"What's wrong with me?" Su Huaiming asked as he ate his ice cream.
"You snatched my ice cream!" Fu Xiaoxiao was panting like a little calf.
Su Huaiming raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you the one who wanted to snatch my ice cream first? You can snatch mine, but I can't snatch yours?"
How could Fu Xiaoxiao possibly win an argument against Su Huaiming? He huffed in anger, looking very much like a month-old puppy trying to frighten someone by acting fierce.
"Youyou and Xuanxuan both have ice cream. Why don't I?" Fu Xiaoxiao was so worked up that he jumped up and down.
Su Huaiming's reasoning was perfectly logical. "Youyou and Xuanxuan bought ice cream with money they earned themselves, so of course they can have it. But did you earn any money?"
Su Huaiming's soul-searching question left Fu Xiaoxiao speechless. He stammered for ages without managing to get a word out, so angry that he nearly stamped his feet.
Su Huaiming watched him leisurely and continued eating the ice cream. "The ice cream was bought with my money, so of course I get to eat it. But..."
Su Huaiming changed tack. "I could let you have a bite."
Fu Xiaoxiao had originally wanted to snatch Su Huaiming's ice cream and eat both himself, but now he had lowered his expectations and would be satisfied with just one bite. His eyes lit up at once as he looked at Su Huaiming. "Really?"
"Really." Su Huaiming looked at Fu Xiaoxiao and patiently prompted him. "If you want some of the ice cream in my hand, what should you say to me?"
Whenever Fu Xiaoxiao wanted something, he usually only had to ask and someone would put it in his hands. If he couldn't get it, he would get it after throwing a tantrum.
He had never asked anyone nicely for anything. He pouted and thought for a long time before saying quietly, "Stepdad, may I have a bite of your ice cream?"
Su Huaiming had known the child was clever. He chuckled and asked, "Then if you want me to buy you ice cream in the future, what should you say?"
Fu Xiaoxiao stared longingly at the ice cream in Su Huaiming's hand, practically drooling. He couldn't think about anything else and went on, "I want ice cream. Could you buy me one?"
Su Huaiming nodded in satisfaction and tapped Fu Xiaoxiao's little nose. "You're pretty clever. You can apply what you've learned."
While they were talking, Su Huaiming had already eaten one and a half ice creams. He handed the last little bit to Fu Xiaoxiao.
Fu Xiaoxiao's eyes shone as he looked at the ice cream. He sucked in his saliva, then opened wide and took a bite.
As the sweet taste spread over his tongue, Fu Xiaoxiao happily narrowed his eyes, the corners of his mouth rising higher and higher.
Fu Xiaoxiao was well-off and had eaten better ice cream than this, but after all those twists and turns, what he had worked hard to obtain was the most precious and delicious.
Fu Xiaoxiao ate very carefully. If Su Huaiming hadn't stopped him, he would have licked his fingers clean.
After finishing the ice cream, Fu Xiaoxiao looked at Su Huaiming, who was wiping his hands, and gave a little huff through his nose.
Stepdad isn't nice to me, but since the ice cream was so delicious, I'll forgive him a tiny bit for now!
Once his hands were clean, Fu Xiaoxiao planted them on his hips and said with a stern little face, "Hmph, I'm going to earn lots and lots of money and buy my own ice cream!"
Su Huaiming nodded in agreement. "As long as it's money you've earned, you can buy whatever you want."
Fu Xiaoxiao had expected Su Huaiming to oppose him, but he hadn't expected him to agree so readily. His eyes lit up with delight.
Children didn't hold grudges. Fu Xiaoxiao instantly forgot their earlier quarrel and happily ran circles around Su Huaiming. Only when sweat appeared on his forehead did he stop in front of him and hold out a fair, tender little finger. "Pinky promise. It's a deal!"
Su Huaiming laughed, then bent down and hooked pinkies with Fu Xiaoxiao. "All right. I'll keep my word."
Fu Xiaoxiao immediately ran off to share the good news with Ji Youyou and Yu Xuanxuan. He declared with great confidence, "When I earn money, I'll treat you to ice cream. You can have as much as you want!"
Ji Youyou said softly, "Thank you, Brother Xiaoxiao."
Yu Xuanxuan exclaimed, his eyes widening into saucers. "Really?"
Fu Xiaoxiao puffed out his chest, put his hands on his hips, and said confidently, "Of course! You're my good friends. I'll definitely treat you to ice cream!"
After saying that, he suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Su Huaiming.
Su Huaiming had treated him to half an ice cream this time. As a generous child, he could reluctantly treat Su Huaiming to one next time.
Fu Xiaoxiao didn't have a penny to his name, yet he was already dreaming of eating all the ice cream he wanted. He made Ji Youyou and Yu Xuanxuan so many grand promises that the three children were practically drooling rivers.
The children played and skipped along as they walked, and they soon reached the supermarket.
Su Huaiming and the others picked up shopping baskets and entered the supermarket. Sun Siyuan had his hands in his pockets and a sour look on his face, and he didn't pick up anything.
Now Sun Siyuan was the one without a penny. As an adult, he could make do with a couple of bites, but he had only taken a bottle of cold water from the fridge earlier, and water couldn't fill a person up.
Sun Siyuan had grown up surrounded by luxury and could get whatever he wanted. He had never been in such a predicament before, and his face was as black as thunder.
Remembering that he was the one who had cleaned Sun Siyuan out, Su Huaiming considerately bought him some bread. Ji Mingzhe and Yu Ruicheng noticed and bought Sun Siyuan a few things too.
Ji Mingzhe said, "There should be a chance to earn money tomorrow. The most pressing thing now is to sort out dinner and breakfast tomorrow."
Yu Ruicheng still wore that cool expression and said very little. "Bread and milk for breakfast tomorrow. It doesn't need to be too elaborate."
Ji Mingzhe nodded in agreement, then added, "The cheapest option is to buy ingredients and cook when we get back. Can any of you cook?"
Apart from the three children, Su Huaiming, Sun Siyuan, and Yu Ruicheng looked at one another, but none of them spoke.
Ji Mingzhe sighed.
He only knew how to make a few simple dishes, and there were too many people present for him to manage alone. It seemed they could only buy ready-made meals.
The supermarket had plenty of meals to choose from, but with three children, they had to pick something healthy with a reasonable balance of meat and vegetables.
As they shopped, they had to use a calculator to keep track of the cost, afraid of accidentally going over budget and embarrassing themselves at checkout.
After a long time of careful budgeting, they finally sorted out dinner and breakfast.
Everyone carried their baskets to the checkout together. Sun Siyuan looked at Su Huaiming and the others and felt like an idler being supported by them, which made him very angry.
Su Huaiming was the last to pay. Just after he finished, he saw the employee staring wide-eyed at his receipt, looking extremely surprised.
A few question marks appeared over Su Huaiming's head.
The employee handed him the receipt and said with delight, "Congratulations, sir! You're our supermarket's ten-thousandth customer. We're giving you a 1,000-yuan voucher!"
The supermarket's front desk also received the news. Several people in uniform brought out an oversized plastic sign bearing the words "1,000-yuan voucher" and ceremoniously presented it to Su Huaiming.
Su Huaiming hadn't expected such a windfall. Still feeling detached from what was happening, he posed for a photo with the extremely enthusiastic supermarket manager.
Ji Mingzhe and the others stood to one side, staring in amazement. Sun Siyuan couldn't hold back his question. "The director really didn't arrange this in advance?"
There was no way to edit a livestream afterward, so the director could only write a few words on a piece of paper and hold it in front of the camera: It really wasn't me!!!
The three exclamation marks vividly conveyed his feelings.
Su Huaiming walked over with the 1,000-yuan voucher. He looked at the other three, held up the voucher, and said with a smile, "Come on, let's take another look around. You can buy whatever you want. My treat."
His words were exceedingly generous. The three children led the charge into the supermarket and swept through the snack aisle, their laughter audible from far away.
The viewers in the livestream were stunned.
Su Huaiming looked so cool holding that voucher and saying it was his treat. It was every bit as good as that classic domineering CEO line: Spend as much as you want on the card.]
[He won first prize in the draw before, and now he's gotten a 1,000-yuan voucher. Su Huaiming must be a koi reincarnated!]
[I'm absorbing his luck, absorbing it, absorbing it!]
[Su Huaiming above, bless me with success in my postgraduate entrance exam!]
[I just chanted Su Huaiming's name to myself while pulling cards, and I actually got an SSS-rank one!]
Ten minutes later, a photo of Su Huaiming holding the voucher appeared in the trending searches, with a line of text on it:
[Repost this Su Huaiming, and your wishes will surely come true within ten days.]
Chapter 10: 010
After shopping at the supermarket, everyone headed back carrying bags big and small.
Luckily, the supermarket was close to where they were staying, just a ten-minute walk away.
Sun Siyuan was tall, large, and strong, yet he carried only one bag.
He held the bag in one hand and kept the other in his pocket, leisurely looking around as though he were just a tourist with nothing to do.
[How shameless can Sun Siyuan be? He's carrying so little and acting like it's only natural!]
[He's always been like this, a severe case of prince syndrome. Carrying one bag is already beneath his dignity.]
[How dare you commoners talk about the prince like that! Doge.jpg]
[Sun Siyuan's been criticized over and over since his debut, and he hasn't changed a bit. In a way, I kind of admire him.]
Sun Siyuan didn't care at all what the viewers thought. He continued strolling along at the back until he suddenly caught sight of Su Huaiming out of the corner of his eye.
Su Huaiming wasn't short, but next to Ji Mingzhe and Yu Ruicheng, he looked especially frail and slender.
He had changed into a clean shirt, its hem fluttering in the wind and making it look as though there was hardly anything underneath. He held a bulging bag in each hand. They looked especially heavy at a glance, weighing Su Huaiming down.
Sun Siyuan's pupils trembled slightly, and the image of a sickly Su Huaiming suddenly appeared before his eyes. It seemed that in the next second, Su Huaiming would stagger and faint on the ground.
What had happened before had been such a shock to Sun Siyuan that he instinctively rushed forward, practically snatching the two bags from Su Huaiming's hands.
His hands suddenly lighter, Su Huaiming looked at Sun Siyuan in confusion.
Seeing that Su Huaiming only had a little sweat on his forehead and otherwise looked normal, Sun Siyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Remembering the fright he had just gotten, he frowned and criticized him irritably. "Don't you know your own limits? How can you carry things that heavy? If something really happened, would you pin it on me again?"
Su Huaiming: ???
He blinked in confusion. "When did I ever pin anything on you?"
Sun Siyuan snorted and gave him a look that said, "How can you even ask?"
Looking at the strange Sun Siyuan, Su Huaiming realized that Sun Siyuan seemed to have given him some odd label in his mind. He was just about to clear up the misunderstanding when Sun Siyuan beat him to it.
Sun Siyuan carried the three bags with ease and wanted Su Huaiming to rest, but he had never been one to speak gently. Looking quite awkward, he said, "You're blocking the way. Move over."
Su Huaiming stepped to the side just as a car drove past. The breeze it stirred lifted his fluffy loose strands of hair, but he and the car were a great distance apart, and there was absolutely no chance of it hitting him.
Sun Siyuan, however, nearly jumped out of his skin. His reaction was quite exaggerated. In his alarm, he grabbed all three bags in one hand and used the free hand to roughly pull Su Huaiming to the inside. Still shaken, he said, "Stay close to the side of the road. Don't go out there!"
Even after saying that, he still felt he hadn't vented his anger, so he said coldly, "Did you hear me?!"
Sun Siyuan treated Su Huaiming entirely like a naughty child, afraid he would sneak out toward the road. He insisted on staying beside Su Huaiming, trying to block him with his body.
Sun Siyuan had long legs and a long stride, so to walk alongside Su Huaiming, he took quick little steps, putting his long legs to quite an inconvenience.
Sun Siyuan grew impatient with the pace and couldn't help clicking his tongue, but he didn't dare take his temper out on Su Huaiming at any point.
Ji Mingzhe and Yu Ruicheng watched the two of them and exchanged a glance, but neither said anything.
The viewers in the livestream, however, erupted.
[Oh my god, Sun Siyuan pampers Su Huaiming so much! He's never treated anyone else like this!!]