Chapter 7: Sigh! Saving a cat & Capitalism

Back in District Sixteen, Lin Zhiyan had often heard a saying:

If a job pays well, requires no investment, and is easy, then ask yourself—why would it fall into your hands?

While people her age constantly got scammed out of money, she had never once fallen for fake part-time jobs because she firmly believed in that principle.

Lin Zhiyan once thought she would never be fooled.

Until after course registration, when her inbox filled to the brim with school emails.

__________________________________________________________________

[Your course registration was successful. Below is the list of required textbooks.]
[Your course registration was successful. Please purchase the following materials.]
[Your course registration was successful. Please prepare the following books before class begins.]

__________________________________________________________________

If an elective course was easy to get into, worth lots of credits, and short in duration, then why had it fallen into her hands?

The answer was hidden in those densely packed emails.

And in the mountain of shopping lists.

At that moment, she thought:

I got scammed.

“Lin Zhiyan, did you finish choosing your classes?”

Aiwen’s voice rang out.

Expressionless, Lin Zhiyan closed her smart terminal and stood up.

“Sigh, there were several electives I really wanted, but I couldn’t get any of them. In the end I only managed to grab three.” Aiwen linked arms with her, her red hair brushing against her cheeks as she spoke in a sharp yet sweet tone. “What about you? How many did you get?”

Lin Zhiyan wore a numb expression and said nothing.

Aiwen blinked. “It’s okay even if you didn’t get any. The first few years are supposed to be for enjoying campus life anyway.”

“No.” Lin Zhiyan turned to look at her. “All the classes I got are completely full.”

“Isn’t that goo—”

Aiwen stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening.

“Wait… don’t tell me you didn’t know electives require you to buy your own textbooks?”

Lin Zhiyan nodded heavily.

Sympathy appeared on Aiwen’s face.

“Um… I know a few upperclassmen, so I might be able to help you borrow some books. But there’s no way I can borrow all of them. If you need money, I can lend you some first, and you can pay me back slowly.”

She sounded hesitant, afraid of hurting Lin Zhiyan’s pride.

After spending a week together, Aiwen already understood that Lin Zhiyan wasn’t someone easily wounded, yet she still couldn’t help treating her delicately, like fragile glassware.

“It’s fine. I’ve saved up some money myself.” Lin Zhiyan smiled at her, then added, “Besides, electives won’t start for a while. I’ve also found some part-time jobs, so I should be able to scrape enough together. But if you can borrow some books for me, I’d really appreciate it. I’ll treat you to a meal later.”

Seeing that she was willing to accept help, Aiwen secretly relaxed. The freckles on her face lifted along with her smile.

“Just buy me a drink instead. But working part-time sounds exhausting. If you really can’t manage, come find me, okay?”

Lin Zhiyan laughed.

“Why does that sound like you’re saying you’ll support me?”

“Huh?” Aiwen looked surprised, then laughed too. “I mean… I could. But you definitely wouldn’t accept it.”

With utmost seriousness, she said:

“You look like the type of person who would never bend.”

During orientation week, all the freshmen had been aggressively socializing, forming little groups, flattering those above them while pulling in those below them.

But Lin Zhiyan was different.

She always hovered on the edges of crowds—not deliberately antisocial, but never particularly enthusiastic either. Always polite. Always reserved.

After an entire week, the person closest to her was still Aiwen alone.

That made Aiwen happy.

And also uneasy.

“Then you misjudged me.” Lin Zhiyan raised a brow. “I’m not that noble. The only reason I don’t do certain things is because I can get what I want on my own. If I can’t? I’ll bend immediately.”

There was still laughter in her dark eyes.

She lifted a hand and tucked Aiwen’s red hair behind her ear.

“Your hair is so bright. Every time I talk to you, it feels like my eyes are getting burned by fire.”

Aiwen’s eyes widened slowly.

She didn’t know whether to be more shocked by Lin Zhiyan’s brutally practical worldview or happy at being complimented.

Several seconds later, she awkwardly touched her hair.

“T-Thank you. Your black hair is really pretty too.”

Lin Zhiyan’s eyes curved.

Why thank me? We’re friends.

Just remember to shower me with money later if I go broke.

She thought this silently.

At the time, Lin Zhiyan still believed she had prepared two backup plans:

One was a friend willing to “drop gold coins.”

The other was practical part-time work.

But a week later, she realized both preparations had lost to the “quality” of the Central District.

And what was that quality?

The answer was:

Copyright awareness.

