I will accompany you through junior high school, then high school. We'll even go to university together in the future.

Chen Zhi crouched down, his knees touching the cold concrete floor.

A fifty-cent coin had rolled into a crack in the corner, gleaming with a faint brassy luster. He reached out and forcefully pried it out with his fingers, coating his fingertips in a layer of dust.

Lin Wanwan was still crying, her voice intermittent, like a little quail drenched in the rain.

Chen Zhi squeezed the coin in his palm and went to pick up the banknotes scattered on the steps. Some of the bills were crumpled and smelled like sausages or spicy strips, clearly money the girl had painstakingly saved from her snack allowance.

"Stop crying."

Chen Zhi didn't even turn his head, focusing entirely on retrieving the coins one by one.

"If you keep crying, you'll attract wolves."

The sobbing behind him paused for a moment, followed by a loud sniffle.

"This... this is a stairwell. There are no wolves here," Lin Wanwan retorted through her tears, her voice sounding soft and utterly devoid of any deterrence.

Chen Zhi couldn't help but let out a laugh.

He flattened the last one-yuan bill, folded it, and gathered it into his palm along with the heavy pile of coins.

The pile of money added up to about a thousand yuan. For an elementary school student, it was indeed a massive fortune. It was the result of Lin Wanwan walking past the convenience store countless times and resisting the urge to buy snacks.

But it was still just a thousand yuan.

Compared to the massive debt of one hundred and fifty thousand his family was facing, it was a drop in the bucket.

Chen Zhi stood up, his legs feeling a bit numb. He wiped the dust from his hands onto his pants and turned to look at Lin Wanwan.

The girl had cried so hard that her face was a mess, her hair sticking untidily to her cheeks, and her normally large, bright eyes were now swollen like two walnuts.

"Why are you so silly?"

Chen Zhi sighed, his tone lacking its usual teasing and carrying a touch more helplessness.

He pulled out a lollipop wrapper from a candy he hadn't finished earlier. It was a bit dirty but barely usable. Or...

He looked around and spotted a black plastic bag blown into the corner by the wind. It had probably fallen out of someone's trash, but it was relatively clean.

Chen Zhi stuffed the handful of money into the plastic bag, tied it in a dead knot, and held it out to Lin Wanwan.

"Take it."

Lin Wanwan shrank back a step, hiding both hands behind her back and shaking her head frantically.

"I don't want it! It's for you! All for you!"

She glared with red eyes, like a provoked little beast.

"To pay your tuition! For you to eat! You are not allowed to go feed pigs!"

Chen Zhi pushed the plastic bag forward and shoved it directly into her arms.

"Alright, enough with the dramatics."

He watched as Lin Wanwan clumsily hugged the plastic bag, acting as if she were holding a bomb.

"This money isn't enough."

Chen Zhi told her honestly.

"My family is short one hundred and fifty thousand, not one thousand five hundred. This little bit of money can't even plug the tiniest hole."

Lin Wanwan froze.

She didn't have a concrete concept of the number one hundred and fifty thousand, but she knew one thousand five hundred was a lot. It could buy so many bags of spicy strips; it could buy the most beautiful doll in the shop window.

But Chen Zhi said it wasn't enough.

Just how much money was that?

Panic crept back into her heart.

"Then... what do we do?"

Lin Wanwan was so anxious she was about to cry again, the plastic bag in her arms rustling loudly.

"If it's not enough... I have an idea!"

Suddenly remembering something, her eyes lit up as if she had grasped the last straw.

"We'll ask my dad! My dad has money!"

Lin Wanwan stepped closer, looking at Chen Zhi eagerly.

"My dad does big business! He carries a big leather briefcase every day, and it's full of money! Plus, he likes you the most. He always praises you for being smart and tells me to learn from you!"

The more she spoke, the more feasible it seemed, and her voice rose a few pitches.

"I'll go call him right now! I'll tell him something happened to your family and ask him to lend money to your dad! One hundred and fifty thousand... he can definitely afford it!"

After saying that, she turned around and was about to run into the house.

Chen Zhi grabbed the back collar of her shirt.

"Come back."

Lin Wanwan stumbled backward, forced to stop, and turned to look at him in confusion.

"Why? My dad will definitely help you!"

Chen Zhi let go and leaned against the wall, looking up at the flickering sound-activated light above.

