Chapter 9, Lottery Love Letter

Arrogant and frivolous, yet strangely meticulous and thoughtful.

That night, Meng Yanxi asked the driver to take him back to the Meng family home first.

That was the first time Jin Zhao had ever seen a house that was a garden, with covered walkways, streams, artificial hills, and lakes. Before that, she had only ever seen gardens as tourist attractions. You had to buy a ticket to go in, and everywhere you went was crowded with people. The garden was full of flowers and plants, but you couldn't smell their fragrance; the air was filled with the smell of strangers' sweat. Beautiful scenery was always crowded with people, and you had to be careful not to block others from taking pictures.

She learned for the first time that people could actually live in gardens. Gardens that were larger, more beautiful, and more exquisite than those that were tourist attractions.

She suddenly realized that perhaps the most valuable thing was private space.

A little girl, who looked to be about ten years old, was feeding the fish while leaning on the railing in the distance. Seeing Meng Yanxi return, she called out, both happy and unhappy, "Brother!"

The little girl's sweet voice drifted from afar, once again highlighting the value of private space. After all, only in the quiet of home can sound travel so far; in a crowd, it would be diluted into a speck of white noise in the vast sea of ​​people.

Meng Yanxi got out of the car and asked the driver to stop for ten minutes before taking her home.

Jin Zhao thought he was coming back, but the boy turned around and said to her, "Goodbye."

Jin Zhao felt a strange sense of weightlessness.

It wasn't until the Rolls-Royce drove out of the Meng family's house again that Jin Zhao vaguely understood Meng Yanxi's intentions. —If those thugs held a grudge and followed her tonight, they would eventually only follow her to the Meng family's house.

But as he said, let them come to him and see.

That was the first time Jin Zhao glimpsed the passionate yet tender heart beneath the boy's arrogant and frivolous exterior.

*

The second year of high school at the affiliated high school started classes on the 6th, with two days of make-up classes. On the morning we returned, the whole class was a bit listless, and everyone was in low spirits. Their only enthusiasm was for finishing their homework. Test papers were flying everywhere in the classroom, and many familiar faces just grabbed one and started copying.

For example, Luo Heng rushed up to Meng Yanxi as soon as she entered the classroom and grabbed a handful of test papers, only to have Lu Jingyue intercept them halfway and snatch them all away.

Lu Jingyue was quite polite: "Thank you, I had forgotten I had homework if you hadn't mentioned it."

Lu Jingyue is the typical boy who doesn't like doing homework but is smart and always manages to get decent grades. In this respect, he is very different from Meng Yanxi.

Jin Zhao used to not understand why cousins ​​from the same family could have such different attitudes towards learning and their ways of doing things. Now she understands. Compared to Lu Jingyue, whose parents are strong and who has no worries, Meng Yanxi has a greater sense of responsibility. His high profile is not just high profile, but a sign of commitment. He needs unparalleled and irreplaceable excellence to maintain his and his sister's position.

So, although both returned from Switzerland, Lu Jingyue took leave immediately, while Meng Yanxi came to school as soon as she got off the plane; although both came from prominent families, Lu Jingyue often forgot to do her homework, while Meng Yanxi was extremely self-disciplined.

Si Tian turned around and lay on Jin Zhao's table, watching Luo Heng's frantic reaction, slapping the table and laughing.

In the end, Luo Heng was flexible and resourceful. He borrowed half from Jin Zhao and the other half from Si Tian, ​​piecing together the scraps, and managed to finish copying the assignment just before it was due.

During the make-up classes, students don't have to go to the playground to do broadcast gymnastics during the long break, but most students still prefer to go downstairs for a walk.

Jin Zhaohe Sitian went to the supermarket to buy water. On the way, she met a girl from another class, Wang Jiajia, who was Sitian's junior high school classmate. The two stopped and chatted for a few minutes.

Wang Jiajia asked Si Tian, ​​"Can you do me a favor?"

Si Tian asked, "What kind of help?"

Wang Jiajia: "I have about twenty test papers and three workbooks. Could you please take them back to your class and distribute them to everyone?"

Jin Zhao: "!"

She thought that copying other people's homework was outrageous enough, like Luo Heng, but she didn't expect there to be something even more outrageous—directly distributing the homework to others!

Si Tian asked bluntly, "Are you crazy?"

