Shi Yin spent some more time studying the Goddess System and discovered that besides appearance, figure, and talents, she could also tap into the Charm section, which offered modifications focused more on personal allure.
For example, her voice. Shi Yin had always disliked her voice—dry and flat, thin and raspy, incapable of producing the softness a girl’s voice was supposed to have.
Anyone who heard Shi Yin’s voice would never guess she was a beauty. At most, they’d conclude, ”Oh, she’s a girl.” That was all.
Body hair.
Unlike other girls with smooth, bare arms, Shi Yin’s hair had always grown thickly—maybe it was genetics or something, but her body hair had always been abundant.
It showed on her arms, her legs, her head… As a newly pubescent girl, Shi Yin had been troubled by it. With so much hair, it was a hassle to manage, and she had to go to the salon every so often to get it thinned out.
And the fine hair on her body was a disaster every summer. Even before she understood why, it always left Shi Yin deeply embarrassed.
A young girl’s heart is soft and sensitive. To avoid other people’s gazes, Shi Yin had gotten into the habit of covering herself up completely even in the height of summer.
Though compared to back then, the Shi Yin of today could skillfully evade others’ prying eyes.
In any case, the more she explored, the more Shi Yin felt that the Goddess System had been tailor-made for her.
Without a doubt, beyond the basic modifications, what interested her most was the Charm section. It contained so, so many little details—body scent, eye color, nails…
Shi Yin sprawled across her bed, already planning in her head just how she was going to plunder Affection Points.
Perhaps the future seemed too full of promise—she thought and thought until she actually fell asleep…
Shi Yin was woken by a knocking sound.
Not the door to her bedroom—the front door.
The moment she got up, she heard voices chatting at the entrance. It sounded like Auntie Lu from apartment 701 next door.
By the time Shi Yin pushed open her door and came out, she caught Mother Shi closing the front door with a smile.
“Yinyin, go wash your hands and eat.”
Dinner was already set on the table—three dishes and a soup.
“Was that Auntie Lu just now?”
At the dinner table, Shi Yin asked casually.
Father Shi usually didn’t get home until after eight so he could run more delivery orders, so it was just the two of them for dinner.
At this, Mother Shi perked up with rare enthusiasm and cheerfully told Shi Yin, “Yanshuo is back.”
Shi Yin was a little surprised.
Lu Yanshuo—a genius among geniuses. He’d been recommended for admission to Huajing University in his second year of high school, and practically no one at Chengguang High School hadn’t heard his name.
When Shi Yin was in second grade, he and his mother had moved in next door. After learning that they were a single-parent family, Mother Shi often went over to visit.
Over time, the two families grew close.
“You used to adore following Yanshuo around when you were little. It’s been a long time since you two saw each other, hasn’t it?”
“Why not take advantage of this summer break and spend more time together?”
“Oh, right—aren’t you going to take driving lessons? You haven’t signed up for a class yet, so I’ll ask your Auntie Lu later. I heard Yanshuo is learning to drive too. You two can keep each other company.”
Mother Shi kept chattering on, but Shi Yin’s thoughts had drifted back to her childhood.
Because the two families were so close, Shi Yin was often handed off to Lu Yanshuo by the adults.
Back then, Shi Yin was still at the age of playing in the mud, while Lu Yanshuo had just started middle school.
Boys who had just entered middle school were at the age of growing, and Lu Yanshuo’s skin was a clean, cool white. His bangs hung down softly, and though his features hadn’t fully matured yet, they were already well-defined.
Back then, Shi Yin would often watch him helplessly pull a stack of love letters out of his schoolbag.
She was still too young then, but she knew her boundaries.
Even though she was dumped at Lu Yanshuo’s place, she never dared to disturb him.
The thing she did most was simply watch his back.
Lu Yanshuo didn’t like to play; he had a steady temperament. The first thing he did after coming home from school was work on problems and read.
He would casually roll up the sleeves of his blue-and-white school uniform to his forearms, revealing a stretch of cool, fair, firm arm. His wrist had clean lines, and the knuckles of the fingers holding his pen were slowly maturing—long, slender, and clean, moving gently as he wrote.
This was the most vivid image in Shi Yin’s memory.
“Knock knock knock—” Another round of knocking at the door.
Father Shi had a key, and at this hour, it couldn’t possibly be him.
Somehow, Shi Yin thought of Lu Yanshuo, whom they had just been discussing.
So she instinctively hid in her room.
Before Mother Shi could even react, she found her daughter darting off like a rabbit.
She opened the door and came face to face with a young, handsome face. Lu Yanshuo wore a pair of half-rimmed glasses, the frames a deep, rich black, but not overpowering.
He was dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt made of cotton-linen, with one button at the collar left loose, revealing a glimpse of delicate collarbone.
He wore dark gray casual pants below, and held a fruit platter in his hands, exposing the thin blue vein on the inside of his forearm and the outline of his wrist bones.
Mother Shi was stunned for a moment, then broke into a smile and greeted him, “Xiao Shuo—ah, Xiao Shuo, was the pickled cabbage your mom took home earlier good?”
Lu Yanshuo lowered his eyes, the corners of his lips lifting slightly. “It was delicious. Auntie Lin, your cooking is as wonderful as ever. Even at school, I often missed your pickled vegetables.”
“This is a fruit platter I just washed. I brought some over.”
So that was why Auntie Lu had come over earlier to “borrow vegetables”—Mother Shi’s pickled dishes were famous throughout the neighborhood.
Lu Yanshuo had loved them since he was little.
Shi Yin secretly observed the man from behind the door.
Ever since she started high school, she hadn’t seen him again. Partly because Lu Yanshuo spent little time at home.
And partly because Shi Yin deliberately avoided him.
Yes, Shi Yin didn’t dare see him, because of her own insecurity. Her shallow, laughable girlish feelings were just that simple.
Perhaps there was some fondness, some admiration, but more than anything, it was Shi Yin’s own pride at work.
She had assumed that her relationship with Lu Yanshuo would gradually fade into plainness. After all, they had both grown up and were exposed to different things now.
It would be hard to find common topics.
Perhaps one day he would move out of this old residential complex, and that might make things easier for Shi Yin.
But through the crack in the door, she could now clearly see a pale golden “A” glowing above his head.
Strikingly different from the red “F”s she had seen in the classroom today.
The closer one’s relationship to the protagonist, the higher the letter above their head.
An “A” already counted as very high quality, because even the protagonist himself only displayed an “S.”
【Ding! Congratulations, Host, on detecting an Affection Plunder Target】
【Now issuing Newbie Gift Pack: Love Coins x500】
Shi Yin was extremely excited right now. If the timing hadn’t been wrong, she would have rolled around on her bed in delight.
She had already considered before that only when school started in September would she have a chance to meet the protagonist and plunder affection.
But by then it would surely be too late.
The nearly three months of summer vacation would be wasted for nothing.
No affection points → can’t become beautiful → can’t get close to the protagonist → no affection points.
It was a complete dead loop.
Who would have thought that now there was a ready-made prize sitting right next door.
Through the crack in the door, Shi Yin’s gaze landed on Lu Yanshuo’s profile, her eyes brimming with affection.
To her now, Lu Yanshuo was nothing more than a walking ATM.