Dusk was falling, and the campus appeared particularly tranquil.
Yan Xiaonuo, Shen Manjun, and Ou Zhixuan were walking out of the school library together, books in their arms, taking strides that seemed perfectly synchronized across the quiet campus.
"Ugh, studying until my head almost explodes—college really isn't for humans!" Every time they left the library, you could count on Yan Xiaonuo's heartfelt complaint.
"I really wish we could just finish this last year already." Shen Manjun let out a long sigh. She wanted to graduate quickly so that she could get a job and help ease her family's financial burden.
"Hey, come on, don't start sighing again! Dinner's on me—let's cheer up!" Ou Zhixuan, the carefree daughter of a wealthy family, seemed like someone born without worries.
"The young lady is treating us? Then I'm definitely having a feast!" Hearing about food, Yan Xiaonuo immediately brightened up, and her moodiness from studying vanished without a trace.
"You're treating again?!" Shen Manjun always felt like she owed Ou Zhixuan a lot of favors.
"I've got plenty of money, you know. Besides, if I order too much and can't finish, it's such a waste. You're my good friends, so why wouldn't you help me finish it?"
"The head of the orphanage always says that wasting food brings bad luck," Yan Xiaonuo nodded. Growing up in an orphanage, she remembered the head's teachings well.
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ou Zhixuan beamed.
"Yay! A feast it is!" Yan Xiaonuo kicked a small stone on the ground. It flew a distance and plopped into the water.
Yan Xiaonuo playfully aimed to kick another pebble.
"Yan Xiaonuo, stop that. If you keep kicking, the wishing pool will be filled up with stones!" Shen Manjun scolded her.
"Huh?! Wishing pool? Where?"
"This is the wishing pool."
Yan Xiaonuo widened her eyes, looking unconvinced. "This is just an ordinary little pond; how could it be a wishing pool!"
"At most, it's just a small fountain!" Ou Zhixuan cocked her head. Even the fountains in her family's garden were grander than this campus one.
"Really, a lot of students make wishes here..." Shen Manjun jumped onto the low wall surrounding the small fountain, spread her arms, and took two light steps, her movements cat-like and graceful.
The wind lifted her skirt and her waterfall-like black hair, making Shen Manjun look elegant, as if she had stepped out of a novel. However, her determination to work tirelessly to earn money was a far cry from her ethereal beauty, often surprising all the boys who tried to chase her...
"Really?" Yan Xiaonuo leaned over to peer into the pool, exclaiming, "Wow, there are so many coins in the pool!"
Ou Zhixuan glanced in too. "Does it work, though?"
Shen Manjun smiled, "I haven't tried it myself, but our classmate Xiaorong made a wish here to meet a handsome boyfriend, and she actually got one. And then there's Meina—she almost failed economics, made a wish here, and miraculously passed."
"Really? Coincidence, right?"
"Why don't we make wishes too, then we'll see if it really works!" Ou Zhixuan suggested.
"Yes, yes! I'll make ten wishes. If all ten come true, then I'll believe it!" Yan Xiaonuo scratched her head, realizing it was kind of hard to think of ten wishes right off the bat.
"Ten wishes? Don't even think about it!" Shen Manjun jumped off the low wall. "I've heard that this is a very mysterious wishing pool—only the first wish you make will come true."
"The first one? But..." Hadn't Xiaorong made one? And Meina too... so didn't that mean there was no chance left for Yan Xiaonuo?
"It means each person can only make one wish, and after that, the wishes won't work!" Shen Manjun said with an air of authority.
"I see..." Yan Xiaonuo smiled brightly. That meant she didn't need to bother thinking up ten wishes—her brain cells were spared!
"Alright then, since we can make one wish, let's not miss the chance. Let's make our wishes!" As Ou Zhixuan spoke, she took out some coins from her purse.
"Ou Zhixuan, you really have a lot of coins..."
"Yan Xiaonuo, you have to use your own coin to make a wish, okay? Borrowing coins means the wish won't come true!" Shen Manjun lectured, looking like an expert on wishing.
"Oh, got it, got it." After rummaging through all her pockets, Yan Xiaonuo finally found her only coin in the pocket of her jeans, and she smiled brightly.
With her short hair, boyish style, and frequent tomboyish outfits, she was often the subject of admiration from younger students, and she had quite a few boys interested in her.
"Alright, I'm going to make my wish!" She clasped her hands together, looking sincere, but quickly showed a doubtful expression. "Shen Manjun, is it true? The first wish really works? You're not tricking us, right?"
"You don't believe me?" Shen Manjun raised an eyebrow.
"To be honest, I don't really trust you. Everyone knows you love making up stories!"
"Then just don't make a wish. Don't let me trick you!"
