I Can Do It - ICDI Extra 1

Half a month after the Mid-Season Invitational ended, the summer season kicked off.

The matches began at three PM on the first day of the summer season. As the streaming platform requested, Jian Rong went live to act as a commentator.

Shortly after he started streaming, his livestream room shot straight to the top of the platform’s popularity ranking.

When the dad fans rushed into the stream, along with spectators who wanted to join in on the fun, they saw the teenager sporting a head of disheveled hair that he hadn’t tidied up yet because he had just woken up. He chewed on his milk straw as he asked the person sitting next to him, “Which two chicks are pecking at each other today again?”

Xiao Bai: “…”

Xiao Bai: “PUD and Fighting Tiger.”

Jian Rong let out an “oh.” “I’m gonna go to the bathroom first then. Their game is guaranteed to last at least forty minutes.”

Xiao Bai glanced at his computer screen, eyes filled with pity. “Didn’t XIU and Da Niu send you red envelopes in the group chat last night so that you would stay away from their match?”

Actually, their original words were: [@R-ong, here’s the fee for not streaming tomorrow, take the money and scram!]

Jian Rong explained, “The platform gave me a pretty big red envelope.”

“Because of money, you can even betray your brothers?” Xiao Bai asked, “How much did the platform give you?”

Jian Rong extended his hand under the computer and casually indicated a number with his fingers for Xiao Bai.

Xiao Bai sucked in a breath of cold air. “Who gives a damn about brotherhood!”

Jian Rong huffed out a laugh and didn’t continue their bickering match.

After the three commentators chatted mindlessly for a while, the game finally entered the pick/ban phase.

Meanwhile, the non-professional commentator, renowned for pissing people off, hiked one leg over the other and launched into his own match analysis.

“PUD banned Twisted Fate, Varus, LeBlanc… LeBlanc? That wasn’t necessary, Da Niu’s LeBlanc is Platinum-level. If any of you ever encounter him playing LeBlanc in ranked, don’t hesitate to one-shot him immediately. If you lose LP, don’t blame Dad for not warning you.

“Fighting Tiger got rid of Nautilus, Orianna, Lucian? That Lucian ban doesn’t make any sense. Lucian ADC isn’t even meta anymore, and 98k doesn’t like playing this kind of top lane champion either… the mid laner? Savior knows how to play Lucian?

“Fighting Tiger picked Syndra, Savior chose Zoe… who’s stronger? I don’t know, they’re both about the same. It all depends on fate whether or not they’ll land their skills.”

[Freaking take it easy a little! These two teams have way too many fans! Dad can’t out-flame them all!!!]

[This dumbass streamer is constantly exaggerating things. It’s my first time seeing an MSI winner act this arrogant, these dad fans aren’t worth mentioning either.]

[Sure, you can insult the streamer, but why are you insulting his dad? Did his dad dig up your family’s ancestral grave or turn you into an orphan?]

[Pure dad fan here, it’s five minutes into the game and they’ve both missed 80% of their attacks. As far as I can tell, my son wasn’t wrong.]

[What kind of trash stream is this? If you don’t know how to commentate, then stop streaming. Don’t just blindly freeload, OK?]

[It’s been a long time since I’ve paid any attention to LoL, how come this dumbass is so popular? A crappy streamer is trying to shade pro players? If you’re so great, then you play. What a joke, all you’ll ever be able to do in this lifetime is stream a little to pass your days.]

[………this is considered ‘not paying attention’ to LoL? More like you must’ve spent the last half of the year in a cave, bro…]

“You come to my stream and tell me to turn it off? And who might you be again? StarTV’s Boss Yi?” Jian Rong slouched back in his chair and said lazily, “Watch if you wanna watch, get lost if you don’t. What, do you need me to remotely control your desktop and help you leave the stream?

“If you’re so great, then you play…” Jian Rong sneered. “I’m playing against Fighting Tiger on Thursday and PUD on Friday. If you have a chance, come out of your cave to watch the matches. See whether or not your dad can do it.

“Room mods, just block the people posting advertisements, no need to ban anyone else. No flamers will be blocked in today’s stream, I have more than enough time.”

The first twenty minutes of PUD and Fighting Tiger’s match consisted almost entirely of farming. Jian Rong glanced at the barrage and just happened to see the following comment—

[Bitter Tea: Why is everyone insulting this streamer? If you don’t like the way he streams, you can choose not to watch. The streamer is very polite in real life, the rest of the viewers shouldn’t be using awful vocabulary to attack him.]

[??? Isn’t he the one who’s always attacking us?!]

[For a moment there, I couldn’t tell whether this person was being sincere or shady.]

