CH 58.1

Ji Ran wanted to tell him to move aside, but was also afraid this segment would be captured by the camera. In the event they did not mosaic his face, it would be utterly embarrassing.

He got up and gave his seat to Qin Man. When they passed each other, he whispered, “Can you do it?”

“What can I not do?” Qin Man returned.

“…”

Unfortunately, they did not know how effective the mic on He Suiran was. Their conversation was clearly captured.

He Suiran’s expression changed and he let out a smile after half a second. “It’s just a bowl of soup, surely you needn’t go to that extent.”

Qin Man sneered, the unfriendliness and malice in his eyes had vanished. “Since it’s a mission, there should be some degree of difficulty.”

The arm-wrestling competition between the other two had already ended.

Cheng Peng won without much difficulty. The male star was busy groping Cheng Peng’s hand and barely made any effort.

“Ah, I’m sorry.” The male star lowered his head in shame. “My strength is too small, I wasn’t able to win some crayfish for our team.”

Cheng Peng laughed. “You should have said so earlier. I would have let you win.”

The male star froze before his ears turned red.

Was Cheng Peng smiling at him? He still remembered that in the short period of time of their previous interaction, Cheng Peng rarely spoke to him.

Yue Wen Wen looked at him strangely — anyone with eyes could see that Cheng Peng was seducing this male star but Cheng Peng was famous for not getting back with his exes. He definitely was not one to take back an ex-lover, so why did he suddenly change his mind today?

Right in front of Chen An too…

Chen An’s face had turned pale. With his head lowered, he looked extremely pitiful.

He couldn’t understand the hearts of these people. Yue Wen Wen gave up and turned to look elsewhere.

The show host had reached out and held the hands of those in the second group. “3, 2, 1…”

The two men competed.

Ji Ran sat cross-legged. He couldn’t feel the strength of those two, but he could see their fists shake slightly. The two people were evenly-matched and he could not tell who would be victorious.

Yue Wen Wen asked in interest. “Ran Ran, who do you think will win?”

“How would I know?”

The answer came quickly. The two fists soon swayed to the left before inching closer to the ground level.

Once He Suiran’s hand was pushed down, it became harder for him to fight back. But he refused to give up and exerted more force until his face had turned red.

A racer’s hands were extremely important. They needed to hold the wheel firmly and accurately under great speed to execute a turn to grasp an opportunity for victory. How important was a bowl of soup for He Suiran to go to this extent?

If they hadn’t just gone out to eat last night, he would have thought that He Suiran had been starving for days.

Compared to He Suiran, Qin Man was much more at ease. His expression was unchanged, looking as if he wasn’t the one in an arm-wrestling match.

It didn’t take long for He Suiran’s arm to lay flat on the table and completely lose this game.

Qin Man slowly retracted his arm and turned to look at Ji Ran. “I won.”

Ji Ran gave him a light ‘en’ in response.

“Is there a prize?” Qin Man reminded him.

“Why should I have to give you a prize?”

“I competed in your place,” Qin Man opened his palms and acted pitiful. “Look, my hand is in this state.”

“Who asked you to do so?” Saying so, Ji Ran turned to wave at the boss. “Boss, one serving of eight treasure soup, make sure it’s thick.”

He coolly said, “I’ll supplement you to death.”

He Suiran was still holding his arm in a daze before he put on a smile.

“I lost.” He looked into the camera and tried to salvage his remaining dignity. “I underestimated him.”

Qin Man replied, “If you aren’t willing to accept it, we can have another go.”

“…”

“Another round? If you have too much energy, why don’t you just stay and help the boss feed the chickens?” Ji Ran looked at the staff swarming them and asked, “Are you done filming? We want to have dinner now.”

The staff froze, not expecting to be chased out.

Let’s not talk about the male star whose popularity has been rising in recent years. Just He Suiran alone, his news was constantly on the hot search lately. There was no reason for these people to not recognise him.

When ordinary people see an idol, shouldn’t they nervously agree to their requests before asking for an autograph?

“We’ve disturbed you. We’ll put the equipment away now.”

The male star reluctantly got up and cast his gaze towards Cheng Peng for half a day before leaving the booth.

“Bro Suiran, let’s go.”

“You guys can leave first.” He Suiran smiled, “I want to chat a little with my friend.”

The staff was surprised. “So you guys knew each other?”

“That’s right, we used to race together. Since it’s almost my ten-minute break, I’ll just have a short chat before going back. That shouldn’t eat into the others’ time, right?”

The staff hurriedly said it was fine and left.

He Suiran didn’t ask Ji Ran why he did not show up at the restaurant this morning. He only smiled, “It’s really fate to be able to meet you guys at such a faraway farmhouse.”

“Luckily I came directly from the restaurant and didn’t have the time to put this back.” He took out a palm-sized figurine from his pocket.

Previously, Ji Ran hadn’t been taking him seriously. The moment his eyes landed on the figurine, his back unconsciously straightened.

In fact, he hadn’t taken a proper look. But at a glance, he recognised Chester Kenelly’s uniform.

Seeing the light in Ji Ran’s eyes, Qin Man narrowed his eyes and tapped lightly on the table with his index finger.

“What’s this?” Ji Ran asked.

“Kennelly’s figurine,” He Suiran said, “Actually, the company wanted to make and sell these before he passed away. But as you know, Kennelly didn’t like it, so they never released it. Now the company came back onto this project. The previous designs were limited to 500 pieces to be given to fans around the world. There aren’t only figurines, but also race car models – those are more complicated to manufacture, so there is a lower quantity. But if you want it, I can get it for you when the time comes. ”

Ji Ran stared at the figurine for a few seconds before he asked. “How much?”

“Free, it’s a gift for you.” He Suiran said.

“In that case, I don’t want it.”

Once he spoke, everyone froze.

Everyone knew Ji Ran was a fan of Kenelly and his fanaticism only increased after Kenelly’s death.

Ji Ran drank his water.

It was true that he really wanted this figurine. But he wasn’t one to receive something for nothing and he didn’t have the habit of taking advantage of others.

Moreover, they weren’t on close terms. There were only a few hundred of these figurines in the world, so their price must not be low. He didn’t want to owe He Suiran a favour.

“Then…” He Suiran was inevitably surprised, but he quickly composed himself. “Then, five hundred dollars. You can have it. This is something the club gave to every member and I was barely a stranger to Kenelly. This thing is useless and frankly a waste of space.”

What difference was this and giving it to him for free?

“No need, take it back.”

He Suiran wanted to continue, but someone from the team came over and said the actors were hungry. Without him, they could not start eating.

Thus, He Suiran could only temporarily leave.

“Ran Ran, don’t you like Kenelly a lot? Why did you refuse his figurine?” Yue Wen Wen asked after he left.

“There’s 500 in the whole world,” Ji Ran said.

“Huh?”

“I can buy one on my own, no need for him to give it to me.”

Qin Man picked up a baby crayfish, shelled it, and put it in Ji Ran’s bowl. “Have a taste.”

Ji Ran didn’t like eating seafood most of the time because he hated shelling them. Now, he discourteously stuffed the crayfish into his mouth.