Xue Rui smiled. ’Lin Ruoxi must have come to a place like this with Yu Minlan before,’ he thought. ’We haven’t even gone upstairs, and she’s already asking questions just from glancing at the directory.’

’I wonder how they explained it to her then.’

"Guys don’t have anything to buy here. Everything they sell is so flashy and frivolous," Xue Rui said with a laugh.

Most men, especially after starting a family, focus their spending on necessities. Non-essential expenses were almost zero.

Of course, finances were part of the reason, but most men were simply used to living that way...

Chen Tingting nodded and murmured, "My dad says the same thing. He never wears the new clothes my mom buys for him, saying his old ones aren’t worn out yet."

Lin Ruoxi said quietly, "I think so, too."

Xue Rui chuckled. He had given Lin Ruoxi a pile of Xue Yao’s hand-me-downs, and even though they didn’t fit perfectly anymore, the girl was still wearing them. His mother had even bought Lin Ruoxi plenty of new outfits, but he’d never seen her wear any of them...

But it didn’t matter. Some girls needed clothes to enhance their looks, but this one could make a ten-dollar dress from an online bargain bin look like a bespoke piece from a high-end boutique. She made the clothes look good, not the other way around...

The group stepped onto the escalator, their eyes scanning the shops on each floor.

"Don’t you want to look around?" Xue Rui asked.

’The second floor has all the affordable cosmetics and home goods stores,’ he thought. ’They sell all sorts of cute lifestyle products. Girls can get lost in there for ages. Even my sister, a total gamer geek, likes to spend a little extra time in those shops...’

Lin Ruoxi shook her head. She didn’t want to go into those stores.

"Right," Xue Rui nodded.

’Lin Ruoxi uses a glass jar as a water cup. Why would she be interested in buying such impractical things?’

Chen Tingting tilted her head. She didn’t really care either way, as she visited those shops all the time.

As a result, their trip through the mall was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, they reached the top floor...

"That’s it?" Xue Rui asked in disbelief. This was the first time he’d ever speedrun a mall.

It had taken them less than ten minutes to get from the first floor to the top.

’Well, this is pretty good, too.’

’In the future, when Lin Ruoxi starts chasing me, we can skip all these unnecessary parts and get straight to the main event.’

However, just as he was thinking this, the girl’s gaze was drawn to the children’s play area on the top floor. Inside was an inflatable bounce house where many little kids were jumping around, their faces beaming with innocent smiles.

Xue Rui rubbed his chin. ’Nothing I can do about that one. They have a clearly posted age limit.’

’I’ll have to find a trampoline park that allows adults sometime.’

The rent on the top floor of a mall is often the cheapest, so that’s where they put the large entertainment venues.

In the eastern corner was a movie theater, with rows of claw machines in front of it.

"Want to see a movie?" Lin Ruoxi asked. She wasn’t sure how to cheer Chen Tingting up.

’Chen Tingting is so hard to please,’ she thought, comparing the other girl to herself. ’All it takes is for Xue Rui to pat my head and I’m happy...’

She had never seen a movie in a theater before.

She had read online that you’re supposed to go see a movie at night with the person you like.

’It’s the middle of the day right now, so I don’t know if Chen Tingting will want to go.’

When Chen Tingting heard the suggestion, a flicker of joy flashed in her eyes, but it was quickly suppressed by a more rational thought.

’I want to see a movie alone with Xue Rui.’

’What if Lin Ruoxi sits between me and Xue Rui?’

"Want to try the claw machines?" Xue Rui asked Chen Tingting with a smile.

"Let’s do it!" Chen Tingting agreed instantly. With her hands on her hips, she said to Lin Ruoxi, "I’ll challenge you to a competition."

"Hm?" Xue Rui had a bad feeling.

’The girl is a genius in every way, not just in logical thinking. Her spatial awareness is also extremely sharp. An activity like the claw machine, which requires skill and calculation, should be right up her alley.’

