That tree.

Ye Yubai remembered it. Gan Lan did too, of course.

Something was buried beneath the tree.

A treasure they’d buried here on the day they both got into high school.

Back then, little glass wishing bottles were all the rage. Almost everyone had buried something somewhere at this school.

Gan Lan tapped at the stones, scraped away the dirt, and dug up the glass bottle.

Everyone else had a little wishing bottle. Hers was a dark green beer bottle.

The moment Ye Yubai saw her pull out the glass bottle, he couldn’t help laughing.

“That’s so you.”

Gan Lan’s ideas were always so unconventional.

Then Ye Yubai watched Gan Lan raise the shovel high and swing down with all her might.

She smashed the beer bottle to pieces.

Two hundred-yuan bills fell out.

Gan Lan tossed aside the shovel, picked up the money, dusted it off, and slipped it into her pocket.

Then she took a plastic bag from her other pocket, carefully gathered up all the glass shards from the ground, and carried them away.

Ye Yubai watched her finish all that, completely baffled.

“So this Gan Lan didn’t leave a wish in her wishing bottle. She left two hundred yuan instead?”

Could money be this girl’s wish?

Yeah.

Unexpected, but it made perfect sense.

The thought made Ye Yubai laugh.

“What a simple, down-to-earth wish.”

He silently got to his feet and headed back.

If she had some other dream, he might not be able to help her.

But with this, he thought he might be able to give her a hand.

“Then I’ll start by helping her get into college.”

…

Ding-a-ling~

After the bell rang twice, it was time to go home.

Gan Lan had packed her schoolbag early and was getting ready to leave.

Over the next few days, she needed to raise as much money as she could.

“I don’t have nearly enough to buy every lottery ticket at the booth,” Gan Lan thought. “And buying them all would be a terrible deal anyway. The prize is only third place.”

She’d smashed all the wishing bottles she’d buried in her first year of high school and dug out the secret stash she’d hidden in her luggage, but she’d only managed to scrape together a little over two thousand yuan.

“I can’t buy every ticket. I’ll just have to take a chance.”

From the scattered fragments of memory in Gan Lan’s mind, she could only vaguely recall some of the winning numbers.

Under the circumstances, finding the ticket with the third-place numbers would be very difficult.

Just as she was fretting over it, Ye Yubai caught up with her.

“What’s on your mind? You look miserable.”

Gan Lan glanced at him.

When it came to money, Ye Yubai was practically the human embodiment of it.

Unfortunately, Ye Yubai couldn’t just pull out a few million yuan yet.

He was just as broke as Gan Lan.

“If only Ye Yubai could return to the Ye Family early…”

The thought flashed through Gan Lan’s mind.

No. That clearly wouldn’t work.

Ye Yubai didn’t return to the Ye Family until his third year of college.

Before that could happen, he’d have to go through more than a dozen paternity tests, as well as all kinds of grueling trials.

The Ye Family didn’t just need a son. They needed an heir capable of carrying the family’s honor.

Ye Yubai had no way to contact the Ye Family right now, let alone the ability to face those deliberately difficult trials.

Gan Lan sighed.

One look at her expression told Ye Yubai she was worried about money again.

He sighed too. “Is there something in particular you’ve been wanting to buy lately?”

Gan Lan gave a glum little “Mm.”

Ye Yubai said, “If it costs a few hundred yuan, I can try to figure something out.”

Gan Lan shook her head.

Ye Yubai looked at her. “Then is it a few thousand?”

Gan Lan shook her head again.

Ye Yubai’s mouth twitched. “Don’t tell me it costs tens of thousands!”

Gan Lan tugged at her backpack strap and hurried toward the bike racks.

Ye Yubai hurried after her.

“Hey, what is it you want to buy? Just tell me! Maybe I can help!”

…

Gan Lan stayed silent the whole way.

Ye Yubai kept asking her the whole way.

That guy was a total chatterbox, and he never knew when to quit.

Gan Lan couldn’t shake him off, so she finally said, “I want to buy lottery tickets.”

More than anything, though, she wanted to stock up on cryptocurrency.

The moment Ye Yubai heard her say she wanted to buy lottery tickets, his eyes widened in shock.

“Are you crazy? You’re going to spend tens of thousands of yuan on lottery tickets?”

Gan Lan shook her head.

Ye Yubai said sternly, “If you’re buying lottery tickets, I can’t support you. You’re not allowed to buy any, or I’ll tell your parents.”

Gan Lan glared at him. “You wouldn’t dare!”

Ye Yubai hissed and scratched his head.

Honestly, he really wouldn’t dare.

If he exposed Gan Lan’s secrets and tattled on her, she’d definitely beat him up.

And if Gan Lan got mad and moved out, he’d have no one to split the housework with.

They parked downstairs at their rental.

Ye Yubai watched Gan Lan bend over to lock up and wrestled with himself.

They went upstairs, one after the other.

When they reached their front door,

Gan Lan heard Ye Yubai sigh behind her.

“All right, I’ll support you. But I have one condition.”

The hand Gan Lan had on her keys trembled slightly.

“The condition is that from the day I lend you the money until the day you pay me back, you memorize twenty English words and do one extra math word problem every day.”

Gan Lan turned around and gave him a strange look.

Ye Yubai asked, “Well?”

Gan Lan said, “You’re… serious?”

He was the lazy one, and now he was telling her to study?

What a joke.

Ye Yubai said, “Don’t underestimate me. I’ve got savings tucked away.”

Gan Lan shook her head and chuckled.

How much could a seventeen-year-old possibly have saved?

Ye Yubai saw the scornful way she laughed and started to panic.

“Don’t believe me? I’ll prove it right now!”

“Prove it first. Then we’ll talk.”

Click.

The lock turned.

They stepped inside.

Gan Lan put down her schoolbag and flopped onto the sofa.

She looked like a total couch potato.

Ye Yubai tossed his schoolbag aside too and went barefoot into his room.

After rummaging around for a while, he came out holding a small box.

“Here, look. I wasn’t lying.”

He sat down beside Gan Lan and opened the box.

Inside lay a clear jadeite plaque.

He picked it up and waved it in front of Gan Lan.

Gan Lan froze.

This plaque…

How had she never seen it before?

Gan Lan sat bolt upright, took the jadeite plaque from his hand, and examined it closely.

Not a single character was carved on it. It was skillfully carved with a landscape, clear all the way through, with the rich, glassy translucence of top-grade jade.

It felt wonderfully smooth and warm to the touch.

Even someone like Gan Lan, who didn’t know much about jade, could tell at a glance that it was worth a fortune.

“Where did you get this?”