Chapter 172: An Upgraded Version of Playing Hard to Get

"You! I..." Feng Chun strained her neck upward, pointing a finger at the man not far away. Overwhelmed with fury, she closed her eyes, kicked her legs, and fainted dead away.

Richard walked step by step toward the motionless Feng Chun, who lay with her eyes tightly shut, and looked down at the woman from on high. "What's wrong with her?"

Shao Ping's mouth twitched. He took a deep breath and said helplessly, "Her? She's just so overwhelmed by your breathtaking good looks that seeing you made her too excited, so she passed out."

Hearing this, Richard's thick brown brows arched. He curved his lips into what he believed to be a thoroughly seductive and charming smile, and jerked his chin toward the woman on the ground. "She won't catch a cold lying down there, will she?"

"Not a chance. This old biddy runs hot enough; just leave her be. I can't believe it—man, it's been ages, and your skills have improved so much."

Shao Ping clenched his fist and punched the shoulder of the tall man, who towered a head above him.

"Of course. My mother had an exclusive ski resort built just for me," Richard said, pride and arrogance lacing his words.

His amorous and profound gaze drifted toward the woman at the very top of the ski slope.

Bathed in the sunlight, that woman radiated brilliance, resembling a goddess in human form.

Mystical, completely out of reach, and overwhelmingly powerful.

"Tch, as if nobody else has a ski resort. What are you staring at? Let me tell you, jokes have limits, you know. You are not allowed to hit on Mu Ran."

Shao Ping had just witnessed this Prince of Country B flirting with his master, and he had no idea whether Gu Beicheng had seen it.

That flashy peacock Richard was a handful to deal with.

"Slippery snake..." Shao Ping shot a sideways glare at the flamboyant Richard beside him.

This Prince of Country B had absolutely no boundaries.

He flirted with both mature women and young girls alike.

"I'm warning you, stay away from my master."

Shao Ping gave the other man's shoulder a forceful punch.

"I know Mu Ran is Gu Beicheng's girlfriend, but I'm confident I can win her over. Which woman would refuse to be a country's princess consort?"

A princess consort symbolized supreme, absolute power.

Shao Ping knitted his brows. Considering that Richard was his former training teammate from his days abroad, he offered some well-intentioned advice.

"Come on, give it a rest, Richard. Mu Ran is no ordinary woman; you'd better not provoke her."

Richard chuckled lightly. "And what if I insist on provoking her?"

"You'll die," Shao Ping said coldly.

"To die in a beauty's arms—I would gladly embrace it."

Shao Ping took a deep breath. As expected of a foreigner, there was simply a cultural generation gap; they weren't even on the same wavelength. "I mean, if you provoke Mu Ran, either she'll destroy you, or Gu Beicheng will destroy you. Don't think that just because you're a prince... Forget it, suit yourself."

He wasn't the only prince in Country B, after all.

Besides, this Richard was of mixed heritage.

The future king of Country B certainly wouldn't be this man.

Gu Beicheng of Country Hua wielded terrifying power, and even the royal family of Country B kept their distance from him.

If this little prince were to make a move on the great master Gu's woman, it might trigger a tempest of blood and carnage.

Hearing Shao Ping's final remark, Richard, who had been wearing a smile, instantly turned dark. He looked like an insidious, venomous snake, a green light flashing in his eyes.

"Shao Ping, do you also believe I am unfit to inherit the throne?" As he spoke, Richard tightened his grip, his knuckles turning white.

"Uh... I didn't mean that. This is a political matter, and I have no right to discuss it. Still, I actually hope you become the King of Country B—that way, our two countries will be even closer, won't they?"

Richard abruptly relaxed his fist, and the eerie aura radiating from his entire body vanished.

"Shao Ping, you are my best friend, but Mu Ran—I have my eyes on her. Whatever and whoever I set my sights on, I must have."

The throne; the future throne was no exception.

He was determined to win it.

"Sigh... There's no controlling you. Look, my master is about to start her descent!"

Shao Ping instinctively began narrating Mu Ran's technical movements for her descent and takeoff: "Takeoff, aerial flip! Off-axis spin 1440, grab, six-week rotation, smooth landing! Perfect!"

It seemed that when Mu Ran had competed against him earlier, she had held back a great deal of her strength.

During this second round, Mu Ran's technical execution still wasn't her absolute peak performance.

She was still holding back.

Yet she had won again! Without a doubt!

Even though Shao Ping had narrowly defeated Mu Ran last time, rationally, he believed that Mu Ran was countless times stronger than he was.

