Although very curious about Wang Bufan's cause of death, Ruan Bei knew that many people have experiences they cannot talk about with others. Just mentioning them would bring up old wounds, and the pain would rise from the heart and linger.
Therefore, no matter how curious Ruan Bei was, he was unwilling to take the initiative to inquire about Wang Bufan's past. Of course, if Wang Bufan wanted to talk about it someday, Ruan Bei was willing to be a listener.
He came to see Wang Bufan for another reason.
These past two days, he's been organizing his study materials at home and found that he has two sets of study outlines alone, and a whole stack of them for several subjects.
One of these two outlines was summarized by Wang Bufan, which he copied when he was reviewing and studying. The other was organized according to his own study habits and progress.
Overall, the one Ruan Bei made was more suitable for him, perfectly matching his grasp of the knowledge points.
Wang Bufan's version was more general and standardized, directly organizing the framework according to the key points and difficulties of the book, and then filling in the details.
The two outlines were used almost throughout Ruan Bei's month-long arduous study, providing him with tremendous help. Now that he has successfully completed his studies, Ruan Bei is reluctant to simply throw them away or put them away.
Especially Wang Bufan's copy, Ruan Bei felt it was really useful. In actual testing, it was very helpful for mastering knowledge points and filling in gaps in knowledge.
"So, I was wondering if you would be willing to share this information with other people."
Ruan Bei explained, "I will put your name on the book. Kun Kun said we can try to contact a publishing house. If it can be published, we will use all the royalties to buy you books. You can have any book you want. It's your hard-earned money, so don't feel embarrassed."
"Of course, I don't know much about publishing, so success is not guaranteed..."
Wang Bufan's face flushed red instantly. Ruan Bei was quite surprised; it was the first time he had ever seen a ghost blush.
No, no need.
Whether from excitement or shyness, Wang Bufan stammered, "No, no, I won't publish it. I just wrote something casually. The ones that get published are all by very accomplished scholars..."
"Don't worry," Ruan Bei said. "We will definitely respect your opinion."
Wang Bufan calmed himself down before slowly saying, "If you think it's useful, or if anyone wants it, just let them use it. You don't need to pay me. I didn't do anything."
Ruan Bei disagreed with his statement: "You underestimate yourself too much. Putting aside everything else, just look at me. This information has been extremely helpful to me."
His eyes lit up slightly: "I'm very happy to be able to help you, Xiao Bei, you are a very, very good person."
Even his compliments were so down-to-earth that Ruan Bei couldn't help but smile: "Senior, you're such a nice person too. Thank you for tutoring me. I'm so happy to have met you."
"R-really?" Wang Bufan gave a shy yet excited smile. "Then, are we friends?"
“Of course!” Ruan Bei exclaimed loudly, “I thought we already were.”
Wang Bufan's smile grew even brighter. He stood there for a while, his fingers gripping his sleeve, as if he suddenly became a little anxious.
Ruan Bei asked curiously, "Senior, what's wrong?"
Wang Bufan said dejectedly, "I don't know what I can do for you, you've already finished the college entrance exam..."
Ruan Bei was slightly surprised: "Senior, why would you think that? You've already helped me enough."
Wang Bufan lowered his head: "We are friends, I want to help you."
Ruan Bei remained silent for a while. He felt that Wang Bufan's thinking was a bit unhealthy, and he seemed to be really bad at socializing.
This kind of selfless personality makes one too vulnerable to being taken advantage of in interpersonal relationships.
"Senior, friends are people who share the same ideals. No one requires that you make friends with people who can help you. If you look for friends with the intention of seeking help, then you are not being pure."
Wang Bufan looked confused: "Is that so?"
Ruan Bei affirmed, "Yes."
Wang Bufan lowered his head dejectedly: "I'm sorry, I didn't have many friends or much experience before."
"No need to apologize to me. Friends should be tolerant of each other. This is just a small matter, we can laugh it off." Ruan Bei now suspects that Wang Bufan might have been bullied or isolated, which might have driven him to jump off the building.
But he felt that people who have something to rely on in their hearts will not feel lonely just because they don't have friends. Wang Bufan was the kind of person who could read a math book forever without getting bored.