Lin Zhiyan searched all over the city, only to discover that the books on her list weren’t just expensive—they also had no pirated copies and no secondhand versions whatsoever.

Whether that meant copyright protection was simply too effective or whether knowledge itself was being monopolized, she couldn’t tell.

The classroom for her major course was somewhat noisy.

The professor ignored it entirely, lecturing as though nobody else existed.

Lin Zhiyan took notes seriously while sighing internally.

There was only one week left before electives began.

All those textbooks and teaching materials together cost an enormous amount.

Even if she emptied her savings, it wouldn’t be enough.

And none of her part-time jobs would advance her that much money.

What was she supposed to do?

Pretend to be an elementary school kid who forgot her textbook and ask to share with the person beside her?

Lin Zhiyan glanced around the classroom.

Single desks. Single seats.

Students in departmental uniforms accessorized with expensive jewelry, luxury watches, designer bags.

None of them looked like the sort willing to let her read half their textbook.

…Should she find someone to shower her with money?

She looked toward Aiwen beside her, who was propping up her chin sleepily.

Aiwen opened her blurry green eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

Lin Zhiyan said sincerely, “If you’re sleepy, just sleep. I already took notes.”

“Hehe, you’re so nice.”

Aiwen closed her eyes again in relief.

Lin Zhiyan watched her sleeping face and brushed away the strands of hair sticking to her cheek. The skin beneath her fingertips felt slightly warm.

She withdrew her hand and looked away.

Aiwen’s mother was a palace etiquette instructor, and her father was a professor at a private academy.

If Lin Zhiyan wanted to make use of that relationship, then she needed to use it properly.

Like raising livestock.

You slaughter it when it’s fattest.

Then her gaze shifted toward the front rows.

Li Siheng sat there with his gray-black hair, his profile stunningly beautiful. The light fell over him dimly, making him resemble some silent beauty hidden in shadows.

—Should she join that so-called “project” of his now?

No. Too proactive. That would ruin her bargaining power.

Threaten him with the fact that he rarely attended class? Demand money or expose him?

…No good. Plenty of Celestial Dragon elites skipped class. Clearly they weren’t worried.

Try getting closer to him personally?

Impossible. And although he seemed obedient and meek around his brother, she had the feeling he wasn’t actually simple at all.

f*ck, what am I supposed to do?

At worst, maybe she could borrow money from everyone in class with a sob story, then drop out and run away.

No—if she was going to run anyway, maybe she should just plan a kidnapping instead.

Lin Zhiyan indulged in wild fantasies all day long, yearning to reshape the world through sheer ideology.

Unfortunately, despite an entire day of delusions, not a single blade of grass in the world changed.

The United Military-Political Academy remained exactly the same.

Even breathing there smelled like capitalism.

As the sun set, the day’s classes ended.

Lin Zhiyan decided to splurge and take Aiwen to the school cafeteria, hoping to leverage some social networking into a crowdfunding opportunity.

But that plan collapsed almost immediately.

Because the moment they stepped out of the teaching building, someone called out—

“Aiwen.”

They looked over and saw several students.

Several luxury cars were parked behind them.

At the center of the group stood Li Siheng.

But the one who had called Aiwen’s name was the person beside him.

He wore the Department of Wealth’s uniform, tall and elegant, with reddish-brown hair and green eyes. His features were deep-set, his temperament refined, yet he also carried the lively agility of a deer darting through the forest.

Le Mans.

Aiwen’s cousin.

A second-year student in the Department of Wealth, heir to the royal stationery conglomerate.

He had grown up alongside Zephi and Li Siheng, and because of that, he deeply disliked Lin Zhiyan.

They had barely met a few times, yet he never missed a chance to express his contempt for her.

This time was no different.

Le Mans’s gaze swept over Lin Zhiyan like she was a fly beside his sister.

“Where are you going?”

Aiwen clutched Lin Zhiyan’s sleeve.

“She and I are going to the cafeteria.”

Le Mans laughed lightly.

“With that kind of person?”

Li Siheng frowned slightly but said nothing.

The others chuckled along.

Aiwen stared at Lin Zhiyan in horror and hurriedly said, “That’s just how he talks, you—”

“It’s fine.” Lin Zhiyan smiled and looked at Le Mans. “People like me still need to eat too.”

Le Mans crossed his arms.

“Yeah? And then what, pretend you forgot your wallet so you can dine and dash? Poor people always have tricks.”

“The tricks poor people use are still fewer than the tricks rich people use to accumulate wealth.”

