Li Yifei: Reborn Again, Gain Fame and Shine!

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    Chapter 18: Claw Machine Business

    The morning arrived quickly, and Li Yifei woke up early. In her previous life as Tang Yifei, she wasn’t the type to sleep in either. Her grandfather used to say that waking up earlier than others allowed one to experience more of the world, just like how an early-rising bird gets to find food first.

    She once saw a quote online that countered this idea, ‘An early-rising worm will be eaten by the bird, while the late-rising worm survives to become a beautiful butterfly.’

    Naturally, she had brought this up with her grandfather.

    He told her that everyone’s life perspective was different.

    However, he still insisted that waking up early gave her an advantage, like not missing breakfast, which was crucial for health, having more time to exercise, and not rushing when heading out for errands.

    Most importantly, the morning air was always refreshing.

    But for Tang Yifei, the real reason she had gotten up early was to be a good granddaughter to her grandfather. After all, in her life, it had always been just her and her grandfather.

    If he didn’t love her, she wouldn’t have anyone else.

    And eventually, she truly had no one when her grandfather passed away in an accident, leaving her with only his inheritance in a lonely world.

    When it was her time to pass away, fate played a strange trick, and she found herself in Li Yifei’s body.

    It was as if someone in the heavens knew she had always been missing the concept of ‘family.’

    Thanks to her grandfather’s lessons about waking up early, she could now easily fit into this warm family and be looked upon with affection.

    Still, Li Yifei couldn’t compete with her parents when it came to waking up early. They were up even before her, as was Grandma Li. Luckily, Li Yifeng woke up around the same time as she did, making her feel like she had an ally.

    While waiting for the appointed time, the house was now just the two siblings. Li Yifeng spent the time playing an online game with an ancient Chinese theme, battling to find rare items.

    Li Yifei watched him with interest.

    She remembered that she used to play online games as well to kill time. It was fun, though a different game than the one her brother was playing. She watched him closely, but it wasn’t long before his character was killed.

    "Oh no, you died," she remarked.

    "Yeah, I can’t get past this level."

    Li Yifeng replied and turned to open a daily reward chest in the game. Like most games, there were many interesting items showing, but these free daily chests rarely gave out anything valuable.

    To get better items, one usually had to spend money, and he didn’t know how much he had to spend to get them, though there was always a small chance of getting something good in a free spin.

    Well, the game developer also needed money to continue updating the game. Li Yifeng opened the prize drawing interface and glanced over at his sister. Ever since she recovered, her luck seemed to be incredible.

    "Sis, can you try rolling the prize for me?" he asked.

    "Are you sure?"

    Li Yifei hesitated.

    "Yeah, go ahead. I usually just get basic items anyway," he said.

    "Alright then," she agreed.

    Li Yifeng took his hand off the mouse, letting his sister take over. She clicked on the reward box with a focused, yet amusingly tense expression.

    When Li Yifeng turned to look at the screen, he was stunned and exclaimed in disbelief.

    The item Li Yifei won was a grand prize, the "Seven-Colored Radiant Sword of the Abyss," which the game had been heavily advertising.

    No one expected the developers to include it as a reward in the random draw.

    "Is it a good one?" Li Yifei asked.

    "It’s amazing, sis!"

    Li Yifeng responded excitedly. He thought about how this rare item was already being discussed on trading boards. Though he played games to earn items to sell, his skills were only average.

    Which meant he usually earned only common items. Those were also sold by many mid-level players, making it a competition to undercut each other's prices.

    High-tier items, however, required spending money on the game, something he wasn’t willing to do despite seeing forum posts encouraging players with slogans like,

    "You can get rich without spending money."

    But only a few could actually achieve that.

    Certainly not him.

    Now, however, with just one lucky spin from his sister, he had won a top-tier item, and he couldn’t contain his excitement.

    "Good thing I didn’t waste your chance!"

    Li Yifei said with a smile.

    Li Yifeng took the mouse back, intending to sell the item. Money was more important to him, so he went to the trading board and listed the item for auction, taking advantage of the fact that the game hadn’t yet officially released it for sale.

    “It’s almost 10 o’clock.”

    Li Yifei reminded her brother, who was now beaming, likely because of the rare item he’d just got. She wondered if he was showing off his win on the forums.

    "Got it!"

    Her brother replied, then closed the game and shut down the computer. He grabbed his backpack. Both siblings had old bags and clothes.

    Even though Li Yifei had a few new pieces in her wardrobe, she had only recently started working part-time before her accident disrupted everything.

