Chapter 13 The Doll

*Not* fond of dolls... is that so?

The pink, adorable bear wearing a hat obediently sat back in its place, looking like a seasoned employee, as if saying: *I* haven't been fired, *I'm* practically a civil servant of Sunshine Supermarket.

Unfortunately, Chen Yuan couldn't hear the thoughts of inanimate objects.

He could hear people's voices.

When he placed the adorable bear in Xia Xinyu's arms, he didn't intentionally eavesdrop, but the girl's thoughts were written all over her face.

[So cute, fluffy, it would be so comfortable to hug it to sleep...]

"Well, let's go then."

No girl dislikes cute dolls; this was just an excuse. If Chen Yuan pressed the issue, it would only embarrass her more.

Besides, he should be grateful for Xia Xinyu's sacrifice.

[But, the doll can only be hugged by me, but spare ribs can be shared by two people...]

[If it were just me, I could have saved the money on the spare ribs.]

[But, wouldn't Chen Yuan think that I rejected his gift and be unhappy?]

Not unhappy.

Just wistful.

Poverty-stricken neighbors, a hundred things to grieve.

"But you have such good luck, that bear seems like it's never been won by anyone. Maybe next time, you can win it in one try," Xia Xinyu said, comforting Chen Yuan, having given up the bear.

This reminded him of a video he recently saw on Douyin, where a son gave his mother flowers, and the mother scolded him and forced him to return them. She even disgustingly filmed the video to create drama, wanting netizens to scold her son for not understanding how hard his parents worked and for wasting money.

Of course, he wasn't saying that Xia Xinyu was like his little stepmother.

She didn't have such a twisted sense of humor.

Rather, Xia Xinyu was worried that her rejection of his gift would make Chen Yuan feel that his sincere heart had been let down.

"My luck has always been good, I just wasn't interested in the drawing before. Next time, I'll definitely get it," Chen Yuan said calmly.

"Okay, definitely get it."

Xia Xinyu nodded, revealing a genuine smile of relief.

She was happy that she hadn't hurt his feelings.

But Chen Yuan wasn't so happy.

In the end, the things a boy cannot obtain in his youth will haunt him for life.

Xia Xinyu hadn't received a doll bear before. Being sensible, she didn't mind, but that was mostly because there was no one to give her a doll bear.

Xia Xinyu in her second year of high school received a doll bear, but she returned it for a pound of spare ribs, because she felt that sharing spare ribs with her neighbor was more important.

Years later, she would definitely be able to receive doll bears, even a doll animal kingdom. Elephants, lions, tigers, leopards, wolves, dogs, cats, mice, as long as she wanted them, someone would give them to her. She herself would also be able to buy a doll bear as big as herself with her salary at that time.

With a little effort, she could even find a doll bear exactly the same as the one from when she was 17.

But that...

Wouldn't be the same doll bear.

When she was a child, she didn't receive a doll bear and she wasn't sad, because she received other gifts as well. Her childhood wasn't just about toy bears.

The only moment she would remember about doll bears in her life was—when she was 17, she exchanged a doll bear for spare ribs.

It wasn't that she didn't like doll bears, nor that she liked spare ribs more, it was just that she couldn't get a doll bear at that time.

At that time, she...

To get one thing, you need to lose another.

To lose one thing, you can get another.

"Wait for me."

Suddenly, Chen Yuan shoved the heavy shopping bag into Xia Xinyu's hands.

Because it was too heavy, her body was pushed down a little, and then she realized what was happening. Holding the two shopping bags filled with groceries in her hands, she looked at Chen Yuan's departing figure with confusion.

What... what's going on?

Chen Yuan left very suddenly, or rather decisively, but without explaining the reason, which made Xia Xinyu feel very nervous.

Could it be that he saw that I also liked that doll bear, so he wants to go back and buy it?

Am I being that obvious?

Or is it because I exchanged it for spare ribs, which made him feel a little embarrassed...

Xia Xinyu was very worried, worried that Chen Yuan would do this.

But if he went back because of something else, and it had nothing to do with the doll bear...

