America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

Chapter 196 Pansies and the Grand Prize for the Journey to the Desert Island

It was already 7:30 p.m., and one of the car windows was fully open. The cold evening wind seeped into the car through the gap, making my hair all messy.

With one hand on the car window and the other on the steering wheel, Li Xiaoen sped towards New York. Hearing the laughter coming from the console, he couldn't help but smile.

He didn't mind Victoria's little scheme; on the contrary, he found it somewhat amusing and delightful.

"Yes, your laughter has already told me the answer."

Li Xiaoen spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Okay, to be honest, I'm quite satisfied with that suit."

Victoria's calm reply came from the other end. Just listening to it, Li Xiaoen could imagine the girl smiling proudly with her lips pursed. "Oh, no, I should say that all of us are satisfied."

"How many of you are there?"

Li Xiaoen was taken aback. "You picked them out together?"

"Yes, we spent a long time choosing."

"Um……"

Li Xiaoen let out a long snort and dared not say anything more.

If Sophie suddenly joins in and says something that leaves him speechless, he'll really be asking for trouble.

Fortunately, Victoria didn't seem inclined to talk any further. She told him to focus on driving and be careful before hanging up.

There were still quite a few vehicles on the highway heading towards New York at this time.

The phone call ended, and the car fell silent. Only the cold wind whistled through the car. Li Xiaoen silently watched the endless stream of cars ahead.

After pondering for a while, he finally smiled.

When soldiers come, we will meet them head-on; when water comes, we will dam it. Once a decision has been made, we must move forward firmly and resolutely, even if the road ahead is arduous.

He made up his mind, took a deep breath, sped up, and squeezed through the congested traffic to overtake.

The party was held at a luxury estate in the suburbs of New York. After identity verification, and passing through the garden, Sean Lee was greeted by several girls coming out to greet him at the entrance of the main house.

"It's so cold outside, are you alright?"

As he approached, Li Xiaoen looked at the girls dressed in various light evening gowns and asked them with concern.

"Hmm...it'll only be a little while, it's okay."

Victoria smiled and shook her head, then reached out and took Lee Shawn's arm, leading them into the main house and along the side towards the lounge connected to it.

"It's not too late now, is there such a rush?"

Letting the girl pull him along, Li Xiaoen couldn't help but look back at the other girls who had followed him.

If you didn't know better, you'd think he was being dragged away by a few girls to do something.

Upon entering the lounge, Victoria pulled Li Xiaoen to a suit.

"Okay, please wait a moment."

Faced with the gazes of several girls, Li Xiaoen nodded helplessly, picked up her evening gown, and went into the inner room on the side.

After quickly changing and leaving, Li Xiaoen spread his hands in front of a few girls. They were first stunned, then looked at each other with strange expressions, and he couldn't help but frown.

"I told you, this guy's fashion sense is just terrible."

Victoria smiled and spoke first, then stepped in front of the young man and reached out to touch the collar of his shirt.

"This evening gown would look better if more buttons on the shirt underneath were undone."

"is it?"

Li Xiaoen raised an eyebrow. After the girl helped him tidy up, he turned to look at the full-length mirror that the waiter had moved over and couldn't help but nod repeatedly.

The shirt collar was open, revealing a muscular chest through the unbuttoned top few buttons, giving it a less formal and serious look and a more casual and carefree feel.

I must say, there's a certain something to it about this outfit and clothing.

"besides……"

Victoria's cheerful voice came from behind. Li Xiaoen turned around, and the first thing that caught his eye was the curious and expectant gaze of several girls not far away. Just as he had some doubts, Victoria waved to him.

"Sean, bend down."

"..."

"What are you up to now?"

Li Xiaoen was puzzled, but he still did as he was told. Then he saw Victoria holding a pair of glasses in both hands, pushing them forward and putting them in front of his eyes.

Is this also part of fashion?

Li Xiaoen was both amused and exasperated. He looked around at the decor of the lounge, making sure his vision wasn't blurry, before turning to the girls who were standing there dumbfounded with wide eyes. "You guys like this kind of thing?"

"I'm alright..."

