Xu Gui, carrying a bouquet of paper roses, returned to the hotel by car.
Her luck seemed to be running out. As the car stopped in front of the hotel, she twisted her ankle as soon as she opened the door. After grimacing, she took a few steps forward and then, with a loud thud, tripped and fell flat on her face.
The taxi driver, who was about to leave, happened to see this and hesitated, wondering, "Is the passenger alright? That was a loud thud!
" Xu Gui: "..."
As the saying goes, where you fall, you stay there. After falling, Xu Gui simply lay on the ground to rest for a while. Fortunately, she remembered to hold the flowers up with her hands when she fell, so although her clothes were dirty, the flowers were still intact.
After lying on the ground for a few seconds, she slowly got up.
This time, she was much more careful, keeping her eyes and ears open, and managed to get herself safely to her room without any further accidents on the way.
Back at the hotel, the first thing she did was find a vase to arrange the flowers. After searching around, she borrowed one of the hotel's vase stocked with artificial flowers. The artificial flowers that were originally in the vase were relegated to a drawer.
After arranging the paper flowers, she moved the vase around several times before finally placing it where she thought best—by the bedside. Once it was in place
, she sat on the edge of the bed, cupping her face in her hands, quietly admiring the flowers, feeling quite pleased with herself. She thought the flowers looked beautiful from every angle.
After admiring the flowers for a while, she got up to wash up in the bathroom. After washing up, she snuggled into bed, leaned against the headboard, and started checking her assets on her phone.
"...The hospital director said that the surgery for Dongzhi will cost at least 800,000 yuan." She muttered, opening her various accounts, and then was horrified to discover that all her savings totaled only a little over 20,000 yuan.
This little over 20,000 yuan included what she had earned from her recent street vending.
Xu Gui couldn't help but be shocked: Was she really that poor?
With her meager savings of just over 20,000 yuan, when would she ever save enough for Dongzhi's surgery of 800,000 yuan? No wonder she always said she needed to make money; the situation was indeed dire.
Xu Gui's expression fell silent.
At this moment, the little black tortoise, who had only recently entered the human world, felt the fear of being dominated by poverty.
"Looks like I need to work even harder to make money..." she murmured.
*
The next day, Xu Gui's cameraman arrived at her door promptly at 8:40—their production team operated on a 9:00 AM start date, a very humane system.
As for the cameraman arriving 20 minutes early, it was because he was prepared to haggle with Xu Gui for 20 minutes. After all, Teacher Xu was a slow riser; it took at least 20 minutes to wake her up.
Well, at least.
Xu Gui wasn't ashamed of this; on the contrary, she was proud. After all, which tortoise was eager to get up? Even the Third Elder couldn't manage it, so her ability to get up at 9:00 AM every day was already a very diligent tortoise.
Unexpectedly, when the paparazzi knocked on the door, it opened, revealing Xu Gui's fair and delicate face. Her face was clean and fresh, with a rosy glow from just washing.
The paparazzi faithfully captured this, and Xu Gui's fans in the live stream couldn't help but exclaim: "Baby, you're such a cute little cake!"
Look at that crystal-clear, fair, and delicate face—no wonder it's their baby, she's so beautiful—forgive the fans' strong filter. The paparazzi,
seeing Xu Gui come out, almost wanted to turn and look outside to see if it was raining blood, otherwise why would he see his usually late riser up so early today?
Xu Gui glanced at him, opened the door a little wider, and said, "Come in first." Then she went inside.
The paparazzi, somewhat bewildered, followed her inside and couldn't help but ask, "...Teacher Xu, why are you up so early today?"
Hearing this, Xu Gui suddenly turned to look at him, her expression very serious.
The paparazzi's heart skipped a beat at her expression, thinking something had happened. Then he heard Xu Gui say in a heavy and sorrowful tone, "Because I discovered I'm incredibly poor QAQ."
"..." The paparazzi's lips twitched slightly, and he genuinely asked, "So, you're so poor you can't sleep?"
"No, not really." Xu Gui said dejectedly, honestly, "I can still sleep, my sleep quality is very good..."
She was the kind of turtle who would sleep soundly even if struck by lightning, causing her to be struck squarely by the heavens—how could she possibly have trouble sleeping?
"But!" Xu Gui's tone changed, and she clenched her fist, saying, "Last night I decided to work hard to make money... As for the goal, let's set it at one hundred million for now!"
She had thought about it for a long time before setting this short-term goal. She had decided to earn one hundred million in the short term and adjust later.
However, her short-term goal of "one hundred million" was deafening and awe-inspiring to others, silencing everyone present and absent.
Everyone had only one question: [How can someone make earning one hundred million sound as easy as earning one hundred dollars?]
But if she was dreaming, then it certainly sounded easy.
The paparazzi smiled: "...Teacher Xu, can we go now?" He cleverly changed the subject.
Hearing this, Xu Gui blinked but didn't act immediately. Instead, she turned and picked something up from behind her. When she turned back, everyone saw it was a bouquet of paper roses.
There were fifteen stems.
The paparazzi glanced at it and couldn't help but ask, "Teacher Xu, did you fold these?"
Xu Gui shook her head, her expression somewhat proud, and said, "Someone gave them to me... I looked them up online. These are Austin roses, these two are pink lychee, and this one is Elsa..."
She recognized each one as if it were her own treasure.
The photographer took a closer look and realized that the flowers definitely didn't look like they were folded by one person.
The fifteen origami roses were not only different in style, but the skill levels of the folders also varied significantly. Some were folded perfectly, with flawless flower shapes, while others were a chaotic mess, with only the shape of a single flower vaguely discernible. Clearly, this bouquet wasn't made by one person, but by many different individuals.
