You Look Beautiful When You Smile

[Yao Yao, if it were you, how would you go about dating an esports player?]

Tong Yao thought for a moment, then answered seriously:

If it were me, I wouldn’t date an esports player. If I had that kind of patience, why wouldn’t I go take the entrance exams for Tsinghua or Peking University?

Statement:

① If you think this story was written using any improper methods, you’re welcome to report it. Jinjiang is quite strict and won’t show favoritism to any author. Ever since I began posting this story, I’ve explained every quoted passage in the author’s notes. That line from a Weibo post whose source I didn’t know? [At the time, I noted in the author’s comments that the passage came from the internet and wasn’t original. I never tried to claim it as my own. The accusation that I bragged about writing it better than she did is even more absurd.] After I found out who the original author was, I also apologized to her through a mutual friend. (It never occurred to me to look it up on Baidu at the time.)

② I’ve seen the comparison image that’s been going around lately, claiming I plagiarized a report about the RNG esports club, specifically the line “In esports, the first thing you notice is the mechanics.” I’m honored to tell you that this isn’t my story at all. There’s no character like that in it. Go after whoever you like. Those of you being led by the nose should know better.

③ The heroine doesn’t like Wangzai milk. It appears only once in the entire story, when a fan gives her some. She takes a sip, but never says she likes it.

I wrote the joke about putting up four-digit damage numbers in a match first. The real-life match with the same thing happened two days after I wrote it. (.)

Stop twisting things with selective wording.

④ This story has never used any player with an unblemished record as a target for slander or criticism. While it was being serialized, no reader ever came away from it with a baseless negative impression of esports or of any innocent player with a clean record. This includes the examples involving real players when the heroine causes trouble at an anime convention and the hero lectures her. In context, those examples express regret and helplessness about esports trolls. If you think the author is just making excuses, feel free to read the comments posted during the serialization of those chapters. Only actual readers understand what I was expressing, not professional haters who haven’t even read the book and take things out of context.

⑤ If any fan, or even the player in question, believes this story plagiarizes or borrows from a player’s life to smear or slander him, I strongly advise you to take legal action to protect yourself.

⑥ One important point: I have never said anywhere that “Gao Xuecheng became famous because of this story.” I respect and like Smiling, and have repeatedly reminded readers not to bother Great King himself. That intention has never changed. Gao Xuecheng appears in the story solely as the heroine’s idol from another dimension, and nothing more. As for blaming the author for “leading readers to make that statement” based on a few comments from people who may not even be real fans, where exactly is the logic in that?

⑦ You’re spreading collages made from screenshots of stories that aren’t Smiling’s, insisting they prove this story is plagiarized; you’re taking a male supporting character’s angry words out of context, ignoring the heroine’s correction and rebuke in the very next line, and stirring up trouble. Do you so-called esports fans who hate just for the sake of hating ever think of apologizing to the author? Jinjiang and Weibo both require real-name registration. To everyone who’s received a reply from me, guess who might be the next lucky recipient?

⑧ Finally, don’t tell me you used to like this story but have now turned against it. If everything it expressed was slander against esports and an insult to the scene, why did you like it in the first place? The goodwill and sincerity in a story can’t be faked. A few words from people pretending to be fans won’t fool everyone. If you’re here to hate, get lost.

Theme: Esports isn’t just a man’s world