Chapter 584: Backing Down?

Chapter 584: Backing Down?

“Don’t speak in such absolute terms,” Wu Chen smiled faintly. “Moreover, Professor Xia, this is hardly a fair game. I’m guessing the latest photo on your phone? Only I have to guess, while you guess nothing at all?”

“Oh? Mr. Wu! Backing down already?” Xia Jinyu seized the opening, mocking Wu Chen with every nuance of her expression and posture. “Just a moment ago, your posture suggested you were omniscient—knowing me one hundred percent!”

Wu Chen kept his smile, paused for a beat, and looked into Xia Jinyu’s eyes. “Let’s change the game.”

To the side, Li Ruobing couldn’t help furrowing her brow secretly.

Her dear Mr. Wu… she had never seen Wu Chen “back down” like this! Wu Chen had always controlled the board; if there were something he couldn’t do, he wouldn’t allow the other party to raise it in the first place! Yet this time…

It seemed he had truly met his match!

Not that Wu Chen had genuinely lost, for Xia Jinyu’s game was absurd!

“If our esteemed Professor Xia considers herself victorious right now, wouldn’t that be a rather unsporting triumph?” Wu Chen smiled at her once more.

Xia Jinyu was proud!

Wu Chen’s sudden concession had satisfied her as well!

“Fine! We’ll change the game—to an absolutely fair one!” Xia Jinyu said to Wu Chen. “Though, Mr. Wu, let me remind you: in life, one shouldn’t be so arrogant. Never speak in absolute finality! And stop claiming you understand me completely.”

“As expected of a former teacher—you truly love lecturing people.”

“Then you should be grateful you weren’t one of my students.”

The dialogue between the two bristled with gunpowder once more.

Li Ruobing was utterly at a loss!

The trajectory had veered toward making it impossible to win Xia Jinyu over! Though they still sat together chatting, even Li Ruobing could tell that Xia Jinyu’s interest in Wu Chen had plummeted! Xia Jinyu made no effort to conceal her feelings.

“The new game goes like this!” Xia Jinyu said.

“We’ll have Miss Bingbing write a number from zero to nine on a slip of paper. Then each of us may ask Miss Bingbing one question—no asking anything directly relating to the number. We take turns asking, and whoever states the correct number first based on Miss Bingbing’s answers wins… I trust that with Mr. Wu’s pride, you wouldn’t stoop to colluding with Miss Bingbing to cheat in this game, would you?” Xia Jinyu laid it all out in a single breath.

Li Ruobing felt distinctly insulted.

Was her inner mind truly that easy to see through?

“Unfair. I know Bingbing too well,” Wu Chen said, shaking his head at Xia Jinyu with a smile. “Moreover, Miss Xia, this game of yours is blatantly a trap. The human heart cannot be controlled! You want to test the true relationship between Bingbing and me, her inner thoughts—to see whether she wants you to win or me to win.”

“The deciding power actually rests in her hands.”

“Tsk!” Xia Jinyu clicked her tongue.

“Excuse me, I need to use the restroom,” Wu Chen said abruptly, rising and walking toward the private restroom attached to the dining room.

With Wu Chen’s departure, the atmosphere in the private room turned instantly somber.

There was even a faint tinge of awkwardness!

Li Ruobing inherently possessed the capability to navigate all manner of occasions; her background and experience as a powerful businesswoman ensured she was not easily intimidated.

Yet this time, she simply did not speak to Xia Jinyu.

This matched the reserved timidity expected of a little sidekick!

In reality, however, Li Ruobing simply didn’t want to talk!

She disliked Xia Jinyu! Even if Xia Jinyu fit her conception of a “certain kind of formidable power” and shared immense commonalities with Wu Chen, Wu Chen was a man, and she liked men. Being seen through by Wu Chen was something she could accept; being seen through by another woman was utterly intolerable! Being left alone to converse with Xia Jinyu would be deeply unpleasant!

“Miss Bingbing doesn’t usually dress up much, does she? Don’t misunderstand—I mean heavy makeup, not that you don’t groom yourself at all…” Xia Jinyu began speaking to Li Ruobing.

“At my age, there isn’t much need for heavy makeup, is there?” Li Ruobing looked at Xia Jinyu and replied.

“Such fierce hostility. In truth, Miss Bingbing, there’s no need for you to be like this. This Mr. Wu has a one-sided, wishful-thinking crush on me, but I…” Xia Jinyu smiled.

She assumed Li Ruobing’s remark just now had been a jab at her age!

A woman in her early twenties and one in her early thirties—a ten-year age gap—was indeed considerable.

In reality, it was nothing of the sort!

Li Ruobing naturally believed that at her age, she didn’t need heavy makeup to conceal the marks left by time on her face—there were no marks to begin with! Furthermore, her actual age was twenty-seven, hardly that much younger than Xia Jinyu! She was no wide-eyed little girl either; age was nothing to boast about!

Li Ruobing’s confidence suddenly rose.

Xia Jinyu had a terrifying side, yet perhaps she wasn’t so terrifying after all! For instance, Xia Jinyu’s mistake came from never having correctly understood Li Ruobing’s identity.

Play along!

“Does Professor Xia think I shouldn’t harbor hostility toward you?” Li Ruobing countered. “I’m not like you, Professor Xia, possessing such elevated social status. To me, Mr. Wu is the person who changed my fate, so…”

…

In the restroom.

Wu Chen turned on the faucet, twisting it all the way to the left to let the scalding water flow! After waiting a moment, steam condensed into a layer of white mist across the glass.

Wu Chen casually raised his hand to sketch.

Using his little finger, he sketched a scene onto the misted glass! Given his drawing ability, the image was vivid and lifelike.

It was a scene of a woman taking a selfie.

Beside it, Wu Chen wrote a line of text.

…

A few minutes later, Wu Chen stepped out of the restroom.

“Professor Xia, thought of a new game?” Wu Chen asked with a smile as he sat back down.

“We each write down a number from zero to nine, and then ask each other questions. Whoever states the other person’s answer first wins,” Xia Jinyu said, gesturing toward the paper and pen on the table—something she had retrieved while chatting with Li Ruobing.

“Good! Very fair,” Wu Chen smiled.

The two tore the paper in half, each wrote down a number in turn, folded their slips, and placed them on the table!

“Mr. Wu, you may ask first,” Xia Jinyu said.

“Can I guess directly? No questions needed,” Wu Chen said.

Xia Jinyu’s eyebrows arched.

Here you go again?! Flaunting that outrageously arrogant facade once more?

“According to the rules, of course you can!” Xia Jinyu met Wu Chen’s eyes. “However, I must remind you, Mr. Wu: you only have a single chance to answer! Guessing directly without asking anything gives you only a one-in-ten chance of being right from zero to nine! If you’re wrong, you lose. Are you certain you want to guess?”

“I know. But I remind you: I’m not guessing. I know you well enough to know what you would write!” Wu Chen said.

Xia Jinyu pursed her lips, making a small gesture with her hand.

Go ahead, then. Show me what you’ve got!