At sixteen or seventeen, when hormones were surging, Ji Haoxuan dreamed of Jin Zhao almost every night, waking each time drenched in sweat.

He started bringing Jin Zhao food in the mornings—milk or yogurt, paired every day with a different kind of delicate little pastry.

Jin Zhao was going crazy.

Running into Meng Yanxi completely turned into a form of torment. Each time, it made her feel like a vicious supporting female character—despicable and low, secretly withholding other girls’ feelings and gifts.

She began avoiding Meng Yanxi, not daring to pass by the back door, detouring through the front wherever she went.

Twice, when she saw Meng Yanxi approaching from afar, she turned around and ran off on the spot.

Meng Yanxi: “?”

Meng Yanxi reflected on it and figured that recently, he shouldn’t have done anything to make her dislike him.

Recently, he hadn’t bought condoms for Meng Shixu, hadn’t been involved in rumors with other girls, and hadn’t even received any love letters.

So how had he managed to make her hate him?

Meng Yanxi concluded that it must be a case of a white-eyed wolf repaying kindness with ingratitude.

-♥︎ ྀི◟ ͜ ◞♥︎ ྀི◟ ͜ ◞♥︎ ྀི

The Affiliated High had one day off every Sunday. There was no evening self-study on Saturday nights; once classes ended in the afternoon and cleaning duty was finished, students could leave.

Meng Yanxi’s clothes had already been washed. Jin Zhao put them into a brand-new paper bag and brought them to school.

Milk and pastries had stuffed her desk compartment full—it couldn’t hold anything more. Jin Zhao didn’t dare throw them away, so she could only take them out and put them into the paper bag. Along with them, she also put in that sweet, bubblegum-pink envelope.

The entire day, she passed in a state of conflict.

On one hand, she truly couldn’t stand this kind of torment from her conscience anymore and finally decided to return the things to Meng Yanxi; on the other hand, she really didn’t want to be the matchmaker between him and other girls.

She stayed tangled up like this until dismissal. After doing some mental preparation at her seat, she finally lifted the paper bag—only to turn around and find that Meng Yanxi had already left.

Luo Heng and Lu Jingyue were nowhere to be seen either.

Jin Zhao: “……” She suddenly felt that this entire day had been utterly meaningless.

Today it was Si Tian’s and Jin Zhao’s turn for cleaning duty. By the time the two finished tidying up, the classmates had all gone.

The setting sun shone on the tips of the plane trees. In the spacious campus, the sound of basketballs hitting the ground echoed from afar. The air carried the scent of books mixed with the smell of teenage sweat.

A newly opened bakery by the back gate of the Affiliated High was extremely popular; there was always a long line at the door. Today, with the holiday, there were finally seats inside. Jin Zhao treated Si Tian to double-skin milk.

Next to the bakery, a lottery shop had also newly opened. After the two came out of the bakery, Jin Zhao paused her steps.

She knew her luck had always been bad, but the story of He Yu buying lottery tickets full-time sounded very inspiring, making her eager to try.

Buy one, then. It was only five yuan.

“Do you want to buy lottery tickets?” Si Tian noticed her little milk-cat-like, eager eyes.

Jin Zhao nodded lightly. “Mm.”

Si Tian pulled her inside. “Then let’s buy!”

There were all kinds of lottery tickets, many different ways to play. The two chose the simplest scratch-offs when they suddenly heard someone call from behind, “Kuku!”

At this obnoxious voice, Si Tian’s scalp nearly exploded. Jin Zhao turned her head.

Meng Yanxi, Lu Jingyue, and Luo Heng were walking over together.

Behind them, the setting sun was sinking along the city line, the light warm and pale.

They had probably just finished playing basketball. They were still wearing jerseys, teenage boys slick with sweat, the wisps of hair at their foreheads damp. Luo Heng balanced a basketball on his finger, spinning it there. Meng Yanxi had his backpack slung over one shoulder; his fingers were long as he lazily tugged at the strap.

