After spending another two days at home, Qin Ran and Yu Shuman bid farewell to Aunt Yu and prepared to head back to Beijing. Yu Shuman had some academic matters to handle, so she needed to return early. Aunt Yu was reluctant to let them go, but she said her goodbyes anyway. Before they left, Qin Ran placed the gift for Aunt Yu in Yu Shuman's room, knowing Aunt Yu would surely go in to tidy up.
Just to be sure Aunt Yu wouldn't miss it, Qin Ran placed the gift right on the bed.
Before they entered the waiting lounge, Aunt Yu held Yu Shuman's hand, saying a lot of things. Qin Ran, feeling a little embarrassed, went in ahead of them. Once Qin Ran was out of earshot, Aunt Yu turned to Yu Shuman, "Little Ran's had a tough life; you can't bully her..." Then she remembered seeing Qin Ran bouncing around happily one morning, while her daughter, who was usually so energetic, was fast asleep. Aunt Yu added, "But don't let her bully you either."
Yu Shuman couldn't help but laugh, but she still promised to take care of things.
"You're in the entertainment business, and Little Ran doesn't have family to support her. She's going to face a tough road ahead. You can't abandon her just because you start making money." Aunt Yu kept rambling, while Yu Shuman resisted the urge to say, "Even though Little Ran doesn't have family support, she's got a sky-high inheritance. She's loaded!"
All Yu Shuman could do was bow her head and assure her mother she wouldn't mistreat anyone. Finally satisfied, Aunt Yu sighed and gave her daughter a final set of instructions before walking away, turning back repeatedly to wave. The taxi they'd called was still waiting outside, and if they didn't hurry, the driver might leave.
Aunt Yu had no choice but to rush out to catch her taxi. As she sat in the back, she stared out at the planes at the airport, wondering which one would carry her daughter back to Beijing.
Once Yu Shuman entered the waiting lounge, she saw that Qin Ran had already gotten two cups of coffee. Yu Shuman sat next to her, greeting the female bodyguard as well. She took a sip of her coffee—it was sweet and creamy, the way she liked it, but not Qin Ran's preference.
After resting for a day upon returning to Beijing, Qin Ran and Yu Shuman went to the Bunny Arcade the next day to play the claw machines.
This time, the neighboring claw machine shop—where even a shopping bag cost five yuan—was doing even worse business. Bunny Arcade had only been open for just over a month, but its popularity had soared, leaving the neighboring shop deserted. The staff in the other shop had shrunk from three employees to just one working the register.
Of course, it was possible that some of the staff had gone home for the holidays. But during the peak shopping season, no business would be foolish enough to reduce staffing unless it was seriously struggling.
Compared to the near-deserted shop next door, Bunny Arcade was bustling. Qin Ran and Yu Shuman had to wait in line just to buy 100 tokens. They carried their little baskets of tokens, but the shop was so busy that they couldn't even get a shopping cart. So, the two of them just stood close together, holding all the plush toys they won in their arms.
The arcade had plenty of staff, primarily tasked with restocking the machines. Since Bunny Arcade made it easy to win, the toys were depleted quickly, and the staff had to constantly replenish them to keep up with demand.
Despite the workload, the staff seemed cheerful, with smiles all around. And the reason was simple: during the Lunar New Year holidays, wages were doubled or even tripled.
The three days surrounding the New Year earned triple pay, and the rest of the holiday was double pay. They even received gifts like festive food baskets. With such good pay, how could they not smile?
And the work wasn't too demanding either. Shifts were about 7.5 hours long, with an hour break for lunch, making it 6.5 hours of work.
Sometimes, when the Bunny Arcade staff met employees from the struggling shop next door in the mall's break room, they'd ask about wages. That's when they learned their own base pay was already much higher. This only made the Bunny Arcade employees happier, and they worked with even more enthusiasm.
Fair wages, appropriate workloads, and good benefits—these simple things can make workers very happy. Even if the job is demanding, people will work with heart and soul if they feel they're being treated well.
The customers were also smiling. During the holiday season, entire families came out to the mall together, and the kids couldn't resist the lure of the plush toys. Parents, too, favored Bunny Arcade over the neighboring shop because it offered a better deal.
There were no sneaky promotions like "Buy 50 tokens, get 65," or "Buy 100, get 140." Instead, it was a straight 1 yuan per token, no matter how much you bought. There was no pressure to buy more to get a better deal.
And best of all, the machines were easy to win from. Even with just 20 yuan, you could easily win four toys—about what would cost 50 yuan at the neighboring shop.
