Chapter 25: The Bet part 1
This gust of wind came and went, baffling and inexplicable.
No one knew what was wrong with Shi Huaibai again. Why was he unhappy again?
Jiang Xinian frowned slightly: Wasn’t buying everything kind enough?
He had always been hypocritical, feigning a gentle and sincere appearance, wearing a mask for everyone he met.
In this regard, he considered himself successful; few people discovered that Jiang Xinian was just a despicable person seeking fame.
So, did Shi Huaibai discover it again?
Did he discover that he didn’t really want to help this crippled old man, but was just fussing over petty calculations?
Jiang Xinian silently clenched his fist: Damn it.
And Shen Chuimian had no eyes. Just when Jiang Xinian was a volcano about to erupt, he insisted on crowding over, grinning: “Yah, you’re hated.”
“That has nothing to do with you,” Jiang Xinian’s face was iron-black. When he turned to look at Shen Chuimian, he quickly returned to normal, even smiling elegantly, though the veins on his hands were popping: “No matter what, I was the one who found him first.”
Shen Chuimian blinked innocently, spread his hands, and smiled helplessly: “What are you saying? This matter doesn’t seem to have anything to do with first come, first served. Besides, I’m just a pretentious mobster who doesn’t care who I hang out with for a few days. But what about you? Lord Chief, you are truly noble.”
His words were simply heart-stabbing: Shen Chuimian’s reputation was already a Syrian battlefield, nothing but ruins.
Jiang Xinian was gold on the outside but rotting cotton on the inside, always caring about face.
Shen Chuimian could play with Shi Huaibai, but what about Jiang Xinian? Did he dare? wasn’t he afraid of being pointed at by others?
Speaking of this, Shen Chuimian stuck out his tongue playfully: “Do you really like him? Like him enough to leave a moral stain on yourself?”
Passing by Jiang Xinian, this mean artist smiled slightly and patted Jiang Xinian’s shoulder intimately: “Actually, people who pretend to be kind look even kinder on the outside than people who are truly kind. Thank you for your hard work, Lord Chief.”
/
The sky was gloomy, threatening rain soon. The moisture in the hazy air gradually deepened, and even a breath could form a layer of white frost.
The Antique Street suddenly became deserted. The stall owners outside pedaled their bicycles and old tricycles, dragging their families along. All was silent before the downpour.
Inside the cafe outside Antique Street, Jiang Xinian, Shen Chuimian, and the “glug glug glug” drinking Shi Huaibai were waiting for someone to pick them up.
When Qu You came back, her bangs were slightly damp. She smiled at Shi Huaibai: “Who bought that cart of junk at the door? It wasn’t you, was it, Little Huaibai? How are you going to transport it back later?”
The atmosphere suddenly fell into silence. Qu You pursed her lips: “What’s wrong? Were you forced to buy it?”
“Was it you, Shen Chuimian?”
Shen Chuimian smiled without speaking.
In Qu You’s mind, Jiang Xinian was the most rational guy among them.
Little Huaibai was usually cute, occasionally confused.
Shen Chuimian, after all, came from a nouveau riche family; his occasional consumer behavior was indeed unpredictable.
But Jiang Xinian was an absolutely rational existence.
At this time, Jiang Xinian gently placed the English financial newspaper in front of him onto the coffee tray, elegantly adjusted his cuffs for a moment, and answered in the flattest tone possible: “Just helping out an old grandfather.”
Qu You’s eyes lit up, admiring Jiang Xinian even more: “The Chief really has such a caring heart.”
Shen Chuimian spat out a “Pfft,” spraying the coffee from his mouth. He leaned back and forth facing Jiang Xinian, laughing without any grace.
What a charity.
What a case of suffering to save face.
Qu You asked: “Then what about this cart of stuff? Take it away or give it to a scavenger?”
Jiang Xinian pretended to be gentle and worked hard at it. He looked at his English financial report with a detached gaze, his knuckles slightly white from force, but his face still held a gentlemanly smile: “Anyway, there’s no place to put it at home; it’s all going to be thrown away. Although some small things are fake, they are indeed made quite beautifully. If Miss Qu is interested, you can go take a look.”
Over here, Shi Huaibai and Qu You almost immediately looked up, and holding hands, the two went to pick through the trash.
Shen Chuimian wasn’t interested. He smiled at Jiang Xinian and said, “Why don’t we play an interesting game? Let’s bet on whether Shi Huaibai will be asked out by me tonight. If he is, it proves he likes me more, then you get lost.”
Jiang Xinian’s eyebrows twitched, and the veins on his temples were faintly visible.
Shi Huaibai lived in his house now. Shen Chuimian’s provocation absolutely couldn’t hurt him. He just had to close the door and prevent Shi Huaibai from going out.
Thinking of this, Jiang Xinian clasped his ten fingers together, smiling without humor: “Then if he doesn’t go to you, you get lost.”
The word “lost” (roll/scram) was said incredibly elegantly, as if it were a pearl slowly ejected from the tip of his tongue.
Jiang Xinian crossed his legs again. The gaze under the baseball cap dimmed slightly, and he uttered a curse word extremely gently: “Idiot.”