He looked at Jin Zhao. As soon as Jin Zhao turned around, she ran straight into those pitch-black peach-blossom eyes. The next second, she guiltily looked away.

“What are you guys doing?” Luo Heng walked over.

Si Tian rolled her eyes at him. “Can’t you see for yourself? Buying lottery tickets.”

“I knew you were bad at math, didn’t know you were this bad. Haven’t you learned probability? Buying lottery tickets might as well be donating directly.”

“You’re the one who’s bad! Luo Heng, you scumbag!” Si Tian immediately lunged at him, chasing Luo Heng as she ran.

When Jin Zhao first heard that He Yu bought lottery tickets full-time, she had also thought it sounded outrageous. She didn’t know how she’d been infected little by little, without noticing. Now, hearing Luo Heng say that, she suddenly felt it was kind of silly.

“Let’s go.” Jin Zhao grabbed Si Tian.

“Go where? I’m buying anyway! Boss, two scratch-offs!”

“We’ll buy too.” Luo Heng turned back and asked Meng Yanxi and Lu Jingyue, “Yan-ge, Yue-ge, want to buy lottery tickets?”

“Buy yours. I’ll pass.” Lu Jingyue took the basketball from Luo Heng’s hands.

Meng Yanxi was quiet for two seconds, then walked toward the counter and stood beside Jin Zhao to choose.

There were several kinds of scratch-offs as well. Si Tian picked seriously; Luo Heng complained with his mouth but still closed his eyes and rubbed his hands together, muttering come wealth, come wealth.

Jin Zhao had no mind to choose at all. Meng Yanxi stood right at her side, his strong presence enveloping her. The boy, just finished exercising, was warm all over, but not unpleasantly so. The cold scent of mountain pine and mist had less aloofness and more heat; she could even feel the warmth from his body scorching her through the air, the skin on the side closer to him turning hot.

She randomly pulled out a scratch-off and handed the owner five yuan. The owner didn’t take it and asked whether she was an adult. Si Tian blinked and rushed to answer that they were all in senior year and already eighteen. Only then did the owner sell it to them.

“Is there more?” Meng Yanxi asked, glancing sideways.

Jin Zhao hadn’t expected him to speak to her first and turned her head half a beat too late. “Huh?”

Meng Yanxi glanced at the five yuan the owner had taken. “I didn’t bring money. My phone’s dead.”

“Yan-ge, you didn’t bring money? I’ll lend you some!” Hearing this, Luo Heng immediately enthusiastically dug money out of his pocket.

“No need.” Meng Yanxi gave him a light look.

Luo Heng didn’t understand why his Yan-ge suddenly seemed so distant with him. Si Tian, Jin Zhao, and Lu Jingyue all looked at him together.

Meng Yanxi said, “Your luck’s bad. It’s unlucky.”

“Meng Yanxi, that’s too much!” Being called unlucky, Luo Heng wailed in grievance.

Si Tian reveled in his misfortune. “Meng Yanxi’s just telling the truth. How is that too much? Some people shouldn’t be so unable to take honesty!”

Jin Zhao wanted to say: My luck is even worse. But she didn’t want to refuse Meng Yanxi. She lowered her head, took five yuan out of her backpack, and handed it to the owner.

In the corner of her eye, the boy’s cold-white long fingers casually pulled out a lottery ticket.

The four of them leaned over the counter together to scratch. Si Tian and Luo Heng scratched theirs at the same time, immediately looked at each other, and, in perfect tacit understanding, began mocking one another.

“Heh, told you you’re unlucky!”

“Kuku, right back at you!”

Si Tian leaned over to look at Jin Zhao’s as well—also a miss.

But she was blatantly biased. Toward Luo Heng, she mocked mercilessly; toward Jin Zhao, she turned warm and affectionate. “Wow! Zhaozhao! You’re so pretty and kind. You were actually doing a good deed on purpose, weren’t you!”

