"What thoughts?"
Min Sishi smiled. "I told you, I just want to pursue you. I don't have any other thoughts."
Zhou Xing didn't say anything; he just looked at her.
After a moment.
Min Sishi turned her head away somewhat unnaturally. "Never mind, there's nothing much to say anyway. I'm planning to give up."
"Give up?"
Zhou Xing raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah."
Min Sishi nodded, her beautiful eyes fixed on Zhou Xing, her gaze full of complexity. "Tonight's dinner made me realize that I was being too idealistic."
"Even though you're standing right here, there's a chasm between us."
"Since there's no hope, why continue?"
Zhou Xing looked at her with interest. "Then why did you start acting in the first place?"
"For money."
Min Sishi was very frank. "From the beginning, on the Campus Forum, I knew... you were very rich."
Zhou Xing wasn't surprised by this.
Although he was good-looking, it wasn't enough to make Min Sishi go to such crazy lengths.
"Since it's for money..."
Zhou Xing frowned, somewhat puzzled. "Why does it have to be me? With your looks, finding someone rich should be quite easy."
"It's not easy at all."
Min Sishi shook her head. "Because I want a lot."
"How much?"
"Four hundred thousand!"
"Cough, cough..."
Zhou Xing couldn't help but cough twice; he originally thought it would be some astronomical figure.
A mere four hundred thousand... Logically, with Min Sishi's looks, finding someone to pay that price should be extremely easy.
After all, in a city like Shanghai.
Spending a hundred thousand a month to keep a female college student is already considered a bargain.
"What do you need this money for?"
Zhou Xing couldn't help but be curious.
Min Sishi looked back at him deeply and then asked, "My story is actually quite cliché. Are you sure you want to hear it?"
Zhou Xing nodded.
Min Sishi took a deep breath. "Actually, I'm a Shanghai local. Logically, my family background should be quite good, and indeed it was. When I was a child, my family was doing well."
"They could afford to support me in learning Piano and Folk Dance, but all of that changed when I was in middle school."
"My dad had a car accident from drunk driving. He became paralyzed from the waist down and is bedridden at home. The subsequent treatment costs were an astronomical figure. My mom had no choice but to sell the house and work multiple jobs to support the family."
"But not long after, my mom collapsed from exhaustion. At the hospital, the doctor said it was kidney failure. Since there's currently no matching kidney donor, she has to undergo continuous dialysis while waiting for one."
"Then... a year ago, the doctor said there was a matching kidney donor, but the surgery costs four hundred thousand."
Min Sishi blinked and smiled at Zhou Xing. "Ridiculous, right? When there's a kidney donor, I can't even come up with that much money. In the end, it was my mother who had to comfort me."
"She told me that everyone has their own fate, that everyone's destiny is preordained. She told me to study hard and not worry about those things, and she warned me never to think about selling my body to make money, or she'd rather die."
Min Sishi paused. "After that, I realized... I had to find a rich man. Not just to help my mom with the surgery, but because I've had enough of this life. I want to live a rich life too. I don't want to sleep only five hours a day just to squeeze out time to earn my tuition and living expenses."
"I don't want to eat plain porridge in the cafeteria for a month straight. I don't want to be happy for half a month just because a Roommate gave me an iPad for my birthday. I don't want to work in a Milk Tea Shop and end up not even being able to afford a cup of milk tea."
Min Sishi smiled at Zhou Xing. "Actually, every time I brought you milk tea, I wanted to taste what it was like. I heard people say it was good. Watching you drink it, I swallowed my saliva several times."
"But I really can't bring myself to seek out those old men."
Min Sishi said, "I know I'm in no position to bargain, but I'm just a greedy and pretentious girl."
"The story is over. You probably think it's quite boring, right?"
Zhou Xing was silent for a moment, not judging Min Sishi's experience too much, and then asked, "So you sought me out?"
"Exactly."
Min Sishi narrowed her eyes and smiled. "When I saw you on the forum, I was actually a bit tempted. You're handsome and rich, and as one of the New Students, you'd be relatively naive and easy to trick."
"I didn't expect you to reject me in public. That bothered me, but it also made me a little curious about you."
"Being a bit competitive, I wanted to keep trying. I didn't expect half a month to pass in the blink of an eye. After persisting for so long, suddenly giving up feels a bit strange."
Zhou Xing raised an eyebrow. "Since you've persisted for so long, why give up now? Don't you really want to live a rich life? Maybe I would have been moved in a few days, and then all of this would be no problem."
"I want to be rich, but you're too rich."
Min Sishi shook her head. "Tonight's dinner made me understand these things. I have nothing to offer but my looks. No one would be willing to be saddled with a burden like me, especially since my family is a bottomless pit."
"A rich man like you, with a good personality and handsome looks... You deserve better. Someone like me can't reach you even if I try to stand on tiptoes."
Min Sishi smiled. "To be honest, even if it wasn't for the money, after spending time with you, I might have actually fallen for you and had a sweet romance."
"I'm not as good as you think, and I can't give you a sweet romance."
Min Sishi nodded. "I know. Given your circumstances, I imagine plenty of women will be flocking to you. You probably have several around you already."
Zhou Xing remained silent, choosing to acquiesce.
"I was already mentally prepared for this before I approached you."
Min Sishi gave a self-deprecating laugh. "For someone like me, it's obvious. How could the good fortune of you being faithful to me ever fall on my head?"
"It's just that... even being kept by you is something I don't dare to hope for."
"I've gone through so much. I didn't feel inferior when I was working part-time, or when people pointed fingers at me for eating plain porridge and steamed buns in the cafeteria, but meeting you made me feel inferior."
Min Sishi said, "You've shown me that the gap between people isn't something that can be described by distance."
"What's the situation with your mother's kidney donor?"
Zhou Xing suddenly changed the subject.
"That sort of thing is just down to luck. The doctor said a batch will come next week, but whether there's a match is still a question."
Min Sishi sighed. "Besides, even if there is a match, I can't afford the costs anyway."
"I'll pay for your mother's surgery costs."
Zhou Xing said indifferently.
"Huh?"
Min Sishi didn't snap out of it for a moment.
Zhou Xing smiled and said, "Since that's what you were thinking anyway, it's the same if I pay to keep you. You've persisted for so long; I should give you some kind of response."