"Hmmph, I'm definitely making a wish. If it doesn't come true, I'll have a perfectly good reason to come after you!" With this mischievous thought in mind, Yan Xiaonuo closed her eyes and murmured softly:
"Spirits of heaven and earth, I, Yan Xiaonuo, have only one wish—I want a family, a real family, with parents who love me. Not foster parents, but my real parents, and, ideally, grandparents too, along with siblings who love each other..."
After speaking, she threw the coin into the water.
Shen Manjun almost laughed herself to tears. "Oh please, 'spirits of heaven and earth'! Yan Xiaonuo, do you think you're performing some kind of ritual?"
"Doesn't matter! If my wish doesn't come true, you'll have to pay me back a hundred times in coins!"
Ou Zhixuan also laughed, "Shen Manjun, you're in trouble now. You'll have to give away all your hard-earned money from your part-time jobs!"
"I was just joking! Don't take it too seriously!" Shen Manjun said, looking distressed. This whole wishing thing had been something she made up for fun—she hadn't expected to have to pay up for it.
Yan Xiaonuo had grown up as an orphan; her parents died in a car accident, leaving her behind as a small, lonely child. Unless the dead could come back to life, it didn't seem possible for her wish to come true...
"Alright, my turn now!" Ou Zhixuan gently brushed her wind-blown curly hair away and smiled, "What wish should I make?"
She was the pampered daughter of a wealthy family—beautiful, intelligent, cherished by her parents. She had everything she could ask for; she had always gotten whatever she wanted, so what was left to wish for?
Yan Xiaonuo helpfully suggested, "Ou Zhixuan, since you're not lacking anything, why not wish for a star from the sky?"
"A star from the sky?" Shen Manjun couldn't help but laugh—trust Yan Xiaonuo to come up with that!
What would Ou Zhixuan even do with a star? Wear it on her chest? In fact, Ou Zhixuan didn't need any extra decoration—she was already captivating enough.
"Oh? What's that?!" Not only Yan Xiaonuo, but even Shen Manjun was curious. Didn't Ou Zhixuan have everything?
"I'm missing a crown," Ou Zhixuan complained playfully. "Sigh, I must have been born into the wrong family. A noble and beautiful girl like me should be a princess!"
"You want to be a princess?"
"No, I want to be a queen. I want to be the one and only first lady, high and mighty."
"First lady!? Wow, I didn't expect your ambitions to be so high. Are you hoping for a presidential divorce or something?!"
"What? Even at my age, I don't want that! I want the heavens to give me a young and exceptionally handsome king; I want to be the queen!" Ou Zhixuan tossed her coin into the water, completing her wish.
"Wow, you guys are really..." Shen Manjun shook her head, utterly defeated by them.
"Alright, it's your turn now."
"What? Me?" Shen Manjun pointed to herself. She had just been joking around with them, and now it was her turn to be teased.
"Yeah, we've both made our wishes; you're the only one left."
"Well, okay then…"
"Hurry and make your wish!" Yan Xiaonuo urged, grinning, "You should make an extraordinary wish too, like us!"
"Let me think…" Shen Manjun said, "When making a wish, you should wish for something you really want. I want lots and lots of money."
Ou Zhixuan pouted, "Money is too ordinary; that wish is so basic, not fun at all!"
Yan Xiaonuo nodded, "Yeah, too ordinary! Wanting a lot of money is simple. Just wish to win the lottery; it's not like no one ever wins the lottery."
"Alright, since you both think winning the lottery is too ordinary…" Shen Manjun's big, expressive eyes rolled around thoughtfully, "How about a pile of money just falling from the sky? Uh, preferably thirty million landing in my house, and that money becomes mine!"
"Great, great!" Yan Xiaonuo clapped her hands in approval.
"Not bad, thirty million falling from the sky; that wish is pretty awesome!"
"Heavens, I'm counting on you! Thirty million, not a penny less, and it absolutely has to land in my house, not next door!" Shen Manjun laughed as she tossed her coin into the pool.
If a large sum of money did fall into her house, it would solve her heavy financial burden… sigh, that was probably something that only happened in dreams.
"Done!"
"Hey, Shen Manjun, when will our wishes come true?"
"You ask me? Who should I ask?"
"Wow, how can you be so irresponsible? You were the one who said the wishing pool was effective, so obviously, you're the one we should ask!"
The three girls laughed and teased each other as they walked away, arms around each other's shoulders.
To be honest, they didn't really believe the wishes they had just made would ever come true. They didn't believe it at all; they were just joking around, which was why they made such exaggerated wishes.
The wishing pool, now with three more coins, lay quietly under the moonlight, the water shimmering with mysterious and enchanting ripples.
No one expected it to be so effective!
Even more surprisingly, in the future, the three girls would return to the wishing pool in tears, wanting to reclaim the coins they had tossed in and cancel the wishes they had made...