The Favored Heiress
Chapter 357: Friends Through Thick and Thin

Chapter 357: Chapter 357: Friends Through Thick and Thin

He Xi heard Lu Xirui’s jest, crossed his legs, laid an arm over his knee, and raised his chin. "So, are we playing or not? The dice game is simple: high or low, each person gets three dice, and whoever rolls the highest total wins."

Huo Mang licked his back teeth and asked, "What’s the punishment if you lose?"

He Xi covered his eyes and stroked his fingers, "How about truth or dare? The winner gets to choose someone to do either truth or dare, and if they refuse, they drink."

Lu Xirui and He Qing exchanged smiles. It sounded rather entertaining.

Huo Mang held his drink and shook it, eyeing the carelessly poised Shang Yu across from him. "Shaoyan, what do you think?"

The man slowly turned his head to look at Li Qiao, his thick eyebrows slightly raised, as if asking for her opinion.

Li Qiao turned her head to meet Shang Yu’s gaze, took a sip from her beer can, and nodded, "It seems pretty interesting."

Mainly, she was... curious to see the ’grace’ of the Casino Queen when rolling dice.

Seeing this, Yun Lih tossed his skewer onto the plate, watching He Xi with a smile that was not quite a smile, "Count me in."

A few minutes later, Liuyun and the others brought in a solid wooden table, dice cups, and dice, and placed several cans of beer at the corner of the table.

Seven people sat around, each casually fiddling with their dice cups.

He Xi’s meticulously groomed fingernails tapped on the lid, the corners of his mouth curving with a smug arc, "Well then, let’s start."

With that, the sound of dice clattering abruptly filled the air.

A few seconds later, He Xi placed the dice cup upside down on the table, looked around, and noticed that Li Qiao did not seem to be shaking her cup; She was still drinking her beer even after everyone else had finished.

He Xi furrowed his brows, his palm pressing down on the curved dice cup, "Miss Li, aren’t you playing?"

Was it that she was not playing, or that she didn’t know how?

Li Qiao nonchalantly set down her beer can, her slender fingers picked up three dice and tossed them into the cup, and then with everyone watching, she shook the cup lightly on the table and quipped, "Let’s see them."

Seeing her do this, He Xi couldn’t help but laugh, "That’s it? You’re done shaking?"

As expected, she didn’t know how to play.

Her movement was so gentle that even the sound of the dice hitting the cup couldn’t be heard.

Li Qiao’s long legs stretched out under the table as she looked up at He Xi, nonchalantly shrugged, and said, "Mhm."

He Xi chuckled, didn’t ask further, and seeing everyone had placed their cups down, he said, "Then I’ll reveal mine first."

He opened the cup, revealing three sixes on his dice.

Lu Xirui leaned in to look, shaking his head and clicking his tongue, "Right off the bat with the highest roll, looks like you’re definitely winning this round."

As he spoke, he also opened his dice cup, "Twelve points."

Next, Huo Mang and He Qing revealed nine and seven points respectively.

That left Yun Lih, Shang Yu, and Li Qiao who hadn’t revealed their dice yet. Yun Lih glanced from side to side, flicked his finger and popped open his cup, revealing he also had the highest roll with eighteen points.

He Xi’s smile faded slightly as he looked away towards Shang Yu and motioned with his lips, "Shaoyan, your turn to reveal."

Li Qiao and the man were sitting close together, their eyes met, and in unison, they flipped their cups.

"Whoa!" Lu Xirui gazed at their dice with surprise, "Did you two plan this?"

In the cups, both had the same score: seventeen points each.

He Xi watched Li Qiao’s dice intently, his mood fluctuating slightly.

Her luck was just too good; a casual shake of the cup and she got seventeen points.

Thus, the lowest score was He Qing’s, at only seven points.

Huo Mang picked up a can of beer from the table and gestured to He Xi, "Come on, your brother lost. Truth or dare? If you don’t choose, you’ll have to down this can of beer."

He Xi grinned sheepishly and turned his head, "Brother, what do you choose?"

He Qing curled his lip and stretched out his hand to Huo Mang, "Let’s go, I’ll drink to show my respect first."

Clearly, he had chosen to drink. Truth or dare seemed too childish in He Qing’s eyes.

And Yun Lih, also a winner, was equally indifferent to it.

After He Qing finished his beer, Lu Xirui pondered for a moment and then said, "Isn’t it too easy? Just a can of beer. Maybe the losers will all choose to drink next time."

He Xi looked lost in thought, "How about we switch to spirits? If you don’t play the game, you have to drink at least three glasses."

Huo Mang nodded in agreement, "Yeah, that works."

And so, beer was replaced with spirits, and everyone seemed to be even more excited.

In the second round, He Xi was still covertly paying attention to Li Qiao.

If the first round was a matter of luck, then the second round seemed somewhat eerie.

Because Li Qiao and Shang Yu still had seventeen points.

The brothers looked left and right, and Huo Mang kicked the table leg with the tip of his shoe, "Shaoyan, have you two arranged this beforehand?"

Shang Yu lazily lifted his eyelids and pressed his thin lips together, saying nothing.

It was definitely impossible to have agreed beforehand, as Shang Yu and Li Qiao had had no interaction at all since the start of the two rounds of the game.

Lu Xirui, looking at the identical numbers in the dice cup, couldn’t help but chuckle, "This might be what’s called a tacit understanding."

The winner of this round was still He Xi, with eighteen points again.

But the lowest score belonged to Huo Mang, and he chose truth.

Seeing this, a gleam appeared in He Xi’s eyes, and she crossed her legs, her hands clasped over her knees, and asked him, "What do you think is the relationship between Miss Li and Mr. Yun?"

For a moment, the atmosphere turned a bit tense.

Li Qiao leaned against the recliner, her gaze languidly shifting towards He Xi, tinged with both playfulness and aloofness.

Yun Lih crossed his long legs, his mouth biting an unlit cigarette, glaring at He Xi, contemptuously curling his thin lips.

As for Shang Yu, his eyes half-closed, he caressed Li Qiao’s fingers, his expression inscrutable.

Huo Mang’s expression darkened, and he looked at He Xi with displeasure, retorting, "Does this count as a scope for truth?"

He Xi nodded solemnly, "Of course it does, it’s asking for your honest opinion."

She deliberately emphasized the words ’honest opinion,’ as if afraid Huo Mang wouldn’t understand.

In He Xi’s view, every person present was sharp, and it would be impossible for them not to notice the unusual relationship between Yun Lih and Li Qiao.

Huo Mang regretted a bit, thinking he’d have been better off downing three glasses of liquor instead to calm his nerves.

He Xi was courting death.

Huo Mang did not answer for a long time, but Yun Lih took the lighter to ignite his cigarette, looked up, and blew smoke into the air, "Speak up, I’d like to hear too, what kind of relationship do you all think we should have!"

Li Qiao also chimed in at just the right moment, "Yeah, let’s hear it."

Huo Mang’s eyes flickered, and he looked significantly at Shang Yu, who remained silent. After much deliberation, he uttered a phrase, "Close friends."

Friends with harmonious thoughts and deep affection.

Huo Mang felt his description was apt, yet, He Xi scoffed, "So Miss Li and Mr. Yun are in heartfelt agreement in your eyes, friends indeed."