Even though she had been retired for many years and wasn't at her physical peak, her current abilities surpassed anyone on the national team, and were even greater than those of powerfully built male athletes!

"Master! My goddess!"

"Shao Ping, she is Mu Mu! Truly worthy of being Mu Mu!"

Richard's admiration for Mu Ran stemmed not only from her breathtaking beauty but also from her exquisite, supreme skiing skills.

Based solely on her current abilities, she was easily among the top three freestyle skiers in the world.

"I want to take her as my wife, Shao Ping. I want her to be my princess consort, my future queen!"

Such ferocious and predatory words!

Cold sweat beaded on Shao Ping's temples. He felt a chilling draft running down his spine, as if Gu Beicheng were standing right nearby.

If that man found out someone was coveting his woman, this competition wouldn't remain peaceful for long.

Mu Ran landed and skied down toward Shao Ping's location.

"Mu Ran, you are outstanding! I truly admire you. I'd like to invite you to Country B; my mother had the top-tier ski resort in Country B built for me."

Relentless, Richard's amorous eyes held a trace of possessiveness and a sliver of sincerity.

"Get out of the way."

Mu Ran couldn't be bothered to look at the fluttering butterfly before her. The more he spoke to her in this manner, the more nauseated and disgusted she felt.

"Mu Ran, seriously! I'll take you to my palace! It's gorgeous! Be my princess consort, and you'll possess supreme, absolute power."

"Get lost. Are you really this proud of being a mama's boy?"

Mu Ran's sarcasm struck at Richard's sensitive heart.

Indeed, back in Country B, Richard did not rise to prominence through his mother's favor with the king; on the contrary, he was not favored by his father.

If not for his mother's favored status, his father wouldn't have given him a second thought in three years.

"Mu Ran, do you know what you're saying?" Richard's voice turned intensely dangerous. He stepped closer and closer to Mu Ran, his tall frame looming over the woman's slightly petite figure, creating an overwhelming sense of oppression.

Mu Ran's eyes were icy, the smile at the corners of her lips laced with hostility. She smiled—a bone-chilling, danger-imminent kind of smile. Her aura was not the least bit inferior to the man's.

"Is your top-tier ski resort bigger than Chengxing Ski Resort? The throne? Heh... Supreme, absolute power? What real power does your royal family even have? And what power do you possess? If you were truly favored by your family, would you have entered the entertainment industry?"

Mu Ran's tit-for-tat remarks carried devastating lethality, stinging Richard deeply.

"Mu Ran, I am giving you a chance. Take back what you just said."

The veins on the man's temples bulged. He violently shook off Shao Ping's hand, which was trying to pull him back, his chest heaving violently like the terrifying approach of a tsunami.

Mu Ran showed not a shred of fear in the face of the man's imposing aura. He was wild, but she was wilder. "You're not that young anymore; why are you still so childish, unable to stomach the truth? Do people have to kiss your stinking feet?"

"Did you really think you were some prized pastry, Richard? Do you think everyone is your simpering dog?"

Mu Ran pressed her attack, leaving Richard's fair face flushed crimson.

Yet the gentleman's education he had received since childhood dictated that he could not raise a hand against a woman.

"What? You still want to hit me? Little prince, if you dare lay a hand on me, this won't just be a personal grievance anymore—it will escalate into an international incident between our two countries."

Mu Ran's formidable aura pressed in on the man, forcing him to retreat step by step.

His lips trembled. "I have no intention of hitting you! You insult me like this, and you expect me not to get angry?"

"Before you go provoking me, you should think about the consequences. Do you really think you're God's gift just because you were born with a decent hide? Don't you know there is always someone better, and heaven beyond the heavens?"

The woman averted her gaze, shifting her steps to head toward the escalator. Nanyang would be arriving soon! She was going to go see her idol.

"Oh, right... Give me your WeChat." Mu Ran turned around, pulled out her phone, and opened the WeChat scan interface.

"What?" Richard stood there in a daze. What was happening? One second the woman was spewing sarcasm at him, and the next she was asking for his contact information!

Was this some upgraded version of playing hard to get?

"Hand it over, open your QR code," Shao Ping poked the man's shoulder, signaling him not to keep Mu Ran waiting.

She didn't have that kind of patience.

"Uh, here."

"Beep—Scan successful."

After adding the man on WeChat, Mu Ran forwarded his digital name card to the event host.

Then, she promptly deleted Richard's WeChat.

The two men standing before the woman watched with their own eyes as she added him on WeChat and then deleted him.

Yet neither of them dared to breathe too loudly.

"I'm not interested in you. She's the one interested in you." Mu Ran pointed toward the host, who was looking over in their direction from the stage.