[I suddenly remembered what XIU said in a stream a few days ago. Before, when he asked Road about their new mid laner, Road said that the newcomer was a pretty well-behaved kid. XIU wasn’t able to guess who it was for the life of him hahahahahahahaha]

[Bitter Tea: I’m being serious. If there are any more personal attacks, I recommend that the streamer uses legal means to defend himself.]

In all his years of streaming, this was Jian Rong’s first time seeing this kind of water friend.

At that moment, a small team fight erupted in the match. Jian Rong snapped out of it and entered full-screen mode so that he could observe carefully and commentate properly. Then, someone pushed open the practice room door.

Lu Boyuan had just finished getting a massage, and his team jacket was draped loosely around his shoulders.

He rubbed his aching neck before he turned around and smoothed down the hair sticking up on Jian Rong’s head. “How come you didn’t respond to my text.”

Jian Rong said, “I’m streaming, I didn’t hear my phone go off.”

Lu Boyuan swept a look at his computer monitor and lifted an eyebrow. “XIU picked Hecarim?”

Jian Rong: “Mn.”

Lu Boyuan nodded. “He’s pretty good at using Hecarim’s E to run for his life.”

Lu Boyuan glanced at Xiao Bai, who was shouting, “This top laner is such a piece of trash, he started a team fight and smashed Darius right onto my face!” Xiao Bai had his headphones on, and he wasn’t paying attention to them at all.

Lu Boyuan withdrew his gaze and kneaded the back of Jian Rong’s neck as he lowered his voice and asked, “Does your stomach hurt?”

Jian Rong was caught off guard for a few seconds before a flush of dark red visibly spread up his neck.

In order to prepare for the summer season, they barely rested at all before they holed up again to practice. Because Ding-ge was worried that they were too stressed, he gave the team members a day off yesterday.

Jian Rong and Lu Boyuan stayed in a hotel room the entire day and didn’t go outside once. They even ordered takeout to the hotel and ate it there.

Throughout the day, they touched each other intermittently. Some of the condoms provided by the hotel were used, while others were wasted; regardless, the box in the hotel room was completely empty by nightfall.

At the time, Lu Boyuan sucked in a deep breath before he lowered his head to kiss Jian Rong. Then, he picked up his clothes and got ready to go out and buy some more.

Jian Rong didn’t let him leave.

Even though Lu Boyuan helped clean Jian Rong up afterwards, he was still concerned that Jian Rong’s stomach would feel uncomfortable.

Lu Boyuan looked up at the camera.

“Auntie’s lunch was too spicy.” Lu Boyuan asked breezily, “Does it feel uncomfortable at all?”

Jian Rong: “No.”

Ding-ge walked into the room, holding a bag. “Jian Rong, you’re up? And here I was, worried that you would forget to stream this afternoon… Auntie said that you didn’t eat any lunch, so I got you some rice noodles from that restaurant you like. Eat a bit to pad your stomach.”

Jian Rong instantly froze.

Ding-ge put the rice noodles down on the table. “What’s wrong?”

Lu Boyuan held back his laughter as he shook his head. “Have fun streaming. Check the message I sent you when you have a chance.”

Lu Boyuan went back to his own seat and turned on his computer. Jian Rong rubbed his face four or five times before he opened the barrage helper in resignation.

[Hahahahahahaha what kind of spicy dish did the auntie make, come on, why don’t you guys tell me]

[So what if his stomach hurts? Why is everyone laughing?]

[Running for his life with Hecarim’s E hahahahahaha]

[I can report this for sexual content, right?!]

[Is it what I think it is?! Is it really what I think it is!!]

“It’s not… stop freaking imagining things.” Jian Rong abruptly changed the topic. “98k did a decent job engaging here. Savior’s Zoe stunned Fighting Tiger’s ADC, Fighting Tiger is probably done for in this team fight.”

[No way no way, do you really think people are watching your stream to hear your commentary?]

[Please comment on the solo you had with God Lu last night.]

[What champion did you use yesterday?]

Jian Rong: “………”

Resisting the urge to go offline, Jian Rong silently recited “money is more important” to himself ten thousand times in his mind. Then he gave up and ducked his head to read the message that Lu Boyuan sent him ten minutes ago.

[R: My mom asked me to create an account for her on this streaming platform. If she starts randomly sending strange comments in your stream one day, you can just block her directly.]

[R-ong: ?!]

[R-ong: What’s the username for Auntie’s account?]

[R: I forgot.]

[R: Green tea? Black tea? Oolong tea?]

Startled, Jian Rong slowly turned his head back towards the barrage.

[Bitter Tea: I don’t have the energy to argue with you all like this. If you choose to continue insulting him, I will see you in court.]

[I’m crying from fear, Bitter Tea, you’re so badass.]

