Chapter 17: But I Refuse

“I… I can’t be bothered arguing with you!”

Senior Li Hua, who had tried to hit on Lin Jiaxin, forced himself to sound tough.

After letting out a cold snort, he fled into the crowd as if escaping.

Anyone with eyes could tell he’d completely lost his composure and run away.

Senior Sa Bi Xue Zhang chuckled as he watched the other man leave.

Then he casually glanced to the side.

His gaze froze instantly.

The girl before him was dressed in the same camouflage military training uniform every freshman had to wear during orientation.

Yet above the slightly oversized collar was a delicate, fair little face.

Sunlight streamed in through the window and fell across her cheeks, making even the tiny peach fuzz visible.

She looked just like a ripe peach that had come to life.

Soft, pink, and irresistibly fresh.

Especially those eyes.

Her long eyelashes fluttered like two tiny brushes, teasing his restless heart with every blink.

He hadn’t expected Li Hua to have such good taste despite his questionable character.

At least the guy knew how to pick a beautiful girl to approach.

After one of his followers quietly explained everything, Senior Sa Bi Xue Zhang quickly understood the whole situation.

This beautiful freshman was exactly the girl Li Hua had tried to hit on.

Senior Sa Bi Xue Zhang elegantly removed his sunglasses and gave Lin Jiaxin a slight bow.

“Oh, beautiful miss, hello… Please forgive me for failing to notice someone as lovely as you…”

“…Hello.”

Lin Jiaxin maintained her cool and composed demeanor, giving him only a slight nod.

Even though her toes were practically digging into her shoes from secondhand embarrassment, not a trace of it showed on her face.

“Oh, beautiful young lady, the weather is wonderful today… don’t you think?”

Senior Sa Bi Xue Zhang remained bent over without standing up.

His eyes stared fixedly at the back of Lin Jiaxin’s hand.

[…What does he mean?]

At first, Lin Jiaxin didn’t understand.

Then she noticed him continuing to bow while staring at her hand.

She slowly frowned.

A scene she’d only seen in movies surfaced in her mind.

Was he… trying to kiss her hand?

But there was no way she was letting a complete stranger, especially a man, touch her for no reason.

Not to mention his saliva!

Other girls might swoon.

She certainly wouldn’t.

Especially not over someone this greasy.

All she felt toward him was disgust.

Not even the slightest bit of affection.

“May I ask if you need something?”

Lin Jiaxin shot him a look of disdain and completely ignored his outstretched hand.

Certified as a pure idiot.

Did he seriously think he was that handsome?

Was he even half as good-looking as she’d been in her previous life?

Originally, she’d gained a tiny bit of goodwill toward him because of how generously he’d been throwing money around.

Now every bit of that goodwill had completely disappeared.

“…”

Senior Sa Bi Xue Zhang narrowed his eyes slightly.

He stood back up, returning to his arrogant, above-everyone attitude.

He didn’t feel embarrassed by Lin Jiaxin’s obvious disgust.

After all, the hand-kiss had only been a little trick to get girls to let him hold their hands.

If it failed, so be it.

A girl with this much personality was hard to find.

He put his sunglasses back on, the corners of his lips curling upward as he revealed his ultimate trump card.

“Oh, by the way… I’m hosting a brand-new party this weekend.”

“A party with absolutely no hidden rules.”

“Everyone there can pick up so much money their hands will go numb…”

“I hope I’ll have the honor of inviting you.”

“If you’re willing to come, I’ll let you enter the pool one minute before everyone else.”

“Everything inside is yours to take.”

“You can grab as much as you want.”

…What?

One minute.

Take whatever she wanted?

“Y-You’re… telling the truth?”

Lin Jiaxin seemed tempted.

Judging from what he’d done earlier and Li Hua’s obvious jealousy…

The party probably involved filling a swimming pool with cash.

She could probably pick up hundreds of thousands in just one minute.

The vivid image he painted completely captivated her imagination.

“Of course, beautiful miss!”

Senior Sa Bi Xue Zhang gently coaxed her, sounding exactly like a devil tempting someone into corruption.

“I always keep my promises.”

“Especially to beautiful ladies.”

“Just grabbing one handful would already be worth four figures.”

“I can’t even imagine how much you could collect in one minute…”

“Don’t you… like money?”

His final question landed like a heavy hammer, smashing straight through Lin Jiaxin’s mental defenses.

“I…”

Her eyes became unfocused as the scene he described completely enchanted her.

“If… if I agreed to go…”

She nervously swallowed.

“Y-You’d really… let me… go in… by myself… one minute early?”

Hearing that, the eyes hidden behind Senior Sa Bi Xue Zhang’s sunglasses narrowed into slits.

Like a cunning fox, he looked as though he’d finally found a crow with meat in its mouth that was about to be tricked into dropping it.

“Hehe~”

“Ah, yes.”

“I never lie…”

“I just want to make friends with you…”

“So come on…”

“Say yes…”

Lin Jiaxin pursed her lips and stepped a little closer to him.

The corner of her mouth slowly lifted as she softly spoke a few words.

“But… I refuse!”

“!!!”

Senior Sa Bi Xue Zhang had never expected that answer.

He froze.

“What?!”

“You know…”

Lin Jiaxin crossed her right arm over her chest while resting her left elbow on it.

Her left hand lightly brushed her bangs as she lowered her head and slowly said,

“The thing I enjoy most is telling people who think they’re cooler than me ‘NO.'”

“You think I’d worship you like those lovestruck little kids?”

“Heh.”

“If that’s what you think, then you’re unbelievably naive.”

“Every night at exactly eight o’clock, I open Tonghuashun and fight against the capital markets.”

“My win rate is over ninety percent…”

“So your money?”

“Big Sister Xin isn’t interested in it at all.”

“As for a greasy guy like you…”

“Big Sister Xin couldn’t care less.”

“You want to chase me?”

With that, Lin Jiaxin flashed her signature peace sign toward Senior Sa Bi Xue Zhang once again and burst into laughter.

“Hahaha!”

“You’re twenty thousand years too early!”

The entire crowd erupted.

Not because she’d rejected Senior Sa Bi Xue Zhang.

But because of how casually she’d looked down on everyone her own age.

The onlookers exchanged glances.

Then one after another, they completely lost it.

“Hahahahaha!”

If she’d been wearing regular clothes while saying all that, maybe people could’ve believed she was a senior or even an intern teacher.

But she was wearing a freshman camouflage uniform.

Then she called all the seniors present childish little kids?

Whether in age or life experience, everyone here had far more than a first-year student like her.

Besides, what was so wrong with picking up free money?

The guy wasn’t asking them to call him Dad afterward.

All they had to do was compliment him a little.

How did that make them lovestruck?

If anything, she was the ridiculous one.

So young, yet talking so big.

Every night at eight o’clock she fought the financial markets using Tonghuashun?

She sounded exactly like the type who invested all of her allowance into stocks, made a little money at first, immediately thought she was the next Warren Buffett ready to dominate Wall Street, then lost everything, turned to online loans, buried herself in debt through interest upon interest, forced her family to clean up the mess, and finally posted online beginning with,

‘Everyone… I really regret it…’

Still, after laughing, most people barely reacted to her final declaration.

After all, whether someone was beautiful wasn’t exactly difficult to judge.

As long as your eyes worked.

And Lin Jiaxin’s appearance…

More than justified her confidence.