After chatting with Wang Bufan for a few more minutes, Ruan Bei said goodbye and left.
With his homeroom teacher's permission, Ruan Bei stopped going to school. After the other high school students who were taking the college entrance exam returned to school, Ruan Bei did not go back. Gradually, news spread that he had also taken the college entrance exam.
Gossip king Dong Yangyang certainly wouldn't miss this news. He couldn't wait until school was over and secretly messaged Ruan Bei to confirm.
Since the predicted results were quite good, Ruan Bei didn't hide it from Dong Yangyang and told her frankly that he had indeed taken the college entrance examination.
So over the weekend, Dong Yangyang went straight to Ruan Bei's house, ate two of his red bean popsicles, and while envying Ruan Bei's happy summer vacation, she lamented that she still had a year of miserable high school life ahead of her.
Finally, I can't help but ask if you have any learning experience to share.
Ruan Bei sat cross-legged on a recliner, adopting the air of a mysterious and unfathomable master: "I have a secret manual."
Dong Yangyang immediately knelt on one knee, clasped her hands in a fist and said, "Please teach me the kung fu, Master."
Qin Gu bit the red bean popsicle into pieces, rushed over, grabbed Dong Yangyang by the collar, and pulled him up: "Sit still!"
Dong Yangyang was confused and shrank back in fear at Qin Gu's dark face.
Ruan Bei turned his head away, suppressing a laugh, and spread his hands towards Dong Yangyang.
Dong Yangyang: "...What do you mean?"
Ruan Bei said lazily, "I'll sell the manual on your behalf, and I'll pay you."
Although Wang Bufan said he didn't want money, Ruan Bei thought that free things are often not cherished or valued, and Wang Bufan simply didn't realize his own worth.
He used all that money to buy books for Wang Bufan, whatever he wanted to read, without having to ask him for money out of embarrassment.
Dong Yangyang immediately reached into her pocket and pulled out a few crumpled bills: "This is all I have, is it enough?"
"Aren't you going to inspect the goods first?" Ruan Beiqi asked.
Dong Yangyang stuffed the money into Ruan Bei's hand and said nonchalantly, "Hey, we're like family, you wouldn't cheat me out of this little bit of money."
Wow, Dong Yangyang's emotional intelligence is miles ahead of Wang Bufan's.
But thinking about Dong Yangyang's grades again, Ruan Bei felt that God was fair.
Dong Yangyang was really poor. He gave Ruan Bei a wad of cash, including two 50-cent coins, which was less than 20 yuan.
Ruan Bei went in and brought out four outlines, one for math and one for science subjects. He had arranged with Wang Bufan to make copies of them.
"Twenty yuan a serving, but I'll give you a discount. You can choose one." For his first business deal, Ruan Bei even gave Dong Yangyang a discount of a few yuan.
Dong Yangyang was terrible at physics, so the first thing she picked up was the physics textbook. After flipping through a couple of pages, her eyes lit up: "Wow, this is useful!"
This framework is so clear. Even someone as clueless as him can connect the fragmented knowledge he had learned before by following the main framework.
"Can I look at the others?" Dong Yangyang held onto the one she was reluctant to let go of, and then eyed the other ones.
"Okay." Ruan Bei handed it over, and Dong Yangyang looked through it all, then hugged it tightly and wouldn't let go: "I want them all, you wait, I'll go back and get the money!"
“No rush, you can give it to me anytime,” Ruan Bei said.
Dong Yangyang trusted him, so he wasn't worried that Dong Yangyang would renege on the debt of a few dozen yuan.
Dong Yangyang was overjoyed, flipping through the pages repeatedly: "This is so clear! No wonder you called it a secret manual. Hey? Isn't this your handwriting? Did you organize it yourself?"
"You can't just say that," Ruan Bei jumped up, flipped to the first page, and pointed it out to Dong Yangyang: "Didn't you see the big characters? Wang Bufan! This was written by Wang Bufan, not me."
"The name sounds familiar? I feel like I've heard it somewhere before," Dong Yangyang said, trying to remember.
Ruan Bei was taken aback, and quickly explained, "It's from our senior classmate. He compiled this information, and I copied it to sell on his behalf."
