Chapter 61

Chapter 61 – Farewell

Li Cangyu slept soundly and opened his eyes at 5:30 in the afternoon.

Ling Xuefeng’s bed was very comfortable. It was big and the mattress was thick. There was no need to worry about falling down when rolling over. Li Cangyu was never still when sleeping. He woke up and saw that Ling Xuefeng’s quilt and sheets were all rolled up by him.

This was Ling Xuefeng’s home so it wasn’t very good to mess up his house. Li Cangyu self-consciously tidied up the sheets and quilt before leaving the bedroom with a yawn.

To his surprise, Ling Xuefeng was cooking in the kitchen. This man usually looked very serious and was considered an abstinent male god in the eyes of many fans. It was difficult to imagine that he would cook while wearing an apron.

Today, Li Cangyu had the privilege of witnessing Ling Xuefeng cooking. This man’s expression was still serious but under the warm light of the kitchen, his handsome face seemed to have a touch of homely warmth.

Ling Xuefeng sensed the eyes on him and looked back to see Li Cangyu standing at the door of the kitchen, yawning. A gentleness filled his eyes as he spoke in a warm, low-pitched voice. “You woke up?”

Li Cangyu hummed, speaking while rubbing his eyes. “The time difference is really tiring. I’m still sleepy.”

“The food will be ready soon. You can wait in the dining room first.” Ling Xuefeng took off the lid and looked down at the ingredients in the pot.

Li Cangyu suddenly smelt a strong aroma and didn’t go to the dining room. He greedily came over and glanced at the pot, finding a pot of braised pork. He drooled as he said, “The colour looks good.”

“The taste is also delicious.” Ling Xuefeng stated.

Li Cangyu smiled, “Don’t you know how to be modest?”

“I’m telling the truth.” Ling Xuefeng grabbed a piece of meat out of the pot with his chopsticks and placed it at Li Cangyu’s lips. “Do you believe me?”

Li Cangyu immediately opened his mouth and ate the meat.

He was a bit hungry after sleeping. The braised pork was tender and soft, a fragrant taste filling his mouth. Li Cangyu chewed the meat with a contented face and swallowed, seemingly unaware that Ling Xuefeng had been feeding him.

Ling Xuefeng showed a faint smile. This big cat really didn’t move when eating. Feeding him meat made him feel very good!

Of course, Ling Xuefeng immediately retracted his gaze after feeding the piece of meat. He pretended to calmly put all the braised pork onto a plate. There were already two vegetable dishes set on the counter, the green colour increasing people’s appetites.

Ling Xuefeng handed the plate to Li Cangyu and said, “You take this to the dining room first. I will prepare the soup.”

“Ah.” Li Cangyu accept the task and brought the three dishes to the dining room. Then he went back to get the cutlery.

Ling Xuefeng soon finished the seaweed egg soup. Li Cangyu drooled at the sight of the three dishes and soup on the table.

“You just ate fish at noon so I didn’t make fish. I will cook it for you next time.” Ling Xuefeng said as he handed over rice.

“Well, I ate too much fish at lunch. It is good to change the taste at night.” Li Cangyu might love to eat fish but even he would be tired of it when eating it for two meals a day. The dishes made by Ling Xuefeng also fit his taste. Li Cangyu raised his chopsticks and immersed himself in eating. As he ate, he couldn’t help praising, “The peas are delicious… the dishes are delicious… the pork is the best!”

In any case, it was all delicious.

Ling Xuefeng was in an excellent mood after being praised. He was particularly satisfied after seeing Li Cangyu eat vegetables.

They were captains and the pressure on their shoulders was very big. There were many things to do but this time, Li Cangyu made an effort to see Ling Xuefeng. They might only be able to meet for a short time but Ling Xuefeng was very satisfied.

Personally cooking a few dishes for him and eating face to face, this was the more relaxed and pleasant thing for Ling Xuefeng.