However, the fifteen roses together still looked quite vibrant.
"How is it? Isn't it beautiful?" Xu Gui asked expectantly, like showing off a treasure.
The photographer suddenly had a strange feeling—could Teacher Xu have called him in just to ask him this question?
What was even stranger was that this kind of thing didn't seem out of place at all for Xu Gui; it felt like she was actually capable of doing it.
"I think these flowers are especially beautiful, the most beautiful bouquet in the world!" she said, carefully touching the flowers before placing the bouquet and vase back on the bedside table.
Seeing how much she cherished the flowers, the person filming couldn't help but ask, "Teacher Xu, who gave you these flowers?" Many of them looked wrinkled and unattractive, yet Xu Gui treated them like precious treasures.
"Who gave them to me?" A smile spread across Xu Gui's eyes. "A group of very cute children!" she said,
picking up her phone and power bank, full of ambition. "Alright, we can go to work now! Today I'm going to make lots and lots of money!"
And then…
*
Thirteen minutes later, seeing Xu Gui with one foot in a ditch, the person filming felt sorry for her.
"Teacher Xu, are you really okay?" the person filming couldn't help but ask.
Along the way, he and the more than 200,000 viewers in Xu Gui's live stream had witnessed Xu Gui experience a fall on flat ground, almost being hit by a flowerpot falling on her head, and now stepping into the only ditch on the road… Wasn't this a bit too unlucky?
Xu Gui waved her hand, "I'm fine!"
She struggled to pull her foot out of the pit, and although she managed to get it out, her shoes were dirty. But being unharmed was the luckiest thing.
Xu Gui shook the mud off her feet, seemingly unconcerned about the bad luck she'd encountered along the way. However, her fans in the live stream were heartbroken:
[Waaah, why is my girl so unlucky today? Wasn't she usually so lucky?]
[Good or bad luck doesn't matter, I just feel so sorry for my girl, she's suffered so much along the way!]
[I'll give my girl some of my monthly allowance; she needs to take good care of herself!]
[? Unbelievable! I actually saw a seventeen-year-old high school student calling a twenty-three-year-old adult "girl"! You really do encounter all sorts of things when you live long enough!]
[Heh, what's even more unbelievable is that this high school student has ten thousand yuan a month for living expenses?] "And I work hard for a month, but my salary is only five thousand. #ClownEmoji# #ClownEmoji#"
This sentence is so heartbreaking that it brings tears to the eyes of anyone who hears it. It has touched the hearts of countless office workers. For a time, the viewers in Xu Gui's live stream were all spamming the #Clown# emoji.
*
Xu Gui carefully made her way to the overpass where she was setting up her stall.
At this time, the old man had already set up his stall. When he saw Xu Gui coming, he originally wanted to say something sarcastic, but then he noticed that Xu Gui was dirty and had some scratches on her arms.
"What happened to you?" The old man's expression changed, and he asked sternly, "Did someone bully you on the way here?"
He seemed to be ready to roll up his sleeves and teach the bully a lesson if Xu Gui said yes.
Seeing this, Xu Gui obediently replied, "I fell down by myself."
The old man, who had already thought of a dozen ways to get revenge for Xu Gui, was
speechless for a few seconds before he finally spoke softly, asking, "Fell down?" His tone was doubtful.
Xu Gui nodded and told him about her misfortunes: falling on the road, being hit by a flowerpot, and getting her foot stuck in a pothole. The old man's lips twitched as he listened to her series of unfortunate events. "
So, how did this person become so unlucky?
" he thought. "...Aren't you a fortune teller? Couldn't you have predicted what you'd encounter today and avoided it in advance?" The old man's question was tinged with exasperation.
Xu Gui blinked and said, "We fortune tellers generally can't predict our own fate, which is why there's the saying 'We predict others, not ourselves'... However, although I don't know exactly what I'll encounter, I know I'll be unlucky these next few days, so I've already prepared!"
As she spoke, she took out a bottle of mercurochrome and cotton swabs from her bag, proudly declaring, "Look how well prepared I am! Even if I fall a few more times, I can still apply the medicine in time!"
The old man: "..." You're getting proud of yourself, aren't you?
At that moment, the old man suddenly felt a headache coming on. He suddenly realized that the little girl in front of him, though seemingly clever, seemed a bit dim-witted.
Meanwhile, the cameraman had already helped Xu Gui set up her stall—he had helped move all of Xu Gui's belongings over there, otherwise he was really afraid that Xu Gui would trip and fall, destroying everything at the stall.
Xu Gui walked over, thanked him, and was carrying a food storage container.
"This is a gift from the old man!" Xu Gui said excitedly, looking very happy. "He said it's made by Mr. Lu!"
The cameraman asked, "Mr. Lu?"
Xu Gui sat down on a stool and said, "He's the old man's grandson. You don't know how amazing Mr. Lu is; his food is incredibly delicious!"
Although she had only tried his mung bean cakes so far, it didn't diminish her growing fondness for Lu Baiyi, after all, this was the first time she had tasted something so delicious.
"And Mr. Lu's luck is exceptionally good! I've never seen a human with such good luck!"
It can't be called luck anymore; it should be called "destiny." Lu Baiyi's destiny is extremely powerful, even comparable to those auspicious beasts that have dealings with the Xuan Turtle clan.
So, if he could share even a tiny bit of his luck with me, even just the size of a fingernail, my bad luck might be averted.
Hmm? Wait a minute!
This... it doesn't seem impossible, does it? The Xuan Turtle clan itself has the ability to "absorb" luck!