Lin Zhiyan slowly peeled Aiwen’s hand off her arm.

“It’s okay. You can eat with them. I was planning to head to work anyway.”

Aiwen bit her lip and nodded, only for Le Mans to immediately pull her behind him.

In an instant, Lin Zhiyan looked like someone being isolated by the group standing before her.

Le Mans’s expression was somewhere between pity and mockery.

“If you want to make friends, go befriend poor trash from backgrounds like yours. Don’t set your sights on my sister. Or what? Are there no other poor people at this school?”

Li Siheng spoke at last.

“We should go.”

Only then did Le Mans finally back off. Lifting his chin, his green eyes shining like emeralds, he said:

“Stay away from my sister from now on.”

“Then why don’t you stay away from my friend?”

Lin Zhiyan didn’t even look at him. She only looked at Aiwen.

“See you tomorrow.”

Then she turned and walked away without another glance back.

“Why are you always targeting her?”

Aiwen sounded genuinely upset, though she still didn’t dare get too angry.

She and Le Mans weren’t close to begin with.

He only ever used her as an excuse to humiliate Lin Zhiyan, and because his family held more power, she couldn’t openly oppose him.

Hearing her question, he merely glanced at her indifferently.

“Are you stupid or pretending to be? It’s been this long since school started. She doesn’t get close to anyone except you. Isn’t it obvious she’s after your family background?”

He curled his lip.

“Just wait. In less than a week she’ll start telling you sob stories so you’ll pay this fee and that expense for her. She’ll drain you down to the bone.”

“Then isn’t your family background even better? Why doesn’t she get close to you?”

Aiwen finally snapped back.

“You’re obviously just taking your anger out on my friend because of your friends!”

Li Siheng lowered his eyes.

“You all talk. I’ll wait in the car first.”

As soon as he left, the others also found excuses to disperse, leaving only the siblings behind.

“So what if I am?” Le Mans laughed carelessly. “Do you know that deck of cards she scattered during orientation? It’s worth two hundred thousand star credits. And it’s authentic.”

Aiwen stared in shock.

“What?”

“And now you still think your friend is innocent?” Le Mans folded his arms. “Doesn’t matter whether she stole it, robbed it, or found it. The moment someone possesses something far beyond their worth, they become suspicious.”

A darker shadow fell over his green eyes beneath his sharp nose.

“Especially when she ruined our plans.”

If Li Siheng had successfully built momentum, the private school legislation would’ve progressed smoothly. Le Mans’s family’s stationery conglomerate would then have become the designated supplier for standardized testing materials.

But now?

Not a shred of progress.

Their entire promotional campaign had been delayed.

“You suspect this and suspect that, but it’s not like any of you are that smart!”

Aiwen burst out angrily.

Then immediately got scared and ran away.

Le Mans was already irritated enough. Hearing that only made him sneer more as he returned to the car.

Their relationship had never been close anyway.

The fact he’d even said this much today was already unusual.

In the back seat sat only Li Siheng.

The others were in different cars.

Le Mans climbed into the driver’s seat and heard Li Siheng ask:

“Where’s your sister?”

“She left.” Le Mans started the car dismissively. “No idea what kind of spell Lin Zhiyan cast on her.”

“There’s no need to pay her that much attention.”

“If hatred counts as attention, then I can’t help it.” Le Mans raised a brow, his tone prickly again. “You lost benefits because of her too, yet you act like some innocent bystander who doesn’t care about anything.”

Li Siheng paused.

“Sorry.”

Le Mans shrugged.

“Forget it. That’s just your personality. I spoke carelessly.”

Li Siheng was the son of a government official. No matter what, his influence exceeded Zephi’s, whose background was purely corporate.

But Li Siheng’s mother had always displayed an almost pathological dependence and obedience toward Zephi’s mother.

As a result, Li Siheng had been raised from childhood to obey Zephi’s family.

Even after becoming an adult, he still resembled a puppet controlled by Zephi, dull and detached from the outside world.

Because of that, Le Mans was actually more tolerant and closer to Li Siheng than to Zephi.

After dinner, they killed some more time before night fully fell.

The sky darkened completely.

Wet wind carried strands of rain, while pulse umbrellas drifted beneath the streetlights like floating clouds of changing light.

Lin Zhiyan had just finished work and stepped out of the store.

Yawning repeatedly, she headed toward the station.

But after turning past a bustling commercial street, she spotted a familiar car parked carelessly outside a club.

—Le Mans’s car.

It sat by the roadside with the door half-open, its owner temporarily absent.

