Living off a Girl

Before returning to the classroom from the cafeteria at noon, Jiang Nian bought a drink out of habit. Feeling awkward about drinking alone, he bought Li Qingrong a carton of milk with fruit bits.

That was right-the all-purpose fruit milk. You could hardly go wrong giving it to a girl.

If you did, forget he said anything.

Li Qingrong lowered her eyes slightly at the campus playboy's signature gift placed in her hand.

"Thank you."

"Yeah, no problem." Jiang Nian thought nothing of it and headed toward the classroom building. Along the way, he pulled up the mission panel; he hadn't had time to examine it during class.

By the time he sat down in the classroom, he had worked out what the system mission involved.

He had to admit, this system was seriously sneaky.

Completing missions required money. Since he was a high school student, his expenses were lower. Some missions even cost nothing at all, which was how Jiang Nian had managed to save so much.

His counterpart in that other parallel timeline probably wasn't so lucky. He likely had only twenty or thirty thousand left in seed money. If he was down to ten or twenty thousand, he would probably cry.

Jiang Nian did a rough calculation. He had fifty-seven thousand left, all of it money from the system. According to the mission requirements, whatever he spent would earn him triple that amount in cashback.

That meant he could spend fifty-seven thousand and receive 171,000 yuan.

What could a high school student even spend money on? The biggest bottle of iced black tea cost eight yuan. A hundred yuan topped up at an internet café would let him play to his heart's content on the crappy five-yuan-an-hour computers in the main room.

The cafeteria's deluxe chicken leg rice cost six yuan, and the buffet outside the school's west gate cost five or six. The most expensive bottled water at the school shop cost seven yuan, and the handmade beef balls at the gate cost ten.

Spending every last cent of that fifty-seven thousand-damn, just thinking about it felt good.

He suddenly realized how absurd a tycoon system really was. The impact on a high school student was enormous. Once he finished this mission, he could practically buy a car.

That also put his self-control to a serious test. He had to spend money, but he couldn't spend recklessly. Otherwise, he could easily lose the seed money for his next mission and end up worse off.

In a sense, figuring out what he should and shouldn't spend money on was also a way of tempering his character.

After some thought, he wrote two lines on a sheet of paper and began making a wish list. Last time, he had bought shoes for the whole family. This time, he would buy clothes, then consider the household's regular expenses.

If there were any big recurring expenses, he would pay them himself. With the rest, he could consider replacing appliances, then set aside three thousand for personal spending. Xu Qianqian had treated him to a movie last time...

Although he enjoyed living off a girl, even fishing required laying some bait.

After making a rough list, he pulled out the sheet and slipped it into his schoolbag. He would work out the details when he had a few days off. For now, he would get by on someone else's money for a few days.

Qianqian was the best!!

That was right. Jiang Nian wasn't planning to spend any more money, and his meal card was nearly empty too. He would rely on Xu Qianqian for a few days. It wasn't as though he hadn't done this before.

He could pay her back afterward. Better to keep the benefits among his own people than let the system have them.

The afternoon brought physics, chemistry, and biology, all spent going over revision materials. The lessons were as dull as ever. Students took turns standing in a row at the back, while the ceiling fans creaked overhead like a lullaby.

During evening self-study, a group of students slipped out of the classroom and stood in the corridor watching the sunset.

Li Hua had already recovered from the trauma of the lunchtime PE class and asked eagerly,

"What's your relationship with the class monitor?"

"We're classmates."

Hearing that, Li Hua let out a long sigh of relief.

"Don't lie to your bro."

Jiang Nian was still wondering how to sort out his afternoon meal. Once school let out, Xu Qianqian would definitely be nowhere to be found. Competition for food in the cafeteria was especially fierce in the afternoon.

Just then, he glanced at Li Hua and suddenly realized he could save himself a meal's worth of triple cashback.

"You like her?"

"H-how could I!" Li Hua instantly blushed, his face redder than the sunset. "I was just curious about your relationship. She's the class monitor!"

"If you don't want me dead, don't... don't fucking go telling everyone!"

Jiang Nian nodded thoughtfully. The longer he looked at Li Hua, the more he resembled a six-yuan chicken leg rice meal. He reached out and patted Li Hua's shoulder, his voice turning airy.

"Hua, you wouldn't want people finding out about your secret crush on the class monitor, would you?"

"You bastard!"

After school that night, Old Toad Yu Tongjie trudged down the crowded staircase with a dejected expression. His dignity as a senior was completely gone.

A handsome, gentle guy was a sweetheart, but an ugly, gentle guy was a blazing goblin?

Brooding made him a dark goblin. A cold expression made him a frost goblin. A good physique made him a brawny goblin. He learned how to dress, only for people to call him a pervert-creepy beyond belief.

Yu Tongjie's favorite anime character used to be Jiraiya from Naruto, the underdog who rose to greatness. He became a successor of Mount Myoboku and could summon all sorts of toads.

He used to see himself as Jiraiya. Now, he could only see himself as an old toad.

Fuck!

By chance, Yu Tongjie looked up and spotted a familiar figure outside the third floor's only Olympiad Class. Jiang Nian was talking to a pretty girl.

Zhang Ningzhi? No, that didn't look like her. Who was that?

Why was Jiang Nian such a player?

Holy shit, dude, you were policing my private life now? You must have been a head eunuch presenting the emperor's consort-selection tablets in your past life.

Jiang Nian had spotted Yu Tongjie too. Idiots always stood out. Still, hatred would be too strong a word. At most, it was a disagreement between classmates, nothing like a deep-seated grudge.

He turned back and asked,

"Xu Qianqian, lend me a hundred yuan."

"Call me Mommy." Xu Qianqian huffed and said irritably, "If you don't, I won't-"

"Mommy."

"You... you..." Xu Qianqian gained a whole new understanding of Jiang Nian's shamelessness. "Didn't you make loads of money? Have you spent it all already?" she demanded fiercely.

"You'd better not be gambling. Auntie Li will break your hands if she finds out!"

"No, I'm planning to buy them some winter clothes." Jiang Nian never needed to rehearse his lies. "I worked it out, and it'll take everything I earned last month."

"Oh, okay." Only then did Xu Qianqian relax.

They walked along the tree-lined path toward the school gate, the dim yellow lamplight falling on the shoulders of the day students heading home. Amid the crowd, the two figures, one tall and one short, walked a little apart.

"Hey, will a hundred even be enough?" With her schoolbag on her back, Xu Qianqian counted on her fingers. "There are still ten... twenty-one, two, three-twenty-three days until the end of the month."

"Exactly. How about helping me out a little more?"

"I'll have to see how much I have left. As long as you don't starve to death, that's enough." Xu Qianqian enthusiastically dug her phone out of her schoolbag. "My secret stash is off-limits. I've got eight hundred and twenty-six yuan and thirty cents left for this month."

Jiang Nian's eyelid twitched. He knew that didn't include the money on her meal card.

"A rich little girl! How much have you hidden in that secret stash?"

"Who are you calling a little girl?" Xu Qianqian protested. "You pervert."

"If you're shorter than me, you count." Jiang Nian had already stepped through the school gate. "Your allowance lasts longer than my lifespan. If you're not a rich little girl, who is?"

"Hmph, you have way more money than me. Don't think I don't know!" Xu Qianqian flicked her ponytail. "I'm not lending you anything. Go ask someone else. Starve to death."

"If I starve to death, I'll watch over your room until the seventh day after I die." Jiang Nian felt no guilt whatsoever. "Once you fall asleep, I'll hang from the ceiling and watch you."

Xu Qianqian immediately shrank her neck. "Go die, Jiang Nian!"

(End of chapter)