Grumpy Esports God Becomes a Wealthy Family’s Stepmom - Chapter 10

Zhong Lu was placed in the outer suburban youth training camp, a massive facility where trainees were ranked from Class A to Class D based on entrance evaluations. Rankings were reassessed every three days, and those who performed well could move up. Unsurprisingly, Huo Yu landed in Class D.

His dorm was a six-person room with bunk beds. Arriving late, Huo Yu couldn’t join the RESCUE game group. It was already full so he was assigned to the MOBA group instead. On the door, someone had scrawled roles like “Jungler,” “Support,” and “Mid” next to the names of the five other roommates.

No one else was around. Huo Yu, dragging his suitcase into his very first dorm, stood awkwardly unsure what to do.

Zhong Lu leaned against the doorframe. “Make your bed. Why are you just standing there?”

Huo Yu quietly opened his suitcase. His dad had called that morning, saying the training camp was his stepmom’s idea and a one-time opportunity. Between the lines, it sounded like a reminder to appreciate Zhong Lu’s “kindness.”

So, Huo Yu held back his temper. Out of gratitude for being signed up, he didn’t say a single snide word and obediently checked in.

Zhong Lu didn’t know about the call—he just assumed Huo Yu was thrilled to be here.

The rich young master fumbled with the bedding like he’d never made a bed before and if their housekeeper had seen it, she would probably die of frustration.

Zhong Lu yawned and just watched.

After the bed was finally made, he took Huo Yu to meet the coach. Zhong Lu knew this camp well. After all, it was where he and Zhuo Yin had once discovered Xiao Xi. Xiao Xi hadn’t stood out much back then. Zhong Lu had ignored the coach’s “top pick” and gone for him instead.

Now Zhong Lu subtly hinted at Huo Yu’s background, hoping the coach would keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t get kicked out too soon.

Huo Yu was assigned to his own gaming setup. The coach let him begin with free training drills.

Having fulfilled his stepmom duties, Zhong Lu snapped photos at every step and sent them via email to Huo Zhehan.

WeChat was, apparently, fair game for chatting now but Zhong Lu was petty and didn’t want to message him directly.

Before leaving, Zhong Lu asked, “Can I use your computer?”

Huo Yu said, “Just don’t touch the Abandon account.”

“Thanks.”

Now he wouldn’t need to keep lugging the borrowed machine from Ye Xianyun’s place.

On the way home, Zhong Lu bought a whole crate of instant noodles. With the best-performing machine at his disposal, he was determined to close the gap between his current skills and Abandon’s signature precision.

Huo Zhehan had given him some money, but he still had to be frugal because he could be moving out to rent a place anytime.

Back at the empty house, Zhong Lu went straight to catch up on sleep, then woke up an hour later for a cold shower. Since no one was around, he didn’t bother with the original owner’s stuffy button-ups. He just threw on some loose pajama pants and headed downstairs.

He grabbed a can of orange soda from the fridge, cracked it open, and downed it in one long gulp. Sharp, cold, and refreshing—just what he needed to fuel six hours of solid training.

What he didn’t notice was the glowing red light on the smart kitchen panel shaped like a camera.

After all, aside from the fridge, the esports god had zero familiarity with the kitchen.

The high-definition camera was livestreaming straight to Huo Zhehan’s computer in North America.

He hadn’t expected to see anything unusual—after all, the cameras and their placements were clearly listed in the agreement, and employers had the right to monitor anytime.

He wasn’t trying to invade any real privacy but as soon as he caught a glimpse of the scene, he instinctively looked away. Still, the image burned into his brain: the Adam’s apple bobbing as he drank, droplets of water trailing down pale skin, the soft dip of those twin dimples at his lower back, and the loose pajama pants that draped down over his feet and slowly wrinkled on top of white slippers.

His brain even auto-replayed earlier scenes—the flushed red ears and cheeks, as if one whisper too close would draw out a soft plea.

It was all too inappropriate, and he quickly switched to a mental image of the “educator” coldly bickering with Huo Yu instead.

Huo Zhehan realized something had changed about Zhong Lu. It was the same face, but now he had to dig through memory to recall what he had looked like when they first signed the marriage contract.

That subtle difference was enough to make him, in the middle of the night, open the camera feed and see something he shouldn’t have.

And… he didn’t turn it off.

Huo Zhehan minimized the window and went back to work.

Focused and meticulous as ever, he still noticed that Zhong Lu had entered Huo Yu’s gaming room—the one room without a camera, per Huo Yu’s request.

Zhong Lu stayed inside for an hour then he came out and made himself instant noodles.

Was that really how he fed himself?

Was the central AC broken?

Why wasn’t he wearing a shirt?

Huo Zhehan messaged the on-leave housekeeper, He Mian. “Send someone to repair the central air conditioning as soon as possible.”