Jin Zhao herself couldn’t bear to listen anymore.

“That shouldn’t be it.” Meng Yanxi handed over the ticket in his hand. “It won.”

Jin Zhao: “!”

Luo Heng snatched it away, and after seeing the amount printed on it, let out a loud “Holy shit!” on the spot. “Three thousand!”

Jin Zhao, Si Tian, and the owner were all shocked. The three of them rushed forward at once to look.

Meng Yanxi really had won three thousand.

The real deal. Absolutely true.

The shop owner took out a stack of brand-new bills from the counter and exchanged them for him on the spot, saying with a cheerful smile, “Classmate, your luck is really good. The highest payout we do here is three thousand. You scratched out the jackpot with a single ticket.”

Jin Zhao thought to herself—yeah, how could someone’s luck be this good? She had clearly seen that he’d just drawn one at random.

“He’s been lucky since he was little. Six or seven times out of ten, he wins.” Lu Jingyue leaned against the doorway, his eyes fixed on Meng Yanxi, smiling thoughtfully.

Si Tian was stunned. “Holy shit! Meng Yanxi, if I had your luck, I’d buy lottery tickets every single day!”

Luo Heng said disdainfully, “That’s a narrow view. How much can you even make from lottery tickets? My Yan-ge studies the international situation and does futures, one move and he makes—”

“Enough. Stop bragging here.” Meng Yanxi cut him off calmly.

He turned to the shop owner. “Give it to her. She paid.”

He glanced at Jin Zhao. “Whoever pays, the prize counts as theirs.”

That logic made sense, but very few people could be that generous. That was why most people never borrowed money to buy lottery tickets—afraid that if they won, the money would have to be split.

The shop owner gave Meng Yanxi a thumbs-up and said, “Young man, not bad!”

But how could Jin Zhao possibly take the money? She hurriedly waved her hands. “No, no need. You scratched it out—it’s yours. With my luck, even if I bought a thousand tickets, I still couldn’t scratch out that much money. We agreed it was a loan. You can just pay me back five yuan next Monday.”

She looked at Meng Yanxi, trying to reason with him. But Meng Yanxi was not someone who reasoned, he simply turned around and left.

Lu Jingyue was standing at the door watching the scene unfold, thoroughly entertained. As Meng Yanxi passed by him, he said, “Let’s go.”

That left Jin Zhao alone, facing thirty unclaimed pink banknotes, at a complete loss.

“All right, Zhaozhao, take it! Look at how arrogant Meng Yanxi is—he definitely won’t pay you back. You spent the money, you redeem the prize. Perfectly justified.”

Si Tian took the bills from the shop owner and stuffed them into Jin Zhao’s hands.

Jin Zhao touched the crisp new paper. After a moment, she stuffed the cash into Meng Yanxi’s clothes and ran out in a hurry.

“Tiantian, go home early. I’m heading off first.”

“Meng Yanxi!”

Jin Zhao caught up to the three boys who had already walked some distance ahead and shoved the paper bag into the arms of Meng Yanxi, who was in the middle.

Ignoring the keenly interested looks from Luo Heng and Lu Jingyue, she said stiffly, “The clothes you lent me last time—they’re already washed.”

After speaking, Jin Zhao ran off quickly. Luo Heng and Lu Jingyue looked at the girl’s flustered retreating figure, then both turned to look at Meng Yanxi.

-♥︎ ྀི◟ ͜ ◞♥︎ ྀི◟ ͜ ◞♥︎ ྀི

That night, Jin Zhao racked her brain over one question: how could there be someone like Meng Yanxi? Good at everything—better than others even at fighting, even luckier than others!

At the same time, Meng Yanxi also saw the three thousand yuan and the pink envelope she had stuffed into his clothes. It was a letter written in a Republican-era style, quite literary. It began with Jin Zhao and was signed Ji Haoxuan. After reading it, Meng Yanxi expressionlessly tore it up and threw it into the trash, together with the yogurt and little pastries.