After all his painstaking efforts to plan and finally meet the woman of his dreams, Gu Hongbai hadn’t anticipated being mistaken for a poor student scamming people on the streets.

Now, he found himself in a bit of a predicament.

To keep the truth from her felt dishonest, but if he explained the situation, it might undo the good impression he had just managed to establish with the Chang family elders.

After much deliberation, Gu Hongbai decided to keep the matter under wraps for the time being.

A couple of days later, his dormmates noticed something peculiar. Ever since Gu Hongbai stopped setting up his fortune-telling stall at the base of the mountain, he had taken to foraging in the hills for mushrooms, silver ear fungus, and even rare medicinal herbs like lingzhi.

The others were baffled by this strange behavior. Some suspected that his family might have fallen on hard times. Concerned, they held a private meeting and pooled some silver to help him out.

“This isn’t much, but it should help tide you over for a while,” one of them said, handing over the money. “You’re the top scorer in the recent provincial exam, and with the academy exams coming up, you should focus on your studies. Once you pass the entrance exam for stipend students, you won’t have to worry about money anymore.”