The Genius Game - Chapter 40

Jian Tanxi looked at Du Jiaojiao. “Are you sure you want to be this greedy? The distribution power is in my hands. I originally wanted to give you some consideration, but if you’re going to be like this, I could just not give you anything at all.”

Du Jiaojiao: “…Then… then let’s do it your way…”

Thus, Qin Man received 20 points, Du Jiaojiao got 7 points, and the remaining 3 life points were distributed one each to Jian Tanxi, Meng Yuening, and Shen Kexin as a token gesture.

Since Jian Tanxi and the other two still had relatively high life points, while Qin Man and Du Jiaojiao had the lowest, the majority was allocated to Qin Man and Du Jiaojiao for the sake of the bigger picture.

Wang Juanhua was already at 100, so there was no need to distribute any to her.

The current life points were: Jian Tanxi 88, Qin Man 54, Du Jiaojiao 55, Meng Yuening 81, Shen Kexin 98, Wang Juanhua 100.

Jian Tanxi breathed a sigh of relief, feeling content.

With the current life points, everyone could hold on for a while.

She had two chances per month to read minds and had already used one. She might as well use the second one since she couldn’t save it anyway.

So, she decided to read Ou Bao’er’s mind.

Moreover, she had to extract something useful from it.

After giving it a little thought, Jian Tanxi went to Ou Bao’er’s room.

Shen Kexin was helping Ou Bao’er try on clothes.

Ou Bao’er had to try on many outfits every day before deciding what to wear.

As she stepped forward to help, Jian Tanxi said to Ou Bao’er, “Miss, what would you like to wear tomorrow? Let’s prepare in advance.”

Ou Bao’er: “No need to prepare. Grandpa had a custom outfit made for my birthday party. I’ll wear that tomorrow.”

“What about the accessories? Are they ready too?”

“Correct.”

“Do you have any special requests?”

“In short, tomorrow I want to be the prettiest little girl at the party.”

“Understood.”

Jian Tanxi felt that children Ou Bao’er’s age couldn’t accurately express their needs and were likely to change their minds on a whim.

Even though Ou Bao’er said she didn’t need any preparations now, she might come up with some strange request tomorrow.

So, it would be better to read her mind now and see what she was thinking.

Thus, Jian Tanxi activated her mind-reading ability.

She heard Ou Bao’er’s inner thoughts: “How can I stand out the most tomorrow… I’ve got it, I can wear a flower that no one else has… But what kind of flower? I don’t know…”

It seemed Ou Bao’er hadn’t made up her mind yet. That was why she hadn’t explicitly stated this desire.

But Jian Tanxi and the others could start preparing in advance.

While Ou Bao’er was in the bathroom, she said to Shen Kexin, “Miss Bao’er might want to wear a special flower tomorrow. We should prepare for it ahead of time.”

Shen Kexin asked, “What kind of special flower?”

“I’m not sure either. In short, the rarer and more precious, the better.”

“Hmm, I noticed the Ou family has a large garden with many flowers. We could pick one of each type and let Miss Bao’er choose when the time comes.”

“Alright.”

Jian Tanxi left Shen Kexin to take care of Ou Bao’er and returned to the nanny’s room to inform the others about the situation.

Qin Man said, “We can prepare in advance, but what if none of the flowers we prepare meet her expectations?”

Meng Yuening said, “Ou Bao’er grew up in the Ou family, so the flowers she’s seen the most are probably from their own garden. The most beautiful flowers she can imagine should also be the ones in the garden.”

Qin Man replied, “That makes sense.”

Early the next morning, all the players heard a mechanical voice: “Ding dong! Main Quest Three triggered: Miss Bao’er’s Birthday Banquet. All nannies, please perform well and ensure Miss Bao’er has a joyful birthday. Time limit: 1 day.

I heard the Ou family has a special torture chamber where disobedient nannies are sliced into pieces. I wonder if any of the six nannies will have the honor?”

Only the six nannies could hear this mechanical voice, and they all shuddered at the words.

The six of them got up early and busied themselves with preparations for Ou Bao’er’s birthday banquet.

Qin Man, Meng Yuening, and Wang Juanhua rose even earlier to pick one or two of each type of flower from the garden.

After dressing Ou Bao’er up and making her look fresh and new, she examined herself left and right in the mirror, quite satisfied.

After a while, she said, “I feel like this still isn’t perfect. It would look even better if I could wear one or two special flowers in my hair.”

Fortunately, they had prepared in advance and brought over all the flowers they had picked, arranged on a tray.

Ou Bao’er exclaimed in surprise, “You’re all quite quick today. It seems you’ve really improved.”

However, after picking through them for a long time, Ou Bao’er couldn’t find any that suited her taste.

She said, “Aren’t these all just ordinary flowers? They’re all from my garden.”

Meng Yuening replied, “Miss, the flowers in the Ou family garden are all rare varieties, hard to find elsewhere. They’re already very precious.”

“Nonsense! I don’t want these. I want the most special flower! All of you, go find it for me. You must find it before the banquet begins!”

Everyone agreed, but they had no idea where to look.

Ou Bao’er didn’t want the flowers from the garden, but the players couldn’t leave the Ou family, so they couldn’t go to a flower shop either.

Thus, no one left.

Ou Bao’er said, “Why are you all standing here? Go find me the most special flower!”

It was already August 1st, and Jian Tanxi’s ability usage count had reset.

