It wasn’t until Liu Yue took a taxi back to school with Sang Yu that Sang Yu finally brought up the clothes—or rather, didn’t bring them up at all. This put Liu Yue considerably at ease.
Thinking about it more carefully, she really had been overthinking things.
Sang Yu was clearly a regular at Wanxiang Cheng. The SK-II Facial Treatment Essence Liu Yue had spotted on her desk the night before was proof of that. A few thousand yuan worth of clothes might be an extravagant purchase for Liu Yue, but for Sang Yu, it was probably just… an average day?
Sang Yu: “Liu Yue, how much was the taxi? I’ll transfer you my share.”
“It’s fine,” Liu Yue said. “It wasn’t much anyway, no need to split it. Thanks for helping me pick out clothes today.”
Because she was riding back with Sang Yu, Liu Yue hadn’t booked a luxury car—she’d chosen the discounted express option instead.
Besides, the fare had already been covered by the System. If Sang Yu split the fare with her, the System would deduct the equivalent amount from her rebate… This made Liu Yue suspect that some previous Host must have tried to exploit the system for cash, which was why the System was so strict about it.
Heytea stir-fried ice cream: 56 yuan. Taxi: 39.4 yuan. Remaining task amount: 644.72 yuan.
Liu Yue checked the time—it was 4 PM.
Wen Huiyi was still asleep in the dorm, and Sang Yu had climbed up to her bunk to rest as well. Liu Yue took her laptop to the library to work on her thesis and didn’t return until 8 PM.
When she came back, she was carrying several boxes in her arms. Buying things felt great in the moment, but carrying the packages was really heavy!
Computer, tablet, phone, watch, earbuds, plus a bunch of accessories she’d bought… Good thing the SK-II and chocolates hadn’t arrived yet, or she really wouldn’t have been able to carry them all.
Liu Yue set everything on her desk. Just from tearing open the cardboard packaging, she was already exhausted.
Both roommates turned to look at her. Wen Huiyi asked, “Is Apple having some special discount promotion lately? Why did you buy so much all at once?”
Uh, well…
Liu Yue said vaguely, “The prices are pretty good right now, and I’d been using my old stuff for a long time anyway, so I figured I’d just replace everything at once…”
Wen Huiyi had only asked casually, and her attention quickly returned to her computer screen.
Liu Yue breathed another sigh of relief. It wasn’t like she’d stolen or robbed anyone—why did she always feel so guilty?
She decided to take a shower first to calm down, leaving everything on her desk.
When she came out, there was an extra person in the dorm.
Liu Yue wasn’t surprised at all to see her there—ever since learning that Wen Huiyi was interning at Tencent Video, Qin Yi had been dropping by frequently.
“Huiyi, can’t you really think of a way to help me? I really want to go to the Star Awards. I don’t even need a seat in the audience—I just need to get in somehow!”
Qin Yi was a fan girl, and the celebrity she liked had confirmed attendance at this year’s Tencent Star Awards. The Star Awards was an internal Tencent event—basically the company’s annual party—and tickets weren’t sold to the public.
Wen Huiyi’s laptop screen was already closed, and her expression was one of pure irritation.
“No. Absolutely not.” She said it without hesitation. “I’ve told you many times, I’m just an intern. I don’t have that kind of pull to bring someone else in.”
Qin Yi pouted. “The scalpers selling entry slots basically all bring people in. If they can make money doing it, there’s no way the venue doesn’t allow it.”
“Do you know how many staff members there are at an event like this?! Go find whoever can bring you in—I can’t.”
“Then… if I really can’t get in, can you at least get me a signed photo?”
“Why would I do that for you?! You’re being ridiculous.”
Wen Huiyi’s attitude was firm. Seeing Liu Yue come out of the shower, Qin Yi turned to her with pleading eyes.
Liu Yue avoided her gaze—even though the two of them had been classmates not just in college but in high school too, and they had a special connection because of it, Qin Yi really wasn’t in the right here.
Wen Huiyi wasn’t close to her. College classmates were just acquaintances—why would she risk anything to sneak her in?
Besides, Liu Yue knew Wen Huiyi was trying to perform well in hopes of landing a full-time offer from Tencent Video after graduation. Her leader had already hinted at it, which was the only reason she was willing to be the one pulling all-nighters over New Year’s.
Liu Yue wasn’t willing to help, and Sang Yu was even less likely to speak up for Qin Yi—the two of them had some bad blood from before.
Qin Yi felt embarrassed, but leaving right away would be too humiliating, so she walked over to Liu Yue’s desk and started making idle chitchat.
Liu Yue was exasperated. What exactly did Qin Yi want? Even if she lingered here until lights-out, Wen Huiyi wasn’t going to change her mind.
Qin Yi kept finding topics to talk about. Seeing the pile of Apple products on Liu Yue’s desk, she asked why she’d suddenly bought so many, how much they’d all cost, and so on.
Liu Yue was getting annoyed dealing with her. With Qin Yi hovering around, she couldn’t even browse Taobao to spend the remaining six hundred-plus yuan.
Suddenly, Qin Yi blurted out: “You suddenly got so rich—did you find your biological parents or something?”
Wen Huiyi had been typing on her keyboard, and Sang Yu had been tidying her desk. The moment those words came out, the entire dorm fell silent.
Liu Yue felt like her breath had stopped for a beat. And of course, Qin Yi, after realizing the awkward atmosphere, added in what she thought was a quiet voice: “So they didn’t know you were adopted?”
Silence. A long, heavy silence.
Liu Yue deeply regretted not having the nerve to kick Qin Yi out earlier. She should have known—this girl had an emotional intelligence of zero and never cared about other people’s feelings.