    As for her brother’s clothes, they were all faded in color.

    When they arrived at the bus stop, Xu Kai, Xiumin, and Lu Han were already waiting. Li Yifeng, the youngest of the group, greeted everyone and glanced curiously at the two boys he didn’t know well.

“Today, we’re heading to the claw machine arcade in District B,” Xu Kai announced.

“Why there?” Lu Han asked.

    “That’s because we shouldn’t keep going back to the same place. If we hit up the same arcade in the mall, it might draw unwanted attention,” Xu Kai explained.

Li Yifei agreed—it was a smart and cautious plan.

    They all took the bus to District B, a spot popular with teenagers, though it had a rougher atmosphere compared to the mall.

    Xu Kai exchanged some money for tokens and handed them to Li Yifei.

    Li Yifei took them with her heart racing. She wasn’t sure if her clawing skills from the other day were still up to par.

"Don’t worry about it. If you don’t win anything, at least we had fun," Lu Han said.

"Exactly," Xiumin quickly added to encourage her.

    Li Yifei inserted the coins, pressed the start button, and skillfully maneuvered the claw toward the plush toy she had her eyes on.

    The result: she won the toy.

    One, two, three, four, and five more plush toys followed as she continued, using up all the tokens she had. A small crowd gathered to watch.

"Pretty and talented too," one girl commented.

"Exactly," another agreed.

    “Are you interested in buying these plush toys? I’m selling them for 30 yuan each,” Xu Kai jumped in, turning the situation into a business opportunity.

    “Really?”

    The two girls whispered to each other before deciding, “We’ll take one each.” Xu Kai immediately struck a deal with them.

“Are the other toys for sale too?” a teenage boy asked.

“Yes!” Lu Han responded eagerly.

“How much?”

“30 yuan,” Lu Han replied.

“Okay, I’ll take three.”

    “Anyone else interested? My talented and beautiful friend here can win more for you at the same price,” Xu Kai continued his sales pitch.

“Can I pick a color? I’d like the pink one,” a girl requested.

“I’m not sure,” Li Yifei said hesitantly.

“Just give it a try,” Xu Kai encouraged her.

    Li Yifei tried again, this time aiming for the pink plush toy, and to her surprise, she won it. Even Li Yifeng couldn’t help but quietly exclaim,

    “You’re amazing, sis.”

    The girl who had requested the pink toy squealed with joy, quickly paid, and took her prize. Her friends then chimed in,

    “We want the pink ones too so we can match.”

Li Yifei didn’t expect to succeed again and again, but she did, much to her astonishment.

    By noon, Xu Kai decided it was time to wrap up the business, quickly ushering everyone to the bus stop. They boarded a different bus than usual, one that Li Yifei didn’t recognize.

Once they were seated, Lu Han sighed,

“I don’t think we can come back to District B.”

Li Yifei looked confused.

    “Because, sis, some of the teenage boys there started gambling, betting on whether you’d win every time,” Li Yifeng explained.

    Li Yifei, having been so focused on the claw machine, hadn’t noticed what was happening around her. Hearing this, she was shocked.

“This is a classic case of taking advantage of the situation,” Xu Kai remarked.

“Exactly,” Xiumin agreed.

“If we’d stayed longer, they might have demanded protection money,” Li Yifeng added.

“No doubt about it,” both Lu Han and Xu Kai said in unison.

    Hearing this, Li Yifei realized that even among kids, there were bullies, just like in the movies. Luckily, her group had been alert.

“So, what about this business?” Li Yifei asked.

    “We should stop for now. If those guys figure out where we go next, they’ll likely follow us to the arcade. It’s not safe,” Xu Kai explained reasonably.

“True,” both Xiumin and Lu Han agreed.

    “You two siblings should definitely avoid them. Those boys are dangerous, and if they target anyone, they’ll cause trouble. Best to steer clear,” Xu Kai warned them.

    “Absolutely,” the siblings replied together.

    Li Yifei firmly agreed that she had no desire to stir up trouble.

“But where are we headed now?” Li Yifeng asked, curious.

“That’s a good question,” the remaining two boys echoed.

“We’re getting off near the Han River,” Xu Kai said.

    “How do you know?” Lu Han asked, speaking for the rest of the group, who all looked puzzled.

“The bus stop sign said so.”

    “You’re amazing. From the Han River, there’s a bus route that goes straight back to our neighborhood,” Lu Han remarked.

    “There’s also a food market by the Han River. Let’s grab some lunch there,” Xu Kai suggested.

With a new destination in mind, everyone shifted their focus to thoughts of food.