Chapter 34.2
It seems there’s really such a thing as beginner’s luck in games. Even though Su Hui was not skilled, there was always a path to success that seemed to appear before her by chance.
The others’ skills in the game were not to be underestimated, and within less than five minutes of starting a round, Yu Le had clearly fallen behind among the five players.
Not good! He had already lost three rounds.
He felt he had tried his best.
Watching Su Hui, Wang Wenyuan, and Guan Zheng each move their pieces, Yu Le’s little schemes started to form. He silently focused on the marble that was about to fly over his head.
As the marble was picked up by Lu Yao, Yu Le quickly turned his head, looking at Lu Yao with a pitiful expression, “Brother Lu, could you reconsider?”
The title “Brother Lu” was actually used by many people, but You haven’t used it before; he usually addressed him by his full name, Lu Yao.
Because it was rare, and Yu Le’s voice was crisp and clean, Lu Yao was in a good mood and, after a brief consideration, happily flicked the marble past Yu Le and towards the home base.
Yu Le: “…”
Seeing no immediate opportunities, Yu Le quietly moved his blue piece forward a single step. “I can’t believe someone with such a frosty demeanor makes such a cold move.”
The more Yu Le thought about it, the angrier he became, and he lightly punched Lu Yao’s arm.
It didn’t hurt.
Guan Zheng diligently helped Yu Le calculate the moves, while Wang Wenyuan enjoyed watermelon and watched. Su Hui, full of enthusiasm, cheered Yu Le on, “Le Le, even if you don’t win, playing the game earnestly is a victory in itself!”
With Lu Yao just one step away from winning and Yu Le needing at least three more steps, Yu Le weighed his options. Deciding to be bold, he wrapped his arms around Lu Yao’s arm before he could raise it and, with a playful tone, asked, “Brother Lu, give me this chance, please.”
“Pfft! Cough, cough, cough!” Wang Wenyuan choked on a piece of watermelon.
Lu Yao looked at Yu Le with a faint smile.
Feeling a bit embarrassed but hopeful, Yu Le offered Lu Yao a piece of watermelon, cheerfully saying, “Alright, given my shortcomings, you have to let me win now.”
Su Hui laughed uncontrollably.
Lu Yao took the watermelon, nudged the marble with the hand Yu Le was holding, and the marble moved awkwardly one step to the right.
Yu Le’s eyes brightened, and he quickly moved his piece towards home. Then, he swiftly peeled a lychee and offered it to Lu Yao, saying, “Thank you, big brother. Have some lychee~”
Wang Wenyuan remarked with a grin, “Checkers: also known as ‘How a Single Move Makes a Man Serve Tea and Peel Lychees’.”
It was Lu Yao’s turn.
He enjoyed Yu Le’s attentiveness and slowly moved the piece back to its original position, back and forth, while Yu Le made another step towards success.
Repeatedly, under Lu Yao’s strategic moves, Yu Le finally scored his first small victory of the night.
“Indeed.” Wang Wenyuan crossed her legs, chewing watermelon and stretching her tone, “The best life is for men who can act spoiled~”
Su Hui was overjoyed, “Shall we continue?”
Wang Wenyuan stood up and sat to the side, “I’ll quietly enjoy the breeze here; you guys continue~”
Wen Yuan: “Since it’s just the four of you left, let’s switch to Ludo instead of checkers. I brought that too.”
Everyone knew how to play Ludo, which was simpler than checkers, requiring no thinking and relying solely on dice luck.
Su Hui raised her hand obediently, “I know how to play Ludo, that’s fine.”
Lu Yao: “Whatever you all decide, I’m good with it.”
Yu Le also agreed. He felt his luck was generally good and wouldn’t play worse than earlier.
Of course, to be safe, Yu Le frequently peeled lychees for Lu Yao and muttered in a prayer-like manner while tugging at his sleeve. “Don’t bump into me, don’t bump into me.”
A voice-controlled game, with mental spells.
Lu Yao’s eyes were full of mirth, and with “softening” influence, he didn’t bump into him at all.
Soon, Da Huang went to sleep in his kennel with Shui Cai, and the cicadas’ noise was completely replaced by the sounds of insects in the mountains. Cheng Xiwu finally finished work and came to pick up Su Hui.
Su Hui was still in high spirits and didn’t want to go back, so she pulled Cheng Xiwu to sit down with her to play a couple of rounds.
Checkers could only accommodate four players, so Guan Zheng voluntarily stepped aside to eat watermelon and gave his spot to Cheng Xiwu.
“Perfect, two pairs. Why don’t you try the two-player mode?” Wen Yuan suggested, “The losing side has to accept a punishment; that should make it more interesting. What do you think?”
Su Hui: “What’s the punishment?”
Wen Yuan thought for a moment, “The loser has to post on Moments, with content specified by everyone. It has to stay up for at least one night, and you can’t explain or delete it. How does that sound?”
This was a standard form of punishment—fun, and not too harsh. Everyone agreed unanimously.
Usually, in teams, those with similar colors were paired together. Yu Le was the blue plane, and Cheng Xiwu discreetly looked at him, reaching for the green plane.
“Pairing up with me?” Lu Yao asked Yu Le straightforwardly.
