Chapter 36 Bitter Melon Juice

Chapter 36: Bitter Gourd Juice

As they were getting ready, Song Xianghan looked at Shen Ci and Song Qiuchi huddled together, their heads close, and joked to Shen Shiyan beside her, who was loading his "bullets": "They get along so well, we might as well set up a child marriage for them."

Shen Shiyan froze and looked up at Shen Ci, who was murmuring with Song Qiuchi about who knows what.

Looks-wise, they were a perfect match.

And personality? They seemed to get along great.

Plus, over the past few months, the two had been chatting on WeChat daily, occasionally playing games together, and now they were out having fun together—they seemed really close.

He couldn't find a reason to say no.

A few seconds later, Shen Shiyan laughed, placed the last bullet into the magazine, pretended to aim at Shen Ci, and said, "They're still young. Let's talk about it in a few years."

Shen Ci, who almost got engaged, had no clue about all this, since he was busy trying to win over his opponent, Song Qiuchi.

Shen Ci was still bitter about the snowball fight last time, but considering how good Shen Shiyan was at throwing snowballs, Shen Ci was even worse off in a gunfight.

"Just shoot my daddy three times for me, okay!" Shen Ci held up three fingers.

Song Qiuchi looked confused: "Don't you love your daddy the most?"

Shen Ci shook his head: "That's got nothing to do with me loving my daddy."

"No way," Song Qiuchi shook her head. "Then my team would lose."

Shen Ci glanced at Shen Shiyan and said, "Didn't you say we're best friends?"

Song Qiuchi said firmly, "Best friends don't cheat on each other."

Shen Ci clenched his teeth: "If you lose, I'll drink your bitter gourd juice."

Song Xianghan was a regular at the shooting club, and Song Qiuchi had been taken there a few times. She knew her aunt's shooting skills all too well, and when she wasn't on the same team, she'd already given up hope.

Hearing that, Song Qiuchi reached out and patted Shen Ci on the shoulder: "Fine, once."

The game officially started, with a big red countdown of twenty minutes on the screen.

The six of them slowly crept out from their starting points, crouched low, searching for cover and enemy positions, the atmosphere went dead silent.

Shen Shiyan's eyes were sharp behind his goggles, his steps steady as he made it to the center of the battlefield first and found a spot to set up his sniper rifle.

A target showed up in his scope, and Shen Shiyan pulled the trigger fast. With a "bang," the bullet flew straight toward the center of his scope. But Song Xianghan was quick too, dodging to the side, the shot missed, leaving a splash of colorful paint on the cover behind her.

With that shot, the others quickly spotted their targets, and gunfire rang out one after another, with two grenades exploding in between.

Halfway through, Shen Shiyan and Song Xianghan had the fewest hits—two each—while the rest had four or five.

According to the rules, the battlefield would shrink in ten minutes, and the center quickly turned into chaos.

The six of them were breathing hard as they jogged, constantly switching cover. Qi Zizhu got hit by Gao Mengying's grenade and was ganged up on and taken out. Then Gao Mengying got taken out after blocking two bullets from Shen Shiyan that were aimed at Song Xianghan.

Four people were left on the field. Shen Ci finally spotted Shen Shiyan, aimed for ages, and fired a shot that just grazed his shoulder.

Shen Shiyan smirked, but before he could swing his scope toward where Shen Ci was exposed, he got hit from behind.

"?"

Shen Shiyan remembered Song Xianghan had vanished from the cover on the right front; there was no way she'd gotten behind him that fast.

He turned and looked around. Song Qiuchi was about twenty steps away, with her back to him, focused on aiming.

While he was looking around, Shen Ci had already moved. With less than seven minutes left, Shen Shiyan held his breath and quietly circled around from the side. One of Shen Ci's toes was exposed in Shen Shiyan's line of sight.

By the time Shen Ci reacted, the grenade rolling from Shen Shiyan's hand had already exploded.

With three consecutive shots, Shen Ci was finished off by Shen Shiyan.

Before he could crouch behind cover, he was hit twice more from behind.

"...?"

There was a traitor.

In the end, Song Xianghan narrowly defeated Shen Shiyan with a score of 6 to 7.

Shen Shiyan took off his camouflage jacket and shook it, revealing three marks from the exploding paintballs on his back, forming a triangle.

Three cups of bitter gourd juice were brought up by the staff. It was optional to drink, but since they were playing, they had to follow the rules.

As he got closer, Shen Ci could almost smell the bitter, clean scent. He tightened his small face, held his breath, took the cup of bitter gourd juice from Song Qiuchi, and downed it in one gulp.

Shen Shiyan raised an eyebrow.

Already protecting him like this without being betrothed?

So bitter. Shen Ci's face scrunched up, his fair cheeks turning red.

He regretted it again—how could he let his daddy drink something so awful?

Thinking of how good Shen Shiyan was to him, Shen Ci seemed to make a decision. Amid the stunned gazes of the others, he picked up Shen Shiyan's cup too, raised it to his mouth, and swallowed it down directly.

Song Qiuchi was completely shocked.

So impressive?

Only one cup remained. Miss Qi pondered for two seconds, then handed her own cup to Shen Ci, saying, "Here's another one. I didn't know you liked this."

Shen Ci: "..."

Oh well, what's a little more? So he finished the third cup of bitter gourd juice.

Blue team's Shen Ci, due to his love for bitter gourd juice, saved the three members of the red team from their ordeal.

Song Xianghan leaned on Gao Mengying's shoulder, laughing uncontrollably, and stopped the staff member who wanted to offer an extra cup.

The group chatted and laughed as they looked for the next attraction. Shen Shiyan watched Shen Ci, still grimacing from the bitterness, and connected it to Song Qiuchi's betrayal, instantly understanding the whole story.

With a low chuckle, Shen Shiyan took advantage of Song Qiuchi dragging Shen Ci to ride the carousel to buy six cups of hot cocoa from a nearby milk tea shop.

When he returned, the two kids had already gotten off the carousel.

The rich chocolate aroma finally suppressed the waves of nausea Shen Ci had been feeling.

Qi Zizhu dragged Gao Mengying to take photo booth pictures.

Song Qiuchi suggested going on a roller coaster, but Shen Ci shook his head like a toy drum, saying, "Let's do it tomorrow. I'll definitely throw up today."

Then he was mercilessly mocked by Xiao Song Classmate.

They wandered around and rode three or four more rides. As night fell, the amusement park was soon enveloped by colorful lights reflecting off each other. The laughter of the people around and the aroma of food wafting from the stalls added a touch of warmth to the romantic and dreamy atmosphere.

In the distance, the Ferris wheel was outlined by pink and white light strips. The lights flickered and disappeared along the bearings from the center point, like a huge, brilliant firework.

Holding her photo booth picture, Gao Mengying said, "Legend has it that making a wish on the Ferris wheel will definitely come true."

Before boarding the Ferris wheel, Song Xianghan handed her camera to a staff member. The group stood still, right beneath the Ferris wheel.

Gao Mengying still stuck close to Song Xianghan, followed by Miss Qi, with Shen Shiyan standing on the far right.

Song Qiuchi and Shen Ci were in front of them.

"Click."

Song Xianghan thanked the staff and took back the camera.

Qi Zizhu was the first to look at the photo. Everyone in the picture was relaxed, slightly bent at the waist, throwing up peace signs, with the Ferris wheel's lights fully lit behind them.

Everything was just right.