No Time

This kid wasn't as bad as I thought,

He was not scheming, sly, nor cold in attitude.

Just a kid who wanted to act cool and haughty.

I used to be like that.

Except, I was probably worse.

Everyone called me narcissistic, which is true.

I'm too good, how can I not like myself?

But it's not like I don't have faults, that's why I try to improve myself to become better.

Right now I'm doing great.

I have a stable career, have good friends, and my mental health is returning to full health!

And considering how popular I was at school although being a teacher, school life was fun.

The only problem right now would be my lovely being scratched, but that could be fixed.

Ah.

Also, that brat Xiao Bing.

How could she run away without an explanation...

Fine. She did give one but running away without even trying to make us feel reassured about this relationship was ridiculous.

I hear she's doing well with tutoring, but in her relationship, I've heard nothing.

For heaven's sake, her boyfriend was a criminal!

How could you trust that kind of psychopath?!

In my head, I cursed at her for being stupid but I couldn't voice it out loud.

Haish, my older brothers didn't like us cursing. I felt bad even out of their sight...

And a kid was next to me, I shouldn't teach him bad stuff.

"Lai Ge. You told me not to be dazed but you're doing it."

I gave a quick smile.

"Yes yes, sorry for being a hypocrite."

"...I didn't mean it like that."

"I know, I'll pay attention to you~"

"Lai Ge!" pouted Jing Shao.

"Alright, I won't tease you anymore. Let's go see the results for the snail race. Shame you didn't get to see it, it's quite fun. Hm, maybe we can see it another time."

"When would that be?"

I wasn't busy these days, so...

"What about next weekend?"

"Ok! I mean, yeah, I can make time."

This enthusiastic... I felt a little sad for him.

He was worried about friends, had responsible but busy parents, and because of his luck ability, people were wary or wanted to get close to him.

What a burden on such young shoulders.

Abilities tired people out, especially abilities that couldn't be explained in scientific measurements.

Like, 'how much luck can I control?' type of abilities.

You can't measure luck.

Or maybe you can, I hear the researchers are making something to measure some random abilities' usage.

But right now at least, you can't.

There's luck like finding money on the streets or not getting hurt at all after a crash. They are both situations of good luck. Although finding money does sound good, it's true that if it came to the occasion, people would prefer the latter type of luck.

So I did feel bad for this young child to be used in small situations for some luck.

"Woah, this snail looks small but it's fast!"

I paid close attention to that comment and looked more closely at the "quick" snail.

Congrats to the little fella I guess.

"That's... not a snail! It's a slug!" shouted Jing Shao.

The owner of the "quick snail" looked flustered and quickly scooped up the gastropod.

But he was unfortunately caught by the bouncers and quickly apprehended.

A manager came out from the crowd and thanked Jing Shao.

"Really, I was wondering how he always managed to come in first place. Thank you!"

"It's no problem, just know that slugs are twice as fast as snails, so if anything like this happens again, it may be another slug."

"I sure will! To repay this favor, you can have either have the prize money or the snail goblet."

Jing Shao chose the snail goblet.

It wasn't much of a goblet as the snail shell used for the cup portion wasn't big, but it did look grand.

The kid was happy so everything was good.

From the fervent snail race fans who were mad at the owner of the impostor snail, Shane and Andrei came out.

Andrei was impressed and asked, "How'd you know it was a slug, not a snail?"

"The mucus it left behind looked different. I've spent so much time in the garden at young master Little Blue's mansion, that I can tell them apart! That type of slug is the one that looks like bird poop as the mucus it leaves behind is whitish."

"Impressive, I hope they teach that guy a good lesson. This is a holy place for all animal races!" Shane spat. He sure was mad at that guy.

Jing Shao's eyes widened and he asked, "This wasn't just a snail racing place?"

"No, this place has animal races. But the snail races have been popular lately, and lots of contestants entered, so they've been at it for a week now."

"Ah, I see. No wonder there were even bouncers!"

Haha, it'd be pretty strange to see bouncers at a snail race place.

"The boss here owns the racing venue far away from here. People usually place bets here to watch from the screens if they can't go there," explained Andrei.

"Yeah, fights are bound to happen, so there's a rule that says you can't use abilities in this building. Basically, if you're going to have a fight, get out before you get in one. But some meatheads still don't get it and make trouble. The bouncers here are pretty good ability users, but they have powerful physiques, so they take care of the troublemakers," Shane added in.

We went back to Shane's, grumbling along the way because the rest of the snail races for today was canceled due to the fraud commotion.

"The second season of the matchmaking show is airing tonight I hear," Jing Shao commented.

"The one that's being produced by Di Li Feng?" I asked.

"Yeah, they didn't announce the love interest this time for suspense. If it's not as interesting as your brother, people aren't going to watch it though..." Shane voiced his worries. 

"Why's the show scheduled at such a late time?"

"The broadcasting station was worried about the season's view rating, so they're testing the waters to see if people will be interested even if the first episode is set at such a late time."

"Weird strategy. Then let's help our buddy Di Li Feng increase his view ratings."

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"I didn't expect the love interest to be the movie queen! I'm her fan!" gushed Shane.

"I think it'll be a good season, the contestants are interesting!" agreed Jing Shao.

Andrei was commenting on the official website of the show already and nodded along to the two's praise.

The show was fun, but it was long.

Now it was time to sleep.

Good night to all, may all of us have a peaceful sleep.

And tomorrow would be another fun day.