On a cold winter night, the two of them snuggled up to each other on the balcony.
Su Cheng's fingers tapped rapidly on her phone as she focused on replying to other people's New Year's messages. She subconsciously curled up in Lin Yan's embrace.
Lin Yan felt at ease as he hugged her warm and soft body tightly.
He looked at the bright moon in the sky. The fireworks in the distance blended together and reflected on Su Cheng's fair face, making her eyebrows and eyes look like a painting.
He could not control himself for a moment. The sound of Su Cheng tapping on her phone screen suddenly disappeared and was replaced by the faint sound of firecrackers in the distance.
When the two of them returned to the private room hand in hand, Unforgettable Tonight's song was heard.
Lin Yan had some thoughts as he scratched Su Cheng's soft palm with his finger.
"Unforgettable Tonight?" He asked softly.
The lady rolled her eyes at him, then sat down and put a piece of Chengzi into her mouth.
Su Cheng's mother drank a little too much, so she leaned on her husband and whispered to him. After being married for more than twenty years, their relationship was still the same.
Lin Yan began to send red packets in the YM group. Being in a good mood, he gave out a few thousand yuan and received sincere compliments from Lil 'Jerk.
It was already early in the morning when they left. The Su family's Four Seasons by the Lake was not far from here, so the three of them decided to leave on foot.
"Should I call for a car from the front desk?" Lin Yan looked at his father.
"No need, it's only two kilometers away from the neighborhood, we can walk back." Lin Mingdong's face was rosy and his voice was much louder than before.
Lin Yan was relieved when he noticed that he did not seem drunk.
The streets of Suzhou were empty on New Year's Eve as most of the migrant workers had returned to their hometowns to reunite with their friends and relatives.
There were many customers in the McDonald's on the first floor of the commercial district by the street. A few couples sat by the window and fed each other a whirlwind. It looked quite sweet.
Lin Yan remembered that in the late autumn of two years ago, he met PDD here for the first time and embarked on the career path that seemed uncertain at that time.
"How many more years do you plan to play professionally?" Lin Mingdong, who was walking at the back, suddenly asked. The surrounding cars whistled.
"When I feel that my method of winning is too difficult, I plan to retire." Lin Yan was stunned for two seconds before he answered.
"What are you going to do after you retire?" Lin Mingdong strode to Lin Yan's side.
He no longer preached to Lin Yan with doubts and aggressiveness like two years ago. Instead, he placed Lin Yan in an equal position and communicated with him.
"Hmm …" Lin Yan thought about it seriously. "Should I buy a few houses and continue my studies?"
Lin Mingdong was a little surprised. "When I asked you to study, you said you weren't cut out for studying."
"That was then and this is now." Lin Yan walked forward under the moonlight. "Now I understand."
"Not everything that needs to be done must be in line with one's interests. Besides … After leaving school, I realized that I'm actually not that resistant to studying. It's true that I'm not interested, but it's not to the extent that I can't learn."
"I'm just resistant to what you want me to do." Lin Yan turned to look directly into Lin Mingdong's eyes. His tone was calm. "I was like this when I was doing live streaming."
Lin Mingdong fell silent.
"… It's my fault," he said softly after a long time.
Lin Yan was replying to Su Cheng's message earlier. Her family had returned home and were preparing to wash up and sleep, hence she did not pay attention to Lin Mingdong's words.
"Hmm?" He tilted his head slightly.
"After your mother left, I didn't care enough about you. I only contacted you once or twice a month. I'm sorry." Lin Mingdong's voice trembled slightly as he unbuttoned his collar.
Lin Mingdong's posture was still tall and straight. Despite being close to fifty years old, he maintained his body well. One could only guess his age through the faint white hair at his temples and the fine wrinkles on his face.
Lin Yan did not utter a word.
…
On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the busy Lin Mingdong ended his vacation and received a work notice to head to New York for business negotiations in the United States.
Lin Yan walked him out the door. As soon as he pressed the elevator button, he turned around and saw Lin Mingdong dragging two suitcases. He struggled to cross the threshold. His movements were somewhat laborious.
"Let me help you." He hesitated for a moment before taking a suitcase from his father's hand.
There were not many people in the neighborhood in the early morning. There were only a few uncles and aunties returning from a walk in the park with their dogs on leashes.