“Well, now everyone knows.” She forced a strained smile. “Want me to get you a megaphone so you can go spread the news in the hallway?”
Qin Yi muttered an awkward apology and practically fled the room, but the tension in the dorm didn’t ease.
No one turned to look at her, but Liu Yue still felt eyes boring into her back.
Whatever. It’s not a big deal. Don’t let them keep standing there like statues.
Liu Yue spoke up first: “I’m a bit hungry. Anyone want late-night snacks? My treat.”
Sang Yu was the first to respond, with Wen Huiyi following closely behind. Everyone tacitly agreed not to mention what had just happened, as if they truly hadn’t heard anything.
Since Liu Yue said she was treating, the other two said she could just pick whatever she wanted—they’d eat whatever she ordered.
Liu Yue’s finger swiped across the food delivery app. She didn’t have the energy to browse carefully right now. She spotted a place selling salmon, tapped in, and selected a few items. The checkout page showed 659.6 yuan.
Fine, close enough. Maybe it was the confidence from the cashback, but she couldn’t be bothered to re-select items just to hit a better total for a difference of a dozen or so yuan.
Today’s spending task was complete. Time to spin for cashback!
Liu Yue composed herself, went to wash her hands specially, and then tapped the air on the spinning wheel that only she could see.
The pointer spun and landed on the 70% zone. Seven thousand yuan credited to her account today! Six thousand more than the guaranteed minimum!
The first message her new phone received was the payment notification. Liu Yue looked at the Alipay pop-up, and the satisfaction she felt outweighed the emptiness from earlier.
She felt like she’d come to terms with it, like she’d sorted herself out. No amount of comfort or advice could give her the same sense of security as money directly hitting her account.
So what if people knew she was adopted? What Qin Yi said had actually paved the way for her—though she would never thank her for it.
As she tore open the delivery bag, Liu Yue announced: “Today, we gather here—”
The other two looked at her. Liu Yue paused, then continued: “Consider this a celebration for me. Even though Ke Yan and Fei Ran aren’t here. Once they’re back at school, I’ll pick a time when everyone’s around and treat you all to a big feast—the really fancy kind.”
“Don’t be shy with me. I… they’ve got plenty of money!”
That’s right, the System had plenty of money!
Treating friends to meals, no matter how much it cost, could all be charged to the System’s account. Hell yeah.
Wen Huiyi was still a bit at a loss, but Sang Yu had already pulled out her phone and was seriously saying she wanted to pick the restaurant.
“Go ahead, pick away.” Liu Yue said while unwrapping the packaging. “Let’s pick somewhere super upscale, where it costs over a thousand per person.”
After all, her daily minimum spending was ten thousand. If she could knock it out in one meal, that saved her a lot of trouble.
It wasn’t until Liu Yue pulled out two large platters of beautifully presented salmon from the delivery bag that Wen Huiyi truly believed Liu Yue had gotten rich.
She loved salmon. Salmon of this quality would easily cost several hundred.
“Eat up, everyone.” Liu Yue continued pulling things out of the bag. “These are all premium cuts with full white marbling. This platter is thick-cut, this one’s regular-cut, and there’s also that viral salmon noodle dish—I got three portions.”
Wen Huiyi’s mouth watered at the sight. She was the main force when it came to demolishing salmon.
Liu Yue rarely ate salmon herself. She’d thought she was indifferent to it and had even regretted the order a bit.
But salmon belly was absolutely delicious. That oily fragrance and creamy flavor melting in her mouth made her fully understand why so many people loved it.
Despite the three of them having formidable appetites, the portion size was truly too much for them.
The leftover salmon could still be reassembled into half a platter. At least they’d only opened two portions of the noodles—one was still completely untouched.
“So full…” Wen Huiyi rubbed her stomach. “I really can’t eat another bite. I never thought I’d see the day I’d be stuffed full of salmon.”
“Too bad we don’t have a fridge in the dorm, or we could save it for tomorrow.”
Sang Yu cleaned up the table while asking Liu Yue: “What should we do with the leftovers?”
Liu Yue thought for a moment: “Give them to the other girls. I’ll post in the class group chat and let anyone who wants some bring their own bowl and chopsticks.”
As for the guys—nothing they could do. They couldn’t exactly deliver it downstairs just because they wanted some.
Sure enough, in a college student group, there was no such thing as food that couldn’t be finished. Within ten minutes of the message going out, the salmon was all taken, and the classmates even helped take the trash out.
Qin Yi didn’t come, but Liu Yue received several apology messages from her on her phone.
Liu Yue didn’t actually want to reply. She typed for a long time in the input box, but ultimately decided to follow her true feelings—deleting everything and not responding at all.
Why should she be afraid of offending people? When Qin Yi spoke without thinking, she never considered whether she was offending Liu Yue either.
Liu Yue refused to believe that Qin Yi was equally thoughtless with her counselor, her thesis advisor, or her future bosses and colleagues at work.
After finishing the late-night snack, unboxing the new device, and completing the data transfer, Liu Yue originally wanted to go to sleep.
The check-in update time was midnight every night—she couldn’t possibly stay up until then every single day, could she? The money could be spent during the day; staying up late every night was bad for her health.
That was what Liu Yue thought, but unfortunately, her desire for money overcame her drowsiness.
She tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep no matter what. In the end, she resignedly turned on the bedside lamp, played with her phone inside the bed curtains, and waited for midnight to arrive.
Midnight came. Without even needing the System’s reminder, Liu Yue immediately tapped to check in.
The pointer on the Spinning Wheel began to turn, and this time it stopped on the one-hundred-times zone.
System: “Host, today’s task amount is one million yuan. Please work hard to spend the money!”
Author’s Note: