Chapter 15: Hanging Out with Friends

    After celebrating with fried chicken and honoring Li Yifei for getting first place in the exams, they reflected on the accident she had gone through.

    “They say it’s a blessing in disguise, right?” Li Ying commented.

    “Exactly,” the three boys agreed in unison.

    As for Li Yifei, she couldn’t stop smiling.

    “Yifei is smart, which means we’re smart too!” Lu Han said, raising his soda cup that came with the fried chicken.

    The rest of them followed suit, raising their cups and clinking them together.

    Li Yifei really liked this atmosphere and the sense of friendship. Even Xiu Min, who had feelings for her beyond friendship, didn’t act inappropriately. For him, just being close to her was enough.

    “And what about the cost of the chicken?” Li Yifei asked       

    “We’re paying for it,” Lu Han replied.

    Seeing that Li Yifei looked a little hesitant, he quickly added,

    “Because of you, this summer break is going to be special! Even the teachers are happy, they won’t have to worry about us anymore. It’s all good!”

    Xu Kai couldn’t help but laugh at Lu Han’s reasoning.

    “That’s right! Let the boys treat. It’s their duty to take care of cute girls like us,” Li Ying chimed in.

    With that, Li Yifei and Li Ying enjoyed their meal without worrying about the bill.

    “Yifei, you have a mobile phone now, right?” Xiu Min asked nervously.

    Li Yifei suddenly remembered she now had a phone. But she only had her family’s numbers in it. Even though Li Yifeng had offered to help her recover the contacts from her old SIM card, she didn’t want to, since most of the contacts on the old Li Yifei’s SIM card were no longer relevant to her.

    Now that she had a new life, she wanted to fill it with friends she personally chose.

    And right now, she considered the group in front of her as her true friends.

    Li Yifei pulled out her phone. The lock screen image was of her family, taken during a dinner when everyone had come together.

    It was a picture she loved, so she had set it as her lock screen.

    On the home screen, the wallpaper was a picture of her and Li Yifeng.

    “Right, I completely forgot!” she said.

    “Everyone, give me your numbers.”

    Starting with Li Ying, they shared their numbers one by one. Li Yifei dialed each number so her friends could save hers in return.

    Li Ying looked a bit puzzled about why she was saving new contacts, but she didn’t ask.

    After finishing their meal, the group headed to an arcade. It was a scene straight out of the dramas Li Yifei had watched when she was still Tang Yifei, and today, she got to experience it firsthand.

    As for the memories of her current body, the old Li Yifei wasn’t really into playing these kinds of games, so she hadn’t frequented such places.

    When Lu Han first suggested going to the arcade, Li Ying objected, as if she knew her best friend’s preferences.

    However, for the new Li Yifei, she was curious and whispered to Li Ying that she wanted to experience it at least once.

    So now, the entire group found themselves in the arcade, surrounded by teenagers.

    They started with the claw machine, a staple in every drama. If there was a male lead in the group, he would be the one who wins the plush toy for the female lead, leaving viewers swooning.

    But this time, none of the three boys succeeded in winning anything.

    “Can I give it a try?” Li Yifei, who had been eagerly watching, asked.

    Xiu Min stepped aside to let her have a turn, hoping to impress her.

    Li Yifei focused and, on her first try, managed to grab the plush toy she had her eyes on. The group cheered loudly as it was the first toy anyone had won, and they had already spent several yuan on the machine.

    “Yifei, use my coin to win another one!” Li Ying exclaimed.

    Fired up, Li Yifei went again and, on her second try, successfully won another toy. Her friends were in awe, and she was soon dubbed with a new nickname.

    ‘The Claw Queen.’

    Li Yifei herself couldn’t help but feel amazed. Everything seemed to be going well for her. She was excelling in her studies, and now she was acing the claw machine. The toys were popular cartoon characters, and compared to the money they spent, the group had made quite a profit.

    They now stood holding a pile of plush toys.

    Xu Kai then suggested,

    “We could sell these, you know. One of these toys goes for 40 yuan, and we’ve got 10!”

    “Yeah, let's do it!” Li Ying said excitedly.

    There was a shop nearby where they could sell the toys.

    And to Li Yifei’s surprise, they managed to sell them for half-price, 20 yuan each, making a total of 200 yuan.

    Everyone pooled the money together and handed it to her.

    “But the cost was shared by everyone,” Li Yifei protested.

    “Then let’s subtract the cost,” Xu Kai said, taking out 50 yuan and handing the rest to Li Yifei.

    “Take it. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have sold them. Plus, each toy only costs 50 yuan to win.”

    “How about we go back and win more?” Lu Han suggested, still in the mood for fun.

    “Let’s do it!” Li Ying agreed.

    The group rushed back to the claw machine. Luckily, the store owner wasn’t around, and only the staff handling the token exchange was present. Otherwise, Li Yifei wondered if the owner might have looked stressed seeing them win so many toys.

