AWM: PUBG - Chap 64
Chapter 64
With Yu Yang’s consent, there was no reason for Qi Zui to hold back.
Qi Zui crowded Yu Yang into a corner, kissing him deeply for a long while.
Near the end of the kiss, Yu Yang’s blush had even spread to his neck.
Qi Zui gently let go of Yu Yang, watching his expression carefully.
Things seemed to be going well; Yu Yang’s tolerance for intimacy had been going higher and higher recently. He only showed some slight shortness of breath with no other negative symptoms.
Yu Yang willed himself to look more normal, blushing still. He looked up at Qi Zui, saying quietly: “You just said…you wouldn’t kiss for that long…”
“Couldn’t help it.” Qi Zui laughed once, looking down, “Okay…..I did it on purpose, I bullied you real hard on purpose so that every time you sit in bed, you’d have to think of me.”
Hearing this, Yu Yang’s face went even redder.
“You….” Yu Yang tried to hold back his embarrassment, “You can just come in every night.”
Qi Zui paused for a moment and laughed without saying anything else.
The next day, Qi Zui would have to go to one of the side branches of the American doctor’s private hospital in order to do the needed tests. Once the doctor confirmed his situation, and there were no further issues with his test results, Qi Zui would have to go to him in the States for a minor surgery and stay there for rehabilitation.
Once he was gone, he would have to be there for a month at least.
Qi Zui originally thought about bringing the doctor over, even with the added fees, but apparently, the medical and rehab teams could not come to him, so he would have to go to them.
The contracts were mostly settled by now, so the trip would not be in the way of that. And there weren’t many other things to do in the country, it was just that Qi Zui could not bear to leave Yu Yang behind.
Mrs. Qi had been in contact with the doctor the moment she heard the news, but from the very beginning, no matter how much she asked, they did not make any promises — in terms of the surgery’s potential risks, whether there was a chance for a complete recovery, or a potential prognosis…..they were not able to make any guarantees.
Mrs. Qi pressured them with money, offering a donation for a new hospital branch, and still was only met with a sincere commitment that they would try their best.
The test results had not come out yet, so Qi Zui didn’t want to make Yu Yang hopeful for no reason. After some hesitation, he still did not tell him.
“You’d leave the door open for me every night?” Qi Zui smiled, “You’d be that good for me?”
Yu Yang’s ears were still pink as he nodded emphatically.
Qi Zui’s heart melted.
Qi Zui glanced at the time and forced himself to get up, “Go to sleep. I’ll be going.”
If he wasn’t so worried about Yu Yang not getting enough sleep, Qi Zui might have stayed longer.
But there was no helping that no one could convince Yu Yang to cut down training — Yu Yang was still in his growth period anyway, so it would not be good to disrupt his training. And so, at around 3:30 am, Qi Zui walked out of Yu Yang’s room.
And turned to see He Xiaoxu in the hallway, face ominous.
Qi Zui swore under his breath, lowering his voice: “You have a problem?!”
He Xiaoxu said coldly: “So it really is you…..”
“Yes, it’s me, so what?” Qi Zui said, “Are you crazy? You’re up at 3 am just to catch me in the act?”
“I just caught up on a show and heard sounds out here, so I came to see.” He Xiaoxu tilted his head to look into Yu Yang’s room, “Be honest with me, how far have you gone? Have you already…..”
Qi Zui said coldly, “If we’ve really been there, do you think I’d still come out?”
Qi Zui had a point, He Xiaoxu realised once he thought about it.
Qi Zui pushed He Xiaoxu to the side: “Scram, even if I did have something going on I’d get soft already because of you….”
“Wait, I have something to tell you.” He Xiaoxu held Qi Zui back, “I was worried that they’d all hear, so let’s just talk about it now.”
Qi Zui thought about it for a moment — it was mostly settled now that he was going to buy the club, so it was time to give He Xiaoxu a heads up anyway. He nodded.
He Xiaoxu opened the door to his own dorm room, but Qi Zui shook his head: “I’m not going in there. Out with it.”
