Chapter 1 – The Glasses
My name is Li Wei, and I'm just an ordinary third-year university student at Jiangcheng University.
At least, that's what everyone believes.
Every morning, I push my round glasses up the bridge of my nose and blend into the crowd of students rushing across the campus. The thick black frames hide half my face, dimming whatever faint sharpness might be in my features. To my classmates, I'm the quiet one who never stands out — the one who scribbles notes furiously in lectures, who helps others solve their statistics homework, and who eats alone in the cafeteria more often than not.
But those who know me a little closer know one more thing: when I take these glasses off, I look like a completely different person.
I don't mean the small changes most people experience when they remove their glasses. No — it's like the glasses suppress something about me. My eyes, my skin, my face. The moment the lenses are gone, I've been told my features sharpen, my jawline shows, my gaze clears like a blade cutting through fog. More than one girl in my high school once stammered when she saw me without them.
But beauty, or handsomeness, doesn't mean much in this world. Not when you're just a poor student from an ordinary family in Jiangcheng.
And especially not when you're dating someone like Zhao Qinghe.
She's the flower of the Business Department, admired by countless male students. Somehow, two years ago, she chose me. To this day, I don't fully understand why. Maybe it was because I helped her with an assignment, maybe because she liked the calmness I always carried, maybe because I was too blind to notice her subtle advances until she confessed directly.
For a while, it felt like a dream. We went to the night markets together, shared hotpot during winter, studied side by side in the library until it closed.
But recently… she's changed.
She stopped replying to my messages right away. She began turning down dates, saying she had group projects or "was too tired." When we did meet, she seemed distracted, her phone lighting up more often than usual.
And today, I finally learned why.
The late afternoon sun dipped behind Jiangcheng's skyline when she called me to the quiet riverside park near campus. I rushed there, heart pounding with both hope and dread. Maybe she just wanted to talk things through. Maybe it was just stress.
But when I arrived, Zhao Qinghe stood under the willow tree, her hands crossed before her. Her lipstick was darker than usual, her hair freshly styled, her perfume stronger. She didn't look like she had come to meet her boyfriend — she looked like she had come to reject one.
"Wei," she said softly, her eyes flickering anywhere but at me.
My heart sank.
She inhaled, then forced the words out.
"I think… we should break up."
The world went quiet. The sound of the river faded. The shouts of children playing in the distance blurred into nothing.
I opened my mouth, but the air caught in my throat. "Why?"
Her lips pressed together. Finally, she said, "We're too different. I've been thinking about my future a lot, and I… I don't see us together in it. You're… nice, you're reliable, but—"
"But?"
Her eyes finally met mine, guilt and hesitation swirling within them. "You're not ambitious enough, Wei. You don't have connections, you don't have resources. My parents expect me to marry someone who can match their standards, someone who can support me… You can't."
The words cut deeper than any knife.
I wanted to argue. To tell her that I studied hard every day, that I dreamed of becoming a researcher, that my quiet determination was my ambition. But I could see it in her expression. None of that mattered. She had already chosen another path, one where I didn't exist.
"…I understand," I whispered, forcing myself to stay calm.
She bit her lip. "I'm sorry."
And then she left. Just like that. Her heels clicked against the pavement as she walked away, each step echoing in my chest like a hammer.
I didn't chase her.
I just stood there under the willow tree until the sky darkened and the first drops of rain began to fall.
By the time I left the park, the drizzle had turned into a downpour. Students rushed past me with umbrellas, couples huddled close under shared covers, but I walked alone. The cold rain soaked through my thin jacket, plastering my hair to my forehead, dripping down my glasses until the world blurred.
I laughed bitterly.
So this was it. Two years of memories, of warmth, of love — washed away in a single evening.
I shoved my hands into my pockets, my shoulders trembling not from the cold, but from the hollowness clawing at my chest. My entire future seemed uncertain, a dark mist with no way forward.
And then, it happened.
Ding!
A clear mechanical sound rang in my head, piercing through the rain and despair.
I froze. "What…?"
A translucent screen flickered into existence before my eyes, floating in midair. My soaked glasses nearly slipped down my nose as I blinked rapidly, but the image didn't vanish.
> [System: Life Moments Activated]
Welcome, Host Li Wei.
System initialized. Current functions: Reward Distribution.
Trigger condition: Major life events.
My heart skipped a beat. A… system? Like in those online novels I used to read late at night?
"Reward… distribution?" I muttered.
The screen glowed brighter.
> First Life Moment Detected: Heartbreak / Betrayal.
Processing reward…
I gasped. "Reward? Wait, wait—"
> Reward Granted: 1,000,000,000 Yuan deposited into host's account.
I staggered under the weight of the words. "One… billion… yuan?"
Impossible. This had to be a dream.
My phone buzzed violently in my pocket. With trembling fingers, I pulled it out and unlocked it. My banking app had a new notification.
Balance: ¥1,000,000,052.68
The numbers glared back at me, cruel and dazzling.
I nearly dropped the phone into a puddle. My breath came in ragged gasps as my mind tried to comprehend the reality before me.
One billion yuan. Enough to change my life forever. Enough to silence Zhao Qinghe's words, her dismissal, her disdain. Enough to—
The system chimed again.
> System note: Further rewards will be given based on future significant life moments. Stay attentive, Host.
The screen faded, leaving me standing alone in the rain with my soaked clothes, my shattered heart… and a bank account heavier than I could have ever imagined.
I tilted my head back and let the rain fall across my face, mixing with the tears I didn't realize I was shedding.
For the first time that day, I smiled.
This… was just the beginning.