Chapter 18: Ji Jingchuan Is Like This, You Say He’s Unethical

Feng Ye finally managed to bring in a tourist. But when he returned, he found a long line had already formed in front of their rice ball stall.

Shang Que sat on a chair beside the stall, collecting amusement tokens. After asking the customers what shape of rice ball they wanted, all she had to do was glance to the side, and Ji Jingchuan, wearing gloves, would swiftly shape them.

Dogs, rabbits, pandas—one by one, these lifelike animal-shaped rice balls were effortlessly crafted in his hands.

The children who received these rice balls couldn’t hold back their excitement and exclaimed, “Wow!” As time went on, more and more people were drawn in, and soon, the line in front of the stall stretched over ten meters.

Suppressing his astonishment, Feng Ye quickly stepped forward and asked, “I’m back. Is there anything I can help with?”

Shang Que glanced at him and nodded. “Yes.” She gestured toward Jiang Yizhe and Lin Jinyi, who were blending into the crowd, and entrusted him with an important task: “Go stop them.”

“Stop… them?”

“Yes, to prevent them from causing trouble or stealing tokens,” Shang Que said while stuffing the collected amusement tokens into a pouch, pulling the drawstring tight, and clutching it firmly in her hand. She looked completely serious, as if she wasn’t joking.

But these two words—causing trouble and stealing tokens—felt oddly specific. Feng Ye was shocked and asked, “Wait, is that even possible? That’s way too unethical!”

As soon as he said that, both Shang Que and Ji Jingchuan turned to look at him at the same time.

Feng Ye’s eyelid twitched. “Wh-what?”

【Hahaha, what do you mean ‘what’? You just insulted both of them in one sentence.】

【Do you think Shang Que just knows these terms? Of course, she’s done this before!】

【You really can’t blame Feng Ye. The poor guy was honestly just out there bringing in customers. How could he have known his teammates had already started a business war?】

“It’s nothing. If you don’t want to do it, that’s fine too,” Shang Que said with a sweet smile. “We just need a frontman instead.”

Feng Ye didn’t want to do something thankless—what if he failed to stop Lin Jinyi and Jiang Yizhe and ended up making enemies out of them? Hearing her words, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “What do I need to do?”

Ji Jingchuan casually pointed to the signboard advertising the “Emperor’s Rice Balls.” “Stand next to it and call out to customers. Every time someone comes up, say: ‘His Majesty has arrived! This humble servant greets Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor, long live, long—live!'”

He specifically reminded him, “Make sure your tone is fawning, like a proper eunuch.”

Feng Ye turned around and walked off. “I’ll go stop them.”

【Hahaha, see? Wouldn’t this have been easier from the start?】

【I suspect Ji Jingchuan did that on purpose.】

【You’re absolutely right. Ji Jingchuan is like this. If you call him unethical, he’ll show you just how unethical he can be.】

【But honestly, this is genius. Buying a rice ball and getting the experience of ascending the throne? I’d definitely buy one!】

【That “Emperor’s Rice Ball” sign should be renamed to Genius to the Left, Eunuch to the Right.】

Feng Ye couldn’t afford to lose his dignity like that. He found Lin Jinyi and Jiang Yizhe in the line—thinking they were well disguised—and greeted them with a friendly smile. “Shouldn’t you two be selling ice jelly? What are you doing here in our line?”

How dare he bring that up? This was outright provocation—absolutely provocation!

Lin Jinyi was so furious she almost cursed aloud. But she had a plan in motion, so she held back and instead signaled to the side.

Jiang Yizhe immediately caught on, threw an arm around Feng Ye’s shoulders, and started leading him away. “Bro, you’re pretty tall, huh? What, like 1.8 meters?”

“1.86,” Feng Ye answered warily. Realizing Lin Jinyi was still in line, he struggled a few times but couldn’t break free. Panicked, he shouted, “Wait—!”

Jiang Yizhe didn’t give him a chance to resist and continued dragging him forward, commenting, “Then why are you all height and no strength? How are you this weak?”

