Su Ci stood frozen in place, frightened. She pressed her lips together, nervously watching Lu Zhe who lay on the bed.
Her mind was racing, wondering how she should explain her identity.
In the quiet room, Su Ci could hear her own heart beating chaotically in her chest.
Why was she feeling so guilty and scared?
The young man lay motionless.
Su Ci grew a bit braver and moved her feet forward one step.
In the next instant, the young man on the bed suddenly sat up, startling Su Ci so much that her eyes widened and she froze.
Oh no, he shouldn't startle people like that.
Lu Zhe's cold, pale, handsome face bore the flush of alcohol, and his pitch-black eyes had lost some of their usual coolness, appearing wet and bright.
His gaze fell on Su Ci standing by the bed. "Who are you?"
Su Ci's heart skipped a beat - was he drunk? Or not?
Since he had discovered her, it was a good opportunity to explain her situation. "I..."
Before Su Ci could finish, Lu Zhe interrupted her.
The young man's handsome brows furrowed, "This belongs to Tuantuan."
Huh?
Su Ci was confused.
Lu Zhe got off the bed and crouched in front of Su Ci. To her shock, the young man's cold hand directly grabbed her ankle.
Her foot suddenly lifted, causing Su Ci to lose balance and fall sitting on the edge of the bed. "What are you doing?"
Lu Zhe gave her a bland look, and Su Ci could clearly see the disdain in his eyes. "This belongs to Tuantuan."
It was what he bought for Tuantuan!
Only when she saw his hand caressing the red string on her ankle did Su Ci understand what Lu Zhe meant.
She blinked, noticing the young man's black eyes were glazed, lacking their usual clarity - was he really drunk?
Su Ci let out a breath and tried to pull her ankle from Lu Zhe's grip, but couldn't break free. "Let go."
"This belongs to Tuantuan," Lu Zhe repeated.
His large hand gripped Su Ci's slender ankle as he lowered his head to pull at the red string, clearly intending to remove it from her foot to return it to his Tuantuan.
Su Ci didn't bother arguing with a drunk person. She supported herself with her hands on either side, allowing her foot to rest on the crouching Lu Zhe's knee.
The skin of Su Ci's current body was truly beautiful - snow-white all over, smooth and delicate. Even her feet were exquisitely pretty. Perhaps due to their delicateness, her small toes and ankles had a faint pink tinge.
Delicate and fragile.
Held in the young man's large hand, it seemed as if the slightest pressure could crush them.
Lu Zhe lowered his gaze, seriously working to untie the red string.
The small jade gourd on the red string swayed continuously.
Whether due to his progressive freezing syndrome or not, Lu Zhe's hands were always ice-cold. His calloused fingers kept brushing against her foot, causing a tingling sensation that made goosebumps rise on Su Ci's calf.
Usually being carried by Lu Zhe meant she didn't need to walk, so Su Ci hadn't noticed before. But now with him holding her foot like this, she realized that not only were her rabbit ears sensitive, but her feet were extremely sensitive too.
She had read online before that rabbits' feet shouldn't be touched carelessly as they were sensitive zones.
Now feeling those waves of ticklish, tingling sensations, she clearly understood - they really were sensitive!
"Hurry up," Su Ci said, unable to bear it as she tried to pull her foot back.
Even drunk, Lu Zhe's long fingers remained dexterous. In just a few movements, he had untied the red string from the girl's ankle.
Pulling her foot back, Su Ci stepped onto the cold floor. Only then did the ticklish sensation in her sole slightly subside. She quietly watched Lu Zhe, curious to see what surprising action he might take next.
After retrieving the red string, Lu Zhe didn't spare a glance at the stunningly beautiful Su Ci sitting on the bed. Holding the string, he began searching the room for the rabbit.
Su Ci could tell what the young man was doing. She coughed - she was right here by the bed, where else would he look for her?
She stretched out her long leg, her toes touching the drunk young man who was searching through the desk drawers, kindly telling him, "Stop looking, I'm right here."
Lu Zhe turned around, giving Su Ci a disdainful look. "Tuantuan is prettier than you."
Su Ci immediately stood up from the bed. She could take any criticism, but not being told she wasn't pretty.
How could her rabbit form possibly be prettier than her current appearance?
She called out Fu Gui, "Who's the prettiest in the whole world?"
Fu Gui clearly heard the gritted teeth in Su Ci's voice, [In Fu Gui's heart, Master is the prettiest in the whole world.]
Su Ci humphed, now that's what she wanted to hear.
Meanwhile, Lu Zhe's black eyes grew increasingly glazed, his rigid face becoming redder, clearly showing the alcohol taking full effect.
He turned toward the fair-faced Su Ci, "This is for Tuantuan."
Su Ci watched dumbfounded as Lu Zhe crouched down again, grabbed her ankle, and put the red string he had just removed back on her foot.
Well, he was completely drunk.
......
At the Zhao residence.
Li Changfang grabbed Zhao Youyou's collar and slapped her directly.
Her palm was thick with flesh, making the slap very loud, stunning Zhao Youyou.
With one slap, her fair cheek was marked with a red handprint, visibly swelling.
"You hit my daughter? I'll fight you!" Seeing her daughter being hit, Zhao's Mother immediately went to attack Li Changfang.
