Chapter 721 — It's Coming Right Up
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Shen Yushu tossed several sandbags in a row, all of them misses—but her very last one landed on the biggest Gray Wolf plush, the one on the back row!
"Oh yeah! Hit it! I won the big prize..." Shen Yushu cheered, but her cheer died halfway when she saw, to her astonishment, that the Gray Wolf plush merely wobbled a couple of times. It did not fall; it settled back firmly on the shelf.
"What a shame, little lady—you were just a hair away from the grand prize! This Gray Wolf plush is genuine, you know, not one of those knockoffs!" The boss looked at Shen Yushu with a face full of regret. "You're too weak. Put some muscle into it next time!"
"Impossible! I put plenty of muscle into it—I could punch out a shark, so how can I not knock over one plush?" A thought struck Shen Yushu—what Tang Zhi had said earlier—and her eyes narrowed at the boss. "Hey, you didn't rig this thing, did you?"
"How could you say such a thing? Little lady, don't go throwing accusations around. I've done business here for years, and I've never cheated a soul. Why, just last month someone won the grand prize! Ask any of the regulars here—last month the plush on that shelf was a SpongeBob, and this month I swapped it for the Gray Wolf!" the boss said hastily.
The people around them heard the boss out and nodded, confirming it—last month the prize there really hadn't been the Gray Wolf but a SpongeBob plush. And if it hadn't been won by someone, why would it have been replaced with a Gray Wolf?
"Then I'll try again!" Unconvinced, Shen Yushu spent another ten yuan on ten sandbags and started throwing...
"There's definitely something wrong with it..." Tang Zhi whispered to Wei Zhao.
"Mm, I noticed too. But it's rare that they're willing to play—cooped up at home, they hardly ever get a moment this happy," Wei Zhao said.
Shen Yushu threw four or five sandbags. She did hit a "Fish-Man" doll, but it was too small to be worth anything. On her sixth sandbag, her luck blazed again and she hit the Gray Wolf plush—yet just as before, the Gray Wolf wobbled twice and stood firm.
The boss hadn't expected Shen Yushu to be so lucky as to hit the Gray Wolf plush again, and for a moment he was at a loss. To say she hadn't used enough force once was one thing—but not enough force a second time too? That was stretching it a bit.
But the boss was, after all, an old hand at swindling, and he could lie without batting an eye: "Still not enough force, I'm afraid. Looks like you've given it everything you've got, but the distance is simply too great. My advice is to aim for one of those slightly smaller medium-sized dolls up front."
Shen Yushu ground her teeth in frustration! She turned to Wei Zhao. "Arrow-Brand Bro, come help little Shu—I want that Gray Wolf plush!"
"Ha, I'll give it a try, then." Wei Zhao suspected the Gray Wolf plush was rigged too, so he didn't decline.
The boss was only too glad to have someone else throw—Shen Yushu's luck was far too good, hitting it twice in a row. If a third throw failed to knock it down, that really would start raising questions! So he hurried to say, "Yes, yes, let the young man have a go—he's got more strength!"
"Ha, you don't have just the one plush, do you? If I knock it down, what about everyone else?" What Wei Zhao had in mind was that one plush wouldn't be enough to go around—at the very least Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, and Tang Zhi should each get one.
"I run an honest shop here—how could I keep only one in reserve? There are more. Throw all you like!" the boss thought to himself, Knock it down first, then we'll talk. I've seen plenty of your type—who isn't brimming with confidence? And in the end, don't they all walk away empty-handed?
"All right, then." Wei Zhao casually picked up a sandbag, took no aim at all, and without even looking, hurled it.
Seeing Wei Zhao's manner, the boss couldn't help but sneer inwardly. Showing off, are we? Putting on airs? If that hits, I'll eat my hat...
"Thwack!"