Even kids could win on their own. And, if you didn't like the toy you won, you could swap it for another with the staff.
Plus... shopping bags were free.
Frequent shoppers at this mall knew the other place charged 5 yuan per bag!
After buying 100 tokens, the two of them headed into Bunny Arcade. Though they couldn't get a cart, just being together made even the simple activity of playing claw machines more fun. Qin Ran and Yu Shuman stopped whenever they saw a cute toy, standing close as they discussed the best way to grab it.
Yu Shuman was a claw machine pro, likely due to her past experience working at an arcade. She told Qin Ran, "These claw machines all have their tricks. The employees can adjust the win rate; it's not truly random."
While lowering Qin Ran's expectations, she skillfully maneuvered the claw toward a plush toy. Just as she was explaining how the claw might look firm but was actually loose, the claw grabbed the toy tightly and delivered it straight into the prize chute.
Qin Ran bent down immediately to retrieve the toy, pulling out a cute little bunny with white fur and pink ears. Even Yu Shuman found it adorable. She hadn't expected it to be so easy to win.
"Wow, you're amazing, Shuman! You got it on the first try!"
Yu Shuman smiled modestly. "It was just good luck..."
But after they kept winning plush toy after plush toy, Yu Shuman began to wonder how the shop was making any money. They ended up with 27 toys from 100 tokens—an astonishing haul. At the counter, they even managed to exchange their smaller prizes for a giant plush, and the staff happily packed everything into a bag for them.
There was no mention of charging for the bag; it was given to them for free, and the staff cheerfully said, "Thanks for coming! Please visit us again!"
On the way home, Yu Shuman couldn't stop praising the arcade for how well it was run, especially compared to the one next door. Qin Ran just smiled, unable to reveal the truth: "Shuman, this is my arcade!"
That night, while Yu Shuman was in the shower, Qin Ran casually checked Weibo and noticed a trending topic. It wasn't at the very top, but it was hovering around 6th or 7th place.
#YuShumanSpottedWithFriendPlayingClawMachines#. The title immediately caught Qin Ran's attention, and she clicked in.
The topic had just started trending, with a netizen from Beijing posting a candid photo of Yu Shuman and Qin Ran playing claw machines at the mall. The person must not have noticed them at the time and only realized later when going through their pictures, so they posted it online.
Soon enough, fans of Yu Shuman flocked to the post. There were quite a few blurry photos of Yu Shuman and Qin Ran happily playing claw machines together, with the other people in the background blurred out.
Then the comments came rolling in:
[Caught hanging out at the film set a while back, and now they're playing claw machines together.]
[I'm jealous. Such a strong friendship!]
[Can I please have a bestie like President Qin? One who provides resources, money, and is always down for a claw machine session. Who needs a man when you've got a bestie like that?]
[I'm here for this heartwarming sisterhood! Someone pass me a bowl of this wholesome soup!]
"..."
Qin Ran stared at the comments, gripping her phone tightly. Sisterhood? This is love! She really wanted to open up these netizens' brains and see what they were thinking. How was it that so many people were still shipping Yu Shuman with Rong Hua just because they acted in one movie together, without even doing a second project?
Yet here she was, working hard to maintain this "friendship," attending events together, getting caught holding hands by paparazzi, being photographed at film sets and now claw machine arcades, and still, no one could tell there was more going on?
Qin Ran was furious. The only small comfort she found was in the fact that netizens were now recommending Bunny Arcade:
[Is this Bunny Arcade? I go there all the time. Their plushies are so easy to win and super cute! Plus, the staff are always so energetic, and they've even got a nice seating area.]
[I've been there too! The decor is amazing. Most claw machine places barely bother with decor, but Bunny Arcade is so Instagram-worthy!]
[Most importantly, their shopping bags are free. Side-eyeing that other place.]
But then one of the netizens, clearly too curious for their own good, did some digging—using corporate registration info and online tools—until they uncovered that the real owner of Bunny Arcade was Qin Ran.
The comments blew up:
[?? What? No way! Is President Qin trying to promote her own arcade now?]
[Nah, you're overthinking it. Does Qin Ran really need to promote her businesses? Besides, why bother with the arcade when she's got a whole entertainment empire?]
[This is too real. I don't want the arcade to blow up; it's already too crowded!]
Qin Ran, meanwhile, sat frozen, staring at her phone, her mind in a panic 'Please, Shuman, don't find out!'
Qin Ran: Help! It's okay to promote the arcade, but why did you have to dig up the owner's identity?! I've never hated enterprise registration so much...