"Whatever you say. Did you stay up late last night?"

"One o'clock."

"That's tough."

"Don't even mention it. The more you talk about it, the sadder it gets. Eat while it's hot, or it won't be hot anymore." Emily Thompson was the first to pick up a guokui and took a bite.

"Mm? Oh, okay."

So William Carter also picked up a guokui and took a bite.

Guokui is what Emily Thompson's family sells. Compared to their noodles, it's much cheaper—a pork guokui is only 3.5 yuan each. Of course, the meat is mainly for flavor; if you expect to actually find much meat inside, you're being a bit obsessive. As for the taste, it's pretty polarizing: William Carter and Mr. Carter both really like her family's guokui, while Aunt Harris and Little Helen think it's not good and easy to choke on.

At this moment, Emily Thompson fished an English notebook out of her shoulder bag and tossed it in front of him, saying, "I stayed up all night writing this yesterday. Take a look for me, and I'll buy you a drink."

"No need for a drink."

"Don't be so polite. I'm thirsty anyway, and I'm getting a bit sick of eating this stuff. I'll just finish your bottle too!"

"Alright, thanks."

"What are you thanking me for!"

Emily Thompson took out her phone and checked the time. There was still a minute before the bell. She thought for a moment and said, "I'll go buy it now!"

"Class is about to—"

William Carter didn't finish his sentence. He realized that the bell didn't really intimidate Emily, and in fact, by now, a lot of people didn't care about the class bells anymore.

So he lowered his head and started reading Emily's essay.

The handwriting was terrible.

The essay's structure was also a mess, and some parts were obviously straight from Google Translate—as a normal senior high school student, you should be seasoned enough that "using translation software without leaving traces" is a basic skill, but Emily clearly didn't have it.

Headache!

William Carter felt that if it were him, even if he used translation software the whole time, it would still be ten times better than hers.

"Sigh."

With a sigh, William Carter still used one hand to pick up a pen, making some symbolic corrections to her essay while eating the guokui.

He really was quite kind.

There was only one small shop in the school, and only a small window, mostly selling school supplies and bread or drinks.

Emily Thompson took out five yuan, walked up to the shop window, and said to the uncle inside, "Give me a bottle of probiotic drink—the kind you can win a prize with."

The uncle silently took out two bottles, handed her one, then looked up and stared at her.

"Here you go."

Emily Thompson handed the bottle cap back to the uncle.

So the uncle handed her the other bottle, watching her actions, considering whether he should get a third bottle.

Ding-ling-ling~~

The bell rang.

Emily Thompson had no intention of opening the second bottle. She turned and strode back toward the teaching building, taking a swig as she went.

By the time she returned to the classroom, her bottle was already half gone.

Seeing that her English essay had quite a few corrections, Emily Thompson smiled and handed over the probiotic drink. "So efficient!"

"Your mistakes were too obvious."

"Then I'll leave it to you."

"You won a prize again."

"Uh-huh."

"I won a prize with my bottle too." William Carter stared at the cap in his hand, thinking how strange the world was.

"Yeah." Emily Thompson nodded calmly and said to him, "Don't go redeem it. If you keep winning, at this rate, I'll use up all my luck before the college entrance exam. I need to save my luck for that. If I hadn't only brought five yuan today, I wouldn't have done this."

After saying that, she still felt uneasy and held out her hand to William Carter, her palm fair and clean. "Give me the cap. I'll go destroy it."

William Carter handed her the cap.

Suddenly, he saw a figure drift past in the corridor.

Hmm?

Was that Helen Reed?

William Carter was instantly confused. The bell that had just rung was specifically for the senior year students, and Helen Reed should only just be leaving home at this time.

A moment later, Helen Reed's figure drifted back in the opposite direction.

This time, Helen Reed realized he'd been spotted—and by both Emily Thompson and William Carter at the same time. He froze in front of the window for a few seconds, then suddenly forced out an awkward smile, waved at William Carter and Emily Thompson as a greeting? Then silently drifted away again...

Emily Thompson was a bit confused, still chewing on guokui, her lips shiny with oil. "Isn't that a sophomore kid? What's he doing wandering around here?"

According to Emily's experience, this kind of wandering was usually to confirm a target—there'd be a fight after school!

The target obviously couldn't be her.

So...

Emily glanced at William Carter. "Did you offend someone?"

William Carter stuffed the last bite of guokui into his mouth. "That's my younger brother."

"You have a younger brother!!"

"Yeah."

"Your brother is pretty famous in sophomore year! He's the head of the publicity department, living off his looks!" Emily Thompson glanced at William Carter. She was about to say "he's way different from you," but thought better of it and didn't say it out loud.

"He's very outstanding."

"You're not ch... not ugly either!"

Emily Thompson almost choked from not turning around in time. She quickly grabbed the probiotic drink and finished the remaining third in one gulp.

Just enough for one mouthful!