Chapter 16, Chapter 16, 5 million

Meng Zhuxi looked at Meng Yanxi.

Her brother has incredibly thick skin; he always has a cold, expressionless face and never changes his expression no matter what happens.

Meng Zhuxi's eyes darted around, then her gaze returned to Jin Zhao, and she exclaimed with sudden realization, "Ah, that doll! I love it so much, thank you, Sister Jin Zhao!"

She smiled so sweetly. Such a well-behaved little sister. Jin Zhao couldn't understand why Meng Yanxi would want to feed her poisonous mushrooms.

As soon as Jin Zhao left, the sweet smile on her younger sister's face vanished. She tilted her head and looked at her brother, reminding him, "Meng Yanxi, you owe me two favors today."

To avoid sounding too arrogant, she added an "oh." But her brother ignored her, glanced at her, and walked away.

Meng Yanxi is always so ungrateful, Meng Zhuxi thought to herself, but she is very magnanimous and won't hold it against him.

Meng Zhuxi jogged after him, took his hand, and asked, "What kind of clay doll is that? Is it pretty?"

The brother and sister walked along the bustling commercial pedestrian street, their similar striking appearances drawing glances from passersby.

Meng Yanxi: "It's just a clay figure, made of clay. Do you think it's pretty?"

Meng Zhuxi: "..."

Meng Yanxi was cunning, and Meng Zhuxi wasn't stupid either. If it really wasn't good-looking, why would he keep her gift without her permission?

But Meng Zhuxi didn't say anything more, nor did she ask him for anything. She never asked Meng Yanxi for anything; she usually got what she liked herself. And next Friday was Meng Yanxi's birthday, but she had overheard a secret that wasn't very friendly to him, and she felt a little sorry for her brother.

"What’s wrong with you?"

Although Meng Yanxi is often ruthless and unreasonable, he is generally a good older brother. He can immediately and keenly sense when his sister’s emotions change slightly.

Meng Zhuxi looked up at him, unsure whether she should speak.

She promised her father she wouldn't tell.

"Is someone bullying you at school?" Meng Yanxi stared at her with his dark eyes.

Meng Zhuxi: "No, I'm very popular."

Meng Yanxi nodded: "That means Dad doesn't want you to tell me."

The little girl was shocked, her pink lips slightly parted into an "o" shape.

Dad was right to scold him; Meng Yanxi is indeed an incredibly clever but wicked older brother.

Meng Yanxi: "Speak."

Meng Zhuxi was ultimately on her brother's side. After hesitating for two seconds, she spoke up: "Brother, Dad might not be home on your birthday. I heard him ask Uncle Zhou to book a hotel and a diamond ring."

Meng Yanxi's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Although Meng Zhuxi is young, she is already in the fourth grade of elementary school. She understands the meaning of a diamond ring, which is used for marriage proposals. But she is still young, and Meng Shixu and Meng Yanxi have given her too much love and protected her too well, making her full of innocent kindness towards the world. Therefore, she is not as resistant to the idea of ​​having a new mother as Meng Yanxi.

She tilted her head up and asked softly, "Brother, do you still not want Dad to remarry?"

She knew her brother had done a lot, both openly and secretly, to prevent this from happening.

“Dad can remarry,” Meng Yanxi said, lowering her eyes and letting her dark gaze fall down her eyelids, “but not now.”

"Why?"

"Because my brother is not strong enough yet, I won't be able to protect you if something happens to our family."

"Will there definitely be wind and rain?" the little girl asked, still a bit confused. "Although Momo told me that families with stepmothers or stepmothers have always been tough for children, especially girls, and that a stepmother means a stepfather, our dad is different. He's so amazing, so good, and most importantly, he really loves us. Brother, can't you feel it?"

Meng Yanxi quietly looked at her younger sister, who was seven years younger than her.

“I know. But I don’t like gambling, and I would never gamble on human nature.”

*

On Monday, Jin Zhao arrived at the classroom at 7 o'clock.

She didn't know if she had created a romantic atmosphere for herself, but she felt that after Sunday, the distance between her and Meng Yanxi seemed to have shortened, and now even stepping into the classroom made her heart race.

Meng Yanxi hadn't arrived yet, so she walked past his seat.

Until the morning reading bell rang and until the first class started, Meng Yanxi's seat remained empty. Jin Zhao kept wondering why he hadn't come.

When we parted yesterday afternoon, he said he would see me tomorrow.

Lu Jingyue and Luo Heng arrived. The two reacted calmly and casually to the fact that Meng Yanxi's seat was empty, without even mentioning it. Jin Zhao guessed that they must know the reason, but she was too embarrassed to ask.

She was terrified that mentioning Meng Yanxi even once would expose her true feelings. She wasn't doing anything wrong, but she felt guilty. She remembered how Luo Heng's casual remark, "The 'Zhao' in 'obvious as if revealed,' the 'Zhao' in 'Sima Zhao's heart is known to all,' had startled her.

