He Xingzhou’s smile grew even wider when he saw Xiao Can’s reaction, a hint of satisfaction shining in his eyes. He turned around, amusedly enjoying Xiao Can’s panicked expression, remaining silent.
Xiao Can’s heart was racing rapidly. After a brief moment of panic, he quickly realized the information gap between them.
He Xingzhou thought the video only recorded him peeking outside the door, so his previous words should have been teasing him.
Xiao Can clenched his fists tightly, adjusting his state inwardly, and then smiled at He Xingzhou.
“You’re so boring,” he shook his head, casually walking past He Xingzhou, and sighed, “I thought you had something to say, how childish.”
“Is that so?” He Xingzhou followed behind him, “You were clearly nervous just now.”
“I was surprised,” Xiao Can said, “How can someone your age have the mind of a primary schooler, it’s embarrassing.”
“Is it more embarrassing than being caught peeking outside the door and recorded?” He Xingzhou asked.
“I just looked, so what?” Xiao Can snorted, “If you’re not satisfied, go ahead and report me.”
He Xingzhou’s enthusiasm diminished, muttering discontentedly, “How can your face be so thick?”
Eager to divert his attention from the video, Xiao Can shouted loudly, “Charlie! Where are you hiding? Don’t you want to see me?”
Entering the living room, he immediately spotted the claw machine in the corner.
Inside the display window of the claw machine were scattered capsule toys, with a green parrot standing in the middle.
“Charlie!” He Xingzhou walked over briskly, “How did you get in there again?”
Charlie, who was huddled with the capsule toys, stood up and tilted its head to look at the two of them. As Xiao Can approached, he flapped his wings twice, hopped left and right, appearing excited.
“This guy, not only can’t learn, but also always considers himself a prize,” He Xingzhou sighed helplessly, taking out a coin from a nearby box and handing it to Xiao Can, “Wanna play?”
Xiao Can took it blankly, looking at Charlie inside the machine, “Prize? You mean we’re going to grab it out?”
“Yeah,” He Xingzhou nodded, “Go ahead.”
Xiao Can hesitated for a moment, then inserted the coin. The buttons on the machine lit up immediately with electronic sound effects.
Afraid of being mocked by He Xingzhou for any mistake, he preemptively declared, “I’m not very good at this.”
“It’s okay, I guarantee you’ll succeed every time,” He Xingzhou said.
“Did you tighten the grip?” Xiao Can asked.
He heard that the tightness of the claw in the claw machine could be adjusted, and since it was for home entertainment, He Xingzhou wouldn’t make it difficult for himself and Charlie.
“That’s one aspect,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can pressed the directional button, and the claw moved slowly to the side. Seeing Charlie, who was originally squatting in the middle, immediately stood up and moved quickly under the claw, then continued to move synchronously with the claw.
After Xiao Can was surprised, he tried to operate the vertical axis. The claw paused for a moment and changed direction. After Charlie ran a few more steps, he urgently stopped, followed by changing direction, still firmly locking onto the claw.
After the claw stopped, Charlie adjusted his position slightly, confirming that he had aimed steadily, and shouted towards Xiao Can in front of the claw machine, “OK! OK!”
Xiao Can glanced at He Xingzhou and pressed the confirmation button. The claw slowly descended, firmly grasping Charlie, lifting the entire bird up and moving it to the delivery port, which opened automatically.
Charlie flapped once and fell into the delivery port.
Xiao Can quickly bent down and opened the lid of the delivery port. However, Charlie did not come out. He agilely jumped back into the box, standing among a pile of capsule toys, excitedly stretching his neck and shouting, “OK! OK!”
“He wants to play again,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing, “Did you teach him wrong? It shouldn’t be like this!”
“I had no choice,” He Xingzhou shrugged helplessly, “Charlie has his own ideas.”
Xiao Can reached out, “Give me another coin!”
He Xingzhou gave him a small box containing not only a stack of coins but also a key.
“Open it when you’re done,” he told Xiao Can.
Xiao Can inserted another coin, shouting towards the eager Charlie inside the machine, “Coming again!”
He Xingzhou stood aside, watching them with a smile.
When Charlie was caught again, He Xingzhou’s phone made a crisp notification sound. He picked it up and glanced at it, then whispered, “Ah, the video’s here.”
Xiao Can’s heart skipped a beat.
He Xingzhou tapped the screen and then turned the phone sideways.
“Wow, what are those!” Xiao Can exclaimed.
