500 points was a huge sum of money. Mu Yue had already paid her installments for the next month, so she was torn between keeping up with the payments or spending the points on something else.
After a moment of thought, Mu Yue decided to pour all 500 points into her base attributes, adding 30 points each to Strength and Dexterity. That brought her stats to 76 Strength and 63 Dexterity.
Thanks to the boost from these two attributes, her Health stat rose from 93 to 95. That value put her in peak physical condition, the kind where she wouldn't even catch a cold all year as long as she didn't do anything recklessly stupid.
She immediately tested out her new stats. Lifting a 50-pound weight felt like playing with a toy, and she could easily hoist a 200-pound stone table. As for Dexterity, it boosted overall agility, making every part of her body move more smoothly. Even basic activities like running felt effortless, like her body was floating.
The combination of boosted Strength and Dexterity would give her a massive advantage in both martial arts and dance.
To put it simply, if her punch used to deal 50 points of damage, now it could hit for a full 200 points. One solid punch would land someone in the hospital, no exaggeration at all.
Mu Yue was more than satisfied with the result. As a woman, she'd always had that little "fear of not having enough firepower" feeling. Now that she had the means to fix that, and her intense stretch of study tasks was finally over, of course she was going to prioritize boosting her offensive power.
July was still a long way off. Mu Yue had already come up with a few ideas to make money, but she wouldn't be able to put them into practice for a little while longer. With her new stat boosts active, she didn't feel like lazing around scrolling on her phone at home anymore, so she headed straight to the community swimming pool to test out her new abilities. Once she got in the water, she completely fell in love with the feeling—she was brimming with energy, like she had endless stamina to burn. It was incredible.
The swimming coach was stunned. At first he'd been worried she'd tire herself out, but the complete opposite happened. He kept exclaiming that he'd drastically underestimated how capable Mu Yue was.
When Mu Yue left the swimming pool, dusk was settling in. The bright crimson sunset peeking through patches of green tree shade made her slow her steps. The pleasant buzz of a good workout mixed with a soft, drowsy warmth, and the beautiful view left her feeling totally relaxed and happy.
That was when she spotted Cheng Zimin, and his painting, again.
She'd run into him a few times at the swimming pool over the past few days, so they were on familiar enough terms to nod and greet each other when they crossed paths.
"Hey, you're done swimming? Want to come sit for a bit?" Cheng Zimin was sitting in the pavilion in the middle of the lake, a paintbrush in his hand. Today he was working on a watercolor, and there was a faint smudge of paint on his fingertips.
The lotus flowers in the pond were just starting to form buds this season, and the pavilion had a perfect view of the scenery—he was clearly there to paint the lotuses.
Mu Yue walked over to take a look. The painting did feature lotuses, but the real focal point was the sunset sky. The colors were rendered so delicately that if you stepped back a little, it looked exactly like a photograph.
Mu Yue glanced at the painting, then looked him over. He was wearing casual seven-point pants and a plain short-sleeved T-shirt. Then she looked at his face, which was clean, fresh, and completely free of sweat, then at his bare arms, and even the exposed skin on his neck.
She stared at him so intently that Cheng Zimin shifted a little awkwardly in his seat.
Then he heard her ask, "Aren't the mosquitoes biting you?"
The painting looked almost finished, so he definitely hadn't just gotten there. But there wasn't a single mosquito bite mark to be seen on his arms, legs, or face.
"..." Cheng Zimin was left momentarily speechless. "That's what you wanted to ask me?"
"No," Mu Yue said seriously, "what I really want to ask is what brand of mosquito repellent you use. This is very important."
As soon as the weather turned hot, those darn mosquitoes were back. For the past two months, she had been busy with tutoring and spent little time outdoors, so she had barely suffered from bites. But after the vacation started, she turned out to be a total mosquito magnet every time she stepped out of the house, especially for those tiny black day-biting mosquitoes that were practically like mutant strains—no regular mosquito spray worked on them at all. That forced Mu Yue to look for a solution in her points mall.
