Meanwhile, on the other side.
Sheng Qingxi noticed Lin Yanyan approaching just as she got close.
“Yanyan, are you here to watch a movie too?” Sheng Qingxi stood up and walked toward her, glancing behind to see if anyone else was with her. “Did you come by yourself?”
Lin Yanyan obediently greeted her, “Sister Sheng.”
Sheng Qingxi took her hand and guided her to sit beside them.
Song Shiman was startled to see Lin Yanyan. Why was Lin Ran’s precious little sister here?
She felt a bit flustered. After chasing Lin Ran for almost two years, the whole school knew about it, but she’d never gotten close to Lin Yanyan. The little girl always seemed so well-behaved.
Sheng Qingxi introduced Lin Yanyan to the group: “Yanyan, this is my good friend, and that’s our class monitor over there.”
Lin Yanyan flashed a toothy grin at Song Shiman. “I know, this is Sister Song. I’ve met her before.”
Song Shiman: “…”
Ah! She hated Lin Ran!
After sitting down, Lin Yanyan quietly answered Sheng Qingxi’s earlier question: “Sister Sheng, my brother and his friends are here too. We were eating nearby, and he said he wanted to watch a movie.”
Sheng Qingxi was momentarily stunned. So that’s why Lin Ran had told her to wait earlier.
She scanned the area and soon spotted Lin Ran and his group sitting in a corner not far from them.
Lin Ran was listening to He Mo, wearing only a simple white T-shirt and black athletic pants, now that his school uniform was off. Sheng Qingxi could only see his side profile.
His side profile was strikingly handsome, with pale skin, a high-bridged nose, and lips that curved with a hint of laziness. His sharp jawline added to his allure, and even from this angle, the haughty air in his expression was unmistakable.
The loose white T-shirt draped casually on his frame, revealing a clean neck with lines that curved gracefully downward. The exposed hint of collarbone made him look a bit lean. His long legs, almost too tall for the small table, appeared slightly scrunched beneath it.
Sheng Qingxi knew well that beneath those clothes was a strong, powerful physique.
Perhaps sensing her gaze, Lin Ran turned and looked directly in her direction.
Before Sheng Qingxi could react, Lin Ran stood up and began walking toward them.
Lin Ran was hard to miss, and both Song Shiman and Guo Mingji immediately noticed him.
Song Shiman glared at Guo Mingji with annoyance. If it weren’t for him causing a delay, she and Sheng Qingxi would’ve already been inside watching the movie by now. They wouldn’t have had to wait for the next showing.
And then, they wouldn’t have run into Lin Ran.
Feeling unfairly blamed, Guo Mingji looked utterly innocent.
Lin Ran stopped behind Lin Yanyan and patted her head in praise. He looked calm as ever. “What a coincidence. What movie are you here to watch?”
Song Shiman wanted to snap back, “None of your business,” but didn’t dare.
So she sat there quietly, like a quail.
Sheng Qingxi answered with the name of the movie.
Lin Ran raised an eyebrow. “What a coincidence. We’re seeing the same one. What time’s your showing?”
Sheng Qingxi glanced at the ticket. “9:10.”
Lin Ran took a quick peek and clicked his tongue. “Same showing.”
With that, Lin Ran pulled out his phone and opened their group chat.
Group Chat: Share the Joy, Drop the Pain (3)
[Firegun: Wild Island Festival, get four tickets for the seats next to 7th row, seat 6.]
[Sea of No One: Roger.]
Lin Ran didn’t linger after that. He sent the message and walked off, leaving Lin Yanyan behind with the group.
It was 8:40, leaving plenty of time before the movie started at 9:10.
Song Shiman, feeling bored, started clamoring to play the claw machine, and of course, Sheng Qingxi had to accompany her. Once Sheng Qingxi left, Lin Yanyan and Guo Mingji naturally wouldn’t continue sitting there, so the four of them moved to the claw machine area.
Song Shiman went ahead and bought 100 tokens. She handed out 24 tokens to each of them, which gave them 12 attempts per person.
Guo Mingji wasn’t experienced with claw machines, so he politely only took four tokens. Similarly, Lin Yanyan’s plush toys were always won for her by Lin Ran, so she didn’t know how to play either. She also took just four tokens.
The two of them, with surprising coordination, gave their remaining tokens to Sheng Qingxi.
Suddenly, Sheng Qingxi found herself holding 66 tokens.
With her arms full of tokens, Sheng Qingxi quietly gazed at the claw machine filled with cute, pastel-colored plush toys. She had never played this game before, not in her previous life nor in this one.
Song Shiman, however, was clearly a pro, and within moments, she successfully grabbed a toy.
From a distance, Lin Ran had been watching the situation. From his perspective, everyone was busy trying to win plushies, except for Sheng Qingxi, who just stood there blankly in front of the machine, seemingly lost in thought.
He had only been sitting down for a few minutes when he got up again and walked toward her.
Chewing on his food, Xie Zhen asked, “Hey Mo, what do you think Brother Ran feels about the fairy?”
He Mo, typing furiously on his phone without looking up, responded, “Imagine this: a stunningly beautiful girl transfers to your school from another just to be near you. She’s not scared of your bad-boy attitude, doesn’t mind that you always score at the bottom of the class, and she even takes a beating for you when you get into fights. She’s quiet, never clingy, and just quietly likes you. Now ask yourself, could you handle that?”
Xie Zhen actually thought about it seriously for a moment before sincerely asking, “Is the fairy blind?”
He Mo burst into laughter. “Hahaha! Say that to Brother Ran’s face if you dare!”
