Chapter 19
Xu Gui, carrying a bouquet of paper roses, took a car back to the hotel.
Her luck seemed to be running out. As soon as she opened the car door to get out of the hotel, she twisted her ankle. Then, after grimacing, she took a few steps forward and fell flat on her face.
The taxi driver, who was about to leave, happened to see this scene and hesitated for a moment: "Is the passenger alright? There was such a loud noise!"
Xu Gui: "..."
As the saying goes, if you fall down, just lie there. After Xu Gui fell, she simply lay on the ground and rested for a while. Fortunately, she didn't forget to lift the flowers with her hands when she fell, so although her clothes were dirty, the flowers were still fine.
She lay on the ground for a few seconds before slowly getting up.
This time, she was much more careful as she walked, keeping her eyes and ears open, and managed to get herself safely to her room without any further mishaps on the way.
When she got back to the hotel, the first thing she did was find a vase to put the flowers in. After searching around, she borrowed a vase from the hotel that already had artificial flowers in it. As for the artificial flowers that were originally in the vase, she naturally put them away in a drawer.
After arranging the paper flowers, she moved the vase around several times before finally placing it in what she considered the best spot, at the head of her bed.
After placing it, she sat on the edge of the bed, cupped her face in her hands, and quietly admired it, feeling quite pleased with herself. She thought the flowers were beautiful no matter how she looked at them.
After looking at the flowers for a while, she got up and went to the bathroom to wash up. After washing up, she tucked herself into bed, leaned against the headboard, and opened her phone to take stock of her assets.
"...The dean said that the surgery for Dongzhi would cost at least 800,000 yuan." She muttered to herself as she opened her various accounts, only to be horrified to discover that all her savings combined amounted to a little less than 20,000 yuan.
This sum of nearly 20,000 yuan also includes what she earned from setting up her stall during this period.
Xu Gui was quite shocked: Was he really that poor?
With her meager savings of just over 20,000 yuan, when will she ever be able to save enough for Dongzhi's surgery to reach 800,000 yuan? No wonder she used to keep saying she wanted to make money; the situation is indeed quite dire now.
Xu Gui's expression fell silent.
At this moment, the little black tortoise, who had only recently entered the human world, felt the fear of being dominated by poverty.
"Looks like I need to work harder to earn money..." she murmured.
*
The next day, Xu Gui's cameraman arrived at Xu Gui's door promptly at 8:40 a.m. - their production team implemented a 9 a.m. start-of-filming system, which was very humane.
As for the photographer arriving twenty minutes early, it was because he was prepared to spend twenty minutes arguing with Xu Gui. After all, Teacher Xu is someone who has difficulty getting up in the morning, and it always takes at least twenty minutes to wake her up at the door.
Well, at least.
Xu Gui wasn't ashamed of this; on the contrary, she was proud. After all, which tortoise is eager to get up? Even the Third Elder couldn't do it, so her ability to get up at nine o'clock every day already made her a very diligent tortoise.
However, today, unexpectedly, when the photographer knocked on the door, the door opened and Xu Guiying's fair and delicate face appeared from behind the door. Her face was clean and had a fresh, pinkish glow from just washing her face.
The camera faithfully captured everything, and the mom fans in Xu Gui's live stream couldn't help but scream: "Baby, you're such a cute little pink cake!"
Look at that crystal clear, snow-white, delicate, and rosy face. No wonder it's their baby; he's just so beautiful—forgive the strong filter of the mom fans.
When the paparazzi saw Xu Gui come out, they almost wanted to turn around and look outside to see if it was raining blood. Otherwise, why would they see someone who usually had trouble getting up so early today?
Xu Gui glanced at him, opened the door a little, and said, "Come in first." Then she walked into the house.
The photographer, somewhat bewildered, followed her inside and couldn't help but ask, "...Teacher Xu, why are you up so early today?"
Upon hearing his question, Xu Gui suddenly turned to look at him, his expression very serious.
