Gu Ting almost laughed herself to death. An issue? You completely overestimate my moral integrity. As long as they give me money, I can directly erase the word “issue” from the dictionary of my life!
Lin Mengmeng, taking all of this in, sighed, “At this moment, how I wish someone could see my vulnerability and transfer thirty million yuan to my account!”
Gu Ting gave her a thumbs-up. “When it comes to dreaming, you possess the superior skill.”
Min Qingluo said with a serious face, “What is thirty million? When I become an international superstar, I’ll give you a hundred million!”
Gu Ting cupped her hands in mock defeat. “Two hidden dragons and crouching phoenixes, this humble one bows to your greatness!”
Both Lin Mengmeng and Min Qingluo thought Gu Ting was praising them, and they nodded with satisfaction.
Lin Mengmeng said, “If Luoluo gives me a hundred million, I’ll share ten thousand with you.”
Min Qingluo added, “When I become a superstar, I’ll hire you specifically to carry my bags.”
Gu Ting delivered a soulful interrogation: “…Why is it that in the worlds of your imagination, neither of you can arrange the role of a billionaire wealthy lady for me?”
The two girls looked at each other. Then, Min Qingluo began to admire her own fingernails. “My newly done nails look so beautiful.”
Lin Mengmeng wrapped her arm around Gu Ting’s and said with a chuckle, “Tingting, you are the first among the three of us to make big money. Aren’t you going to treat us to a meal?”
Gu Ting smiled ominously. “A treat! Of course I’ll treat you!”
Ten minutes later, Lin Mengmeng and Min Qingluo stood in silence, staring at the aggressively seasoned skewers of iron-plate squid that had been thrust into their hands.
While chewing enthusiastically, Gu Ting used her peripheral vision to watch the two of them looking completely at a loss with the street food. She laughed secretly in her heart; she was already this poor, and being poor meant acting like a poor person.
The moment she turned around, a welfare lottery station appeared directly ahead.
Gu Ting felt a faint sense of destiny. What’s going on?
Since she was already here, was she really short of these two yuan? The family in her livestream room put it well: she had this financial luck, so why not buy a lottery ticket?
Buy it! Buy it right now!
However, she didn’t buy the lottery ticket solely to strike it rich; she was also curious to see if she would win tonight. If she won again, then there was only one explanation: it was related to the grand prize draw she won before traveling through time.
After all, financial luck wasn’t small flowers, grass, or little mushrooms that could be picked up casually on the ground. For her to win prizes time after time and pick up money every day, she must possess some extraordinary quality!
Gu Ting was the first to enter the lottery station. She spent two yuan to randomly select a string of numbers. When Lin Mengmeng and Min Qingluo walked in, Gu Ting held up the ticket and told them, “My financial luck has been amazing lately. Do you want to buy a few tickets with my numbers?”
Lin Mengmeng and Min Qingluo looked at each other, both looking rather unenthusiastic.
Gu Ting snorted with a smile. “Don’t regret it when I strike it rich.”
Coming out of the lottery station, it was already late. It was too late to move today, so Gu Ting parted ways with Lin Mengmeng and Min Qingluo, and they each headed home.
Even though she had mysteriously signed an endorsement contract today, seeing that the sky wasn’t dark yet, Gu Ting still chose to transfer vehicles multiple times. Having been poor for over twenty years, she had long since grown accustomed to it.
Emerging from the subway station, she passed a river on her way to the bus stop. From afar, Gu Ting spotted a figure standing by the bridge. The person’s head was buried against the railing, very quiet, not making a single sound for the longest time.
Gu Ting walked forward against the fading glow of the setting sun. Only when she drew close did she realize the person wasn’t motionless. The uncontrollably trembling shoulders indicated that their owner was weeping. The crying was suppressed, perhaps out of sheer exhaustion or an unwillingness to make a sound.
Gu Ting walked past her, reached the end of the bridge, and then retraced her steps. She patted the girl’s shoulder. “Want some water?”
The young girl lifted her head. A bottle of water was being handed to her, and looking up, she saw a gentle face.
The girl was momentarily dazed, her red and swollen eyes lacking even a shred of spirit. After a long pause, she politely declined, “No need, thank you.”