"My mom's gone crazy!" Wang Jiajia exclaimed, scratching her head in frustration. "You know, my family owns a printing shop between No. 1 Middle School and No. 2 Middle School, so every time my mom prints test papers and workbooks for those two schools, she prints an extra copy for me to do... Am I some kind of despicable person who would pick up other people's homework to do?!"

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Si Tian laughed with great schadenfreude.

Jin Zhao also wanted to laugh, but she felt she couldn't kick someone when they're down, so she could only hold it in and silently turn her face away.

Then he spotted Meng Yanxi walking towards him from the opposite side.

The boy was tall with long legs, and his slender yet strong figure was visible beneath his blue and white school uniform. Although the temperature had dropped in the past few days and many classmates had already switched to long sleeves, he was still wearing short sleeves, his arms exposed, his thin skin pale and pale, with a distinct bluish-purple bruise on his right forearm.

Two days later, his injury became more swollen and darker in color.

Jin Zhao's gaze narrowed, his heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.

She walked towards him.

Meng Yanxi's facial injury was still there, but because it was on his jawline, it was lighter in color and not noticeable unless he was right in front of him. He saw Jin Zhao walking towards him and naturally looked at her.

The boy had dark eyes and was a head taller than her. When he looked at her, his gaze followed the corner of his eyes downwards.

Jin Zhao's heart started racing for no reason. She could even hear her own heartbeat, thump-thump. She tried to suppress it with reason, but she couldn't control it.

If she didn't have a good impression of Meng Yanxi at first, after that night, this boy named Meng Yanxi was like a seed, clean, beautiful, and full of vitality, taking root in her heart.

She secretly took a deep breath, tilted her head back, and whispered to him, "I sent your clothes to the dry cleaners. I'll bring them to you when they're done."

The girl's face was clean and rosy, even her under-eye bags were a pinkish color. The wind, carrying the fragrance of osmanthus, blew over the two of them, ruffled his clothes, and lifted the stray hairs on her forehead.

Meng Yanxi looked down at her.

"Meng Yanxi".

Someone called out to him from ahead, and Lu Jingyue and Luo Heng came down from the teaching building together.

"It's alright, no rush." ​​Meng Yanxi walked past Jin Zhao.

"What are you talking about? Come on, let's go shoot some hoops."

Luo Heng casually put his arm around Meng Yanxi's back, but Meng Yanxi immediately pushed him away in disgust.

"Class is about to start, why are you shooting hoops?"

"Let's shoot a three-pointer and come back, just to have some fun." Luo Heng, thick-skinned as ever, chimed in again.

With one arm around Meng Yanxi's shoulder and the other around Lu Jingyue's, he embraced two top-tier handsome men on either side and carried them toward the basketball court, making countless girls green with envy along the way.

Luo Heng seemed to enjoy this feeling of envy, jealousy, and hatred, his smile was incredibly irritating, while Meng Yanxi looked at him with disgust.

Only Lu Jingyue looked at Jin Zhao thoughtfully, and smiled slightly as he passed by her.

The smile looked very kind, but when Jin Zhao looked into Lu Jingyue's clear eyes, she suddenly remembered Luo Heng's jinxed interpretation of her name: "Zhao as in 'obvious as can be seen,' and Zhao as in 'Sima Zhao's heart is known to all.'"

What a terrible curse!

*

Si Tian was a righteous person. After listening to Wang Jiajia's complaints, she immediately pulled Jin Zhao to Class 6 and brought out a stack of test papers and workbooks.

Jin Zhao: "Do you really want my help? The handwriting is different too."

Si Tian: "There's nothing we can do about it. We can't just stand by and watch her die."

Jin Zhao: "..."

Well, it's not that scary.

Si Tian was very popular, and the papers were distributed within minutes of her returning to the class. Jin Zhao also received five test papers.

Back in his seat, just as he was about to put the exam paper under his desk, Jin Zhao felt a hard envelope inside. It was a sweet, bubbly pink color, with a heart-shaped sticker on the seal.

This wasn't the first time Jin Zhao had seen such a letter; she had received several in the past two months. —They weren't for her, they were for Meng Yanxi.

Meng Yanxi changed seats, but the news did not spread throughout the high school in time. Some girls did not know that the window seat in the third row had been changed to Jin Zhao's, so they inevitably sent the wrong seats.

