Sensing Evan's gaze, Nia felt her cheeks flush. Trying to hide her embarrassment, she straightened up and focused on her workbook.
Meanwhile, Romy shot Evan a smug look and quipped, "You heard her. Nia is glad she sits with me, so don't try stirring up trouble!"
Evan chuckled. "I'm not stirring up anything. I'm just stating facts."
"…!"
Romy resisted the urge to sew his mouth shut on the spot. His words were always so infuriating.
"Hmph!"
She tapped on Evan's desk. "By the way, I saw you eating with Sophie Qiao from Class One at lunch. Already going after her, huh?"
Not even waiting for Evan to respond, she continued, "Honestly, I'm not surprised. Sophie is considered one of the top beauties here at Wellington Academy. Any guy would be interested. I've got to hand it to you—only one day in, and you've already charmed a total knockout. You're not wasting that face of yours."
Busy working on her exercises, Nia suddenly felt her mood dip. She wasn't sure why, but hearing that conversation left a dull ache in her chest.
Almost immediately, she reminded herself it was none of her business who Evan ate with. She forced her attention back to her assignments—only studying can't betray you, she told herself.
Evan shook his head. "You're overthinking it. Besides, we're not supposed to date in senior year. And honestly, I think Sophie is pretty average-looking, especially compared to Nia. Don't you agree?"
"Yesss!" Romy nodded enthusiastically, as though she'd finally found a kindred spirit. "I've always thought Nia is way prettier. Face, personality, everything is better than Sophie's. Oh, and Sophie… let's just say she's flat. Meanwhile, Nia's… well, she's way ahead."
She sighed dramatically. "No idea how Sophie got voted the number-one school beauty. Personally, I think Nia's in a league of her own."
"Romy!"
Nia couldn't take it anymore. Her face was hot with embarrassment. "Can you please keep it decent?"
Romy clamped her mouth shut, realizing she might've gone too far. "S-sorry, Nia."
Nia shot her desk mate a frosty look, then took out an English test paper from her desk. "Here. Finish this. If you score under eighty, no more romance novels this week."
Having said that, Nia snatched away Romy's novel, her expression stern.
Romy nearly objected but, seeing the resolve in Nia's eyes, caved in, heaving a miserable sigh as she began the test.
Meanwhile, Evan studied Nia's profile with an amused twinkle in his eyes. He could personally vouch for what Romy had hinted at—after all, in his previous life, he'd once caught a glimpse of Nia that showcased her "figure" quite clearly. It had been a fleeting accident, but it was forever etched into his memory.
A sweet, gentle rabbit…
Six days had passed since Evan transferred to Wellington Academy. That afternoon, once classes ended, he rushed home, heading straight to his bedroom.
Switching on his computer, Evan checked the time: 5:49 PM.
He was still on schedule. Perfect.
In his last life, Evan had a sharp memory of a stock called Huayu Technologies that skyrocketed for six consecutive days, luring countless investors. But all that glitters isn't gold—on the seventh day, when trading resumed, Huayu Technologies plummeted dramatically. By the end of that day, people lost fortunes, realizing too late the old adage: Investments carry risk; caution is key.
Today happened to be the sixth day—a few minutes away from the stock's peak at 5:53 PM. That was precisely when the price would crest, then begin a downward spiral.
The computer finished booting up. Evan logged into his brokerage account and saw that Huayu Technologies was now sitting at ¥30.45 per share.
Without hesitation, he sold all ten thousand shares. A small smile curved his lips as he completed the transaction.
Six days earlier, he had bought the stock at ¥4.97 per share. Selling at ¥29.45 netted him a profit of ¥25.48 per share, or ¥254,800 in total.
This was his first big payday since being reborn!
He had made a bet with Ross Shan: within one week, turn ¥10,000 into ¥50,000. Initially, his own funds could only buy 2,000 shares, but Ross, intrigued, had added another ¥40,000 to buy 8,000 shares. For Ross, it was a casual gamble; for Evan, it was an ironclad promise.
Now, after subtracting Ross's gains, Evan himself could pocket about ¥61,000—clearly surpassing the bet's requirement of ¥10,000 → ¥50,000.
This meant Ross would now lend him ¥2 million—a large sum Evan intended to invest in a new opportunity next month. In his previous life, he'd missed this golden chance, still engrossed in his studies. This time, he wasn't letting it slip away.
Money might not be everything, but nobody ever complains about having too much.
At dinner that night, Ross Shan casually asked about the stocks, "Evan, how's that investment we made a few days ago?"
"It's sold," Evan replied, setting his chopsticks aside. He pulled out a bank card and placed it in front of Ross. His tone was calm, "There's about ¥304,500 on it right now. After deducting your initial ¥49,700, we made ¥254,800 in six days. Satisfied?"
Ross felt his brain short-circuit. His eyes widened, and he stammered, "Y-you're kidding me, right? We earned ¥250,000 in less than a week?"
That's a 500% profit margin. Veteran investors could waste years in the stock market without seeing such returns—but a high school senior had done it in days?
"Why would I lie about something easily verified?" Evan said with a faint grin. "You can check at an ATM if you don't believe me."
Ross stared at Evan, speechless for nearly a full minute. Suddenly, he jumped to his feet, grabbed his jacket, and darted out the door.
Evan, unfazed, finished his meal, washed up, and went to his room. He sorted through a stack of secondhand books he'd recently bought in bulk for just ¥10 each. They were cheap, but perfect for farming experience points in his system.
So far, he'd accumulated 88 experience points—only 12 away from the 100 needed to upgrade his Combat level. He couldn't wait to see what a Level 2 Combat stat would bring.
"Time to grind some more…" he muttered, picking out a random book and diving in, determined to keep climbing toward his goals.