’Could it be that Chen Tingting is also a claw machine expert?’

’Still, he didn’t think Chen Tingting could win against a natural-born prodigy.’

’What if the girl makes Chen Tingting cry from frustration again? How long will it take to console her then?’

"Um, I’ve never played before," Lin Ruoxi said.

Hearing this, Chen Tingting grew even more smug. She often went to the arcade with her dad to play the claw machines, and she could basically grab a prize with every single try. She actually found the game boring and usually didn’t even bother to glance at the machines when she walked past.

But since she always heard her classmates complaining about how they could never win anything, she knew she must be exceptionally good, which is why she’d proposed the challenge.

"Go get two hundred yuan worth of tokens," Xue Rui said to Lin Ruoxi.

"Um, okay," Lin Ruoxi said meekly.

Xue Rui’s plan was to send Lin Ruoxi away for a moment so he could try to persuade Chen Tingting not to bite off more than she could chew.

But to his surprise, Chen Tingting pointed at the claw machine and said, "Two hundred yuan? Are you trying to clean out the entire machine?"

Chen Tingting flashed a pearly white grin, looking as if she had everything completely under control.

SHHHP... Xue Rui sucked in a sharp breath.

’Such big talk,’ he thought. ’The claws on these machines are always faulty, like they have no grip strength at all. There’s probably some kind of pity-prize mechanism...’

’In any case, claw machines make money based on probability. It’s a can’t-lose business model.’

’Even with two hundred yuan, you probably wouldn’t be able to win much.’

He recalled seeing all sorts of claw-shaking techniques on short-video platforms in his past life...

’Could it be... she really is a claw machine expert?’

Since she was so confident, Xue Rui didn’t say anything else. He pointed at the glass and said, "You can go for any of them except that green turtle."

Soon, Lin Ruoxi returned with a heavy box of tokens, which she had thoughtfully divided into several disposable paper cups.

Lin Ruoxi handed Chen Tingting a cup filled to the brim with tokens. "Here."

Chen Tingting expertly fed the tokens into the machine and began to operate the claw...

Xue Rui was a little puzzled. ’Her technique is so... basic. Just a simple alignment and drop.’

’If you could actually win like that, the claw machine company would’ve gone bankrupt ages ago.’

Unsurprisingly, the claw was slippery. It merely tickled the small teddy bear inside, jostling the toy so its head tilted in Chen Tingting’s direction.

Chen Tingting pouted. "That was a miss. Give me two more tries, tops. I’ll definitely get it."

In the end, all Chen Tingting managed to do was give the teddy bear a full-body massage with the claw.

Xue Rui watched Chen Tingting’s expression darken. He felt like dragging the manager over here and asking, ’Isn’t your machine a bit of a rip-off?’

’It’s two yuan a try, and she’s already done it ten times. Shouldn’t the pity prize have triggered by now?’

Just as he was thinking that, Xue Rui heard a SNAP as the claw suddenly tightened its grip.

’She must have gotten it this time,’ he thought. ’But a prize that took so much investment...’

’Winning at a claw machine is supposed to be about getting lucky. Winning in one or two tries feels like finding money on the street, but winning after ten tries...’

’How unsatisfying would that be?’

However, when he turned to look, he saw that Chen Tingting’s grab had come up empty...

"Why don’t we try a different machine? This one is a total rip-off," Xue Rui said gently, giving her an out. He could see that Chen Tingting was getting worked up.

’At this rate, it’ll take at least another ten tries to trigger the guaranteed win...’

"Yeah, this machine must be broken. When I play at the arcade with my dad, I win one every single time," Chen Tingting agreed with a nod.

"Oh?" Xue Rui was slightly surprised. Chen Tingting wasn’t the type of girl to brag.

’But still, a claw machine that lets you win every single time? Isn’t that a little too ridiculous?’

He asked curiously, "Who owns that arcade?"

