The next day, well past morning.
Sunlight streamed through the half-open glass window, spilling into a corner of the living room. A playful spring breeze slipped in as well, gently stirring the thin white sheer curtains.
In the bathroom, Gu Qiu had just finished brushing his teeth.
Facing the mirror, he used his thumb to wipe away the small trace of toothpaste foam left at the corner of his mouth.
His complexion looked much more energetic and radiant than usual, making him appear even more handsome.
Since being Reincarnated, his mind had been in a constant jumble, yet he could never pin down the reason, and he often felt irritable, anxious, or experienced other emotions because of it.
But ever since he agreed to be friends with Qin Zhiyi last night, he felt much more relaxed, and even his sleep had improved.
Gu Qiu attributed this to his subconscious emotional dependence on Qin Zhiyi, or perhaps some other reason, but he was too lazy to overthink it. After all, this relatively carefree feeling was quite nice.
He wet the towel with warm water, but a knock suddenly came from outside.
Wiping his face, he walked toward the front door.
Looking through the peephole, he saw it was Qin Zhiyi. He hesitated briefly but still opened the door.
Qin Zhiyi tilted her head slightly, a smile on her face.
“Morning, Teacher Gu!”
“I figured you just woke up. Here, I brought you breakfast.”
Saying that, she held out a bulging paper bag in front of Gu Qiu.
Gu Qiu set down the towel and didn’t reach out to take it. Instead, he stared at her.
“You didn’t already forget our agreement from last night, did you?”
Qin Zhiyi’s beautiful eyes blinked twice.
“Of course not!”
“But it’s not too much for a friend to bring breakfast along the way, right? This is thirteen yuan in total. Deducting the buns and Banlangen you gave me last time, that comes to eleven fifty. Remember to transfer it to me later!”
They had been husband and wife, after all. She had neglected Gu Qiu, but that didn’t mean she understood him.
Giving it to him for free would make him feel like he owed her a favor and make him think she was still pestering him. So wouldn’t it be fine if she charged him!
Gu Qiu couldn’t find any flaw in her words and pursed his lips.
“Thanks!”
“I’ll send you the money in a bit, but in the future…”
He had originally wanted to say, “I won’t trouble you in the future,” but recalling how she had deliberately emphasized the words “along the way” just now, he had no choice but to swallow the words that had reached his lips.
Although Qin Zhiyi heard Gu Qiu’s words and understood his thoughts, she didn’t press the issue on purpose.
“Teacher Gu, don’t forget Grandma Chen’s instructions. You need to eat properly, especially breakfast, or else you might get stomach cancer!”
“Pfft, pfft, pfft… What cancer or no cancer, you’ll definitely be healthy and well!”
“Alright, remember to eat it while it’s hot. I’m heading back first!”
With that, she waved goodbye to Gu Qiu and returned to her own home.
When Gu Qiu heard her mention stomach cancer, his gaze grew somewhat vacant. Now he stared at her retreating back, only slowly withdrawing his gaze when the door opposite closed.
Suddenly, he gave a low chuckle and thought to himself:
“Does she really think she’s the only one who was Reincarnated?”
“I’d like to see what you plan to do next!”
…
Before long.
Gu Qiu pulled half the curtains closed, blocking out the overly enthusiastic sunlight.
He walked over and sat on the sofa, opened the paper bag of breakfast Qin Zhiyi had brought, and took out a purple rice ball, a bag of soy milk, two small buns, and a shumai one by one. He couldn’t help but smile:
“These are all things I like to eat. You actually remembered.”
After his moment of sentiment, Gu Qiu picked up his phone, opened his chat with Qin Zhiyi, and transferred her thirteen yuan.
The other party accepted quickly, but the very next second, she sent back a transfer of 1.5 with the note “We’re even now~”
Gu Qiu shook his head helplessly and accepted the refund.
Then, he opened the soy milk first and took a small sip. Finding the taste acceptable, he felt quite satisfied.