That item was not cheap at all. It cost her 50 points, and it was only a limited-time one, with a total usable duration of 500 hours. You could turn it on when you needed it and switch it off when you did not, and no duration would be consumed while it was off. The permanent version was priced at 3000 points, a status item called "Quiet Orchid Serenity". Its effects were genuinely impressive: once activated, it would effectively repel all snakes, insects, rats and ants within a 100-meter radius centered on the user, and it also came with a subtle orchid fragrance that clung to the user's body.
According to the system spirits, this item was a bestseller in both romance strategy novels and post-apocalyptic novels, and had even made it onto the best-rated products list, which was why its price had stayed so high all this time.
As for why there was no installment plan for it, that was a question Mu Yue had been tangled over. It was undeniably useful, but it was not like she could not get by without it, and it was barely of any use for the other three seasons of the year.
In the end, Mu Yue settled for a middle-ground choice: she bought the advanced experience card for that status item. 500 hours added up to roughly 20 days. She did not spend 24 hours a day out and about playing, so one card would last her quite a long time. But if she could get her hands on a good mosquito repellent product, that would definitely be far more cost-effective than spending her points. 50 points were equivalent to 5 million yuan—no regular mosquito repellent, no matter how expensive, could cost as much as that.
Cheng Zimin subconsciously glanced at Mu Yue's exposed arms and legs, only to realize a second later that she was wearing shorts. He hastily shifted his gaze away, a faint flush rising to his cheeks. He said with a hint of regret, "I don't use any. I have a special constitution—mosquitoes just never bite me. There's nothing you can do about it, it's just something you can't envy your way into."
Mu Yue looked at him with a blank expression. "Oh, that's just so great for you."
"Hahaha!" Cheng Zimin burst out laughing. "But I don't think you've been bitten much either, have you?"
Mu Yue gave him a look that said 'you have no idea what's going on here'. "It's a limited-time thing."
Cheng Zimin nodded in understanding, assuming she was referring to some mosquito repellent product that only worked for a set period. Now that they had started talking about mosquitoes, Mu Yue's legs started itching out of nowhere even though she was the one who brought up the topic in the first place. She decided it was time to head off.
Just then, Cheng Zimin seemed to sense that she was about to leave. He took a small step forward and suddenly, with no warning at all, blurted out: "Mu Yue, do you have a boyfriend?"
Huh?
Mu Yue lifted her eyes to look at him. Cheng Zimin's skin was paler than most boys', which made the flush on his face extremely obvious right now—even his ears were bright red. His eyes did not dare to meet Mu Yue's gaze directly, and darted away slightly, looking every bit like a shy, smitten young boy. Coupled with his striking good looks, the sight in front of her was far more captivating than any landscape he had ever painted on paper.
"If you don't mind," Cheng Zimin's voice was much softer than it had been during their earlier chat, as if just working up the courage to say what he had already said had drained him, "could you give me your contact information?"
Mu Yue did not respond right away. She took her time to admire his flustered, earnest appearance for a good moment, and then said, "Are you doing this on purpose?"
Cheng Zimin stared back at her in surprise, and two seconds later his expression smoothed back to normal. He said frankly, "I thought you'd go for the pure, easily flustered type, so I acted that way to reel you in easier."
Mu Yue: ...You really do have my number.
"Then what about now? Why aren't you keeping up the act?" Mu Yue asked again.
Cheng Zimin smiled faintly, twisting the brush handle between his fingers in a casual, elegant gesture. "Because I got caught. Besides, this side of me seems to work even better on you. Look, you're not looking away right now, are you?"
Mu Yue raised an eyebrow. Instead of leaving, she sat down, crossed her legs, and looked at Cheng Zimin as he took a seat right next to her. "I've got a question for you."
"Go ahead."
"Suppose there's a girl chasing a stuck-up guy. That guy treats her terribly, acts like he's disgusted by her any chance he gets, calls her a pig all the time, calls her an idiot, but she's still head over heels for him no matter what. Would you ever go after that girl?"