【Feng Ye: Tall, weak, and helpless.】

【I wonder if Shang Que will regret sending him on this mission after seeing this.】

【Hahaha, Feng Ye is probably thinking, ‘I wanted to stop them, but I was physically overpowered.’】

Shang Que never actually expected Feng Ye to stop them. So when she saw Lin Jinyi standing in front of the stall, she wasn’t surprised at all.

“I’ll have a rice ball.”

Ji Jingchuan saw her and refused without a second thought. “Not selling.”

“Not selling?” Lin Jinyi raised an eyebrow and immediately played it up, raising her voice, “Why not? It’s not like I’m not paying. Is this how you treat customers?”

“We see each other all the time. If you ever want one, just come find me,” Shang Que said with a sweet smile. “We only made a limited number of rice balls for the festival, and we want as many visitors as possible to try them. So we’re not selling to you. I’ll make one for you later when we’re back.”

Her reasoning was airtight, and then she casually added, “Mainly, the line is just too long right now. If you had come earlier, like Lu Zhixu did when there weren’t many people, I would’ve sold you one.”

Lin Jinyi froze. “Lu Zhixu was here?”

“Yeah,” Shang Que nodded and admitted, “If he hadn’t given us a token, Ji Jingchuan wouldn’t have had the money to buy ice jelly from your stall.”

Lin Jinyi’s brows furrowed. Something clicked in her mind.

Wait a minute! When Ji Jingchuan faked fainting earlier, the voice that came from the crowd at that moment… sounded like Lu Zhixu!

Realizing this, Lin Jinyi’s eyes widened, and she stomped her foot hard. “Damn it, we were all tricked by him!”

Shang Que looked confused. “Tricked by who?”

“Lu Zhixu, obviously! You’re so dumb—you got used by him and didn’t even realize it!” Lin Jinyi turned and stormed off. “No way, I have to settle this with him!”

【I’m dying! Lin Jinyi just seriously called Shang Que dumb.】

【This is exactly like when I confidently told my tutor they got the answer wrong.】

【Hahaha, is she only capable of thinking one way? Shang Que was used by Lu Zhixu, but she was just used by Shang Que!】

【What a masterful move—diverting the problem elsewhere.】

After Lin Jinyi left in a huff, it wasn’t long before someone suddenly shouted, “The ice jelly stand is doing a buy-one-get-one-free deal! Anyone want to split a purchase?”

Then another voice called out, “They’re letting tourists scoop their own ice cream now—no matter how much you scoop, it’s just one token!”

Hearing this, a large portion of the crowd that had been lining up for rice balls instantly left. Ji Jingchuan had just finished making another rice ball, but the child in front of him hesitated, gripping his amusement token tightly.

Shang Que noticed and reassured him, “It’s okay if you don’t want it. I’m actually hungry anyway—I’ll eat it myself.”

The kid’s eyes lit up, and he quickly said, “Thank you!” before dashing off toward the ice cream stand.

Moments later, the other two stalls somehow got their hands on loudspeakers and started broadcasting their deals:

“Unlimited free toppings for ice jelly!”
“Bring your own cup for ice cream!”
“Buy ice jelly, get a celebrity photo!”
“Buy ice cream, get an actor’s autograph!”

A gust of wind blew by, and all that remained in front of the rice ball stall were a few lonely leaves.

“They took all the customers,” Ji Jingchuan frowned, displeased. “Why are they undercutting us so aggressively?”

Shang Que poured the amusement park tokens from the money pouch onto the chair. After counting them, she said, “It doesn’t matter, we’ve already won.”

“Won? How did we win? Isn’t it not over yet?”

“Because the amusement park has a limit of 100 entrants. There are 37 tokens here, and after the other two teams pay off their stall rental fees, their remaining amount will definitely be less than ours.”

Ji Jingchuan was stunned. “Wait, how do you know there’s a limit of 100 people?”

“It’s written here.” Shang Que pulled out the amusement park invitation. The camera zoomed in closer and closer, barely managing to capture the tiniest text printed in the corner: This amusement park event is limited to 100 attendees.

“Each person gets one amusement token, which means there are only 100 tokens in total. If all three groups had rented stalls from the show’s production team, someone would have ended up in debt.”