"Oh, it's a senior! No wonder, he must be a top student." Dong Yangyang stopped worrying and excitedly left with the outline she had just received.
Two days later, when Ruan's mother came back, she gave Ruan Bei 100 yuan, saying it was from Dong Yangyang's mother. She also said she wanted to thank Ruan Bei because the materials he gave Dong Yangyang were very useful, and Dong Yangyang was now much more motivated to study, saying that she could concentrate and understand the material better.
In the end, they charged him several tens of yuan more. Ruan Bei was both amused and annoyed. He asked his former tutor and used the money from selling the outlines to buy several math books for Wang Bufan to burn.
When you go to see him again, tell him that he earned the money himself. Although Wang Bufan didn't say it explicitly, the smile on his face didn't lie.
Ruan Bei relayed Dong Yangyang's string of compliments, making Wang Bufan even more embarrassed. He blushed and said, "Actually, all of this was taught to me by my teacher. He's the real genius. I used to struggle with learning and my grades weren't good either."
Ruan Bei was incredibly surprised. Wang Bufan actually had times when he couldn't concentrate on his studies?!
Even after he became a ghost, he was still thinking about doing practice problems, yet there were times when he couldn't concentrate on studying!
Ruan Bei's surprise was too obvious, so Wang Bufan hurriedly said, "I'm telling the truth. I used to be... really bad. Luckily, I met my teacher. He helped me a lot and taught me a lot, but unfortunately..."
In the end, Wang Bufan's mood visibly somber: "It's a pity I wasn't a good student; I ruined him."
He lowered his head, his eyes were red, and he was extremely frustrated.
Ruan Bei was unaware of what had happened and didn't know how to offer any advice. In the end, he could only tentatively say, "Maybe things aren't as bad as you think..."
Wang Bufan shook his head and said sullenly, "Qin told you, right? I committed suicide, which implicated the teacher, and he resigned. He was clearly a very good teacher, especially good at teaching students. I was very grateful to him, but in the end, I still harmed him."
"I was cowardly and selfish, and I failed my teacher's teachings. He must regret having a student like me..."
His entire ghost body was shrouded in a layer of gray-black aura, which made Wang Bufan, who was enveloped in it, look even more sinister and ghostly.
Ruan Bei was scared, but she still mustered up her courage and said, "No, it's not what you said. I think you are really excellent, and your teacher will be proud of you."
Wang Bufan was stunned for a moment, then hope ignited in his eyes: "Really?"
"real."
Ruan Bei nodded vigorously, thought for a moment, and added, "No matter what others think, I think you are very outstanding and amazing. Think about it, you have only tutored me for a little over a month, and I have done so well on the exam. If you are not outstanding, who is?"
Wang Bufan pursed his lips, finally managing a slight smile.
After laughing, he stared intently at the empty playground. After the seniors left, even the school seemed a bit quieter.
"I...I have something I'd like to ask you." After thinking for a long time, Wang Bufan finally made up his mind.
"What is it? Just tell me," Ruan Bei said, practically patting his chest in assurance.
"I'd like you to visit my teacher and tell him thank you, and... I'm sorry for me."
“Okay, no problem.” Ruan Bei thought that if this was Wang Bufan’s problem, he was willing to help him.
It was already too late when they said goodbye to Wang Bufan that day, so the next morning, Ruan Bei and Qin Gu went to Teacher Wang Bufan's house together.
Wang Bufan's teacher's surname is Li and his given name is Cunzhou. When Wang Bufan talks about Teacher Li, he becomes very talkative, showing none of his previous taciturnity.
He said that Teacher Li was once a mathematician, very knowledgeable, and later, when he got older, he returned to his hometown to teach at a high school, where he became a very good teacher.
He said that Teacher Li was kind and open-minded, and treated his students very well, regardless of whether they were smart or not, good or bad at studying.
He did sound like a very good teacher. Ruan Bei and Qin Gu went to the address given by Wang Bufan. It was an old residential area with old-style tenement buildings and the stairwells were full of clutter.
An old man who was cooling off downstairs glanced at the fruit Qin Gu was carrying and said before they could ask, "Looking for Teacher Li? He's not home, he went to buy groceries. He'll be back in a bit."
