Chapter 9

Monday afternoon, 5:30 p.m. A sales associate at Tianyue City’s luxury mall witnessed a truly bizarre scene.
Three high schoolers, two girls and a boy. The guy on the left was rocking limited-edition designer sneakers and the latest hypebeast necklace worth several thousand yuan.
On the right, a girl with a Chanel barrette clipped in her hair, feet laced up in Gucci’s new thick-soled pink kicks.
But in the middle stood a tall girl, not a single designer label in sight, and yet the other two hovered around her, practically wrestling each other to buy her things.
"Didn’t you say you just wanted to get Huanhuan a belated seventeenth birthday present?" Meng Xin frowned, chiding him in the sweetest voice imaginable. "We’re already on gift number two. Why are you still fighting to pay?"
Zhao Wenxing shot back, loud and proud: "Says who, who decided birthday gifts have to stop at one? Maybe I wanna give three, five, whatever, what of it!"
Raised in a family where money was never a problem, Zhao Wenxing had always shown he cared by either jumping in front of trouble or showering his friends with gifts.
But with Yu Linghuan, neither tactic ever worked.
She didn’t need anyone to play hero, she was tough enough to handle anything, no one in the whole school dared mess with her.
As for gifts, she was stubborn to a fault.
If any present Zhao Wenxing gave her was over two hundred bucks, she’d reject it out of hand. Less than two hundred? She’d cherry-pick and still not take them all, leaving him totally defeated.
Now that he’d finally caught her off guard, Zhao Wenxing was determined to make up for every gift she’d ever refused.
"Hey, these perfumes look pretty nice," Zhao Wenxing said, sweeping a hand across the counter in grand fashion. "Linghuan, pick whichever ones you like! How about ten bottles, maybe eight?"
Yu Linghuan just stared dryly at him, black lines practically forming on her forehead.
Did he think perfume was for drinking? Why on earth would she need so much?
She forced herself to be patient. "That headband before, I only accepted because you said it was for my seventeenth birthday. Don’t buy anything else, I don’t want it."
Meng Xin chimed in from the side, "Yeah, Huanhuan already said she doesn’t need it. Let me pay for this bottle of perfume."
She handed her bank card to the sales associate.
The associate smiled and reached out to take it.
But Zhao Wenxing moved lightning-quick, slapping his own card on top of Meng Xin’s. "No way, use mine!"
The associate was visibly torn.
To be honest, she didn’t care which card they used, the commission would be hers either way.
But experience told her these rich boys and girls, who hadn't tasted any hardships yet, also had the worst tempers.
If she upset them, it’d be her neck on the line for sure.
So she just kept smiling politely and turned to Yu Linghuan: "Miss, what do you think…?"
It was obvious: Of the three, Yu Linghuan was the shot-caller here.
The moment the sales associate finished speaking, a boy and a girl yelled in perfect unison: "Use mine!"
Yu Linghuan: "…"
Meng Xin almost never fought for anything with anyone.
If we’re talking personalities, Meng Xin was basically a model heroine straight out of a tragic romance novel: gentle, kind, quietly resilient, never out to compete.
Every day at school, three kids would rotate as class monitors and clean up the classroom after dismissal.
One time, when it was Meng Xin’s turn, the two boys in her group just slipped away with some excuse, leaving her to clean the whole place alone.
Meng Xin didn’t complain; she just swept quietly by herself.
It was only when Yu Linghuan realized what was going on that she stormed to the basketball court and dragged those boys back to do their share.
That’s just who Meng Xin was. Sometimes, it even frustrated Yu Linghuan, her temper was way too good.
But maybe that’s exactly why the two of them have stayed friends so long, their personalities just fit together.
Otherwise, over this past summer, when she kept spouting all those cruel lines thanks to the “plot,” Meng Xin would’ve been done with her ages ago.
As far as Yu Linghuan could remember, there’d only ever been one time she saw Meng Xin get into an argument.
That was when someone started trash-talking Yu Linghuan to Meng Xin, saying she shouldn’t hang out with a “difficult” girl like her, or she’d turn bad.
Meng Xin had fired back, loud and clear: "Huanhuan’s got no temper! You can’t just talk about her like that, you owe her an apology!"
So today’s scene was truly surprising to Yu Linghuan.
She never would have guessed Meng Xin would go toe-to-toe with Zhao Wenxing over who’d pay, and refuse to back down.
Yu Linghuan couldn’t help taking Meng Xin’s side.
So she smacked away Zhao Wenxing’s hand, blunt as ever: "Alright, enough already. Stop butting in, if Xinxin wants to pay, let her!"
The sales associate, desperate to avoid more drama, quickly took Meng Xin’s card. "Absolutely, no problem, we’ll use this young lady’s card for the payment!"