Cheng Zimin thought for a second before asking, "What's the girl look like?"
Mu Yue described her, "She's not ugly, actually really pretty, kind of cute."
Cheng Zimin said straightforwardly, "Then I might go for her."
"Why?" That was exactly the part Mu Yue was curious about. A guy who had it all going for him, who never ran out of people fawning over him, why would he chase a girl who was obviously dead set on pining after some other guy? "Forgive me for asking, but you don't have some weird kink, do you?"
Cheng Zimin was speechless for the second time. "Of course not."
"Then why? For fun?"
Cheng Zimin paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, then said, "Normally, I wouldn't bother. Other people's business is none of my concern. But if a whole drama like that plays out right in front of me, or if it gets in the way of what I'm doing, I'd step in. It'd annoy the hell out of me, so I'd just lock those two down for good."
"All guys think the same way. Even if that guy doesn't like the girl, after having a pretty girl chase him around nonstop, he'll start to think of her as his property. Once I show up out of nowhere, that guy will definitely confess to her in two days tops." Cheng Zimin rested his elbow on the pavilion railing, a little mischievous smirk tugging at his lips.
"What about the girl, though?"
"The girl? I'm giving her a better option. If she picks me, I'll date her properly. If she doesn't, then I'm just helping her get her happy ending with the guy she likes, right?" Cheng Zimin flashed Mu Yue an innocent, bright smile. "See? I'm such a nice person, aren't I?"
Mu Yue: "You're pretty confident about that."
Cheng Zimin shrugged. "Of course I am. If I didn't have confidence, I wouldn't be flirting with you right now."
Kid, you are way too honest.
Mu Yue stood up, and Cheng Zimin, thinking she was about to leave, shifted his entire demeanor seamlessly. His voice turned tentative, soft and shaky. "Mu Yue, are you leaving already? Can't you stay a little longer?"
He went from chaotic evil to a pure, flustered good boy in the blink of an eye.
Mu Yue sighed. "I have to hand it to you, those little tricks of yours are actually pretty impressive." That transition was so smooth! Why even bother painting? You could make a killing as an actor.
Mu Yue pulled out her phone. Cheng Zimin, a little smug that she was playing along, took out his own phone too, scanned her code and added her as a friend. That was when Mu Yue finally answered the question he'd asked earlier. "I don't have a boyfriend. But I should warn you upfront, I can't promise how long my interest in you will last."
"I know." Cheng Zimin didn't mind Mu Yue's bluntness at all. After all, he could tell from the very first day he met her that Mu Yue was never the type to be tied down by emotions. It was almost laughable how that idiot Qian Lei had been so dead set on his own assumptions back then. Come to think of it, wasn't Qian Lei's erectile dysfunction, and the fact that his sister had snatched the company inheritance rights away from him, somehow related to Mu Yue?
"You look like you've got something you haven't said out loud yet." Mu Yue slipped her phone into her pocket and waited for him to speak.
"Ah! Is it a confession?" Cheng Zimin gave a shy smile, clearly about to launch into that act again.
Mu Yue held up a hand to stop him. "Not that. You don't even like me all that much, do you? It's just curiosity, probably mixed with a little bit of a thrill for the challenge."
Cheng Zimin froze for a second, looking both surprised that Mu Yue would say that, and like he was turning over his own thoughts to figure out what he had left unsaid. After a moment, he snapped his fingers and said to Mu Yue, "I don't have a girlfriend, by the way. Never have, not even before."
Mu Yue nodded then, waving him off. "Alright, I'm heading home now. Call or text me if anything comes up."
"Got it." Cheng Zimin watched Mu Yue's receding back, and chuckled to himself under his breath, "You really do know how to joke. If I didn't like you, why would I be chasing you?"
Did this woman really underestimate just how captivating she was?
