Ning Meng was speechless after being choked by the boy.
She always thought that children living in the mountains were isolated from the world, innocent, naive, and, to put it bluntly, easy to fool.
However, this child was like a little fox deep in the mountains, with a pair of shrewd eyes that could see through anything.
Ning Meng took a deep breath, undeterred, and asked him directly, "Can't you... just give me your seat?"
"What did you say?" The boy frowned.
Ning Meng pleaded with him in a humble voice, "Little friend, I know this is a difficult request... but please do me a favor! Besides, you won't lose out, and when we go to Yangcheng, I can take good care of you!"
"Take care of me?" The boy rolled his eyes. "How? By giving me money?"
Ning Meng smiled with satisfaction.
Sure enough, what have the children in the mountains seen? In the end, they still can't get around to money.
"Of course!" she declared confidently. "I'll give you plenty of money, enough for you to live a life of luxury in the city!"
"How much is 'a lot'?"
"that is……"
"Do you have a hundred million?"
Ning Meng was stunned.
The boy gave a mocking smile. "A hundred million shouldn't be a big deal for you rich people, right? Didn't you say you were going to give me a lot of money? You can't even part with a hundred million?"
Ning Meng didn't expect him to say that.
I never imagined there would be such a child deep in the mountains.
One hundred million is indeed not a large sum, but she thought that children like this probably had no concept of money. Their ancestors had toiled in the fields for generations; to have a million would be considered incredibly lucky.
"Sister, what's wrong?" The boy approached her, his tone slightly deliberate. "Didn't you want to switch seats with me? Isn't that seat worth this much?"
"you……"
"If that's the case, then I won't change it!" The boy pouted and looked up at the sky.
“Little friend,” Ning Meng thought for a moment and continued, “I can’t come up with that much money all at once, but I can guarantee that I’ll take the best care of you when we get to Yangcheng! It’s an international metropolis, and the prices and housing costs are something you can’t even imagine living in the mountains! I’ll make sure you live a good life there, which, if you calculate it, is almost equivalent to a hundred million!”
"Are you ever going to stop?" The boy stood up and dusted himself off.
He blocked the sunlight, and Ning Meng looked up at him. In the backlight, he looked like a monster, giving people a strange feeling.
"Sister, what's your last name?"
"Huh?" Ning Meng was caught off guard by the question.
"Is your surname Huo?"
Ning Meng was stunned and speechless.
"Sister, that plane belongs to the Huo family! And that older brother, he's also surnamed Huo!" Now it was the boy's turn to lecture her. "No matter how poor or isolated we are here, we've always heard of the Huo family!"
“I get to ride on the Huo family’s plane once in my life, and it might be the only time I’ll ever do so. Why should I give it to you?”
Ning Meng also stood up, her face flushing red and then pale, and couldn't help but shout, "Didn't I say I could give you money?!"
"Then show some sincerity!" The boy's gaze was icy. "Besides, are you richer than the Huo family?"
"..."
"Small favors? You're kidding me!" the boy scoffed. "I may be naive, but I know that if you're going to make money, make it big!"
After saying that, he kicked down the anthill and strode away. Many ants were buried in the soil, struggling to survive.
Ning Meng was shocked by the child.
She stood in the sun for a while before she came to her senses and realized it was already evening.
The teacher on duty began checking the classroom door locks and then prepared to leave. The principal came out of a slightly nicer little house, saw her at a glance, and greeted her warmly.
"You must be... Teacher Ning? I recognize you. You came with Teacher Pei and the others, and you took a lot of photos of our children!"
Ning Meng's face was pale, and she forced a very unnatural smile.
"Teacher Ning, why did you come at this time?" The people in the mountains are simple and honest. The principal knew that Pei Nian was taking the children to study in Yangcheng, so he regarded everyone who came with her as benefactors and held Ning Meng's hand, thanking her repeatedly.
“If it weren’t for you, these children would never have been able to leave the mountains! I only went to high school, but in our area, high school graduates are already extremely rare… Sigh. Now that these children have this opportunity, it’s truly…”
“Principal!” Ning Meng interrupted her, “I’m here to… to check the student list.”
"oh?"
"I'm leaving soon," she made up an excuse. "Professor Pei asked me to confirm the student list. I... can I check with you?"
The principal believed him, nodded in approval, and then reopened the door to the principal's office.
"The list and photos are all here." She took out a stack of papers. "Teacher Ning, please check them. Don't hesitate to ask if you need any help!"
Ning Meng took it and pretended to look at it, when she suddenly noticed the boy's photo.
"His name is Ding Cheng?"
The principal leaned over to take a look and replied with a smile, "Yes. There aren't many boys here to begin with, and Ding Cheng is quite a special case."
Ning Meng pricked up her ears to listen, "How is it special?"
"He's twelve years old, but because his family is extremely poor, he's underdeveloped and looks only eight or nine. And look at his name—male heir, inheritor, ha...that's the kind of thinking people in the village have, and that's how they name their children."
"Which household does his father belong to?"
“He’s not from our village,” the principal shook his head. “He lives in a neighboring village. See that mountain over there…”
The principal pointed out the window, "We have to cross that mountain and walk a mountain path to get to his house!"
Ning Meng gazed at the gray mountain, and the boy's cold face reappeared before her eyes.
“That village is even poorer. Backward and ignorant.” The principal sighed. “I heard that his father was quite old when he finally bought a wife, and she gave birth to him. He also had an adopted daughter before that… but his father treated her badly, and she ran away later.”
"When that adopted daughter ran away, she was about his age. I wonder how she is now."
"These children are so lucky!" The principal wiped away his tears. "They're so fortunate to have met such kind people like you!"
Ning Meng frowned, and after a moment of silence, asked her, "Why is Ding Cheng here for class?"
The principal explained, "Their village is extremely poor and has no school. Of all the villages in the mountains, ours is the only one with a school."
The principal looked proud when he talked about this.
Although everyone was poor, only this village valued education and pooled the resources of the entire village to build this simple school.
Look, it's finally working! The children can finally go out and will never be trapped in these deep mountains like their ancestors.
Ning Meng had no interest in listening to the principal's rambling. She hurriedly said goodbye and thought a lot on her way back, feeling a strange feeling creeping into her heart.
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