!!”

Sunday reminded Meng Yan, “Don’t be so loud, it’s not like we can hear it if someone eavesdrops.”

Meng Yan hugged a pillow, “The sound insulation should be pretty good, right? Otherwise, what those two idiots do in the middle of the night, we’ll hear it loud and clear, won’t we?”

He felt like he was in a surreal situation. However, given the circumstances, he could only accept the fact that his two good brothers were together—not only accept it but also make fun of it. In fact, he even started joking around about it.

Shen Yanming picked up a pillow and pressed it against Meng Yan’s head, “Nonsense, stop defiling people’s innocence.”

Meng Yan’s voice was muffled by the pillow, “What are you guys doing? Just chatting under the covers?”

Shen Yanming retorted, “What else?!”

Meng Yan removed the pillow Shen Yanming had placed on his head, “He Changkong, you’re useless. You can’t do it; you’re not a man.” Apart from teasing, Meng Yan also used this as a way to release his pent-up emotions. He felt things were getting too chaotic, so he needed to say something to lighten the mood.

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Shen Yanming fiercely defended himself, “Die! You’re the useless one.”

Meng Yan stood his ground, “I admit I’m useless! But what does my uselessness have to do with He Chaokong’s uselessness?”

Shen Yanming had never seen someone attacking someone else by stabbing themselves first. It was too harsh. Shen Yanming was momentarily speechless, and after a short pause, he continued to uphold his dear Kong ge’s dignity, “You’re talking nonsense! My Kong Ge is really strong! Every night…”

Shen Yanming’s words trailed off.

Meng Yan provocatively prompted, “Go on! Why stop now?”

Shen Yanming, irritated and embarrassed, retorted, “Shut up, you!”

Sunday, who had been covering his face, now began clapping, clearly enjoying the spectacle.

He Changkong pulled Shen Yanming over, stopping this childish and intense quarrel… Of course, he couldn’t stand to hear more of their foul language anymore.

Meng Yan sat up and ran a hand through his hair, “Damn it, you guys have distracted me so much that I forgot to talk about the real matter.”

Meng Yan’s visit had two main purposes. First, he wanted to check on Shen Yanming’s state. After all, being grabbed and harassed by such a large and imposing guy like Andrew could be quite traumatizing. Despite Shen Yanming’s usually laid-back attitude, Meng Yan was still concerned. He even regretted it a bit. He had hidden in the shadows, as Shen Yanming had instructed him not to come out. Later, He Changkong messaged him too, telling him not to come out either. Therefore, when he saw Andrew trying to grab Shen Yanming, he remained hidden. However, afterward, he couldn’t help but feel he should’ve come out earlier to intervene.

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He imagined that Shen Yanming would have some psychological impact from being harassed by such a guy, so he rushed over after the incident had ended. Yet, he realized that the one who actually needed some psychological support was himself.

The second reason was to inform them of the outcome. Since many relevant people were present at the time and Meng Yan had also recorded a video—although it was too dark to really see anything—Andrew had no way to defend himself and he was punished on the spot.

However, the punishment wasn’t particularly severe — just a suspension for one season. In other words, if their team made it to the finals, Andrew would still be able to play in the world championship.

Shen Yanming pouted, “That’s it?”

Meng Yan was content with what he heard at first, but as he heard more, his expression soured.

Meng Yan said, “Yeah, he kept trying to clear himself, saying that he misunderstood your sexual orientation… though he didn’t actually misunderstand it… He also said that you agreed to his invitation tonight, so he got the wrong impression, thinking you were interested in him too.”

Shen Yanming rolled his eyes dramatically, “So now it’s my fault? He’s an expert at shifting blame.”

Meng Yan continued, “Then, he started sobbing and saying he was wrong, claiming it was a misunderstanding, and that he still wants to focus on the game… And he emphasized that we are on their turf…”

Shen Yanming chimed in, “Is he trying to take advantage of the fact that I won’t cry in front of the staff?”

He Changkong frowned. He didn’t expect it to turn out this way. Thinking about the scene earlier, his anger surged again, “Apart from this, is there nothing else?”

Meng Yan added, “There’s more. Our coach argued with them, demanding a public apology. They agreed.”

Shen Yanming rested his chin on his hand, “Our coach is a great coach. I want to treat him to some ice cream.”

He Changkong remained displeased. He was about to head over and have another talk with them, but Shen Yanming stopped him.

Shen Yanming said, “Let’s wait until tomorrow. Didn’t he say he wants to focus on the game? By the way, have any of you researched this Andrew? He seems to care a lot about winning or losing. Will he stay in the camp tomorrow? Also, isn’t there a livestream tomorrow? It seems you can specify teams to compete against each other.”

Shen Yanming left his words unfinished, but his meaning was clear. Instead of acting like victims in front of these people, why not stomp on Andrew’s most sensitive point?

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Moreover, they had a video recorded by Meng Yan. It wouldn’t take long for their opponent to experience social death.

After speaking, Shen Yanming winked at He Changkong.

Seeing Shen Yanming’s confident expression, seemingly unaffected by the recent incident, He Changkong felt a weight lift off his chest. Even though he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the handling, he chose not to push for further explanations, following Shen Yanming’s lead and indicating his understanding with a smile.

“Alright, it’s time for my performance again…” Meng Yan raised his thumb, halfway through his words being interrupted by a shock. “Oh my god, you two gay guys are exchanging flirtatious looks again, help, help!”

Shen Yanming clicked his tongue in annoyance and issued a dismissal order, “Playing with gays will turn you gay too. Hurry up and leave.”

Meng Yan, accompanied by Sunday, swiftly left the “gay lair.”

The next day, the SOT Club that Andrew belonged to indeed released an announcement. However, the announcement was vague, merely mentioning that Andrew had been disrespectful to other players during the training camp. The specifics of what he said weren’t disclosed.