Ruan Bei asked with a smile, "Grandpa, how did you know we were looking for Teacher Li?"
The old man fanned himself with a palm leaf fan and said smugly, "What's so hard to tell? Every year, young people like you come to see Old Li. It's just that you've come a little early this year."
The old man said, "Being a teacher is great! Look at Old Li, he may be poor, but his students remember him. It's an honor!"
Ruan Bei thought that it must be a respected teacher, like Teacher Li, or his previous English teacher. Anyway, he had never heard of any student taking the initiative to visit her.
After chatting with the old man for a few minutes, he pointed behind him with his palm-leaf fan and said, "Look, Old Li is back."
Before Ruan Bei could speak, he called out loudly, "Old Li, another one of your students has come to see you!"
Ruan Bei turned his head and saw a somewhat thin old man, about sixty years old. When he saw Ruan Bei and Qin Gu, he put on a gentle smile and seemed to have a very good temper.
Teacher Li greeted the old man and then led Ruan Bei and Qin Gu upstairs. He lived on the third floor, and the stairwell was very dark. Ruan Bei saw a motion-activated light, stomped his foot, but it didn't turn on.
Teacher Li said, "The light is broken. I remember I need to buy a light bulb, but I forgot. Please walk slowly and watch your step."
These old residential areas don't have property management; it all depends on the residents' self-discipline. If a light on the second floor is broken, it's the second-floor resident's responsibility to replace it. If they drag their feet and don't replace it, there's nothing that can be done.
Upon reaching the third floor, Teacher Li opened the door and led them in. While inviting them to sit down, she poured them tea and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I'm getting old and can't remember your names."
"No need, no need." Ruan Bei touched his nose, introduced himself to Qin Gu, and then said, "Teacher Li, we have never attended your class. We are here today on someone's behalf."
"Entrusted by someone?" Teacher Li laughed: "I knew it! How could I not remember two such handsome boys? Did you really think you were getting old and your memory was failing? Who entrusted you with this task?"
Ruan Bei hesitated for a moment, then said directly, "It's Senior Wang Bufan. I don't know if you remember him. He was the top scorer in the college entrance examination five years ago..."
Teacher Li was stunned, then suddenly stood up: "I remember, I remember that child. How do you know him? What...what did he ask you for?"
Seeing that Teacher Li didn't have any of the negative emotions Wang Bufan had mentioned, Ruan Bei said generously, "Senior Wang asked me to come and see you, to say thank you, and also to say sorry."
Teacher Li stood frozen in place, her eyes suddenly reddening. She slumped into a chair, covering her face, and cried out, "This child... this silly child, why is he apologizing to me? It's me who should be apologizing to him..."
The gentle old man patted his chest, tears streaming down his face: "I'm a teacher, and I couldn't protect my students. I'm so ashamed!"
Ruan Bei and Qin Gu were startled, looked at each other, and didn't know what to do.
Teacher Li is getting old, and her body can't take it if she cries too much. Ruan Bei gently comforted her, "Teacher Li, Senior Wang cares about you a lot and definitely doesn't want you to be sad for him. Don't be sad, it will hurt your health."
Teacher Li was startled: "By the way, how did you see him? Wasn't Bufan already..."
Before coming, Ruan Bei asked Wang Bufan if he wanted to reveal his current situation. Wang Bufan hesitated for a long time before finally saying that if the teacher asked, he would tell him; if not, then he would leave it at that.
When Teacher Li asked, Ruan Bei told the truth: "You may not believe it, but Senior Wang has become a ghost, and I... happen to be able to see ghosts."
Teacher Li: "..."
Ruan Bei asked cautiously, "You don't believe me?"
Teacher Li smiled wryly: "I believe you."
He had studied mathematics his whole life and never believed in ghosts or gods. Now, he was willing to believe that what the child in front of him said was true, that his student Wang Bufan had not really left this world.
Ruan Bei thought for a moment and suggested, "How about this, I'll go back and ask Senior Wang. If he's willing, you two can meet and talk it out in person, okay? Actually, he feels very guilty and thinks he's let you down. I think this seems to be a knot in his heart."
Teacher Li opened her eyes wide in surprise and stammered, "Okay, okay, if it's alright, I'll trouble you, little student."