With that, she turned around and walked in another direction with heavy steps. She walked very slowly, as if her body had been filled with lead, making even walking an arduous task.
Gu Ting stood on the spot, watching the slender silhouette for a long time. Suddenly, she sprinted forward and stuffed a lottery ticket into the girl’s palm.
“This is my share of hope for today. It’s for you,” Gu Ting said, her eyes curving slightly.
Without waiting for the girl to react, Gu Ting turned and sprinted away, facing the setting sun and the cool breeze… In truth, she didn’t have any particular grand thoughts; she just wanted to make this girl feel a bit less sad today. Once upon a time, she too had felt this powerless.
Returning to her rented apartment, Gu Ting began to pack her things. Once finished, she realized she didn’t have many belongings; the heaviest item was actually that large gunny sack full of cash.
Gu Ting had made up her mind. Tomorrow she would take the sack to the police station and let them investigate its origin. She always felt a strange sense of unease regarding this money.
Gu Ting was also exhausted, and having forgotten to buy groceries, she boiled some plain white rice porridge and steamed an egg, planning to sleep right after eating. While the porridge was cooking, she opened the livestreaming app on her phone to check her background messages.
Following the grand draw last night, her followers had surged to over 3,000 overnight. The background direct messages were countless, a considerable portion of which required censoring. Gu Ting pinched her nose and scanned through them. Fortunately, after a few minutes of browsing, she finally found the message she wanted—the assistant of the wealthy second-generation streamer had sent her a direct message.
The other party stated that the apartment gifted in the streamer’s draw was located right in this city. The transfer of ownership could be processed after the National Day holiday. Once the transfer was complete, Gu Ting just needed to show her presence in the streamer’s live room to prove she had indeed received the property and that his employer had fulfilled the promise. Gu Ting naturally agreed to everything, mentally marveling that a wealthy second-generation truly didn’t hesitate when throwing money around; the efficiency was remarkably high.
The two parties exchanged contact information, and the matter was settled.
Having resolved this, Gu Ting prepared to turn off her phone and sleep. In the darkness, her phone suddenly rang. The caller ID displayed Lin Yi. She knew Lin Yi; he was the undisputed top star of Orange Success Entertainment. However, she hadn’t known that Lin Yi and the fake Gu Ting had any connection, because although the two had added each other as friends, there were no message histories on the phone.
She answered the call, her voice carrying a trace of sleepiness. “Hello, Top Star. Is something the matter?”
A light chuckle came from the other end. “Can you say that again?”
Gu Ting’s face instantly twisted into an expression of utter disgust, much like an elderly person trying to read a smartphone on the subway. Her tone lost all patience. “If you have something to say, say it. If not, I’m hanging up!”
“…Just kidding,” Lin Yi laughed it off, hesitating before saying, “There are rumors in the company lately that you were tricked by your boyfriend and owe a lot of money? Tingting, if you’re willing, I can help you, as long as you…” The remaining words weren’t spoken aloud, but his tone was laced with heavy innuendo.
Gu Ting’s face turned into a complete question mark. Where did this guy pop up from, wanting to initiate a casual arrangement right off the bat? If it weren’t for the fact that making too much noise late at night was bad, she really wanted to curse him out thoroughly.
Gu Ting had no patience to play hypocritical games with him. She directly snapped, “Go wash up and sleep!” and hung up the phone immediately.
Reluctant to let irrelevant people ruin her mood, Gu Ting put down her phone and quickly fell into a sweet slumber.
Gu Ting woke up because her limbs felt numb and uncomfortable. She tried several times before managing to open her eyes with difficulty. However, the unfamiliar sight before her gave her a jolt, instantly banishing all sleepiness and leaving her mind unprecedentedly clear.
Her surroundings were pitch black, save for a single incandescent bulb hanging from a wire overhead, casting a deathly pale light. It was clearly not her rented apartment. Looking down at herself, she was lying flat on the ground, her hands and feet tightly bound, unable to move. No wonder her limbs felt numb.