He Xiaoxu turned to look at him, glaring but keeping his voice low: “Are you crazy? You want to chat in the hallway in the middle of the night?!”
Qi Zui looked at He Xiaoxu cooly: “I’m avoiding room for suspicion. Otherwise how am I going to explain if Yu Yang sees?”
He Xiaoxu clawed at the goosebumps that came up on his arms, almost losing it: “You say that again?!”
“I’m not even going to go into Bu Nana’s room at night, do you get it now?” Qi Zui was getting annoyed, “Are you going to tell me or not? If not then I’m going to bed….”
With too much anger, He Xiaoxu put a hand to his chest, swearing lowly.
Ten minutes later, the base’s second floor meeting room was lit up completely.
Qi Zui and He Xiaoxu, both fully dressed, sat on opposite sides of the meeting table, He Xiaoxu yawning while rolling his eyes.
Qi Zui put his phone to the side, “I have something to tell you…..”
Qi Zui told him about his plans to take over HOG.
He Xiaoxu became alert immediately.
“You…..” He Xiaoxu did not dare think about what that meant, and confirmed again, “You mean, you’re going to buy the entire club? Including the side branches, the entire, complete….”
Qi Zui nodded: “The entire HOG.”
He Xiaoxu gasped quietly.
“It’s mostly settled now, we’ve agreed on a price too. There are just a few individual contracts to deal with, but everything else is basically set in stone.” Qi Zui tapped at the table, “It was still under wraps before, so I’ve only told Yu Yang. But now….it’s fine to let you guys know too.”
He Xiaoxu did not even dare to take any big breaths. He checked again, carefully, “So…in the future, you would be our biggest higher-up?”
Qi Zui nodded nonchalantly.
He Xiaoxu, who was just on the verge of throwing a fit just earlier, started to cower.
“Okay so…..” He Xiaoxu forced himself to stay calm, “Is it too disrespectful….if I’m sitting at the same table as you right now? Should I go and wake everyone else up, and we’ll all come kneel before you?”
Qi Zui: “……”
“I appreciate the thought.” Qi Zui squinted at him, “Just stop trying to eavesdrop on us from now on, does that work?”
“Of course, whatever you say.” He Xiaoxu was still processing everything. He asked again, “A-all of our contracts….”
Qi Zui said again: “The entire HOG, all of it, completely.”
He Xiaoxu let out a big breath.
“You really…..” He Xiaoxu was at a loss for words, “You really put your entire life savings in, huh?”
Qi Zui smiled: “Mine and Yu Yang’s entire life savings too.”
He Xiaoxu was in inner turmoil.
“I have to tell you the worst case scenario beforehand…..” He Xiaoxu said in a low voice, “The remaining sponsorships, I don’t know how many I can hold onto. The current situation…..”
Qi Zui nodded understandably: “That’s normal. If the competition results aren’t great, then the sponsors would leave. Doesn’t matter.”
He Xiaoxu said awkwardly: “So you are basically left with a whole mess…..”
Qi Zui said exasperatedly: “Do you want to know what Yu Yang said to me?”
He Xiaoxu looked up. Qi Zui said slowly, “Youth said, as long as he has the team logo and the national flag on his uniform, then he can still play.”
Qi Zui smiled again: “As long as he’s willing to play, I’m willing to buy in.”
“New will replace the old. As long as we’re able to attain results, then we don’t need to worry about these things.” Qi Zui got up, “It was still in the works before, so I didn’t want to tell you guys, but you can all just focus on training now that you know. Stop thinking about other things, I’ve put my entire wedding fund into this, so don’t let me down.”
He Xiaoxu nodded, wanting to say something else: “Qi Zui…..”
Qi Zui looked back at him, “There’s something else?”
He Xiaoxu stayed silent for a moment: “All these years…..”
“Skip the dramatic flashbacks and get to the point, thanks.” Qi Zui took his phone out to check the time, “It’s already four am.”
“…..” He Xiaoxu said numbly, “Nothing else then, boss, rest well.”