Jin Zhao's impression of Meng Yanxi wasn't very good before. She didn't want to entrust the girls' affections to someone with such a chaotic private life, aloofness, and a lack of heart. However, she couldn't bring herself to handle other people's letters privately, so she gave them all to Luo Heng. Luo Heng and Meng Yanxi were on good terms, so he would pass them on.

But this time, Jin Zhao felt that he had dark thoughts.

She put the envelope back under the table. She didn't give it to Meng Yanxi, nor to Luo Heng; she kept it.

Because of his immoral act, Jin Zhao was tormented by his conscience for several days.

Even a chance encounter with Meng Yanxi on the street, brushing past him, didn't bring her the same joy. The letter in her desk drawer was like a burning ember; the deeper the autumn chill, the hotter it burned, making even the seat Jin Zhao sat in feel like it was on fire, filling her with unease day by day.

Ji Haoxuan was just as uneasy as she was.

Jin Zhao didn't open the letter, so she didn't know that it wasn't addressed to Meng Yanxi at all, but to her. It was from Ji Haoxuan.

But she didn't have the habit of peeking at "others'" letters, so she was completely unaware that she was silently suffering the pangs of her conscience.

To make matters worse, Ji Haoxuan was unaware that she hadn't read it and assumed that all her subsequent unusual behavior—the sudden blushing, rapid breathing, and darting eyes—was because she had seen his letter.

He assumed they were mutually in love, which stirred something within Ji Haoxuan.

At sixteen or seventeen, Ji Haoxuan was in the prime of his life, with his hormones surging. He often dreamed of Jin Zhao at night, and every time he woke up, he was covered in sweat.

He started bringing food to Jin Zhao every morning, either milk or yogurt, along with different pretty little snacks each day.

Jin Zhao is going crazy.

Encountering Meng Yanxi by chance became a torturous experience, making her feel like a vicious supporting character, despicable and lowly, secretly keeping other girls' feelings and gifts.

She started avoiding Meng Yanxi, not daring to pass through the back door, and always going around through the front door.

On two other occasions, when she saw Meng Yanxi walking towards her from afar, she turned around and ran away.

Meng Yanxi: "?"

Meng Yanxi reflected on it and realized that she hadn't done anything recently that would offend her.

He hasn't bought Meng Shixu condoms recently, hasn't been involved in any scandals with other girls, and hasn't even received any love letters lately.

How did he manage to annoy her?

Meng Yanxi concluded that it was an ungrateful wretch who repaid kindness with enmity.

*

The affiliated high school has a day off every Sunday. There is no evening self-study on Saturday night. After school, students can leave after finishing their cleaning duties.

Meng Yanxi's clothes have been washed, and Jin Zhao packed them in a brand-new paper bag to take to school.

The table was overflowing with milk and pastries, so Jin Zhao didn't dare throw them away. He took them out and put them in a paper bag, along with the bubbly, sweet envelope.

She spent the entire day in a state of inner turmoil.

On the one hand, she couldn't bear the pangs of conscience and finally decided to return the items to Meng Yanxi; on the other hand, she didn't want to be a matchmaker for him and other girls.

She remained conflicted until school ended. She mentally prepared herself at her seat and finally picked up the paper bag, only to find that Meng Yanxi was already gone when she turned around.

Luo Heng and Lu Jingyue have also disappeared.

Jin Zhao: "..." She suddenly felt that her day had been meaningless.

Today it was Si Tian and Jin Zhao's turn to clean. After they finished cleaning, all the other students in the class had already left.

The setting sun shone on the tops of the sycamore trees, and the sound of basketballs hitting the ground echoed in the vast campus. The air was filled with the scent of books mixed with the sweat of teenagers.

The newly opened bakery behind the affiliated high school is very popular, with long queues always forming outside. Today is a holiday, and it's rare to find seats available. Jin Zhao treated Si Tian to double-skin milk pudding.

A new lottery shop had opened next to the bakery. As the two came out of the bakery, Jin Zhao stopped for a moment.

She knew she had always been unlucky, but He Yu's story of buying lottery tickets full-time sounded inspiring and made her eager to try it herself.

Buy one, it's only five yuan.

"Want to buy a lottery ticket?" Si Tian noticed her kitten-like, pleading eyes.

Jin Zhao nodded gently: "Mm."

Si Tian pulled her inside: "Then let's buy it!"

