Chapter 41 One punch from me and you might die…
Zhou Shilin's car was parked in the Tianxiaju parking lot; he had driven there himself today. After getting in, he fastened his seatbelt and asked Chen Ci, who was sitting next to him, "What would you like to eat?"
When Chen Ci came out of the private room, she really didn't have much of an appetite, but now that she was in Zhou Shilin's car, she felt a little better. She thought about what she and Zhou Shilin had eaten recently, and finally chose something they hadn't tried yet: "Let's eat Lilith BBQ."
"Okay." Zhou Shilin waited for her to fasten her seatbelt before driving off. "Let's go with the one in Star Plaza."
Chen Ci nodded, looking at him with slight surprise: "Have you eaten at Lilith's Barbecue before?"
"Yes, I've eaten there a few times."
Chen Ci was even more surprised: "You actually eat this kind of poor people's food."
Zhou Shilin: "..."
If he remembered correctly, he had also gone with her to eat crayfish at Uncle Li's restaurant.
“I know Mr. Yang, the general manager of Lilith BBQ.” Zhou Shilin glanced at her sideways. “Are you saying this about their brand because you plan to never cooperate with them again?”
Chen Ci: "..."
In fact, another group of them was indeed discussing a collaboration project with Lilith BBQ.
"Well, what I mean is, Lilith BBQ is delicious and reasonably priced. It's one of the most popular BBQ brands among ordinary people." Chen Ci finished explaining herself, then asked Zhou Shilin with some lingering concern, "You wouldn't go and tattle on me to President Yang, would you?"
Zhou Shilin chuckled and looked at the road ahead: "Neither President Yang nor I have that much free time."
That's good.
Chen Ci breathed a sigh of relief and continued to speak highly of Lilith BBQ: "Actually, I often go there to eat BBQ. Sometimes my colleagues and I choose to have dinner there. Everyone thinks that their BBQ is the best."
"Um."
"Please pass this message on to General Manager Yang."
"..."
Seeing that she wasn't as down as before, Zhou Shilin asked, "What happened to you just now? Didn't you have dinner with Chen Yun at Tianxiaju?"
Chen Ci pursed her lips slightly and told him the truth: "It was Chen Yun. He didn't make an appointment with any classmates. He made an appointment with my parents instead."
Zhou Shilin knew that Shen Ci had a bad relationship with her family. After hearing what she said, he hesitated for a moment before speaking, "He wants to ease the tension between you and your family?"
Chen Ci chuckled: "He's quite confident, isn't he?"
Zhou Shilin thought for a moment and then asked, "Do your parents like him very much?"
"I wouldn't say that. I just felt I knew him well and he was easy to manipulate." After all, that was her father's exact words.
It's probably true that you shouldn't talk about people behind their backs. Chen Ci had just finished talking about Chen Yun when Chen Yun called. Chen Ci glanced at the name on the screen and hung up immediately.
Guessing that she might still be angry, Chen Yun sent a WeChat message to Chen Ci after being hung up on once.
Chen Yun: I'm sorry, Chen Ci. I really shouldn't have made that decision on my own and kept it from your uncle and aunt. I didn't expect it to turn out like this.
Chen Yun: Once you've calmed down, I'll treat you to a meal alone to make amends.
After reading Chen Yun's message, Chen Ci did not reply and simply locked her phone.
Zhou Shilin, who was driving next to her, seemed very interested in her phone: "Aren't you going to reply to messages?"
"No need, it was Chen Yun who came to apologize to me."
"Oh, then we really don't need to pay attention to him."
Chen Ci: "..."
After a moment of silence in the car, Zhou Shilin stopped at the traffic light ahead and turned to look at Chen Ci beside him: "So, you had a falling out with your parents at Tianxiaju earlier?"
"...Well, I don't have much to talk about with them. My dad doesn't know what to say, so he just tries to find topics to talk about. As for my mom, we can't connect at all."
Zhou Shilin said, "Since she came today, she probably wants to mend her relationship with you."
“But she still doesn’t think she’s done anything wrong.” Chen Ci raised her eyes and looked at Zhou Shilin. “Maybe she’s succeeded with those experiences once on her own, so she’s convinced of them. But people are different.”
Zhou Shilin nodded: "Indeed, even monkeys are leashed one by one."
Chen Ci: "..."
She was silent for a while, and only spoke when Zhou Shilin drove the car away again: "Actually, I admit that what she said is not entirely unreasonable. After all, more and more people do like me. If I hadn't found out later that I had cut my wrists, I might have continued to live as my mother wished."
At this point, she looked at Zhou Shilin's smooth profile and smiled slightly: "Speaking of which, I should thank you. You made me realize that I am also liked by people."
Zhou Shilin's eyes flickered slightly as he glanced at her sideways: "The person you should thank the most is yourself. It was your will to survive that pulled you out of the mire. Your resistance and escape were all for the sake of your own survival. If you hadn't saved yourself time and time again, I might never have had the chance to meet you."
After Zhou Shilin finished speaking, Chen Ci's nose tingled, and she almost cried again: "Waaaa, Zhou Shilin, how can you be so good at talking? You are the kind of person my mother most wants me to become, waaaaaah."
Zhou Shilin: "..."
He pulled out a tissue and handed it to Chen Ci: "You haven't had any alcohol yet, don't pretend to cry."
"Then why did you hand me a tissue?" Chen Ci wiped away the tears that hadn't fallen from her eyes and looked at Zhou Shilin, who was driving, and said, "The memes I made are the truth, and Zhou Shilin is perfect!"
"……Thank you."
Perhaps because of all the commotion in the car, Chen Ci finally had a big appetite and ate quite a bit at Lilith BBQ for lunch.
When they came out of Lilith BBQ, they passed by the arcade in the mall. Suddenly, Chen Ci felt playful and dragged Zhou Shilin to the arcade.
"You just treated me to barbecue, so I'll treat you to the games later!" Chen Ci said generously.
Zhou Shilin smiled at her and said, "No need, I didn't say I wanted to play."
"Since we're already here, how can we not play a couple of rounds?" Chen Ci said, scanning a QR code at the front desk to buy a lot of game tokens, then giving half to Zhou Shilin. "Let's go, what do you want to play?"
"..." He didn't want to play.
Seeing him standing still, Chen Ci stroked her chin and looked him up and down: "You haven't ever been to an arcade before, have you?"
"...Is there any real need to go to the arcade?"
"So what did you play with when you were a kid?"
"Equestrianism, fencing, skiing, tennis."
"..." Okay, that's very much like President Zhou.
"Then today you can try racing, dancing, boxing, and the claw machine." Without saying another word, Chen Ci pulled Zhou Shilin and walked inside.
After losing two consecutive races to Zhou Shilin, Chen Ci smiled and looked at Zhou Shilin sitting next to her: "What do you mean? Are you putting on an act for me?"
Zhou Shilin turned to look at her: "I'm quite curious, how do you, someone who has never driven a car, think you can beat me in a race?"
"..." Although she had never driven a real car, could driving in a game be the same as driving a real car? "Let's change it, let's race motorcycles."
She must have actually ridden a motorcycle!
Zhou Shilin kindly reminded her, "The reason you lost is because you don't have a younger brother who loves playing games."
Chen Ci: "..."
“When we were kids, Zhou Mingye couldn’t beat me in school, so he tried a different approach: he wanted to beat me in games.” Zhou Shilin looked at Chen Ci and raised an eyebrow. “At first, he did have an advantage, but after I studied his games, he never managed to beat me again.”
Chen Ci: "..."
That's terrible, Zhou Mingye! How did you grow up to be so big?!
"Then... let's go play the claw machine." It doesn't matter who wins, because she gets all the plush toys she catches anyway.
Zhou Shilin was indeed exceptionally talented at claw machines; even the machines seemed to favor him, managing to keep him steady just as the claw machine was about to drop, preventing it from falling at the entrance.
"You're practically a born claw machine master!" Chen Ci smiled sincerely, holding the five plush toys Zhou Shilin had won for her. "Thank you for the plush toys, Mr. Zhou."
"You're welcome. Isn't that why you asked me to play the claw machine?"
"Haha, as expected, nothing can be hidden from President Zhou." Chen Ci was carrying five dolls, intending to leave with a full load, when she suddenly heard cheers coming from the boxing machine.
She immediately turned around and walked towards the boxing machine: "Let me go see what's going on."
Zhou Shilin: "..."
He had no choice but to follow Chen Ci and walk towards the crowd. There was a large crowd gathered in front of the boxing machine in the arcade. Chen Ci went over to inquire and found out that there was an event going on: the person who scored the highest score before the countdown ended would win a giant rabbit plush toy.
Holding five dolls in her arms, Chen Ci turned to Zhou Shilin excitedly and said, "Look at that rabbit, it's so big and cute!"
"……so what?"
"I'll win it for you!"
Zhou Shilin: "..."
When exactly did he say he wanted it?