Zhao Wenxing could only pull a long face. "…This is so unfair!"
Yu Linghuan shrugged. "Hey, this was supposed to be a girls’ shopping trip. You’re the one who insisted on tagging along."
"Fine, fine…" Zhao Wenxing caved, sighing in defeat. "How can a guy possibly win against you two girls? Whatever, I give up, happy now?"
Meng Xin let out a laugh at his dramatics.
Yu Linghuan figured, maybe having Zhao Wenxing around wasn’t so bad after all.
At least now, after beating him at his own game, Meng Xin really did seem genuinely happy.
Yu Linghuan wasn't too big on shopping anyway. After accepting the hair clip and perfume from Meng Xin, plus the headband Zhao Wenxing insisted on as a belated birthday gift, she felt that was more than enough.
So she decided it was time to shoo Zhao Wenxing off. "Weren’t you going to buy a new phone case? What are you still doing here?"
Zhao Wenxing slapped his forehead. "Oh! You’re right, I totally blanked on that!"
"Wait!" Zhao Wenxing suddenly remembered something else. "We’ve been so busy shopping that I forgot, you never answered me. Are you gaming tonight or what?"
Since he was in the International Class, Zhao Wenxing’s path had been laid out by his dad ages ago: graduate high school, head off to some mid-tier foreign school for a bit of polish, and then come back to work in the family company.
So even though it was already his senior year, he felt zero pressure about anything.
No college entrance exams, no worries about top schools, he just needed to scrape by.
But Yu Linghuan was different. The college entrance exam results mattered, a lot.
So even though there wasn’t much homework today and she’d already finished most of it during study hall, she was still planning to get some extra review in tonight.
For instance, those English vocabulary words she’d neglected all summer, she figured she’d get back on track with those after homework.
Yu Linghuan answered honestly: "I’ll see how it goes, maybe I’ll log in, maybe not."
After a pause, she added, "Honestly, Zhao Wenxing, I probably won’t be gaming much at all this year. You should really find another teammate."
Yu Linghuan had always believed you needed balance, even in senior year, some downtime, a game now and then, was totally healthy.
But the game she and Zhao Wenxing played, Path of Immortals and Demons, was the hottest MMORPG of the last two years. If you wanted to keep up, you had to grind daily tasks for at least half an hour every day.
Half an hour doesn’t sound like much, but for a senior it was pure luxury, blocking off that time every day, rain or shine.
So Yu Linghuan had decided, for now, to put the game aside.
Zhao Wenxing froze, like he couldn’t understand the words. "Huh?"
He’d first met Yu Linghuan because of that game.
Back at the start of sophomore year, he’d been in the cafeteria bragging to some guys about a chain-combo trick he’d perfected, right as Yu Linghuan sat down at the next table and offhandedly commented, "Why don’t you trigger Swift Step before Cyclone Slash? Your DPS would go way up, right?"
Zhao Wenxing was offended at the time, like hell he was going to change his winning combo just because someone said so! He’d spent days figuring it out, come on!
But out of curiosity, he tried her suggestion at home, and to his horror, his damage actually went up by ten percent per second.
After that, he was totally sold. He hung around the cafeteria for three days straight until he spotted her again, then shamelessly pestered her for her number and gamer tag.
Two people who should never have crossed paths ended up as friends.
Zhao Wenxing couldn’t understand why Yu Linghuan could just quit gaming on a whim. “Wait, what? We literally played together every day over the summer, now you’re just… done?”
Yu Linghuan gave him a look. “Not everyone has their whole school life arranged for them like you, genius. I actually have to study and take the college entrance exams.”
Zhao Wenxing finally got it, kind of. “Oh… but you don’t have to quit forever, right? Can’t you just play when you have a little free time?”
Yu Linghuan shook her head. “Nope. I don’t even have time to log in for the daily quests.”
“Oh, come on! That’s easy.” Zhao Wenxing puffed out a breath of relief. “I’ll pay for it, let’s hire someone to run your account for you all year! Dailies, weeklies, you name it, fully taken care of!”
He paused and, with the air of a man defending his turf, shot a wary glance at Meng Xin. “And this time I called dibs first, okay? Don’t even think about stealing the idea!”
Meng Xin blinked, innocent as ever. “Uh… sure.”
She didn’t play games and had no clue what Zhao Wenxing was even talking about.
For two years of high school, every ounce of Meng Xin’s effort had gone into her studies and work-study jobs.
So even though she knew her best friend was obsessed with some online game, she’d never bothered to look into the details; she just knew the name.
But now, Meng Xin found herself thinking: maybe she should learn a thing or two about that game Huanhuan was into. Next time she could send Huanhuan a little gift in-game.