He also peeled open the outer wrapper of the rice ball and took a small bite.
He had wanted to use the laptop on the coffee table to find a show to watch while eating, but the sentence Qin Zhiyi had said earlier suddenly flashed through his mind… “Or else you might get stomach cancer!”
Gu Qiu continued chewing his food in small bites while falling into deep thought.
In his previous life, his stomach cancer had actually shown early warning signs. It was just that he already had stomach problems, so they were lumped together, causing him to miss the optimal time for treatment.
In this life, whether it was stomach cancer or stomach problems, he would take preventive measures.
But to prevent situations like those written in some novels, where the heavens blocked the protagonist from changing their original fate, he had to make a second set of preparations to eliminate the worst-case scenario… namely, treatment.
When it came to stomach cancer treatment, money was inseparable!
Although Gu Qiu yearned for a simple and peaceful life, that didn’t mean he didn’t love money.
Besides his illness, A-Long would encounter difficulties in a little over three years, and grandma would face death in six years… Money might not necessarily be able to change all of this, but without money, nothing could be changed.
Thinking of this, Gu Qiu narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze growing increasingly resolute, as if he had made a decision.
Afterwards, he devoured the breakfast as if sweeping away clouds, then opened his mobile banking app.
Although he had only been working for half a year in this life, he had been fairly diligent in college and worked quite a few part-time jobs. He currently had over thirty thousand yuan in savings.
After raising an eyebrow in thought, he kept ten thousand as a reserve and withdrew twenty thousand, going all in on gold on a certain trading platform.
“According to the timeline of my previous life, conflicts and wars would break out around the world in the next few years, the economy would fall into recession, and gold prices would keep rising. In the future, whenever there’s spare money, investing in gold is worth considering!”
“Apart from that, although the benefits at Yunmeng High School are decent, the salary is still too low. I need to find a side hustle!”
“But what would be good to do?”
Gu Qiu rubbed his chin and thought for a long time before suddenly having a flash of inspiration.
“Short videos!”
Although short videos had already been around for several years now, it didn’t affect their monetization ability at all. In fact, with the gradual refinement of the e-commerce livestreaming system today, short video creators earned even more than before.
In his previous life, he had scrolled past many videos of teachers interacting with students, and quite a few of them had reached the level of a million, or even ten million followers!
As a teacher himself, Gu Qiu felt his classes were quite interesting too, and he decided to give it a try!
Right away, he opened his phone again.
There were currently two mainstream short video apps on the market. One was Doulang, which had been around for years and boasted a massive user base. The other was Xunmeng, which was more dynamic and had recently been offering tremendous support to creators.
Gu Qiu chose Xunmeng without hesitation.
Although Xunmeng appeared weaker at present, he knew that in the coming years, Xunmeng and its subsidiaries would bloom everywhere, ultimately forming the “Ten Dreams Group,” and its boss, Shen Mu, would leap to become the richest person in Huaxia thanks to it.
Because he had previously watched the professional league for 『Immortals and Demons』, he already had the Xunmeng app on his phone. After a quick update, he proceeded to edit his personal information.
At the same time, in the room next door.
Qin Zhiyi, wearing a white dress, sat in front of a computer desk holding her phone.
She stared at the phone screen with a serious expression. A certain trading platform was displayed on it, and her hands continuously tapped away at the operations.
Before long, a notification popped up on the page.
『Your plan “Dowry for A-Qiu” has been credited with 23 yuan. Click to view details.』
Immediately, she stretched happily.
“Done!”
Afterwards, she carefully reviewed it once, confirmed there were no errors, and then looked at the computer.
A spreadsheet was displayed on the computer, titled 『Winning Over My Precious A-Qiu』, and the first row below showed the 『”Feeding” Plan』.
Qin Zhiyi typed on the keyboard, continuing to edit.
『The plan is proceeding smoothly, and initial success has been achieved!』