But now, her heart felt as if it had been stung by the chili, burning with pain.
As she thought about it, Yu Wanwan's delicate brows knitted tighter. Amid the crowd's cheers, she couldn't help stepping forward: "Stop eating."
Zhang Jingxu couldn't hear her at all. His vision still blurry, he held the half-eaten wing tightly, wanting to finish it in one go, but the searing pain in his mouth and stomach made him hesitate to take the final bite. Even his hands began to tremble slightly.
Yu Wanwan no longer cared about whether he could succeed, even if he was just one small drumette away. She strode over and snatched the remaining wing from his hand. "Forget it. We quit. How much for the meal? I'll scan you."
The owner's excited face froze. They were so close, and time wasn't up. Was she giving up?
Seeing that the girl was worried, the owner was about to call it off when Zhang Jingxu reached out with his gloveless left hand, grabbed Yu Wanwan's wrist, and pulled it to his mouth.
Yu Wanwan turned around, her expression stunned.
He quickly chewed the small drumette, bones and all, and swallowed. His voice was hoarse and weak: "I finished."
The owner was momentarily stunned, then quickly pressed pause on his phone. His voice became excited again: "Three minutes, fifteen seconds! Congratulations, sir, you've succeeded!"
As he spoke, two waitstaff excitedly popped party poppers that had been unused for ages.
Amid the applause from the crowd, Zhang Jingxu rested one hand on the table, utterly exhausted as if he had just run a 3km race. He kept his head down, gasping, and even forgot he could drink water now.
He thought to himself: She must be very satisfied with today's footage. This would definitely get great traffic.
The owner continued, "Brave man, you're truly brave. You're the only one who succeeded in our two-year event!"
Keeping his word, the owner handed out the free meal voucher, and the hairpin girl quickly grabbed a liter of milk from the fridge and handed it to him: "Drink some milk to ease the burn."
Zhang Jingxu gulped it down, his Adam's apple bobbing rapidly, finishing more than half the bottle.
Once he recovered, he took the exquisite hairpin box from the girl and opened it. Inside were four characters: 'Eternal Union.'
In the box lay the jasmine silver hairpin that Yu Wanwan had agonized over choosing.
Zhang Jingxu wiped his hands clean, carefully took out the hairpin, and handed it to Yu Wanwan. As their eyes met, he suddenly smiled: "I won."
Yu Wanwan stared fixedly at the man who had worked so hard and ended up looking this disheveled just to get this hairpin for her, and she thought he was so foolish.
He clearly couldn't handle spicy food, so why didn't he refuse? Was he afraid she'd be angry if she didn't get the footage she wanted?
What an idiot.
He was the biggest fool in the entire world.
She stepped forward and scolded him angrily: "Didn't I tell you to give up if you couldn't take it? Why force yourself?"
Zhang Jingxu heard the worry in her voice and smiled at her with a relaxed expression: "Didn't you need footage?"
"But I didn't tell you to risk your life for it!" She reached out and brushed the confetti from his head. "Idiot."
As they walked out of the Five Flavors Inn, the sky had darkened. The sky was in its 'blue hour,' beloved by photographers.
They walked side by side with tacit understanding, keeping a respectful distance, slowly heading back to the hotel, waiting for the grand fireworks display at 7:30.
Yu Wanwan bought two ice creams from a nearby shop, handed one to him, and then asked casually, "Still spicy?"