Chapter 57: Escaping Poverty, But Without Getting Rich

"Tonight." Miyase Yaeko said with a bright smile, "Do we still need a contract between us?"

"If I can get the money tonight, I won't need it." Qingshan Li said.

If he couldn't get it, he would take revenge in the future.

The preparatory bell for class rang.

Amidst the ringing, Mikami Ai said while packing her things, "Club activities after school today are suspended for one day."

Qingshan Li walked back to the classroom, and in a place where no one was around, he raised his thumb.

Ono Mika no longer needed to continue her part-time job; she could put her mind at ease and enjoy her final high school life.

The biggest goal at present is completed!

What would be good to plant in the yard? Potatoes? Is it too late to plant watermelons now?

Or should I check what is suitable to plant in May before making a decision?

Wait!

With the system around, what can't be planted? Maybe I could even grow some extraordinary vegetables.

Qingshan Li whistled, the melody being the school song of Kaimei High School.

It feels great to be full of hope!

Happy times pass quickly; the two afternoon classes ended in the blink of an eye. After class, Qingshan Li wrote homework for a while in the classroom again.

"Classmate Aoyama, not going to the club?" the girl erasing the blackboard asked.

"The club activities this afternoon are suspended; does that bother you?"

"Of course not!" the girl sweeping the floor denied strongly, then said again, "Classmate Aoyama, I heard you and Classmate Mikami Ai are in the same club. Is that true?"

"Mm." Qingshan Li did his problems.

"Are you dating?" the girl at the blackboard asked curiously.

Qingshan Li smiled: "How could that be? I'm not interested in things that are too complicated."

"Do you mean you're not interested in romance, or that you're not interested in Classmate Mikami?"

"I'm not interested in her, and she's not interested in me. Alright, I'll pack up now. Sorry for bothering you."

"You're done writing already?"

"What do you mean? Do you hope there's a lot of homework? If you have that idea, I advise you to drop it immediately!"

"No, no~" the girl said, laughing and waving her hand.

Qingshan Li packed up his bookbag.

"Goodbye."

"Mm, goodbye, Classmate Aoyama."

It was still early before school ended. If it were another student, they could leave school directly, but Qingshan Li could not.

Because he had fainted from overworking his part-time job before—Qingshan Li suspected the system was messing with him. To prevent him from working part-time, the school would ask for the reason and his destination if he left early.

Go check out the Kendo Club, and incidentally increase the material degree of 【Kendo Gyokuryuki】?

No, forget it.

The Kendo Club was preparing for the Gyokuryuki in July. As a person with connections, he'd better not go bother them.

Qingshan Li changed his shoes at the shoe cabinet and walked out of the teaching building.

Even during the monthly exam week, the sounds of the Brass Band Club, Cheerleading Club, and Baseball Club had not disappeared.

Amidst the various sounds of youth being spent, Qingshan Li unconsciously arrived at the stands of the baseball field.

He simply sat down.

After glancing at the practicing players through the fence, he took out a pen and manuscript paper, using the bookbag on his knees as a desk, and began to seriously write his manuscript.

The article had already taken shape, but once written down with a pen, gorgeous and dazzling colors like rainbows still surged in his mind.

It was simply like a door leading to another world.

"Qingshan, you beast!"

Qingshan Li looked up. It was Kobayashi Shiki, wearing a soccer uniform, wiping the sweat all over his head with a towel.

"What did you say?"

"You came to look at the baseball manager's underwear, right!"

"I forgot."

"Should I say you have too much drive, or that you're too lewd?" After speaking, Kobayashi Shiki smiled lewdly, "What color is it today?"

"Let me take a look." Qingshan Li looked toward the baseball area and found the girl who looked like the manager.

"White... that's safety shorts, isn't it!" Qingshan Li felt he had been hurt.

"I just occasionally pass by here. Because I was embarrassed, every time I only took a hurried glance, always thinking it was underwear." Kobayashi Shiki laughed irresponsibly.

After speaking, he added, "Just treat it as underwear; that's more interesting."

"I'll try." Qingshan Li took out his mobile phone and glanced at the time.

Five-thirty. There was still half an hour until school ended. Leaving school at this time, the school probably wouldn't ask further questions.

But since there was only half an hour left, he simply planned to wait for Ono Mizuki to go home together.

"Kobayashi!" someone shouted from afar.

"Coming!" Kobayashi Shiki responded, then said to Qingshan Li, "Enjoy slowly, I'm leaving."

Qingshan Li did not continue writing "Detective A," but looked toward the Baseball Club.

Baseball should not be metal, but the sound of the bat hitting the ball was a sharp metallic sound.

The sandpit was black soil, yet they wore white uniforms. Why?

One by one, they rolled on the ground as if trying hard to get themselves dirty.

【Koshien: 3%】

The families of the baseball club members also work hard, having to wash such dirty clothes every day.

Putting them in the washing machine definitely won't do, it would dirty the machine too, so they can only be hand-washed.

After reading for half an hour, when the school bell rang, 【Koshien: 6%】.

Mostly training scenes, and what the coach shouts during training.

Coming to the usual place to wait for Ono Mizuki, Qingshan Li took out his mobile phone and checked the rules of baseball.

"Oh, the pitcher is actually the defensive side, and the batter is the offensive side."

【Koshien: 10%】

After the exams end and I return the mystery novel, I can borrow some baseball-related novels.

But we're moving house right away, and if I keep borrowing books from Adachi Ward Central Library, returning them will be too troublesome.

"Brother." Ono Mizuki walked over.

Qingshan Li put away his mobile phone and looked over.

Sweet-looking, petite in figure, her walking pose was dignified yet carried a hint of unrestrained liveliness, extremely cute.

Beautiful girls really are the best at deceiving people.

