The Spendthrift Little Cutie

Su Ze carried the fruits with his right hand and held the hand of the girl who was in charge of eating them with his left.

Uesugi Akizuki wasn't very well-behaved; while munching on the fruits, her eyes roamed around, spotting anything interesting or fun, she would pull Su Ze over to buy it. If it was a cute trinket, she always bought three: one for herself, one for Su Ze, and the third, she didn't say, but Su Ze knew, was for her sister.

Su Ze indulged her, buying almost everything she wanted.

Until she pointed at an adult store with a large white mascot standing in front and tugged Su Ze to rush in.

Su Ze was startled and quickly pulled her back.

Uesugi Akizuki's puzzled gaze met Su Ze's stern one. "We're not going in there," he said firmly.

Uesugi Akizuki obediently nodded and continued walking with Su Ze, though her eyes lingered on the distant white mascot.

Meng Xingyao called.

"Haven't you arrived yet?"

"She's dragging me around shopping."

"Then keep shopping."

"Okay."

Meng Xingyao hung up and looked at Uesugi Chigenki, who was glued to the window, staring at the street. "It'll take a while longer to get there. Want to eat first?"

Uesugi Chigenki didn't even turn around. "No."

"Not eating will make your stomach grumble. I can cook a lot of delicious things."

"The executor is already on the way. I'll leave as soon as I pick up my sister; no need to trouble yourself."

After wandering for over an hour, Su Ze looked around at the unfamiliar area, realizing he had been led here by Uesugi Akizuki, far off the intended route.

Checking the map, he found they were thirteen kilometers from their destination.

Three kilometers further than the ten kilometers they started with. Uesugi Akizuki, holding a palm-sized teddy bear, grinned and proudly showed it to Su Ze.

"You've led us astray," Su Ze said, patting her head. The girl giggled happily. "You dragged me all over the place as soon as we got into town. Aren't you looking for your sister?"

"Looking," the girl said innocently.

"Then let's stop shopping and find your sister first, okay? Then you can play with her."

The little witch nodded, then shook her head. "First play."

She pulled Su Ze towards the mall...

Su Ze felt that this little silly girl's logic was a bit different from normal people.

A normal person, knowing their sister who was on the run was alive and safe, would be anxious to find her.

But this little silly girl, knowing her sister was safe, breathed a sigh of relief. While looking for her sister, she didn't forget to have some fun first, since her sister was already fine.

At the mall, Uesugi Akizuki was inevitably drawn to the arcade games.

Su Ze, accustomed to the girl's starry-eyed, hopeful gaze, stored their belongings and exchanged them for a coin, taking the silly girl to play.

Perhaps due to the recent blood moon, the mall was sparsely populated, with only a few people seen occasionally.

The area had suffered relatively minor damage, so the mall was able to open so early.

Su Ze chose to play the ring toss game, where a coin buys ten small glass balls. One or several balls are thrown, with more won or lost depending on the outcome.

Uesugi Akizuki loved playing but was terrible at it.

Su Ze was a seasoned player at such places, often visiting arcades whenever he could.

He was a game enthusiast and a bit of a gaming addict, but his skills were undeniable.

Su Ze inserted the coin into the machine, a game he often used to win big with small stakes. Ten glass balls clinked out.

Uesugi Akizuki gasped in surprise, and Su Ze promptly poured all ten balls into the slot.

'All in,' he thought.

He pressed the stop button, and the row of flashing red lights halted, with only two remaining lit.

Pulling the lever, he released it, letting it snap back and hit the plastic ball, which then bounced around the machine, finally dropping into the narrow channel of the lit red light.

Clink, clink, clink...

A shower of glass balls poured out.

Uesugi Akizuki's eyes widened, and she excitedly clapped and jumped around Su Ze, as if she had made the shot herself.

Having grasped the game's rules, Uesugi Akizuki took the glass balls Su Ze had won and went to another machine to play.

Su Ze kept just one ball, and within minutes, he turned it into over sixty, which Uesugi Akizuki happily took, then promptly poured a dozen or so into her machine.

She pressed the stop button, lighting up five red lights.

Then, pulling the lever with precise control, she aimed seriously, like a hidden tiger in the bushes, fiercely watching a drinking antelope, and then, seizing the moment! She let go with a snap.

Miss!

"What a spendthrift," Su Ze muttered, watching Uesugi Akizuki's moves.

Soon, she was back to playing with the hundreds of small glass balls Su Ze had prepared for her, throwing them in without even counting.

She was as bold as a wealthy landowner.

While Uesugi Akizuki played, Su Ze received a call from his brother.

"What's up?"

"That scumbag got out of jail."

The scumbag referred to their father.

The one they had sent to prison themselves.

"So what?" Su Ze didn't care. Getting out of jail meant nothing to him; if he died on the street, Su Ze wouldn't even bother to collect the body.

He'd just hire an agency to handle it, paying them to take care of the funeral, which he definitely wouldn't attend.

"I want to kill him."

"Why does that concern me?" Su Ze replied indifferently.

There was silence on the other end, understanding his brother's stance and dropping the idea.

He knew his brother wouldn't cover for him.

Su Ze's coldness towards his brother stemmed from some conflicts they had over the past year.

His brother had thrown a tantrum and run away, thinking Su Ze would seek reconciliation. Instead, Su Ze didn't indulge his bad habits, changing the house's password the moment Su Yu left.

Completely caught off guard by Su Ze's move, Su Yu didn't even bring his phone.

With his pride, he wouldn't bow down within a day.

That night, Su Yu's stomach growled, nearly making him compete with a dog for food in the deserted alley.

Afraid of the dark, he left the alley.

That night, he slept under a bridge, regretting his actions.

At that moment, he felt like a complete idiot.

His brother was the type to respond to softness, not hardness, yet he had challenged his limits with stubbornness.

As he was reflecting, he was kicked by a disheveled homeless man.

Looking up, he saw the man had robbed him of his last ten dollars and was chased out of the bridge by the homeless community.

He spent the rest of the night crying on a chilly park bench.

The next day, he sat at his home's doorstep.

Su Ze saw him but acted as if he hadn't, returning to the game room to play for over ten hours.