Chen Jie listened quietly to Li Ziren's speech, and at the end, Li Ziren stopped talking.

The two of them were silent on the phone for about two minutes before Chen Jie said in a dumb voice, I know. Then he hung up.

The night is always so quiet, and always so fragile. A little light can shatter the silence.

Chen Jie suddenly wanted to smoke.

The old man is a cigarette king, and he used to take him to play games. Chen Jie smoked a lot of second-hand smoke, and he couldn't say that he was disgusted with this thing, and occasionally accompanied the old man to smoke and drink, but he never smoked it.

But now Chen Jie wants to smoke.

Go out and buy cigarettes. There are not many shops that open in the early morning, and Chen Jie, who is not very familiar with this place, cannot find a convenience store that is open 24 hours a day.

A man wrapped in a down jacket wanders aimlessly through the streets, like a husk of flesh looking for a soul to return to.

There were scattered snowflakes floating in the sky, bit by bit, falling on Chen Jie's hair and neck. Snow that is so common in the north has become a luxury here.

Chen Jie felt a little uncomfortable and cold, and the unfamiliar scenery around him naturally reminded him of the old place, the place where their training base and their team started.

So, Chen Jie turned around and walked towards the old place.

Chen Jie sat on a chair, the air conditioner hanging on the wall and humming. Chen Jie lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and looked at the room that he should be familiar with, but it was very unfamiliar.

The door is still the same door, and the equipment is still the same device. But the glass on the door seems to have been replaced with a new poster, and the keyboard has also been affixed with a new protective film.

Chen Jie has never been so eager to think about himself and everything around him. It seems that he has never understood the people and things around him, whether it is the former club or the current 33 team. He didn't think about it, because he always felt that time would give him the answers he wanted to know.

But since he entered the club, the answer that time has given him has never been what he wanted. Whether it was Li Xing's black hand or the words that Li Ziren told him just now.

Maybe there are also true, He Xiang, Brother Xiong, Boss, Bing Xiaotian, Li Ziren, Da Meng, Wang Ke, Wang Meng and the master of the factory.

He wanted to call the old man. It's his home, it's his family, maybe it's time to talk.

Chen Jie took out his mobile phone and glanced at the time, it was 3:45 in the morning. It was the last time for everyone to take a deep sleep before waking up, and maybe it was time for the old man to sleep.

Chen Jie hesitated. He is a child who has just entered the society for a year and needs to find a place to put his heart at ease when he is disappointed, depressed, and depressed. But he is not a child, and when he is an adult, he should have his own ideas, space, and ways to deal with emotions.

Chen Jie lit a cigarette again, and there were already six cigarette butts in the ashtray at this time.

The cigarette burned slowly at his fingertips, and the smoke swirled in the air as he saw it. Chen Jie finally pressed the dial button.

One, two, three...

Chen Jie wanted to press the phone, but finally held back, maybe now is not the time to be reckless.

"Xiaojie." The phone finally rang, and the old man's muffled voice rang in the phone.

Chen Jie had a warm current flowing from the bottom of his heart, he thought he would cry, but now he just smiled faintly.

"The old man hasn't slept yet?"

"What time is it, can you not sleep?" Although the old man said this, there was not a hint of reproach in his tone. He watched Chen Jie grow up, and he also knew that although this child looked gentle, he also had a stubbornness, which was very similar to him.

"Where's Aunt Zhuo?" Chen Jie asked.

"I'm asleep." The old man just answered Chen Jie's question, and didn't take the initiative to ask Chen Jie what was wrong. When the child is older, some self-esteem still needs to be given.

"Well, that's good." Chen Jie hummed lightly.

"Smoking?" The old man could tell that something was wrong with Chen Jie's voice.

"I was a little irritable, so I sucked two." Chen Jie stretched out his hand and rubbed his face, relaxing, trying to make his voice normal.

"Look at your Aunt Zhuo this time, if you don't say that I brought you badly, I won't be by your side this time." The old man laughed. Chen Jie here is also grinning.

"Old man, why are you playing games?" Chen Jie finally started chatting by himself. Isn't this a question to yourself?

"Me? Hey. The old man laughed, and then heard the sound of the old man getting up and walking, and then the sound of the lighter lighting a cigarette.

The old man took a puff of his cigarette and slowly exhaled it, as if recalling:

"At first, I liked it. Later, they met a group of friends, and later developed into brothers. Playing professionally because we need money. ”

The old man said slowly, and Chen Jie listened quietly.