Victoria suppressed her smile and quickly explained, "You didn't prepare a birthday present for Serafina; that's what she asked for."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoen looked up at Serafina and received a calm and fearless gaze in return.

Does this woman like this type?
Just as Li Xiaoen was internally complaining, Victoria smiled and explained.

"Well... I chose the style of the evening gown, Sophie chose an open-necked shirt, Mary chose leather shoes, and Serafina chose glasses..."

"Don't worry, we got these protective glasses for you because you work on the computer a lot. They're non-prescription and can protect your eyes and reduce fatigue."

"Alright, thank you, ladies."

India uses weapons from all over the world; is this his "women's style" outfit?

Li Xiaoen found it amusing but didn't take it to heart anymore. He smiled leisurely and said, "Since you gave me a gift, wouldn't it be very impolite not to reciprocate?"

After saying that, under the curious gazes of several girls, Li Xiaoen raised his hand and reached out towards Victoria's fair face.

"Sean..."

The young man was so close that his face was about to touch hers, and Victoria's body tensed up suddenly. She couldn't help but call out softly.

Then, the young man twisted his wrist, and what appeared in his hand was a flower with three colors.

"This is... a pansy?"

Victoria asked in surprise, reaching out to take it from her hand.

"Yes."

Li Xiaoen smiled and nodded, then moved to Su Feier's side and presented her with a flower in the same way.

Is this all the sincerity you've shown?

Sophie reached out and took it, pursing her lips and casually asking, "Are you going to give the same flowers to several girls at the same time?"

“This is different, Sophie.”

As expected, Li Xiaoen had already come up with an excuse. He winked at Su Feier, "Although they are all pansies, the colors I gave you are different."

Upon hearing this, the girls looked at the flowers in Victoria and Sophie's hands, one with bright yellow as the main color and the other with purple.

"Um……"

Nodding, Suffer gave a light hum in response to the young man's gesture and said calmly, "Pansies. I remember there are these flowers in the garden of this manor. Judging from the broken branches, they were probably just picked recently."

Upon hearing this, Sean, who had just handed Mary a white and purple flower, immediately received several scrutinizing gazes. Startled, Sean shrugged helplessly.

"Sophie, you're so smart."

His sincere praise received no response, so he gave an awkward smile, shrugged, and started talking about other things instead.

"You should know that I came here right after uploading the paper to the website."

Looking around at the girls, Li Xiaoen spoke again as if it were a serious matter.

"Do you know? In our Chinese culture, there is a saying: 'Beautiful flowers are paired with beautiful women.'"

"To be honest, I only made the decision to send you flowers after I arrived at this manor. I was passing by the garden just now and saw how beautiful and vibrant the pansies were, and I suddenly had this idea."

"Humph……"

Watching the young man speak so eloquently, the girls chuckled and let him off the hook for the time being.

Shifting his gaze, he met Sophie's eyes and saw her face instantly turn cold. Li Xiaoen felt a chill and quickly turned to look at Serafina, the star of the evening.

"If you're going to give it to me, give it to me quickly. The same magic trick won't be as appealing the second time."

Serafina rolled her eyes and looked away. It was her birthday today, but the young man gave her a gift last, which made her feel very uncomfortable.

No, your gift is not flowers.

Li Xiaoen chuckled, swung his arm quickly, and when he stopped, he had a small folded piece of paper between his two fingers.

"..."

"They are all flowers, and I am just a piece of paper?"

Serafina was stunned for a moment, gritted her teeth, lifted her skirt, and kicked out without regard for her image.

"Hey, it's your birthday today, do you really have to be so unconcerned about your image...?"

He quickly dodged backward, and Li Xiaoen said helplessly, "Can you at least see what's inside first?"

"It's just a piece of paper, even if it's a check, what's the big deal?"

Serafina spoke dismissively, which made Sean Lee pause for a moment.

Well, for an American heiress, sentiment is more important than money.

While she was internally complaining, Serafina had already taken the paper and unfolded it.

"Desert Island Survival Challenge?"

The other girls also gathered around. Victoria looked down at the young man muttering to herself, then looked up at him in surprise. "Sean, did you know about this event when school started?"

Seeing this, she suddenly remembered the pranks that Sean Lee and Serafina played on each other when school started last Monday.

