Unexpected romance

In an era saturated with electronic devices, gaming has become the top choice for many people's leisure time.

The outbreak of the pandemic allowed us to revisit games and also encounter romance.

A dance game that was once popular all over the country has rekindled the memories of most people thanks to a live streaming platform, and I am one of them.

A long, golden ponytail, a red suit, a player named "Shang"...

"This handsome guy has our team's outfit!" A player named "Nian" exclaimed excitedly in the game room.

"Yes, that's right!" A player named "Qiqi" chimed in.

For Shang, the reason he played this game was more to revisit past memories, those passionate years, and those sincere friendships.

Often he would choose to enter the game channel alone, then open a room and leave it there doing nothing. When he wanted to play, he would also open a stage by himself and direct and star in his own movie.

Faced with the female players' enthusiasm, Shang sent a silly emoji. Little did he know that his unintentional action had won their favor.

This dance game ranks players based on their scores; those with higher scores climb the leaderboard, and different score-valued jumps grant different bonuses.

It is divided into four segments: "P, G, C, B". If you don't jump to a certain segment, it's called MISS, which means pass, or next round.

Since there was nothing to talk about, Shang danced silently by himself. Before he knew it, he had reached the first place. At this moment, he stopped dancing. Some people teased him about it, but two female players said that Shang was a gentleman and invited him to join their clan.

Why he joined this family, Shang didn't know; he only knew that after reading the introduction, he silently clicked the "apply" button.

The family profile is brief, consisting of just a few words: "A loving family."

"From now on, we're family!" That simple sentence made him happy, but from that day on, he began his journey of hanging up properties.

Occasionally, family members will come over for a chat or a game, that's all, and then the room will be online all day again.

On the very last day, as he was preparing to say goodbye to his online friends, a female player suddenly appeared in the room. Her arrival was unexpected, but he recognized the clan name above her head; it was from his own clan. Her name was also quite unique: "Yu Sheng."

"Hello!" Shang typed politely.

Yu Sheng sent a playful emoji. She was standing to his right, with a cold and unapproachable face, dressed in casual clothes.

Then, nothing more was said...

Shang was used to silence and often chose to be lost in thought. Even when there was another member of his family in the room, he still stood silently as usual.

"I learned about you from my sister and Qiqi. They said you're good, so I came to see you!" Yu Sheng quickly replied on the screen.

"Oh!" Shang sent a simple word. In his opinion, everything was irrelevant to him, and Yu Sheng was just someone he met through a friend's introduction.

Shang was aloof and unapproachable, as if an ice wall had been built around him, solid and cold.

Yu Sheng seemed very interested!

"I came all this way to see you, and I've been waiting for two days!"

Hearing Yu Sheng's words, Shang's heart stirred. He stared at his own character in the game on the computer screen and remained silent for a long time.

"Looking for me?"

The language is simple and clear.

"Yeah, Valentine's Day is coming up soon, can I ask you to help me find a partner?"

"..." Shang did not reply to her immediately, and just then, another player suddenly appeared in the room, who seemed to know Yu Sheng.

"I heard you're getting out of being single? Where?" Seeing the words the player typed on the screen, Shang rested his chin on his hand, staring at the screen with a somewhat lazy expression.

"Yes, it's right next to us!" Yu Sheng replied quickly.

Upon seeing Yu Sheng's words, Shang sent a thoughtful emoji, and the player also left after sending a congratulatory message, leaving only Yu Sheng and Shang in the room once again.

"You agreed to be my partner?" Shang could feel Yu Sheng's excitement from her text, but he himself felt a little apprehensive.

Shang is a veteran gamer who started playing in 06. Back then, it was a technologically advanced era, and there was no time for romance or dating. Everyone was busy practicing their skills in the game. For Shang, finding a partner was a first. He didn't even know how to become a couple. But somehow, he found himself typing "OK" on his computer.

"I forgot to tell you, Nian is my real-life older sister!"

So she's Nian's younger sister? Shang suddenly realized.

"Let's add each other on WeChat!" Yu Sheng said, and then asked Shang for a WeChat ID.

In reality, Shang's WeChat is not open to anyone, and her privacy settings prevent anyone from adding her. But on that day, it was temporarily opened only to her, and within a few dozen seconds, WeChat notified her of Yu Sheng's friend request.

"I've added you on WeChat, I'm logging off!" Shang left the room, forgetting to say goodbye to Yu Sheng, and quickly went offline.

In reality, Shang sat in the study, looking at the friend request, and hesitated for a long time, waiting from a little after ten o'clock until after twelve o'clock.

After he pressed the "agree" button, he felt much lighter, perhaps because a psychological burden had been lifted.

The first rays of sunlight shone through the crack in the window onto Shang's face. He silently got up, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and then prepared breakfast for himself.

"Ding-dong!" At this moment, the WeChat notification sounded. Shang took out his phone from his pajama pocket and saw that it was a message from Yu Sheng.

"Was yesterday's request too abrupt? If you feel it was inappropriate, that's okay."

Looking at the text on the screen, Shang thought for a moment and then sent a message.

"That's true to some extent!"

The other party replied quickly.

A speechless expression came into view.

"Then why did you agree yesterday?"

Shang didn't reply to her right away. Instead, he patiently went downstairs to heat up a glass of milk for himself before replying.

"I don't know, but we can give it a try!"

"actually……"

Yu Sheng wanted to say something more, but Shang stopped her.

What do you need to become a couple?

"Just one wedding invitation?"

"Just one wedding invitation?"

"Um!"

After thinking for a moment, Shang sent an "I understand" emoji. After finishing everything, he went to the computer, opened Baidu, and began searching for everything related to marriage in the game.

"I took a look, and it seems like I need a registration certificate and a ring, and also..." Shang listed a whole bunch of things he didn't understand.

"These things will come later; for now, all we need is a wedding invitation!"

"You set the time, I'll handle the rest!" After replying to the message, Shang went to Taobao and bought a wedding invitation. The speed surprised even himself.