Reborn not to be a beast of burden, I set the rules.

Ruan Xing pulled a piece of candy from the bag, quickly unwrapped it, and before Ye Ming could react, stuffed it into his mouth.

Open your mouth.

Ye Ming was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously opened his mouth.

Why did this little girl start touching him like that?

The chocolate was inserted, its sweetness melting on the tip of the tongue, with a hint of cocoa bitterness.

Her fingertips touched his lips, cool to the touch, and she quickly withdrew them.

"Is it delicious?" she asked, her eyes shining, as if she had done something very proud of herself.

Ye Ming chewed twice, swallowed, and said, "Mmm."

She smiled, said nothing more, and turned to walk back.

He took a couple of steps and then turned back, took out another piece of chocolate from the plastic bag, unwrapped it, and stuffed it into his mouth. His cheeks puffed out, his lips curled up, and his steps were even lighter than when he came.

Ye Ming put the remaining chocolates into the drawer.

There was still a sweet taste in my mouth. My tongue touched the roof of my mouth, pursed it briefly, and then pursed it again.

He stared at the screen, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, but couldn't type a single word for a long time. His ears felt a little hot, and his heart was beating a little faster than usual.

He couldn't explain why, but it was probably because the chocolate was too sweet.

He took a deep breath and gradually felt his mind clear.

Ye Ming continued looking at the forum code, and when he felt that there were some parts he didn't quite understand, he wrote them down in his notebook, intending to ask about them later.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye, and Ye Ming's notebook was already filled with dozens of notes in red and black.

I closed the forum code folder and then opened the event library.

I turned a few pages and stopped. Xu Wei's account of the bicycle incident lay there quietly.

[Incident] You are walking down the street, and a girl in front of you isn't paying attention when a bicycle rushes straight towards her.

[Options] A. Rush up and grab her. B. Stand still and shout "Watch out!" C. Pretend you didn't see her.

Choosing option A results in the following: You rush forward and pull the girl away, the bicycle grazing your arm and scraping your skin. The girl turns pale with fright and repeatedly thanks you. You wave your hand and say it's nothing. (Constitution -1, Happiness +5, Obtain the tag "Heroic Act")

He looked at it for a long time, then started adding things.

It doesn't change the event; it just adds another layer on top of it.

When male players encounter this event, there is a 30% chance that an additional line of text will appear next to option A: "This time you might still make it in time."

After making the choice, the outcome of the original event remains unchanged: pull apart, scrape the skin, say thank you, and wave goodbye.

However, an extra line of text will pop up at the top of the screen.

You turned and took a few steps, then suddenly looked back. In the moonlight, her features were bright and fair; she was very beautiful.

A thought pops into your mind: It would be such a waste if such a beautiful face were to fall onto the curb.

Achievement unlocked: Protector of Flowers.

Effect: The success rate of all subsequent events related to "helping others" will increase by 10%.

The remaining 70% is nothing.

He remembered that night. She was walking ahead when a mountain bike came rushing at her, and he pulled her into his arms. The bike grazed his arm, and it hurt for days.

Later at the hospital, he said, "It would be such a waste if such a beautiful face got hurt on the curb." She didn't say anything, but her ears turned red.

He saved the event, leaned back in his chair, hesitated for a moment, saved the modified screenshot of the event, and did not send it.

Why send it? What will happen if she finds out?

Li Guoqiang sat in his office for a while.

He picked up the teacup, took a sip, but the tea had gone cold, so he put it down again.

He recalled Ye Ming's appearance in the office that morning, calm and composed, explaining things clearly. The last sentence, "The project can't wait," was spoken softly, but he could hear the weight in it.

Now that the child has come to him for help, he has to do it for him.

It's not a matter of principle, it's just a matter of filing a record. I'll help if I can.

He pulled out his phone's contacts, scrolled through a few names, and stopped at one number.

Lao Fang, a college classmate, works at the Provincial Communications Administration. He doesn't know the person in charge of registration, so he'll have to ask Lao Fang first.

The phone rang a few times, then I answered it.

"Old Fang, are you busy?"

"No rush, go ahead."

Li Guoqiang didn't beat around the bush: "There's something I'd like to ask. Which department in your bureau is in charge of filing and registration? And who's the head of that department?"

Old Fang thought for a moment: "The filing is under the jurisdiction of the Information Security Department. The director is Liu Zhiyuan, from Sichuan and Chongqing. He graduated from the Computer Science Department of Jinling University and is a classmate of Professor Wang from your school's Computer Science Department. What's wrong?"

"A student made a website, but it's stuck at the registration stage. He's looking for someone to ask if it can be reviewed sooner. Are you free tonight? Could you arrange for me to have dinner with Director Liu?"

Old Fang laughed: "Okay, I'll arrange it. You should also invite a few more people, but don't make it seem too deliberate."

Li Guoqiang responded, "I'll invite Professor Chen from the School of Economics and Management; he's from the same hometown as Director Liu. I'll also invite Director Wang from the School of Computer Science; they're fellow students. With you, there will be four of us. This is a good opportunity for us to get to know each other and meet up more often in the future."

Lao Fang agreed.

After hanging up the phone, Li Guoqiang dialed the numbers of Professor Chen from the School of Economics and Management and Professor Wang from the School of Computer Science to set the time and place.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a while.

He stood up, walked to the window, where the leaves of the sycamore tree were beginning to turn yellow, and several students walked past downstairs carrying books.

He recalled that when he was young, he was the same way—full of ideas and drive, but lacking someone to lend a hand.

Now that he's in this position, he'll lend a hand if he can.

It's not for reward, it's for the sake of pride. Young people have drive, and someone should help them get started and give them a boost.

Meanwhile, in dormitory 203, Wang Chao was lying on his bed scrolling through his phone.

My phone vibrated.

He picked it up and glanced at it; it was a text message from that number.

The message contained only one line: "Tomorrow at 2 PM, definitely on the third floor of the hotel. See you there."

He stared at the screen for a few seconds, his heart skipping a beat. He remembered Wang Deming's words, "three hundred thousand US dollars" and "more than two million RMB."

He took a deep breath and replied, "Received."

After sending the message, I put my phone next to my pillow and stared at the ceiling.

He remembered when his father dropped him off at the school gate on the first day of school, slipped an envelope into his hand, and said, "Spend it wisely." He opened it and saw that it contained five thousand yuan, crumpled and crumpled, as if it had been pieced together from several bankbooks.

His mother stood behind him without saying a word, but checked his suitcase again, zipped it up, then unzipped it again, and stuffed two bags of homemade beef jerky inside.

He was annoyed and said, "That's enough." His mother didn't say anything, zipped up her zipper, and stepped behind his father.

He turned over and over again, unable to fall asleep no matter what he did.

Ruan Xing was writing about the Iceland incident, and when she got to the part about "Mom hugging you and saying it," her phone lit up.

She glanced down at the number; the text message was just one line: "Tomorrow at 2 PM, definitely on the third floor of the hotel. See you there."

She stared at those words, her fingers slowly tightening around her phone.

Wang Deming's smiling face popped into his mind, along with the agreement and the five thousand yuan she had handed over.

How could you believe that?

She bit her lip and slammed her phone face down on the table. A tightness in her chest pressed against her chest; she couldn't tell if it was anger or regret.

She stood up, clutching her phone, and walked to Ye Ming's desk.

With her head down, stray hairs fell down, covering half of her face, and her fingers gripped her phone, her knuckles turning white.

She bent down and said in a low voice, "Hey, can you come out here for a second?"

What's wrong now?

Ye Ming looked up and his eyes met Ruan Xing's hazy gaze.

Why are this little girl's eyes red?