Borrow money?

Lin Shuxian was indeed wealthy. As one of the first people in Jiangcheng to dive into the business world dealing in building materials, this amount of money wouldn't hurt him.

Moreover, their two families had a great relationship right now.

But he couldn't borrow it.

His old man, Chen Jun, was at a point where his pride was most battered. Having had all his savings swindled by a friend, if he had to rely on a neighbor's charity to get by—even if it was a loan—his backbone would likely be crushed.

Men were sometimes strange creatures like that, choosing to suffer just to save face.

Furthermore, even though the two families were close, it was still one hundred and fifty thousand.

In an era where the average salary was only two or three thousand yuan, this was a heavy debt of gratitude.

Money is easy to repay, but favors are hard to return.

Besides, he, Chen Zhi, had been reborn and traveled back in time. If he couldn't even handle this bit of money and had to rely on a little girl to beg for mercy, he might as well find a block of tofu and smash his head against it.

"There's no need to look for your dad."

Chen Zhi's tone was flat but carried an unquestionable authority.

"This is an adult matter for my family. Dragging your dad into it will make my dad lose face."

Lin Wanwan didn't understand what "losing face" meant.

She only knew that Chen Zhi was rejecting her help.

"But... but if you don't have money, you'll have to leave!"

Lin Wanwan's eyes reddened again, tears swirling in them, ready to breach their banks at any moment.

"If you leave, no one will walk to school with me, no one will explain homework to me, and no one... no one will steal my snacks."

By the end of her sentence, she felt incredibly wronged, and her tears pattered down.

Looking at her like this, a soft spot in Chen Zhi's heart felt as if it had been fiercely pinched.

In his past life, after the incident with his family, he had indeed been depressed for a long time. It was the darkest period of his life, with his parents constantly arguing and the atmosphere at home suffocatingly oppressive.

Although he slowly recovered later, his entire personality had become much gloomier.

This girl was so silly it made his heart ache.

Chen Zhi stood up straight and took two steps closer.

He reached out, the rough pad of his thumb gently brushing across Lin Wanwan's cheek to wipe away those few crystal-clear tears.

His movements were very light, afraid of hurting her delicate skin.

"Stop crying, you look so ugly."

He spoke with feigned disgust, though his hands didn't stop moving.

Lin Wanwan sobbed and instinctively wanted to dodge, but feeling the warmth radiating from Chen Zhi's fingertips, she stopped.

She stared blankly at Chen Zhi.

Today's Chen Zhi seemed a little different.

Usually, this bad guy would only pull her braids or draw turtles on her face; he had never been so... so gentle.

"Listen."

Chen Zhi withdrew his hand, shoved it into his pocket, and bent down slightly until his eyes were level with hers.

"I'm not leaving."

His voice was steady, acting like a stabilizing anchor that instantly smoothed over the panic in Lin Wanwan's heart.

"I'm not going to feed pigs, and I'm certainly not going to haul manure."

"I will stay in Jiangcheng forever."

Looking into those crystal-clear eyes, Chen Zhi enunciated every word.

"I will stay with you through middle school, and then high school. After that, we'll take the college entrance exams together and go to the same city."

"As long as you don't find me annoying, we'll always be together."

Lin Wanwan blinked, teardrops still clinging to her long eyelashes.

She couldn't quite believe her ears.

"Really?"

She asked cautiously, terrified this was just another prank.

"Really."

Chen Zhi nodded, his expression more serious than ever before.

"If I'm lying, I'm a puppy."

Lin Wanwan sniffled and stared at Chen Zhi's face for a few seconds.

Suddenly, her mouth turned down and she burst into tears again.

"You've been lying to me since we were little!"

She accused, her voice thick with grievance.

"You said if I swallowed watermelon seeds, a watermelon would grow in my stomach. You said kissing makes you pregnant. You said you were the reincarnation of Ultraman... When have you ever not lied to me!"

Chen Zhi's mouth twitched.

This girl had a pretty good memory, remembering all these old accounts so clearly.

"This time is different."

Chen Zhi rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache coming on.

"This time, I'm really not lying to you."

"Then where are you going to get the money?"

Lin Wanwan might be innocent, but she wasn't stupid.

"Your parents are fighting, and all the money was taken by that bad guy. Where will you get the money to pay for your tuition?"

