Chapter 179 A Punch

Qiu Fei turned and left the online game studio after speaking. Chen Yehui cowered under the table, unable to recover for a long time.

What was going on?

Did he just get… slapped in the face?

It was a slap in the face, a real, solid slap in the face, not just mouthing off online, but a fist straight to the face. Chen Yehui's mind was in a whirl. This wasn't a game. Why were they fighting? Was he in a time warp?

Chen Yehui wasn’t the only one stunned. There were other people working in the online gaming studio. Qiu Fei’s punch that sent their boss under the table was witnessed by everyone, and everyone was dumbfounded. It took a full minute after Qiu Fei left before they finally reacted: Why was their boss still under the table?

Could he be dead?

Everyone panicked and scrambled to their feet, rushing over. They saw their boss struggling to crawl out from under the table in a disheveled state.

One of those closer rushed forward to help. Chen Yehui finally squeezed out, and when he raised his head, the surrounding group barely managed to stifle their laughter.

The legendary sausage lips! They had finally seen it in the flesh. So, when your mouth gets punched, it really does look like two sausages are hanging there!

But laughing right now was inappropriate. Everyone was desperately holding it in. Those who couldn’t help it found excuses like getting water or moving benches to temporarily escape.

Chen Yehui was helped onto a stool. Someone offered him a glass of water, but he waved it away. The studio was silent; no one spoke. These were Chen Yehui's trusted subordinates; otherwise, Chen Yehui wouldn't have badmouthed Ye Qiu in front of them. But precisely because of this, Chen Yehui being beaten by Qiu Fei was difficult to deal with.

No matter how you looked at it, Qiu Fei had only thrown one punch. Hitting someone was wrong, of course, but from the club's perspective, it wasn't a matter of principle. Chen Yehui wasn't injured or disabled. Those two sausages on his lips would heal in a few days.

On the other hand, Chen Yehui had been openly spouting all sorts of nonsense about Ye Qiu to Qiu Fei. From the club's perspective, that was absolutely a matter of principle.

Even if the manager, or even the boss, shared Chen Yehui's views and were on the same side, they wouldn't have handled things the way Chen Yehui did.

Truth be told, the club wasn't afraid of offending players. What they truly feared was offending fans. Ye Qiu had contributed greatly to Excellent Era, both in terms of merit and hard work. The club wanted to dilute his influence, but they would never openly badmouth him like Chen Yehui did. Even if someone was a cancer to the team, they would still offer a few words of praise and a blessing when they were removed from the team. Only when the fans overwhelmingly despised someone would the club decisively sever ties.

Was Ye Qiu like that? Of course not.

Even if there were many voices criticizing Ye Qiu recently, they were all based on the current situation, the fans' spontaneous actions. The official Excellent Era would simply present the facts to everyone. Like Ye Qiu forming Team Happy, like Ye Qiu being Lord Grim, like their previous invitation to Ye Qiu to return to the team being rejected—these were all undeniable truths.

The club intended to instigate, but that was how they did it. They would reveal actions that the fans wouldn't understand, wouldn't support, and would despise, and then remain silent, letting the fans judge. How could they directly speak ill of Ye Qiu and expect the fans to believe them? Doing so would definitely backfire.

This was Excellent Era’s attitude and policy towards Ye Qiu, both externally and internally. Chen Yehui’s attempt to win over Qiu Fei by speaking ill of Ye Qiu, frankly, was going too far. If this matter were to be investigated, the club would first and foremost be concerned not about Qiu Fei’s punch, but about Chen Yehui openly revealing his true feelings.

These true feelings, the higher-ups could discuss behind closed doors, but after that, you go out and shout it from the rooftops, your work is just too unreliable, isn’t it?

Chen Yehui's mind wasn't just focused on Glory bosses. Holding an important position in the club meant navigating the workplace, and he needed to be able to analyze the stakes.

There was no way to pursue this matter because the mistake was his. He misjudged Qiu Fei's attitude and used an unreliable approach. Now, he couldn't even cover it up, let alone openly pursue the matter.

But he would definitely remember this punch. He couldn't retaliate directly based on this incident, but it would be easy to find fault and criticize him later. That's why they say revenge is a dish best served cold.

But how was he going to get through this?

Would Qiu Fei go and report him first?

Yes, logically speaking, that was entirely possible.

Qiu Fei was someone who truly respected Ye Qiu, while the club? Although the higher-ups hated Ye Qiu, they always showed respect and gratitude on the surface. So, the two seemed to be on the same side, while he, who had vehemently condemned Ye Qiu, seemed like a pest.

But if that were the case, Chen Yehui wouldn't be too worried.

