A small southern town.
The setting sun painted half the sky red.
The crimson light fell, passing through willow trees, through glass.
It illuminated a girl in her early twenties.
She was slender.
Her face bore a resemblance to Jiang Chen, with two or three points of similarity.
She sat cross-legged, not in the least bit ladylike, leaning against the sofa.
The girl's name was Jiang Wan.
She was Jiang Chen's older sister.
They had a five-year age gap.
Like most women from the water towns of Jiangnan, her features were gentle and delicate.
But her personality…was a bit boisterous.
She popped a potato chip in her mouth.
Her cheeks puffed out.
She chewed, watching a live stream.
It was the semi-final live broadcast of IG versus RNG.
When she saw RNG destroy IG's nexus, Jiang Wan nearly jumped off the sofa.
She muttered softly, "Awesome, awesome, my brother won."
Seeing Jiang Chen walk onto the stage, she couldn't believe her eyes!
How did her brother, who only played games, become a professional player?
The girl had no prejudice against esports.
It was now an Olympic sport.
What was the point of clinging to old ideas?
Wasn't that how the Qing dynasty fell?
She quickly leaned down and grabbed a pair of teddy bear slippers from under the sofa.
She slipped them on.
Taking two steps at a time, she rushed towards the kitchen.
She wrapped her arms around a woman in her forties.
She said with a smile, "Mom, I have good news, do you want to hear it?"
Jiang Ma was chopping vegetables.
She laughed and scolded, "What good news?"
"Did you pass the graduate entrance exam?"
Jiang Wan grinned.
Two sweet dimples appeared on her face.
"It's even better than that, your precious son is going to be famous."
Jiang Ma's hand paused.
She scolded, "Ugh, don't hug me, you don't know how heavy you are!"
She placed the cleaver on the cutting board.
She wiped her hands with a towel.
"Why bring him up?"
"Your dad and I begged and pleaded, tried everything to persuade him, but he wouldn't listen. He insisted on becoming a professional gamer, playing games, how could that lead to anything?"
"Your father wouldn't let him."
"He just took his suitcase and left, without even a message."
"I can't even hold my head up in front of our relatives."
"Every time I play mahjong with them, if anyone asks, 'How's your kid doing, is he still playing professional games?', I just want to find a hole to crawl into."
Jiang Wan hugged her tighter.
Her eyes were a little red as she said, "Mom, I'm not kidding."
"Your son really has made something of himself."
"Ugh! Don't hug me." Jiang Ma pushed away Jiang Wan's hands and gently rubbed her eyes.
"Why don't you say he's going to be on the Spring Festival Gala, you're always trying to make me happy."
Jiang Wan panicked.
She ran back to her room and grabbed her phone.
She clicked on the official Bilibili livestream.
She handed it to Jiang Ma, "Look for yourself."
On the screen, Jiang Chen was wearing the RNG uniform, with a gentle smile on his face, surrounded by his RNG teammates as they walked to the lounge.
He seemed to get along well with everyone.
Jiang Ma's hands trembled.
Hot tears rolled down her cheeks, following the lines of wrinkles.
They dripped onto the phone screen.
Tears splattered.
Jiang Wan reached out to wipe the tears from Jiang Ma's face.
But there were more tears.
She comforted her, "Mom, don't cry, your eyesight is already bad, if you cry this much, you'll see even less at night."
Jiang Ma dried her tears with a tissue.
She said with a smile, "Silly girl, Mom is happy."
"This year, when my little Chen comes back, I'll take him to visit the relatives, let's see who still says my son is useless."
"But is anyone really going to say that?" Jiang Ma still couldn't believe it.
Jiang Wan took Jiang Ma's hand.
"Mom, it's an Olympic sport now, your son is an athlete!"
"Athlete is good, athlete is good."
"Go buy some more groceries, we'll celebrate properly as a family tonight."
"It doesn't need to be this grand, does it?" Jiang Wan was reluctant.
Jiang Ma glared at her.
Jiang Wan could only smile sheepishly and quickly went out.
That night.
Jiang Ma prepared a whole table of food.
Jiang Ba sat in the main seat.
He was still a bit stunned.
He looked at Jiang Wan and asked incredulously, "Can a professional gamer really make millions a year?"
"Ugh, Dad, how many times do I have to tell you! It's true."
"Is it really part of the Olympics?" Jiang Ba asked again.
"Really."
"Good...good...good! My son is promising!" The man, who had already reached his forties, said 'good' three times in a row.
He took out his treasured wine.
Jiang Wan wouldn't let him.
She said, "Dad, your liver isn't good, the doctor said you should drink less."
Jiang Ba smiled, "It's a special day, I'll just have a sip."
Jiang Ma also spoke up for Jiang Ba, "This...it's a special day, let your dad have a couple of sips."
He said a couple of sips!
Jiang Ba ended up getting drunk.
The news of the old Jiang family's son's success spread among the relatives.