Chapter 39 Panpan is a Little Rich
Chapter 39
There happened to be a laundry shop at the fork in the road in front of the residential area. After dinner, Shen Yanzhou and Yu Pan took their bags of clothes and strolled over there at a leisurely pace.
Before leaving, Yu Pan specifically took out his small purse, intending to pay for it himself.
"What if it's not enough?" Shen Yanzhou asked.
Yu Pan's eyes widened, her tone tinged with pride, "How could it not be enough! I have plenty of money inside!"
"So our Panpan is actually quite wealthy." Shen Yanzhou smiled, put his arm around his shoulder, and they went out together.
When we arrived at the dry cleaner, the experienced dry cleaner took the garment, examined the ink stain carefully, and felt the fabric. He then said with certainty, "It can be washed off, but the ink stain has penetrated deeply, and it's a good quality fabric. It's impossible for it to be exactly as soft as it was before after washing."
Yu Pan only took in the three most crucial words – “can be washed off” – and immediately nodded: “As long as it can be washed off!”
The price is based on the fabric and the difficulty of cleaning the clothes. The experienced cleaner quoted a price: "Two pieces together, thirty yuan."
Yu Pan breathed a sigh of relief and happily took out his money from his purse. He had thought it would be expensive, so he had taken out all his spare change, but it was only thirty.
Cleaning ink stains takes time, and there were many clothes hanging in the shop waiting to be washed. The experienced cleaner gave them a receipt and told them to come back in half a month to pick them up. He would call them if the clothes were washed earlier.
At least her classmate wouldn't have to pay for her clothes anymore. Half a month is fine, she thought. Yu Pan put away the receipts and happily went home with Shen Yanzhou.
The next day, as soon as Yu Pan arrived at school, she couldn't wait to tell Zheng Xinghao the good news and even showed him the laundry receipt.
Zheng Xinghao breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that his clothes could be cleaned, but when he heard that the cleaning fee was thirty yuan, he looked troubled and stammered, "Well... I'll pay you after you get your clothes back and make sure they're clean?"
“Okay.” Yu Pan nodded, not really caring. In his opinion, the matter was already resolved satisfactorily.
…
Their class has physical education classes during the last period on Tuesday mornings and the last period on Thursday afternoons.
Yu Pan preferred the Tuesday morning class because it was also a PE class for Xu Rui's class, so he could talk to Xu Rui and discuss the differences in their learning progress.
Thanks to Shen Yanzhou's two-week math tutoring before the start of the semester, Yu Pan has finally been able to keep up with the rest of the class in math this semester.
At least there won't be a situation where Yu Pan completely forgets a formula that the teacher just explained in the previous class, ten minutes later, when the class resumes.
Yu Pan felt a bit lonely during Thursday afternoon's PE class. Tan Bai's class had the seventh period, while theirs had the eighth, so their periods were just staggered.
Since Yu Pan couldn't go to the classroom during free time in physical education class, she was always alone.
"Yu Pan, let's go play ping pong together?" Zheng Xinghao asked.
Yu Pan shook his head with some difficulty. He really didn't like running and jumping sports. For him, playing ping-pong was not as interesting as finding a corner to squat in and watch ants.
"Come on, have some fun. You're always alone, it must be so boring. Lots of classmates want to be your friends, but you don't talk much." Zheng Xinghao smiled and reached out to push him from behind, leading him towards the ping-pong table.
Yu Pan disliked this kind of physical contact, so she turned away and frowned, saying, "I don't want to play, don't push me."
Zheng Xinghao's smile froze for a moment, then he laughed again, his tone exaggerated: "So you really don't like it? I thought you were just shy!"
Who would joke about this? Yu Pan muttered to herself, then stopped talking, wrapped her coat tighter, and went to squat under a big tree.
Zheng Xinghao followed him over and squatted down next to him. "What are you doing here? I'll keep you company."
