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Chapter 27: Li Huanhuan / Sister, Choose Him, or Choose…

That golden light, like sunlight cutting through the crowd, shone into Li Huanhuan’s eyes, and she immediately locked onto her target.

“Grabbed another one!”

“The toys in that machine are almost all gone, aren’t they?”

“He’s amazing! It feels like the arcade owner is about to cry!”

…

The noisy voices came through.

“Fox, you’re incredible,” a female voice full of admiration sounded.

“Take it all,” came a familiar voice.

Then, the crowd parted, and Li Huanhuan saw Fox, Zhang Canyang, walking over with his hands in his pockets. It had been a long time, and Zhang Canyang still looked irresistibly handsome.

Today, he had been dragged here by his friends for a photo shoot. He wore a student outfit: a loose white shirt, a black tie, black suit pants, and a pair of sneakers. His hands were in his pockets, and his face, angelic yet with a touch of mischievousness and arrogance, had sharp eyes that seemed ready to cut someone. This version of Zhang Canyang was completely different from the one Li Huanhuan had seen before.

At that moment, Zhang Canyang was accompanied by a beautiful woman, who appeared to be around 27 or 28 years old.

She had a great figure, dressed in a white shirt, a red plaid tie, and a red plaid skirt. She was holding a toy that Zhang Canyang had just won, and the outfit looked very coordinated with his own. The two of them looked like they were wearing matching outfits.

Zhang Canyang walked forward casually.

Suddenly, he saw Li Huanhuan, who was frozen in place. She was still wearing the same outfit she had when she went out: an orange loose sweater paired with beige pants, simple and comfortable. Zhang Canyang’s steps unknowingly came to a halt.

His gaze first landed on Li Huanhuan, and the coldness in his eyes faded, replaced by joy. He was about to pull his hands from his pockets to greet her, but quickly, Zhang Canyang noticed Qin Shi standing beside Li Huanhuan. Despite Qin Shi wearing a mask, he recognized him immediately.

At once, the smile on Zhang Canyang’s face vanished, and his hand that was about to move stopped. His gaze turned cold as he looked at Li Huanhuan.

Qin Shi was dressed in a black T-shirt with a black patterned jacket and black jeans, completing the look with black boots—giving off an air of “don’t approach.”

However, when standing next to Li Huanhuan, this aura seemed to soften mysteriously, as if a hunting dog had been tamed.

He looked at Zhang Canyang, who had walked out of the crowd, and the beautiful woman with him, raising his thick and well-shaped eyebrows.

“Canyang?”

Li Huanhuan muttered when she saw the person suddenly appear in front of her.

She hadn’t expected to meet Zhang Canyang here, nor did she expect him to look at her with such a strange and cold gaze.

“Yo, isn’t this Fox?” Qin Shi spoke up, standing next to Li Huanhuan, “Aren’t you supposed to be grounded? How do you have time to come here and play?”

He then looked at the beautiful woman holding a toy beside Zhang Canyang. “Is this your new girlfriend?”

He emphasized the word “new.”

“New girlfriend?” Li Huanhuan was surprised.

Her memory still lingered on that “Sister Xin.”

“Yeah. Li Huanhuan, you didn’t know? According to Hu Xun, he’s changed at least three girlfriends in the past two months,” Qin Shi immediately added, gritting his teeth. He wished he could engrave this information into Li Huanhuan’s mind, making her see Fox’s true colors.

Dongfang Jiao stood beside them, glancing between Qin Shi and the handsome blonde guy across from her. She couldn’t shake the feeling that her cousin’s image had changed, from the quiet, cool guy to a “gossipy gossipmonger.” And it seemed that in this exchange, he wanted to plant doubt in Li Huanhuan’s mind about the blonde guy.

Is that so?

Li Huanhuan glanced at the opposite side.

Zhang Canyang’s face darkened.

Then, a mocking smile appeared on his lips. “Qin Shi, when did you become so interested in my gossip? You sound like a gossiping old lady! If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’ve been secretly in love with me all this time.”

“Secretly in love?!”

Li Huanhuan was stunned by Zhang Canyang’s words.

Was there really such a relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist? This was shocking.

“Ugh.”

Qin Shi was disgusted by Zhang Canyang’s words and made a gagging motion. “Fox, do you have any shame? Even if you washed up and were sent to my bed, I wouldn’t even glance at you. I’d only feel like you’d dirtied my bed!”

“Wash? You wash yourself. Qin Shi, you’re still as shameless as ever! You’ve got just as many girls chasing after you!” Zhang Canyang sneered.

The tension between the two was escalating, and their conversation was becoming more and more explicit.

Li Huanhuan, Dongfang Jiao, and the beautiful woman next to Zhang Canyang exchanged glances, feeling a bit awkward.

“Li Huanhuan, don’t listen to him,” Qin Shi suddenly turned to Li Huanhuan with an angry glare. “I’m not like him, constantly changing girlfriends like it’s nothing.”

“Ah?” Li Huanhuan was confused.

Why was he suddenly explaining himself to her?