Cheng Zimin had run into Mu Yue several times at the community swimming pool before. Mu Yue had assumed they were just being polite, nodding at each other whenever they happened to cross paths, since they lived in the same housing estate. That wasn't the case at all. After the very first time he stumbled on her learning to swim there, he'd gone to the pool deliberately every subsequent time. He'd started by greeting her first, and when he realized she would respond, he'd stretched those small exchanges into brief conversations.
Unfortunately, Mu Yue never seemed the least bit interested in him. She only ever chatted with him for a minute or two, then left as soon as she finished her swim. Mu Yue had no idea how dazzling she looked to other people. She was confident, unshakably strong, and that confidence and strength shone from deep inside her, naturally drawing anyone who admired that kind of energy to her, wanting to get closer, and then even closer.
Even today's encounter wasn't a coincidence. Cheng Zimin had set up the whole scene on the route she took home ahead of time. Everything was planned out, from what he was wearing, to the subject and style of the painting he was working on, to that tiny smudge of paint on his finger that was there entirely on purpose. Before she'd even arrived, he'd run through dozens of possible scenarios in his head, and picked the one with the highest chance of success — play the innocent, then lay all his cards on the table.
Just as he'd told Mu Yue, he was pulling every trick in the book to charm her, to make sure his face stayed on her mind.
Mu Yue got home in a great mood. To be honest, Cheng Zimin was exactly her type, the only problem was that he seemed a little too young. That's why she'd never thought much of him when she saw him before.
But now she'd changed her mind. She was young too! If she didn't go for a cute younger guy, dating some man in his late twenties or thirties would be way weirder, wouldn't it?
That night, Mu Yue got a message from Cheng Zimin, asking if she had any plans for the next day. He said he could tag along as her personal errand runner for anything from shopping to getting a new hairdo or manicure. If there was anywhere she wanted to go or anything she wanted to do, he was in, and he swore his photography skills were top tier, he could make every photo look like a professional shot in seconds.
Mu Yue texted him back, saying she had a driving theory test the next morning, but was free in the afternoon. As for what she felt like doing...
She was full of energy right now, still riding that high, and felt like getting some exercise, but it was way too sunny outside for her to want to go out.
Cheng Zimin sent an "OK" emoji to Mu Yue, then asked if she was interested in playing indoor tennis. That activity sounded good to Mu Yue, so she also replied with an "OK" emoji.
The other side quickly seized the chance and immediately sent another message: "Then can we have lunch together at noon?"
"Sure."
"Then I'll come pick you up after you finish your exam!"
Mu Yue sent another "sure" in reply, and a small, unplanned smile crept onto her face. Those were just short, plain texts, nothing particularly special about them, but for some reason, she could almost picture his excited, bouncing expression through the screen, and her own mood lightened up right along with his.
Right after she sent the reply, Mu Yue received a message from her class monitor. It was obviously a group message, in which the monitor asked everyone in Class 12 if they were free the day after tomorrow or the next day—their class still hadn't held a graduation dinner after the college entrance exam.
Summer break had just started, so most people still had plenty of free time right now. If they waited until after everyone finished filling out their college applications, a lot of classmates would already have their own summer plans, some taking part-time jobs and others going traveling, and no one would have time to gather then. Not to mention once they started college, all their old high school classmates would be scattered even further apart.
Mu Yue could no longer remember what her own high school graduation gathering had been like in her past life.
Shortly after the monitor sent the message, the class group chat blew up. Everyone was responding enthusiastically, most of the students said they were free, and some suggested that the monitor and the class representatives for each subject invite all the teachers to join as well. As for the cost, everyone agreed to split it evenly AA style. People started tossing around ideas for restaurants, KTVs, and other fun spots to hang out, and the chat feed was flooded with messages in no time.
Mu Yue tapped open the chat box with Cheng Zimin and typed: "Did you go to your class's graduation gathering?"
Cheng Zimin replied instantly: "I did actually. To be precise, our school held a big collective graduation party, almost everyone from our grade showed up. Oh, and I have photos from the dance there, do you want to see them?"
"Send them over."