Her inaction paid off, as Si Tian quickly noticed Meng Yanxi's absence. During the first break, Si Tian turned to borrow a pen from Jin Zhao and noticed Meng Yanxi's empty seat. She boldly asked Lu Jingyue, "Why didn't Meng Yanxi come to school today?"

Jin Zhao silently felt deeply grateful to Si Tian.

She calmly opened the pencil case, took out a black pen, and her ears perked up discreetly.

Lu Jingyue said, "He took leave."

Si Tian: "Why are you asking for leave?"

Lu Jingyue: "I'm injured."

"Smack!"

The black pen was pulled out of the pencil case, but I didn't hold it properly and it fell onto the table.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jingyue and Si Tian looked at Jin Zhao.

Jin Zhao's ears burned, and she quickly picked up the pen, pretending to be calm as she handed it to Si Tian.

"Thank you." Si Tian took the pen in her hand, tapping the cap on the table, and continued to ask Lu Jingyue, "How did you get hurt? Is it serious?"

Lu Jingyue glanced at Jin Zhao, who remained silent, pretending to tidy up her pencil case with her head down.

After a few seconds, Lu Jingyue slowly said, "I sprained my ankle while playing basketball last night. It's not serious, but I should rest at home for a week."

Si Tian got the answer, but it seemed a bit unbelievable. She muttered, "That's ridiculous. He looks like he's the one who's going to hurt others, but he doesn't seem like he can get hurt himself."

Lu Jingyue chuckled.

Jin Zhao didn't know why he was laughing.

She felt countless times that her deskmate must be the closed-door disciple of some enlightened monk in the deep mountains, as his every word and action was full of Zen wisdom.

The second period was Chinese class, and Chen Shu was the homeroom teacher. Meng Yanxi must have asked her for leave. She stood on the podium, glanced at Meng Yanxi's empty seat, thought for a moment, then looked at Lu Jingyue and said, "Lu Jingyue, since Meng Yanxi is taking a week off, could you please organize his class notes for him?"

Lu Jingyue said, "Okay."

As soon as Chen Shu turned his head, he turned to look at Jin Zhao and asked in a low voice, "Can you take class notes for Meng Yanxi?"

Jin Zhao was writing with his head down when his hand trembled slightly, and the horizontal stroke he wrote went crooked and out of bounds.

She looked at Lu Jingyue, but fortunately, Lu Jingyue was merciful and turned to look at the blackboard after speaking, so he didn't see her guilty look.

Lu Jingyue: "My notes are not very good."

Jin Zhao's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she whispered, "Okay."

She was always a diligent student, and taking notes was probably one of her best skills. She took out a brand new notebook, opened it to the first page, and neatly wrote "Chinese" on it.

Before the new college entrance examination, there was a strict division between arts and sciences in Chinese, mathematics, English, physics, chemistry, and biology. Although only the Chinese class mentioned taking notes, Jin Zhao still took notes for every single one of these six subjects.

After evening self-study, Jin Zhao handed her notebook to Lu Jingyue. Lu Jingyue glanced at it; it was a dark blue softcover notebook, the girl's fingers gripping the cover, her fingernails white with a hint of pink.

Lu Jingyue didn't take it, saying, "Meng Yanxi isn't that keen on studying. He's recovering from his injury right now. Let's give it to him when he gets back."

For the next five days of the week, Meng Yanxi did not appear. Jin Zhao diligently organized her notes, and occasionally, when her mind wandered, she couldn't help but wonder if he was seriously injured. Lu Jingyue said he wasn't, but she didn't quite believe him. When he returned from Paris, he came to school without even adjusting to the time difference, but now he had taken a week off.

During Meng Yanxi's absence, the romantic atmosphere she had created for herself was cruelly shattered. She suddenly realized that she and Meng Yanxi were from two different worlds, like two tracks that would never intersect. It was the school that allowed the two tracks to briefly intersect, and the school itself also bore the brunt of all their interactions. Once he was not at school, she would not receive a single word from him.

In the following days, her mood gradually calmed down.

On Saturday, Si Tian suddenly asked her, "Do you want to go visit Meng Yanxi together on Sunday?"

Jin Zhao suddenly looked up.

“They’re all classmates.” Si Tian, ​​who was always generous and open-minded, even suggested, “Why don’t we ask the other classmates? I think everyone would like to go see him. If possible, we can arrange a time and place, pool our money to buy some gifts, and go together.”

"What money are we raising?" Lu Jingyue chuckled. "You might be able to borrow some money from him."

Jin Zhao: "?"

Si Tian: "What do you mean? Oh no, he went to scratch lottery tickets again?"

When Luo Heng heard this, he immediately contradicted her: "Have some ambition, Ku Ku. You only win a few bucks in the lottery. My brother Yan..."

"Alright, stop bragging. What does your brother Yan's money have to do with you?" Lu Jingyue turned to look at Jin Zhao and pondered for a moment before saying, "How about this, Meng Yanxi doesn't like crowds or disturbing others, so Jin Zhao and Si Tian will represent their classmates to visit her, okay?"