"It's no trouble at all." Ruan Bei smiled and said, "You don't know, Senior Wang helped me a lot. I did very well on the college entrance exam this year, thanks to Senior Wang tutoring me. He said it was all because of you who taught him."
Teacher Li smiled and said, "It's because he's smart; you're all good children."
The two chatted for a while longer. Teacher Li asked about Wang Bufan's situation and was very happy to hear that he was still studying.
Before leaving, Teacher Li seemed worried that Wang Bufan would not want to see him, so he said to Ruan Bei, "Could you please pass on a message to Bufan for me? Tell him it's not his fault, but that I'm sorry. He's good at finance, and he's contributing to the country. I didn't think things through and led him astray."
Once outside, Ruan Bei looked up and said to Qin Gu, "Let's change this light bulb."
Qin Gu nodded: "Okay."
They bought a light bulb, borrowed a ladder from an old man cooling off downstairs, knocked on the second-floor door to ask him to turn off the power, and then replaced the light bulb.
The residents on the second floor were unwilling to change the light bulb themselves, but they were happy to do so because someone else was offering to pay for it and do the work. They cooperated by cutting off the power so that Ruan Bei could change the light bulb.
When they came out, it was still early, so Ruan Bei went to the school to find Wang Bufan and tell him that Teacher Li wanted to see him.
Wang Bufan was always afraid of Qin Gu, so Ruan Bei told him to go back first.
Upon arriving at the school and finding Wang Bufan, Ruan Bei recounted the entire story of their meeting that day, under Wang Bufan's expectant gaze.
Wang Bufan covered his face and let out a soft sob. Ruan Bei knew he was crying.
Ruan Bei quietly stayed by his side, watching Wang Bufan, who had no more tears left, weep silently. His pain was long and piercing, and even as a ghost, he could not find peace.
Wang Bufan cried for a long time before finally stopping, sobbing, "Xiao Bei, you are my only friend, I..."
Ruan Bei said, "Tell me what you want to say, anything you want to say. I promise I won't tell anyone, not even Kun Kun."
Wang Bufan had never had any friends or anyone to confide in. He knew how painful that was, carrying too much on his shoulders, and even breathing felt exhausting.
Wang Bufan remained silent for a long while, his eyes glazed over, and murmured, "Where to begin? After I became a ghost, it seems like my memories from a long time ago are all clear now, so let's start from the beginning..."
"I didn't have this name before..."
Before Wang Bufan was three years old, he had an ordinary name: Wang Tao.
He came from an ordinary family, with ordinary parents and an ordinary family background. Everything about him was ordinary, just like any other ordinary child.
His parents were not well-educated and ran a fish stall in the market. They worked hard from dawn till dusk, their bodies covered in the smell of fish, to earn a meager living.
Although the fish stall was small, it was busy. They had to sell fish, weigh fish, kill fish, and collect money. Mr. Wang couldn't handle it all by himself, so Mrs. Wang was tied to the fish stall to help. Little Wang Tao had no one to take care of him, so his parents took him and left him next to the fish stall.
At the age of three, Wang Tao started kindergarten and learned numbers from his literacy book. Every day, he listened to his parents doing the accounting for selling fish, and his little brain worked at lightning speed.
He likes numbers, he likes arithmetic, which is fun and easy for Xiao Wangtao.
One day, Wang's mother was not home, and his father was selling fish. As usual, Wang Tao calculated the price first, but his father's calculation was different.
Wang Tao whispered to his father that he had miscalculated, but his father angrily replied, "Get out of the way, don't delay things!"
The guests found it very interesting and urged Mr. Wang, "Please calculate it again. I think the child calculated it correctly."
Mr. Wang glared at Wang Tao, then calculated it again, and realized that he had indeed made a mistake.
The guest exclaimed, "Your child is truly remarkable; he might just be a genius!"
Mr. Wang kept this in mind. After the guests left, he gave Wang Tao a few more addition and subtraction problems to solve. He found that his three-year-old son could do mental arithmetic faster than he could with a calculator.
Mr. Wang was both surprised and delighted. He immediately told his wife, and the couple were overjoyed. They had originally planned to have Wang Tao's IQ tested, but when they heard that it would cost money, they changed their minds.