The photographer was startled by her expression, thinking something had happened. Then he heard Xu Gui say in a heavy and sorrowful tone, "Because I've discovered that I'm actually so poor QAQ."
"..." The cameraman's lips twitched slightly, and he asked earnestly, "So, you're so poor you can't sleep?"
"No, that's not it." Xu Gui said dejectedly, "I can still sleep, my sleep quality is very good..."
She's the kind of turtle who, even when struck by lightning, would stretch out her head and sleep soundly, thus getting struck squarely by the lightning. How could she possibly have a sleepless night?
"But!" Xu Gui changed the subject, clenching his fist, "I decided last night that I'm going to work hard to make money... As for the goal, let's set it at 100 million for now!"
She thought about it for a long time before setting this short-term goal. She has decided that she will earn 100 million yuan in the short term and then make adjustments later.
However, her short-term goal of "one hundred million" was deafening and shocking to others, silencing everyone present and those not there.
At this point, everyone had only one question: "How can someone make earning a hundred million sound as easy as earning a hundred dollars?"
But if she's dreaming, then it's certainly quite relaxing.
He smiled as he followed the camera: "...Teacher Xu, can we go now?" He cleverly changed the subject.
Upon hearing this, Xu Gui blinked, but did not act immediately. Instead, she turned around and picked up something from behind her. When she turned back, everyone saw that it was a bunch of paper roses.
If you count carefully, there are fifteen branches.
The person filming glanced at it and couldn't help but ask, "Did you fold this, Teacher Xu?"
Xu Gui shook his head, a hint of pride in his expression, and said, "These were a gift from someone... I looked them up online, and these are Austin roses, these two are pink lychee roses, and these over here are Elsa roses..."
She knew each and every one of them like the back of her hand; she recognized them all.
Upon closer inspection, the photographer realized that the flower did not appear to have been picked by a single person.
The fifteen origami roses were not only different in style, but the skill levels of the origami makers were also obviously different. Some were folded very precisely with perfect flower shapes, while others were a messy jumble with only the shape of a single flower vaguely discernible. Clearly, this bouquet was not made by one person, but by an unknown number of people.
However, when the fifteen branches are held together, they look quite colorful.
"How is it? Isn't it beautiful?" Xu Gui asked expectantly, as if showing off a treasure.
A strange feeling suddenly arose in the photographer's mind—could it be that Teacher Xu called him into the room just to ask him this one question?
What's even stranger is that the paparazzi felt that this kind of thing wasn't outrageous at all for Xu Gui; they felt that she was really capable of doing it.
"I think these flowers are especially beautiful, the most beautiful bouquet in the world!" she said, reaching out to carefully touch the flowers before putting the flowers and vase back on the bedside table.
Seeing how much she cherished the flowers, the photographer couldn't help but ask, "Teacher Xu, who gave you these flowers?" Even though many of them looked wrinkled and not pretty at all, Xu Gui treasured them like they were precious things.
"Who gave them to me?" A smile appeared in Xu Gui's eyes as she said, "A group of very cute children!"
She picked up her phone and power bank, full of ambition, and said, "Alright, we can go to work now! Today I'm going to make lots and lots of money!"
Then……
*
Thirteen minutes later, seeing Xu Gui with one foot stuck in the pit, even the person filming felt sorry for her.
"Teacher Xu, are you really alright?" the cameraman couldn't help but ask.
Along the way, he and the more than 200,000 netizens in Xu Gui's live broadcast room witnessed Xu Gui fall flat on his face, almost get hit by a flowerpot falling on his head, and now step into the only pothole on the road... Isn't this too unlucky?
Xu Gui waved his hand, "I'm fine!"
She struggled to pull her foot out of the pit, and finally managed to get it out, but her shoes got dirty. Luckily, she wasn't injured.
Xu Gui shook the mud off her feet, seemingly unconcerned about the bad luck she had encountered along the way, but her fans in the live stream felt very sorry for her.