Lin Zhiyan spent a full minute considering whether she should report the illegal parking just to annoy him.

Then decided against provoking people unnecessarily.

She turned to leave—

Only to hear an incredibly faint sound in the distance.

Small.

Weak.

She froze, then followed the noise.

Soon, inside a flowerbed, she found a tiny kitten.

It had only recently been born.

Curled up inside a cardboard box already half-filled with rainwater.

Lin Zhiyan silently stared at the struggling kitten.

And simultaneously sensed someone behind her silently watching her.

Excellent.

According to the literary theory classes she’d taken, “saving the cat” was a classic method of character construction—it made readers or other characters perceive someone as kind, soft-hearted, sincere.

At this moment, she should save the kitten.

Show others her compassion.

Her gentleness.

Her humanity.

But if she truly wanted to save it—

Then she shouldn’t save it now.

Because she had no money to treat it.

And no time to care for it.

What benefit would a “kind-hearted innocent” persona bring her anyway?

Lin Zhiyan crouched down and lifted the kitten, quietly staring at it.

She stared for so long that Le Mans finally frowned.

He felt she was exactly as he suspected:

Cold-hearted.

Malicious.

A vicious woman hiding ulterior motives.

And he decided he needed to rescue the kitten before it died under her gaze.

Poor thing.

If he’d gotten out of the car earlier and found it first, he could’ve saved it himself.

Thinking this, he walked over holding an umbrella.

“Hey—”

Le Mans opened his mouth, arrogance practically spilling from his emerald eyes.

But before he could finish, she had already picked up the kitten and turned away.

His “hey” dissolved into the rain, shattered by the steady pattering.

He froze, then frowned.

She was going to save it?

But she’d stared at it for so long without moving. She hadn’t looked soft-hearted at all.

Could it be…

Did she want to abuse the cat?

Countless unpleasant possibilities flashed through Le Mans’s mind.

Unable to stop himself, he followed after her.

He was terrible at tailing people, forcing Lin Zhiyan to slow down several times so he wouldn’t lose her.

After what felt like forever—just when his irritation was about to explode and he nearly chased after her demanding to know where exactly are you going and how much farther are we walking—

She finally stopped.

A pet clinic.

The fluorescent sign glowed dimly over the old storefront.

Le Mans secretly relaxed.

At least she wasn’t cruel enough to abuse animals.

After she entered, he followed too, pretending to browse the cats in a display case while keeping his back turned toward her.

The place was empty at night.

Within minutes, she reached the reception desk.

Le Mans pricked up his ears, damp reddish-brown hair clinging to his face as he frowned.

He worried she might abandon the kitten because treatment was too expensive.

But then he heard something even more horrifying.

“Hello. How much would euthanasia for this kitten cost?”

The instant those words fell, rage exploded inside him.

He strode toward her and grabbed her wrist.

“You—!”

But the rest of his words stopped.

Because he saw her eyes.

Exhausted.

Numb.

Beneath her black hair, her face looked pale and calm.

The kitten mewed weakly in her arms while she hunched protectively around it.

His fury weakened slightly.

“You…” he said again. “This is insane. If you don’t want to save it, then don’t save it. What gives you the right to decide whether it lives or dies?”

Rainwater dampened her clothes as Lin Zhiyan looked at him.

Her voice remained utterly flat.

“Do you have money? Are you going to save it? Or did you just want an excuse to scold me? To humiliate a poor person like me? Either is fine. Do whatever you want. Money is the bare minimum guarantee of conscience.”

“And I don’t have any.”

Le Mans’s lips moved.

Then he abruptly snatched the kitten from her arms and hugged it to himself.

“If you’re broke, then get lost. This cat belongs to me now. I want this cat. Don’t even think about touching my cat.”

Lin Zhiyan raised her hand.

Le Mans instinctively recoiled with the kitten in his arms like someone afraid of domestic violence.

But she merely reached out slowly and gently stroked the kitten’s head.

Then she turned away.

Le Mans froze.

The entire situation felt absurd.

He couldn’t understand her at all.

He looked down at the kitten, then back at her retreating figure.

But she left without the slightest hesitation.

Night deepened.

Rain continued to fall.

Yet Lin Zhiyan’s footsteps remained light.

Kitten, you should thank me for finding you a sucker.

That was what she thought.

But soon, a voice called after her from behind, irritated and frustrated.

“Lin Zhiyan!”

Her footsteps paused slightly.

Mm.

Excellent.

Looks like she’d found herself a sucker too.

She kept walking.