However, from then on, Wang Tao became the human calculator for his family's fish stall. Wang's father would proudly have his son help him calculate the accounts and collect money at the fish stall.
There's no need to send his son to kindergarten anymore. His son is a genius, what can kindergarten teachers teach? It's a waste of money, the tuition is ridiculously expensive.
Wang Tao became a famous child prodigy in the market, and many people came to his stall to buy fish. With the business booming, Wang's parents were overjoyed every day.
They thought that the name Wang Tao was too ordinary and not worthy of their genius son, so they changed his name while he was still young. Wang Tao became Wang Bufan.
Wang Bufan was not happy at all.
He only likes arithmetic and doesn't like having a lot of people around him, doing the same calculations of a few cents or dollars every day, which isn't interesting anymore.
Many adults would touch his head and pinch his face, which made him feel very uncomfortable. Once, he was even scratched by an aunt's fingernail.
He told his parents that he didn't want to stay at the fish stall and wanted to go to school, and his father scolded him.
Mr. Wang said, “I work hard to earn money to support you, and you won’t even do a simple accounting. What can you do? I’ve done all the hard work, and you’re just sitting here collecting money and you’re not happy. You unfilial brat.”
Wang Bufan, four years old, works at his family's fish stall to earn money to support himself; otherwise, he would be considered unfilial.
He became increasingly quiet, and aside from calculating accounts and quoting prices, he would barely say a few words a day.
Mr. and Mrs. Wang didn't pay any attention; they were absorbed in the good business of their fish stall.
Because business improved and he made more money, Mr. Wang expanded his business, rented an additional stall, and bought more fish to sell.
With Wang Bufan handling the accounts, Wang's mother was no longer willing to come to the fish stall. She had never liked being covered in the smell of fish, so she came less and less often. She usually stayed at home doing laundry, cooking, and housework, and occasionally helped out when buying supplies.
Unfortunately, people eventually got used to seeing children doing accounts, and as Wang Bufan grew older, he became less of a novelty, so fewer and fewer people paid attention to him.
Wang Bufan breathed a sigh of relief, but his father was furious. He wished he could send his son out to hawk his wares and attract customers, but now he realized he had given birth to a quiet, unassuming son.
Wang Bufan was eight years old. His father forgot to take him to school. It was the vegetable vendor next door who reminded him, saying, "Your child should be starting elementary school by now."
Only then did Mr. Wang remember that his son had reached the age to start elementary school.
The vegetable stall owner mocked him: "You're such a careless father, you don't even care about your child's schooling."
Mr. Wang retorted, "It's just elementary school, isn't it? My son is a genius. What can he learn in elementary school? It's okay if he's a couple of years late."
Despite saying that, being watched every day was still uncomfortable, so Wang's father sent Wang Bufan to primary school.
Before sending him to school, Wang's father told him, "You have to make me proud. Get used to it for a semester, get first place, and then we'll skip a grade."
Wang Bufan didn't get first place. Not only did he not get first place, he didn't even make the top ten. He even got the lowest score in Chinese.
He joined the class as a transfer student. When classes started, it was already the second semester of first grade. He didn't know the pinyin the teacher taught, so he couldn't read or recognize it, and he couldn't open his mouth to read it.
He's good at math and can do mental arithmetic, but first-grade math is too simple. He can't do single-digit addition and subtraction with mental arithmetic, which he can do clearly with a few cents, so he can't differentiate his scores.
Wang Bufan took the test paper home. He was fine with the math test, but when he got to the Chinese test, his father's face turned red with anger, and he slapped Wang Bufan, knocking out one of his baby teeth.
“It’s a front tooth here. Actually, I was losing my baby teeth at the time, and it was about to fall out,” Wang Bufan said to Ruan Bei, pointing to the permanent tooth that had already grown in.
He was relatively relaxed. These memories, which were so distant, might evoke feelings of regret or resentment when brought up again, but they didn't seem to stir up much sorrow in him.
Ruan Bei was heartbroken. He already knew that Wang Bufan's misfortune stemmed from his family background.
He was a true genius, but also a genius whose life was ruined by his own parents.
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