"I've seen it before, I have some recollection of it."

Li Xiaoen shrugged. He couldn't very well say that he saw this customer benefit lottery on the website that the "hackers" group was trying to attack and penetrate, and that he casually modified it to "win" the grand prize.

In fact, based on the information he obtained through his infiltration, the company was indeed just as described on the group's website—an unscrupulous company.

They run many lottery events, but a large number of the top prizes are locked by their backend mechanism, with only a small number of low-value prizes being released to one of the customers who spent real money and "luckily" win them.

"According to the website's reward information, it's a three-day wilderness survival challenge on a deserted island."

Looking up from the information on her phone, Suffer addressed the crowd and said this.

"It's only three days. Even if we don't have any supplies with us, as long as we find fresh water, we can pass the challenge even if we go hungry for three days, right?"

Serafina shook her head helplessly, her voice clearly showing her disdain.

"I don't see any restrictions on the supplies that can be brought in."

Mary, on the other side, looked up from the paper and excitedly addressed the group, "Then we can bring enough supplies up there, turning our desert island survival into a desert island vacation?"

"That's the theory."

Sean Lee nodded with a smile. "I've already told you beforehand that there are no rewards for this challenge. It's probably just to give people in New York City a novel experience."

"Okay, we'll talk about that later."

Serafina nodded seriously, then turned to look at Sean Lee, "I want to spend money too."

"I've already given you the gifts you liked, do you still want flowers?"

Li Xiaoen found it amusing. At first, she had clearly looked down on the cheap flowers in the garden, but now she was acting like this.

Although he knew that Americans valued birthday gifts more than Chinese people.

He thought to himself, but nodded helplessly, "Then I'll go to the garden and pick another branch for you later."

"Didn't you prepare anything for me?"

Serafina paused for a moment, looking the young man up and down at his empty hand. Before she could react, she saw him quickly shake his palm, and when he stopped, another flower appeared in his hand.

Happy birthday, Miss Serafina.

Li Xiaoen laughed, but these words instantly made Serafina's joyful expression disappear.

"What do you call me?"

With her eyes narrowed slightly, Serafina gritted her teeth and spat out a sentence.

She had clearly heard the young man use beautiful terms of address many times when he called Victoria, Sophie, and even Mary.

"Ha ha……"

Seeing Serafina's reaction, Sean Lee couldn't help but laugh and explained, "It was just a joke, don't mind it."

"Well, happy birthday, beautiful and charming Miss Serafina."

With her emotions fluctuating wildly due to the young man, Serafina rolled her eyes, took a deep breath, and reached out to take the flower in her hand.

After giving out all the gifts, Li Xiaoen took a few deep breaths and noticed the silent stares from Victoria and the other girls. He shook his head and gestured, "It seems we've been delayed too long. Let's go back to the party hall."

After saying that, he took the lead and walked towards the main house.

After the girls followed them back to the lobby, they searched around and finally found the young man in a corner. Just like at the party at Pier 60 last time, he was eating two steaks on a plate with gusto. They couldn't help but laugh in exasperation.

"Eat slowly, no one will compete with you."

As she approached, Serafina rolled her eyes and said, "If you didn't know better, you'd think you were here for a meal."

"I just submitted my paper and rushed over without having dinner."

Li Xiaoen explained helplessly, "Besides, at a so-called birthday party, it seems like all I can do is eat, right?"

As for striking up a conversation, he was a poor young man studying abroad, and he probably didn't have anything that would interest others. He wasn't old enough to drink either. It seemed that all he could think of was eating and chatting with a few girls.

As I was thinking this, the music playing in the hall suddenly became melodious, the surrounding lights gradually dimmed, and a bright spotlight highlighted a circular area in the center.

"And dancing?"

Li Xiaoen raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, it's not just dancing, there will also be games and a raffle later."

Standing beside her, Victoria stared blankly at the several couples dancing gracefully in the center of the hall.

The melodious piano music echoed through the luxuriously decorated hall. Under the spotlight, young men and women, dressed in fine clothes, held hands and placed their other hands on each other's bodies, moving gracefully in dance.

(End of this chapter)