Chapter 38: Keyboard and Interview
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
When Cheng Pian came back with the food, he saw Ji Jin, Zhao Ze, and coach Liu Sha slouching on the hospital seats in a perfectly synchronized but relaxed manner. Their movements were uniform, but their expressions were slightly different.
Ji Jin was touching his lower abdomen as he slouched, and his expression looked about the same as usual—at least Cheng Pian thought so.
Zhao Ze slouched with a vacant gaze and looked utterly hopeless. He stared up at the hospital ceiling, his eyes empty, as if his soul had left his body.
Liu Sha looked blankly ahead, but it seemed like he saw nothing. Even when Cheng Pian walked right up to them carrying the food, they acted as if they didn’t notice, as though they had been shocked by something.
But God Ji’s expression seemed alright, not like anything was wrong.
Cheng Pian didn’t know whether to be nervous or to laugh and cry at the same time.
“The food is here,” Cheng Pian said as she handed the food to the three of them. “What’s wrong with you guys?”
Ji Jin was already so hungry his chest almost touched his back. He took the bag and immediately started looking for something to eat, acting like he hadn’t eaten for days.
Hospital food was notoriously bad, so Cheng Pian had gone outside to buy some. There weren’t many convenient options, so he had packed some McDonald’s — mainly burgers and salads.
Ji Jin was starving and grabbed a burger, about to take a bite, but Zhao Ze snatched it away.
“You can’t eat this junk right now,” Zhao Ze said as he took the burger and put it back in the bag. After some careful searching, he found a small box of vegetable salad and handed it to Ji Jin. “Eat this. It’s nutritious.”
Ji Jin looked at the small box of green salad with deep depression. When he was pregnant with Ji Xingxing abroad, there had been no Chinese food at all—he mostly ate steak and salads. It was only after finding a Chinese restaurant that he managed to get by.
So now, looking at the salad made him almost want to throw up.
“What happened? Did something happen to God Ji?” Cheng Pian asked anxiously. He hadn’t been there earlier and thought something might have happened to Ji Jin.
Zhao Ze hadn’t yet figured out how to tell the team about Ji Jin’s pregnancy, and Ji Jin hadn’t decided either, mainly waiting for the team’s arrangement, so he hadn’t said anything.
“It’s nothing. God Ji’s been too tired lately, so he needs to supplement his nutrition and avoid junk food,” Zhao Ze explained.
“Then why is Liu Sha here too?” Cheng Pian suddenly became suspicious.
“Let me come help,” Liu Sha said hopelessly, helping Zhao Ze and Ji Jin cover up the situation. He had rushed over immediately after getting the call, but when he arrived, he realized there wasn’t really much to do.
It just shook his worldview a bit.
To fool Cheng Pian, the four of them drove back to the hotel. This time it was an official competition held in another city’s branch venue, so the MOE team had only nine people total: the team manager, the coach, five starters, and two substitutes.
The hotel rooms were doubles, and Zhao Ze decided that Ji Jin would stay alone. Nobody objected since Ji Jin was an Omega, and the others were either Alphas or Betas; it didn’t make sense for them to share a room.
After returning to the hotel, Zhao Ze ordered dinner for everyone, delivering it directly to their rooms. This helped disguise the difference between Ji Jin’s food and the others’, because pregnant Omegas had special diets due to their delicate bodies. According to regulations, pregnant Omegas on the job had their dietary needs handled by the company, similar to maternity leave, and it was mandatory.
Ji Jin returned to his room and felt a little upset looking at his watery, bland pregnancy-special meal. Nutrition balance was important now, but at this stage, all he wanted was meat. Preferably sizzling fatty pork belly or honey-glazed roast chicken.
But in front of him were only broccoli with shrimp, vegetables, and a light fish soup.
Ji Jin ate listlessly while worrying about the children inside his belly. The hospital doctors must have overthought things—he absolutely didn’t want to give up the babies. But keeping the children wasn’t going to be easy.
He had just signed a contract with MOE and couldn’t afford to pay the penalty for breaching it. Plus, he didn’t plan to retire again. The last time he retired, it was forced because the team management wouldn’t allow him to be pregnant. This time, the team leaders said they’d consider it, and Ji Jin felt that given his irreplaceable position on the team now, they probably wouldn’t force him out.
But not retiring meant continuing to compete. The current competition intensity was no joke, but he felt he could handle it. However, Ji Xingxing would have to be a pitiful left-behind child, likely neglected.
The scariest problem was, of course, Lu Yao.
Ji Jin didn’t know how to bring this up with Lu Yao or whether Lu Yao would want to keep these two children. He wanted to hide the existence of the babies for now, but he had only been back in the country for two or three months and couldn’t find anyone to pretend to be the father and cover for him.
With Lu Yao’s sharpness, he would probably guess who the father was right away, and then Ji Xingxing’s identity might not remain safe.
Thinking of this made Ji Jin even hungrier.
But… Ji Jin thought again. The first three months of an Omega pregnancy were very dangerous and prone to miscarriage. Since it might be twins, it wasn’t guaranteed the children would be kept.
It was better not to say anything for now.
