The King's Avatar

Eght consecutive wins, plus it was almost Christmas. From top to bottom, Happy was filled with a joyous atmosphere. Ye Xiu didn’t want to ruin the spirit. At least wait until after the holiday passed to remind everyone to stay cautious and focused!

That little clumsily handmade Christmas tree was brought out by Chen Guo again. But this time, she didn’t set it up in the main area of the Internet cafe for some activity. Instead, she carried it to the practice room of Happy Internet Cafe, and after setting it in a corner she carefully began to decorate it.

Seeing this Christmas tree, Ye Xiu couldn’t help but pause. This was now his third time seeing this Christmas tree, and it was now two years since the first time he had seen it. At that time, it had been less than a month since he left Excellent Era. In the blink of an eye, two years had passed, and he had actually established a professional team in this Internet cafe, slaughtered his way back into the Alliance, all the way to fifth place on the leaderboard…

Looking back, even Ye Xiu himself couldn’t believe that all of this had happened. They had actually managed to do something like this, and they’d done a pretty good job of it, too.

”What are you spacing out for, come here and help!” Chen Guo’s shout interrupted Ye Xiu’s thoughts.

Chen Guo was currently hanging presents on the tree. These were all presents that she had prepared for everyone at Happy, each one carefully wrapped so that from the outside, you couldn’t tell what they were at all.

”Which one is mine?” Ye Xiu casually asked as he helped her hang them on the tree.

”I don’t know. When it’s time, everyone will pick one for themselves, and whichever one they pick will be theirs. That way it’ll be interesting,” Chen Guo said.

”Then what about yourself?” Ye Xiu asked.

”There’s one for me too, of course,” said Chen Guo.

”You got yourself a present? What’s the meaning in that?” Ye Xiu laughed.

”What do you mean I got myself a present! This is a present from Happy to Happy’s every member. Am I not a member of Happy?” Chen Guo asked, filled with righteousness.

”Of course.” Ye Xiu hurriedly nodded.

”Very good, then we’ll just leave it like this!” Chen Guo hung the last present on the tree, studied it critically for a while, and after confirming that nothing was wrong, she nodded her head in satisfaction.

”Aside from picking presents, are we doing anything else interesting?” Ye Xiu asked.

”Isn’t casually playing some Glory the most interesting thing for you guys anyway?” Chen Guo said.

Ye Xiu froze, and then laughed bitterly. ”I don’t object to playing some other things occasionally.”

”Oh?” Chen Guo thought for a bit. ”Go online and play Astrogeddon?” Astrogeddon was currently the most popular RTS game at the moment.

”It looks like you can’t think of anything besides playing games, either,” Ye Xiu said.

”Yes, I can’t either.” Chen Guo put special emphasis on the ”either.” She didn’t think that Ye Xiu would have any good suggestions himself; after all, this wasn’t the first holiday they had spent together.

”Let’s wait for everyone to show up!” Ye Xiu sat down on the couch.

”Brainstorm?” Chen Guo sat down as well.

The two of them sat there like that, staring at the ceiling. One was Happy’s captain, one was Happy’s boss, but for something like this, neither of them had any good solutions. Perhaps it was because they had both spent too many lonely days without their loved ones.

Bang!

The door to the practice room was roughly pushed open, and Steamed Bun, clutching a steamed bun in his hand, walked inside.

”Yo, Boss!” Steamed Bun waved his steamed bun and greeted Ye Xiu, but just as he was about to greet Chen Guo as well, he saw the Christmas tree at the corner of the room. ”Yo, a Christmas tree!” And so Steamed Bun’s greeting skipped right over Chen Guo and was sent to the Christmas tree.

”Yup, it’s a Christmas tree.” Chen Guo wasn’t upset that Steamed Bun had skipped right over her, and was actually quite satisfied with his reaction after seeing the tree.

”There are presents hanging on the tree. When it’s time, everyone will pick one,” Chen Guo explained.

”Alright, thanks Boss.” Steamed Bun nodded, and then picked a present off the tree.

Something didn’t seem right? Chen Guo blinked.

”What is it?” But Steamed Bun was already unwrapping the present.

”You-! When it’s time, I said when it’s time! Didn’t you hear?” Chen Guo jumped up.

”When it’s time? When it’s what time?” Steamed Bun asked.

”When it’s Christmas!” Chen Guo said.

”Isn’t that today?” Steamed Bun was confused.

”That’s tomorrow, today is the 24th, the day before Christmas, Christmas Eve, do you understand?” Chen Guo fumed.

”Oh, then I’ll unwrap it tomorrow.” Steamed Bun nodded, and finally stopped unwrapping. Chen Guo almost went up to get it back, but… Steamed Bun had already left his fingerprints all over the wrapping, since he had just been holding an actual steamed bun. Chen Guo was quite depressed. Should she just rewrap it? Just as she was pondering this, another person entering the room. With a ”Huh?”, they discovered the Christmas tree as well.

”It’s a Christmas tree,” Steamed Bun quickly introduced. ”There are presents hanging on it, we all pick one, but you can’t open it immediately! You gotta wait until tomorrow.” After explaining, Steamed Bun shot a ”you’re welcome” look at Chen Guo.

”Hahaha, little kids, where’s all this fuss coming from!” But the new arrival strode forward in large steps. Without waiting for Chen Guo to stop him, he had already come right in front of the tree, plucked the biggest wrapped present off, and swiftly tore it open.

”I…” At this moment, Chen Guo really wanted to burst into tears and wail.

