The Subtle Seduction of My Ex-Girlfriend’s Aunt - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: How About We Go Pick Up the Little Sister Together?

After a half-hour break, the host gathered everyone together again.

“Next, our games enter the second phase, and the following activities will be scored anew.”

“To thank everyone for participating, we have specially prepared a wealth of generous prizes.”

“Given that everyone’s physical stamina varies, the prizes are divided into three categories.”

“At the end of the games, the child with the highest score will get an extra turn on the giant human snack-claw machine.”

As soon as the host finished speaking, the children erupted into cheers of “Wow!” and “Yay!”

“In addition, the female and male volunteers with the highest scores will each receive a top-spec flagship smartphone.”

Just like the children, the volunteers cheered wildly the moment the host’s voice fell.

“A quick disclaimer: friendship first, competition second. If anyone intentionally attempts to harm an opponent, they will be disqualified immediately.”

As the providers of the prizes, Tang Ran and Qiu Yuan voluntarily withdrew from the competition. The children in their group were led by two staff members from the planning team for the remainder of the games.

The freckled girl and the tall girl had just recovered from the shock of the expensive prizes when they realized Tang Ran and the others had withdrawn. If Tang Ran and Qiu Yuan weren’t participating, the “preparations” they had made would be useless.

While the tall girl was still fuming, the freckled girl gave her a meaningful look.

“Why are you looking at me like th—” The tall girl stopped mid-sentence as she realized.

Two girls from Xia Xin’er’s team weren’t competing, and with Tang Ran and her friend out, there were only three girls left in the running. By winning a few simple games against the other two, they could get a phone worth over ten thousand yuan.

The temptation was truly heart-stirring.

“My stamina is poor; I definitely can’t beat you guys,” Ye Xiaoyu was the first to back down, indicating she wouldn’t compete with them. Having stayed by Song Wuqi’s side for so long, she had worn high-end dresses worth tens of thousands; she truly didn’t care about a single phone.

The freckled girl and the tall girl looked at each other, and the atmosphere suddenly turned tense. They both wanted that phone.

Balloon stomping, name-tag ripping, rock-paper-scissors water splashing, and fun tug-of-war—with prizes added as stakes, the subsequent matches became far more aggressive. The freckled girl and the tall girl spared no effort, practically tearing at each other’s hair in every round.

Since there were only three people in the women’s group, to win more points, the best strategy was to take the points from Ye Xiaoyu. Even though Ye Xiaoyu had conceded early, every time a match started, those two would rush her first to snatch her points. They attacked from both sides; even if Ye Xiaoyu stood still, her clothes were tugged and her feet were stepped on.

By the third round, Ye Xiaoyu stopped trying to maintain her “kind classmate” persona and indignantly withdrew from the games. Looking at their disheveled clothes and dripping hair, Ye Xiaoyu found it utterly absurd. It was just a phone—was it worth fighting to the death and looking so pathetic? Classmates with such narrow vision were useless to associate with anyway.

After two rounds of tearing at each other and drenching one another with water, the freckled girl and the tall girl stared each other down, eyes filled with the urge to rip the other apart.

Suddenly, Ye Xiaoyu froze. A realization hit her, and she turned to find Tang Ran. Tang Ran was watching the children play. Perhaps sensing the gaze, Tang Ran turned her head toward her.

In that moment of eye contact, Ye Xiaoyu felt she saw mockery in Tang Ran’s eyes. Her spine stiffened; she felt completely seen through.

Tang Ran knew everything. She knew about the gossip they spread behind her back, and she knew about the plan those two had concocted. Adding the phones as prizes was Tang Ran’s deliberate arrangement—all just to watch them tear off their masks and fight.

Ye Xiaoyu felt a surge of panic. She remembered the tall girl’s sarcastic comment about “money being amazing.” Weren’t they proving Tang Ran’s point right now? Money was amazing; the cost of a single phone was enough to turn them into enemies, using the same dirty tricks they intended for Tang Ran on each other instead.

Tang Ran gave her a cold, indifferent glance before looking away. That feeling of being ignored surfaced again. Tang Ran let them fight, but didn’t care how they fought. To her, they were all insignificant.

Tang Ran didn’t care at all. But if they schemed against her, she would return the favor in full. Thinking of this, Ye Xiaoyu felt a sense of dread. If Tang Ran ever found out she was already with Song Wuqi, Tang Ran would surely retaliate. Ye Xiaoyu shuddered; she had to be more careful. At the very least, until she had the power to face Tang Ran, she couldn’t let Tang Ran discover her relationship with Song Wuqi.

Ye Xiaoyu feared Tang Ran, but at the same time, an even deeper sense of resentment grew in her heart.

Xincheng Clubhouse.

Xia Mo set down her teacup and checked her watch. “It’s about time. I need to go to the welfare home to pick up Xin’er.” Lu Shuyang was away on a business trip, and Xia Mo was worried about her sister.

Murong Yi stood up with her, trying to stop her. “Didn’t we agree to go to ‘He’ for a drink together?”

“We’ll go after dinner,” Xia Mo said, preparing to leave.

Murong Yi didn’t believe for a second that this “sister-obsessed” woman would come back to join them after picking up Xin’er. She thought for a moment and called out, “I’ll go with you. I haven’t seen Xin’er in a long time anyway. We can all have dinner together.”

Xia Mo didn’t mind, but if she and Murong Yi both left, they couldn’t just leave Song Zhixu sitting there waiting for them to return.

Murong Yi understood the implication. She turned and looked at Song Zhixu with a pleading expression. “Sitting here is boring anyway. How about we go pick up the little sister together?”

Xia Mo had broken many appointments for her sister’s sake, and Murong Yi didn’t dare let her go alone. However, the welfare home was in the northern suburbs; a round trip would take at least an hour and a half. Song Zhixu would likely be unwilling to go. Murong Yi was already prepared to drag her by force.

To her surprise, Song Zhixu set down her cup and stood up, suggesting calmly, “Then let’s have dinner at Taoyuan tonight.” Taoyuan was an organic farm in the northern suburbs, not too far from the welfare home.

“Sure, that’s right on the way.”

By the time Xia Mo and the others arrived, the competition was over. The freckled girl and the tall girl had gotten so carried away that they ended up in a physical brawl; both were disqualified, and the phone was awarded to the men’s group instead.

To end on a high note, every volunteer present—including the planning team—got a turn on the “human snack-claw machine.” A large inflatable mat covered in various snacks sat directly below the machine. A person would be lowered by a harness, and whatever they could grab, they could take home.

Tang Ran was suspended in mid-air, clutching a massive pile of snacks in her arms. She looked up, intending to show off to the cheering children, when she unexpectedly met a pair of smiling almond-shaped eyes.

She froze. Her grip loosened, and the snacks fell with a loud clatter.

She looked down at her empty arms, completely stunned. Tang Ran blinked and looked forward again. The smile in the other person’s eyes deepened.

That elegant smile was like a spring breeze blowing through a southern alleyway; a water-like tenderness filled her heart in an instant.

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