After resting overnight, the team arranged training for the afternoon the next day and reserved a conference room specifically for the upcoming match.
No one had any problems except Ji Jin—he was the only one who arrived late, and everyone almost didn’t recognize him.
Ji Jin wore a radiation protection suit that covered almost his entire body, exposing only his pale white hands. He had requested earlier not to wear such a frightening outfit and wanted to buy a smaller suit to just cover his belly.
But Zhao Ze, out of rigorous concern for their teammate and the little life inside him, insisted Ji Jin wear the strictest radiation protection suit.
The protection was very thorough, as if afraid no one knew Ji Jin was pregnant.
“Uh… did God Ji get diagnosed with some problem yesterday?” Du Xi tried to ask kindly, “Why wear this… outfit?”
Luckily, these teammates were young Alphas who didn’t understand what the suit was for or why it was necessary.
Although Ji Jin had kept it hidden on the first day, with Zhao Ze’s strictness, it wouldn’t be a secret for long. Fortunately, the MOE and IKW matches weren’t held together; otherwise, Lu Yao would probably have guessed already before Ji Jin could hide it.
The competition in City G was easier compared to Cities B and S. MOE was still a problematic team but performed fairly well in the four matches in City G, only losing one match to a mid-to-high-level team. Overall, they were good enough to enter the playoffs.
For Ji Jin, this week’s matches were relatively easy. The difficult part was at the end of the last match in City G when he saw Lu Yao sitting in the front row of the audience, looking at him with focused and gentle eyes.
Instinctively, Ji Jin covered the radiation protection suit hidden under his clothes.
During the match, he couldn’t possibly wear a full protective suit—it would have been too obvious. So Ji Jin bought two extra sets and cut them into apron shapes to wrap around his stomach. After all, the match only lasted a few hours, and the radiation wouldn’t have been too strong. No one could see it hidden under his clothes.
But unexpectedly, Lu Yao showed up and even came directly to the stadium to block him.
Ji Jin remembered that Lu Yao’s matches that week were quite early, so arriving early at the sub-venue was normal. He guessed Lu Yao was just stopping by incidentally to see him.
Luckily, there was a post-match interview, which could delay the time before he met Lu Yao.
They had won quite a few matches before. Now MOE had safely entered the playoffs. The other teams behind were not as strong as MOE had been, and with Ji Jin on the team, their chances of losing were low.
This made the interviews with MOE less exciting; the reporters were listless and spoke without much energy.
However, today Ji Jin had a feeling something was about to happen. Otherwise, the reporters wouldn’t have been so excited—almost like they had been injected with adrenaline—while looking at him.
The official players, coaches, and managers sat in a row, waiting for the reporters’ questions.
“First, congratulations to MOE on another victory,” this time the reporter was polite, knowing to say congratulations. “MOE seems to be in good form. Have you made any predictions about the final rankings?”
Ji Jin loved this kind of question. Predicting rankings? Of course, he predicted first place. But Zhao Ze had already anticipated Ji Jin’s response and grabbed the microphone first.
“All the MOE players have worked hard. With God Ji joining, the team will definitely get better. As for the playoffs rankings, the competition isn’t over, so it’s hard to say. We just need to keep working hard,” Zhao Ze said humbly and appropriately.
However, such words had no real scoop and failed to excite the reporters. Instead, more people took photos of Ji Jin looking awkward because he hadn’t grabbed the microphone.
“May I ask what God Ji thinks about Lu Yao from the IKW team? Earlier today’s match, the camera accidentally filmed Brick’s keyboard, which was printed with your name. What is your relationship? When did you give him the keyboard? Does it have any special meaning?”
This question came from a female Beta reporter who clearly hinted at something beyond the match. She mentioned Lu Yao with a bit of a provocation.
This question caught Ji Jin off guard. He hadn’t expected Lu Yao to still be using the same keyboard after three years. Ji Jin had retired three years ago, and that keyboard was actually a prize made by the league during the spring championship three years earlier. Since Lu Yao was a little fan, Ji Jin had casually given it to him.
He hadn’t expected Lu Yao to keep using it for three years.
“Lu Yao is a very outstanding player, but of course, he isn’t as skilled as me,” Ji Jin said with a slight playful raise of his eyebrows. “When I was still with IKW, Lu Yao was a trainee. We trained together often. When I saw the kid playing games well, I gave it to him. It didn’t have any special meaning.”
Ji Jin spoke honestly, without a trace of exaggeration. But what he didn’t say was that he had indeed thought Lu Yao was a promising junior back then—and that Lu Yao liked him. And now… he still liked him.
Last night, Lu Yao even confessed to him via WeChat. But Ji Jin wasn’t about to tell anyone.
At that moment, Lu Yao was watching from not far away from the interview. Hearing Ji Jin’s words, he couldn’t help but lower his head and smile.
He could pretty much guess all the things his “brother” hadn’t said.
Author’s note:
Reporter: What is your relationship?
Ji Jin (on the surface): No relationship.
Ji Jin (in reality): Together they had three kids.
Lu Yao: Husband and husband relationship.
Ji Xingxing: Daddy and daddy’s weird-uncle-smelling guy.
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