Joining a competition to earn money

Li Caiyi checked on her bank account and found that she only had a little over 3000 yuan in it. It was everything she had saved from her childhood, but it was not nearly enough for her to hire a private investigator to gather evidence against Li Jirong. If he wanted to fight back, then she would need at least more evidence in her hand.

There was only so much she could do as a high-schooler. She could not get a part-time job because Li Jirong would never allow that, and she did not have anything valuable enough to be sold, either. The only thing left was for her to gather it by herself sneakily, but Li Jirong would eventually find out about it if she came to the hospital so frequently.

Li Caiyi was still mulling over this until the next day, so she was absentminded all day and did not notice when Zhou Ya talked to her.

"Li Caiyi, do you hear me?"

"Huh?"

Zhou Ya knitted her brows. "I was asking you if you have any luck so far in finding that person you are looking for."

"Oh, that. Unfortunately, not yet." Li Caiyi laughed drily as she scratched the back of her head. With everything going on in her head, she could not focus on finding Shen Qiang at all.

"What? You are looking for someone?" Feng Nian said with a mouth full of rice.

"Yeah. This person helped me a lot before, but I only know his name."

"Well, that's weird. How could you even find a person just by his name alone?"

"Tell me about it," Li Caiyi put her hand on her forehead helplessly. "Anyway, I'm currently in urgent need of some money. Do you have any idea how to earn some money without working a part-time job?"

Zhou Ya and Feng Nian exchanged confused glances at each other. They must be wondering why a girl coming from a pretty well-off family like Li Caiyi needed more money, so she added, "There is something I need to do, which would cost some money, but my parents won't allow me to take a part-time job."

Feng Nian wiped the sauce on the corner of her mouth with her finger. "For a student like us, there is not much we can do if we are still living with our parents. How about taking a loan?"

"No, you need to be officially recognized as an earning adult first to take out a loan unless you went to a shady loan business." Zhou Ya folded her arms with a serious look. "I occasionally help in my family's noodle shop, but my parents won't allow me to take a part-time job either. They said if I have time to do that, I should use that for studying more and winning a competition or something."

Li Caiyi was downcast, but she got an idea when she heard Zhou Ya's words and immediately perked up. "That's it!"

Zhou Ya and Feng Nian were surprised because Li Caiyi suddenly stood up and left the classroom. They were calling her name, but it fell on deaf ears.

If Li Caiyi was not mistaken, it should be around this time that there was a writing competition with money as the winning prize.

Li Caiyi ran to the school news board on the first floor, and there it was! Thankfully, the banner was still there, so Li Caiyi read them carefully from top to bottom.

"The first prize is a round-trip ticket to N country and 10.000 yuan?" Li Caiyi's voice shook as she muttered under her breath. If she combined her savings with that money, she could even hire a good private investigator, not a cheap one!

Of course, she had to win the competition first. However, now she had a clear goal in mind, she was very motivated to join in.

When she saw this banner in her previous life, she thought it was a nice prize, but she never thought of joining. Li Jirong would be furious if he knew she wasted time on anything else but her studies. In this life, she was determined to join so she could have Li Jirong's weakness in her hand.

It was almost scary that she did not feel any remorse while plotting this, contrary to her previous self.

Li Caiyi felt she was changing bit by bit, and she could never be more proud of herself.

Li Caiyi stared pensively at the theme for the competition. It was freestyle writing about the past and future—a fitting theme for her.

However, she did not have much time before the competition's deadline. If she wanted to participate, she had to register right now and start making her story. So she quickly went to the teacher's office and signed herself up before returning to her classroom.

Li Caiyi did not intend to let this chance go. She had completely lost respect for her father, so she did not care, even if he later knew about this or not. With her motivation burning passionately, Li Caiyi started thinking about what she should write.

***

After school.

Li Caiyi used to study in the library just so her father would acknowledge her. However, now that idea has been thrown into the trash bin, Li Caiyi was currently sitting in the same spot but with a completely different mindset.

Li Caiyi had her notebook and some reference books ready and occasionally wrote something with a serious expression. An hour passed by, but she still did not show any sign of leaving. She was so into what she was doing; she did not notice that someone had been watching her since she first came in.

Sitting behind the librarian's desk, a boy watched silently as Li Caiyi went through her book. She would occasionally frown or purse her lips as she read. Her lips parted as she muttered the words without sound. Her long eyelashes would flutter with every blink, casting a shadow on her face.

He knew it was rude for him to stare at other people like that, but he could not pry his eyes away from her serene and soft figure. Just watching her gave him a sense of tranquility. He was utterly taken in by sight in front of him.

Oblivious to the eye watching her, Li Caiyi smiled in satisfaction when she looked down at her rough draft. It took her some time to do some research, but overall, she was pretty satisfied with her progress.

Li Caiyi stretched her stiff arm and decided to stop for now. There was still some time before the deadline, so she should not rush herself and drop the quality of her writing.

Li Caiyi picked a few books that might help give her some inspiration and took them to the librarian's desk.

"I want to borrow these books." She said while showing her student ID.

The boy checked the serial number of the book and her student ID. He stared at her ID intently.

Li Caiyi. So that was her name.

Then he swiftly checked out the books and returned them to her.

"Make sure you return them before the next week." He said in a croaked voice. He used to say that line every time someone borrowed a book, but his ugly voice failed him. The boy was somewhat embarrassed having Li Caiyi heard that. He made it evident that he was feeling pretty nervous around her.

Li Caiyi thought little of it and only smiled slightly. She was about to leave when she remembered something.

She turned around and walked to the librarian's desk again and pulled out a piece of mint candy from her pocket. "A kind person gave it to me. Eat this for your sore throat. Good luck with your work."

The boy accepted it absentmindedly, almost like in a daze. Li Caiyi gave him a faint smile before she left for good this time.

The boy stared at the piece of the candy in his hand for some time, then silently put it in his pocket. He did not plan to eat it at all.