"Here." Lin Mingdong took the suitcase from Lin Yan's hand. "I've called a taxi."
Lin Yan put his hands in his pockets and stayed where he was without moving.
"Remember to eat on time." Lin Mingdong finally could not help but nag. "Don't order McDonald's all day. The hotel has a reservation service. Before I left, I put a few business cards on the coffee table. If you want to eat anything, just call them."
"I know." Lin Yan turned his head away and bent his index finger to rub his nose.
"When you're with Su Cheng, take care of her more. Don't be childish," Lin Mingdong reminded him. "She's a good girl."
"I understand. Don't …" Lin Yan wanted to retort, but when he saw Lin Mingdong's slightly haggard face, he did not say anything.
The taxi stopped in front of Lin Mingdong. Lin Yan helped him put his luggage in the trunk and watched the taxi rush to the high-speed rail station before he turned and left.
The next few days were unusually busy. Lin Yan had to communicate with the design team about the renovation drawings of the new villa, and then he had to attend a class reunion.
His high school classmates, who had not seen each other for a long time, were enthusiastic. They rushed back to Suzhou from all over the world and told their childhood friends about the new world they had seen.
As a world champion, Lin Yan became a tool for group photos. The corners of his mouth were almost stiff from smiling.
"Lin Yan, can you get Xiao Tian to sign for me?"
A friend of his who was studying at the Shanghai Jiaozhong University came over excitedly. "I really like him. It would be even better if the little jerk could send me a sarcastic message behind the photo."
"Are you a masochist?" A classmate laughed.
The person shook his head. "You don't understand, do you?
I like the way Phyllostachys Pubescens says' Stinky dog, stop barking. '"
She had imitated it to perfection. That peculiar feeling of Yin and Yang was too strong.
"Someone actually wants Phyllostachys Pubescens's autograph?" Lin Yan could not help but shake his head. "His signature stinks. It's not as good as mine."
Lin Yan had just taken the YM photo he handed over when a female classmate from the University of Finance and Economics ran over to ask for Jack's autograph.
"Can I get Jack to sign a NB from the University of Finance and Economics for me?" She was close to Su Cheng. She held her best friend's arm and smiled.
Lin Yan watched Su Cheng argue with her classmate about which department was stronger, Tsinghua Mathematics or Fudan Mathematics.
He marked the names of his classmates on the back of the stack of photos in his hand, then wrote down their addresses. He promised to mail them the autographed photos when he returned to the Shanghai base.
…
On the morning of February 8th, Lin Yan and Su Cheng took the high-speed train back to Shanghai to meet up with their teammates.
In the first week of the new season, the teams that attracted the most attention, other than the defending champion YM, were the other powerhouses that made big moves during the transfer period.
EDG and RNG in Group B clashed in the first round of the competition.
If what Factory Director Dai said was true, "Pawn's departure will not affect us much," then Deft's departure would be a devastating blow to EDG. They lacked a stable late-game carry point.
Mr. Dai was not a pushover in the competition, but he was merciless when it came to LPL ADCs. Last year, he brought Meiko to play Ouze and Mata with ease.
Mr. Dai's departure from the key position made EDG's management team crazy. They actually let ROX's substitute mid laner Zet switch positions to play ADC.
On the other hand, Ouze saw that RNG's management team had signed the new champion support Shi Senming according to his wishes. He was as excited as if he had been injected with chicken blood.
The two of them directly pierced through EDG's bottom lane. Both games took 10 minutes to line up and drop a blood tower at the bottom lane. EDG could not play at all.
RNG won the Pig-dog War 2: 0. This made Meiko, who was used to killing other LPL bottom laners with Deft, very unhappy. He felt that Zet's laning ability was too bad, and he did not have any competitiveness in the current LPL.
On the other hand, WE, who was in Group A with YM, was on fire.
Their performance in the first match against Team Snake was strong. Even though the old support, Zero, was replaced by Ben, the five players quickly formed a positive chemical reaction in a short period of time.
WE crushed Snake in two games with a terrifying operational strategy.
Saintspear Bro and SOFM, who were good at getting lost in the middle of the game, had no resistance in front of WE's iron wall. They could not find a single opportunity and were flattened.
The former three-star Coach Bai and Red Mi contributed greatly. The changes he brought to WE were immediate.