Xie Zhen: “I don’t.”
…
Lin Ran took only a few steps before he was standing behind Sheng Qingxi. Looking down at her back, he asked in a low voice, “Do you want one?”
Sheng Qingxi turned around to meet his gaze, locking eyes with him. His dark eyes were filled with a mix of emotions, reflecting the soft glow of the lights around them.
She glanced at the adorable plush toys inside the machine, then remembered the old one by her bedside.
Slowly, she shook her head. “I already have one, Lin Ran. I don’t need another.”
Although Lin Ran had been to Sheng Qingxi’s house many times, he had never been inside her room. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but ask, “How many do you have? Are they taking up too much space?”
Sheng Qingxi sincerely answered, “Just one.”
Lin Ran: “…?”
This girl was way too easily satisfied.
Lin Ran extended his hand toward her, palm up. “Give me two tokens.”
Sheng Qingxi handed him two tokens.
Lin Ran stepped up to the claw machine without asking her what kind of plushie she liked. He simply scanned the different machines. Altogether, there were about thirty types of plush toys spread across the various machines.
Each attempt required two tokens—just enough.
Lin Ran had won countless plushies for Lin Yanyan over the years, so much so that their house could fill a whole room with them. Lin Yanyan would even stress every night about which plushie to sleep with.
So, what happened next was this: Lin Ran and Sheng Qingxi’s side turned into a very straightforward situation—
“Give me two more.”
“Do you like the red one or the yellow one? Never mind, I’ll get both.”
“I’ll get you a bigger one, too.”
“Sheng Qingxi, doesn’t that bunny look a bit like you?”
“This sheep looks a bit dumb, not really that cute.”
“Can you still hold onto all of them?”
Unsurprisingly, Sheng Qingxi had become the center of attention in the theater lobby. Her arms were already overflowing with plushies, to the point where her face was nearly buried under them. People glanced at her with a mix of admiration and envy, mostly because the tall and handsome Lin Ran was standing next to her.
Luckily, one of the theater staff noticed the situation and brought a long rope to help Sheng Qingxi bundle the toys together so she could carry them more easily later.
With her arms full of plush toys, Sheng Qingxi looked a bit lost.
Meanwhile, Lin Ran continued his claw machine conquest without missing a single catch.
His hands were striking—long fingers gripping the joystick with precision, his slender wrist bone and the muscles of his exposed forearm taut and strong. A new watch adorned his wrist; he rarely wore the same one twice.
Once he had successfully grabbed one of each different plush toy, they were left with just four tokens.
Lin Ran held the last four tokens thoughtfully for a moment before shaking them, the clinking sound clear and crisp.
He turned his head slightly. “Sheng Qingxi, do you want to give it a try?”
Sheng Qingxi wasn’t very good at games requiring precision.
In her previous life, she had struggled the most with shooting lessons during school, though she worked hard to improve. After she started working, she grew accustomed to it, and her scores significantly improved compared to her school days. She even placed in the top three in internal competitions.
After a brief hesitation, Sheng Qingxi nodded. “I’ll give it a try.”
Lin Ran took the bundle of plushies from her arms.
The toys looked adorable when Sheng Qingxi held them, but the moment they were in Lin Ran’s arms, they seemed more like hostages.
He casually tucked the plushies under his arm with one hand, while offering the tokens to Sheng Qingxi with the other.
As Sheng Qingxi took the tokens from him, her fingertips inevitably brushed against the palm of his hand.
The brief touch sent a tingling, electric sensation through Lin Ran’s palm, which then spread to the tips of his fingers and the ends of every nerve. It felt as if his blood started to boil with that simple motion.
His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as he watched her closely.
Sheng Qingxi walked over to one of the claw machines and positioned herself in front of it. Inside was a fierce-looking little tiger that she really liked.
It reminded her a bit of Lin Ran.
Since Lin Ran had won so many plushies for her, she thought it would be nice to win one for him.
Song Shiman and the others, sitting nearby, had long grown numb to the sight. Lin Ran’s intensity with the claw machine was on par with his ferocity in a fight. Meanwhile, Lin Yanyan quietly awarded her brother ten more points in her heart.
Song Shiman, on the other hand, fumed silently, thinking to herself, Lin Ran is using my tokens to flirt with my best friend. This scumbag man!
On the other side, Sheng Qingxi was carefully moving the joystick. After aligning the claw with the little tiger, she decisively pressed the button. The claw descended and wobbled as it grabbed the tiger. But after hanging in the air for what felt like forever, the tiger slipped and fell back into the pile.
Lin Ran had been silently standing behind her the whole time.
Sheng Qingxi looked at the last two tokens in her hand and sighed softly before putting them into the machine.
The chances of her grabbing something this time were still slim.
But this time, after aligning the claw, Sheng Qingxi instinctively glanced back at Lin Ran.
He raised his eyebrows slightly and took a step closer to her. Without hesitation, he reached out toward the joystick, forgetting for a moment that Sheng Qingxi’s hand was still holding onto it.
Unexpectedly, his hand covered hers.
Warm, soft.
Lin Ran: “…”
He froze for a moment, but in an attempt to avoid appearing flustered, he forced his focus away from the sensation in his palm. Clearing his throat lightly, he said, “Let me help you. You want this tiger, right?”
Sheng Qingxi didn’t respond; she was lost in thought.
She was surrounded by Lin Ran’s scent, and today the scent of his body wash was particularly strong.
A sharp, refreshing lemon fragrance.
Suddenly, she had a craving for candy.