I thought my chance had come when Nan Xing called me and invited me to dinner with the kids. Who would’ve known it was a chance for them to hurt me instead? I had always believed that my innocent smile would fool her, but she turned the tables on me with those passive-aggressive attacks. I’ve heard of bunnies biting when threatened, but I never thought I’d witness one myself!
Ouyang Qing thought to herself as she glared at Ning Ran.
Although Nan Chen couldn’t care less about their little power play, he could see what Ning Ran was playing at.
To think that the childish “battles” between women could be this fun to watch…
The food was soon served up along with the soup.
Being a member of the upper echelons of society, Ouyang Qing had always found hotpot unbefitting of her status.
On top of that, the verbal assaults from Erbao and Ning Ran made her so mad that she didn’t have much appetite left. After eating some vegetables, she began scrolling through her phone to pass the time.
Ning Ran, on the other hand, was having a blast as hotpot was exactly what she wanted to help relieve her stress.
The fact that she was allowed to order whatever she wanted only made things even better, and she began wolfing down her food happily.
Nan Chen’s past experiences with spicy food had taught him a huge lesson regarding the risks it would bring him.
In order to avoid embarrassing himself with an upset stomach later on, Nan Chen made a dip for himself consisting of vinegar and some soy sauce.
He even added a small amount of water while no one was watching.
That way, he was able to rinse the food in it to take the edge off the spiciness and save his stomach from the abuse without embarrassing himself in front of everyone.
As for Nan Xing, things were a lot messier as he ate it straight. He was sticking his tongue out from time to time and kept wiping the sweat off his forehead with the paper towels.
At some point, he couldn’t keep up the tough act anymore and began downing glass after glass of water.
“Uncle Xing can’t take it anymore! He’s about to cry!” Erbao said with a giggle.
“I’m not crying! You’re crying! Who says I can’t handle spicy food?” Nan Xing said stubbornly and reached for his chopsticks once again.
Dabao quickly stopped him. “Forget it, Uncle Xing, I think you’re quite full now. Don’t forget about your important announcement tonight!”
Everyone turned to look at Nan Xing, curious as to what he had to announce.
“Announcement?” Even Nan Xing was confused and stared blankly at Dabao.
“Aww, Uncle Xing’s playing dumb again! He won’t say it!” Erbao clapped her hands and laughed.
“What did you want to say?” Nan Chen asked.
He felt something was amiss about that dinner, but he couldn’t really figure out what it was.
Now that Erbao said Nan Xing had an announcement, he got curious as to what it was and whom it was for.
“I don’t have anything to announce! Well, except for the fact that this is really spicy!” Nan Xing grimaced.
Nan Chen nodded in agreement. Despite having rinsed my food beforehand, I can still feel the spiciness on my tongue.
“Are you chickening out again, Uncle Xing? You promised you’d say it!” Erbao shot him a disdainful look.
“Hey, what are you kids trying to do this time? What am I supposed to say? Why don’t I know about it?” Nan Xing asked anxiously.
Erbao looked at Dabao and said, “Dabao, I think Uncle Xing is too embarrassed to say it! Why don’t you do it for him?”
Dabao gave it some thought and replied, “I think you should do it instead. You’re better at acting it out.”
“Sure! It’s the same lines, right?”
Erbao got excited immediately when she heard she could perform.
“Yeah, just say the lines that Uncle Xing is supposed to say. You can add in some of your own, but make sure you get the main point across.”
“Got it!”
Erbao wiped her mouth with a paper towel upon receiving the order.
She then hopped off her chair and walked straight up to Ouyang Qing, who stared at her in shock and confusion.
“Qing, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you but never had the courage to,” Erbao said.
Ouyang Qing was surprised. What the heck is she saying? What’s she playing at this time?
“Erbao is mimicking Uncle Xing. She’s saying what he wants to say.” Dabao explained.
That was extremely helpful as it helped everyone understand what was going on.
“But, I didn’t…”
Nan Xing protested, but Dabao motioned at him to keep quiet.
“Have you forgotten our deal, Uncle Xing?” Dabao asked while winking at him.
That was when Nan Xing recalled a discussion he had with the two of them some time ago.
They told me how Ouyang Qing was getting in the way of Nan Chen and Ning Ran and asked me to get rid of her. They said it was the only way to reduce the conflict between Nan Chen and Ning Ran and increase the possibility of them becoming a happy family together. I didn’t agree to it at the time as I hated how pretentious Ouyang Qing was.
More importantly, she didn’t like me either! That woman only has eyes for Nan Chen! But then, these kids kept begging and even threatened to call me a bad uncle for not helping them! After I reluctantly agreed to help them, they went quiet for so long that I thought it was over.
Guess I was wrong… Damn it, I shouldn’t have come! Not only do I have to endure the stomachache from the spicy food, now I’ve got Erbao here about to make a confession on my behalf!