…

Zhong Lu’s first day of closed-door training coincided with the RESCUE World Championship finals.

WN’s base, the youth camp, and Zhong Lu himself all stopped training to watch the livestream.

The match was five rounds, total points deciding the winner. By the third round, Zhong Lu was certain the trophy would go to the foreign team NISS. The Chinese team performed well and secured third place.

At the awards ceremony, the championship title “Best Rescuers” was officially granted to the winning team. At the same time, Abandon’s champion insignia disappeared along with Sip (Zhuo Yin), Zong (Zong Zhenghui), and MaoMao (Xiao Xi).

That day, the hot search wasn’t just about Team EAA taking third—it was also【#TheEraOfAbandonIsOfficiallyOver#】

The WN base was dead silent.

After a while, Zhuo Yin curled his lips into a smile. “Two years ago, the captain and I went to the youth camp and picked Xiao Xi. A year later, we won a title. Who’s going with me this year?”

These days, many pro teams don’t recruit directly. They outsourced scouting to training companies and picked promising candidates from there.

Xiao Xi’s eyes were red. “I’ll go.”

Zong Zhenghui asked, “You want to pick the new starter yourself? Will the management even allow it?”

Zhuo Yin rubbed his wrist. “They will allow it or they will deal with me. WN isn’t some monarchy.”

They’d been running intense drills day and night so the manager’s nephew they had been forced to take in was practically collapsing.

If they scouted the talent themselves, trained them hands-on, and didn’t pay much, why would the club say no?

Still, lesson learned—they would only offer one-year contracts this time. No more three-year long-term deals.

…

Time flew by. Seven days later, Zhong Lu still hadn’t visited the camp. He just made one call a day to Huo Yu. After all, with the Huo family’s influence, someone was bound to be secretly looking after him.

They had little to say. Both were exhausted from training. They’d collapse into sleep right after, and their phone calls were mercifully brief.

With a rare stretch of quiet, focused training time, Zhong Lu didn’t even stream because he knew what his priorities were.

Staring at the metrics on his test software, his dark eyes gleamed.

A new era was beginning.

Huo Yu took the test twice and was still stuck in Class D.

On Sunday night, in a good mood, Zhong Lu streamed for two hours.

Clips from his debut stream had quietly made the rounds, netting him a few hundred new followers.

As soon as he went live, the chat exploded.

【Streamer on maternity leave?】

【Seven days! Do you even know how I survived without you, Lulu?】

【Lulu! My fated Lulu, you’ve finally returned!】

【I noticed you’ve ranked up during this break—you’re matching with Grandmaster-tier players now.】

【Be honest, Lulu—did you throw a match against a pro just to wear a dress?】

【Did you bulk order maid outfits already?】

Zhong Lu ignored all the “Lulu” spam and dryly replied, “Y’all dreaming together now?”

He hadn’t changed the name “Lulu” because that was actually his childhood nickname. It was something he wanted to carry over as a memory of his past life.

His mom had been sure she was having a girl, so she named the baby Lulu with the full name Zhong Lu, matching his brother Zhong Yun—a cute sibling pair. After he was born male, his name was changed to Zhong Lu.

He won four matches in a row, showcasing clean, godlike plays. With the recent buzz around the World Championships, viewership was high. His clickbait title drew them in, his skills kept them, and his carrot-on-a-stick promise of crossdressing kept them screaming.

His follower count skyrocketed nearly to 5,000 now.

Some came for the dress, but stayed for the mechanics.

Some even sent messages like: [Lulu baby, send mommy your address—I’m mailing you a gold-star certificate ]

The mom-fans had arrived.

…

At 9am Monday, Zhong Lu was jolted awake by a call. The voice repeated twice before he understood—

Huo Yu had gotten into a fight. Parents were requested to come handle it.

With bedhead and bleary eyes, Zhong Lu cursed under his breath.

Unbelievable. Every time he woke up early in this life, it was because of the Huo father-son duo.

Huo Yu and the rest of Class 302 sat in the break room in a row. Zhong Lu sat with them, waiting for the higher-ups’ verdict.

Huo Yu introduced him to his dormmates, “This is my stepmom.”

The other five: “……”

Stunned.

Stepmom… that stepmom who just now yanked someone over with one move? That was so cool.

After a long pause, Wang Qun hesitantly asked, “What do you think the school will do to us?”

Huo Yu said, “Worst case, we get expelled. It’s not like they’ll ask us to pay up. I haven’t even charged him for those shoes—they cost six hundred grand.”

He had already vented by punching the guy. He didn’t really care about staying in training camp. As long as Stepmom signed whatever punishment slip, he could go home.

That was what Zhong Lu thought too.

Until Huo Zhehan showed up.