Gan Lan didn’t plan to argue with her anymore, but she still said, "How are you going to compensate me for my emotional distress? It’s my first time being dangled in the air like that! Should I thank you for letting me experience the feeling of my feet leaving the ground?"
Regardless, she had just been frightened. It shouldn’t be too much to ask for some emotional distress compensation, right?
"I was just really anxious when I saw Yuanyuan like that. How about this—I owe you a favor! My name is Guo Daixuan, and my younger sister is Guo Daiyuan. We live right here. We’re the only household in this area. If you ever need anything, just say the word. If I can help, I definitely will!" The violent woman crouched down, trying to meet Gan Lan’s eyes on an equal level. She shifted through a few poses but still felt unsatisfied. Finally, she opted to squat and lower her head, at last managing to make eye contact.
Watching her constantly shifting positions, Gan Lan was utterly speechless. She wondered if it was appropriate to curse right now.
Although she had gotten a satisfactory answer, an apology was an apology. What was with that invisible stab to her pride? Didn’t she need to save face?
"Daixuan, this Ugly Shrimp is so delicious~" Yuanyuan offered the piece of Ugly Shrimp meat she had just bitten to Guo Daixuan’s lips. "Daixuan, take a bite. You told me Ugly Shrimp tasted terrible before, but you were actually lying to me!"
Guo Daixuan raised her eyelids and stared at the shrimp meat by her mouth. It smelled quite good, but that didn’t change the fact that Ugly Shrimp was disgusting.
Though she really wanted to give her little sister some face, she couldn’t bring herself to eat the saliva-covered shrimp meat. She gently pushed Yuanyuan’s small hand away. "Yuanyuan, eat it yourself."
Gan Lan glanced at the violent woman—oh, wait, Guo Daixuan—who had a look of utter disgust on her face. A thought struck her: she had to get this woman to try it. She didn’t believe anyone could resist the charm of spicy Ugly Shrimp. Of course, if she truly couldn’t stomach it, then Gan Lan would just pretend she never brought it up.
"Do you want to try some? I’m not just bragging about my shrimp! Eat one, and you’ll want a second, then a third... You might even want to lick the plate at the end!" After saying that, she shot Guo Daixuan a sidelong glance and then looked at Yuanyuan. "Yuanyuan, is the Ugly Shrimp tasty?"
Yuanyuan finished off the last tiny bit of shrimp meat in her hand. Seeing Gan Lan ask her, she nodded hastily. "So tasty~ Yuanyuan wants more~"
Gan Lan fed Yuanyuan a sip of water and wiped her mouth. "You can’t eat anymore. It’s too spicy, and little kids shouldn’t eat things that are too spicy."
Yuanyuan pouted, opening her mouth slightly, about to start wailing.
"Stop, stop, stop. Alright, but this is the absolute last one. No more after this."
Seeing Gan Lan start peeling a shrimp, Yuanyuan finally shut her mouth and nodded obediently. "Mm-hmm..."
Completely ignored by the two of them, Guo Daixuan was speechless. She was so cool, so dashing, and so beautiful. How could someone as big as her just stand there and get completely ignored?
"Um, can I try some?" Guo Daixuan felt a bit ashamed saying this. It was her first time begging for food. But she just wanted to see why Yuanyuan liked eating Ugly Shrimp so much. Plus, she was a germaphobe; she would never touch food that someone else had handled. But for Yuanyuan’s sake, she endured it!
Seeing Gan Lan give her a surprised look made her even more embarrassed. She quickly explained, "Just one. Yuanyuan is a very picky eater. It’s my first time seeing her cry over wanting to eat something..."
Gan Lan pretended to be serious as she handed her a pair of chopsticks and a small bowl. Inwardly, however, she was already snickering. Her second attempt at doing business was on the verge of success.
Finally, she added, "There are no gloves, so figure it out yourself. I’m not peeling it for you."
The germaphobic Guo Daixuan took the bowl and chopsticks, suddenly losing her appetite. Peeling the shrimp would get her clean hands dirty. But the words had already left her mouth, and the other party had even provided the utensils. If she backed out now, it would be extremely disrespectful.