    Once again, Li Yifei successfully won more plush toys.

    And they repeated the same process, selling them again.

    Normally, security or staff would have stepped in to stop such activity, as they weren’t paying to rent the space. But the staff at the token counter and the security guard seemed to turn a blind eye.

    Likely because no one had complained.

    Soon, the third round of selling had ended.

    Lu Han was ready to keep going, but Xu Kai stopped him.

    “Greed brings misfortune. If we run out of money, we can always come back. But if we keep going, someone might report us, and we could get fined.”

    Thanks to Xu Kai, Li Yifei was able to curb her growing sense of greed.

    The group returned to the famous fried chicken restaurant and divided the money they had earned. Since Li Yifei had done most of the work, she ended up with a larger share, receiving 300 yuan.

    Originally, Li Yifei had planned to buy some fried chicken to take home, but Li Ying pointed out,

    "If you buy it now, by the time you get home, it won’t be crispy anymore. Besides, your house doesn’t have a fryer or even a microwave."

    “It’s better to just call for delivery once you get home,” Xu Kai suggested.

    Li Yifei realized they were right. K offered delivery service, so it made more sense to order when she got home rather than carrying a fragrant box of fried chicken on the air-conditioned bus.

    Both Li Ying and Xu Kai had good points.

    She had been to this mall once before and remembered the bus route. Still, her friends insisted on riding the bus with her and even getting off at the same stop.

“Thanks for walking me home.”

    “With a beauty like you, who’s having such good luck, we need to look after you,” Lu Han joked.

Xiu Min laughed along.

Her childhood friends also nodded in agreement.

    Li Yifei stayed to see her friends off, waving as they boarded the bus, and then turned to walk home. She had left the house in the late morning and now, as she returned, it was almost 6 p.m.

    Today she had 300 yuan more in her wallet.

It had been a really good day.

    As she walked past her brother’s fried chicken shop, she saw him stepping out, just finishing his shift. Li Yifei naturally called out to him.

“Yifeng!”

    Li Yifeng turned at the sound of her voice. Today, he had been worried about his sister, knowing she was taking the bus alone. Thanks to an app he had installed to track her, he had felt reassured knowing her location.

    Now, seeing her back safely, his worries melted away.

    “I brought some food today, sis,”

    He said and showed a box of fried chicken. He had bought it to cheer her up about her exam results, assuming she might need some comfort food.

    Even though his sister had been studying hard since returning to school, he didn’t think anyone could suddenly become a top student in just a few weeks. That’s why he had spent his own money to buy her a treat.

    Li Yifei smiled, touched, though a bit regretful that she hadn’t had the chance to spend her newly earned 300 yuan.

    But with the long summer break ahead, there would be plenty of time to spend it later.

    She then told her brother about the money she had made today and invited him to join her in doing the same thing.

    Li Yifeng listened to her story with amusement but had to decline, explaining that he had to work. His sister’s face fell a bit in disappointment.

“You could invite Sister Li Ying and Brother Xu Kai instead,” he suggested.

    “That’s true. Xu Kai was the one who came up with the idea of selling the toys in the first place.”

“Brother Xu Kai’s smart.”

“Yes, I agree.”

    “I’m so jealous of you, sis. You left the house for a day and earned more than I do in a week!”

    Hearing his comment, Li Yifei felt a little awkward and unsure of how to respond.

“I’m just kidding,” he laughed.

Li Yifei sighed in relief and joined in the laughter.

    When they arrived home, Grandma Li was already back and busy preparing dinner. Li Yifei hung around the kitchen, helping where she could. Soon, her parents returned.

    The family sat down together for another meal.

“How did the exam results turn out?” Grandma Li asked.

Everyone turned to Li Yifei, waiting to offer their support.

Li Yifei took a deep breath, uncertain of how convincing her answer would sound.

“I…”

The anticipation in the room grew as everyone waited for her to finish.

“I got first place,” she said.

    “Mhm,” Grandma Li responded, but then froze and asked once more, “What did you just say?”

“Yeah, I think I heard the words ‘first place,’” her brother echoed.

    “Yes, I got first place. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true.”

    Li Yifei explained, finally saying a full sentence.

    When she finished, there was a series of clattering chopsticks, and everyone looked at her in disbelief.

“I’ve pinched myself multiple times already. Li Ying and the others can confirm it too.”

“Is it true, sis?” Li Yifeng murmured in amazement.

    “They didn’t make a mistake on your name, did they?” her father asked, not wanting to doubt his daughter, but concerned that there might have been a system error and she might be disappointed later.

“Yeah, exactly.”

“I’ll go check again tomorrow,” her brother volunteered.

    Li Yifei left it up to her family. She understood that it was hard to believe. She herself still found it difficult to accept

    Even though she had long passed this age, she hadn’t expected her mind to still be this sharp.