During the lunch break, Yan Zhen quietly slipped into Mentor Yu Xuan’s private office to borrow some money from her.
Borrowing money was the sort of thing that, if you were truly strapped for cash, pride would make it hard to bring up. But Yan Zhen was only doing it to complete the storyline, so he didn’t mind at all.
After hearing his request, Mentor Yu Xuan smiled faintly. As if she had prepared for this beforehand, she took ten crystal cards from her storage ring and placed them in front of him.
“This is almost all the savings your mentor has here—a total of ten million crystal coins. Is that enough? If not, I have some other valuable items I can pawn.”
Ten million? Yan Zhen’s eyes went wide in shock.
In the script, his mentor only gave him a hundred thousand—just enough to buy materials for one batch of pills. He had already been deeply grateful for that. How had she jumped straight to ten million?
Right, for some reason, Mentor Yu Xuan liked him right now. Their relationship was far more intimate than the standard teacher-student bond in the script; they were almost at that next step. But for her to lend him nearly all her savings like this… it was just too touching. Where else could you find such a wonderful beauty of a mentor?
No, he had to hold firm. How could the protagonist be so easily swayed by money?
“Mentor, I won’t need this much, and you’ll need money to live on yourself. I’ll just take a hundred thousand.”
“Is a hundred thousand enough?” Mentor Yu Xuan seemed to guess that he needed it to buy medicinal ingredients for pill refining. “Then take a million for now. If you run out, just come back and tell your mentor.”
Without giving him a chance to argue, she pressed one of the crystal cards into his hand. Her gentle smile was as refreshing as spring rain on parched earth.
Yan Zhen’s heart warmed. He stopped pretending otherwise.
“Thank you, Mentor. I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.”
“Silly boy, you don’t have to pay me back.” Mentor Yu Xuan chuckled lightly. “You’ve taken first place in the Monthly Assessment twice and even topped the Nine Stars Ranking. Not only does that bring glory to your mentor’s face, but I also got a nice bonus from it.”
“That’s the reward you deserve.” Yan Zhen said earnestly. “I know you’re good to me, Mentor, but we should still keep money matters clear. Otherwise, I might turn greedy and shameless, always asking you for more.”
“That’s not entirely out of the question.” Mentor Yu Xuan murmured softly. “If you don’t mind, your mentor can take care of you from now on.”
Yan Zhen blushed furiously, the color spreading all the way to his ears. He felt like his whole head was burning up.
Seeing his reaction, Mentor Yu Xuan covered her mouth and let out a delicate laugh. Her eyes, rippling like water, narrowed into lovely crescent moons.
Yan Zhen thought to himself that this wasn’t in the script at all. Wasn’t Mentor Yu Xuan’s persona supposed to be gentle and virtuous, generous and proper? How was she so good at flirting!
With the crystal card in hand, Yan Zhen was about to make his escape when he ran into Yan Meng’er, Yan Ruyu, and Mi Xue’er coming his way. Trailing behind them was the haughty Eldest Miss Xiao Xinyan, who disdained keeping company with mere pretty faces.
“Cousin, there you are~”
“See? I told you Little Brother Yan Zhen was here cooling off in Mentor Yu Xuan’s office.”
Yan Zhen wasn’t surprised. He gave them an awkward wave hello.
It wasn’t fake awkwardness; he was genuinely embarrassed.
Mi Xue’er sidled up to Yan Zhen and draped her small hand over his shoulder, as if to say “gotcha.” She suddenly noticed the lingering flush on his face and asked curiously,
“Little Brother Yan Zhen, your face is so red. Are you okay?”
Yan Meng’er leaned in close too, scrutinizing his face.
“It’s hot out—easy to get heatstroke. Be careful, Cousin.”
Yan Zhen felt a vein throb in his forehead.
“Heatstroke? Your cousin cultivates Fire Mystic Power.”
Hearing his indignant retort, the girls all burst into laughter.
“Brother Yan Zhen, what’s that in your hand? Is it from Mentor Yu Xuan—?” Yan Ruyu’s sharp eyes zeroed in on the crystal card. “Did you run out of spending money?”
Yan Zhen pretended to look guilty and tucked the crystal card behind his back.
“There’s a good reason for it.”
“No reason justifies borrowing from Mentor Yu Xuan…” Mindful of a boy’s pride, Yan Ruyu didn’t say “money” outright, but her eyes chided him sternly. “I have some spare on me. How much do you need?”
“Better not. You don’t have much yourself.”
“Tell me!”
“Ahem, the more, the better.”
“You… what do you need so much money for?” Yan Ruyu eyed him suspiciously before pulling out a Golden Jade Chamber of Commerce crystal card from her storage ring. “I’ve got a little over five hundred thousand left on me. Take half.”
Yan Zhen scratched his cheek.
“How could I~?”
“Take it!”
Yan Ruyu firmly shoved the crystal card into his hand.
Yan Zhen accepted it and stored it in his own storage ring.
—Two down, two to go.
“Cousin, are you short on money? Why didn’t you tell Meng’er?” Yan Meng’er proudly pulled out her piggy bank, which she’d prepared in advance, and shook it vigorously. Inside were crystal cards stacked neatly. “Meng’er saved up a bunch. If Cousin needs it, take it all—five hundred thousand in total.”
Yan Zhen blinked in surprise.
“Meng’er, where’d you get this much?”
In the script, Yan Meng’er had given him fifty thousand—all her pocket money except for food expenses. She usually went shopping with Mi Xue’er like a spendthrift, blowing it all each month.
When had she gotten richer than her cousin? And a piggy bank? Her saving money? What a joke!
“Hee hee, didn’t I tell Cousin before? I bet all my pocket money on you winning those three duels, and I made a fortune~”
Yan Zhen was caught off guard. He’d thought she was just talking big, not that she’d actually bet everything.
—It was more than that, actually.
Using her memories from her past life, Yan Meng’er had also bet on several Nine Stars Ranking powerhouses’ duels ahead of time for today. She’d raked in so much that the bookies felt like they were going to lose their shirts every time they saw her.
“And me, me too! Little Brother Yan Zhen, I won a ton as well. If you need it, it’s all yours—pure profit anyway~ One million!”
“…”
Yan Zhen was dumbfounded. Their contributions were supposed to be just “a drop in the bucket”—maybe ten or twenty thousand total combined. How was each one outdoing the last?
As he thought that, Xiao Xinyan piped up timidly from the side.
“I-I’ve still got around a hundred thousand on hand. If you don’t mind how little it is, take it.”
She handed him a crystal card, her eyes downcast as if begging him to accept.
Yan Zhen didn’t know how to react. He was grateful for her help, but this plotline didn’t include the Petty Senior Sister.
Mentor Yu Xuan’s million, Mi Xue’er’s million, Meng’er’s five hundred thousand, Cousin Ruyu’s two hundred fifty thousand plus, and Xiao Xinyan’s hundred thousand or so—it added up to nearly three million. That was enough for a whole year. What “drop in the bucket”?
Why had even this plotline veered off script?
Whatever, the amount didn’t matter. He didn’t need it anyway; he himself was rolling in money.
After borrowing from them, he’d go borrow from his beautiful master next. That would complete the borrowing plotline.
—I’m suffering here. Got plenty of money but have to pretend to be broke, borrowing from girls. So humiliating. If the quest reward Special Trump Cards turn out to be junk, I’m definitely complaining to System-chan.
Yan Zhen stashed away the pile of crystal cards and slipped sheepishly out of the office.
