Lou Yishu watched Qiao Yuxi stomp away in a huff and felt a surge of amusement. This man really acts like a three-year-old child.
But beneath that amusement was a trace of tartness that he hadn’t even noticed himself.
Time flew by. When Lou Yishu entered the “Bus Boutique,” it was already 7:30 PM. He exchanged their fruit for gold coins. After paying off their debt, they were left with a meager 50 gold coins. He scanned the price list.
Every guest had to purchase their sleeping arrangements with gold coins. The most expensive was the villa at 150 gold coins (accommodates two), while the cheapest was a tent for 70 gold coins. Lou Yishu stared at the coins in his hand, lost in thought.
He was trying to figure out how to secure a place to sleep before bedtime.
Honestly, he could sleep anywhere, but the person outside was a pampered one and he was probably still angry.
Lou Yishu turned his attention to the “Game Cards.” He and Qiao Yuxi had two choices: spend their money on a good meal and sleep in the wilderness, or play the gambler and see if they could win enough for a tent.
“I’ll take one game card,” Lou Yishu told the shopkeeper/host.
“Certainly, Mr. Lou. That will be 10 gold coins~”
It was only 5 gold coins at noon this shop was truly a black-hearted rip-off.
“Here—” Just as Lou Yishu was about to pay, a voice interrupted him.
“Here what?! It’s 5 gold coins. If you don’t want to sell it, then forget it!” Qiao Yuxi had been eavesdropping at the door. Seeing Lou Yishu prepare to pay so readily, he flared up with frustration much like a sensible wife watching her husband buy groceries without even trying to haggle.
He dragged Lou Yishu toward the exit. Sure enough, moments later, the host’s voice called out from behind them.
“Fine, fine! 5 gold coins! It’s a deal.”
“However, the games sold at night are different from the ones at noon,” the host added, handing them two heart rate monitors.
Game cards were divided into various types: solo challenges (one-on-one bets) and collective games (battle royales). In collective games, the winner takes all the gold coins wagered by the players, with the wager amount decided by audience vote. Solo challenges were cheaper, costing 20 gold coins normally.
“This game card is called ‘The Heart Rate Game.’ The rules are simple: designate one guest to challenge. Each player takes turns using words to provoke or agitate the other. Whoever’s heart rate hits 120 first loses.”
Hearing the rules, Qiao Yuxi’s eyebrows arched.
“I’ll do it.” With that, he strapped the heart rate monitor to his wrist, snatched the game card, and charged out to find a challenger, never giving Lou Yishu so much as a glance. He was clearly still fuming.
The Bullet Chat was full of doubt:
“Brother Qiao, are you sure about this!! Give the card back to Yishu.”
“No matter how I look at it, Yishu has better odds. Qiao-Qiao is too hot-headed.”
“Are they still bickering?”
“Hahahahaha obviously! Qiao Yuxi isn’t even speaking to him or making eye contact. They aren’t even dating yet but they’ve already entered the ‘Cold War’ phase.”
“Wait, Qiao Yuxi’s heart rate is actually really low? It’s on the screen now… 70???”
“Is he even alive? Even if I were dead my heart rate wouldn’t be that low.”
Qiao Yuxi had a clear target: he charged straight for Su’er.
A battle of words began. They wagered 30 gold coins; if they won, they’d have 75 gold coins total enough for a tent.
As soon as Su’er put on the monitor, his heart rate hit 100. Compared to Qiao Yuxi’s steady 70, the outcome was obvious.
Su’er attacked first: “Your acting is actually terrible. I fall asleep every time I see your movies.”
Qiao Yuxi’s heart rate dropped to 65. He felt nothing but a sense of mild amusement.
“Your foundation is cakey,” Qiao Yuxi countered. A critical hit.
Su’er’s heart rate spiked to 110. He saw Lou Yishu looking over at his face and wished he could vanish into a hole. His heart rate fluctuated around 115.
“Your personality is awful. No one will ever truly like you,” Su’er said, getting serious.
Qiao Yuxi’s expression darkened, but his heart rate remained controlled. In the past, he wouldn’t have cared about such words, but for some reason, they sounded particularly piercing now.
Finally, Qiao Yuxi decided to end the game. He spoke with steady, emotionless tones, but Su’er could see the dark, ruthless glint in Qiao Yuxi’s eyes.
“Someone who loves slapping others won’t be liked by anyone either.”
The weather was cool, but Su’er felt a cold sweat slide down his spine. His fingers trembled. How did he know? Su’er was certain Lou Yishu wouldn’t have told him. He hadn’t intended to provoke Qiao Yuxi on this show, Qiao had money and power, while Su’er was just a regular person who had clawed his way to this position.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Su’er’s heart rate hit 130. The alarm snapped him out of his daze.
“Holy crap, a total slaughter! Did Qiao Yuxi’s heart rate even pass 90?”
“How did Qiao Yuxi know about the slap? Was it the scratch on Yishu’s neck?”
“He waited until now to get revenge for his ‘wife’! But his ‘wife’ already handled it himself earlier hahaha.”
Ye Qi, watching from the sidelines, looked equally pale. When it came to “slapping,” he had done it even earlier than Su’er.
“I…” Su’er tried to explain, his face white, but Qiao Yuxi had already taken the 30 gold coins and walked back to Lou Yishu.
“Here.” He tossed the coins to Lou Yishu and turned to head back to his corner to “grow mushrooms” (sulk).
But Lou Yishu caught his arm, his voice laced with a hint of a smile. “Still mad?”
“Who’s mad!” Qiao Yuxi’s volume spiked. Seeing Lou Yishu’s smiling face made him even more agitated. “No one here is mad!”
“Okay~ no one is mad.” Lou Yishu saw through the lie but didn’t expose it. His Jiangnan accent was like a gentle drizzle as he mimicked the tone his mother used to coax him as a child: “Our Yuxi is so amazing, winning 30 gold coins.”
“Who… who is ‘yours’…” Qiao Yuxi’s heart felt like it was being boiled. He cut his sentence short and turned away, hiding his face in the shadows.
“Are you still mad?”
“I said I’m not mad!” Qiao Yuxi’s voice was muffled.
“Alright~ we have a tent to sleep in tonight!”
“Mmh…”
“Maybe we should go find something to eat?”
“Stop talking already!”
Qiao Yuxi felt like his heart was going to jump out of his throat. He couldn’t even stand the sound of Lou Yishu’s voice right now, but when Lou Yishu actually went quiet, he worried his heartbeat was so loud that others would hear it.
The Bullet Chat went feral:
“AAAAAHHH! ‘OUR YUXI’!!!”
“Lou Yishu is so good at pampering. Qiao-Qiao is already falling.”
“Wait, what’s wrong with Brother Qiao’s heart rate??”
“WTF!!! It was just 70, now it’s 110??”
Soon, Qiao Yuxi’s own alarm went off. He frantically tried to rip off the heart rate monitor, but the more he hurried, the harder it was to unfasten.
“LMAO it jumped to 150.”
“It’s still rising! 180! Save the cat!! Is his heart going to explode??”
“Has Qiao Yuxi’s ‘heartbeat’ literally become visible to the naked eye?”
Finally, after a 30-second struggle, he ripped the monitor off. Terrified that Lou Yishu would see the numbers, he stuffed it into his pocket and pretended nothing happened. He stood there, tapping his foot and whistling toward the dark forest.
Though his whistling sounded suspiciously like someone trying to help a toddler go to the bathroom.