Gu Ting hurriedly looked at her clothes. Seeing she was still wearing the old pajamas printed with the massive characters for Money Come that she wore before bed, and finding nothing amiss with her body, she breathed a small sigh of relief.
Unable to figure out the situation in the short term, Gu Ting simply chose to keep lying there. While playing dead, she thought over things and paid close attention to the surrounding noises.
She had clearly been in her rented apartment before sleeping, yet upon waking up, her hands and feet were tied, and she was thrown into this unfamiliar place. Was this not a kidnapping? If the culprits were after money, the two million yuan in cash was sitting conspicuously right beside her bed; they could have easily taken it silently. Yet they chose to kidnap her person as well, making their motive self-evident.
Gu Ting thought: Damn it, I knew sooner or later I would suffer because of this face! If beauty is a crime, I am already deeply sinful.
Gu Ting’s mind involuntarily began to rehearse the kinds of torment she might face. Right at that moment, an exceptionally dry but undeniably pleasant male baritone broke the heart-palpitating silence.
“Are you alright?”
Gu Ting continued to play dead.
A rustling sound slowly approached until a somewhat heavy breathing hovered directly above her head. Gu Ting’s hairs stood on end as she secretly gathered her strength, ready at any moment to deliver a full-package slap to this person’s face.
However, she waited and waited, but no improper actions came. She only felt her shoulder being tapped firmly. The man’s breathing turned slightly deep as he said, “Wake up!”
Seeing that Gu Ting didn’t react, the man still didn’t give up trying to “awaken” her, displaying immense patience.
Gu Ting waited for another brief moment. Seeing that the man truly had no out-of-line behavior, she finally opened her eyes. Yet her eyes were clear and bright, entirely devoid of any sleepiness or disorientation.
The man saw this but didn’t call her out. Instead, he explained to Gu Ting in a few words, “There are five kidnappers in total. As of now, two of them haven’t appeared for over twenty hours, which means there should currently be three people here. Three against two, we aren’t completely without a chance. They kidnapped me for money, and my family has already paid the ransom, but they haven’t released me, so they will likely kill the hostage. You aren’t their original target, so your chances of escaping are higher than mine.”
With that, his eyes stared unblinkingly at Gu Ting, much like an old wolf eagerly teaching a young pup how to break free from a hunter’s trap. “From now on, I hope you will work hard to overcome your fear, brace yourself, and look for an opportunity! When the time comes, I will help you too.”
Gu Ting’s expression turned peculiar. She arched herself up like a caterpillar to sit up and asked, “Your own life is about to be ended, yet you’re still in the mood to care about my survival? Is your last name Lei, by any chance?”
This was the first official meeting between Gu Ting and the man. She discovered that the man before her was very good-looking. Slightly messy black hair, a pale and exhausted face, dried blood at the corner of his lips, a crumpled and loose shirt… none of it could hide his elegance.
The man was somewhat surprised by Gu Ting’s composure. It wasn’t a forced composure, but a calm that bordered on indifference. However, there was no time to investigate this now. The man spoke very quickly: “I suspect they might move to dispose of you and me before dawn today. For me, they want my life, but for you… the outcome might be very terrible.”
Gu Ting lowered her eyes and let out a tragic laugh. “I’ve been an orphan since I was a child, and then I was tricked by a scumbag and ended up owing a massive debt… There’s no hope left in my life. If I truly die here today, then that is my fate. I accept it.”
Gu Ting believed her acting was completely flawless. After a brief silence, the man said solemnly, “Miss, I am not an accomplice of these kidnappers, and I have no hobby of playing pranks. There is no need to test me further. The urgent matter at hand is for us to figure out a way as soon as possible.”
Gu Ting smoothly changed her expression and said seriously, “You’re right!”
The man took a deep breath. Compared to himself, the woman in front of him looked much more like a kidnapper’s accomplice who had blended in among the hostages.
The two lapsed into their own silence and didn’t speak. Just then, there was movement next door. The other party spoke very loudly, and the house’s soundproofing was poor, causing their words to fall into the ears of Gu Ting and the man without missing a single syllable.
“Is the matter settled?” The voice was rough, the attitude arrogant, carrying a slight trace of drunkenness.