Samsung White was the first player in League of Legends in S4. Every single one of their eye positions had been studied countless times. That year, Looper's teleportation support would always land in the enemy's unsuspecting eye positions. MATA and Dandy's teamwork had struck fear in the hearts of other teams.
With unbeatable operational skills and extremely strong individual skills, Samsung White, like SKT in S5, achieved a dominant performance in the S League, attracting countless fans. Their fans called them "The Stars Will Never Disperse Champions".
As a three-star Coach Bai, Red Mi's operational skills were needless to say. He was a match made in heaven with WE, who had always preferred late-game operations. He made WE 2.0's iron wall of operations even more indestructible.
WE and RNG, the two teams who had improved by leaps and bounds, made White Crescent highly vigilant. Without a doubt, they would be YM's biggest enemy on their path to the Silver Dragon Cup title.
On the other hand, VG's road after bringing in jungler Dumb Chicken and easyhoon to form the champion mid laner was not easy. They were crushed by OMG, who had Old Thief Sima and Icon in their first week of the competition.
Dumb Chicken lost his confidence after the loss in S6. He came to LPL purely to earn money and bring some of SKT's operational concepts to VG.
However, SKT's operational concept, which emphasized on systems, was not suitable for a team like VG. They would definitely go through a period of adjustment.
YM's opponent on Saturday's Lantern Festival night, QG, faced NB in the first week. The grudge between doinb and his old teammate ended in QG's 1: 2 defeat.
Su Cheng did not have to put in much effort. After looking through QG's recordings for two matches, she found out that the team relied on the duo of doinb and clid to carry the mid laner.
QG's top and bottom laners could only muddle along in the LSPL. How could they be expected to lead the team to victory in the LPL?
"Welcome to the live broadcast of the 2017 LPL Spring Season …" Today's commentator was Zeyuan and Remember. After the two of them had worked together to commentate a few matches last year, they had a tendency to act like Doll Mille.
"The first match after the New Year is still led by YM, against the newly promoted LPL team, QG!"
To a certain extent, the arrangement of the dates of the matches also reflected the importance that the organizers placed on the teams.
LPL's current matches were held on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday every week. Overall, the importance of the matches was higher than the weekdays. The later the matches, the better.
Last season, YM could only muddle along with a very ordinary live broadcast schedule. Their matches were basically held at 5 pm and 1 pm on weekends.
Now that the whole Alliance revolved around them, all of YM's matches were held during the weekend and evening primetime, trying to attract as many viewers as possible.
This kind of match arrangement was also a good thing for their opponents. Now that they were playing against YM, there was a lot of traffic. Once the players did something amazing, they would be able to attract a huge wave of fans.
"For the first match, QG will choose the red team. Now, according to the statistics we have compiled in the week before the start of the competition, the red team has a higher winning rate." Remember to bring the topic back to the main track after he finished reading the broadcast.
"During the New Year, our competition has also updated to version 7.3. Lucian, Qing Gang Ying, and Little Temptress have all been weakened. Lulu's passive damage output has been strengthened, and it is very likely that she will become a new support."
"It's worth mentioning that Sprint has also been slashed. Now, the acceleration effect has become a gradual increase. It no longer gives the hero a full movement speed bonus from the beginning." Ze Yuan shared some knowledge with the audience who didn't read the update often.
"It was mainly because of the sprinting that shone in the S6 finals, especially Ran. His ability to use sprinting to wander and escape was too strong. I still remember his sprinting sprinting against the Tigers in the semifinals. It was extremely exaggerated."
Accompanied by the enthusiastic shouts of the audience, the BP segment of the match officially began.
The YM coaching team knew that the Prophet's run-in in the team had not yet reached a satisfactory level. Under the instructions of White Crescent, the team's BO3 was mainly to break in the lineup.
QG's jungler, Clid, was basically a Blind Monk's Jinchuriki in the LSPL. As long as he was released, he would definitely be selected. White Crescent was very bold and decided to test the waters first.
In the end, YM chose a double archer lineup of Big Tree, Nanqiang, Karma, Policewoman, and Lulu. It was invincible in the frontal team battle.
On the other hand, QG had Shen, Blind Monk, Ryze, Kui, and Ella.