"Xiao Zhao, hiss..." Chen Yehui finally spoke, but the moment he opened his mouth, it hurt. Besides being swollen, his lips were also broken in places.

"Boss..." Xiao Zhao was a clever young man. Hearing his boss call his name, he rushed over.

"Go chase after him and see where that kid went," Chen Yehui said.

"Chase him and then what?" Xiao Zhao asked.

"Just see where he went and tell me," Chen Yehui said. He wished he could communicate using in-game chat. Every time he spoke, his mouth hurt.

"Okay," Xiao Zhao nodded and ran out.

Soon after, Xiao Zhao called back with news. Qiu Fei hadn't gone anywhere. He had returned to the training camp and was now in the training room, messing with the computer.

"Didn't contact anyone?" Chen Yehui asked.

"No," Xiao Zhao replied.

"Alright, come back," Chen Yehui breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Qiu Fei had simply given him a punch and couldn't be bothered with him anymore. Teenagers were still simple-minded and didn't have as many thoughts and considerations as Chen Yehui.

"You little punk, just you wait..." Chen Yehui gritted his teeth. He already disliked the guy, and now he hated him even more. But even so, Chen Yehui didn't dare to make a fuss about this issue. Right now, he had to consider how to explain his swollen mouth when he met people.

Excellent Era wanted to teach Team Happy a lesson, but it ended with Chen Yehui getting punched in the face. Leaving aside this result, Excellent Era could be said to have suffered a complete defeat in the Glory in-game challenges. Chen Yehui had to report this outcome to the manager, Cui Li.

"I know, I saw it," Cui Li said calmly, adding, "The boss saw it too."

"Ah?"

"I said, there's something wrong with your organization! How can you allow people to lose and then fight again, lose and then fight again? If this continues, we won't achieve the effect of slapping them in the face. If it weren't for this, the match where we beat Soft Mist would have been a perfect conclusion," Cui Li said.

Of course, Chen Yehui knew what he was talking about. Li Rui had lost to Soft Mist twice in a row, and then Qiu Fei came on stage and defeated Soft Mist amidst the speculations of the onlookers that "they changed players." If Soft Mist couldn't play again at this time, the weight of this victory would undoubtedly be very significant. Unfortunately, Soft Mist then won another match against Qiu Fei, which diluted the weight of the previous victory. With such a victory, those who wanted to slap faces wouldn't dare to act because they would be easily countered.

"In the end, you were unclear when you should have been clear, but you had ideas when you shouldn't have," Cui Li continued.

When he shouldn't have been clear was, of course, when Li Rui made his statement after defeating Steamed Bun Invasion. And then, Li Rui kept switching accounts and was suppressed by that Warlock named Wind Following Array, barely winning again and again, disgustingly killing Li Rui.

Li Rui!

Chen Yehui realized that the reason everything was messed up tonight was all because of this Li Rui. He was the one who started the trouble, refusing to give up after losing to Soft Mist and switching accounts to continue. And then he was the one who caused trouble, demanding that Steamed Bun Invasion switch players after losing once. But in the end, he was the one who kept switching accounts.

That bastard!

Chen Yehui had never liked Li Rui, and now that he thought about it, he was even more annoyed. Just then, Cui Li asked, "Were you the one who arranged for the Battle Mages to keep switching accounts over there?"

"No!" Chen Yehui said quickly. Excellent Era had been made fun of terribly in that area. After seeing so many Battle Mages coming up one after another, even ordinary people would guess that they were constantly changing accounts. Cui Li certainly didn't need to be told; he and Chen Yehui had personally selected the players, and out of the six, only two were Battle Mages: Qiu Fei and Cui Li knew that.

"It was Li Rui. He always wanted to win back, so he kept playing repeatedly," Chen Yehui quickly said. He didn't like Li Rui, but if he were to kick him while he was down at this time, it would seem like he was trying to shirk responsibility, and the manager probably wouldn't think highly of him.

"What a mess. Then what was with all the messing around at the beginning?" Cui Li asked.

Chen Yehui quickly explained everything from beginning to end. After hearing it, Cui Li was indeed very unhappy with Li Rui. "This Li Rui is too reckless."

Chen Yehui didn't answer.

"Xiao Qiu is good," Cui Li said for the third time today. But this time, Qiu Fei wasn't present. Praising someone behind their back, unless there was a special reason, was mostly a sign of genuine approval.

Hearing this praise, Chen Yehui was stunned. He suddenly realized, why hadn't he pinned the blame on Qiu Fei earlier and pushed that "messy" image onto him?

But then he thought again, so many people knew about it! Trying to confuse right and wrong would be too blatant.

But just seeing Qiu Fei suddenly gain recognition really annoyed Chen Yehui. He subconsciously touched his lips. Damn it, he was bleeding again...