“Of course, is there any need to ask?”
Yu Le moved a blue plane and bumped into Lu Yao’s red plane, laughing. “Let’s join forces, red and blue, and we’ll be invincible. Senior Brother and Sister-in-law, be prepared. I won’t go easy on you.”
Cheng Xiwu’s expression froze for a moment, quickly adjusting his glasses to cover it, and smiled warmly, “Okay.”
Yu Le had been overly attentive tonight, so taking a lychee and feeding it to Lu Yao had become an automatic action. Everyone had grown accustomed to it and didn’t think much of it.
Only Cheng Xiwu, who was always keeping an eye on Yu Le, had a straight line at the corner of his mouth.
Both players had bad luck this round, and both crashed out.
Yu Le lamented as he picked up the planes one by one, feeling troubled. “Boss Lu, your luck isn’t too good.”
Wen Yuan found it amusing, “So now he’s Boss Lu? Just a moment ago, he was ‘Brother Lu’.”
“No choice, I have to be adaptable.”
Yu Le sighed and looked at Lu Yao with a smirk, “Boss Lu will definitely be understanding, right?”
Lu Yao didn’t comment, intercepting the lychee Yu Le was about to put in his mouth. “Eat less, be careful of getting heatstroke and not sleeping well at night.”
“You too, you’ve eaten quite a bit,” Yu Le said, but still followed the advice and didn’t grab more lychees.
The two of them didn’t engage in overly intimate actions but couldn’t hide the familiarity and affection in their interactions.
Su Hui watched them, covering her mouth as she wanted to say something to Cheng Xiwu. When she turned her head, she just happened to see him withdraw his gaze from Yu Le, with a slightly sullen expression and a somewhat unhappy mood.
Su Hui was stunned, and her smile faded, her expression thoughtful.
“Punishment!” Wen Yuan urged them to take out their phones. “Post quickly!”
The two of them, having agreed to the game’s terms, took out their phones. “What should we post?”
Wen Yuan had already thought of something. “Today I’m a pink little piggy, with a small piggy, Little Yao.”
Yu Le: “…”
Lu Yao was particularly calm, showing no resistance, and quickly operated his phone. Yu Le soon saw the latest update on Lu Yao’s Moments.
“Today I’m a pink little piggy, Little Yao.”
With his appearance, it was an oddly cute post. Yu Le couldn’t help but laugh and copied the format, changing the last word and posting it to his own Moments.
He could already imagine how his friends would humorously screenshot and tease him.
Wen Yuan clicked on Lu Yao’s update, and within a minute, there were over ten comments visible, exclaiming whether it was really President Lu himself or if the CEO’s spouse was acting cute.
He couldn’t hold back, laughing uncontrollably. “Let’s start the next round quickly. I’m going to Baidu and find more good captions for you.”
“Boss Lu, cheer up, okay?” Yu Le arranged his small plane and whispered in Lu Yao’s ear, “Little piggy doesn’t want a repeat performance.”
Lu Yao tilted his head towards him, smiling, “I’ll do my best.”
Yu Le was afraid Wen Yuan might find something he couldn’t handle, so he almost wanted to bless the dice before each roll.
Fortunately, their luck improved this round, or rather, Lu Yao’s luck improved. He repeatedly knocked Cheng Xiwu, who was about to enter the safe zone, back home. Cheng Xiwu’s face turned green from the collisions.
The winds seemed to have turned for Yu Le. “Brother Lu is amazing!”
After cheering, he turned to Cheng Xiwu with a smile, “Senior Brother, it’s just how the tides turn. Sorry about that.”
Tides do turn.
Yu Le’s joke made Cheng Xiwu, who was already in a bad mood, smile even more reluctantly, “It’s fine, it’s just a game.”
In the end, Su Hui’s plane was also successfully knocked back home by Yu Le. Both of them reached the finish line, while Su Hui and Cheng Xiwu still had three planes left on the runway.
Indeed, the tides had turned, and the more they played, the worse they lost.
“Victory!” Yu Le happily fist-bumped Lu Yao, “See, I told you we were invincible together. My dice luck is super good.”
Lu Yao lazily opened his hand to tap Yu Le’s fist. “Mm, you’re the best.”
“Alright, Le Le and Boss Lu are amazing. We lost,” Su Hui willingly took out her phone and looked at Wen Yuan, eagerly awaiting her first punishment, “What should we post?”
Wen Yuan grinned. “Since you’re a couple, I specially thought of a couple’s caption for you—”
Wang Wenyuan, who had been quietly observing, suddenly spoke up, resting her chin on her hand, “How about I specify the content?”
“Sure,” Su Hui agreed, “Wang Wenyuan, go ahead.”
Wang Wenyuan: “Just post a simple smiley face.”
Su Hui: “Ah? Do we need a photo?”
“No need,” Wang Wenyuan smiled, “Just use the built-in smiley face in WeChat.”
“Oh, okay.” Su Hui, not understanding fully, selected a smiley face and sent it.
“As for you…”
Wang Wenyuan looked at Cheng Xiwu, her lips curving into an enigmatic smile:
“You should post: ‘If I’m a gay who wants to pursue fake marriage, may I be doomed to a bad end and be struck by lightning.’”