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Like so many things that have come to occur in his life, the root cause of this was Ye Xiu. Han Wenqing brows furrow even further as he scrolled on his phone. He refused to let Ye Xiu outdo him – and since he could no longer spar with him as Battle Mage and Striker; this venue would have to suffice. Finally, he spotted the perfect specimen, it made him wince to even look at it and he was sure Ye Xiu would be stunned by its sheer atrocity. With his mouth curling into a small smirk Han Wenqing confidently clicked purchase, sure that this year, he found an uglier Christmas sweater than Ye Xiu.
But now, how did Han Wenqing get roped into this? The way anyone ends up being part of a tradition, he became a friend. That first year in glory, all of them new players learning the game, but the very best accounts had already started rising to the top like cream. So when Dessert Dust first challenged One Autumn Leaf in the arena; and Ye Xiu had to work so hard for that first win it was inevitable that they stayed in touch. From clashing head-on in the arena when Muqui was busy with the equipment editor or occasionally running dungeons, slowly finding other players just as good and dedicated to the game as they were. Hours spent playing Glory together meant that Ye Xiu developed a burgeoning friendship with Han Wenqing; but Han Wenqing only knew Ye Xiu could knit because he overheard Su Mucheng asking for new mittens one day as he and Ye Xiu were sparring in the arena one day,
“...So I need new mittens – an auntie saw them while I was doing laundry and had to have them so I sold them to her. I bought you more yarn to knit me another set though and still have some money left over for groceries tonight!”
“. . . You know how to knit?”
“It’s good training for handspeed Old Han – and winter is chilly here in Hangzhou.”
As for how and why Ye Xiu knew how to knit? He had learned to knit from his grandmother after starting to play video games; his intent the same reason he learned to play piano, hand speed. He kept at it even after leaving home because it was something to occupy his time when he and Muqiu could only afford one computer space at the local Internet cafe and mucheng was forever losing mittens so it was cheaper to buy bargain yarn and knit her some than to keep buying them from the shops.
As time went by it became clear that Ye Xiu was as talented a fiber artist as he was at gaming. Su Mucheng sometimes ended up selling the mittens right off her hands when she went out from time to time to people so enamored with the designs. So when he saw Su Mucheng sighing at a window full of christmas sweaters, Ye Xiu knew what his next projects would be. It had been hard to conceal it from Mucheng and Muqiu; but the look on their faces when he came home Christmas Eve with fried chicken and brightly wrapped packages was worth every minute of sleep missed and time spent away from games. What was even better was the look on Muqui’s face after the presents were opened. Ye Xiu had knitted a beautiful red sweater for Su Mucheng, but the sweater he knitted for Su Muqui was the ugliest thing any of them had ever seen. It was striped, being made from all the scrap yarn that Ye Xiu had left over from his year with the family with a large crocheted tree on the front with pom pom decorations like Christmas ornaments. The back had a sleigh and reindeer that seemed to have more than the usual amount of legs; but before Muqui could even recoil in horror Su Mucheng had already snatched it up and was shoving him into it. The photo that she and Ye Xiu got of Su Muqui, face red and sputtering as Su Mucheng had him pinned in a bear hug from behind so he couldn’t take the sweater off while allowing Ye Xiu to get a proper photo of the front is one of her favorites to this day.
That conversation would have been the end of things, if Han Wenqing hadn’t gotten a package that next year from Hangzhou with two sweaters in it. One, the most eye-searing shade of orange Han Wenqing had ever seen with a stack of tinsel yarn presents on it, the other the complete opposite, a gorgeous cable knit sweater in a dark gray. It became a true tradition the following year, with Han Wenqing sending in retaliation a horrifically lurid sweater of tinsel christmas socks hanging in front of a fireplace over the most appallingly chartreuse base. Su Mucheng was thrilled, and promptly forced both Muqui and Ye Xiu into their ugly sweaters for a photo which she gleefully used as currency for photos of Han Wenqing in his ugly sweaters (because of course Ye Xiu sent him another).
The tradition was never discussed, never really even acknowledged between the two of them, and certainly never really spoken of after the passing of Su Muqiu. But every year, packages are mailed and on Christmas Day there is always a message from Su Mucheng, a picture of her and Ye Xiu, Su Mucheng in whatever beautiful sweater Ye Xiu had knitted her for christmas and Ye Xiu stuffed into whatever monstrosity of a sweater Han Wenqing had managed to find that year. Dutifully he always holds up his end of the bargain, a photo of his not-quite-scowling visage and the fashion disaster of a christmas sweater he got from Ye Xiu. Later on in the day, if a second photo of Han Wenqing in a beautifully knit sweater was sent to Ye Xiu’s seldom used QQ account; well that’s just one more thing that didn’t need to be talked about.