Chapter 8: Supporting a Useless Brother? Not Happening!
Lin Zhifeng didn’t ask the system about the rest of the plot.
First, because the storyline was buried too deep—she could only access irrelevant bits even with her ability, and they were all messy and fragmented.
Second, because she had no interest in the romance between the male and female leads. She just wanted to steer the plot she needed onto the right track so she could move on to the next world and look for the divine core.
There were some discrepancies between the plot and reality. The characters in the plot were rather flat—take Bai Ruoyue, for example: one moment she was impossibly clever, the next she was forcibly dumbed down.
But the people and events she encountered in real life were far more vivid and reasonable. Both main and supporting characters felt very real.
Relying solely on the plot to take action was completely unreliable.
When she returned to the fast food restaurant, the lunchtime rush had passed. Manager Zhang, unusually generous, handed her a chicken leg meal and even poured her a cup of iced cola to quench her thirst.
“How was it? Was there a big crowd?”
After sitting down, Lin Zhifeng took several big gulps and almost choked on the cola. She nearly burst into tears, but thankfully her self-control was strong—or else she might’ve sprayed it all over Manager Zhang’s face.
People in this world are so weird, Lin Zhifeng grumbled to herself. They actually spend money to get choked by this thing called soda. Ice cream is way better. She then relayed all the information she had gathered to Manager Zhang.
“Knew it. No way the prize money would be easy to earn,” Zhang nodded, seemingly indifferent. “Whatever, as long as I can place somewhere, I’m happy. Sigh, no idea what the topic will be this time—whether it’ll be hard or not.”
“Exactly! Rankings aren’t the point—we need to keep our eyes on beautiful things. There are still many ex-quisi-te be-auties in this world!” Lin Zhifeng winked at him, heavily hinting.
Manager Zhang frowned, his tone turning serious.
“Xiao Xie, you’re still underage. There’s no way anything could happen between us!” With that, he got up and went into the kitchen, inwardly giving himself a silent thumbs-up for having the courage to reject a minor pretty girl.
Lin Zhifeng: “???”
Was this the legendary straight man’s baffling self-confidence? What more could she even say? She had dropped such an obvious hint, and he still didn’t get it. Well, let him fend for himself then.
“Oh right, Xiao Xie, there’s something at the front counter. One of your classmates dropped it off.”
Lin Zhifeng was busy digging into her oily chicken leg meal when Manager Zhang suddenly shouted from the kitchen—he didn’t even stick his head out, like he was afraid of making eye contact with her for more than half a second.
Too lazy to bother with him, Lin Zhifeng reluctantly set down her beloved chicken leg and went to check the cabinet under the counter. Inside, she found a small, beautifully packaged box.
“A thank-you gift?” She hadn’t expected Bai Ruoyue to be so polite. Getting a gift out of the blue put her in a surprisingly good mood. Even someone as rough as her couldn’t bring herself to tear the wrapping paper.
Inside the palm-sized box was a black fountain pen and a card with a handwritten message:
“Treat the suspicious eyes of others like flickering ghost lights—walk boldly down your own dark path.”
It was Bai Ruoyue’s handwriting.
Xie Zhaodi cared too much about how others saw her. She avoided people and quietly resisted in her own way, but it had never made much of a difference. For her, it really was going to be a long night road to walk.
Lin Zhifeng tucked the card away. Looking at the sleek, shiny black pen in her hand, she decided to use it for the upcoming competition.
After putting the pen away, and with hunger gnawing at her, she returned to the table and polished off her meal in no time flat, like a whirlwind sweeping through clouds.
After tidying up the food container and chicken bones, Lin Zhifeng called out toward the kitchen from across the counter.
“Boss, I’m taking my paid leave now!”
“Alright, stay safe out there.”
Lin Zhifeng responded with a quick acknowledgment and pushed open the door to leave. She planned to head to the mall to help Xie Laidi hand out flyers, then stop by the bookstore to prepare for the essay competition. She was confident about it—but Xie Laidi would need to put in a bit more effort.
