Chapter 183: How to Fit In

Song Wanning originally thought that the residential area designated by the production crew would be just a very ordinary place.

However, upon arrival, she realized it was a veritable luxury neighborhood.

Instead of the apartment buildings she had expected, there were only detached villas, each accompanied by a sprawling garden.

Moreover, the entire neighborhood boasted exceptionally pristine and beautiful scenery, complete with lakes and an abundance of recreational facilities and playground equipment.

True to expectations, quite a few children were playing outside, but they were not playing games typical of ordinary kids.

Instead, they engaged in intellectually stimulating activities, such as playing Go, showcasing various talents, competing in musical instrument performances, and demonstrating calligraphy.

Song Wanning squatted off to the side, watching that group of children with her brows knitted tightly together.

At that moment, the livestream had just commenced, and Li Weiwei had already published the task details for each guest on Weibo.

Consequently, viewers inside the livestream were now poking fun at Song Wanning, eagerly relishing the spectacle.

[Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter. Is this a new form of humblebragging?]

[I originally thought the Wen-Wan CP's task would be a breeze, but who would have guessed it's at hell-level difficulty!]

[To become the king of the kids in this neighborhood, they must possess eighteen martial arts and diverse skills just to defeat these children one by one.]

[How strange, though. All the other pairs are acting together, except for Jiang Mingzhao and Shen Yue, who are each doing their own thing.]

[In my view, Nan Yan's group has the easiest task—they actually have to spend three days working as life-skill teachers in a kindergarten.]

[Jian An'an's group has it easy, too; working at a coffee shop for three days is simpler by far.]

[I simply must see how Song Wanning and her partner manage to complete this hellish task, ahahahaha~]

[I just love watching them run into difficulties, hee hee~]

While Song Wanning was still hesitating over how to infiltrate their inner circle, Wen Jingxing had already successfully integrated himself into the Go-playing clique with a single sentence.

He had been standing nearby, watching the children play. At that moment, the two boys currently engaged in a game of Go were locked in combat.

He watched them finish a match, and just as the winning boy was about to break into cheers, Wen Jingxing suddenly remarked, "Your Go strategy is quite mediocre."

He was employing a reverse psychology tactic, and the little boy immediately took offense and flared up in indignation. "I've never lost a game since I started playing! If you don't believe it, let's play a round together!"

The boy was only six or seven years old. While his voice still carried a babyish lilt, his tone was fiercely aggressive.

"Very well." Seeing that the little boy had taken the bait, Wen Jingxing agreed without hesitation.

The little boy even proposed a wager: the loser must address the winner as the boss. It was evident that the little boy was seemingly the neighborhood's child king, unwilling to allow anyone to challenge his prowess.

Xu Heqian frowned. He couldn't shake the feeling that this adult meant business and harbored ulterior motives. He asked Wen Jingxing, "And if you win, what do you want?"

Wen Jingxing lowered his head, feigning deep thought. "The same as you. The loser must address the winner as the boss."

Xu Heqian replied, "Alright then, let's begin."

Wen Jingxing's tactic was rather ruthless, but the results were instantaneous. Following his example, Song Wanning went off to challenge other children at their respective competitive games.

Her mastery of calligraphy and the pipa was utterly unrivaled here. Before long, all the snacks in the children's pockets had been won away by Song Wanning.

Refusing to accept defeat, the group of kids insisted on playing several more rounds against Song Wanning, only to accumulate even more snack debts.

In the end, with downcast and tearful faces, the children simply ran off and refused to play with Song Wanning any longer.

However, by relying on them, Song Wanning had already accomplished today's target of five games, even exceeding the quota.

Thus, shouldering her spoils of victory in the form of numerous snacks, she strolled leisurely back toward Wen Jingxing's location.

Over on Wen Jingxing's side, the battle had reached its most tense moment.

Of course, the only one feeling tense was Xu Heqian alone.

He discovered that no matter how he moved his pieces, they would ultimately be blocked and cornered by Wen Jingxing.

Yet as time passed, the crowd of watching children grew larger and larger. After all, he was the king of this neighborhood; if he lost this game, wouldn't he become the laughingstock everywhere he went from now on?!

Every move Wen Jingxing made appeared completely effortless. The moment Xu Heqian placed a stone, Wen Jingxing would immediately follow suit with his own.

Meanwhile, Xu Heqian deliberated for ages before every single move.

What struck him as most bizarre was that, despite the peculiar adult opposite him having numerous opportunities to secure a victory, the opponent simply refused to block his paths completely.

For the first time, Xu Heqian experienced the bitter taste of being provoked!

He racked his brain frantically, determined to fight Wen Jingxing to a finish. But in the end, the board was completely filled, and he failed to turn the tables.

Wen Jingxing observed, "What a pity. The board is completely full."

Xu Heqian immediately declared, "It doesn't matter, let's play another round."

"No, let's do this instead. I will return tomorrow and the day after. Let's settle the victory over a three-day period with a best-of-three format. Today will be a draw," Wen Jingxing said with a gentle smile.

Xu Heqian couldn't help but shiver slightly, though he still forced himself to maintain a calm facade as he asked, "Why aren't we continuing right now?"

"Because I have other matters to attend to."

"Very well then."

As Xu Heqian watched Wen Jingxing and Song Wanning depart, he rushed home the moment he arrived to complain to his family about the incident, claiming that a strange adult had come to the neighborhood to contest his position as the child king.

Naturally, the Xu family didn't take the matter to heart at the time.

Seated in the car returning to Fanjing Gardens, Song Wanning showered Wen Jingxing with praise for his brilliance. "Jingxing, your skills are amazing! Even when playing chess against Elder Wen last time, you didn't lose either."

Wen Jingxing smiled without offering an explanation, instead asking, "Did you take all those snacks from the kids?"

He had noticed more than a dozen bags of snacks in Song Wanning's bag, all of which appeared to be extremely expensive brands.

"They insisted on using them as a stake for the bet. They said if they lost, they'd give me a bag of snacks, and if they won, I had to take them out to eat burgers, fried chicken, and french fries."

Song Wanning had been somewhat tempted to ask what those items were, but seeing that the group of children all seemed familiar with them, she wondered if asking Wen Jingxing would make her seem out of touch. Better to just look them up online later.

Subsequently, she inquired further, "You clearly could have defeated him in one go; why did you drag it out over three days?"

"Because if I defeated him all at once, he certainly wouldn't be convinced. Besides, scheduling a three-day contest with him is also a disguised way to build my reputation in the neighborhood. By then, all the children will know who I am."

Song Wanning nodded in agreement. "That makes sense! That makes complete sense!"

Yet seeing her stuffing her mouth with snacks, Wen Jingxing knew she had probably only listened to half of what he said.

With nothing pressing that afternoon, Wen Jingxing headed over to the Wen Corporation, while Song Wanning, after some consideration, also made her way to Qisheng.

All things considered, apart from remaining in a state of continuous financial loss, Qisheng was doing quite well in all other respects.

Song Wanning knew it was impossible to reverse such a situation overnight, so she felt no particular urgency.

Inside Qisheng, however, the atmosphere was fraught with panic and anxiety. Word had spread that the former head had fled, and the newly appointed president had purged a large portion of the shareholders immediately upon arrival. The employees were deeply worried that the company might go bankrupt at any moment.