Huayu: Starting from retirement, sweeping across the domestic entertainment industry

Chapter 239 Becoming a True Legend

The next morning, the bedroom door was pushed open.

Lu Yuxiao stood at the door, wearing a loose T-shirt and cotton shorts, her hair uncombed and casually draped over her shoulders.

"Why are you two still sleeping? It's almost seven o'clock!" Her voice exploded in the quiet bedroom like a small alarm clock bomb. "Aren't you going to film today?"

The two people in the bed reacted very differently to the intrusion.

Zhou Ye simply turned over, pulled the blanket up a little, and without even opening his eyes, shrank deeper into the pillow, making a muffled murmur—something like "just five more minutes"—but no one could make out what he said.

Li Ran, however, woke up.

He struggled to open his eyes, yawned—the kind of yawn that almost dislocated his jaw—and squinted at the blurry figure in the doorway, his mind still racing.

I didn't fall asleep until 3 or 4 in the morning last night, and I only slept for a little over three hours. Now I feel like I'm floating, my body is still stuck to the bed, and my soul has been pulled out of my body.

"Why did you just come in?" His voice was still hoarse from just waking up.

"Why can't I come in?" Lu Yuxiao retorted confidently. "Who among you haven't I seen before?"

After she finished speaking, she glared at Li Ran with a complicated look in her eyes. Besides the obvious anger, there was also a hint of sourness and a lingering sense of grievance.

After glaring at her, she turned and left, her slippers making a series of rapid slapping sounds on the hallway floor, leaving behind a sentence that drifted back: "Get up and eat."

He's clearly still angry.

Li Ran sat on the bed in a daze for three seconds, then resignedly threw off the covers and started getting dressed.

He needs to be at the film set by nine o'clock today; if he doesn't leave now, he'll be too late.

As he put on his T-shirt, he glanced at Zhou Ye, who had fallen into a deep sleep again beside him. Her scenes were in the afternoon, so it didn't matter if she went to the set later. At that moment, she was sleeping soundly, hugging the corner of the blanket, her breathing even and long, with the corners of her mouth slightly upturned, as if she was having a nice dream.

He didn't wake her, tiptoed out of the bedroom, and closed the door behind him.

When I arrived at the restaurant, Lu Yuxiao was standing next to the table unpacking takeout bags.

The Iogo logo printed on the bag was mostly obscured by her fingers, but the aroma of crispy bread and flaky pastry wafted out of the bag, filling the morning air and making one's stomach churn.

"What did you order?" Li Ran walked to her side, leaned over to look at the table. His voice was still a little hoarse, but he sounded much more awake than before.

"Pan-fried buns from Xiao Yang's shop, crab shell pastries from Wang Jia Sha, and qingtuan (green glutinous rice dumplings)," Lu Yuxiao said as she opened the lid of the last lunchbox.

She paused after speaking, then added, "The pan-fried buns are filled with shrimp and pork, and I bought three kinds of crab shell pastries."

"You've got a good eye for ordering!"

Li Ran pulled out a chair and sat down, picking up his chopsticks and aligning the tips on the table. "They're all from established brands."

Lu Yuxiao suddenly stopped moving, frowned, and asked, "How did you know?"

"I've spent quite a bit of time in Shanghai, haven't I?"

Li Ran found her reaction a bit funny, but thinking about it, it made sense. He didn't eat out much usually; most of the time he either ate boxed lunches on set or just ate whatever was available at home. Lu Yuxiao probably thought he knew nothing about these old shops in the streets and alleys.

He picked up a pan-fried dumpling with his chopsticks, bit a small hole in it, and the soup overflowed from it, making him gasp from the heat.

He swallowed the pan-fried bun in his mouth and then noticed two obvious dark circles under Lu Yuxiao's eyes, which were particularly conspicuous in the morning light, as if someone had drawn two strokes of light ink under her eyes.

She probably didn't sleep at all last night, or if she did, it was as if she didn't sleep at all. Her eyelids were slightly swollen, and there were still a few bloodshot veins in her eyes.

"Didn't you sleep well last night?" Li Ran put down his chopsticks and looked at her.

"I can't sleep." Lu Yuxiao didn't deny it, nor did she intend to describe in detail how long she had been tossing and turning. She simply admitted it and then changed the subject, "I'll catch up on some sleep later. Isn't Sister Zhou Ye coming to eat?"

"She's catching up on sleep too."