"QG's lineup …" Ze Yuan held his chin. "The main support in the early and middle stages, and the split push from the middle stages. Why do I feel that it is so familiar?"
"The familiar taste of YM." Remember's eyes narrowed into slits. "It can only be said that after the S6 finals, YM's playstyle system has been practiced and used by more and more teams."
"As long as you launch a surprise attack at the bottom lane near the 10-minute mark, it is very likely that you will get a huge early advantage. The economic value and strategic significance of a blood tower are quite high. This is the essence of a 4v2."
The YM players also laughed when they saw the opponent's lineup.
"Is the opponent trying to steal?" Jack looked at his teammates, shaking his legs.
"It's useless. They can't learn the essence of it even if they copy it." Phyllostachys Pubescens was very confident.
"Prophet, remember to protect Xiao Tian and Jack in this game." White Crescent reminded him before leaving the stage.
Prophet rubbed his hands nervously.
He was prepared to show his teammates the strength of his soft support in this game.
But he didn't expect the opponent's bottom lane to be so weak.
Six minutes into the game, Prophet used Polymorph on Kui, and Policewoman Jack's tower mounted EWQAAA. Half of Ash's damage was taken, and he died under his own tower.
This time, the lane kill directly broke the balance of the bottom lane. Jack had already suppressed the opponent's ADC by 20 attacks in just seven minutes. The economic gap was exaggerated.
Doinb saw that his own bottom lane was unreliable and hurriedly looked for the jungler, Clid, to try to launch a midlaner coordination. He planned to kill Lin Yan first.
But Lin Yan was terrifyingly stable now. How could he think of soloing Ryze with Karma?
"Ran can't even cross the river. Clid is still squatting here. Xiao Tian has almost cleared the jungle!"
Clid squatted in the bushes for half a minute before he was forced to give up and go to the top lane.
But Jin Gong was also very stable. He obediently controlled the minions in front of his tower and slowly ate them, waiting for the Big Tree's team battle to start.
Clid couldn't wait any longer. He ran out of the bushes and forcefully used Eye Touching Roundhouse Kick to kill Jin Gong. But Jin Gong cleverly used W to bind Blind Monk and used a passive to recover health before retreating.
"Isn't this too much of a loss?"
Ze Yuan felt sorry for QG. "Xiao Tian is in the bottom half of Clid's jungle. Blind Monk's level is going to fall behind!"
Clid, who had just debuted, was still too young. When he learned that his own jungle had been countered, he was anxious for success and wanted to continue to catch Jin Gong.
But this time, Xiao Tian found him.
"Level 9 Nanqiang against Level 7 Blind Monk. How can you play this?"
Accompanied by Ze Yuan's anxious shout, Xiao Tian controlled the Nanqiang to take Blind Monk's head with an ultimate bomb!
At this point, QG fell into a rhythm of collapse. Although they took the bottom lane's blood tower after 10 minutes of 4 to 2, it was a pity that they didn't manage to kill Jack.
Policewoman's development wasn't delayed at all. QG's Ember was frequently consumed by Jack's Facelift.
In the middle of the game, QG's economy fell behind 3K. Only doinb was left struggling to hold on.
At this time, he could still be called a hero. Not only did he know how to play Victor, but he could also choose early and middle heroes like Jayce and roaming assassins like Enchantress. He was at the peak of his individual skill.
But it was useless. He killed 300 blades in 25 minutes and was chased by Jack's Policewoman in the middle of the team battle.
Lin Yan and the Prophet used their speed increasing skills on Jack. The big-headed AD flew out like a Shiba Inu out of its leash. Policewoman's attack range was blocked by Reitz, who was madly firing at doinb.
The last bullet was blocked by the shield of his [Seraph's Embrace]. However, Jack closed the distance between them and killed the doinb with a headshot. Before the doinb died, he turned around and used [Overload], but it didn't even break the shield on the policewoman!
"In 25 minutes, Policewoman is already full of critical hits. Her damage output is too exaggerated!"
"Ran directly took out a Killer Book. The rest of his equipment is all support equipment. It's obvious that he wants to protect YM's double archers in the team battle!"
The difference in the lane was too big. YM stole the Dragon at 28 minutes and pushed it to the high ground. JKL tanked the tower and got four kills.
"Where's my pentakill?"