"There was an elder who was sick and needed money, and the bonus at that time was not as high as you are now, but it was not a small amount. We were all poor at that time, and our brothers were also poor, and we couldn't even eat enough when we participated in the competition, and the best meal was that everyone could make a bag of instant noodles. ”

"When the finals were approaching, everyone had been hungry for several days, so they had no choice but to take turns to work part-time jobs to earn money to eat. During that time, it was a hard time. ”

The old man's tone was full of memories.

"But then we failed."

"Why?"

"There is no why. A guy came to me and told us to give up the race, and as soon as we gave up, we would immediately get the amount of the winner's prize. I was shaken because I knew that even if I didn't accept him, we wouldn't have won the championship in the form we had at that time. Everyone is very hard and tired. What supports us is the prize money of the champion, if we can get that money directly without participating in the competition, then I think it is a good thing for everyone, at least it doesn't have to work so hard, and there is life-saving money. ”

"But I didn't tell everybody. Because when I say it, people don't necessarily support it, because we have come so far, how can we give up halfway? Besides, what if the other party cheats on me? ”

Chen Jie listened quietly and did not interject. He knew the old man, and he also knew that the old man must have been very painful and difficult when he made this decision, because the old man was also a stubborn person.

"Later, that person lied to us. We don't have champions, we don't have money, and we lose our elders. I also had the idea of giving up, and I couldn't think of the word revenge at that time. Too hard days are always daunting, and if we have to go down the same path all over again, it means that we have to suffer like this again. ”

"Later, we broke up. Everyone was so far away that they almost lost contact. ”

The old man paused and continued:

"Later, I met some friends, some brothers, and under their guidance, I slowly accepted this fact. At that time, I also thought, why play games? Is it really because you like it? Probably so. But is it just because of like? This is also not true. I've seen my friends crazy about the game, and I've seen some people get into the industry to make money. There is everyone in this circle, for interest, for money, for fame, for friendship and love... Later I understood that there was indeed a reason in the beginning, and then it became a part of my life and life. It's not just the game itself, it's something that transcends it. Like you said, someone supports you, someone loves you, someone looks at you, isn't that enough? What else do you want to do with that?

Your lover, your friends are here, where can you go? I don't know what happened to you, maybe I made a mistake in letting you go this way in the first place, if you don't like it, come back, I and your Aunt Zhuo won't blame you. The old man said.

"I'm fine." Chen Jie rubbed his face again, "It's just that the weather here is a little uncomfortable, and I'm a little homesick." ”

"It's okay." The old man couldn't hear Chen Jie's flawed lie, but he didn't expose it, but said: "Since the weather over there is not suitable, let's come back for the New Year." Otherwise, there will be two people left, me and your Aunt Zhuo, who are strangely lonely. ”

"Okay."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Jie sat in a chair in a daze, silently thinking about those words in his heart, and also thinking about his true thoughts.

After a while, Chen Jie woke up suddenly as if he had suddenly woken up, and then reached out and grabbed most of the unfinished box of cigarettes on the table, and threw it directly into the trash can after the mobile phone was crumpled into a ball.

Chen Jie stood up, walked around the room twice to make himself more sober, and then took out the phone and pressed the dial button. He decided to give Li Ziren a chance, if Li Ziren hadn't slept at this time. He also figured it out, and although he didn't figure out why he wanted to play this game yet, since he had already embarked on such a path, it was better to go on first.

The phone rang and was picked up. Unlike Chen Jie's irritability and confusion, the reason why Li Ziren couldn't sleep was because of guilt. Chen Jie asked him to talk to his father about this matter very early, but because he was worried that his father would not agree, he hesitated and delayed until now.

Li Ziren's idea is very simple, after participating in this competition, he will never mention the words e-sports and games again, this is the first time he has fought for his dreams and goals. It only takes half a month to complete, and after this half a month, the game is over, so there is no need to worry about anything.

But there are not only 10,000 in the world, but also in case. Li Ziren, who was frightened every day and prayed silently in his heart, was still discovered by his father, and under his father's strict education and persecution, he had to tell Chen Jie that he could no longer participate in the competition.

This choice is not between Chen Jie and his father, but between dreams and family affection. He was in pain, blamed himself but had nothing to do, so he couldn't sleep all night.

It wasn't until he saw Chen Jie's phone call that he answered the phone without hesitation.

"Tell your dad that you can support yourself by playing games. I'll take you to play professional, tell him, you can do it! ”