Yu Pan picked up a twig from the ground and scribbled on it, saying, "I just want to be by myself for a while."
“Oh,” Zheng Xinghao picked up a twig and rubbed it a few times to draw a few neat little squares on the ground. “Then let’s play Gomoku. It’s so boring just squatting here.”
"Gomoku?" Yu Pan looked at the squares curiously. "What is this?"
“It’s very simple. Look,” Zheng Xinghao drew a few 'X's and 'O's in the grid. “Like this, take turns drawing them. Whoever makes five in a row first, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, wins. Want to give it a try?”
The rules were indeed simple, and Yu Pan figured it out after losing two rounds. He wasn't unintelligent to begin with, but he wasn't good at numerical attacks, so he picked up games that required some strategic thinking much much faster.
By thinking three steps ahead for every one step he takes, Zheng Xinghao gradually found it difficult to beat him. After a class, no matter who went first, Yu Pan basically won.
As get out of class was about to end, the PE teacher blew a whistle to gather everyone on the playground. Yu Pan threw down the tree branch she was holding, thinking that she would play this with Shen Yanzhou when she got home that night.
Because of this game, Yu Pan's opinion of Zheng Xinghao improved considerably.
Zheng Xinghao also noticed that Yu Pan liked playing this game. After that, during breaks between classes, he would touch Yu Pan's back and pull him to draw grids on the ground or on scrap paper to play a couple of rounds. Later, he even invited a few friends from the class to join him for a friendly match.
Two of them, who were enthusiastic and outgoing, played a few rounds with Yu Pan and became quite close friends with him.
…
Yu Pan had just returned home that day when she saw that Aunt Zhou was still there, tidying up in the kitchen.
"Panpan's back?" Aunt Zhou came out wiping her hands. "I just got a call from the laundry shop. They said Mr. Chen's clothes are ready and he can pick them up now."
"You're all washed?" Yu Pan was pleasantly surprised. She calculated the time; it was only the ninth day, much faster than expected. "Okay, thank you, Aunt Zhou. I'll tell my brother later."
After Aunt Zhou left, Yu Pan put down her schoolbag and sighed silently.
Recently, for some reason, he seems to have suddenly become popular in class. People often come up to talk to him and ask him all sorts of questions.
Even though he had already given up and wasn't responding, those people didn't seem to care much, and he could chatter on and on happily by himself.
Someone named Yu Pan thought he was crazy. He said, "I always see you all alone. Let me be your friend."
Just as she felt sorry for him, Yu Pan got angry and said no after hearing this.
That night before going to bed, Yu Pan crawled into bed, rolled over to Chen Yanzhou's side, buried her face in his shoulder, and sullenly told him about her troubles at school.
Upon hearing this, Shen Yanzhou patted him on the back, "So our Panpan is this popular at school?"
Yu Pan shook her head in his arms: "I don't want this kind of popularity, it feels so fake... Ten words from them are not as good as me and Xu Ruian standing quietly in the corridor looking at the scenery."
However, after thinking for a moment, he added, "If I really had to choose one of those people as a friend... it would probably still be Zheng Xinghao."
"Oh? Why him?" Shen Yanzhou asked with interest, his fingers idly twirling Yu Pan's hair.
“Maybe it was because of the ink incident that he felt embarrassed. Later, he was quite patient in teaching me how to play Gomoku…” Yu Pan tried to analyze her feelings. “Anyway, among all those people, being with him was slightly more comfortable.”
After listening, Shen Yanzhou rubbed his chin against the top of Yu Pan's head, his voice filled with relief, "Our Panpan has grown up and can judge people based on her own feelings now."
"Well, it depends on my mood," Yu Pan said with a smile, feeling ticklish from being rubbed. She twisted her body and put her legs around Chen Yanzhou's waist, finding a comfortable position. "I'll play with whoever makes me feel good."