A person who occasionally smells their own feet at home to see if they stink!

"Bye-bye~"

"Mizuki, bye-bye~"

Saying goodbye to friends from the same club, Ono Mizuki walked to Qingshan Li's side, and the two walked toward the school gate together.

"What does bye-bye mean?"

"Hasn't any girl ever said that to you?"

"No."

"Brother," Ono Mizuki turned her face toward him, smiling intimately and sweetly, "you're so pitiful."

To outsiders, perhaps it was a younger sister acting coquettish toward her older brother, or a girlfriend acting cute toward her boyfriend.

Half an hour later, the two walked out of Kitasenju Station, walked a few more minutes, and finally reached home.

This shabby, insecure house had only one advantage: it was reasonably close to the station.

Ono Mika, who no longer had to go to work from today, had already finished making the stew.

"It's fresh today!" Ono Mizuki became slightly excited.

"Thanks to me finishing the curry," Qingshan Li claimed credit.

"You ate too much, otherwise we could save a day's worth of food money!" Ono Mizuki turned to scolding again.

"Hurry up and change clothes, get ready to eat!" Ono Mika called out.

"Okay~" the two answered simultaneously.

Taking off their uniforms, the three began to eat.

"Sister, say 'bye-bye' to me."

"Bye-bye?" Ono Mika said tentatively.

"Satisfied."

"Tsk." This was Ono Mizuki, tugging at the corner of her mouth, a sweet girl's expression of contempt.

"I have some news to announce," Qingshan Li said while eating.

"What?" Ono Mika asked.

"I sold the book."

"Sold?" Ono Mizuki raised her head.

"Mm, sold to——" At that very moment, Qingshan Li thought at extreme speed.

If he said he sold it to Miyase Yaeko, the Ono sisters would definitely have thoughts in their hearts.

For example, would the Miyose Family take this opportunity to compensate them, offering a high price?

The value of "Detective A" was more than a house, but after all it hadn't gone on sale yet, so the specific value was unknown.

"——Mikami Ai."

Pretending to swallow his food, after a brief pause, Qingshan Li continued in a natural tone:

"Because design, printing, release, and then distributing royalties take too much time, I simply sold it to her via a 'buyout' method."

"How much?" Ono Mizuki hurriedly asked.

Ono Mika also looked nervously at Qingshan Li.

"One hundred million yen." Qingshan Li said.

"One hundred million yen?!" the two sisters asked back simultaneously, disbelieving.

If they thought calmly, they would both believe the book's value was more than one hundred million yen, but for them who had been poor since childhood, one hundred million yen was enough to cloud their minds in a short time.

Qingshan Li smiled: "There's also a house near the school, worth at least 600 million yen or more."

The two held their breath.

"Really?!" Ono Mizuki asked nervously, as if cherishing a candle in the wind.

For some reason, that sweet little face afraid of happiness being shattered made Qingshan Li have the impulse to ruffle her hair.

"Really!" Qingshan Li put down his bowl and said seriously, "Listen well, this is not a joke, nor child's play between minors, but a genuine transaction of hundreds of millions of yen."

After a while, screams rang out in the house.

Ono Mizuki jumped up and down.

"Sister, we're rich people! We can have our own rooms! You don't have to work part-time anymore!" She hugged Ono Mika and shook her hard.

She stood up again and embraced Qingshan Li: "Brother, you're amazing!"

"Shh! The neighbors will complain again!" Ono Mika herself could hardly contain her excitement.

Ono Mizuki rubbed against him, and Qingshan Li felt a bit uncomfortable.

"All right, all right, eat quickly, then study." He pulled Ono Mizuki off himself.

It wasn't dislike, just the scene wasn't appropriate.

If Ono Mika weren't there, even if it caused discomfort, he would continue to enjoy it.

The three continued eating, the topic still revolving around the house matters.

"What about taxes? How are they calculated?" Ono Mika asked.

"Including this part, the other side will handle everything." Qingshan Li said.

Not yet agreed, but Miyase Yaeko shouldn't be that stingy.

He also needed to consult Mikami Ai and have her help cover it up.

He didn't know if she was willing; today she seemed to look down on him a bit—Qingshan Li wasn't unaware, he just didn't care.

He only wanted to maintain an 'F' relationship with Mikami Ai.

—And you, system, get ready to farm!

With food, lodging, one hundred million in savings, and family by his side, judging by the earnings from his first book, it was enough; asking for more would be greed.

The mobile phone vibrated.

"The money may have arrived." Qingshan Li slowly smiled.

The two sisters stared at him without blinking.

Qingshan Li put down his bowl and chopsticks, slowly took out his mobile phone, didn't look himself, and handed it to the two of them.

"You look."

The two were so excited their cheeks turned slightly red, their gazes wavering, as they carefully opened the mobile phone, as if looking at cards on a gambling table where everything was at stake.

They raised their heads and stared at Qingshan Li.

On their slightly similar faces, the expressions were a bit off.

"What's going on?" Ono Mizuki asked.

"What's going on?" Qingshan Li said, puzzled.

Ono Mika handed the mobile phone back to him.

Qingshan Li took it, looked down, and it wasn't a message about the money arriving.

【Mikami Ai: The more I think about it, the angrier I get! Shallow! Greedy for money! Liked by someone like you—just thinking that I personally poured the tea my mother brewed for me for you to drink makes me feel sick to this day!】

Who likes you?!

"It's a misunderstanding! Listen to my explanation!"

The mobile phone vibrated again.

"Quick look! The money arrived, the money arrived! I didn't lie to you, you look quickly!"

Thank you Cross-Dream Dimension, Super Strong Number Six, Boss Lao Yang for reading, and Recycling Miss for the donations!

Thank you everyone for the donations, votes, and reading!





(Chapter End)