Chapter 37

Coming out of the hotpot restaurant, Chen Gu casually grabbed a handful of mint candy tablets meant for freshening breath from the counter.

He spread his palm open in front of Jiang Mian. Jiang Mian glanced at it.

Chen Gu drawled: “Didn’t you dislike smelling like the hotpot restaurant?”

When Jiang Mian came out, he had grabbed his own collar and sniffed it several times.

Jiang Mian understood Chen Gu’s meaning almost instantly.

A person’s nose and mouth were connected. Holding a mint candy would let the cool sensation travel from the mouth to the nasal cavity, thus masking a bit of the hotpot smell clinging to one’s clothes.

But…

Wasn’t this just self-deception?

Jiang Mian fell silent for two seconds but still reached out to take a few pieces.

His fingertips inevitably brushed lightly against Chen Gu’s palm. His fingers, chilled by the air conditioning, were like a piece of cool ice, penetrating into Chen Gu’s very marrow in an instant.

Chen Gu’s fingers curled involuntarily. His heart’s lake didn’t just ripple—waves surged directly.

For him, a psychological condition like Touch Starvation made every accidental touch from Jiang Mian a test straight from the eighteenth level of hell.

He truly had to expend tremendous energy, using restraint hundreds of times stronger than an ordinary person’s, just to barely act human.

Jiang Mian tore open a candy wrapper and placed the thin mint tablet in his mouth. Just passing by a trash can, after tossing the wrapper in, he made a soft sound.

Chen Gu raised an eyebrow: “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Mian savored it carefully: “Seems lemon-flavored.”

In his mouth was not only the coolness of mint but also a faint, bitter-lemon, refreshing fragrance.

Jiang Mian didn’t like overly sweet foods. The combination of lemon and mint was just right.

He looked again at the other candies in his hand: “This one’s strawberry, this one’s orange…”

Jiang Mian looked at Chen Gu.

Chen Gu pulled out his own candies again, searched for a moment, and found he also had a few lemon-flavored ones left: “Wanna swap?”

Jiang Mian hesitated: “You’re not eating them?”

Chen Gu didn’t hide it: “I also like this flavor, but I can give them all to you.”

Jiang Mian thought for a moment: “We can split them evenly.”

“I don’t want to split evenly with you.”

Chen Gu curved his lips lazily: “You can have them all.”

Feeling there was a double meaning, Jiang Mian fell silent.

In the end, Jiang Mian still took all the lemon-flavored mint candies from Chen Gu’s hand.

After the exchange, Jiang Mian felt their earlier “argument” was truly meaningless.

He and Chen Gu had actually tangled so long over such a matter.

Yet Jiang Mian couldn’t help but tighten his grip on the candies in his pocket, the corner of his mouth also lifting slightly into a small curve.

What Chen Gu gave wasn’t candy.

It was favoritism.

——

The event in the mall’s main lobby hadn’t ended yet, and it was now peak crowds.

There were not only stage performances but also activities run by various stores.

Mostly little games. Completing the games would win prizes, and some allowed raffle draws based on spending receipts.

Chen Gu followed Jiang Mian through the crowd, subtly shielding him, not letting any pedestrian brush past Jiang Mian.

His gaze swept casually over a shooting gallery’s prizes, pausing for two seconds.

Chen Gu had just retracted his gaze when he heard Jiang Mian ask: “Want to go play that?”

Looking in the direction Jiang Mian pointed, he saw it was that shooting gallery.

“You want to play?”

“Sort of.”

Jiang Mian’s answer was a bit strange, but Chen Gu still followed him to the shooting gallery.

The rules were pasted on a board, same as shooting galleries outside. Different numbers of balloons popped corresponded to different prize tiers. Prizes were divided into First, Second, and Third Class, plus a Grand Prize.

Ten yuan for ten shots: hitting two got you Third Class, four got Second, seven got First, and the Grand Prize required nine.

Since the mall was quite crowded, they had to queue to play.

However, this booth was less visited. When Jiang Mian and the others arrived, only one guy with his girlfriend was playing there, and he had just finished his last shot.

The girl complained: “Didn’t hit a single one. I really wanted that piggy bank.”

The guy coaxed her: “Let me try one more round. If not, we’ll just go buy one.”

The Boss grinned and reported his own store location: “We have the same model in-store.”

The couple: “…”

What a great business mind.

The Boss added: “Handsome Boy, if you want to play, line up behind, let these two handsome guys here have a go.”

He looked at Jiang Mian and Chen Gu: “Handsome Boys, who goes first?”

Chen Gu had already scanned the QR code and paid ten yuan—couldn’t pay more because the Boss had set a payment limit.

Quite a good setup, letting people take turns.

Chen Gu looked down at Jiang Mian: “You first?”

Jiang Mian picked up the gun loaded with BB Pellets by the Boss: “Mm.”

He didn’t say much, just focused on the balloon wall opposite. Amid the girl’s muttered “This guy looks really good at it; following TV logic, these two handsome guys will definitely sweep the floor and stun the Boss,” he asked: “Press here to shoot?”

Girl: “??”

The Boss also paused.

Chen Gu glanced: “Yes, just pull the trigger.”