He Xingzhou looked up curiously, following his gaze to the capsule toys in the machine, and said, “Some small toys, they came with the machine.”
“No wonder Charlie doesn’t want to play,” Xiao Can deliberately patted his shoulder to attract his attention, “The prizes aren’t attractive to him! You should put some food he likes in the capsules, like sunflower seeds, then he’ll be motivated!”
“Tried that,” He Xingzhou said, “he just went in there and had a buffet.” Then he looked back at the phone screen, muttering, “It’s so long…”
“You’re so boring,” Xiao Can’s hand holding the joystick was sweating profusely, “Instead of watching the video, why don’t you play with Charlie?”
He clumsily manipulated the claw, while Charlie, who had been slipped around for a while, finally lost patience and croaked.
Xiao Can pressed the button hard, and Charlie immediately stopped, rocking his chubby body from side to side, satisfied to be lifted up.
Xiao Can squatted down to open the delivery port, but Charlie still didn’t come out, wanting to play again.
Behind him, He Xingzhou kept scrolling through the progress bar, seemingly unable to find the part he wanted to see.
Xiao Can, feeling anxious, suddenly realized a blind spot and asked, “Can surveillance videos be sent to anyone?”
“No, they can’t,” He Xingzhou said, “I only received it now because I had to file a request for it.”
Xiao Can understood. No wonder He Xingzhou didn’t have any travel plans because he never intended to make this trip in the first place. It was his own thinking that got stuck in a blind spot.
The video was long, but by dragging the progress bar back and forth like this, it wouldn’t be long before he found the crucial part.
Xiao Can couldn’t stop himself from feeling a strong sense of evasion. He regretted making this trip today and thought about slipping away quickly.
Run away quickly, and then block He Xingzhou immediately after leaving, pretending nothing happened.
Wait, that’s not right. Tan Zhen delayed, missing the opportunity to confess and be lenient because of him, and he promised to plead for Tan Zhen.
Walking away like this would be too ungrateful.
He had to face it.
Charlie waited for a while without the claw moving, shouting to attract Xiao Can’s attention, this time changing his words, “Hello! Hello~!”
Xiao Can had no choice but to insert another coin.
“Ha!” He Xingzhou exclaimed excitedly from behind, “Got you this time!”
Xiao Can looked around, searching for something heavy to knock He Xingzhou out.
“Hey, how did you get in again?” He Xingzhou asked, puzzled.
Xiao Can’s heart sank, his face pale as he operated the claw machine. Inside the machine, Charlie was excitedly moving his little claws rapidly, making constant noises.
Not a word was spoken from He Xingzhou until Xiao Can pressed the button again to grab Charlie. He remained silent.
When Charlie was put into the delivery port again, Xiao Can pretended to bend down, then glanced back, only to see He Xingzhou still holding his phone, looking puzzled.
“It’s been twenty minutes, why haven’t you come out yet?” his fingers tapped on the screen, moving left and right, “Did I skip over it?”
Xiao Can thought to himself that it had been far more than twenty minutes.
“What were you doing in my room all that time?” He Xingzhou asked, “Where exactly were you peeking from?”
At this point, lying seemed to have no meaning anymore, and it would soon be exposed.
Xiao Can passively resisted, manipulating the claw forcefully without saying a word.
He Xingzhou continued to adjust the progress bar suspiciously, and after a while, he spoke again, “Ah, finally found it.”
After that, the air fell into silence.
Neither Xiao Can nor He Xingzhou spoke, only Charlie, who was thrown into the delivery port again, was lively.
Charlie finally got tired of playing, bounced out happily, and after Xiao Can caught him, he hopped onto Xiao Can’s arm, settling down satisfied, closing his eyes and tilting his head up, indicating Xiao Can to pat him.
Xiao Can reached out, and Charlie extended his neck voluntarily, rubbing his little head against Xiao Can’s fingertips.
If it were a different time, Xiao Can would have shouted excitedly.
He Xingzhou on the sofa lowered his head to look at his phone, then looked up at Xiao Can, and then slid his finger across the screen. After a moment, he looked up at Xiao Can again.
He Xingzhou didn’t speak, and Xiao Can remained silent as well.
After a while, He Xingzhou couldn’t help it and asked, “What were you doing in my room?”
“I don’t remember,” Xiao Can said.
“…Why aren’t you speaking?” He Xingzhou asked.
“What do you want me to say?” Xiao Can took a deep breath, staring at him, “You rapist.”