【What? Did the production team trick them again?】

【The director was even trying to persuade everyone to rent a stall at the start—how sneaky!】

“How is that sneaky? Business always comes with risks. Winning and losing are just part of the game,” the director defended himself.

However, none of the people on the couch believed him. The amusement park event had ended, and they had once again realized that they had fallen into the production team’s trap.

Lin Jinyi scoffed coldly. “The biggest risk is trusting you.”

“Exactly!” Jiang Yizhe agreed wholeheartedly. “Director, your credibility with us is already at zero.”

Ning Sheng quietly added, “Negative, actually.”

Even Lu Zhixu nodded expressionlessly.

Unable to withstand their heavy gazes, the director quickly changed the subject and loudly announced, “Let’s congratulate Shang Que and Ji Jingchuan’s team for winning the title of Amusement Park Stars! Now, the production team will present them with a commemorative medal.”

Huanhai Amusement Park releases a commemorative badge every year, and since they were the event’s sponsor, the award was this year’s newly issued badge. In addition, Shang Que and Ji Jingchuan received a lifetime free admission pass, while Feng Ye, who was a temporary guest, received ten unrestricted entry tickets.

After the show ended, Shang Que returned home and opened the study cabinet. On the top shelf, a black velvet box held several neatly arranged badges, their surfaces slightly faded with age.

The phrase Huanhai Amusement Park is a childhood memory for most kids in Jinghai couldn’t be more accurate. It was the longest-standing amusement park in Jinghai, boasting the most rides and attractions. Even as new amusement parks sprouted up like mushrooms after the rain, its popularity remained unrivaled due to years of renovations and expansions.

When they were kids, Shang Que and Ji Jingchuan would visit frequently, collecting the commemorative badges every year—until she had to stop after going abroad.

She placed the new badge next to the others. Each one had a year engraved at the bottom, and this one was a full seventeen years apart from the one beside it.

Shang Que suddenly furrowed her brows. It seemed like she hadn’t visited an amusement park in a long time. Because of her job, she rarely went to crowded places these past few years.

But now that she had gotten a free lifetime admission, wouldn’t it be a waste not to use it?

With that thought, she picked up her phone, intending to choose a suitable date. Just as she was about to check her schedule, a WeChat message popped up.

[Galaxy’s Number One Idiot]: Are you free tomorrow? Want to go to Huanhai Amusement Park?

[Galaxy’s Number One Idiot]: The day after tomorrow works too.

[Galaxy’s Number One Idiot]: The day after that is also an option.

[Shang Que]: ?

[Galaxy’s Number One Idiot]: I’m free all month.

[Message retracted]

[Galaxy’s Number One Idiot]: Didn’t the amusement park give us those free entry passes? The company wants me and Feng Ye to go there for a livestream collab to promote it. Since you have a pass too, want to join us?

[Galaxy’s Number One Idiot]: Gotta give the sponsor some face.

[Shang Que]: Sure.

[Galaxy’s Number One Idiot]: When? This genius has a very tight schedule. Gotta check if I’m free that day.

[Shang Que]: Tomorrow.

[Galaxy’s Number One Idiot]: Shang Que, your luck is amazing. Turns out, I just happen to be free tomorrow.

[Shang Que]: ^-^

[Galaxy’s Number One Idiot]: o’v’o

Ji Jingchuan looked at the WeChat chat screen, unable to suppress the grin creeping up his face.

He had already planned it all out. Tomorrow, he’d just say that Feng Ye had something come up last minute and couldn’t make it. That way, he and Shang Que could go to the amusement park alone!

However, just at that moment, someone in the ST group chat suddenly tagged him.

[Bian Du]: Chuan, are you free tomorrow? @Universe’s Number One Genius

[Universe’s Number One Genius]: Nope, going to the amusement park.

[A Maple Leaf]: Huanhai Amusement Park?

[Universe’s Number One Genius]: Mhm.

[A Maple Leaf]: What a coincidence.

[Universe’s Number One Genius]: What do you mean? You’re going too?

[Qin Xian]: We’re all going. Let’s go together. @Universe’s Number One Genius

[Universe’s Number One Genius has left the group chat.]