Chapter 1: Egg Crêpe Toast
Gu Qinghuan stood at the school gate, pronouncing the school’s name slowly, one word at a time, “Private Mingde High School.”
In the whole country, there were at least twenty or thirty famous high schools with similar names. As for the word “Private”, it really shouldn’t have had anything to do with her.
During the summer break after graduating from junior high, she and her father went on a self-driving trip. On the way back, they were in a traffic accident—the car overturned and fell into water.
There were many people on the road who called the police in time and got rescue to arrive quickly. All three people in the car were rescued without serious injuries. The local TV station even came to interview them.
But Gu Qinghuan knew in her heart that she and her father had almost died.
She had been sitting in the back seat. When the car flipped, she saw her father pass out instantly. The window shattered, water rushed in, she choked, and her consciousness started to fade.
She thought she would just die like that—until, in the haze, she heard a voice:
[Do you want to live? Do you want to save your father?]
Of course she did. Who wouldn’t want to live well?
The voice spoke again:
[Then let’s make a contract.]
She signed a contract with an entity calling itself “System.” It helped her and her father survive, but in return, Gu Qinghuan had to complete tasks to replenish the energy it had used to rewrite their fate.
As for what the tasks were… first, Gu Qinghuan had to attend this Private Mingde High School.
Mingde was quite well-known in the city—excellent teachers, high university admission rates, beautiful campus, advanced facilities… basically, people had nothing bad to say about it.
So the students at Mingde were either from wealthy families, or they were geniuses from poor backgrounds whose talent left others far behind.
Given Gu Qinghuan’s family background, attending Mingde was a stretch—but the system said it wasn’t a problem.
After her father was discharged from the hospital, he cheerfully declared that “a family that survives great disaster is bound to have good fortune,” went out to buy a lottery ticket, and won five million yuan. After tax, they still had four million left. Since Gu Qinghuan’s grades met the standard, they suddenly had the money to send her to Mingde.
Gu Qinghuan was dumbfounded: [Is this really okay? Won’t we be taking someone else’s winning chance?]
[No,] the system replied casually, [Think of it like in the novels you’ve read—luck is predetermined. People who are destined to win the lottery will win it. If they don’t win this time, they’ll win next time. If they win less this time, they’ll win more next time.]
[Then what about our luck?] Gu Qinghuan asked nervously. By rights, her family should have died in the car accident—how could they have the luck to win a jackpot?
The system sounded uncharacteristically hesitant: [Let me think how to explain… I borrowed luck that you might have had in the future.]
[As long as you complete the tasks I assign, it will benefit the whole world. In return, the world will reward you with better and better luck. I just took a portion of that luck in advance.]
Gu Qinghuan was silent for a moment: [So this is basically like a loan and spending in advance?]
All of this depended on her completing the tasks, right? What would happen if she failed?
She felt uneasy—uneasy for about five minutes—then just let it go.
The fact that the system had saved her family’s lives was already an enormous favor, whatever its motives.
And now it had even arranged for her family to win the lottery, letting her attend such a prestigious school. Given the investment it was making in her, she naturally felt she should work hard to complete its tasks in return.
The first day of school was bright and breezy. When registering earlier, she had walked around Mingde’s campus and knew which teaching building she was supposed to go to.
Just as she was about to enter, someone passing by bumped into her arm. She staggered and looked up, only to see the girl who’d bumped her walking away without looking back.
“Are you okay?” a hand reached out to steady her arm.
Gu Qinghuan regained her balance and shook her head. “I’m fine, thank you.”
The girl who had helped her clutched the strap of her schoolbag nervously. “Um… do you know where Class 1-3 is?”
“Oh?” Gu Qinghuan looked at her more closely. “Are you in Class 1-3 too? Me as well. Let’s go together.”
Hearing this, the girl visibly relaxed. Her grip on her bag loosened, and her speech became much smoother.
By the time they reached the classroom door, Gu Qinghuan knew her name was Yu Xin. Her family had handled her registration, so she hadn’t visited the school beforehand and didn’t know where the classroom was.
Gu Qinghuan remembered that when she registered, the school had needed height, shoulder width, and other measurements for uniforms. The teacher who handled it had suggested that students attend in person.
Of course, not every student came in person—some didn’t even have parents come, but rather a butler or assistant, with measurements more detailed than the school had asked for.
By contrast, Yu Xin’s uniform clearly didn’t fit—too loose and hanging off her thin frame. She was so slim that Gu Qinghuan suspected a strong wind could blow her away.
Mingde’s classrooms only had four columns and seven rows of desks—no more than twenty-eight students in each class. When Gu Qinghuan and Yu Xin entered, seven students were already there, chatting in small groups.
There were no name tags or assigned numbers on the desks—maybe the teacher would assign seats later, or maybe students could choose freely.
Since they knew no one, and Yu Xin seemed even more nervous than she was, the two decided to sit together as front-and-back desks.
As soon as they sat down, Gu Qinghuan heard Yu Xin’s stomach growl.
Embarrassed, Yu Xin lowered her head and muttered, “I left in a hurry this morning and didn’t really eat…”
“Did you bring anything to eat?” Gu Qinghuan was already rummaging through her bag.
“No…” Yu Xin’s voice was even softer. “I was afraid my stepmother would dislike me…”
Gu Qinghuan froze mid-search, baffled—how could eating breakfast make someone dislike you?
Since they’d just met, she didn’t pry. Instead, she took out an egg crêpe toast her mom had packed for her to eat between classes and handed it to Yu Xin. “Here.”
Yu Xin quickly shook her head. “No, I’m not that hungry. My stomach will stop growling in a bit.”
Gu Qinghuan simply tore open the plastic packaging and stuffed it into Yu Xin’s hands. “It’s already open. If you don’t eat it and the teacher smells it later, they’ll confiscate it.”
This was nonsense—sitting by the window in such a big classroom, any smell would dissipate quickly, and the teacher probably wouldn’t care anyway.
But Yu Xin seemed convinced. She took the toast hesitantly, stared at it for a few seconds, then swallowed hard and took a small bite.
Her eyes lit up instantly. After swallowing, she said, “It’s so good—savory and sweet, soft, with sweet sauce inside, and pork floss too!”
She had been dark-skinned, thin, and timid before, but now she seemed much livelier.
That’s more like it, Gu Qinghuan thought. She had already noticed that Yu Xin’s eyes were quite pretty.
She pulled out a carton of milk, but stopped before opening it—worried Yu Xin might be lactose intolerant—so she put it back and went to the water room instead, filling a paper cup with warm water.
Yu Xin watched her running around. When she accepted the warm water, her eyes turned red and her voice choked slightly. “Thank you… you’re so kind.”
“It’s nothing,” Gu Qinghuan replied sincerely. She was curious about Yu Xin’s family situation, but asking now would be rude, so she held her tongue.
After eating, Yu Xin threw away the wrapper and cup in the trash at the back of the classroom. When she sat back down, she was clearly calmer, and even gave Gu Qinghuan a smile.
Correction—her eyes weren’t just pretty. Her smile was beautiful too.