Many of the comments on Twitter assumed that Andrew had simply cursed in the heat of the moment. Very few people cared about it.

When Meng Yan saw this punishment announcement, he was almost infuriated to the point of tearing the responsible person from the opponent’s club apart with his own hands.

Coach Afeng, who had come with the team, called a small meeting in his room before the day’s schedule officially started.

Afeng frowned as he read the announcement. When he had spoken with the other party, he had wanted a clear explanation of the situation, along with a public apology from Andrew. However, the club’s handling of the situation was so half-hearted that Afeng couldn’t be satisfied no matter what.

Ironically, Shen Yanming, the one at the center of this dispute, seemed remarkably composed. He turned to advise his infuriated comrades, “Since they don’t seem keen on properly dealing with Andrew and we’re on their turf, using conventional means to demand an explanation might backfire…”

The attitude of this club seemed insincere at a glance. In normal circumstances, any disciplinary violations by players would be dealt with strictly. However, SOT Club was protective of Andrew. This only indicated that they feared a sharp decline in team strength if Andrew were to leave.

Another possibility was that they believed TMM’s side might not be willing to escalate the situation, or they thought TMM’s players lacked the capability to blow this up.

After all, they weren’t in the same league. Could TMM really control the Twitter discourse from their end?

Besides, based on past experiences, many players in the Chinese region tended to be the type who quietly endured grievances. Even if they encountered some bad luck, they would often choose to resolve matters peacefully.

Coach Afeng said, “I can’t let you suffer.”

Shen Yanming played with the hotel’s provided pillow and raised an eyebrow, “Who said I’m going to suffer?”

The group chatted for a bit more before returning to the training room together.

Shen Yanming discarded yesterday’s distant and aloof attitude, and when the commentators arrived today to do the live broadcast, he took the initiative to seize their camera attention.

To be on the safe side, he secretly started his own stream on his phone. He placed the phone on the table, keeping his angle of view a mystery.

For the curious audience unaware of the situation, it looked like Shen Yanming was inexplicably running a dual-stream broadcast.

Shen Yanming waved at the camera, flashing a trademark smile, “Yesterday, SOT’s player Andrew kindly invited me to play a game together. Unfortunately, we can’t duo-queue, but having a friendly match should be fine. What do you think, Andrew?”

His question was more of a self-addressed statement. He hadn’t even given Andrew a chance to respond. He continued, “You surely won’t refuse, right? But just playing games isn’t that interesting. If you lose, how about fulfilling what you promised us yesterday?”

To be frank, if a normal person was caught harassing others, even if they had an ounce of shame, they wouldn’t dare show their face in such a situation again. But this Andrew had thick skin. He was still sitting in his seat, carefree as if nothing had happened.

Even when Shen Yanming asked him directly, he pretended not to know, “What did I promise? I have plans today and can’t play with you guys.”

Initially, Andrew had been worried about facing consequences. However, the situation ended up far better than he had imagined. The club’s handling of the issue was superficial. The coach had even assured him yesterday that the suspension was just a formality. They hadn’t officially reported it to the league organizers, and they would retract the punishment later.

Now he felt invincible. In his eyes, Shen Yanming was merely refusing to accept his loss verbally. Even if Shen Yanming released the audio, he could easily flip the script. He couldn’t remember the specifics of what he had said at the time. In any case, as long as he could persuade his handlers to deal with it and then fabricate similar excuses, he could easily twist the story and muddy the waters.

Shen Yanming narrowed his eyes with a playful glint. “If you don’t remember, let me remind you.”

The staff members were well aware of what had happened yesterday. Fearing the situation would escalate and negatively impact their reputation, they urgently redirected the commentary and even considered suspending the live broadcast.

Shen Yanming casually picked up his phone, “I’m live too. Did everyone see the announcement SOT made this morning? Do you know what inappropriate remarks Andrew made? He sexually harassed me. I won’t go into the explicit details to spare everyone. This guy got caught and promised a public apology, but he hasn’t even made a peep. Now he’s playing dead. Not only does he lack integrity, he’s also a coward. He’s afraid of losing to us, so he doesn’t dare play against us. Friends with good English skills, could you help me subtitle this segment and spread it around? I’d like to thank my fellow Iron fans1“Iron fans” is a term used to refer to extremely loyal and devoted fans. It implies that these fans are unwavering in their support, just like iron, and will stick by the person or entity they are fans of through thick and thin. in advance. Sigh, I’m truly amazed. What is SOT trying to achieve? Are they encouraging his inappropriate behavior? Or maybe they believe he can’t beat us? I don’t even think they should be called an esports club; they should be called an esports garbage dump.”

Shen Yanming’s remarks were driven by the knowledge that Lan had joined this team before, only to spend several months on the bench, and probably continue sitting there in the future.

After he finished speaking, he feigned nervousness, “Oh dear, does this count as being disrespectful? I’m just speaking the truth, it should be fine, right? Moreover, I’m the victim here; I should have some privileges. Besides, didn’t our friend Andrew’s ‘disrespectful speech’ hardly have any significant consequences? My fellow fans, do you agree with what I’m saying?”

The players who didn’t understand Chinese were still looking utterly confused, and those who could understand were practically falling off their chairs from laughter.

Across from him, XXL, unaware of the events, showed a range of expressions, from initial shock to gradually losing control of their laughter. Zhang Xixi even burst into applause in a rather awkward manner, “My Luan ge is truly invincible!”

Thank you for reading! 

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day

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1“Iron fans” is a term used to refer to extremely loyal and devoted fans. It implies that these fans are unwavering in their support, just like iron, and will stick by the person or entity they are fans of through thick and thin.