“Why are you drinking again? Didn’t you say drinking makes you feel awful?”
“Drinking does make me feel awful, but that’s later. Right now, I just want to be happy.”
“How’s your studying going recently?”
“……”
“That’s good. If you can rank in the top twenty of the class this time, Dad and I will get you a new phone.”
“……I’ll try my best.”
After school at Meng Siyu’s house, after dinner, Meng Siyu hurriedly escaped back to her bedroom again, avoiding lingering in the living room.
Otherwise, her parents would forcibly pull her into conversations, or see her playing on her phone and say things like, “You only know how to play on your phone every day. If you spent that time studying, how much better that would be.”
So, almost every night, Meng Siyu finished dinner quickly and locked herself in her room.
“Please. You have to win the 3000-meter race a month from now, or else I’m going to have to crawl and lick Feng Aoyu’s shoes.”
“Ah? Why me?! I can’t do it, I really can’t.”
“Come on! I believe in you. If you succeed, I promise to buy you a lifetime supply of 250ml canned Coke. Deal? I’ll supervise your training.”
“Ah? Why like this…”
In her memory, Su Moli never gave Meng Siyu a chance to refuse.
She kept talking about friends, bonds, and friendship, pushing her in front of Feng Aoyu, expecting her to defeat Feng Aoyu alone.
“Can I really do it?”
Because it was summer, as soon as Meng Siyu entered her room, she turned on the air conditioner.
Wearing pajamas and looking utterly unkempt, she sprawled on the quilt, propping her upper body up with her arms, with a pillow under her chin.
With her hair messy, she played on her phone while swinging her freshly washed, snow-white little feet.
“Why does Su Moli have to make me run? I’m definitely going to lose, right? I just don’t get it…”
“I’m going to be so embarrassed then ((异∀|||))”
Though she grumbled and complained unwillingly, deep down Meng Siyu didn’t really dislike it.
She even felt a vague sense of anticipation.
For someone like her, who was just an NPC doing nothing but zoning out at school and playing games after class, to actually be able to participate in such an important competition one day was a great honor—even if she lost, it wouldn’t matter much.
That’s right, before the competition even started, Meng Siyu had already begun imagining the aftermath of losing.
It wasn’t because she was giving up, but because the gap in ability was just too obvious.
You have to know, Feng Aoyu could easily complete a full 40-kilometer marathon.
As for Meng Siyu?
Apart from trying her best in the 1000-meter run during physical tests, she mostly just comforted herself.
Her physical fitness was nowhere near comparable.
“But if Su Moli really ends up licking Feng Aoyu’s shoes, she probably won’t ever be able to hold her head high at school, maybe not even after entering society or before she dies. She’d carry that grudge forever.”
Thinking about what might happen to Su Moli afterwards, Meng Siyu could empathize deeply.
She herself had done some particularly stupid things in elementary school, and even now in high school, those memories were still clear—repeatedly reinforced into a forbidden topic she dared not touch.
“So…what should I do?”
“Maybe I’ll start practicing running from tomorrow…”
Though she knew Feng Aoyu was unbeatable, Meng Siyu still wanted to try her best.
What if?
Even if it was a one in ten thousand chance?
Well, even if it was a one in ten thousand chance, Meng Siyu felt she couldn’t outrun Feng Aoyu, but at least she would have tried.
At least she would be able to face herself and Su Moli without regret.
Alright.
At sixteen years old, Meng Siyu finally realized one truth: human strength has its limits, victory and defeat are determined by fate, and all one can ask for is peace of mind in the end.
Knock knock!
“Who is it?”
“It’s your sister.”
“Oh, what’s up?”
Only after hearing it was her sister did Meng Siyu relax, crawling out of bed and unlocking the door to let her in.
“Wow~ of course your room is cooler. Mom and Dad don’t turn on the AC at all. They just use fans—it’s so hot.”
Meng Xiaoxiao happily collapsed onto her sister’s bed, rolling around before kicking off her slippers with a satisfied smile, enjoying the cool air.
