“Are you two ready?” the judge asked.
Jiang Qingzhou and Du Xinnuo answered in unison again, “Ready.”
“Good, let’s begin then.”
The next second, a whistle marking the start rang out across the courtyard, and Jiang Qingzhou and Du Xinnuo snapped into motion, racing toward each other.
The two met halfway, each reaching out to try to hold the other back while kicking at the balloons on the other’s feet.
Jiang Qingzhou had long legs, and after only a few exchanges back and forth, he pulled off a feint, swinging his right leg out toward Du Xinnuo as a decoy.
Du Xinnuo took the bait and rushed to stomp on the balloon on his right foot.
In that same instant, Jiang Qingzhou immediately lifted his left foot and popped one of Du Xinnuo’s balloons.
The live chat erupted in outrage.
【Ahhh, Sister Du, get him!】
【Little bitch Jiang actually cheated! Quick! Sister Du, get him, don’t let him win!】
Seeing her own balloon popped while both of Jiang Qingzhou’s remained intact, Du Xinnuo started to panic too.
She glared furiously at Jiang Qingzhou, doing everything she could to protect her last balloon, mind racing.
Just as Jiang Qingzhou was about to try the same trick again, extending his right foot, his left foot was suddenly hit hard.
Du Xinnuo had caught on to his plan, and with all her strength she swept at Jiang Qingzhou’s left foot while reaching out to shove his chest.
Caught completely off guard, Jiang Qingzhou toppled straight backward.
A burning pain shot up from his palm, and Jiang Qingzhou grimaced in pain.
He didn’t even need to look to know his palm was scraped raw, even though the ground was clean, it was still tiled, and he’d fallen so suddenly that his hands had taken his full weight to keep his head from hitting the ground.
While Jiang Qingzhou was still down, Du Xinnuo rushed forward and stomped twice, bang, bang, and Jiang Qingzhou’s balloons were crushed to pieces.
The first round of Pop the Balloon went to Du Xinnuo.
【Ahhh, Sister Du is amazing! No wonder it’s Sister Du!】
【Sister Du, from today on you’re my one and only sister!】
【Anyone who makes life hard for Jiang Qingzhou is family to me.】
At the biggest business tower in City B, Xiao Wenyao watched Jiang Qingzhou lying on the ground, brow furrowed in pain, on his tablet screen, his expression darkening.
He muttered a curse under his breath. “Useless. Can’t even beat a woman. I don’t even know what good you are.”
Having won, Du Xinnuo walked over to Jiang Qingzhou with a triumphant smile on her lips, though her sharp black eyes carried unmistakable concern. “Zhouzhou, are you okay?”
Jiang Qingzhou had already gathered himself and gotten up off the ground. He shook out his hand and flashed Du Xinnuo a bright smile. “I’m fine.”
“Are you really okay?” Du Xinnuo glanced down at his trembling hand hanging by his side. “Can you still do the next round?”
“If not, I could…”
Jiang Qingzhou smiled. “I’m really fine.”
For the second round, Water Gun Headshot, while other staff members strapped small water buckets to Jiang Qingzhou’s and Du Xinnuo’s heads, one staff member explained the rules to the two of them.
“This round lasts two minutes. Once time’s up, whoever has more water left in their bucket wins. Got it?”
Jiang Qingzhou reached up to touch the small bucket on his head and answered, “Got it.”
Du Xinnuo nodded too. “Got it.”
Once the prop team finished setting everything up, the judge glanced at the two of them standing on the yellow line and blew the whistle.
The game officially began.
Ignoring the pain in his hand, Jiang Qingzhou switched on his water gun and immediately unleashed a stream straight at the bucket on Du Xinnuo’s head.
He’d played similar competitive shooting games before, this kind of game came down to aim, and whoever had the better aim would win in the end.
Du Xinnuo had no idea about that hit competitive game everyone was playing, and feeling Jiang Qingzhou’s stream constantly hitting her bucket only rattled her more. She grabbed her own water gun and, without even aiming, switched it on and sprayed wildly.
The live chat was even more anxious than Du Xinnuo.