It finally started to rain outside. The dripping rain fell from the umbrella edge, forming strings of beads. Uncle Wang came to pick them up with a heavy black umbrella. Jiang Xinian grabbed Shi Huaibai’s wrist with two fingers in disdain, curling his lips. Although he was holding Shi Huaibai, he held his hand very far away, his body showing no intention of contact with Shi Huaibai: “Don’t step in the water. Get in the car.”
Shi Huaibai looked up, soaked all over. He also felt the rain was cold and shivered: “Wer…”
Qu You and Shen Chuimian still had to wait for someone, leaving the 2% wet Jiang Xinian and the 80% wet Shi Huaibai to go home first.
Shi Huaibai was caught by Jiang Xinian into the car first, clinging to the car window reluctantly.
Jiang Xinian couldn’t help scolding again: “Don’t open the window on rainy days.”
Qu You waved gracefully: “Bye-bye, Little Huaibai, and Chief Jiang.”
Beside her, Shen Chuimian also smiled like a flower, pressing his hand lightly against his lips, making exaggerated mouth shapes at Jiang Xinian: “Re-mem-ber, our, bet, oh~”
“…” Jiang Xinian slammed the car door shut mercilessly with a “Bang.”
The car turned seven ways and eight ways, finally arriving at the Jiang Residence. The butler draped a white towel over Shi Huaibai’s head, eyes full of weariness, and even grumbled rebelliously at Jiang Xinian: “Young Master, Mr. Little Shi is the first person you’ve brought home to live. You know he’s playful; how could you take him out to play on a rainy day?”
Jiang Xinian: “…”
What kind of world is this? One or two of them are rebelling against the natural order.
Jiang Xinian wiped his face: “Shi Huaibai, go change your clothes.”
Shi Huaibai ran off to change clothes like a released animal.
While the butler sighed deeply looking at Shi Huaibai’s worry-inducing back, Jiang Xinian let out another cold snort: “Butler, take this chance! Lock his room door.”
Jiang Xinian refused to believe it—could Shi Huaibai still go find that outsider Shen Chuimian or that some Pretty Senior Sister like this?
The butler was very considerate: “Young Master, that’s not allowed. Don’t forget Mr. Little Shi has claustrophobia.”
Jiang Xinian revealed a trace of desolate smile, suddenly becoming like a crazy concubine in the deep palace: “Now his room is the biggest in the house, what is he claustrophobic about?”
Ever since Shi Huaibai made explosives in the yard, Jiang Xinian had swapped his own room with Shi Huaibai’s, and they hadn’t swapped back yet.
Now it took Shi Huaibai five minutes to roll from the head of the bed to the foot of the bed in that room. What could he be claustrophobic about? It was more likely Jiang Xinian would become autistic first!
Butler: “…”
Compared to the corporate slaves living in cubicles in the big city, Shi Huaibai living in the biggest room of a detached villa indeed couldn’t possibly have claustrophobia.
But he was still unconvinced: “But locking people up is still wrong.”
Jiang Xinian said grumpily: “Punishing him for playing in the water, is that okay?”
The butler felt this made too much sense and immediately went to lock Shi Huaibai up.
Separated by a door, the System walked back and forth anxiously in the room with hands behind its back, letting out a long sigh: [What do we do!]
The plotlines of F1, F2, and F3 appearing so far have turned into a tangled mess.
Although it was indeed in a positive cultivation process, it felt that if things continued to develop like this, the day the true world line mission was revealed, the first one to die would be itself.
Except for the Host, no one in this world could see the System. Didn’t that prove that after the Host killed it, no one would even collect its corpse?
Dead brain, think fast!
Think about what to do when the fact that F1 is gay is discovered by the Host one day!
Shi Huaibai was rummaging through boxes and cabinets looking for a change of clothes, scratching his head fiercely: [System. My underwear was clearly in this cabinet, why is it gone? A lot of my clothes are gone.]
Sky-filling “yellow waste” (dirty thoughts) instantly exploded in the System’s brain.
Stealing clothes… clothes… underwear…
Stealing what?
This plot is so familiar!
Has F1’s feelings for the Host reached such a notorious level already?
The thing it was just worrying about is coming to disturb it so soon!
The System spun around anxiously. What to do, what to do? F1 stealing clothes to jerk off didn’t even steal the ones the Host doesn’t wear often. Now it’s great, it’s so obvious.
The Host will definitely find out. Once found out, he will kill the System.
The System rubbed its kneecaps with its hands, polishing them smooth with a kachi kachi sound. The next second, it knelt simply and neatly, letting out a hysterical voice. Its acting skills were as remarkable as its linguistic arts: [Did a thief enter F1’s house? Why steal clothes too! Must be to resell in the second-hand market! Too excessive.]
Shi Huaibai was still calm at this moment: [But my clothes are stall goods. Even if a thief comes in, they shouldn’t steal mine.]
The System wept bitterly again: [Host, don’t belittle yourself. Your strong and beautiful body is a flawless hanger. Even if you drape a rag over it, it looks good. It’s a normal thing for them to mistake what you wear for designer brands.]
Shi Huaibai was eighty percent convinced. Yes, he was indeed that flawless!
But…
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