Lu Yuxiao nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

She picked up a crab shell pastry and took a bite. The flaky crust cracked between her teeth, making a soft crunching sound, while the sweet aroma of the carrot filling spread in her mouth.

She chewed very slowly, as if she was using the action to think about something, her cheeks puffing out as she stared blankly at a point on the table.

Taking advantage of her moment of distraction, Li Ran carefully observed her expression.

The traces of anger were still there; the corners of her mouth were drooping, and there was a shallow knot between her brows. Her tone of voice was at least two levels harsher than usual when she spoke to him. But she was already willing to sit down and have breakfast with him, which meant that her anger was not the kind of furious rage that could crush the whole world, but rather an awkwardness that needed time to slowly digest.

She needs a stepping stone, or a sufficiently long cooling-off period, or both.

"Li Ran." She suddenly spoke, her mouth still half-filled with crab shell roe, one cheek bulging out like a hamster hoarding food.

She finished chewing her food before asking the question in full, "Are you really going to go back to playing professionally?"

The question was asked seriously, completely different from the tone of her tearful questioning in the living room last night, and also different from the angry tone she used when she barged into the bedroom this morning.

Li Ran thought about it.

He and Coconut didn't reach a clear conclusion on this issue last night. The two of them ended up arguing in bed while discussing it, and their serious topic didn't have a proper ending.

But he was clear about what he was thinking; he just hadn't found a complete way to express it.

"Let's see," he said, placing his chopsticks on the edge of his bowl and leaning back in his chair. His tone was unhurried, as if he were organizing his thoughts as he spoke. "Maybe I'll take a year off first."

The message "take a year off" only had a literal meaning for Lu Yuxiao.

What she didn't know was that within that year, the little lives in Liu Haocun and Wang Churan's wombs would one after another come into this world.

For Li Ran, this is not just a simple "rest period," but a watershed moment in his life. On one hand, there is his current carefree and shapeless life, and on the other hand, there are the days that are about to come when he will need to take on more specific responsibilities.

He didn't explain these things, at least not at this point in time.

He only told her what he wanted her to know.

The light in his eyes was different when he said that.

Lu Yuxiao noticed the change because it was so obvious—he never showed this expression when he was resting on set.

Li Ran had far more on her mind than she could see.

In 2023, he did plan to go pro. The idea had been in his mind for a long time, but he had been held back by various things and had no chance to take action.

He didn't just want to go back and play casually; he wanted to see how far he could go, whether he could continue to stand on that highest stage, and face off against that legendary figure.

In his memory, the league's development remained unchanged, and this year, just like in his previous life, EDG won the championship.

He still remembers clearly the scene that flooded his WeChat Moments late at night: golden rain fell from the stage, golden confetti danced in the air like snowflakes, and spotlights shone on the silver Summoner's Cup, the reflection so bright it was blinding.

And starting next year, that ID will dominate the highest level of competition in this game.

They have entered the global finals for four consecutive years.

Starting in 23, they even won the championship for three consecutive years, achieving a three-peat.

Li Ran really wanted to have a go at this legend.

Although he won two world championships in this life, Li Ran wanted to step on the "legend" to become a true legend.

But he didn't say these words.

It's not that I can't say it, it's that even if I did, Lu Yuxiao wouldn't understand.

She doesn't understand esports, doesn't know who Faker is, and doesn't understand what winning the S-series championship for three consecutive years means.

In her eyes, it was just a game, a world she didn't understand.

Lu Yuxiao was silent for a while, then lowered her head and took another bite of the crab shell pastry, leaving a few pieces of pastry on the table.

As she chewed, she wiped the crumbs from the corner of her mouth with a tissue and said in a tone that had mostly calmed down, "Then think it over carefully, don't act impulsively."

His tone was still a bit harsh, as if he was sulking, or as if he cared but wasn't willing to lower his stance too much.

Li Ran looked at her eating with her head down and suddenly smiled.

"What are you laughing at?" Lu Yuxiao looked up and glared at him.

"It's nothing." He looked away, picked up the soy milk in front of him, and took a sip.

Li Ran didn't ask about the other matter, her current opinion.

Because now Li Ran doesn't know what to do either.

What Zhou Ye said to him last night was not without reason.

Perhaps no one wants to disrupt the current balance of power.

Li Ran may still be hesitant about this matter, but the decision to return to the competition has already taken root in his heart.

During his year-long break, he can make some plans and get back into shape.

He doesn't want to end up like his friend, retiring in a daze and then making a daze again.

Li Ran's goal is not to return to the court and play again, but to win the championship.