Lu Jingyue had arranged everything clearly, and Si Tian thought it was fine. She then asked Jin Zhao, "What do you think?"

Jin Zhao's feelings were very complicated, but in the end, the desire to see Meng Yanxi prevailed, and she nodded gently.

*

On Sunday, Jin Zhao and Si Tian still chipped in to buy Meng Yanxi a small cake. Si Tian asked Lu Jingyue and Luo Heng to chip in, but for some reason, the two refused. In the end, the two girls had to chip in, which Si Tian found extremely distasteful.

When Jin Zhao arrived at the Meng family home with Lu Jingyue, Luo Heng, and Si Tian, ​​she finally understood why Lu Jingyue and Luo Heng refused to pool their money to buy Meng Yanxi a gift.

It's not worth it, it's really not worth it!

Jin Zhao imagined Meng Yanxi this week: bedridden, in unbearable pain, listless and lethargic, only occasionally able to get out of bed in a wheelchair. Every time she thought about it, her heart ached for her.

The Meng Yanxi she actually met was someone who was successful and full of vigor.

When they arrived, Meng Yanxi herself opened the door.

The community, with its constant temperature and humidity, remained warm and comfortable even in the early spring when the weather was still chilly. Meng Yanxi, wearing a thin black sweater and casual pants, stood behind the general's gate, a tall and slender young man who moved with ease, welcoming their arrival.

Jin Zhao looked at his feet in shock.

Meng Yanxi said, "It's all better now."

Let's assume that wealthy people recover from injuries faster.

But what she received later made her somewhat resentful of the rich.

Luo Heng was loud and boisterous, while Lu Jingyue was more low-key. The news that Luo Heng was strictly forbidden from saying at school was that Meng Yanxi had earned 5 million.

That's right, in just one week, while everyone was sympathizing with Meng Yanxi for injuring her leg while playing basketball and having to stay in bed to recover, Meng Yanxi painfully earned 5 million.

Jin Zhao didn't understand futures or international affairs, but she roughly understood the logic from Lu Jingyue and Meng Yanxi's conversation.

Surprisingly, it was related to the book "History of the Black Sea" that Meng Yanxi was reading, which covered Eastern European culture, economy, and geopolitics. Before the political situation in Ukraine was unstable, Meng Yanxi believed that the Ukrainian plains were the breadbasket of Europe, and that food prices would inevitably rise sharply in the event of a crisis. So he decisively bought wheat and corn on the futures market. Sure enough, the Ukrainian crisis broke out recently, and in less than a month, wheat and corn prices rose by an average of 20%.

Jin Zhao was truly amazed.

She noticed so early on that Meng Yanxi was reading "History of the Black Sea," and while she was still wondering if it was his hobby and whether he wanted to study abroad there, Meng Yanxi was already making money.

It turns out that Meng Yanxi wasn't reading because of any particular hobby; if he did, it would be making money.

Jin Zhao was somewhat annoyed that her vision was too narrow. If only she had a broader perspective... she might have been able to buy it with him.

But after she did a simple math calculation, she knew it was impossible.

Admittedly, Meng Yanxi has impressive insight, judging international macroeconomic situations even while still a high school student, but his ability to earn 5 million is likely due to his initial capital of 25 million.

Jin Zhao: "..."

His principal was already beyond her reach in this lifetime; she really was an NPC.

"It won't cost 25 million. With 10x leverage, 2.5 million will be enough. Do you know where this money comes from?"

When Jin Zhao handed him his class notes, the two had a brief moment alone. Meng Yanxi leaned against the railing on the artificial lake and casually threw a handful of fish food into the lake below. The koi in the water rushed to gather around him.

Jin Zhao suspected that he was showing off his wealth to her, after all, 2.5 million was a dream for an ordinary high school student like her.

No, the most she's ever dreamed of is 1 million.

She stood in front of him, staring at him blankly.

Meng Yanxi took the class notes handed to her, put them aside, and said casually, "My dad was planning to spend 2.5 million yuan to buy a diamond ring for his girlfriend, but I broke them up. The 2.5 million yuan didn't go to waste either; since I couldn't buy the diamond ring, I borrowed it to buy corn."

"Strictly speaking, this level of profit is what I call my first pot of gold."

The morning sun slanted through the eaves of the traditional Chinese garden, and willow branches drooped onto the artificial lake. Meng Yanxi leaned lazily against the railing, the sunlight falling on his shoulders like scattered gold, while his handsome young face was shrouded in shadow.

"Do you think it's bloody, Lingling?" He looked into her eyes and softly called her by her childhood name.

Their eyes met, and Jin Zhao saw his own eyelashes tremble slightly in his dark eyes.

"Thump!"

Suddenly, the koi in the lake swayed their tails, creating ripples, and the sound of the waves was clearly audible.

-----------------------

The author notes: My time on campus was ten years ago. This reference is to the 2014 Ukraine crisis, when corn and wheat prices rose by 18% in March and April. I've rounded it up to 20% here.