Lotteries come in all shapes and sizes, with many different ways to play. The two chose the simplest scratch-off lottery, when suddenly they heard someone behind them shout, "Kuku!"

That irritating voice made Si Tian's scalp tingle, and Jin Zhao turned around.

Meng Yanxi, Lu Jingyue, and Luo Heng walked over together.

Behind them, the setting sun cast its warm, pale light on the city skyline.

They must have just finished playing basketball; they were still wearing their jerseys, sweaty teenagers with damp bangs on their foreheads. Luo Heng was balancing a basketball on his finger, spinning it around. Meng Yanxi had her backpack slung over one shoulder, her long, slender fingers casually tugging at the strap.

He looked at Jin Zhao, and when Jin Zhao turned around, she met his pair of dark, captivating eyes. The next second, she guiltily looked away.

"What are you doing?" Luo Heng asked as he entered.

Si Tian rolled her eyes at him: "Can't you tell for yourself? Buy a lottery ticket."

"I knew you were bad at math, but I didn't know you were this bad. Didn't you learn probability? You might as well donate money instead of buying lottery tickets."

"You're the scumbag! Luo Heng, you scumbag!" Si Tian immediately grabbed him and chased after him.

Jin Zhao initially thought it was outrageous that He Yu was a full-time lottery player, but somehow she was subtly influenced by him. Now, hearing Luo Heng say that, she suddenly felt it was rather silly.

"Let's go." Jin Zhao pulled Si Tian back.

"Why are you leaving? I'm going to buy! Boss, give me two scratch-off tickets!"

“Let’s buy some too.” Luo Heng turned back to ask Meng Yanxi and Lu Jingyue, “Brother Yan, Brother Yue, do you want to buy lottery tickets?”

"Buy yours, I'll pass." Lu Jingyue took the basketball from Luo Heng's hand.

Meng Yanxi paused for two seconds, then walked to the counter and stood next to Jin Zhao to make her selections.

There are several kinds of scratch-off lottery tickets. Si Tian carefully selected one, while Luo Heng complained, but then closed his eyes and rubbed his hands together, muttering "May you have wealth!"

Jin Zhao had no time to choose. Meng Yanxi stood beside her, his powerful aura enveloping her. The boy, who had just finished exercising, was warm all over, but his scent was pleasant. The cold, aloof fragrance of pine mist from the cold mountains had become more intense. She could even feel the heat emanating from him burning her through the air; the side of her skin closest to him felt hot.

She randomly pulled out a scratch-off lottery ticket and gave the shopkeeper five yuan. The shopkeeper didn't take it and asked if she was an adult. Si Tian blinked and quickly answered that they were both in their final year of high school and had already turned eighteen. Only then did the shopkeeper sell it to them.

"Is there anything else?" Meng Yanxi asked, glancing sideways.

Jin Zhao didn't expect him to speak to her first, and turned her head a beat late: "Huh?"

Meng Yanxi glanced at the five yuan the shopkeeper handed her: "I didn't bring any money, and my phone is dead."

"Brother Yan, you didn't bring any money? I'll lend you some!" Upon hearing Meng Yanxi's words, Luo Heng immediately and enthusiastically took out money from his pocket.

"I don't need you." Meng Yanxi glanced at him indifferently.

Luo Heng was puzzled as to why his brother Yan was suddenly being so distant with him. Si Tian, ​​Jin Zhao, and Lu Jingyue also looked at him.

Meng Yanxi: "You have bad luck, it's unlucky."

"Meng Yanxi, that's too much!" Luo Heng cried out in grievance, feeling wronged by the unlucky words.

Si Tian gloated: "Meng Yanxi was just telling the truth, how is that going too far? Some people shouldn't be so unwilling to listen to the truth!"

Jin Zhao wanted to say: My luck is even worse. But she didn't want to refuse Meng Yanxi, so she lowered her head, took out five yuan from her schoolbag, and handed it to the shopkeeper.

In the corner of his eye, the boy's long, pale fingers casually pulled out a lottery ticket.

The four of them were leaning over the counter scratching lottery tickets. Si Tian and Luo Heng scratched one at the same time, looked at each other immediately, and started laughing at each other in tacit agreement.

"Hehe, I told you you're unlucky!"

"We're all in the same boat!"

Si Tian then leaned over to look at Jin Zhao, who also failed.