***

After eating, Li Cangyu helped Ling Xuefeng clean up the table. He looked at his watch and said, “The second round of the regular season is about to start. Wind Colour must be very busy so you can return to the team first. I will take a taxi to the airport myself.”

“It’s fine, I’ll take you there.” Ling Xuefeng stated.

Vice-Captain Yan Ruiwen was very conscientious and there was no need to worry about the other old players on the team. The most troubling Qin Mo had been abused by Cat God and his mindset improved a lot. Ling Xuefeng was very confident in his team. It was rare to see a loved one and he wanted more time alone with Li Cangyu.

Since the other person was determined to send him away, Li Cangyu didn’t refuse. He simply said, “Then I will go and pack my things. We have to leave as soon as possible.”

“Yes, remember not to leave anything behind.”

Li Cangyu didn’t have much luggage so he quickly packed up. The two people arrived at the airport early. LIng Xuefeng sat with Li Cangyu for a while until it was 9 o’clock and Li Cangyu got up to go to security.

“Goodbye.” Li Cangyu took the initiative to reach out to Ling Xuefeng. Ling Xuefeng’s heart almost stopped from excitement and he immediately hugged back.

Ling Xuefeng clung tightly to Li Cangyu for a while before letting go, whispering, “See you in New York in October.”

Li Cangyu nodded. “Yes, I’ll wait for you to come.”

Then he turned and waved to Ling Xuefeng. “I’m going now!”

Ling Xuefeng smiled and waved to him. “Go ahead.”

Li Cangyu walked briskly away, his slender and upright back disappearing into the crowd. Then Ling Xuefeng removed his gaze and left the airport.

His heart was very reluctant but Ling Xuefeng knew this was just a short parting. They would soon see each other again.

***

That night, Ling Xuefeng returned to the Wind Colour team where all the members were present.

In this one week holiday period, many players went home to visit their parents while others travelled abroad. Now that the holiday was over, everyone must quickly regain their mindset to deal with the second round of the regular season.

Ling Xuefeng summoned all the players to the meeting room for a routine meeting.

A big projection screen occupied the middle of a wall. Ling Xuefeng calmly pointed to the big screen with a laser pointer. “This is the result of the first round of the regular season. Our team is currently first in the rankings. In the second round of the regular season, we can’t relax. The gap with Flying Feathers, Time and Ghost Spirits isn’t big. One mistake might reverse the situation.”

Ling Xuefeng continued saying, “I want everyone here to be as effective as possible during the second round of the regular season. I’m not asking you to win every game but you should at least play in a wonderful manner.”

The Ling Xuefeng in the team strategy meeting and the Ling Xuefeng who smiled at the airport while watching his loved one leave seemed like two different people.

Captain Ling’s expression was currently very serious, the powerful aura making players unable to look directly into his eyes. His voice was very calm but each sentence contain a great weight.

“The first match of the second round is against the Pure Cleansing team. The style of this team is known to everyone. It is the illusion flow route. We will continue to use the most stable lineup. Vice-Captain Yan and I will each stare at a psychic. We will solve the Zhu Qingyue and Chu Yan combination as fast as possible while the others will take care of the black magicians in the back row…”

Ling Xuefeng started to arrange the tactics of the next game in an orderly way. The players listened carefully and some people took notes.

At the same time, the other teams’ meeting rooms were brightly lit up. The captains of the major teams were having meetings to prepare for the second round of the sixth season’s regular season.

***

8 a.m. on Tuesday, the Miracle Professional League’s headquarters in Beijing, China.

The chairman of the league, Nan Jiangang and the high-level representatives of the game developers and operators were holding an emergency meeting.

Nan Jiangang sat at the head of the table and said, “I believe that everyone has seen the file sent by the Miracle World League. What suggestions do you have about the changes in the competition model?”

The director of the Technology Research and Development department said, “This competition format is more complicated. The R&D department needs one week to reconstruct the competition information. The second round of the sixth season is about to begin. Should the competition system be changed?”