“Sigh…I don’t know what they’re trying to save money on. It’s summer—just turn on the AC, how much could it cost?”
“I really don’t understand. They work so hard all day, yet at night they don’t enjoy themselves at all. It’s just suffering.”
Whenever Meng Siyu mentioned her parents not turning on the AC, she couldn’t help but complain.
Even though she cared about them, they never listened, always saying it was “for your own good” and that they needed to save money for buying a house and for her future husband.
It seemed like everything they did was for buying a house and finding a husband, but they never cared about their own health or whether she was happy carrying all this pressure.
Meng Siyu wanted to ask, but she could never bring herself to say it.
“Sis, I wish we had money so Mom and Dad wouldn’t have to hold back on the AC, and I could have my own phone to play with.”
“By the way, you said you know a way to make big money, right? Is that true? What exactly is it?”
After enjoying the cool air, Meng Xiaoxiao, wearing a white camisole, innocently circled behind Meng Siyu with an expectant, happy face.
“Did I say that? No, you must be remembering wrong. There’s no such thing.”
Surprised by her sister bringing this up, Meng Siyu quickly averted her face, panicked inside.
A few days ago, after getting a few hundred yuan from Su Moli, she had started imagining that if she had a few hundred yuan every day, maybe after a month she could live comfortably, buying whatever she wanted and even getting her sister a new phone.
But now, coming back to reality, Meng Siyu realized she had been too naive.
No one in real life just gives a few hundred yuan every day, and Su Moli certainly wouldn’t give money without some kind of cost attached.
And that cost was…
Lowering her head, Meng Siyu looked at her soft, pudgy chest, her small belly layered over, the fat around her waist, and the soft flesh on her thighs, she felt a wave of insecurity.
Although the internet said boys like flighty girls, did Su Moli like that too?
Moreover, Meng Siyu’s sexual orientation was completely normal.
Her fondness for Su Moli was just as a good friend.
She didn’t dislike certain traits Su Moli had, but that didn’t mean she could accept them now.
So the idea of earning money by flattering Su Moli was something Meng Siyu strongly resisted.
She still wanted to make money by writing novels to improve her life.
“Well then~_~ if you say you don’t remember, then I won’t mention it.”
Meng Xiaoxiao was used to her sister going back on her word, since she always said she would lose weight but forgot the next day, or stuck to it for three days before binge eating again.
No one ever managed to persist.
Meanwhile, at Su Moli’s house.
Since she lived alone, most of Su Moli’s home still retained its original look, only gathering a thin layer of dust here and there.
Places she used often—kitchen, fridge, sofa, bed, bathroom—were clean but scattered in a messy way.
If one had to describe it, her belongings were placed haphazardly, but all the trash, including food wrappers and tissues, were put in the trash bin.
There was no debris or dirt on tables or the floor.
Additionally, a reminder!
All the tissues piled up in Su Moli’s bedroom trash can were used to wipe her face, hands, feet, ears, and hair after showering, absolutely not for any other purpose.
【Congratulations host, successfully forced Meng Siyu to bravely start changing her life. Reward: 500 yuan. Also, 【Hypnosis Technique (Beginner)】 progress increased to 9/10, just one step away from unlocking】
“Is that so? That’s great.”
After showering, Su Moli sat on the edge of her bed, using a hairdryer on her thick long hair.
Honestly, she was beginning to dislike having a girl’s body.
Not just going to the bathroom, but after showering, long hair was a huge hassle—always worried it would get dirty and so hard to manage.
If only the System could reward her with a superpower to automatically clean and dry her hair.
Su Moli drifted off into this fantasy when suddenly her phone vibrated with a wx message.
She picked it up and saw it was from Gu Shiying.
Gu Shiying: 【Hey…are you there?】
Su Moli: 【Oh?】
Sitting naked on her bed, drying her hair with her left hand while chatting with her phone in the other, she squinted her eyes slightly and smiled, like a child who just found something interesting.
Because as an adult, Su Moli had seen far too many chats starting like this—it was either to borrow money or asking for help.
Nothing good ever came from it.
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