But she was incredibly hypocritical. She mocked Luo Heng mercilessly, but was incredibly sweet and caring towards Jin Zhao: "Wow! Zhao Zhao! You're so beautiful inside and out. You're actually doing a good deed every day on purpose, aren't you!"

Even Jin Zhao himself couldn't stand listening to it anymore.

“That shouldn’t be it.” Meng Yanxi handed over the lottery ticket. “You won.”

Jin Zhao: "!"

Luo Heng snatched it away, and upon seeing the amount on it, exclaimed "Holy crap!" on the spot: "3000 yuan!"

Jin Zhao, Si Tian, ​​and the boss were all shocked, and the three of them rushed over to take a look.

Meng Yanxi really won three thousand yuan.

It's genuine and absolutely true.

The shopkeeper took out a stack of brand-new banknotes from the counter, exchanged them for him on the spot, and said with a smile, "Young man, you're very lucky. The highest you can exchange here is three thousand yuan, and you won the grand prize with just one scratch."

Jin Zhao thought to herself, "Yeah, how can someone be so lucky? I clearly saw him just randomly draw a card."

“He’s been lucky since he was a child; he’s lucky six or seven times out of ten.” Lu Jingyue leaned against the door, staring at Meng Yanxi with a thoughtful smile.

Si Tian was stunned: "Holy crap! Meng Yanxi, if I had your luck, I'd buy lottery tickets every day!"

Luo Heng scoffed, "How narrow-minded! How much money do you make buying lottery tickets? My brother Yan studies international affairs and trades futures; he makes a fortune in one go..."

"Alright, stop bragging here," Meng Yanxi interrupted Luo Heng calmly.

He turned to the shop owner and said, "Give it to her; she paid for it."

He glanced at Jin Zhao and said, "Whoever pays the bill gets the prize."

That makes sense, but few people are that generous. That's why most people never borrow money to buy lottery tickets, for fear that if they win, their money will be divided up.

The boss gave Meng Yanxi a thumbs up and said, "Good job, young man!"

But Jin Zhao had no intention of taking the money. He quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no need. What you scratched is yours. I could never scratch this much money even if I bought a thousand lottery tickets. We agreed it was a loan, so just pay me back five yuan next Monday."

She looked at Meng Yanxi, trying to reason with him. But Meng Yanxi was unreasonable and simply turned and left.

Lu Jingyue was watching the play at the entrance, thoroughly enjoying it, when Meng Yanxi passed by him and said, "Let's go."

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

"Alright, Zhao Zhao, here you go! Look how arrogant Meng Yanxi is, he definitely won't pay you back. You spent the money, so it's only right that you redeem the prize."

Si Tian took the money from the boss and stuffed it into Jin Zhao's hand.

Jin Zhao touched the brand-new paper, and after a moment, stuffed the cash into Meng Yanxi's clothes and hurriedly ran out.

"Tian Tian, ​​you should go home early. I'm leaving now."

"Meng Yanxi!"

Jin Zhao caught up with the three boys who had already walked away and stuffed the paper bag into Meng Yanxi's arms, who was in the middle.

Ignoring the interested looks from Luo Heng and Lu Jingyue, she forced herself to say, "The clothes you borrowed from me last time have already been washed."

After Jin Zhao finished speaking, she ran away quickly. Luo Heng and Lu Jingyue glanced at the girl's hurriedly fleeing figure, and then looked at Meng Yanxi together.

*

That night, Jin Zhao pondered a question: How could someone be like Meng Yanxi? She was good at everything, even better at fighting than others, and even had better luck than others!

At the same time, Meng Yanxi also saw the three thousand yuan and pink envelope that she had stuffed into her clothes. It was a letter written in the style of the Republic of China era, quite elegant, beginning with "Jin Zhao" and ending with "Ji Haoxuan". After reading it, Meng Yanxi tore it up expressionlessly and threw it into the trash can along with the yogurt and snacks.

A note from the author:

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

Today is a two-in-one day, tomorrow is Sunday, time to rest, muah~

Please help me vote on the female lead's name. I initially wanted to use "Jin Zhao," but I was worried it would sound like a boy's name like in my previous book, so I changed it to the more feminine "Zhao." But I'm still a little conflicted. So, which do you prefer, Jin Zhao or Jin Zhao? It's not a paid book yet, so you can still change it. Please vote for me! Jin Zhao or Jin Zhao? Leave a comment below, thank you!