Standing in place, looking at him in the distance, at this moment, Xia Xinyu seemed to be waiting for a bus of time, and she was also full of anticipation and anxiety for the 'future station' that was just in front of her...

"Bro, can you sell me your receipt?" Finding a tall, pot-bellied middle-aged man, Chen Yuan took the initiative to ask.

"You want to enter the lottery?" The tall middle-aged man looked at the receipt in his hand, somewhat puzzled.

"Yeah."

"Just take it, no need for money." The man didn't think much of it, gave the receipt to Chen Yuan, and said with a smile, "Seeing that you want to win that bear to give to your girlfriend, right? To be honest, it's very difficult, this bear is probably an internal employee of this supermarket, I've never seen anyone win it."

"I want to try."

"Then good luck to you."

"Thank you."

After the big brother gave him the receipt, he got in the car with the groceries.

And Chen Yuan, holding this receipt, walked straight to the lottery stand.

"Lottery... oh, please."

Because a first prize was drawn, but the prize was not taken away, the lottery clerk added another first prize in front of the customer, and covered it with cloth to shuffle again.

So there was indeed a first prize inside, the merchant could afford to play.

However, this time, the lottery clerk could guarantee that the first prize would not be drawn by this boy!

This time, no oil was applied to the balls.

Instead, the first prize was placed in the corner of the lottery box.

According to people's habits, they would stir in the lottery box and then randomly take a ball.

But the ball in the corner would not move, it would be fixed there.

Moreover, because of the habit of human hands, plus the height of the lottery box, the corner closest to the customer was the most uncomfortable position for the hand to reach in.

After repeated observations, she also saw that customers would not touch it...

[Don't touch there! No!]

In front of the lottery clerk, Chen Yuan stuck to the glass box wall and took out the ball in the corner and placed it in front of her.

"Congratulations, it's the first prize..."

Before she could finish her words, Chen Yuan took the adorable bear and left without looking back.

Leaving the lottery clerk in a mess in the wind.

[The old employee of Sunshine Supermarket was actually taken away from me twice...]

[No!!! Adorable Bear Senior!]

Chen Yuan didn't know what Xia Xinyu would be most happy to receive.

For himself, the gift he wanted most when he was 17 was a 145-square-meter four-bedroom apartment on the Xia Hai Second Ring Road.

Therefore, he couldn't empathize with others and use his superpowers to fulfill Xia Xinyu's greatest wish.

All he could do was to make sure that Xia Xinyu could get the doll bear when she was 17 and wanted to receive it.

Poverty-stricken neighbors, a hundred things to grieve?

Poor neighbors, a hundred things to be joyful about!

"Eh?"

The vegetables in her hands were snatched away, and then a large bear suddenly sat in her arms, Xia Xinyu was stunned in place.

She had just seen Chen Yuan go to the lottery stall, and then he brought the bear over, and watched helplessly as the bear was hugged in her arms.

Even if she saw it all... it still caught her off guard.

"I found a big brother and bought the receipt, but he didn't want the money, he just gave it to me," Chen Yuan explained.

"Then, you won the lottery again?" Xia Xinyu asked in disbelief.

"I just saw him secretly putting oil on the newly added prize ball."

"...So, you won!"

Realizing what had happened, Xia Xinyu's admiration for Chen Yuan overflowed, he was so cunning... smart... very detailed.

Chen Yuan was too meticulous.

Meticulous... what nonsense are you talking about?

"That's great, so lucky..."

Lowering her eyebrows, looking at the adorable pink bear wearing a hat, this time, Xia Xinyu revealed an undisguised, joyful smile.

For this feeling of exceeding expectations and having another surprise...

She said, "That's great."

"Let's go, let's go home."

After also smiling faintly, Chen Yuan turned around, carrying two bags of vegetables, and walked to the front.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, the sunset glow in the sky was dissolved into a pool, and the dim yellow light shone obliquely on the two of them, the tall Chen Yuan's shadow was stretched long.

The girl, a head shorter than him, slowly followed behind, lowered her head, and slowly hugged the pink bear tightly in her arms...