[Waaaaah, why is my daughter so unlucky today? She's always been so lucky!]
Whether we're lucky or not doesn't matter, I just feel so sorry for my daughter, she's suffered so much along the way.
[I'll give my daughter a little extra from this month's living expenses. She needs to take good care of herself!]
[Wow, unbelievable! I actually saw a 17-year-old high school student calling a 23-year-old adult "daughter." You really do encounter all sorts of things when you live long enough!]
[Ha, what's even more outrageous is that this high school student has 10,000 yuan a month for living expenses? While I work hard for a month and only earn 5,000 yuan. #ClownEmoji##ClownEmoji#]
These words are so poignant that they bring tears to the eyes of anyone who hears them, striking a chord with countless working-class people. Immediately, viewers in Xu Gui's live stream flooded the chat with the #clown# emoji.
*
Xu Gui carefully made his way to the overpass where he had set up his stall.
By this time, the old man had already set up his stall. When he saw Xu Gui coming over, he originally wanted to say something sarcastic to her, but then he noticed that Xu Gui was dirty and had some scratches on her arms.
"What's wrong with you?" The old man's expression changed, his face hardening as he asked, "Did someone bully you on the way here?"
He acted as if he knew that if Xu Gui said yes, he would immediately roll up his sleeves and teach that guy who bullied Xu Gui a lesson.
Seeing this, Xu Gui obediently replied, "I fell down all by myself."
The old man, who had already come up with more than a dozen ways to vent his anger on Xu Gui, was speechless.
After a few seconds of silence, the old man finally spoke softly, asking, "Did you fall?" His tone was puzzled.
Xu Gui nodded and told him about how she fell on the road, was hit by a flowerpot, and got her foot stuck in a pothole. The old man's lips twitched as he listened to her series of misfortunes.
So, how did this person become so unlucky?
"...Aren't you a fortune teller? Can't you foresee what you'll encounter today and avoid it in advance?" The old man's questioning words were tinged with disappointment.
Xu Gui blinked and said, "We fortune tellers usually can't predict our own fortunes, which is why there's a saying, 'We predict others but not ourselves'... However, although I don't know exactly what I'll encounter, I do know I'll have bad luck these next few days, so I've already prepared!"
As she spoke, she took out a bottle of mercurochrome and cotton swabs from her bag and said proudly, "Look how well prepared I am! Even if I fall a few more times, I can still apply the medicine to myself in time!"
Old man: "..." You're actually feeling proud of yourself, aren't you?
At this moment, the old man suddenly felt a headache, because he suddenly realized that the little girl in front of him, although she seemed quite smart, seemed a bit dim-witted.
The cameraman had already helped Xu Gui set up his stall—he had helped move all of Xu Gui's belongings over there, otherwise he was really afraid that Xu Gui would fall and lose everything on the stall.
Xu Gui walked over, thanked him, and was holding a food storage container in her arms.
"This was a gift from the old man!" Xu Gui said excitedly, looking very happy. "He said it was an egg yolk pastry made by Mr. Lu!"
The paparazzi asked, "Mr. Lu?"
Xu Gui sat on the stool and said, "He's the old man's grandson. You don't know how amazing Mr. Lu is; his cooking is incredibly delicious!"
Although she had only eaten the mung bean cakes made by him so far, it did not affect her growing fondness for Lu Boyi, after all, this was the first time she had ever tasted something so delicious.
"And Mr. Lu is incredibly lucky! I've never seen a human being as lucky as him!"
That can no longer be called luck, but should be called "fortune". Lu Baiyi's fortune is extremely powerful, even comparable to those auspicious beasts that have dealings with the Xuan Turtle Clan.
So, if he could share even a tiny bit of his luck with me, even just the size of a fingernail, my bad luck might be averted.
Huh? Wait a minute!
This doesn't seem like a bad idea, does it? Those Xuan Turtle turtles themselves have the ability to "absorb" luck!
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