The east was tinged with the pale light of dawn.

The rising sun slowly climbed into the sky.

Come to think of it, Xier’s been at my place for two days now.

I never expected that after just two short days, I’d be accompanying her to a blind date…

And what’s more, I have to dress as a guy for it. But I am a guy! So why pretend to be one now?

By online definitions, does this make me a "pseudo-girl"? No, no—at most, I’m just a "pseudo-guy"…

I raised my right hand and made a fist in the air. Yeah, last night after Xiao Yao came back, she separated me and Xier. That’s a good thing, right? But Xiao Yao looked so troubled; it really worries me.

Slap slap slap slap!

Who’s slapping my face? So annoying. Must be an illusion. I struggled to open my tightly shut eyes.

Huh? Xiao Ling? Heh, definitely a hallucination. My sister waking me up? Impossible.

Whoosh~

Cold… so cold… Who pulled off my warm blanket?

"Bro! It’s 7:20! You only have 20 minutes left. If you don’t get up now, you might as well not bother!"

7:20 already? So only 20 minutes until class. Seriously…

Ten minutes! Class!

I sat up abruptly. I’d never slept so deeply before. My internal clock was set for 7:00 sharp. What happened? Did I eat too much last night?

"Where are Xier and Miko? Why didn’t they wake me?" I asked while getting dressed.

"They tried to wake you, but you didn’t respond. Seeing how tired you looked, they left first."

I didn’t have time to reply. After dressing, I dashed into the bathroom, brushing my teeth with one hand and washing my face with the other at lightning speed. Then, I grabbed a meat roll made by Miko, clamped it in my mouth, grabbed Xiao Ling’s hand, and rushed toward school.

I’m going to be late! Glancing at my phone screen showing 7:30, I let out a bitter laugh and picked up the pace into a jog.

But what happens when you run in high heels…

"Watch out!"

Thud.

Uh… it wasn’t me who fell. My phone flew out. When Xiao Ling saw me lose balance, she grabbed me from behind. We watched the speeding bike vanish, hearts pounding. Being late is nothing compared to getting hurt. Xier wouldn’t scold me for being late anyway. Why was I in such a hurry? Seriously.

After realizing that, I bent down to pick up my Chinese-made phone that had been with me for over 300 days and nights. I wiped the dust off it. So heartbreaking—it was bought with my hard-earned money.

Wipe wipe,

Oh no~ The phone credit card flew out.

I picked up the phone back cover from the ground, and…

the 50-yuan bill tucked inside it.

But today, Lady Luck seemed to have it out for me. A sleek, uniquely designed sports car suddenly stopped beside me. The 50-yuan bill was blown away by the noisy wind.

I didn’t have time to wonder why that car stopped beside me. I grabbed Xiao Ling’s hand to chase after the 50 yuan. Every meal comes from hard work, after all. To lose hard-earned money to the wind like this—I just couldn’t accept it.

"Hua Shu, please get in the car. You’ll be late!"

Hearing a familiar voice, I glanced back.

It was Gualie! What was she doing driving near my house instead of going to class?

"Oh, Gualie, but—"

"No buts. Don’t be so polite with me. Get in." Gualie, seeing I was about to speak, thought I was shy about riding in her car. She opened the door and tried to pull me in.

"I still need to—"

"Didn’t you say you liked me? Why won’t you get in my car? Do you… hate me now…?"

Ugh, can’t this kid let me finish? I just wanted to pick up the money.

Watching the phone credit card fly farther away, I forced a smile and got into Gualie’s car with Xiao Ling.

"Bro, it’s just an accident. Don’t dwell on it…" Xiao Ling whispered comfortingly in my ear.

Huh? Do I look that troubled? I was just staring out the window, lost in thought. Is it that obvious?

Thinking this, I asked Gualie in the front seat:

"Gualie-chan, shouldn’t you be at school or home right now? What brings you near my house?"

"Well… I heard Teacher Lei muttering in class about whether to punish you for being late, Hua Shu. So I had my butler drive me to pick you up."

As Gualie spoke, the suited man in the driver’s seat turned and gave me a smile. Uh, his eyes were pretty scary, and that forced grin was quite a sight… He must be a serious person who rarely smiles.

"Th-Thank you so much. I was about to accept being late."

"But you still look unhappy. Is something wrong?" Gualie asked, her usually half-closed eyes wide open in confusion.

Well, should I say I lost my phone credit and wanted to chase it…

"It’s stomach pain. I ate breakfast too fast and got a stomachache. Yeah, that’s it!"

Pfft!

My sister beside me couldn’t hold back her laughter after hearing that.

"Sorry, sorry. I just remembered something funny."

"Breakfast, huh…" Gualie nodded thoughtfully, then took out her phone and sent a text. After closing it, she kept smiling at me.

"Um, Hua Shu, ahem, do you remember our… appointment on Saturday?"