She now had two chances to read minds again, so she tried reading Ou Bao’er’s thoughts.

Ou Bao’er’s inner voice was: “I want the rarest, most unique flower that no one else has. If these nannies can’t find it, I’ll tear them to pieces!”

Jian Tanxi felt somewhat helpless. So, even Ou Bao’er herself didn’t know what she wanted.

What kind of flower did she consider the rarest and most unique?

Jian Tanxi had no choice but to leave the room with the other players and gather in the nanny’s quarters to discuss a plan.

Meng Yuening asked Jian Tanxi, “Tanxi, you can read minds. Did you pick up anything?”

Jian Tanxi shook her head, “No clues at all.”

She shared what she had read from Ou Bao’er’s mind, and everyone agreed that her inner thoughts were just as vague as her spoken words, with no specific requirements.

If Ou Bao’er had named a specific flower, no matter how hard it was to find, the players could at least try.

But under these circumstances, how were they supposed to search?

Meng Yuening frowned and said, “Ou Bao’er is as abstract as my boss, the kind of person who, when asked ‘A or B,’ would answer ‘or.'”

Jian Tanxi couldn’t help but laugh, but after laughing, she felt even more troubled.

Qin Man suggested, “How about this: the six of us split up and search for the flowers we each find most unique, and see if any of them can meet Miss Bao’er’s expectations.”

The others agreed, but Du Jiaojiao chimed in, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for all six of us to go alone. Let’s pair up, I’ll team up with Jian Tanxi.”

Jian Tanxi refused, “Don’t try to piggyback on my ideas. Go find a flower yourself, I’m not teaming up with you.”

Du Jiaojiao retorted, “Why are you so selfish?”

Jian Tanxi never imagined that one day she would be called selfish by Du Jiaojiao.

A mechanical voice announced: “Detected Du Jiaojiao’s anger level at 2. All nannies’ health points reduced by 2. Current health points: Jian Tanxi 86, Qin Man 52, Du Jiaojiao 53, Meng Yuening 79, Shen Kexin 96, Wang Juanhua 98.”

The others: “…”

Du Jiaojiao shrank back, not daring to look at anyone.

Qin Man explained to Du Jiaojiao, “If all six of us search separately, we’ll have six or more possible solutions. If we split into three pairs, we might rely on our partners and only come up with three ideas in the end, which would lower the chances of satisfying Miss Bao’er.”

Du Jiaojiao conceded, “Alright.”

Just as the six were about to split up, the butler suddenly entered.

He placed a black headband on each player’s head and said, “This is called the Life Black Hole, it drains your health points. Every ten minutes, it will absorb ten points. To prevent you from slacking off and not searching seriously for flowers, I must equip you with this. That way, you’ll put in your best effort. Now, hurry and find the flowers.”

Everyone: “…”

After the butler left, the six players tried to remove the headbands but couldn’t, no matter how hard they tried. The Life Black Hole seemed to have fused to their heads.

Jian Tanxi said, “Everyone, stop trying. Since we can’t remove them, let’s hurry and find the flowers. There’s no need to regroup, if anyone finds a suitable flower, quickly take it to Miss Bao’er. If she’s satisfied, we can remove these headbands.”

Not daring to waste any time, everyone hurried off in different directions.

Shen Kexin found a few silk artificial flowers in a vase in the living room and brought them to Ou Bao’er, but Ou Bao’er didn’t want them.

Qin Man came up with a creative idea: she took petals from several different flowers and arranged them into a multicolored blossom. However, Ou Bao’er dismissed it as too ordinary and refused it.

Du Jiaojiao folded a coin into a flower shape and named it the “Money Flower.” When she showed it to Ou Bao’er, Ou Bao’er called her crazy and beat her up, reducing her health points by 5.

At the same time, Du Jiaojiao grew angry, raising her anger level by 3 points, which decreased all players’ health points by 3.

Current health points: Jian Tanxi 83, Qin Man 49, Du Jiaojiao 45, Meng Yuening 76, Shen Kexin 93, Wang Juanhua 95.

Wang Juanhua drew a beautiful flower on paper, cut it out, and folded it to resemble a real flower. She showed it to Ou Bao’er, but Ou Bao’er didn’t like it either.

Meng Yuening picked a few leaves, glued them together to form a flower, but Ou Bao’er rejected it as well.

Jian Tanxi thought to herself: Ou Bao’er enjoys bullying her future sister-in-law, Ding Zelan. If she were to ask Ding Zelan for a flower and present it to Ou Bao’er, Ou Bao’er might be pleased and let them pass.

After all, Ou Bao’er relished the feeling of making others obediently offer tributes.

Jian Tanxi went to the Wutong Courtyard to find Ding Zelan and asked if she could give him a flower, something special.

Ding Zelan replied, “Since it’s meant to be worn in the hair, I have a pearl flower that I designed myself. It should be considered unique, and the materials used are quite precious. Take this pearl flower and see if it will suffice.”

“Alright, thank you, Miss Ding!”

Ding Zelan gave a faint smile. “You’re welcome.”

Jian Tanxi presented Ding Zelan’s pearl flower to Ou Bao’er. Ou Bao’er took the flower, glanced at it briefly, then threw it to the ground and stomped on it fiercely, saying, “What kind of worthless junk is this, bringing it to me? That Ding Zelan, a destitute woman, can’t produce anything presentable. I never wear such cheap pearl flowers.”

“But this ruined flower suits her perfectly. Take it back to her, hahaha…”