And so it went, day after day, week after week.
It seemed like Wu Xi had formed a habit of asking me for money every day, and I… kept transferring it.
Sometimes I wondered if he considered me a friend or a walking ATM.
I devoted my remaining free time to the system's side quest.
The quest sounded impressive – becoming a major shareholder of the Xie family's corporation – but in reality, it was exhausting.
Although I was the eldest son of the Xie family, I was only an adopted child, and I had no right to inherit the chairmanship.
The system required me to secretly acquire shares, little by little, from the small shareholders in the company.
Everything had to be discreet. Slow and steady.
That day, I was racking my brain trying to figure out what to do next when Wu Xi approached.
He stood in front of my desk, his voice incredibly natural:
"Student Ning Chuan, can I borrow some money?"
I looked up at that familiar face, a feeling of weariness creeping into my heart, thinking,
"Here we go again…"
I still had my phone on, asking perfunctorily,
"How much?"
Wu Xi smiled brightly,
"Fifty thousand."
I froze.
Looking at him, my brows furrowed, I lowered my voice, trying to suppress the rising anger inside me,
"Why don't you just rob someone instead?"
He was about to laugh mockingly when Kha Nian, who had been unusually quiet these past few days, suddenly frowned and said,
"Student Ruo, why do you always borrow money from Ning Chuan? And you never pay it back."
The atmosphere froze for a moment. I stared blankly at Kha Nian, about to pull his sleeve and tell him to stop, but…
Wu Xi glanced at Kha Nian, a provocative smile playing on his lips,
"Ning Chuan hasn't said anything yet, why are you butting in?"
Kha Nhiêm was visibly annoyed, his hands clenched, but he still managed to restrain himself:
"You..."
Just then, Lâm Trạch Vân approached.
In his hands were two cups of milk tea, which he offered to Vũ Hy, saying, "Here you go." His voice was strangely gentle.
Vũ Hy happily accepted them, conveniently pushing one towards me, smiling:
"Consider this as compensation for the money."
I was speechless.
Lâm Trạch Vân stood beside her, his gaze lingering on me for a second, then he turned and gently tugged at the corner of her shirt, saying in a low voice,
"If you need money, I can give it to you too."
Vũ Hy heard but didn't reply.
She just looked at me.
I sighed inwardly.
In the end… I still transferred the money.
After transferring the money, she texted me:
"You're really rich, aren't you, hehe." I looked at the message and was so angry I wanted to vomit blood. I put my phone down and typed back:
"Rich, but you're exploiting me like this, I'll soon have nothing left in my pocket." Wu Xi looked at the screen, chuckled, and didn't text anything else. She pulled Lin Ze Yun along, leaving behind the comment:
"Ning Chuan is really kind, unlike that other person."
After saying that, she glanced at Kha Nhiem.
When Wu Xi left, Kha Nhiem sat down, annoyed, and said, "Hey, don't always be so nice!" She looked at Wu Xi and continued, "That other classmate isn't worth it. Just looking at her, I see she's a manipulative woman." I didn't say anything, just mumbled in response, but in my head I thought, "But she's not that kind of person."
That afternoon, Wu Xi called me to a cafe near the school.
I arrived, and before I even sat down, he said,
"You're so free, huh? Nothing better to do?"
He frowned,
"Would it kill you to think a little better of me?"
I waved my hand, pretending not to care.
Suddenly, Vu Hy looked at me and placed a black card in front of me, his voice very natural:
"There's 3 million in this card. Take it and stay away from my daughter."
I stared blankly at the card, then at him, completely bewildered:
"Huh? What did you say?" I thought to myself,
"What the hell is he talking about? Did he watch TikTok for more than 180 minutes?"
Vu Hy cleared his throat a few times and quickly corrected himself, "Oh, I meant you take this 3 million to spend." Then he looked at me, smiled, and continued, "Didn't you need the money?"
I felt uneasy, but still tried to deny it:
"When did I ever need money...?"
Vu Hy stared at me, then said,
"Next time if you need money, don't give it to me... keep it for yourself." Hearing that, I felt a little uneasy but didn't reply. Then he said,
"You're doing a side mission for the system, right?"
I was speechless. I glanced at him, pouting, and said,
"Hmph! You're the opposite, you know so much information, you must have taken on quite a few side missions, right?"
He clearly felt uneasy, clearing his throat:
"Hey, hey, stop it! Don't let things get worse for my husband... no, for me today."
Then he quickly changed the subject, changing his tone:
"And you should also pay attention to little Da Uyen. He's been very sad lately."
I frowned slightly and said,
"Since when have you been so conscientious in your speech?" Vu Hy gave a half-smile:
"Stop that sarcastic talk," then subtly glanced at me.
The air was silent for a few seconds, then I suddenly remembered something I was wondering about.
I asked again:
"But why do I always see you… hating Kha Nhiem?"
Vu Hy was silent for quite a while.
Then he said slowly, very softly:
"If I said… she doesn't look like a good person, would you believe me?"
I was a little stunned, then thought to myself, "So you look like a good person too?"
"Ninh Xuyen," he looked me straight in the eye, "be careful. There are people… who will stab you in the back at any moment."
I was about to ask more questions.Then, suddenly, he stood up, grabbed the card on the table, and without a second's hesitation, shoved it straight into my jacket pocket. Having done that, he turned around cheerfully and said,
"Okay. Go home. Study for your exams."
I frowned, grabbed his hand, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say. Finally, I said,
"If I score higher than you this time, you have to tell me everything, okay?"
Vu Hy smiled, gave an "okay" sign with his hand, and said,
"Alright. But let's see if you can handle it first."
We looked at each other and burst out laughing. Each of us bought some pastries to take home.
On the way, I glanced at him and blurted out,
"You... you've gained weight lately, haven't you?"
Vu Hy, who was biting into a pastry, stopped and turned to me, saying,
"If you don't say anything, nobody will think you're mute."