Even the ancestors would be furious enough to throw off their coffin lids

Xu Su frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and asked, "Is this your way of showing your undying gratitude?"

Huo Yuchen looked up, meeting his puzzled gaze. "You're overthinking it. Your hands were dirty, so it wasn't convenient for you."

Xu Su nodded. "Got it. This is your way of showing your undying gratitude."

"..."

Huo Yuchen shoved the tissue into his hand.

Half an hour later, the other two teams' results were in as well.

Neither team had finished, but neither could eat any more, so Director Yu compared how much they had left. In the end, Shen Chuanzhu and Li Weizhou's team took second place, while Lu Jing and Zhuang Luo's team came last.

At the village entrance, Lu Jing held Xu Su's hand with tears in his eyes. "Once we part, who knows when we'll meet again!"

Xu Su turned to look at the placid, dim-witted old mule beside him and said solemnly, "Probably after dark."

Lu Jing burst into loud sobs.

Xu Su patted his shoulder in consolation, then turned and climbed onto his luxurious little electric scooter.

Supposedly, this scooter had been illegally modified and could reach ninety kilometers an hour.

Xu Su wasn't sure, so he planned to test it.

He waved excitedly at Huo Yuchen and tossed his head. "Hop on!"

"Okay."

Huo Yuchen agreed gently.

He thought Xu Su was so happy because he had won the contest. It never occurred to him that Xu Su's dream was to become the racing god of Mount Akina.

So he climbed onto the little electric scooter without a second thought, settling behind Xu Su with complete peace of mind and not a trace of hesitation.

Once all three teams of Guests had mounted their respective rides, Director Yu announced that they could set off.

At that, Xu Su immediately cranked the throttle and shot off, leaving everyone in the dust.

"Mr. Huo!!!"

"Oh my God!!!"

"Quick, quick, quick!! Someone!! Help him!!"

He had completely forgotten that Huo Yuchen, sitting behind him, could very well be thrown off.

[Hahahahahahaha, I'm laughing so hard my tits are cramping.]

[Okay, but I really couldn't help laughing.]

[I hammered my wooden fish two hundred times, even smashed the fucking mallet, and still couldn't save my karmic merit. It dropped by an entire ID number.]

[His face won't be scarred, will it? [trembling, covering mouth]]

[Xu Su, hurry up and charter a flight out of the country. You're seriously in trouble now.]

Before long, they were at the home of a village doctor whose practice had been passed down through generations.

"Doctor, are you sure Mr. Huo is really all right? Does he really not need to get checked at a big hospital? Is applying some liniment really enough?"

A worried Director Yu was questioning the elderly traditional Chinese physician.

The ninety-eight-year-old physician bristled and glared. "You doubt my medical skills?!"

Director Yu hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, that's not what I meant..."

Nearby, Xu Su was applying liniment to Huo Yuchen's red, swollen elbow, sighing with a mournful expression and, for once, saying nothing.

Watching him, Huo Yuchen couldn't help finding it rather amusing. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Xu Su shook his head with affected gravity. "Sigh..."

Huo Yuchen lowered his eyes slightly, his gaze falling on his scrape, a trace of indulgence in the depths of his eyes. "It's a minor injury. Nothing serious."

What he meant was, I don't blame you.

Yet, perhaps because Xu Su had watched too many movies about mob bosses, those clearly comforting words sounded faintly threatening to him-

A minor injury. Nothing serious. You'll just have to pay for it with your life.

Xu Su shuddered in fright.

He could say, "At worst, I'll die," ten thousand times, but he couldn't actually die.

He put down the cotton swab, took a deep breath, and tried to steady his breathing. "Tell me. How much?"

How much will it cost to buy back my worthless life?

For a moment, Huo Yuchen didn't understand. "?"

His confusion was plain as day, but to Xu Su, who suffered from severe persecution delusions, it took on an entirely different meaning: What kind of pipe dream are you having?

Xu Su decided to take control of his own life and death. "Would a hundred yuan do?"

"??"

The Crown Prince grew even more puzzled.

Xu Su merely assumed he was dissatisfied with the amount and frowned. "For someone of my caliber, isn't a hundred yuan enough?"

"???"

The Crown Prince was utterly bewildered. In his daze, he couldn't help wondering whether he had injured his brain in the fall, leaving him completely unable to grasp Xu Su's inscrutable words.

Old Mr. Huo, a thousand miles away, was equally unable to understand Xu Su's deeper meaning.

"What?!"

"He only wants a hundred yuan in betrothal money?!"

"How could that possibly do?!"

Not only had he failed to understand, but his interpretation had gone miles off course.

Beside him, the butler, Old Mao, chimed in, "Exactly. How could that possibly do!"

Huo Ruhui flushed with agitation. "For eight generations, no one in our Huo Family has married a wife with just a hundred yuan in betrothal money! Even finding Lao Hei a mate cost a hundred thousand!"

Lao Hei was the German Shepherd Huo Ruhui had raised himself. To give the dog's offspring even better genes, Huo Ruhui had searched the entire country for the most beautiful, sturdy bride, spending a hundred thousand yuan on the mating alone.

"If we actually did that, never mind what outsiders would say about us-I wouldn't even have the nerve to offer incense to our ancestors on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month!"

Old Mao nodded. "Exactly. Even the ancestors would be furious enough to throw off their coffin lids."

Huo Ruhui pointed at Huo Yuchen on the television, his voice growing louder and louder. "If his grandmother, who passed away so young, found out, she'd definitely come to my bedside in the middle of the night, yank my hair, and call me a bastard!"

Old Mao agreed. "Exactly. The late madam had the kindest heart. She would never stand for it."

At the mention of the love of his life, Huo Ruhui abruptly began sighing again. "Ah! This child is simply too humble. It must be because he suffered so many injustices before."

Old Mao remained steadfastly loyal. "Exactly. One look tells you he's a poor child who's endured a great deal of hardship."

Huo Ruhui picked up his Maojian tea, which cost eighteen thousand eight hundred yuan per fifty grams, and took a sip. Turning his head, he considered for a few seconds before ordering, "Go transfer that newly developed residential complex in Linxi District into my future grandson-in-law's name."

"Certainly."

Old Mao acknowledged the order, then turned to carry it out.

Meanwhile, after an arduous struggle to communicate, Huo Yuchen finally understood what Xu Su meant.

Unexpectedly, however, he showed no trace of speechlessness. Instead, he went along with Xu Su and proposed another "solution"-

"There's no need for money. How about this..."

He shifted his gaze, looking unblinkingly at Xu Su. Beneath his long, thick lashes, a hint of amusement and teasing flashed through his deep, beautiful eyes.

"Once the show ends, you can be my personal assistant for a week. How does that sound?"

It seemed like he was making things difficult for Xu Su, but sharp-eyed, sensitive viewers caught a whiff of something resembling flirtation.

[Per? Son? Al? Assistant? Hmm~~~]

[Circle those words. They'll be on the test!]

[Asking because I don't know: what's a personal assistant? Please explain in detail. [well-behaved]]

[Like helping the Crown Prince tie his tie when he gets up in the morning, serving him food when he eats, coaxing him to sleep when he has insomnia. [lecherous]]

[Is that a personal assistant? That's a fucking wife!]