Imitating Gan Lan, she picked up an Ugly Shrimp with her chopsticks, placed it in her bowl, and snapped off the head. She stared blankly at the shrimp head in her hand, hesitating over whether she should suck on it like Gan Lan had. Meanwhile, she watched as Gan Lan finished sucking the juice from a shrimp head and began peeling the shell with a look of pure satisfaction.
Hesitantly, she placed the shrimp head into her mouth and took a gentle sip. Her eyes instantly went wide, and their rims turned slightly red. Her first thought was, "Holy crap, that’s spicy!" As she carefully savored the residual broth in her mouth, it still felt incredibly spicy. Her tongue had actually gone numb from the heat; the aftertaste packed a serious punch.
After peeling a shrimp, Gan Lan dipped it into the broth again and took a huge bite, her expression growing even more content.
Guo Daixuan once again copied Gan Lan, peeling a shrimp, dipping it into the broth, and biting off more than half. This time, it was too much to handle. Tears streamed down her face. However, tasting the flavor of the shrimp meat, she couldn’t bear to spit it out. She hastily chewed it. The more she chewed, the more fragrant, numbing, and spicy it became. With such a rich texture and meat so good it made her want to cry, was this really the same Ugly Shrimp that crawled everywhere? In that moment, she began to doubt everything.
She carefully examined the shrimp head and the rest of the body. Even though a small piece of the head had been snipped off and the middle part of the tail was gone, it looked exactly like an Ugly Shrimp no matter how she looked at it. The only difference was that it had gone from crawling around to lying flat on a plate.
After finishing one Ugly Shrimp, she finally understood why her little sister’s eyes and mouth were so red and swollen. It was because she had just joined the red-and-swollen ranks herself.
Seeing the violent woman looking even more pitiful than her little sister, Gan Lan finally felt a tiny sliver of sympathy. She opened the temperature-controlled box and took out the last bottle of ice-cold beer. "Want a drink? One thousand Credit Points."
Guo Daixuan was speechless. A direct hundredfold markup? Was this something a human would do? Still, she took the ice-cold beer, popped it open, and chugged it down. GLUG GLUG GLUG. There was only one word to describe it: refreshing!
This spicy shrimp paired with ice-cold beer was absolutely stellar! It was well worth the one thousand Credit Points. Knowing she was in the wrong, she chose to spend the thousand Credit Points to buy it, even though she could have just spoken to the surveillance camera and had someone deliver an ice-cold beer right away.
"Then how many Credit Points is this plate of Ugly Shrimp? I’ll pay for it all together." As she spoke, she was about to open her Light Brain to make the payment. After waiting for quite a while without a response from Gan Lan, she looked over in confusion.
"Today’s shrimp is on the house. Just pay me the Credit Points for the beer," Gan Lan said, methodically peeling a shrimp. She then added, "I opened a shop at 44 Red Demon Street, right next door to you guys. It specializes in Ugly Shrimp. If you think it’s good, just remember to bring some people to support my business next time."
"Sure, I’ll definitely bring people to support you tomorrow," Guo Daixuan agreed readily. Although she wondered why someone would open a shop on the desolate Red Demon Street at number 44, she didn’t pry.
She then asked, "By the way, I haven’t asked your name or where you’re from yet. Judging by your age, you should still be in school, right?"
"My name is Gan Lan. I’m from Star 1888. I just graduated and came here to find a way to make a living." Gan Lan felt helpless. The competition rules stated that they couldn’t reveal any information about the contest or the names of their schools. What a mess. Couldn’t they just have a straightforward competition? With all these gimmicks, would the organizers themselves be willing to come live in this desolate, bug-infested place?
What? Make a living? She came to this deserted, desolate place to make a living!? Was her plan to rely on those Ugly Shrimp for the rest of her life? Guo Daixuan was internally shocked, but she didn’t show it. She figured this girl had probably run into some serious trouble and came here to lay low.
Still, after her preparation, these Ugly Shrimp were truly phenomenal. Disobeying her brain, her hand reached out to grab another Ugly Shrimp...