In the classroom of Sophomore Class 3, the history teacher was droning on incessantly at the podium. Meanwhile, Su Ruanruan, sitting by the window, lost in her own thoughts, couldn’t absorb a single word.
She propped her cheek on one hand, staring at the crooked tree outside. The bright red numbers of her debt ticked in her mind like a time bomb.
“No, this can’t go on. Absolutely not…”
Su Ruanruan plotted frantically in her heart. She owed so much money; even if she worked at Chu Youyu’s café with a high salary, she wouldn’t be able to pay it off if she worked until her next life. She had to find a shortcut—a way to make some quick cash, a quick fix to pay off her debts.
Hiding her fifty-thousand-yuan “Fruits of Radiance” phone under her textbook, she began searching based on her memories from her past life.
The stock market? No. A quick check revealed that the financial markets in this world were tightly controlled by super-corporations like the Gu family; retail investors were just leeks waiting to be harvested.
Cryptocurrency? Even worse. As soon as she typed those four words into the search engine, a ban from the Federal Supreme Court popped up. Apparently, it had been crushed in its infancy the moment it showed signs of life.
“Then how else am I supposed to get quick cash…” Su Ruanruan bit her thumbnail in despair.
It seemed every path to making money required a respectable amount of seed capital. And “primitive accumulation” was exactly what the current Su Ruanruan lacked most.
Should I… borrow a bit more from Chu Youyu?
As soon as the thought surfaced in her head, it began to take root and sprout wildly in Su Ruanruan’s mind.
Thinking carefully, Chu Youyu was a super-rich lady who looked like an exquisite porcelain doll and treated her so well. Sure, she was a classic tsundere, but wasn’t being a tsundere the ultimate charm point in the 2D world? If she really couldn’t pay back the money… maybe she should just give in and be her “wife”? It didn’t seem like a bad deal. Being called a “dummy” every day by a blushing girl, while being fed and housed in luxury…
Oh no! Thinking about it like that, this blonde loli Chu Youyu is basically the perfect partner!
Su Ruanruan’s heart wavered intensely.
“No, no, no!”
Su Ruanruan shook her head violently side by side and reached out with her two pale, tender hands, giving her cheeks two “slap-slap” pats.
If she really did that, how would she be any different from the “soft-rice-eating” scumbags of her past life? Not only would she become a decorative vase dependent on someone else, but she would also be betraying Chu Youyu’s sincere feelings.
“Ruanruan?”
A low, deeply worried voice came from beside her.
Saginomiya Shiori leaned in quietly. She had been staring at Su Ruanruan for half the period already.
In the past thirty minutes, Su Ruanruan’s facial expressions had been more dramatic than a Sichuan Opera face-changing act: first, a miserable look of regret, then a sudden burst of ecstatic grinning, followed by deep self-doubt, and finally, she actually slapped herself twice, her gaze instantly becoming incredibly determined.
A few female classmates nearby who noticed this were giggling behind their hands, thinking this little white-haired, red-eyed creature was so cute it was practically a crime.
But Shiori only felt heartache.
“Have you run into some trouble?” Shiori’s gaze was sharp. “Is it Lin Lie ? Is she sending you threatening messages again?”
“No, no!” Su Ruanruan waved her hands guiltily and muttered under her breath, “It’s really nothing, I was just spacing out…”
She really felt embarrassed to keep bothering Shiori. The better Shiori treated her, the more she felt that her past self was an unforgivable jerk.
However, Saginomiya Shiori wasn’t buying it.
She suddenly reached out with her hand—well-defined with thin callouses from years of sword practice—and, without allowing for any argument, wrapped her palm around Su Ruanruan’s two small hands that were still waving in the air, gripping them tightly.
“Mmh…” Su Ruanruan jumped in surprise, hunching her shoulders like a startled hamster.
Shiori leaned in slightly, locking eyes with Su Ruanruan with an intense gaze. “Look at me. Don’t lie to me.”
Locked onto by such a dashing face at close range, combined with that irresistible sense of aggression, Su Ruanruan couldn’t hold out at all and was instantly defeated. She guiltily averted her eyes, her earlobes burning. (Saber-style serious face)
“Fine… okay… I actually do have a tiny, tiny bit of a problem,” Su Ruanruan hummed like a mosquito. “It’s just… I feel like relying on Youyu to help me pay back the debt isn’t right. I want to do something myself to earn some money…”
Hearing the words “don’t want to rely on Chu Youyu,” a flash of extreme pleasure instantly crossed Shiori’s eyes.
“Earning money?” Shiori pondered for a moment, her gaze falling on Su Ruanruan’s stunningly cute face. “How about becoming a streamer?”
“Eh?”
“Streaming has low initial investment; you just need a few things, like a decent phone when you are first starting out. With your looks and… aura, Ruanruan, you’ll definitely accumulate fans quickly as soon as you start broadcasting. The income would be very substantial.”
Su Ruanruan was stunned. Her? A streamer? Showing her face in public?
As an adult who was actually socially anxious on the inside, having to act cute and perform for viewers in front of a camera felt like a social-death-level challenge.
“I… I probably can’t do it,” Su Ruanruan blushed, feeling a bit resistant. “If I’m just a ‘face’ streamer, sitting there chatting with everyone for gifts… wouldn’t that make me look like a useless person who has nothing going for her except her face?”
Speaking of which, she suddenly froze.
Wait, except for this face, her current body couldn’t carry anything or lift anything, and she’d cry if she was bumped even slightly… Am I really a useless person?!