The thick morning fog slowly dispersed under the spring sun.
Done packing, Cheng Nuo cabbed to the shopping district in the northern part of the city at 9:30 AM.
He was dressed in a light gray sweatshirt with a slightly messy hairstyle. Putting his hands in his pockets, Cheng Nuo glanced at the bustling crowd. It was a weekend, so the shopping district was busier than usual.
"Cheng Nuo! Hey! We are here!"
Xiaoxiao's petite build made her rather noticeable in the crowd. She couldn't help but wave her hand excitedly when Cheng Nuo showed up.
Cheng Nuo looked over.
Xiaoxiao was wearing an exceptionally cute outfit, matched with a pair of red sneakers and a women's baseball cap.
On her side, Mu Leng was dressed in a light blue, high-collar hoodie, a pair of brown flare pants, and milky-white sneakers. She wasn't wearing any makeup. However, the spring sun gave her cold look a unique, pure aura. She looked like a budding lotus and stood out from the rest of the crowd.
"Good morning, beauties!" Cheng Nuo greeted them with a smile.
"Hmph!" Mu Leng shot him a glimpse and dismissed him with a cold snort. That made Cheng Nuo kind of embarrassed. He regretted saying the wrong things the day before.
But Xiaoxiao was very friendly to him. After all, Cheng Nuo was going to treat them to a meal today!
"Cheng Nuo, I didn't expect you to be so punctual!" Xiaoxiao said as she looked at her watch. It was 9:45 AM.
"I was woken up at 6 o'clock. How could I be late?" Cheng Nuo thought grumpily.
"Alright, ladies. Where do you want to go? I'm your footman today."
"Let's go shopping first! And then have a good meal!" Xiaoxiao waved her tiny hand.
Cheng Nuo had heard many people saying that following girls to shop was a punishing duty for guys. But he didn't agree.
Why? It was because as high school students, Xiaoxiao and Cheng Nuo didn't have much to buy.
What about clothes? They had to wear school uniforms on more than 300 days out of the 365 days in a year, so it was completely unnecessary to have too many clothes. How about cosmetics? Neither Xiaoxiao nor Mu Leng was the fancy kind, so they had no need for makeup yet.
Hence, Xiaoxiao simply dragged Cheng Nuo and Mu Leng along and walked around without actually buying anything.
After one hour, Xiaoxiao bought a scarf and Mu Leng bought a phone case. They didn't spend money on anything else.
"I'm so tired! Let's find a place to rest!" Xiaoxiao suggested. That was sooner than Cheng Nuo had expected.
Without a choice, the group came to the ground floor of the shopping mall and sat down in the resting area. Cheng Nuo walked off and came back with three cups of milk tea.
"Milk tea, ladies?"
Xiaoxiao's eyes immediately beamed with joy. She snatched a cup from Cheng Nuo's hands and started sucking the pearls eagerly. Mu Leng hesitated and shot Cheng Nuo a cold glance.
Cheng Nuo smiled and shoved one cup of milk tea into Mu Leng's cold hands. "One for you, Sister Leng. I didn't poison it."
"Volume: 421.57 mL, temperature: 37.85 degrees Celsius, energy: 245.87 calories…"
A cup of warm milk tea was one of the greatest sources of happiness in the world.
Opposite them was a row of claw machines. There were more than ten of them.
Many people had been attracted to the machines and half of them were occupied. There were couples and parents with kids.
Xiaoxiao put her hand under her chin and looked at those playing the machines. Her eyes were beaming with interest.
"Forward… Left! Yes… Go! … Yay!" A short-haired girl with rosy cheeks was directing her boyfriend. Finally, after rounds of trying, they had successfully gotten a teddy bear.
Xiaoxiao tilted her head and blinked her eyes sweetly at Cheng Nuo. She asked, "Cheng Nuo, can we go and play the claw machines?"
"Do you want to, Sister Leng?" Cheng Nuo asked Mu Leng.
"Whatever," Mu Leng replied coldly. She had been in a bad mood towards Cheng Nuo since this morning.
"Okay," Cheng Nuo said as he stood up. "Wait here. I'm going to buy some game coins."
Soon, Cheng Nuo came back with 30 game coins, ten for each person.
Then they walked to a claw machine. Cheng Nuo smiled and asked, "Who wants to go first?"
"Me! Me!" Xiaoxiao raised her hand excitedly.
Each try cost one game coin. Full of confidence, Xiaoxiao inserted a coin and started to move the joystick.
She was aiming for a teddy bear whose head was already sticking out. However… everyone knows how difficult claw machines are.
After five tries, Xiaoxiao had not even managed to lift the bear up, let alone carry it anywhere near the hole.
She gave up after five consecutive failed attempts.
"Mu Leng, your turn. It's too hard…" Xiaoxiao pushed Mu Leng forward with disappointment on her face.
It was Mu Leng's first time playing with a claw machine. Hence, she was very curious. But she was no better than Xiaoxiao. After five tries, she hadn't gotten a prize either.
"Cheng Nuo, we are relying on you!" Xiaoxiao clenched her tiny fist and looked at Cheng Nuo with expectation in her eyes.
"Rest assured!" Cheng Nuo promised. In fact, he wasn't that confident either.
He inserted a coin and paid full attention to the claw as he controlled the joystick. After the claw slowly descended and closed… it came back up with only air in between the claws.
Cheng Nuo didn't want to give up. He inserted another coin and… he didn't catch anything either.
"Cheng Nuo, can you really do it?" Xiaoxiao couldn't help but ask after Cheng Nuo failed twice in a row.
"Of course! I'm a man!" Cheng Nuo insisted.
Then he fixed the claw machine with a determined stare and decided that he had to use his special power.
Cheng Nuo inserted another coin and looked closely at the machine.
"Height: 213.84 cm, length: 50.57 cm, width: 32.95 cm…"
"Distance: 54.21 cm, claw strength: 15.24 newton, mass of teddy bear: 0.34 kg…"
"Direction: 21.56 degrees SW, Angle: 68.24 degrees, Move 10.11 cm to the left and 7.65 cm forward…"
A faultless plan had been calculated in Cheng Nuo's mind.
Cheng Nuo moved the joystick. Unsurprisingly, the claw caught the teddy bear accurately.
However… the claw's strength was too low. It looked like the teddy bear could drop at any time.
Nervousness almost made Xiaoxiao's eyes pop out. She put her hands in front of her chest in anxiety.
Mu Leng's beautiful eyes were also glued to the bear.
And Cheng Nuo suddenly let out a confident smile.
"5.87 centimeters forward and 11.57 centimeters to the right. Then… here we go!"
The teddy bear dropped into the hole precisely.
"Yay!"
Xiaoxiao bent down and retrieved the teddy bear from the prize hole, hugging it tightly in her arms.