【From how this round’s going, looks like little bitch Jiang might actually win.】
【Come on, Xin, aim for his bucket! His bucket, his bucket, hitting him does nothing.】
【Actually it does something, watching little bitch Jiang get soaked is pretty satisfying too.】
【It’s fine, it’s fine, don’t worry everyone, there’s still one more round, Xin will definitely win.】
Jiang Qingzhou’s hand was already scraped raw, and getting it wet only made the pain worse, but he couldn’t afford to give up the match, so he just gritted through it.
Time ticked by second by second, and after two minutes, the judge finally blew the whistle again, announcing the round over.
Jiang Qingzhou wiped a messy hand across the water on his face, took off the bucket on his head, and walked straight up to the judge, pouring the water from his bucket into the white basin set on the table.
Du Xinnuo, without any of the swagger she’d had after the last round, deflated as she carried her own bucket over and poured it into the basin next to Jiang Qingzhou’s.
Jiang Qingzhou’s basin had a visibly higher water level than Du Xinnuo’s.
Clearly, Jiang Qingzhou had won this round.
The third round was a trivia contest.
The staff didn’t have the two of them go change clothes first, explaining that there were only two questions, so it would be over quickly, and since it was hot out anyway, there’d be plenty of time to change afterward.
Neither Jiang Qingzhou nor Du Xinnuo objected.
Since both of them had used their date cards on Liang Tingyun, the questions this round would be about him, whoever answered both questions correctly in the shortest time would win.
The staff member pulled out their cue cards and asked the two standing across from them, waiting for the questions, “Ready?”
“Ready,” Du Xinnuo said, full of confidence.
【Come on, Xin, you have to beat little bitch Jiang!】
【Sis, if you beat little bitch Jiang, you’re my one and only sister!】
【Xin, you know how it is, I’d rather see you go on a date with my Daddy Tingyun than watch little bitch Jiang anywhere near him.】
“All right, let’s begin then.” The staff member glanced at the cue card. “When is Liang Tingyun’s birthday?”
Before Du Xinnuo could even process the question, Jiang Qingzhou blurted out at the top of his lungs, “September 12th.”
Fortunately, over the past few days, in order to fully understand Liang Tingyun, he’d specifically gone and looked up his information.
And since Liang Tingyun’s birthday happened to fall on the same day as his own mother’s, he remembered it perfectly.
“Qingzhou answered first,” the staff member said. “Next question, ready—”
“What is Liang Tingyun’s height?”
Jiang Qingzhou again. “189.3 centimeters.”
【Damn, how the hell does little bitch Jiang remember it that precisely?】
【Did the production team seriously not feed Jiang Qingzhou the answers beforehand?】
【I genuinely have reason to suspect the production team and Jiang Qingzhou are in on this together, cheating, I mean, how else does someone at his level even get on this show?】
【Redo it, redo it, this round shouldn’t count! You guys are cheating!】
Du Xinnuo, who hadn’t managed to answer a single question, went pale in the face, forcing out a stiff, awkward smile through gritted teeth. “No wonder Zhouzhou’s Tingyun’s fan, he even remembers the decimal point that precisely.”
Jiang Qingzhou brushed back a loose strand of hair by his temple, looking bashful. “Well, I really do like Actor Liang.”
In fact, it was because he’d watched Liang Tingyun’s red carpet walk that day and been captivated by his long legs, so he’d specifically gone and looked up his height.
“Teacher Jiang, your date card.” The staff member held out the pink date card to Jiang Qingzhou.
Seeing the date card, Jiang Qingzhou’s eyes lit up at once, and he quickly reached out to take it, said “Thank you,” and turned to run off.
By the time Jiang Qingzhou ran off excitedly to find Liang Tingyun, he was nowhere to be seen on the living room sofa anymore.
The excited smile froze on Jiang Qingzhou’s face.
The next second, a sound came from the kitchen, and Liang Tingyun walked out carrying a cup of coffee.
Jiang Qingzhou rushed straight toward the kitchen and, like he was presenting a treasure, held out the date card. “Actor Liang, I won the date card, can I invite you to go on a date with me?”