Recalling the ingratiating smile of Mary Foster as she bent over to offer a toast, and then looking at the proud girl before him, as elegant as a swan, William Brooks found it hard to connect the two images.

"What are you looking at? Do you think our Miss Mary is someone you can just stare at?"

These boys noticed William Brooks’s gaze fixed on Mary Foster and couldn’t help but get annoyed. With Mary Foster’s looks and family background, she was naturally the secret crush of their hearts.

William Brooks couldn’t help but laugh, withdrawing his gaze. Since she had helped him out of a tight spot, even if he didn’t know her reason, he still appreciated it. So he said, "Go home and advise your dad to take it easy with stock trading. Sometimes cutting your losses is also a kind of gain."

After saying this, William Brooks didn’t wait for Mary Foster to respond and turned to leave.

William Brooks knew he sounded a bit pretentious saying that, but he still did it. Maybe he just didn’t want to see a swan fall from grace, or maybe, as someone who had been reborn, he always wanted to change something.

Of course, William Brooks didn’t deny that there was also a rush of youthful hormones involved. Saving the future of a beautiful girl was, after all, something to be happy about. If Mary Foster were a boy, he probably wouldn’t have said all that.

One less rich and handsome guy means one less chance for a pretty girl to be taken.

"Miss Mary, what did that guy say? I’m going to beat him up."

One of the boys couldn’t take it anymore and was about to rush out, but was cut off by Mary Foster’s cold voice.

"Shut up."

With just one sentence from Mary Foster, all the boys fell silent, looking disgruntled but not daring to offend her.

Staring at William Brooks’s departing figure, Mary Foster’s beautiful eyes were filled with confusion.

She knew her own family’s situation. Although she didn’t care much about her father’s business, she was aware that he had lost money in stocks recently, because her parents had been arguing at night—apparently because her father wanted to mortgage some assets to keep trading.

But this was her family’s private matter. How did he know?

And what exactly did he mean by what he said?

……

Not returning to the classroom, William Brooks headed straight for the school gate. Even though there was still one class left in the afternoon, his mind was no longer on school. Right now, he was eager to go home and see his parents.

But when he reached the school gate, William Brooks hesitated. Guangfeng High School was a key high school, and students weren’t allowed to leave before school was out. There was a guard at the gate.

"If I remember right, there’s a small hole in the wall at the right corner of the campus, just big enough for a person to crawl through. I used to skip class that way."

William Brooks hesitated. Was he really going to crawl through a dog hole on his first day back after being reborn, throwing away all his dignity?

Just as William Brooks was hesitating, a cool voice sounded behind him.

"You want to leave school now?"

William Brooks turned around. At some point, Mary Foster had appeared behind him, still with that proud look.

"Yeah."

"Come with me."

Leaving those words, Mary Foster walked straight toward the school gate. William Brooks curled his lips but followed, keeping a meter’s distance from her.

"No fragrance."

He sniffed, recalling in his mind the time at the KTV when Mary Foster walked past him with a wine glass, the scent of her perfume lingering in the air.

"What are you mumbling about?"

Mary Foster turned back, glaring at William Brooks with her big eyes. William Brooks put on an innocent face, indicating he hadn’t said anything.

From the time they walked to the gate to when they left the school, strangely, the guard just glanced at them and looked away, not stopping Mary Foster and William Brooks at all.

"Thanks. I’ve got something to do, so I’ll head off first."

Although he didn’t know why the guard hadn’t stopped them, William Brooks knew it must have something to do with Mary Foster. But right now, he didn’t care about any of that—he just wanted to get home as soon as possible.

"I brought you out because I have something to ask you. You can only leave after you answer my question."

Mary Foster called out to William Brooks, scrutinizing him as if trying to see through him.

"No need to look at me like that. I know what you want to ask. The reason I know your dad is trading stocks is because all rich people play with that stuff. And right now, the stock market is in a bear market—your dad has probably lost quite a bit."

Before Mary Foster could ask, William Brooks shrugged and answered directly, "Trading stocks is like gambling. Most people who lose money just want to buy the dip and keep investing, but this bear market might last a while, and the drop will be pretty severe."

An ordinary high school student might not even know what a "bear market" is, or what "buying the dip" means, but Mary Foster was different. As the child of the richest person in the county, she’d been exposed to more information than most students since she was young—she understood everything William Brooks said.

"So you’re saying this bear market will last a long time?"

"Yeah, it’ll probably last at least a few months."