Little Fish Swimming Along:Could you spare… just a tiny hundred million?
Little Fish Swimming Along: If not, that’s totally fine. Smiling and bowing apologetically.jpg
Seeing the message Shuyu had just sent, the System named Iron Egg let out a sharp, blaring alarm.
[AHHHHHHHHHH! Baby, that is NOT how you gold-dig! That isn’t “digging” — that’s begging!]
“Sorry, sorry! It’s my first time being a gold-digger, I’m still getting the hang of the job.” Shuyu pressed her palms together and apologized earnestly.
Her clear eyes held a hint of panic, and her already strikingly beautiful face paled slightly from her nervousness.
Shuyu had transmigrated only two hours earlier into a sweet campus romance novel. It followed the classic formula: the aloof, popular male lead falls for the resilient, pure-hearted female lead.
The story was overflowing with sweetness, enough to make readers swoon.
The male lead’s only flaw was having a disreputable, money-grubbing ex-girlfriend. Naturally, this gold-digging ex served as a perfect foil to highlight the female lead’s innocence and goodness.
And now, Shuyu had become that very ex-girlfriend.
According to the novel’s setting, the original character was plain-looking. She constantly schemed to squeeze money and favors from the male lead, even hoping to secure her future by having his child. Eventually, she snuck into his bed — and for defiling him, she was cast aside and left to be fed to dogs once he turned his attention to winning back the female lead.
The System required Shuyu to complete the character’s arc: swindle the male lead out of one hundred million, and sleep with him.
In return, the System promised a generous reward: a private villa away from the public eye, several luxury cars, ten billion in cash, and an in-app marketplace where she could order anything she needed without stepping outside.
Just thinking about never having to socialize, hiding away in her villa to soak up the sun and eat whatever she wanted, Shuyu felt all her panic melt away. Her legs stopped trembling, her heart stopped racing, and her mood brightened instantly.
She did consider refusing the mission and running away immediately.
But the timing of her arrival was far from ideal. The original character had already tricked the male lead out of one and a half million — and spent every last cent of it.
If she vanished now, she would almost certainly be sued and thrown behind bars.
Ending up in prison wasn’t the worst fate imaginable…
But between life in a cell and the promise of ten billion cold, hard cash…
Shuyu gave in without a fight. She would do the mission.
Still, it seemed she was off to a rather poor start.
She lowered her head guiltily. “I’m sorry, Iron Egg. I’m not doing this right.”
Her soft black hair fell forward, covering her lovely eyes, and her delicate face looked utterly pitiful.
It was only after the binding was complete that Iron Egg realized Shuyu looked nothing like the “plain” description in the original story. Instead, she possessed a breathtaking beauty that caught the eye instantly.
Now, seeing this stunning girl speaking to it with such a dejected look, Iron Egg felt like slapping itself.
How could it be so harsh on such a sweet little thing? That was just mean.
It softened its tone. [Don’t worry, you’re already doing great!]
Shuyu let out a quiet breath, her eyes lighting up like a contented kitten. “Iron Egg, you’re the best! The absolute best system I’ve ever met.”
Iron Egg felt its circuits buzzing with pride.
Whose precious little angel was this?
Wait — no, whose perfect host was this?
How could someone be this beautiful and this cute?
Come to think of it, why couldn’t the Transmigration Bureau just hand over the ten billion, the villa, and a team of bodyguards directly?
What kind of low-level task was this, making its host do all the hard work herself?
Iron Egg declared confidently: [Yu-bao, I may be a new system, but I’ve got all the experience of those who came before me. Let me teach you how to dig for money! We’ll milk that male lead dry!]
Shuyu nodded vigorously. “Right! Let’s go after him!”
Sunlight slanted through the classroom windows, casting long streaks across the room.
Si Yiheng sat in class when his phone vibrated once.
With a tall, straight posture and a cool, distant aura, he radiated an air that kept others at arm’s length.
He didn’t reach for his phone right away.
He knew exactly who was messaging him — Shuyu, his online girlfriend of just one week.
She had been introduced to him by a childhood friend, though from what little he’d seen, she didn’t seem very reliable… and she was rather odd.
When the bell rang, Si Yiheng packed his books and finally took out his phone.
His friend Shen Qinghan fell into step beside him. “Yiheng, how’s this relationship of yours going?”
Si Yiheng ignored the question and unlocked his screen.
Shen Qinghan was used to his cold demeanor and kept chatting cheerfully. “Didn’t you say before that your ideal partner could be ordinary-looking, as long as she stays out of the spotlight and doesn’t draw attention?”
“Shuyu is supposed to be pretty average-looking — guess she fits your standard?”
He said it casually, but in his heart, he was certain Shuyu would cause trouble sooner or later.
She had always been a gold-digger, trying to latch onto wealthy boys — and failing every time.
When he first gave Shuyu Si Yiheng’s contact information, she had been overjoyed, looking like she’d struck gold.
It wasn’t that he wanted to see his friend make a fool of himself; he just wanted Si Yiheng to realize someone like Shuyu was all wrong for him.
In his eyes, the school beauty Xie Mengying was a far better match. She was pure, beautiful, determined, and top of her class. She truly liked Si Yiheng and had never cared about his status or wealth. Many rich heirs had courted her, but she turned them all down, choosing instead to work part-time to pay for her own tuition.
A girl like that was the one worthy of Si Yiheng.
Pulling his thoughts back, Shen Qinghan noticed Si Yiheng pause mid-motion and leaned in curiously. “What are you looking at?”
Glancing at the screen, his mouth fell open in shock.
There it was:
Little Fish Swimming Along: Could you spare… just a tiny hundred million?
Little Fish Swimming Along: If not, that’s totally fine. Smiling and bowing apologetically.jpg
Shen Qinghan stared wide-eyed. She just asked straight out? No subtlety at all?
Without realizing it, he felt a sudden, intense curiosity toward Shuyu.
Si Yiheng’s long, slender fingers tapped lightly against the screen.
Si Yiheng: How much do you need?