”Let’s see what this is, ha!” Wei Chen had already torn all of the wrapping off the present. As it turned out, this largest present was… a cartoon Xiha Monkey pillow.

Wei Chen, growing a chin of stubble over the new year, looked a bit clumsy and helpless as he held this cutesy pillow, with an air of not knowing what he should do with it.

”Is this for me?” Wei Chen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This present didn’t fit him at all!

”You picked it yourself.” Chen Guo’s voice was extremely cold. She’d said that everyone would pick their own present, but in reality she had prepared to give some hints and prompting. But this guy hadn’t even waited for the event to start before rushing forward and snatching a present. Chen Guo was truly heartbroken.

”This… this… Can I have a redo?” Wei Chen looked down. ”The wrapping isn’t too messed up. Steamed Bun go find some scotch tape, let’s rewrap this.”

”Yeah, you can’t open it now, you have to wait until tomorrow, Christmas Day!” As Steamed Bun spoke, he really did go to find some tape just like that.

”No way! That one’s yours!” Chen Guo refused to accommodate them any further. She took a few steps forward and roughly shoved the pillow back into his arms. Seeing the gruff old Wei Chen trying to put on an innocent face, combined with this Xiha Monkey, Chen Guo thought it was both infuriating and hilarious.

”This one! No trading allowed.” And so she fiercely emphasized this again. This guy brought this upon himself, let him hold this Xiha Monkey and be embarrassed!

But Chen Guo had underestimated Wei Chen’s ability to withstand anything.

”Alright!” Seeing Chen Guo’s determination, Wei Chen just casually laughed. He carried this pillow over to the sofa, as though he were the pagoda-wielding Heavenly King Li, plopped himself down, and tucked the pillow behind his back and leaned against it.

”What’s yours?” Wei Chen asked Ye Xiu, who was standing at the side.

”Don’t know, haven’t picked yet.”

”Aren’t you so noble,” Wei Chen said disdainfully.

Ye Xiu was silent. He wanted to laugh, but Chen Guo was glaring at him.

”How about, I pick one too?” Ye Xiu said, cautiously testing the waters.

”Pick one, pick one!” Chen Guo was helpless. There was no point in resisting any longer.

And so Ye Xiu went over and plucked one at random.

”What is it, take a look,” Wei Chen urged.

Ye Xiu looked at Chen Guo, who didn’t seem to have any murderous spirit left, and was probably already in despair. So, he also began to tear open the wrapping. To the side, Steamed Bun saw that even Boss was opening them, he’d better keep up with the pace! So he too began quickly opening the present in his hand.

At this point, Su Mucheng and Tang Rou entered the practice room together. The girls were all close with each other, so although Wei Chen and Steamed Bun and the others didn’t know about this, the girls had all gotten together and talked about it. But now, they saw Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun were already hurrying to open their presents, this… wasn’t what Chen Guo had planned!

”This is?” The two were confused.

”Forget about it. You two go and pick too!” Chen Guo was depressed.

At this point, Ye Xiu had already opened his present. Holding what was inside, he laughed in delight. ”Haha, this is useful.”

”I’ll switch with you.” Wei Chen instantly said, without a moment of hesitation.

”Hehe.” Ye Xiu used his laugh to reject him. He had gotten a lighter. At Happy, he and Wei Chen were the only ones who smoked, so it was clear that this present was intended for one of them. Ye Xiu had gotten quite a suitable present.

”What did Old Wei get?” the new arrivals Su Mucheng and Tang Rou asked, curious.

Wei Chen shifted on the sofa, pulling out the Xiha Monkey pillow to show the two of them.

”Hahaha…” The two burst out laughing. This present plus Wei Chen was a combination that you couldn’t not laugh at!

”You’re really good at picking!” said Su Mucheng. Seeing that Wei Chen had gotten that present, she knew that this situation had gotten out of Chen Guo’s control. No wonder Chen Guo was a bit depressed. But the important part of sending presents was the feeling behind it. Su Mucheng didn’t care too much about the process or result, the most important thing was creating this atmosphere, no?

”Will you bring that with you everywhere you go from now on?” Su Mucheng asked Wei Chen with a laugh.

”You hurry up and pick, if you get another lighter I’ll trade with you,” Wei Chen said.

”Don’t even think about it,” Su Mucheng said. ”No matter what I get I’m not trading with you.” She also picked a present from the tree and opened it. ”Oh no, how’d I get this one?”

”What is it?” Wei Chen carried his Xiha Monkey pillow as he scurried over, prepared to exchange.

”This… should’ve been given to him!” In Su Mucheng’s hand was a slender voice recorder, and in the direction of her gaze, Mo Fan had just entered the practice room by himself.

A voice recorder, the silent Mo Fan… This was really an exquisite pairing.

”What a shame, I suppose it’s mine now.” Su Mucheng put the present away.

Wei Chen appeared not to be very interested in this voice recorder.

”What did Little Tang get?” He made his way to Tang Rou’s side.

The wrapping was torn off, Tang Rou’s present was a more general gift, a beautiful music box.

”Are there any more manly gifts?” Wei Chen called.

”Are you talking about mine?” Steamed Bun turned around, wearing a glove on his right hand. Ordinary people might not recognize it at first, but everyone here instantly realized that this was the glove weapon used by Qi Masters in Glory, a piece of Glory merchandise. The intent of this present was also rather clear; it had special meaning for Fang Rui, who had just changed classes to Qi Master. Unfortunately, now…

”Steamed Bun, did you wash your hands?” Chen Guo asked with a sullen expression.