Jack's eyes were red. When he saw the team battle, he felt that he would get the third pentakill in his career today. However, he didn't expect to hear the notification that the enemy team was wiped out after the fourth kill.
"… I burned Shen to death." The Prophet laughed embarrassedly.
Phyllostachys Pubescens's mouth was about to crack. He controlled the Nanqiang and destroyed QG's base with a shot.
However, White Crescent was anxious when he saw them win the game.
"Don't be so fierce in the lane," he complained. "If you kill them in the lane, we won't be able to practice with this lineup."
"Then what do we do?" Jack was also very helpless. "The opponent's bottom lane is like a free kill. Do you think I won't take the kill when it's in my hands?"
"Then you don't have to take it in the next game." White Crescent gritted his teeth. "We have to practice with these weak teams. The effect of a practice match is not the same as an official game."
"You guys should be more stable in the bottom lane. Wait for the mid laner to take the advantage of the lineup to lead the rhythm."
The two sides switched sides. Lin Yan got Ryze, and doinb chose Karma.
Xiao Tian continued to practice the Nanqiang jungler. This hero was very easy to get against QG.
Because Clid was only playing characters like Blind Monk and Pekingese that could lead the rhythm, the jungler Nanqiang needed to rely on the support of his teammates after getting the lane rights. The strength of the top and bottom of QG was a little lower than the average level of the LPL. How could they snatch the lane rights to help the defending champion YM?
In the second game, the two sides finally peacefully developed to level 6.
After that, Lin Yan pushed back the jungler line and began to protect the bottom lane to advance and invade the jungle. He strictly followed the strategy, but there was a small interlude in the middle.
When he came out of the triangular bushes in the bottom lane, he just happened to see doinb poking his head out of the bushes opposite.
The two midlaners met face to face, exchanging Q's to show their respect, and then returned to their respective lines.
Two minutes later, in order to protect the jungler and fight for the river crab, the two met again at the river and arrived at the battlefield almost at the same time!
"Isn't this support speed too exaggerated?
I don't remember doinb playing like this last year? "The person who remembered was a little confused.
The audience watched as the two midlaners directly abandoned the lane and began to work everywhere with the jungler. Their pace was highly coordinated. It was as if they were copying the opponent's playstyle!
Snatching F6's jungle camp close to the middle lane, it was fine if the midlaner was there. But fighting for a group of Gargoyles, the two midlaners were following behind their own jungler!
They didn't even need the cannon troops in the middle lane to help the jungler gain an advantage. The audience had never seen such a playstyle before!
[GG, I'm stupid. Is there something wrong with the midlaner?
What the hell is this?]
[This is too ridiculous. They're roaming for the sake of roaming?]
[Four junglers in one game. I didn't expect that!]
Lin Yan was surprised when he saw that doinb's playstyle was completely different from the previous game.
Now, most midlaners' concept was still stuck at farming for 20 minutes and fighting a team battle before coming out. Except for specific heroes like Rock Sparrow Dragon King, who had to roam, most midlaners stayed in the early and mid stages.
After playing professionally for a year, this was the first midlaner that Lin Yan had seen who could keep up with his pace and was willing to give up the minions to roam.
He was very surprised.
Then he led his teammates to beat up doinb.
Doinb was also very helpless. He and Lin Yan developed peacefully in the first game. As they farmed, his teammates couldn't hold on anymore. He couldn't win the game alone.
It was also unrealistic to want to solo Lin Yan in the middle lane. doinb knew that the opposing midlaner would be a coward once he was at a disadvantage. He couldn't just push the lane and leave.
He had no choice but to roam with them.
As he roamed, doinb actually felt that this rhythm was very comfortable. It was very much in line with his understanding of the game. He just had to help the junglers.
Was it so satisfying to roam and provide support?
Doinb felt that he had opened the door to a new world.
Even though his roaming rhythm could keep up with Lin Yan, the difference in their team's strength was too great. There was no way to make up for it. YM won easily 2: 0.
In the third week of the regular season, YM defeated Snakes and NB again. They won four consecutive games and continued to consolidate their throne as the first in Group A.
On Saturday night of the fourth week of the regular season, they would welcome their last opponent in the first round of the group's round-robin tournament — Red Army WE, led by Red Rice, who had also won four consecutive games.