Free Web NovelChapter 187: Chapter 185: A Strange Sense of Familiarity
Inside the general store across from the restaurant.
Wen Lan stared grimly at the restaurant opposite him.
’Bai Su is actually on such good terms with that snake...’
’Heh, I should have guessed.’
’Damned Li Chenlin.’
’Why is he everywhere?’
Wen Dabao yawned beside him. "Dad, even *he* gets to eat the food that woman Bai Su makes every day. You’re pretty pathetic, aren’t you?"
Wen Lan was so angry he laughed. "*I’m* pathetic?"
Wen Dabao spread his little hands. "If the shoe fits."
"I just don’t feel like eating it! If I wanted to, I would’ve had it long ago!"
"Oh."
"’Oh’ my ass! Stop trying to use your damn reverse psychology on me. I’m not falling for it!"
Wen Dabao sighed forlornly. "The other night, Little Treasure hugged me and asked if I wanted a mommy..."
Wen Lan froze.
A sad expression crossed Wen Dabao’s face. "I could only play the role of a mother again, singing her to sleep. My poor little sister has never known a mother’s warmth."
"She doesn’t even know that the food she drools over every day is actually handmade by her own mother. That it’s the taste of home."
"If only our father would be willing to humble himself and learn to cook, to grant Little Treasure one tiny, tiny wish, and let the poor twin siblings eat delicious meals every day... how wonderful would that be..."
Wen Lan: "..."
Wen Dabao shot him a sideways glance. "Am I right?"
Wen Lan said through gritted teeth, "I get it. I’ll go find a teacher tomorrow."
Wen Dabao was satisfied, but didn’t forget to add, "When you go to learn, just focus on learning. Don’t go pulling any funny business, okay?"
Wen Lan rolled his eyes and turned to head upstairs.
*
「The next day.」
Rosa Meiya announced the events for the competition.
The second round would be a singing contest. The final result wouldn’t be decided by the audience, but by all the elders in the Imperial City who were Level 8 or higher.
Each Level 8 Male elder’s vote was worth one point. A vote from a Level 6 female elder was worth 50 points, and that score would double for each subsequent level.
Whoever could secure more votes from the elders would win.
She declared she would not use the Mermaid Clan’s innate talents, to compete fairly with Bai Su.
For the third round, the two would face off in a 1v1 match in a battle royale game. The winner would be decided by the outcome of the game.
Without a second thought, Bai Su agreed. "Okay."
She was live-streaming when she accepted.
The audience in her stream went into an uproar: [Hold on, isn’t the boss being way too reckless?]
[I mean, confidence is a good thing, but competing in singing against a Mermaid? Isn’t that a guaranteed loss?]
[I don’t really get why she accepted. She already won one round, which should have been enough. There’s no need to keep humoring the Mermaid Princess’s antics, right?]
[Exactly! She had a clear path to victory, and now she’s just going to hand over a loss? Is she really okay with that?]
[And what’s this about the audience not being able to vote, but some old men will... What’s that supposed to mean?]
[To the person above me: still don’t get it? How many elders above Level 8 are there in the Imperial City? Aren’t they almost all from the Lanton Family? And the Lanton Family and the Sea Clan have been allies for generations. The number of deep-sea projects they’ve collaborated on is too high to count on two hands.]
[But didn’t Susu’s food also solve the syphilis problem? It shouldn’t be a total loss, right?]
[Is solving one syphilis problem comparable to dozens of deep-sea projects that have been underway for decades?]
[Even if the progress with the syphilis cure is good, those other projects have been in development for decades. They aren’t going to offend the Mermaid Clan for Bai Su.]
[The boss is in real trouble this time.]
[She never should have accepted this competition...]
[It was so reckless. I can already imagine how badly Susu is going to be flamed online after she loses.]
Yan Qingya was also worried. "Susu, why did you even pay her any mind? You even let her set the terms of the competition. Great, now it’s all things she’s good at. Do you even know how to play video games?"
Bai Su’s lips curled into a slight smile. "Nope."
Yan Qingya looked like she was about to cry. "Then how can you be so nonchalant?"
She took a deep breath. "Forget it. We’re friends, after all. Worst comes to worst, I’ll get flamed right alongside you!"
Bi Yue appeared out of nowhere, staring at the two with a strange look in her eyes. "If you lose, you can come unwind at my male model shop. As long as you give us a free promotional shout-out, I won’t charge you. You can even have your pick of the top talent."
Yan Qingya’s face paled in horror. "You’re actually running a prostitution ring?!"
Bi Yue bristled. "Who’s running a prostitution ring? This is art!"
"The gentlemen at my shop are paid companions who sell their talent, not their bodies! You pay them, and they provide emotional support. How is that prostitution?!"
Bai Su cleared her throat, a guilty look flashing across her face.
’Come to think of it, I’m a partial investor in this shop.’
’It’s just that after Lu Tingyan warned me last time, I’ve been a little spooked. I haven’t dared to meet with Bi Yue so openly recently.’
「Saturday.」
The fiery competition kicked off once again.
The entire internet was tuned in to watch their match.
After all, who doesn’t love to watch a good catfight between two beauties?
The original reason for their dispute was no longer important.
Rosa Meiya had spared no expense today. She’d chosen her prettiest dress, had her hair styled in advance, and wore makeup with a deep-sea mermaid and pearl theme. She was so beautiful she looked like a sculpted work of art.
On the other side, Bai Su was in her usual work clothes, smiling warmly at the camera. Even though she was a mother to several children, her face was still so supple and youthful, it seemed to glow with dewiness.
Her crystal-clear eyes gazed into the camera, inexplicably evoking the image of a moonlit stream—so pure it made one feel a sudden surge of affection and protectiveness.
Everyone was suddenly reminded that they had first started following Bai Su not for her food, but for her stunningly beautiful face.
Standing in contrast to the sea of other beauties with their delicate, softer features, she had burst onto the scene with a doll-like face that was both pure and strikingly three-dimensional.
Many of her followers had never even eaten at her restaurant.
A flicker of smugness crossed Rosa Meiya’s eyes. "Bai Su, for the sake of fairness, I’ll sing first. That way, no one can say I used my advantage to bully you."
Bai Su replied, "Fine by me."
Watching the broadcast were not only the general public, but also Yelias in his research lab, Li Chenlin, who was patrolling outside the restaurant, and Wen Lan and the little ones in the general store.
「At school.」
Wen Xiaobao watched the live stream with a worried expression. "Can Auntie win?"
Bai Xiaolang: "No."
Bai Xiaoshe: "It’s a guaranteed loss."
Bai Xiao Zhu: "Don’t even think about it."
Wen Xiaobao was baffled. "Why? You don’t have any faith in Auntie at all? How can you say that?"
The little girl was surprisingly getting angry.
’I believe in Pretty Auntie, so how can her own children have so little faith in her?’
Bai Xiaolang recalled the terror of being subjected to the ’midnight horror-movie lullaby,’ a vein throbbing on his forehead. "For no particular reason."
Bai Xiaoshe said, "Have you ever heard someone sing a lullaby and make it sound like the theme from a horror movie?"
Bai Xiao Zhu added, "She once stayed by my bed in the hospital to sing me to sleep. She scared every single child in the ward awake in the middle of the night. It took the nurses three hours to calm everyone down."
Wen Xiaobao: "..."
’Why does this feel so weirdly familiar?’
