Mu Yao, who had yet to master the proper way to handle his little money pouch, was thrown out of the changing room, rose and all.
Sitting in the dining room after polishing off two steamed buns, Ji Shi gave a deeply mocking snort. "Seriously, this early in the morning, and you even got a rose?"
Mu Yao wasn't annoyed by Xie Ji's forceful rejection. He casually set the rose aside and said with a grin, "When I went out to exercise this morning, I saw what looked like a rose by the courtyard gate, so I picked it."
Lu Xunji reached over and tapped the tabletop beside him. "Two hundred."
Mu Yao didn't catch on. He turned to look at Lu Xunji. "What?"
Lu Xunji was already neatly dressed. He looked down at him with a faint trace of disgust in his eyes.
His sharply defined features were cold to begin with. When he looked at people like this, there was often a cutting contempt to his gaze, as though he were looking at garbage that sullied his eyes.
"Two hundred. For the rose."
Mu Yao paused. "You planted that rose?"
"He sure did." Ji Shi laughed, looking smugly at his two love rivals, both of whom had taken a hit. "He redeemed rose seedlings in the points shop yesterday. Two thousand points for just two hundred roses, and this was the only one with a slightly bigger bloom. You really couldn't keep your hands to yourself."
Mu Yao leaned back in his chair, his flirtatious peach-blossom eyes narrowing in a smile. "Little Xunji, I only picked one of your roses. Don't be so stingy."
Lu Xunji repeated expressionlessly, "Two hundred."
Ji Shi fanned the flames from the sidelines. "I suggest adding another fifty. That number suits Mu Yao better."
Mu Yao gave a snort of laughter, holding the rose between his fingers and waving it. "How pitiful. A rose worth two hundred, and it got tossed straight out."
"Two hundred? What two hundred?" Xie Ji poked his head out of the changing room. "Two hundred what?"
Mu Yao said, "Little Cake, Lu Xunji says this rose costs two hundred points apiece. So expensive."
Xie Ji's tears of regret instantly flowed from the corner of his mouth. "Why didn't you tell me something this important sooner? Quick, give me back my two hundred points-no, my little rose."
Mu Yao raised an eyebrow and picked up the rose. "So, you're accepting my rose?"
Xie Ji walked over. "Yes, yes!"
Just as his hand was about to touch those two hundred points, another hand reached over first and ruthlessly snapped the rose off its stem.
The luscious bloom fell into his palm, and he crushed it. Vivid red juice seeped between his fingers, the red against his snow-white skin unbearably sexy.
"Mine." Lu Xunji looked at Mu Yao. It was unclear whether he meant the rose or someone else.
"Oh dear." Mu Yao's lips curved into a smile. "How cruel. It was blooming so beautifully... But so what if you planted it? The fact that I saw it proves it was fated to be with me. It's perfectly natural for me to take it away. Don't you think?"
Lu Xunji tossed the ruined rose into the trash and wiped his hands with an alcohol wipe in undisguised disgust. "Filthy."
Mu Yao couldn't keep smiling either. He sneered. "If you think it's filthy, don't touch my things."
"Your things?" Lu Xunji raised his eyes. "If you're so possessive of other people's things, have you considered being a different species in your next life? A dung beetle, for instance?"
Mu Yao: "..."
So he was taking the scenic route to call him a dung beetle, was he?
Xie Ji plopped down beside Ji Shi and whispered, "If they start fighting, whose rose does that count as? Who should I ask for the points later?"
Ji Shi looked at him as though he'd seen a ghost, then sighed and closed his eyes in resignation.
How on earth had they fallen for someone like this?
Xie Ji truly had no heart.
Zhou Heyu and Shang Yan passed the dining table with their usual expressions, collected their portions of food, and returned to their rooms.
[Come along, everyone, follow me. Our next stop is Young Field's famous tourist attraction, the male peacock enclosure. The daily staple here is an inevitable fight between two male peacocks. Their tactics include, but are not limited to: passive-aggressive remarks, direct attacks, cursing each other, metaphorical comparisons...]
[Am I the only one who doesn't get it? What exactly are they doing?]
[What kind of shura field is this? Don't these young masters get tired of going at each other's throats every day? They even have the energy to make such a huge fuss over a rose?]
[On the surface, it's just a rose, but in reality...]
[In reality, it's a rose worth two hundred points!]
[Enough, Xie Ji! We told you to stop snatching people's phones!]
[I guess the young masters still need time to adjust to each other. After all, every one of them has people flocking to answer their call outside this place.]
[Poor little Zhou Heyu took one steamed bun too few. Don't let him go hungry! Hurry and take one to our baby!]
After that spark-filled breakfast, Xie Ji headed to the cowshed to tend to his cow.