[This streamer is garbage, lacks manners, and shades pro players from other teams, yet we aren’t allowed to say anything bad about him? And what ‘see you in court,’ have primary school students already fallen so far in this day and age?]

[They don’t sound like a primary school student, they sound more like a headmaster.]

[Bitter Tea, you type too slowly, could you go a little faster? Catch up to everyone else’s speed, ok?]

[Bitter Tea, you should just stop talking. My son doesn’t need a dad like you.]

Immediately, Jian Rong banned the person who insulted Bitter Tea, along with the person who said that he didn’t need such a dad.

As he was being interrogated with questions like “didn’t you freaking say that you weren’t gonna ban anyone” and “it’s one thing if you ban the flamers but why the hell are you banning your dad,” he suddenly turned off his camera.

After the water friends spammed question marks for three minutes, the video was finally turned back on.

The unkempt gaming nerd with the rumpled shirt collar from a moment ago was gone.

The teenager sitting in front of the camera was now wearing his team jacket, with the zipper pulled appropriately up to his chest. His hair was neat, his back was stick straight, and he looked full of energy. If he put on a red neck scarf, he could head right over to the neighboring school and raise the national flag.

“When did I say that I wasn’t going to ban anyone?” Jian Rong promptly lost his memory and said seriously, “It is the responsibility of each and every netizen to maintain a clean, friendly online community, and I ask that all of you use suitable vocabulary to get along harmoniously with each other. Let’s be well-mannered netizens together.”

[Bitter Tea: I couldn’t agree more.]

[???]

[What kind of BS is this.]

[You leaving the internet is the biggest contribution to creating a beautiful online community.]

[So how exactly is ‘well-mannered’ related to you at all?]

[Bitter Tea: As a famous streamer, you should be spreading positivity and proper values into the heart of every viewer.]

“I hope that no more profanity will be used, since it’s also a lot of work for the moderators to ban people.” Jian Rong smiled in front of a screen filled with question marks. “Now, let us watch this team fight. Savior’s Zoe uses Sleepy Trouble Bubble—regretfully, he misses his target, and ends up being stunned and killed by the enemy mid laner. It’s very unfortunate, but we trust that this isn’t Savior’s true strength. He will definitely perform even better next time.

“In this team fight, Fighting Tiger has the advantage—98k flashes and kills Da Niu, reversing the situation. It was quite unexpected that Da Niu would choose to stand in such a position. Perhaps it would have been better to walk a little further away from the dragon pit… but that’s alright, Da Niu is an incredibly outstanding late-game pro player. Let’s continue to look forward to what he will do next.”

Xiao Bai took off his headphones and patted Jian Rong’s shoulder in alarm.

Jian Rong: “What is it?”

Xiao Bai: “Who are you? Even though you’re very nice and I like you a lot, our team is going to compete in a few days, so I still hope that you can switch our mid laner’s soul back. But it’s fine if you wanna swap out with him after the match…”

Jian Rong: “Do you mind quieting down a little? You’re disturbing my stream a bit.”

Xiao Bai: “…”

This one stream depleted an entire lifetime’s worth of Jian Rong’s patience and acting skills. As soon as he was done, he self-secluded himself in his room.

Lu Boyuan sat at the head of the bed, rubbing Jian Rong’s head through the blanket.

Lu Boyuan said to the person on the other end of the phone, “Mom, from now on, don’t go to his livestream room too often. It makes him uneasy.”

Jian Rong swiftly tugged down his blanket and looked at Lu Boyuan in shock. He mouthed: I’m fine—

On the other side, Mama Lu was browsing through a department store. “But I wasn’t watching. I’ve been out shopping with your aunt the whole day.”

Lu Boyuan: “Is Bitter Tea not your account?”

“That’s my account, but I…” Mama Lu paused before suddenly realizing something. “Oh. That was most likely your dad. When I told him about the stream account, he even pretended like he was all uninterested and disdainful.”

Lu Boyuan went quiet for a moment.

After he came out to his dad last month, he was chased out of their family home with a stick.

He hadn’t mentioned that to Jian Rong, and he wasn’t planning on doing so before everything calmed down.

There was a tug on his sleeve, and Lu Boyuan looked down. With wide eyes, Jian Rong asked him in the faintest whisper, “What did Auntie say?

“Is she angry because all those water friends were insulting her?

“Did I screw things up?”

Lu Boyuan ended the call. “You didn’t.”

Jian Rong: “Then…”

Lu Boyuan reached out and mussed up the hair that Jian Rong had combed down during the stream. He asked, “God Jian, are you available anytime soon?”

Jian Rong was startled. “Probably after the competition… what’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Lu Boyuan smiled. “I just wanted to invite God Jian back to my house again for dinner.

“This time, as my boyfriend.”