Chapter 1: Spending Money or

“Qiongqiong, you’re always so stingy, and yet you’re actually buying flowers? Are they for your boyfriend? Too bad Senior Cheng is mine now.” Xu Ruyin walked into the flower shop hand in hand with Cheng Ziyu, leaned close to Lin Qiongqiong, and gave a light laugh. “Oh, I forgot to tell you—last night I didn’t go back to the dorm. I was with your boyfriend. It was his first time, and he was so gentle.”

Slap!

Lin Qiongqiong couldn’t help but slap her across the face, trembling with anger. “Homewrecker! Shameless!”

Cheng Ziyu pulled Xu Ruyin into his arms, glaring at her. “Lin Qiongqiong, what’s your problem? Ruyin is my true love. The one who isn’t loved is the third wheel!”

“I’ve wanted to break up with you for a long time! You fight with the dorm auntie over empty bottles, eat free soup with rice, never wear makeup when we go out, only order the cheapest milk tea, and even complain that hotels are too expensive when I want to split the bill and get a room. People think I’m dating a beggar!”

Lin Qiongqiong stood frozen, not expecting Cheng Ziyu to have so many complaints bottled up inside.

He had been the one to pursue her, the one who praised her for being frugal, not wasteful like other girls. But now, he was disgusted by her penny-pinching ways. Truly, when love is gone, everything becomes a fault.

“Then why didn’t you break up with me sooner?”

Cheng Ziyu said nothing. Lin Qiongqiong recalled her advisor accusing her of plagiarizing Xu Ruyin’s paper just yesterday and laughed coldly. “So you waited for me to finish my experiments and hand over the raw data, just so you could let Xu Ruyin publish first?”

She grabbed the bouquet of roses the shop assistant had just wrapped for her, ready to hit him across the face.

But suddenly, she stopped, as if something had just occurred to her.

Cheng Ziyu sneered, “Can’t bear to part with them, can you? That bouquet must have cost at least a couple hundred. That’s your whole food budget for a month, isn’t it? You’re so stingy, are you going to try to return the flowers?”

Lin Qiongqiong had indeed considered it, but what made her pause was a strange voice in her mind.

[Ding—]

[Host detected as excessively stingy. ‘Spend or Die’ system activated!]

[Beginner Task: Spend one million yuan within twenty-four hours or face death! Completing the task earns you a chance to win a prize!]

[Funds have been transferred. Please check your account. Countdown to death: 23:59:59.]

Lin Qiongqiong felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She checked her messages and was stunned.

[Agricultural Bank: Your card ending in 4250 has received a transfer of 1,000,000 yuan at 14:23 on July 29. Current balance: 1,000,002.50 yuan.]

“No way! Is Qiongqiong really so stingy that she’d return something she already bought?” Xu Ruyin covered her mouth in surprise, laughing.

Cheng Ziyu scoffed, “And that’s not all. Whenever we eat out, she asks for a refund on the two-yuan napkins and the fifteen-yuan tea service. It’s mortifying! Even if I put my face right here and let her slap me, she wouldn’t dare use that bouquet!”

“I have never seen such a ridiculous request, but I’ll grant it for you.”

Seeing Cheng Ziyu arrogantly offer his cheek, Lin Qiongqiong raised the bouquet and slapped him hard across the face.

Rose petals scattered, leaving several scratches on Cheng Ziyu’s face.

“Lin Qiongqiong, are you out of your mind?”

He couldn’t believe it.

But Lin Qiongqiong raised the bouquet again and slapped him a second time. “Weren’t you the one who told me to hit you?”

Xu Ruyin was startled. “Lin Qiongqiong, you dare hit people? Aren’t you afraid the counselor will call you in for a talk?”

“If you two shameless people aren’t afraid, why should I be?” Lin Qiongqiong scoffed, raising the bouquet once more.

Noticing a crowd of students gathering at the flower shop’s entrance, Cheng Ziyu didn’t want to make a bigger scene. He dragged Xu Ruyin away in a hurry.

Lin Qiongqiong didn’t pursue them. If it really came to a fight, she knew she couldn’t take on two people alone. Besides, she was now more curious to see if the money in her account was truly usable.

She turned to the shop assistant.

He jumped, startled, and blurted out, “Sister, please don’t make things hard for me—I’m just a part-timer. I sympathize with you for getting dumped on Valentine’s Day, but once our flowers are packaged, we can’t accept returns. And you’ve already ruined these ones…”

“I’m not returning them. How much are the roses per stem? I’ll buy them all.”

“What?”

The assistant was stunned. “Twenty yuan each. I know you’re upset, but don’t do anything reckless. We have over a thousand roses in here!”

“I’ll take a thousand.”

“Payment received: twenty thousand yuan,” announced an electronic voice.

The assistant was dumbfounded. “You’re serious? We offer bulk discounts, you know. Aren’t you going to haggle at all?”

The couple had mocked Lin Qiongqiong for being stingy, and the assistant could relate. Most college students didn’t bother bargaining, but just a moment ago, Lin Qiongqiong had haggled for half an hour over a single bouquet, finally getting the price down from 300 to 250 yuan.

Now, she had bought out the entire stock of roses in a blink, without batting an eye?

Twenty thousand! That was a thousand commission for him—enough for a month’s meals!

Lin Qiongqiong herself was thrilled. It was real!

Earning money was hard, but spending it? That was easy.

Wasting no time, she strode toward the shopping mall across the street.

“Senior, you forgot your flowers!” the assistant called after her.

There was no way she could carry that many roses. Glancing at the crowd outside the shop, she announced, “They’re for everyone. The rest can be given away at the door.”

The students, who had only stopped by to watch the drama, were surprised to find themselves beneficiaries. Many already sympathized with Lin Qiongqiong for being cheated on; now, their impression of her soared.

“You’re amazing, girl! It’s his loss for abandoning you. You’ll definitely find someone better!”

“Thank you for the roses, Senior! I never imagined a single guy like me would get flowers on Valentine’s Day!”

“A real rich woman—buying a thousand roses in one go! And that pretty boy dared to call you stingy? He’s obviously just a freeloader!”

The students who received roses thanked Lin Qiongqiong and quickly posted about it on social media.

Soon, everyone at Jiangcheng University of Technology was talking about the wealthy girl who, after being dumped, bought a thousand roses at the campus gate flower shop and gave them away for free.

…

Yida Plaza.

Lin Qiongqiong headed straight for the jewelry store on the first floor.

She now regretted spending twenty thousand on impulse at the flower shop. She should have tested the money with just twenty yuan and spent the rest on gold—it would even appreciate in value!

Turning her limited-time spending task into long-term savings—she was a master at money laundering!

But then, the system’s voice echoed in her mind:

[Warning! System funds must be used for consumption only. Investments, direct gifts, and donations are prohibited. Purchased goods can only be given away, not sold for cash!]

She withdrew her foot from the jewelry store.

What a pity—gold that couldn’t be cashed in was as worthless to her as dirt.

Decisively, she took the elevator to the top floor of the mall. For someone as poor as her, nothing was more practical than eating her money’s worth!

She immediately spotted the buffet restaurant with the longest line.

She was a scholarship student, her tuition covered by loans and work-study jobs. She always scrimped and saved, and had never eaten at a buffet before.

Even when dating Cheng Ziyu, they always split the bill, and meals never cost more than fifty yuan per person.

“Lin Qiongqiong, you actually followed us here?”

Only then did Lin Qiongqiong notice Xu Ruyin and Cheng Ziyu also waiting in line for tickets.

—

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