Chapter 257



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It was the liveliest time of the evening, when people in the neighborhood were out for a stroll after dinner. The stage in front of the supermarket was quickly surrounded by people.

“Our supermarket is organizing an event today. First prize is a bicycle, second prize is a box of chocolate and third prize is a huge teddy bear. There are also all kinds of prizes for the participants. As long as a man and a woman form a team, the team can participate in the event regardless of whether the members are a couple. Welcome to participate in the event.”

The overdressed master of ceremonies held a megaphone and wore a suit with chicken feathers. He looked like he came from a wedding company on short notice to introduce the event.

“We still need two more couples – anyone else want to join?”.

“Do you want to go?” Joseph asked as he looked at her.

Hayden pondered for a moment and shook his head hesitantly, “No, let’s go home, we have to hurry back. We can buy the chocolates next time.”

Hayden knew that the supermarkets here had a lot of strange ways for participants to do things at events. She didn’t want to be embarrassed and felt it was better not to go.

After walking a couple of steps away, a soft voice sounded behind them, “Handsome, are you alone? I’m alone too, can we pair up to join the event? Then we can split the prize in half.”

Hayden’s heart stopped pounding for a moment. He turned around to look at the girl who wore her hair up in a bun, she looked to be in her early twenties. She was looking at Joseph with an expectant face.

Hayden sensed she wasn’t there to ask Joseph for help, but she looked like she admired Joseph.

“I…” Joseph frowned. He looked like he didn’t know how to refuse his request.

“Can you help me, handsome? You seem to have a big heart. Please… I want that bike so much, I study at the Mega Higher Education Center near here. If we get the first prize, I will transfer half of the money for the bike to you.”

The girl was very flirtatious, she gesticulated a lot with her lips and wiggled her waist like a little living elf.

“Sorry, we’re going to participate in the event too. We’re just looking for a place to leave our stuff.”

Hayden interrupted their conversation in an indifferent voice. He shoved the shopping bag straight into Joseph’s hand and said in front of the little girl, “You carry it, I don’t have the strength to carry it anymore.”

The girl’s smile suddenly froze. She coughed humorlessly to hide her embarrassment and said, “Ahem, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you, ma’am. I’ll go find someone else.”

Did he call Hayden ‘ma’am’?

Hayden was very angry.

He called Joseph, who was a man in his thirties, ‘handsome’, but he called her ‘ma’am’? What’s wrong with your eyes, girl?

Just as she was about to say something, the girl ducked into the crowd and was out of there in a flash.

Then the emcee asked again, “We still need one more couple. Is there anyone else who wants to join?”.

“Here!” Joseph raised his hand. His tall figure stood out in the crowd.

Before Hayden regained consciousness, she was dragged onto the stage.

As they waited for the act to begin, she lowered her voice and asked Joseph, “How old do you think I look?”

Joseph told her, “Twenty-five.”

“I’m not asking you how old I am. I’m asking you how old I look.” Hayden got a little annoyed, “Why did that girl just call you ‘handsome,’ but she calls me ‘ma’am’? She looks so much younger than me?”

“She’s a college student, she really is younger than you.”

“Joseph…you…”. Hayden was furious and felt he couldn’t understand what she meant. She must have been blind to fall in love with him.

“The event is about to begin.” The emcee’s voice interrupted their conversation when Joseph didn’t understand Hayden’s words. The sound from the speakers on either side of the stage was extremely loud and deafening.

“The rules of our game are that the men and women stay together, plus the woman cannot touch the floor. The five couples start playing in turn and each couple must have a different pose. If the couple cannot come up with a pose, they are eliminated. The couple that persists to the end is the winner.”

Hearing the rules of the game, Hayden’s face turned somber. She looked at Joseph beside her.

Joseph looked at her calmly, “What’s wrong?”.

Hayden coughed and lowered her voice, “Maybe we can stop the game?”.

While she was asking him, the emcee had already walked over to them.

“Okay, now starting with the first group over here. This handsome man and this beautiful woman will start first.”

Before Hayden could take a single step to get out of there, Joseph had embraced her and her body was in the air.

The audience below the stage applauded.

Hayden unconsciously struggled for a moment. She soon realized that Joseph had hugged her tightly and she could not escape from his arms. She glared angrily at Joseph.

Joseph lowered his head to look at her as if he was teasing her.

She turned her head away from looking at him and blushed. She seriously believed that Joseph had known the rules of the game for a long time and that was why he was so calm.

The four groups following them quickly struck the pose. One of the men carried his girlfriend on his back. Another carried his girlfriend in his arms and one of the women, who was quite short, sat on her boyfriend’s shoulder. The last couple was the funniest, probably because they couldn’t think of a pose, so the man directly held his girlfriend’s leg from behind and lifted her up facing the stage.

The audience burst out laughing, “It looks like he’s trying to coax a kid to pee…”.

The woman was so embarrassed that she struggled to get down. She punched the man’s chest hard and ran away, covering her face.

“That’s an automatic quit.” Said the emcee with a chuckle.

“Okay, now everyone can hold this pose for one minute and then switch to the next set of poses. There are still forty seconds left.”

As the emcee counted down the stage, Hayden tilted his head and looked at Joseph’s chin, “What about the pose after this one? I can’t think of a pose, why don’t we just quit?”.

On the other side, the emcee’s countdown was already over. Hayden was stunned when Joseph had already laid her down. He grabbed her around the waist before she could react and lifted her straight up.

Unconsciously, Hayden reached out to hook her hand around his neck and curled her legs around his waist to keep from falling.

This pose again elicited laughter from the audience.

Hayden blushed and lowered his voice, “Joseph, let go of me.”

“What prize do you want?”

Joseph, however, did not respond well to her request.

“I don’t want… let go of me. I don’t want anything, let’s go now.”

“Then let’s take the first prize.” The audience was oblivious as Joseph smiled half-heartedly.

Hayden was angry and upset, but there was nothing she could do.

Another group was eliminated after that, leaving three groups to compete for the three prizes.

At first, Hayden thought he was going to take the opportunity to switch positions, but then the emcee suddenly said, “Okay, the rules of the game have temporarily changed from now on. The next three sets of couples will kiss in the current position and compete to see who can hold on the longest.”

Downstage, it was filled with shouts of approval, “Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss…”.

Hayden’s face went white.

“Joseph, put me down. I don’t want the award anymore.”

The emcee’s voice echoed across the night stage, “Now I’m going to count down. Then, the three groups of couples may begin.”

“Joseph, let go of me.” Hayden began to struggle.

“Three…”

“I don’t want this prize. If you dare to kiss me, you’ll sleep on the street tonight…”.

“Two…”.

“One…”.

“…”.

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