My Demon Friends-Chapter 491 - 472

"How much do you want to borrow?"

"Ah?"

Little Cousin was taken aback, thrown off balance. She then began to panic, her hands wringing tightly in front of her.

"Two, two hundred?"

After she spoke, she quietly sized up Zhou Li. She was afraid he would act like Qian Qian; she worried that after hearing her out, he would, without a word, turn his head and spit out the candy he’d just put in his mouth.

"WeChat or Alipay?"

"Ah?"

"I’m asking if you prefer WeChat or Alipay," Zhou Li repeated.

Little Cousin hesitated for a brief moment then, mustering her courage, she ventured tentatively, "Actually, Cousin, you heard wrong... I said four hundred."

"Oh, WeChat or Alipay?"

"?"

"What’s the matter?"

Little Cousin quietly sized up Zhou Li and, throwing caution to the wind, ventured, "Six... six hundred?"

"How much do you really need?" Zhou Li asked helplessly.

"Cousin, have a candy!!"

Fearing that her cousin was losing patience with her, Little Cousin hurriedly fished out another candy from her pocket, peeled it for him, and offered it to his mouth.

Now Zhou Li had two candies in his mouth. They clicked against each other, making a soft CLACK, CLACK sound. He looked resignedly at Little Cousin, who stood before him with her head bowed as if awaiting judgment. "How much did you spend on Double Eleven?"

Little Cousin hung her head in silence, racking her brain for a plan, when an image of two foot-picking adorable girls flashed through her mind.

"SOB... SOB SOB SOB?"

"?" Zhou Li was taken aback. "What are you doing?"

"N-nothing." Little Cousin quickly dropped the act, realizing it was ineffective. So she fell silent again, her eyes darting elsewhere.

"Are you borrowing money for food or other expenses?" Zhou Li asked.

"Two hundred for the cafeteria can last a month; six hundred can last three months," Little Cousin calculated, then emboldened herself, "I’ll pay you back soon! I’m selling postcards and taking pictures now, and with the work-study program in the cafeteria, I can make a thousand a month. It won’t take long for me to pay you back!"

"I see..."

Zhou Li was skeptical of her words. She might just deposit two hundred into her cafeteria account, survive on steamed buns and hot water each day, find other ways to get some nutrition, and save the rest of the money for a camera lens.

But he didn’t mind; after all, it was just a few hundred yuan, and borrowing from him was better than her using Huabei credit or getting an IOU.

So, after a moment of hesitation, Zhou Li proposed, "How about this: I’ll give you a thousand. You can pay me back slowly, no need to rush. But the extra few hundred must be deposited into your cafeteria account. And you need to eat better regularly; don’t just live on steamed buns every day."

"One thousand!!"

Little Cousin’s eyes widened in an instant.

At that moment, only two thoughts flashed through her mind—

How is he so rich?

Why didn’t I ask for more in the first place?

"What’s the matter?"

Zhou Li observed her expression. "How much more would you like? Don’t ask for too much; I can agree, to prevent you from resorting to other means."

"No... no more!"

"Is that enough?"

"Enough, enough!"

She was afraid of borrowing more than she could repay.

And being heavily in debt can be very stressful.

But then a sadder thought occurred to her: They’re both sophomores and even cousins; why could he so easily lend an amount she wouldn’t even dare to owe? Was there really such a big difference between people?

"WeChat or Alipay?"

"Alipay."

"I’ve transferred it to you."

"Thank you, Cousin!" Little Cousin bowed at a 90-degree angle sincerely and said, "Please teach me how to make money!"

"You can’t do it."

"Sorry to bother you."

Baozi had already greatly exceeded her objective, but she still didn’t leave. Instead, she stood by Zhou Li’s side, quietly observing the group, trying to figure out the key to wealth.

The excavator was still transporting sand. The half-grown golden chinchilla cat had transformed into a little monster, disrupting the construction.

Huh?

And where did this cute little cat come from?

A helicopter whirred overhead.

Baozi looked up, then down again at Huai Xu.

The girl next to him looked familiar, as if she had seen her once last year; she even managed to scrounge a hotpot meal—that hotpot was so delicious... But wasn’t she visually impaired?

How could she still play with a remote-control helicopter?

And fly it so close to the ground!

Baozi furrowed her brow, deep in thought.

Putting all these strange occurrences together, it was like solving a math problem. She plugged in the variables, unraveled the puzzle step by step, and cleared away the fog layer by layer until, finally, the hidden truth became clear to her.

"Cousin, are you all smuggling little kittens?"

"Please, keep your distance from me."

"Alright."

Little Cousin took a few steps back but felt it would look too heartless to head back to the dorm immediately after borrowing money.

She had a conscience.

「Half past ten, classroom.」

From the lectern, the female teacher’s voice came: "GA, gibberellin, is a very important plant hormone. If you specialize in botany, you’ll definitely use it frequently. Even if you change careers, perhaps one day you’ll feel like picking up your professional skills again to show off to your wife and kids. Or, if you can’t make it in society and have to go back to farming—planting some flowers, grass, corn, or walnuts—you might need it then too.

"It has four main effects.

"First, it promotes stem growth and cell division. Its most notable feature is making the entire plant grow taller. You just need to remember the principle: it shortens the cell division interphase and promotes DNA replication. So, if you want a plant to grow tall quickly, you don’t need to resort to ’killing the shoots by pulling them’—you can use gibberellin appropriately.

"The mechanism is detailed below. Everyone, highlight the key points... Huh? Not many of you are moving? Alright, I’ll definitely test this on the final exam."