About a minute later, Cheng Zimin sent over several photos. He was dressed in a formal suit, looking polished and well-mannered, not all that different from the put-together look he usually presented. But the angles and lighting in the photos were really well done, making his facial features look sharp and strikingly handsome.
Cheng Zimin had carefully picked out those photos and even done a little minor retouching on them. When he saw that Mu Yue hadn't replied after receiving them, he asked in a seemingly casual tone: "Is your class getting ready to hold a dinner gathering soon?"
Mu Yue didn't comment on how good-looking he was in the photos. "Looks like it, probably the day after tomorrow or the next day."
"Then can I come pick you up that day?"
"Sure." It wasn't like there was anything to hide, so Mu Yue didn't mind the idea at all.
Right after she sent that, Mu Yue got a message from Lin Xiaoxiao, who was also talking about the dinner gathering the day after tomorrow—the group chat had just locked in the exact time. Of course Lin Xiaoxiao was going to go; after spending three whole years of high school together, she definitely wanted to show up for the last get-together.
After talking about the gathering, Lin Xiaoxiao started complaining to Mu Yue about her first part-time job experience. Luckily Mu Yue had warned her about what to expect beforehand, so when she ran into all sorts of weird situations and odd people, she didn't freeze up completely at a loss. The strangest of them all was a girl who was working the same shift as her.
That girl had some totally inexplicable hostility towards her. Lin Xiaoxiao had thought that since they were both around the same age, and both just fresh out of the third year of high school, they would have tons to talk about, but that girl's behavior was really strange.
When male colleagues are around, she'd be all giggly and sisterly with Lin Xiaoxiao, but the second no guys were present, that girl would flip to a cold expression instantly. Once Lin Xiaoxiao tried to strike up a conversation with her, she just pulled a long face and said, "Sorry, I'm too tired to talk," which made Lin Xiaoxiao think she must have done something wrong to offend her, and she even spent some time reflecting on her own words and deeds.
But soon she realized it was not her fault at all — that girl was just being unreasonable. Lately, that girl had gone way beyond just giving her the cold shoulder when they were alone, she was even talking behind her back and spreading nasty rumors about her.
Mu Yue summed it up for her: "It's because she sees you as her rival. You're both the same gender and around the same age, that's all the reason she needs. She can't stand the thought of you being more attractive to the opposite sex than she is."
"Why on earth?" Lin Xiaoxiao couldn't wrap her head around it. She wasn't competing with her for any guy, she was there to do her job!
"Don't even bother trying to figure her out," Mu Yue said. "Just focus on doing your job well. You go to work to earn money, colleagues aren't your friends, so you don't have to treat her like one. Next time you catch her gossiping about you behind your back, just walk right over and ask her what she's saying, and make her show you proof."
The key point to remember in that situation is that you have to stand your ground, be firm with your attitude. Never look all wronged and upset the second you open your mouth. She won't feel guilty at all, she'll just think you're an easy target, and she'll slander you even more relentlessly, maybe even shoot back and ask if there's anything wrong with what she said.
If you're the type who can't help bursting into tears the moment you try to speak, there's a second plan: just stare at her coldly without saying a word. Anyone who has even a shred of dignity will get embarrassed on their own. But if the other person has no sense of shame and acts totally unapologetic, and you really don't know how to respond, there's a backup option: either go off on a wild rant, or call for backup.
Going off on a wild rant takes a certain knack that Lin Xiaoxiao might not be able to pull off, so calling for backup is a much better fit for her — for example, call Mu Yue over to help.
Lin Xiaoxiao said she'd totally learned her lesson, and she was ready to put that into practice right away. It was only after she started working that she got to see just how wide the variety of different people there are in the world.
Before Lin Xiaoxiao even got the chance to test that out, she got another message. The staff had just taken a vote and decided the dinner gathering would be held at Nanhuafang, the very restaurant where Lin Xiaoxiao worked.
Lin Xiaoxiao: "..."
Mu Yue: "..."