Chen Ci, however, enthusiastically shoved the five dolls she was holding into Zhou Shilin's arms and registered for the competition with the staff. This competition had no age or gender restrictions; anyone who wanted to participate could register, but each person only had three chances.
The reason everyone was cheering just now was because a guy in a black vest scored the highest score so far, 710 points.
Zhou Shilin glanced at the numbers on the scoreboard and said to Chen Ci, "On this machine, a score of 500 is considered quite strong. You see, many people only get three or four hundred."
"Yes, and there's also a very eye-catching bag that's perfect."
"...So currently, this score of 710 is very difficult for ordinary people to surpass, except for professional boxers."
The scoreboard clearly stated that professional boxers were prohibited from participating, so unsurprisingly, the pink bunny ended up in the hands of this burly man in the black vest.
Chen Ci stretched her body, not intimidated by the score of 710: "It's okay, I'm a girl anyway. If I lose to a strong man in black, no one will laugh at me. But if I win, he's finished."
Zhou Shilin: "..."
"And as you know, I'm naturally strong. Back in the martial arts school, none of my senior brothers could beat me in terms of strength," Chen Ci suddenly came up and whispered to Zhou Shilin.
She suddenly moved too close, her body almost pressed against Zhou Shilin's. Zhou Shilin was stunned for a moment before turning his face away, pretending to be calm: "Then you can try it, just consider it venting."
“Okay.” Chen Ci said, and walked to the boxing machine. When the people around saw that she was a little girl preparing to take on the challenge, they immediately started talking.
The guy who had just scored 710 points also looked at her. When she registered earlier, he thought she was registering for the man next to her. Although that man was dressed in a suit and tie, like a social elite sitting in an office, he could tell that the man exercised a lot, as there was a strong body under the suit.
But the person standing in front of the boxing machine was this little girl, which really surprised him. However, surprise aside, the rules did not restrict gender, so anyone who wanted to participate could participate.
With only one minute left in the countdown, the onlookers assumed that Chen Ci was just playing around and were happy to watch the spectacle.
After putting on his boxing gloves and getting ready, Chen Ci threw a punch at the upright target. The target fell down with a crisp, loud "thud," and the integrator on the machine began to jump rapidly, the red numbers climbing steadily until they stopped at 800.
There was a brief, mysterious silence, followed by a commotion from the crowd, even louder than when she scored 710 points. Zhou Shilin was also somewhat surprised. He knew that Shen Ci had practiced martial arts since childhood and was very strong, but he hadn't expected her to score 800 points.
"Holy crap, is this the legendary 'Would you die if I punch you?'"
"This little girl looks so gentle and refined, how come she's so strong???"
"No, is there something wrong with this machine? Is it malfunctioning?"
"The sound I heard just now was really good, so it shouldn't be a malfunction."
"Wait, let me try." Someone didn't believe that Chen Ci could score 800 points and came up to test if the machine was broken. Chen Ci gave him his spot, and he punched the machine, scoring an impressive 280 points.
Amidst the surrounding laughter, the man took off his gloves and quickly walked away.
The staff member keeping score was also quite excited. They had held this competition several times before, but this was the first time a girl had achieved such a good result: "Anyone else want to challenge? Now's the time!"
No one dared to challenge the previous 710 points, and now that it's 800 points, no one will bother to make a fool of themselves. The guy in the black vest next to him didn't look too good either. If he hadn't already used up his three chances, he would have definitely gone up and thrown another punch.
After the countdown ended, the staff officially announced the end of today's competition, walked over to Chen Ci, and raised her right hand: "I declare today's champion to be this lady. Let me congratulate her!"
Everyone applauded enthusiastically. Chen Ci thanked everyone and accepted her prize, a rabbit.
The man in the black vest hadn't recovered from all of this when Chen Ci saw that he looked like his Dao heart was broken. She went up to him and comforted him, saying, "Brother, you don't need to feel inferior for losing to me. I've always had an unusually strong body since I was a child."
Big Brother: "..."
It's really quite eerie.
After the match, the crowd gradually dispersed. Chen Ci, holding the large rabbit, happily walked back to Zhou Shilin and said, "It felt so good to get that punch! I'm going to put a punching bag at home and hit it whenever I have time! It's so stress-relieving!"
"...Then you'd better buy some that are more durable."
"Hahaha." Chen Ci laughed a few times, then looked up at Zhou Shilin, "Squat down a little."
"What are you doing?" Zhou Shilin asked, his body unconsciously crouching down slightly. Chen Ci stood on tiptoe and hung the large rabbit she was holding on Zhou Shilin's shoulder. "I won your big rabbit for you!"
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