Chapter 109 - Pre-game trash talk.
Before coming to Chongqing, Xiao Bai listed all of its delicious food that he knew of 8,888 times in their team voice chat during their practice matches.
After arriving at Chongqing, Ding-ge herded them into the team's prearranged bus like he was herding a flock of ducks and dragged everyone to .
Their staff had come with them to Chongqing this time as well. Adding in the assistant manager, assistant coach, and personal assistants, they just happened to have enough people to fill up a private room.
"No... it's one thing to eat at Haidilao." Yuan Qian stared at the pot in front of them with no appetite. "But this? Clear broth and mushroom soup?"
The one area that TTC's five members shared the most similarities in was food. They were all spice lovers, and every time they ordered takeout, the entire table was covered with bright red, making it look especially festive.
Without batting an eye, Ding-ge started ordering for them. "The day before last year's semifinals, you guys ate mala bullfrog, and one hour prior to the match, Kan was still crying about how his stomach hurt. Have you not learned your lesson yet?"
Yuan Qian propped his chin up on his hand. "BS, he was nervous back then because he was about to matchfix, how could his stomach not hurt?"
Upon hearing that, the originally listless group of people couldn't help but burst out in self-derisive laughter, which was also peppered with quite a few "damns" and "what the hells."
Time was the best medicine. No matter how unacceptable, uncomfortable, or disgusting it was back then, now that it was in the past, it had merely become another joke.
Jian Rong didn't laugh. He wasn't there before, so he had no way of lamenting and then chuckling about it with the people who had actually experienced it. It was also fortunate that he wasn't there, or else by this point, he would've already been eternally banned from competing for beating up Kan.
Lu Boyuan was the same. Though XIU was the one with the injury, he didn't want his opponents to have an easy time either. The moment XIU got off the plane, he had started mentally harassing Lu Boyuan, texting things like "old pal, it's been a long time since I've seen you play Ezreal jungle, really miss it" and "I feel like your team's mid laner is super good at Talon, is he considering it for the finals." After checking his unread messages, Lu Boyuan directly slapped a do not disturb onto him.
They had been practicing a lot lately, so Jian Rong hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before. He took a two hour nap on the plane, but that just made him feel even more sleepy now.
His eyelids drooped drowsily. After he gave a yawn, he finally couldn't stand it any longer and looked at the person next to him. "If you have something to say, then freaking say it."
Xiao Bai: "..."
Jian Rong had realized it a long time ago: starting from the instant he had woken up on the plane, Zhuang Yibai's gaze had remained fixed on him.
Xiao Bai wanted to ask, but he also didn't dare to. As a result, he put on a show of picking up the strainer spoon and fishing around the hot pot with it. "It's nothing, I was just gonna ask if you wanted to eat... mushrooms?"
Jian Rong was full of grumpiness from waking up, and he didn't feel like bothering with him.
The meal that night went by fairly smoothly. Ding-ge looked at his dispirited players and was filled with satisfaction.