If the two of them could sweep first and second place, that would be a huge win—and it might just piss Wang Tingmei off, especially after she secretly signed up her own son for the contest.
“Summer, summer quietly passed and brought a little divine lord~ Gonna roast you, ruin you, not putting up with you~”
Humming a tune she’d dug up from memory, Lin Zhifeng soon arrived at the mall. Right away, she spotted Xie Laidi with a bright smile, handing out flyers.
The petite girl weaved through the crowd, unfazed when people refused her—never chasing after them, never annoyed. She simply kept smiling and offering the next flyer. When someone did reach out to take one, her smile turned even sweeter.
“Laidi!” Lin Zhifeng waved at her and ran over to talk to her about the literature contest. Seeing her eyes crinkle in a happy smile and her eager nodding, Lin Zhifeng knew she’d made the right call in signing her up without asking.
The two sisters worked together and quickly handed out more flyers than expected. By 5:30, they had already collected their pay from the manager.
Eighty yuan in hand, Xie Laidi was overjoyed. She immediately shoved the money to her sister and signed in gesture language: “Keep it with you. Whoever needs it, uses it.”
Xie Laidi knew that if she said it was for her sister’s tuition outright, she’d definitely be refused. So she had to give it in a roundabout way.
Lin Zhifeng initially wanted to flat-out reject it, but she thought about how if Laidi kept the money on her, the bloodsuckers at home would definitely snatch it away. It’d be safer with her.
“Alright then. Eighty yuan received today. Ding—!”
The two of them arrived at the bookstore on the second floor of the mall. Lin Zhifeng deliberately steered the conversation toward wishes and hopes.
She couldn’t openly tell Xie Laidi that this was the competition topic, so she kept reinforcing it subtly in Laidi’s subconscious. With the influence of her spiritual energy, Laidi would naturally pay attention to this topic while reading.
Even if Laidi found it strange after the competition, Lin Zhifeng could easily brush it off with, “Essay contests usually just have topics like these.”
They stayed at the bookstore from 5:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. Before leaving, they stopped by Hekang Pharmacy, where they applied some medicine and strengthened their relationship with Aunt Bao.
Xie Yaozu was hospitalized, Wang Tingmei was keeping watch, and only Li Amei and Xie Guibao were at home.
As soon as they opened the door, the aroma of grilled skewers hit them. Neither of them had eaten dinner, and their stomachs immediately started growling in chorus.
Xie Guibao, sitting on the sofa playing on his phone, had his mouth covered in grease. Next to him sat Li Amei, holding a skewer, feeding her precious grandson while mock-scolding him in a tone that lacked any real authority.
“I knew you’d be playing games. Didn’t you want barbecue? Eat first, then play.”
“You’re so annoying! I’m about to win! It’s all your fault!”
Xie Guibao was thirteen this year, right in the middle of his voice changing. When he shouted, he sounded like a noisy frog.
“Alright, alright, keep playing, wow, our Guibao is really something!”
Li Amei smiled mysteriously at the noise, then looked up at the sisters quietly tiptoeing toward the bedroom. Her expression instantly changed.
“Dead or what? You come back without even saying hi?”
“Grandma!!! We!!! Are!!! Back!!!”
Suddenly, Lin Zhifeng took a deep breath and let out a guttural, heart-wrenching scream, using all her strength to roar at the top of her lungs. Her voice cracked from the intensity.
The thunderous shout startled Li Amei so badly that her hand trembled, causing the bamboo skewer holding the grilled meat to jab sharply into Xie Guibao’s waist.
“Ow—!” Shocked and jabbed again by the skewer, Xie Guibao’s phone slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor. His chubby face instantly contorted in pain.
“Xie Zhaodi, what the hell is wrong with you?!” After shouting this, his eyes darted toward Li Amei as he schemed, “Grandma, Xie Laidi was handing out flyers at the mall today—she must’ve made some money!”
