Lin Jing: "..."
What she feared had indeed come to pass.
That was two years ago, and her second... no, third call to him was a year after that. Back then, he had acted exactly like it was the first time he was receiving a call from her, his tone cold and distant.
Even she herself believed that no one else would know about it besides her.
Moreover, she had always been convinced that even if he recognized her one day, he would never connect it to that "scam call."
Ultimately, she had been too confident.
Not only had she been recognized, but she had been recognized completely.
Lin Jing couldn't figure out how he managed not to recognize her a year ago, and then a year later, to link her to that "scam call."
It was utterly preposterous.
Lin Jing was silent for a moment: "You... saved my phone number two years ago?"
Aside from that, she truly couldn't think of any other possibility.
She genuinely didn't believe anyone would remember such a casual little interlude so clearly.
Sheng Kuang: "No."
Lin Jing didn't quite believe him: "Lying isn't what good kids do, you know."
Sheng Kuang chuckled: "No, I really didn't."
After a pause, he added: "I saved it after I recognized you."
Lin Jing was completely defeated. She was still stubbornly unwilling to accept how thoroughly he had recognized her, leaving her with no little secrets: "Then how did you know that the scam call back then was me?"
Sheng Kuang didn't deliberately play coy: "I was sleeping and was woken up by you. I was a bit agitated, and when I answered the phone, it was a young, wayward female scammer, which made me even more agitated."
"..."
Agitated, she understood.
But what was this "young, wayward female scammer" bit?
Lin Jing was still unconvinced: "I don't believe you never received scam calls from other women."
"I did," Sheng Kuang replied, his typing very loud as if he were replying to someone else, "but a female scammer with such a pleasant voice, there's only you."
"..."
Was he praising her?
Lin Jing opened her mouth, her ears turning red.
She cleared her throat uncomfortably and said "Oh" with feigned composure.
Sheng Kuang stopped typing: "Do you have class later?"
Lin Jing shook her head, then quickly added, realizing he couldn't see her: "No."
"Then want to play a couple of games?" Sheng Kuang asked.
Lin Jing said with a surprised "Ah," "Okay."
Sheng Kuang didn't say anything.
While logging into the game, Lin Jing said: "I'm going to hang up now."
"Mhm, go ahead."
After hanging up, Lin Jing clicked to enter the game.
...
Sheng Kuang saw Lin Jing's avatar pop up in the top left corner of the game. Without inviting her, he activated his microphone: "I'm leaving, you guys play on."
Li Ran: "Huh? We just played one game, and you're already not preparing to join the room. We finally got you to play, and now you're saying you're not playing anymore?"
Xiao Mo: "Yeah, Brother Kuang, it's been a while since I played games with you. We finally got a team going, play a couple more rounds, please?"
"Something came up. I really can't play anymore. We'll play another time when I'm free," Sheng Kuang said goodbye and directly exited the room.
Chen Jing, who was also in the same five-player lobby, glanced at Sheng Kuang, who was sitting opposite him, and mumbled with dissatisfaction: "What could possibly be so important?"
Sheng Kuang lowered his head, creating a room and inviting Lin Jing, and replied calmly: "Accompanying my little boss."
...
Lin Jing entered the room and was a little surprised to see only Sheng Kuang in it: "Why is it just you?"
Sheng Kuang hadn't activated his voice chat. After a couple of seconds, a microphone icon appeared above his avatar, and then Sheng Kuang's voice came through her headphones: "Who else were you expecting?"
"No, it's just," Lin Jing paused, "I saw you were queuing just now, so I thought there were others."
Sheng Kuang clicked start: "I just played a five-player game with Chen Jing, Li Ran, Xiao Mo, and TS's top laner."
Lin Jing said "Oh," thinking to herself that she hadn't asked so specifically.
They were playing ranked matches. Lin Jing chose to play support. As long as she was duo-queueing with Sheng Kuang, her eyes were only on him, and she basically spent the entire game trying to protect him.
Although Sheng Kuang was playing the solo lane this time, she still followed him. They had played so many games together that they had a good level of默契 (mòqì - understanding/chemistry). At level two, seeing the enemy top laner at half health, she immediately said to Sheng Kuang, "I have interference," and Sheng Kuang, without a second thought, dived under the tower. Lin Jing followed suit and activated interference, and Sheng Kuang took down the enemy top laner.
With an economic advantage, Sheng Kuang, with a support, made the enemy top laner's life miserable. Within five minutes, they had destroyed two outer turrets in the enemy solo lane. The enemy jungler and mid laner had to rush to support the top laner. Their jungler, marksman, and mid laner farmed everywhere, developing rapidly, and the economic gap widened. In less than ten minutes, they had destroyed the enemy's crystal.
Back in the room, Lin Jing clicked ready.
She waited for about ten seconds and, seeing that Sheng Kuang hadn't started yet, couldn't help but send a question mark.
Little Jing Jing Jing Sauce: ?
yLs&
Sheng Kuang: "You recognized me?"
Through the game, Lin Jing could tell from his tone that he seemed to be in a very good mood when he said this.
She wasn't sure why he was so happy. After a two-second pause, she honestly replied with a "Mm."
Sheng Kuang chuckled, clicked start, the match was found, and they entered the hero selection screen. Sheng Kuang chuckled again.
His laughter made Lin Jing feel a bit guilty, though she wasn't sure for what, but she felt uneasy.
She pursed her lips and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Sheng Kuang: "Nothing."
Lin Jing: "...Oh."
After both sides finished banning heroes, Sheng Kuang suddenly said, "You saved my number."
His statement was quite abrupt, and Lin Jing couldn't react for a moment: "Huh?"
Sheng Kuang locked in a jungler and clicked to help select: "Two years ago, did you save my phone number?"
Lin Jing: "..."
She did save it, but how did he guess?
Lin Jing slowly swallowed, about to feign naturalness and casually say, "No."
Before she could speak, Sheng Kuang's voice clearly entered her ears through the headphones: "Lying isn't what good kids do, you know."
"..."
He was actually mimicking her.
Lin Jing was silent for a full ten seconds before saying expressionlessly: "Can I choose not to be a good kid?"
Sheng Kuang let out a low chuckle: "You can. Then lie."
Lin Jing opened her mouth, but the words "I didn't save it" hadn't reached her lips when she suddenly realized that in this situation, telling the truth or lying made no difference.
She closed her mouth, remained silent for two seconds, and sighed: "Forget it. I thought about it, and I've decided to be a good kid."
Still feeling a little embarrassed, she looked away from the screen and, after much effort, managed to utter an "Mm."
After two seconds, she whispered, "Yes, I saved it, but I swear, I only saved your number. I didn't do anything else, I didn't tell anyone, and I didn't harass you."
Before she even finished speaking, Sheng Kuang laughed: "Mhm, I know."
He chuckled, his voice still carrying the laughter: "After all, you're a good kid."
"..."
"Good kid, pick a hero."