This didn’t seem related to her at all, right?

“Sister, I admit Qin Shi has a face that can easily confuse young girls, but his personality is really horrible! You’re my confirmed sister, and I’m sure you won’t be so shallow as to be charmed by him,” Zhang Canyang suddenly launched an “attack” on Li Huanhuan.

“Ah, this?” Li Huanhuan opened her mouth.

Why ask her?

Qin Shi: “Li Huanhuan, do you know? Last year, there was a woman who rushed to the door of Cool Play to get an abortion for Fox! It caused quite a stir at the time.”

Zhang Canyang: “The child in her belly wasn’t even mine. I just went on a date with her once, didn’t even touch her. It was pure slander. Sister, do you know? Qin Shi has a crazy fan who stalks him, takes photos of him, and once broke into his dorm and posted his underwear online! I laughed so hard—it was red…”

Qin Shi’s face turned red.

“You know what? Because it was my zodiac year! Do you know what that means? You disgusting, despicable scum!”

“Then what about you? What does abortion have to do with me? It was the year before last that a fan of yours tried to jump off a building for you…”

…

The two highest-rated professional players in the book’s world were now in the arcade, bickering like grade-schoolers, exposing each other’s flaws and private matters.

“Sister, I’m suddenly thirsty, and I want some milk tea. Do you want to go with me to buy some?” Dongfang Jiao turned to Li Huanhuan.

Li Huanhuan, also tired of the childish bickering, caught the signal in Dongfang Jiao’s eyes and immediately nodded. “Okay.”

“I want to go too.”

A voice behind them joined in.

Li Huanhuan turned and saw the beautiful woman who had been playing the claw machine with Zhang Canyang. The woman, holding the toy, showed a helpless, exasperated expression and said, “They’re really childish.”

“Yeah, like they never stopped breastfeeding,” Li Huanhuan agreed, nodding.

“Ha!” Dongfang Jiao couldn’t help but laugh, then remembered her cousin was among the ones being mocked, forcing herself to hold it in. “Sisters, shall we go?”

Li Huanhuan nodded and turned to leave.

Behind them, voices sounded in unison:

“Li Huanhuan, where are you going?!”

“Sister, are you going to leave me behind?”

…

In the end, they sat on the second floor of a milk tea shop.

The location was secluded, and there were very few people in the shop. The second floor was empty except for their table. Despite the bickering, Zhang Canyang and Qin Shi ended up sitting at the same table.

Qin Shi sat with a frown, to Li Huanhuan’s left.

Zhang Canyang, on the other hand, sat on Li Huanhuan’s right, smiling brightly.

After sitting down, Zhang Canyang’s gaze was fixed on Li Huanhuan.

“Sister, it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. Why haven’t you contacted me? I sent you messages, but you didn’t reply,” Zhang Canyang rested his chin on one hand, looking at her with a smile.

That angelic face and golden hair were indeed very mesmerizing, making one unknowingly lower their guard.

Li Huanhuan thought for a moment and pointed out, “You never sent me any messages.”

She had very few friends on WeChat and rarely used group chats. If someone had messaged her, she definitely wouldn’t have missed it.

“Really? Maybe I remembered wrong.”

Caught in the act, Zhang Canyang didn’t seem embarrassed at all. He continued to smile. “Sister, how have you been lately? I wonder how Little Bai is doing after being adopted?”

“It’s Ah Hua,” Li Huanhuan corrected him.

“Li Huanhuan, why are you talking to him?” Qin Shi, sitting beside her, sounded annoyed. He folded his arms and gave Li Huanhuan an accusing look. “Look, he can’t even remember something related to you. How could he care about you? In a little while, he won’t even remember if your last name is Li or Wang.”

Just as Li Huanhuan was about to speak, Zhang Canyang turned to Qin Shi.

“Qin Shi, I find you really strange. What’s it to you about me and my sister? Why do you keep butting in? Are you some sort of relative to her?” Zhang Canyang smiled, his expression provoking.

“I…”

Qin Shi opened his mouth, then looked at Li Huanhuan.

Li Huanhuan, however, didn’t seem to pick up on the message he wanted to convey, or perhaps she had noticed but didn’t want to respond in the way he expected.

Thus, Qin Shi pursed his lips tightly, glaring at Li Huanhuan.

Before she could look away, Qin Shi was the first to turn his gaze and coldly stared at Zhang Canyang, “This is between Li Huanhuan and me, no need to tell you. But you, calling her ‘Sister’ over and over again—what’s your relationship with her? Is she really your sister? Do you have blood ties or are you just making up some relationship?”

Zhang Canyang’s smile slowly faded, his eyes turning cold as he stared at Qin Shi.

“It has nothing to do with you,” he said.

Then, he stood up, his white shirt swaying with his movements. Zhang Canyang looked down at Li Huanhuan and said, “Sister, let’s go. I don’t want to stay here any longer.”

Before Li Huanhuan could answer, someone grabbed her other hand. She turned around.

Qin Shi glared at her, his expression a mix of anxiety and anger. “Li Huanhuan, you can’t go with him!”

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