"My dad’s old classmate," Chen Tingting said.

Xue Rui was speechless. ’So they were just humoring her,’ he thought.

However, just as the two of them turned away, they heard the clink of tokens dropping into the machine. Lin Ruoxi had taken over the very machine Chen Tingting had been playing.

Chen Tingting glanced back curiously and saw that the claw Lin Ruoxi was operating was also empty. She immediately felt much better about her own failure.

Just as she was about to turn away, she suddenly saw Lin Ruoxi bending down to retrieve a prize from the dispenser chute.

’She won one?’

Chen Tingting moved closer to get a better look. Lin Ruoxi had actually pulled out two prizes!

Lin Ruoxi handed Chen Tingting a little green turtle. "Here, this is for you."

Then, she gave the brown teddy bear to Xue Rui.

’She knew Xue Rui didn’t like green, so it was better to give that prize to Chen Tingting.’

Chen Tingting squeezed the little green turtle’s head tightly, her chest heaving.

’I just said that machine was broken, and then Lin Ruoxi goes and gets two prizes out of it. Doesn’t that just make me look completely useless?’

Xue Rui pinched the bridge of his nose. He had no idea how the girl had pulled that off, but he knew Chen Tingting would be difficult to console now.

"You... H-How did you do that?" Chen Tingting stammered, her eyes betraying her lack of confidence.

"Um, I’ll win another one for you."

Lin Ruoxi saw how tightly Chen Tingting’s little hand was clenched, already squashing the green turtle out of shape...

She blinked. ’I actually think the little green turtle is pretty cute,’ she thought.

’I just don’t understand why Xue Rui and Chen Tingting don’t seem to like it much.’

After dropping two more tokens into the machine, Lin Ruoxi manipulated the claw, using the momentum of its descent to push a pink prize near the edge directly into the chute. In the process, another little green turtle fell down with it...

Xue Rui was astonished. ’So the girl’s the real expert,’ he thought. ’She’s using the items’ positions to calculate drop trajectories instead of relying on the claw to actually grab anything.’

’And she killed two birds with one stone, too.’

Chen Tingting was stunned. "That... That... Why didn’t you use the claw?"

"The machine uses a microcontroller, and the program is all preset. If you only use the claw, then according to expected value theory..." Lin Ruoxi began to explain.

As Lin Ruoxi broke down the mechanics of the claw machine step by step, the corners of Chen Tingting’s mouth drooped lower and lower...

Xue Rui quickly cut her off. "That’s enough."

’If she keeps going, Chen Tingting is going to start crying again.’

Lin Ruoxi quickly gave both of the prizes she had just won to Chen Tingting, hoping to cheer her up so that Xue Rui could take her home sooner.

However, Chen Tingting still pouted. "My dad and Uncle Li teamed up to trick me."

Xue Rui gave a wry smile. ’So Chen Tingting finally figured it out...’ he thought.

’Chen Shen is probably in for it now, but hey, this isn’t my fault!’

"So it’s random, right? Which means it’s all about luck?" Xue Rui said.

"Um, not exactly..." Lin Ruoxi said quietly.

Xue Rui waved a hand, signaling for Lin Ruoxi to stay quiet as he led Chen Tingting to the machine next to them.

Lin Ruoxi nodded. Looking at the handful of game tokens, she figured she should just win as many prizes as she could. Surely one of them would be a doll Chen Tingting liked.

’Besides, she’d read online that you can give stuffed animals to the person you like, and she wanted to give one to Xue Rui.’

In reality, Lin Ruoxi completely misunderstood the psychology of claw machine players. The goal was the thrill of the win, not the prize itself...

Xue Rui also held a cup of tokens. ’As long as I’m bad enough at this,’ he thought, ’it should make Chen Tingting feel a little better.’

’He made up his mind. He wasn’t going to win a single prize with his sixty yuan worth of tokens.’

’After all, people derive their sense of superiority from comparison.’