Shen Yanzhou hugged him tighter and asked deliberately, "How's it like being with your brother? Are you in a good mood?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Yu Pan answered, "Being by my brother's side, I am the happiest and most joyful person in the world!"
…
When Shen Yanzhou came home from get off work, Yu Pan told him that the clothes had been washed.
After finishing their meal, the two of them strolled over to the laundromat again.
The experienced craftsman used some unknown method, but he actually managed to wash the two garments so clean that the original ink stains were almost invisible.
Only when you touch it carefully can you feel that the areas soaked in ink are slightly harder, especially the wool sweater, but it doesn't affect its wearability.
Yu Pan was overjoyed. On the way home, she carried the bag of clothes herself, opening it every now and then to take a look. "They're so clean! And they smell so good!"
Seeing his happy expression, Shen Yanzhou felt pleased as well. Back home, he tucked the laundry receipt into his textbook. "Remember to tell my classmates tomorrow that the clothes are clean and they just need to give us the thirty yuan cleaning fee."
"Yes!" Yu Pan nodded vigorously. "I'll wear these two outfits to school tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll hang it up for you. You'll see it as soon as you get up tomorrow." Shen Yanzhou took the clothes hanger and hung both clothes in the most conspicuous place in the wardrobe.
The next day, as soon as Zheng Xinghao arrived at school, he immediately recognized that Yu Pan was wearing the two pieces of clothing that had been stained black with ink. He exclaimed in surprise, "Didn't you say it would take half a month? You got them back so quickly?"
"Yes, the laundry called yesterday to say it was done ahead of schedule," Yu Pan said.
“Um, the money…” Zheng Xinghao scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. “My parents are away on a business trip. I can only get the money when they come back… It might take a couple of days before I can give it to you.”
"It's okay." Yu Pan wasn't in a hurry. "Let's talk about it when your parents get back."
As they were talking, Yu Pan caught a glimpse of Ling Luo, who had just come in from the door, and waved to him.
Ling Luo narrowed her eyes slightly, clearly recognizing him. "Luckily, it's clean now."
“Right,” Yu Pan wasn’t so afraid of Ling Luo anymore, “you can’t tell unless you touch him.”
As soon as Yu Pan finished speaking, Ling Luo unceremoniously reached out and carefully touched the ink-stained area on his back, giving her assessment: "Indeed."
Two days later, on Thursday.
Zheng Xinghao took out a wad of cash from his pocket and stuffed it into Yu Pan's hand. "Here, thirty yuan. Count it."
Yu Pan accepted the money. Influenced by Shen Yanzhou, he was very careful when it came to money.
He first counted the bills: one ten-yuan note, three five-yuan notes, totaling twenty-five. Then he began to count the stack of crookedly folded change.
Yu Pan didn't like having money folded like that, so she carefully unfolded and smoothed out each bill.
"Seriously, Yu Pan?" Zheng Xinghao looked at him, a little embarrassed, and his tone wasn't very good. "You're really going to count them one by one? Do you think I'd shortchange you on a few cents?"
Yu Pan didn't quite understand why he was unhappy, but she raised her head and said seriously, "It's better to clarify the money matters face to face."
This was taught to him by Shen Yanzhou.
"Fine, fine, you count it." Zheng Xinghao waved his hand, leaned back in his chair, and said in a slightly aggressive voice, "Anyway, I'm sure I've given you enough."
Yu Pan ignored him and continued counting the change, "Three five-mao notes, seven two-mao notes, and one-mao notes..."
Yu Pan paused, looking at the one-cent banknote in her hand. The banknote was torn in half, and the tear had been carefully drawn with a red pen. When held up to the light, you could see the fine glint of the red ink.
His face instantly turned cold. Yu Pan raised her head and looked directly at Zheng Xinghao. "This money is mine."
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Author's note: I've slightly revised the last chapter, adding about a thousand words.
Thank you everyone for liking it! [Cat emoji]
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