“It’s not urgent.” Nan Jiangang said, “The sixth season is already half over. We will keep it the same. We will fully replace the system starting with the second division next season. We have to take the seventh season as a new starting point, just in line with the first World Competition in December next year.”

It really wasn’t appropriate to change the competition format in the middle of the season. The people nodded in agreement to the chairman’s decision.

The minister of the promotional department said, “Chairman, will the selection of the six players in the World Carnival based on the data of this season or the popularity of the players? We have been discussing this matter for several days and haven’t come to a conclusion.”

Nan Jiangang thought about it and said, “The World Carnival is an entertainment gathering. Star players from all countries will be invited so it is best to choose according to popularity. This afternoon, the second round of the regular season is about to begin. What do you think about opening a voting channel and selecting the six most popular players in to go New York to participate in the World Carnival?”

“Chairman has a point.” Someone nodded in agreement.

“There is no need to play matches in the Carnival or to consider the issue of lineup configuration. It is reasonable to select the six people with the highest popularity.”

“Who do you think the six people will be?”

“If the voting method is followed, there is no doubt about the popularity of Ling Xuefeng, Su Guangmo and Tan Shitian. In my opinion, Captain Lou of Ghost Spirits should also be selected?”

“Pure Cleansing’s captain, Xiao Zhu is also very popular. He is the league’s best auxiliary and he has quite a lot of fans.”

“Cheng Wei’s popularity also isn’t low, right?”

“Yu Pingsheng of Flying Feathers might be unsociable but he is actually quite popular…”

Chairman Nan listened to the heated discussion and couldn’t help sighing. “There are too many excellent players in the current Miracle League. It is a headache picking just six people for the Carnival!”

“This is a good thing!” The promotional minister said with a smile, “The Miracle League in China has developed very quickly in recent years. It isn’t inferior to Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States. The players we choose to go definitely won’t show a bad appearance to the world.”

“That’s true.” Chairman Nan laughed. “I am even more relieved that one of our talented players is coming back.”

“Talented player?” Someone asked doubtfully. “Who is it?”

“Tan Shitian’s story about a big cat and kitten, you should study it well.” Chairman Nan smiled and continued, “There is also the legion defense in the new Moonlight Forest District where both the Bright Goddess and Dark Goddess were killed. You should be able to guess the commanders on both sides.”

Someone immediately took out their phone and opened it to Tan Shitian’s Weibo. However, he found that Captain Tan had deleted the story and many people were confused.

Finally, a veteran who spent six years in the Miracle League said, “Big cat and a kitten? There seems to be only one player in the Miracle League who has something to do with ‘cat’. Is it… Old Cat, Li Cangyu of the first season?”

Nan Jiangang nodded with admiration.

“Is Cat God back?” Someone exclaimed with surprise. “Are you certain about this?”

Nan Jiangang smiled and said, “Of course I am sure. Liu Chuan of the Dragon Warriors Club has contacted me. He will complete the team registration by the end of the year and Li Cangyu’s personal information has been transferred to the Miracle League.”

“Great!” Some people excitedly exclaimed. “Cat God’s hand speed is a match with Ling Xuefeng’s and is ranked in the forefront of the world. If he returns, our country’s summoners will soar into the sky!”

Nan Jiangang also felt very relieved.

As the chairman of the Miracle League, he had run and tried to persuade Li Cangyu not to leave, his mouth almost breaking. However, Li Cangyu’s attitude was extremely firm and he was very decisive. Nan Jiangang still remembered this young man’s upright back and confident appearance when leaving.

Now he was returning and was bound to be criticized. Still, Nan Jiangang believed that this man wasn’t a careless person. His every choice was him following his own heart and he was clear-minded.

His return this time meant he was definitely coming for the championship trophy!

Once Old Cat returns, the seventh season would definitely become quite lively!