Li Changfang was broad and fat, and the thin Zhao's Mother was no match for her. She took several hard slaps from Li Changfang, but she didn't take it lying down, firmly pulling at Li Changfang's hair.
When Dong Jian saw Zhao's father trying to help, he immediately intercepted, and the two men also began fighting.
The Zhao family's house instantly descended into chaos.
Zhao Youyou stood stunned, tears streaming down her face from the pain. She hadn't expected things to turn out like this.
She had read some reincarnation novels before, where the female protagonists would buy lottery tickets, buy houses, and become wealthy after being reborn. Why had things turned out so differently for her?
"Stop fighting, please stop fighting." Zhao Youyou didn't dare approach, anxiously stamping her feet on the sidelines.
"You little tramp, give us back the lottery... lottery ticket and we'll stop," Li Changfang said while slapping Zhao's Mother.
Zhao's Mother wouldn't let go of the other woman's hair, "Get lost, the lottery ticket belongs to our family."
Taking her money was like taking her life.
Zhao Youyou had no choice but to call the police.
Even though Zhao Youyou had lied, and Zhao's Mother's birthday numbers didn't match those on the ticket, since this happened before the lottery win, even if Zhao Youyou had deceived them, it was only for 2 yuan. In the police's view, she couldn't have known in advance that this ticket would win.
Moreover, Zhao Youyou had spent a hundred yuan to buy the ticket from Dong Jian - it was a willing transaction, so the ticket belonged to Zhao Youyou.
As for the lottery shop owner's testimony, it only proved that Zhao Youyou had indeed spent a hundred yuan to buy the ticket from Dong Jian.
Dong Jian and Li Changfang left the police station grinding their teeth, having no choice but to agree to mediation. Seeing the Zhao family walking out behind them, Li Changfang spat viciously.
"We'll settle this eventually." Their family lived on the eighth floor, and the Zhao family on the fifth floor - dealing with the Zhao family would be easy.
They couldn't do anything illegal, but they could still do things to make their lives miserable.
The next day, when Zhao Youyou opened her door and saw the garbage spread all over her doorstep, including some foul-smelling liquid stains, she nearly threw up her breakfast from the stench.
She finally understood what Li Changfang meant by settling things eventually.
......
The room was very quiet.
When Lu Zhe woke up, daylight had already broken. The warm morning sunlight shone through onto the grayish bed, making him close his eyes again.
After a while, Lu Zhe opened his eyes again, his black pupils completely clear.
His head hurt a bit.
Lu Zhe remembered drinking with Boss Fang last night. He must have gotten drunk, and then had dreams all night long.
In his dream, he had helped put a red string on the rabbit's little foot.
No, he had also dreamed of a girl who had a red string tied around her ankle. He couldn't see her face clearly, but he knew her skin was very white.
She had scolded him in a delicate voice, telling him to stop fooling around.
Lu Zhe's long eyelashes concealed the look in his eyes. When he got up, he found his school uniform beside him, with the rabbit's body buried in it, only its small head visible, sleeping soundly.
Not far away was the red string that had been untied from its little foot.
When they got to the classroom and Su Ci was taken out of the backpack by Lu Zhe, she finally woke up.
She couldn't remember how long Lu Zhe had fussed last night, repeatedly untying and retying the red string. Eventually, she succumbed to drowsiness and drifted off to sleep.
To her surprise, when she woke up, she had turned back into a rabbit.
Don't ask her how she felt about it - she only regretted not taking the chance to kiss him more times while she could. Looking up at the young man with his stern face and determined jawline, she found it hard to imagine that this was the same person who had acted like a fool last night, holding her foot and making a fuss for half the night.
Su Ci looked down at her tiny feet. This morning, he had wrapped the string around them again.
"I heard there's a transfer student joining our class."
"I saw him when I passed by the teachers' office. He's tall and handsome, and his family even donated a library to the school."
"Wow, he must be rich and handsome!"
"It's senior year, why would anyone transfer now?"
...
Zhao Youyou wasn't in a good mood this morning. Her mother wanted to confront that family, but she stopped her since there was no evidence proving they were responsible. Besides, she didn't want her mother arguing with that unreasonable couple, fearing it might lead to another fight.
Her face was still swollen from Li Changfang's slap. Even after a night, the swelling hadn't gone down, and it hurt to talk.
She sniffled, feeling wronged about everything - from the incident two days ago about taking credit for saving someone, to the lottery ticket situation. She felt completely misunderstood.
She had indeed saved someone - she hadn't lied about that. It was just a different person than they thought. Her conscience was clear.
As for the lottery ticket, she had paid for it fair and square. It was a willing transaction between both parties. Dong Jian had changed the numbers afterward - that wasn't her fault.
Biting her lip, Zhao Youyou's eyes reddened. When she happened to look up, she saw a male student walking alongside the teacher in the distance. His gaze was domineering, his presence powerful, and his handsomeness impossible to ignore.
Zhao Youyou froze in shock.
Was it him?
Lying on Lu Zhe's leg, Su Ci perked up her rabbit ears, listening to the discussions around her. She recalled that this transfer student must be the male protagonist from the book.
She remembered the book's description of the male lead, then looked up at the young man above her.
Now that the male protagonist had appeared, the supporting male character would become even more invisible, wouldn't he?
Ci Ci: Quick, kiss the cutie!