Chen Zhi gave a mysterious smile.

He looked left and right, making sure there was no one else in the hallway, before leaning close to Lin Wanwan's ear and whispering.

"I have a way to get a lot of money."

The warm breath tickled her ear. She shrank her neck back, her curiosity instantly piqued.

"What way?"

Was Chen Zhi going to rob a bank? No, no, that's illegal!

Chen Zhi straightened up, a profound and enigmatic expression on his face.

"I can't reveal my secrets."

Seeing that Lin Wanwan was about to get anxious again, he slowly spat out three words.

"Buy lottery tickets."

Lin Wanwan froze for a moment, and then a disappointed look appeared on her face.

"You're lying to me again!"

She stomped her foot in anger, causing the plastic bag in her arms to sway.

"My mom said the lottery is a scam! It's an idiot tax! It's impossible to win!"

"Grandpa Wang next door has been buying lottery tickets for ten years and hasn't even won a box of laundry detergent!"

"You just want to trick me out of my allowance to buy lottery tickets!"

Chen Zhi clicked his tongue.

Elementary schoolers these days were hard to fool; their anti-fraud awareness was quite strong.

"Wanwan."

Chen Zhi suddenly reached out and grabbed Lin Wanwan's wrist.

Lin Wanwan jumped in surprise and tried to pull away, but found that Chen Zhi was holding on tight.

"Look at me."

Chen Zhi's voice was deep and powerful, carrying an irresistible force.

Lin Wanwan subconsciously looked up, her gaze meeting a pair of deep eyes.

Those eyes lacked their usual teasing and cynicism, replaced by a firmness and confidence she couldn't quite understand.

Like... like those masterful generals strategizing in TV dramas.

"I'm really not lying to you this time."

Chen Zhi looked at her and said, enunciating every word.

"Believe me this once."

"Tomorrow morning, we'll go buy one together. If we don't win, I'll be your servant from now on. I'll do whatever you want me to do."

"Really?"

Lin Wanwan was a little swayed.

She had never seen Chen Zhi look so serious.

"Truer than real gold."

Chen Zhi raised three fingers, making a swearing gesture.

"If I'm lying to you, let me eat instant noodles without seasoning packets for the rest of my life."

Lin Wanwan burst into laughter.

What kind of toxic oath was that.

However, looking at Chen Zhi's certain demeanor, the heavy stone in her heart inexplicably fell away.

Maybe... maybe he really did have a way?

After all, Chen Zhi had always been smart, even if he always used his intelligence to bully her.

"Then... alright."

Lin Wanwan nodded hesitantly, hugging the plastic bag in her arms a little tighter.

"There's no other way anyway."

"But we have a deal. If we don't win, you have to listen to me and let my dad help. You're not allowed to refuse!"

Chen Zhi raised an eyebrow.

"Deal."

He agreed readily.

It was impossible not to win anyway.

"Tomorrow morning at eight, I'll wait for you downstairs."

Chen Zhi let go of her hand and pointed to the plastic bag in her arms.

"Take this money back and hide it well. Don't let your mom find out, or she'll scold you for wasting money again."

Lin Wanwan nodded obediently.

"Then I'll go back now?"

"Go on."

Chen Zhi waved his hand.

Lin Wanwan turned and took two steps, then suddenly stopped and looked back at Chen Zhi.

"Chen Zhi."

"What is it now?"

"Are you really not leaving?"

"I'm not leaving."

"Pinky promise."

Lin Wanwan held out her pinky finger.

Chen Zhi shook his head helplessly, walked over, and hooked his pinky around hers.

"Pinky promise, hang yourself, no changing for a hundred years. Whoever changes is a puppy."

The two fingers hooked tightly together, and their thumbs stamped it.

Lin Wanwan finally smiled through her tears. Hugging that heavy bag of hope, she turned and ran back home.

The security door slammed shut with a bang.

The hallway returned to silence.

Chen Zhi stood where he was, looking at the tightly shut door, the smile on his face gradually fading.

Inside the house, Zhang Guifang's crying and cursing had stopped, replaced by a chilling silence.

It was the calm before the storm.

Chen Zhi took a deep breath, pushed open his own security door, and walked inside.

Since he had been reborn, he wasn't going to let this messed-up life repeat itself.

His old man's dignity, his family's savings, and that silly girl's tears.

He was going to protect them all.