Zhao Wenxing, of course, had no clue what was running through Meng Xin’s mind. All he knew was, at long last, he’d finally beaten Meng Xin at something, and he looked downright radiant.
“Settled, then!” Zhao Wenxing was terrified Yu Linghuan would change her mind. “I’ll find you a pro as soon as I get home. Promise!”
He seemed genuinely afraid she’d quit forever, because the second he finished, Zhao Wenxing didn’t even linger to bother them. He beat a hasty retreat, off to save Yu Linghuan’s gaming life at all costs.
And just like that, Zhao Wenxing gone, peace returned.
The hour was getting late, though. Dinnertime was near.
Compared to Yu Linghuan’s old public junior high, Lannde High had one major perk: the cafeteria food was delicious, nutritious, and cheap.
Before heading back, Yu Linghuan asked Meng Xin if she wanted to grab a bubble tea from the shop next door.
Yu Linghuan loved milk tea, but she only asked Meng Xin to join her every once in a while, knowing Meng Xin never wanted to spend money on herself and hated always being treated.
But finally, that awkwardness was gone.
The two of them each ordered a bubble tea. The place was busy, they’d have to wait ten minutes for their drinks.
To pass the time, they wandered into the dessert shop next door.
Yu Linghuan propped her chin on her palm and inspected the menu board with intense focus.
She had a major sweet tooth. Maybe she’d take a couple treats back to the dorm for a late-night snack.
Just then, that long-silent system voice buzzed in her mind: [Host, Meng Mingzhu should be nearby. I sense her presence.]
Yu Linghuan’s brow furrowed.
And in the next instant, another system voice, Meng Mingzhu’s transmigration system, echoed through Linghuan’s head:
[Young miss, Meng Xin is right ahead, at the dessert shop. However, Meng Qichuan isn’t here.]
Meng Mingzhu smiled coolly. “So I was right, Meng Qichuan didn’t come to school looking for Meng Xin.”
[Exactly, Young Miss. To the Meng family, you’re a thousand times more important than Meng Xin, and Meng Qichuan is no exception.]
After a while, the system had figured out exactly how to please Meng Mingzhu. It knew just what to say to keep her in a good mood.
Sure enough, hearing this, Mingzhu’s smile deepened. “You’re right. Meng Xin’s nothing but a weak, clueless wallflower heroine, not even in my league. But even if Meng Qichuan isn’t here for her, it doesn’t mean he’s looking for me either, right?”
[Not guaranteed. But as a transmigrator, you’re the biggest wild card in this world, so odds are high.]
With the system’s assurance, Mingzhu’s imagination took off.
As the transmigrator, with her cheat system in hand, her number-one objective was obvious: steal the male lead, Sheng Han, away from Meng Xin, make him hers and hers alone.
But… Meng Qichuan was no slouch himself.
Before she transmigrated in, she’d seen plenty of dramas like this: the adopted little sister and the unrelated big brother start to catch feelings, and end up together against all odds.
She’d already combed through Qichuan’s profile via the system: top-tier looks, killer body, not a whit behind the male lead, Sheng Han. If anything, he was even more her type.
And the brains, at eighteen, he’d already made a small fortune running a classmate’s start-up. By twenty-two, he’d finished grad school at a top university.
On top of all that, Qichuan had inherited a fat fortune from his mother, Chen Wanzhi, and he had a real shot at the Meng family’s assets too.
If she could get Qichuan to fall for her, really, honestly, heart and soul…
The corners of Mingzhu’s mouth could barely contain her glee.
She told her system, brimming with plans, “Give me a file on all of Qichuan’s likes and dislikes. Prep me for next time, got it? Since I’m already going after the male lead, might as well shoot for my darling big bro while I’m at it.”
…
“Huanhuan, are you okay? Are you feeling sick?” Meng Xin looked at Yu Linghuan with real worry.
Just a second ago, Yu Linghuan was reading the dessert shop’s menu. Now she was frowning, looking distinctly unwell.
Yu Linghuan blinked out of her funk. “Ah? No, I’m fine.”
She’d just been thoroughly nauseated by Mingzhu’s scheming “romantic” monologue in her head.
The idea that Meng Qichuan might someday fall in love with Meng Mingzhu made her hate Qichuan about twenty percent more, right on the spot.
That must be what they call hating by association.
Meng Xin was still uneasy. “Are you really okay? You looked kind of upset just now.”
“Really,” Yu Linghuan soothed her, “I just saw a certain someone and felt a bit sick, that’s all.”
As she spoke, Yu Linghuan lifted her chin and locked eyes with Meng Mingzhu, who’d just appeared in the doorway of the dessert shop.
Her tone landed just right: loud enough for Mingzhu and her minions to catch every word.
Meng Mingzhu’s face instantly soured.