Jiang Mian said okay, then fired a shot.

The BB Pellet shot out and hit the sponge wall, miles away from any balloon, also shattering the girl’s drama fantasy.

Jiang Mian indeed had never played this kind of thing before.

Not that he had no childhood, just that compared to these, he preferred reading books.

That’s how it had always been, since he was little.

He really wasn’t interested in this… sort of thing.

But for someone with a sufficiently good brain, even without experience, one test shot was enough to figure it out.

Because Jiang Mian’s second shot directly hit a balloon.

The scene went quiet for a moment. Without giving anyone time to process, Jiang Mian, expressionless, calmly and coolly fired the remaining shots.

When Jiang Mian’s willow leaf eyes focused, their icy clarity intensified, even revealing sharpness.

Like a newly polished Tang sword, the moment it’s drawn from its sheath, capable of dazzling a person’s eyes in an instant.

He looked slender and frail, with thin arms and legs, pale skin, his figure still somewhat slight. Especially standing next to Chen Gu, he even seemed a bit petite.

But actually, just interacting with Jiang Mian a little, chatting a few times more, one could feel the resilience in his bones.

That spirit was what commanded the most respect, and what was the most captivating.

Anyway, Chen Gu could never tear his gaze away.

Moreover, in his eyes, Jiang Mian was powerful.

Not because of this shooting, but from the very beginning.

From the start, Chen Gu had always thought Jiang Mian was incredibly strong.

So strong that it made him willingly bow his head before him, prostrating at his feet.

Willing to be his “slave”.

Nine balloons, the Grand Prize, just enough.

The successive balloon pops attracted gazes from neighboring booths. Someone caught Jiang Mian’s unblinking, show-stopping operation. So, when Jiang Mian put down the gun, an extrovert couldn’t help but clap: “Awesome!”

Jiang Mian paused slightly.

The Boss was also stunned: “Handsome, trained before?”

Jiang Mian’s face was calm: “Calculated.”

Having guessed the gist, Chen Gu raised his eyebrow slightly, still amazed that Jiang Mian personally admitted he calculated it.

Jiang Mian’s brain was truly the smartest Chen Gu had ever seen among all the people he’d met.

Chen Gu’s pupils reflected Jiang Mian’s figure. He smiled, thinking he wouldn’t get a chance to play.

Unlike Jiang Mian, Chen Gu had played shooting before.

Especially since where he lived abroad, guns were legal.

Chen Gu kept a handgun at home.

The couple waiting nearby were utterly shocked beyond words.

The guy stepped forward: “Bro, how did you calculate that?”

Jiang Mian looked at him, his gaze completely unruffled: “Calculate the trajectory, then align the gun. That’s it.”

So simple and straightforward, yet making people understand yet not understand at all.

The Boss asked Jiang Mian which prize he wanted.

Because the Grand Prize area held quite a few items.

But Jiang Mian asked: “Can I exchange for a First Prize?”

The Boss let out an “Ah,” confused: “It’s not that you can’t… but Handsome, I gotta remind you, the First Prize section isn’t as valuable as the Grand Prize section.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

Ultimately, Jiang Mian chose a snail placed in the First Prize area.

He handed the snail to Chen Gu. Chen Gu was somewhat surprised: “For me?”

Jiang Mian nodded, tilting his head slightly, his expression somewhat puzzled: “I saw you only glanced at this one extra time.”

Chen Gu indeed had glanced at this one an extra time.

Because at that moment, he was thinking Jiang Mian was sometimes like a snail—slow, very cute.

Jiang Mian’s gesture of giving a gift immediately made the Boss’s gaze at them turn ambiguous.

South Boundary’s tolerance for homosexuality was higher than the mainland, and its thinking somewhat more advanced, so odd looks were fewer.

The Boss: “This is an alarm clock. Open the snail’s shell and you’ll see.”

Hearing it was an alarm clock, Jiang Mian paused.

Seeing his intent to take it back, Chen Gu acted decisively, raising his hand and grasping Jiang Mian’s wrist.

Jiang Mian froze.

He looked up at Chen Gu, seeing his meaningful, amused expression: “Sir Jiang, a gift given has a logic of being taken back?”

Jiang Mian pressed his lips, wanting to say they were outside and Chen Gu should let go.

But the words reached his mouth and turned into: “You said, giving clocks has bad connotations.”

Even though he still hadn’t figured out why it was bad.

Chen Gu tilted his head, genuinely unable to recall when he said that.

He voiced his confusion, and Jiang Mian reminded him: “The day we were choosing birthday presents.”

Chen Gu thought back and remembered.

He hadn’t expected Jiang Mian to have taken a casual remark of his to heart for so long. His already joyful mood climbed to another peak; his whole being felt like he was stepping on clouds, walking on air.

Chen Gu took the snail from Jiang Mian’s hand: “It’s not bad.”

He chuckled lightly. His slightly deep voice was still so clear amidst the mall’s music and the crowd’s noise.

He clearly wasn’t speaking loudly, yet Jiang Mian could catch it distinctly.

As if in this world, only Chen Gu’s voice hadn’t distorted, was truly present.

Chen Gu said: “Coming from you, no matter what it is, the connotation is very good.”