No need to ask, this is the female lead's special luck powering through. In the original story, Lin Xiaoxiao also had a summer job back then, but it wasn't at this restaurant — she worked at a different place that was full of pitfalls. More than one colleague there targeted her, practically everyone was out to get her. The female lead was so wronged and upset that she cried all the time, and that gave the male lead the perfect chance to be her light again, to play the part of her savior.
Now the male lead is gone, but Lin Xiaoxiao is still the female lead, and the plot still revolves around her. It's easy to predict that something for sure is going to go down at the gathering the day after tomorrow.
Lin Xiaoxiao has no idea about any of that yet, she just thinks it's a huge coincidence. She didn't chat with Mu Yue for much longer, and got back to her work.
That evening, when Lin Xiaoxiao clocked off, she talked to the manager and asked for a day off tomorrow. The restaurant gives each staff member three paid personal days a month, you can pick whichever days you want as long as you ask in advance, and as long as it's not on super busy weekends or holidays, it's totally fine.
Tomorrow wasn't a weekend, so the manager approved her request right away, and casually asked what she was planning to do on her day off, if she was going on a date with her boyfriend or something like that.
Lin Xiaoxiao replied, "No, it's our class graduation party, and we're holding it right here at this restaurant."
The manager smiled and said, "Oh, that sounds great! When your classmates arrive, I'll personally treat you to two extra dishes and a few bottles of drinks as a staff perk."
"Thank you so much, Manager!" Lin Xiaoxiao was over the moon. She did not notice a girl her age not far away, whose eyes were rolling around with mischief.
The next day, right after Mu Yue finished her driving theory test, Cheng Zimin came to pick her up, and the two went to try a private kitchen restaurant. The place required a reservation one day in advance, and Mu Yue had never dined there before. It had a lovely setting, a small ancient-style courtyard with well-tended flowers and plants. There was also a swing frame completely covered in climbing vines full of blossoms, which was the famous photo spot at this restaurant.
Some of the dishes were surprisingly delicious, while others were just so-so, but all of them were beautifully plated. It was the kind of fancy, aesthetically focused meal that was more about the vibe than the food itself. If you went there purely for top-tier cuisine, it wouldn't really be worth the price.
When they finished eating, Cheng Zimin looked a little surprised. "I thought you'd want to take photos of everything. I won't pick a place like this next time."
"Make the phone eat first?" Mu Yue shook her head. "I'd rather enjoy the food first. As for posting about it or not, that depends on my mood."
Cheng Zimin nodded to show he got the message.
The tennis court they headed to in the afternoon was not far from their residential area. Cheng Zimin was pretty bad at the sport, playing it messily, and Mu Yue suspected he was faking it. Right next to the tennis gym was an ice rink. Cheng Zimin first asked if Mu Yue knew how to skate, and when he found out she did, he claimed it was his first time ever on ice.
Mu Yue didn't call him out on it. She led him around and taught him how to skate. When they were almost done playing, Mu Yue left the rink first to change out of her sports clothes.
Right after she left, everyone at the ice rink saw the guy who had looked like he had no control over his own limbs just a moment ago glide effortlessly across the entire rink, pulling off all kinds of fancy moves.
The onlookers who were stunned by his skills: ......
Another guy at the rink who had brought his crush there, pretended to be a great skater when he was actually pretty mediocre, and ended up getting brushed off by her: Master, please teach me your ways!
Mu Yue finished changing her clothes and waited for him at the exit. She watched him skate a full lap over to her, then raised an eyebrow with a knowing smile. "Did you have your fun showing off?"
Cheng Zimin looked all innocent and well-behaved. "Yep, that was fun."
She asked, "Were you also faking being bad at tennis?"
He replied, "No, I really don't know how to play tennis at all."
"Then why did you ask me to play tennis with you?"
Cheng Zimin answered honestly, "Because that way, you'd get the sense of achievement of training a newbie."
Mu Yue: "......" Damn, this guy is way too smooth.
The other guy who had been secretly following them to pick up some dating tips was completely blown away. His mind: !!
Master, I get it now!