Qi Zui went back upstairs to go to bed. Once he woke up and opened his door in the afternoon around 1 pm, he found a mound of stuff piled there.
Limited edition headphones, Marvel branded keycaps, first edition signed HOG mousepads, a Burberry scarf, Fendi wallet, Armani belt, a few limited edition T-shirts still in its plastic box packaging, an unopened bottle of aftershave, a single ballpoint pen, a box of condoms…..
Qi Zui picked up the box of condoms from the floor, expressionless. He looked at Bu Nana who was standing nearby, “I’m a little curious, how come we have this at our base?”
“From the hotel, I a-accidentally packed it up……with my other things.” Bu Nana tried to take up less space with his belly, “These are all tokens of our appreciation.”
Qi Zui understood now, “Offerings?”
“Yeah.” Bu Nana nodded nervously, “We heard from He Xiaoxu, that you’re about to buy the entire club soon. We……”
“You will all become my employees soon, okay I get it. Whoevers’ stuff this is, come take it away.” Qi Zui squinted, taking a closer look, “What in the world, who threw in Lao Kai’s back pillow? Why don’t you just give me his dentures while you’re at it?”
“H-h-he doesn’t need dentures just yet……” Bu Nana laughed awkwardly, “Everyone put their hearts into this….”
“I appreciate the thought.” Qi Zui waved the box of condoms in his hand, “I’ll take this, get rid of everything else.”
Bu Nana smiled and agreed in response. As Qi Zui went to put things back into his room, Bu Nana gathered the pile of random things in his arms. He said suddenly: “Captain!”
Qi Zui opened a drawer, putting the condoms in and did not bother looking back. He responded: “What?”
“Next time something happens…..”
Bu Nana had haphazardly picked up everything from the ground, one by one; he was too chubby to comfortably squat like this, and dropped something for every two things he picked up. A small cushion fell and rolled along the floor, and he chased after it awkwardly.
As Bu Nana had both arms and legs busy with picking things up, he said, muffled: “Next time something happens, why don’t you give us a heads up too…”
Bu Nana picked up the mousepad covered in signatures, dusting it off and hugging it to his chest.
His voice went a little hoarse, “Don’t just deal with everything on your own, like with your hand injury, too, did you have to…”
“Did you have to tell us when you were just about to retire?” Bu Nana sniffled once, “I know I can’t do much, but at least for things like pitching in for things, I can still do.”
“You’ve been looking out for me ever since I joined the team, and now that something this big has happened, you still dealt with it all without saying a thing. We……” Bu Nana’s voice was hoarse now, “We can’t help but feel bad for…..”
Qi Zui blanked for a second, then laughed.
“You are all active, professional players.” Qi Zui looked at Bu Nana, “These are not things you should be worrying about.”
Bu Nana’s lips moved, wanting to say more.
“Don’t worry about me.” Qi Zui cut him off, “You guys are the heart of HOG, not me. As long as you play well in competitions, I can deal with the rest. Nana…you cannot possibly imagine how envious I am of you guys.”
Bu Nana’s eyelids quivered, eyes going red.
“So, make the most of playing while you still can.” Qi Zui said, exasperated: “The main thing is that I can still deal with it on my own. Of course I’d tell you guys if I couldn’t figure it out.”
“So go to training once you’ve put everything away. Your God Yang has a temper these days, he’s going to yell at you if you skip practice.” Qi Zui looked down to glance at the time, “I have something to do….so I’ll be out.”
His appointment for tests with the private hospital doctors was at 3 pm. Qi Zui took a deep breath; it was time to deal with his personal matters now.
Qi Zui laughed at himself at that. If the tests showed that there was still hope for treatment, then he’d be oceans away from Yu Yang once he left – they’d probably really have to resort to online dating.
As he was heading out, Qi Zui received a call from Mrs. Qi, who was uncharacteristically nagging. She exhorted him on this and that, over and over again, even more nervous than Qi Zui himself. Qi Zui responded to her absentmindedly, already thinking about what to do once he was in the States.
Yu Yang got embarrassed so easily, wonder if he would be open to video calling while nude…
What a headache…
