Chapter 87 Bring It On

"So I'm guessing we have our bet?" Jingwei asked once they left the bathroom.

"About you doing the house chores? Sure."

"Nope," Jingwei smirked and leaned in closer, his face was dry but it did not make it any less handsome. It was infuriating. He was too good-looking to smack in the face. "About me seducing you!"

"Nope," she parroted him smugly, turning away to check on her charging phone in the living room. He didn't follow her, but his voice did when he pretended to comment loudly to himself.

"Ah, I guess it'll be an unfair bet, seeing that I'll win so easily. There's no competition after all."

"What on earth," Xue Ning spun back to look at him. Was he implying that she was already going to jump him the moment his back was turned? Please, she had more backbone than that! Even if he was ridiculously attractive and gave her adoring looks all the time. She had standards!

"What no competition. I'll show you competition!" She declared, pointing at him furiously. "State your terms, you idiot."

Xue Ning called him an idiot, but she wasn't much smarter, in his opinion. This was elementary level provocation and she still fell for it! With her impulsive tendencies, she definitely fought a lot of people back in school.

"Hmmm how about…" Jingwei's mind whirled quickly. He honestly did not expect his goading to yield any result and now his brain was scrambling to keep up.

,m "If I manage to seduce you successfully, you'll get a house." Jingwei declared. This was a good deal - he wanted Xue Ning to allow herself to be seduced by him after all. If he made the penalty harsh, she might really just cut off her nose to spite her face, and leave him with blue balls forever.

"Huh?" Xue Ning meanwhile, was frowning in confusion. In this case, losing the bet would mean sleeping with him, which would get her a house? Was he trying to bribe her into sleeping with him?! Everyone knew that the loser was supposed to get a penalty!

Before she could yell at Sun Jingwei for his blatant manipulation, he continued.

"If I fail, you'll get three houses!"

"HUH?!" She shook her head. "Can you repeat that? I don't think I heard you right."

"If I fail to seduce you in the end, you'll get three houses." He repeated cheerfully. "Just think about it, you'll get one house in the end. This is a win-win wager."

"Three houses…" Xue Ning thought about it. Three houses would mean her parents could stay in one, her brother and sister-in-law in another, and there would still be a last house left for her to stay alone in.

They wouldn't have to cram all together in one house, which would get even more crowded if her brother and sister-in-law decided to have children.

What's more, if she ever got tired of living alone (unlikely, but possible), she could then sell the house. It would be an asset in this property market!

That was of course, if Sun Jingwei actually kept his word.

She narrowed her eyes. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"We can sign a contract, how about it?" Jingwei offered. "I'll get Shengli to draw up one."

"Then we need to decide what counts as 'seducing'," she pointed out. Xue Ning had very little knowledge regarding the art of seduction and what it entailed, hence in this playing field, Sun Jingwei would have all the advantage. He could skew the odds in his favour, and she wouldn't know it until it was too late.

That meant she could lose two extra houses! (Along with her virginity, but honestly, her virginity wasn't worth as much as two extra houses. This wasn't ancient China, where she would need to be untouched to marry well - and if she met any assholes that thought otherwise, she'd gladly introduce them to the end of her fist.)

She narrowed her eyes. "Fine, but you'd better make clear what counts as 'seducing' and what counts as a success! I'll only sign if I agree on the terms and definitions."

"Of course! I definitely wouldn't want to cheat you." Jingwei said enthusiastically. In this wager, there would be two winners, or no winners. Xue Ning just didn't know it yet. "We can negotiate on this over lunch, what do you say to food delivery?"

"Sure," Xue Ning shrugged as her stomach gave an accompanying grumble. It had been hours since her breakfast, and they had an eventful morning to begin with, thanks to the fanatic stalkers, random detouring, packing, nosy neighbours and now moving in.

"What do you want to eat?" Jingwei asked, already browsing through his food delivery apps.

"Anything is fine with me. What do you usually order?"

"Alright, I'll just order a variety of food then. You don't have any allergies right?" Jingwei asked, browsing randomly through the stalls nearby and then just ordering anything that caught his eye. With this method, he could figure out what Xue Ning liked to eat. This was also seduction, but through her stomach!

They always say the way through a man's heart is through his stomach, and Jingwei is sure that's not too different for women!

"Nope, no allergies for me. What about you?" Xue Ning asked.

"Honey," Jingwei replied.

"No pet names yet," Xue Ning said suspiciously. "We haven't decided on the contract terms yet."

Jingwei snickered behind his hand. "No, I meant that I'm allergic to honey. But it's good to know that you're open to pet names. I'll include that in the contract."

"Oh." Xue Ning said, embarrassed, her voice small as she tried not shrink into a tiny ball. Why did she say something so stupid? Him bringing up that bet was really messing with her mind. "I see. Good to know."

"I usually don't come into contact with it though, so it's fine - and worst case scenario, I have an epipen in my room." He continued to explain, deciding to let Xue Ning go for now without teasing her.

There would be many opportunities for it later, and judging by how embarrassed he gets about pet names, he was going to have a great time choosing one for her.

"Ordered!" He said cheerfully with a flourish. Then, a cheerful ringtone began to fill the house.

Jingwei looked at the phone in his hand and thought for a moment. It didn't sound like the ringtone for his second or third phone either.

"Hey Xue Ning, I think someone's calling you." Jingwei said.

"Really?" Xue Ning made her way to her phone, and true enough, the handphone was ringing.

The caller ID showed 'Mom' on the screen.

She gulped, suddenly there was an ominous feeling in the air. There was no way her mom would have found out about her… right?