Guan Baiyu didn't expect to see Yan Jiangtao, and neither did Yan Jiangtao.
Yan Jiangtao unsurprisingly did not do well on his high school entrance exam; in fact, he achieved a very, very poor score.
But his father still sent him to a special class set up by several local companies in a vocational school in the city.
The students in this class all go directly into these companies as mechanics after graduation.
Yan's father knew people, so he got Yan Jiangtao admitted.
However, Yan Jiangtao didn't want to go to school, especially to study machine repair... He had no interest in disassembling or assembling electric sewing machines or anything like that.
However, Yan Jiangtao liked Changxi City. Away from his father's control, he formed a "gang" at school, became the leader, and even got a girlfriend.
He came to the stationery store to accompany his girlfriend, but he didn't expect to see Guan Baiyu.
He almost didn't recognize Guan Baiyu.
Is this still the same Guan Baiyu, the skinny, small, and timid boy from before?
Guan Baiyu is already the same height as him, and that face that doesn't have much of a masculine look... is still the kind that girls really like!
Yan Jiangtao held a grudge ever since he failed to apply for the high school entrance exam. When he saw Guan Baiyu, he immediately said, "Guan Baiyu, you poor bastard, what are you looking at if you can't afford it?"
Guan Baiyu asked, "Who are you calling a poor bastard?"
“I’ll curse you!” Yan Jiangtao said.
“Yes, poor bastards curse me.” Guan Baiyu nodded seriously. In the past few months, in his spare time from studying, he had borrowed several martial arts novels from Liang Qinxuan to read.
He had heard some of these stories on the radio before, but because he didn't listen to them every day and the radio played them slowly, he didn't hear them all. It wasn't until he read the book that he finally got to read all the stories.
This phrase, "XX, who are you cursing?", is something he learned from Yang Guo in "The Return of the Condor Heroes".
Clearly, Yan Jiangtao hadn't read the book and had been fooled.
Yan Jiangtao was stunned for a moment before he realized that Guan Baiyu had cursed at him. He cursed and wanted to rush up and hit Guan Baiyu, but his girlfriend stopped him.
"Yan Jiangtao, what are you doing?" Yan Jiangtao's girlfriend felt a little embarrassed.
Yan Jiangtao started cursing right away, what does that mean?
Most importantly, the person being yelled at was wearing a No. 1 Middle School uniform!
Yan Jiangtao's girlfriend wasn't forced into a vocational school by her parents; she had excellent grades and that's how she got into vocational school. The No. 1 High School was a place she wanted to go to but couldn't. Guan Baiyu didn't want to fight Yan Jiangtao, so she looked at Liang Qinxuan and said, "Let's go."
"Yeah! Let's go! Let's stay away from people who can't speak human language!" Liang Qinxuan said, "We've had such bad luck today, we just stepped out and ran into a dog that keeps barking!"
The two ignored Yan Jiangtao and turned to leave.
By the time Yan Jiangtao chased after them, Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan had already gotten into a car parked by the roadside.
Yan Jiangtao launched into another tirade of abuse.
"Can you please stop yelling!" Yan Jiangtao's girlfriend snapped. She was too embarrassed to even go into the store to buy stationery anymore!
"Why are you stopping me? Have you taken a fancy to that pretty boy?" Yan Jiangtao got angry too when he saw his girlfriend was angry.
Yan Jiangtao's girlfriend said, "Are you sick?! She doesn't even know him!"
"You shameless woman, you get all horny just because someone's good-looking. He's just a poor, orphaned bum..."
Yan Jiangtao's girlfriend was shocked to be scolded and ran away crying, covering her face.
Yan Jiangtao was the one who pursued her in the first place, and after spending time together, she already felt that Yan Jiangtao had all sorts of problems. Now that she was being scolded in public... she made up her mind to study hard and never date at school.
Yan Jiangtao didn't chase after him; he remained where he was, cursing and swearing.
At this moment, someone asked Yan Jiangtao, "Does Guan Baiyu have no father or mother?"
Yan Jiangtao replied without hesitation, "Yes!"
Guan Baiyu's family situation was no secret in their junior high school; anyone could find out by asking around.
Yan Jiangtao, harboring malice, said, "Guan Baiyu's biological father died shortly after he was born, and his biological mother ran away. He was picked up and raised by someone else. But that family didn't want him either. When he was in junior high school, he was so poor that he had no food to eat. He always wore other people's old clothes, his head was covered with lice, and he had a terrible smell. It was disgusting!"
The one who asked Yan Jiangtao was one of the three students from No. 1 Middle School.
Guan Baiyu lived a life of luxury at school with Liang Qinxuan, which naturally made some people resentful of him and eager to know about his bad past.
By now, this person had finally found out the truth.
It turns out that Guan Baiyu's family was extremely poor, which is why he deliberately clung to Liang Qinxuan, right? After all, Liang Qinxuan was rich, and if he just gave him a little bit of money, he wouldn't lack food or clothing.
And the paper, pens, and other items that Guan Baiyu sells might also have been obtained from Liang Qinxuan, but then he has to sell them back to them.
The student talked to Yan Jiangtao for a while before parting ways with him.
The other two students from No. 1 Middle School were somewhat unhappy. One of them asked, "This guy is swearing all the time, why did you go and talk to him?"
The person who spoke to Yan Jiangtao said, "You heard what he said, right? Guan Baiyu's family used to be extremely poor!"
"So what?" What does Guan Baiyu's family being poor have to do with them!
"This Guan Baiyu might have been scheming to get close to Liang Qinxuan. I wonder how much money he's made off Liang Qinxuan! You can't judge a book by its cover!" the man said indignantly.
The other two were baffled. Even if Guan Baiyu had deliberately tried to get close to Liang Qinxuan, it had nothing to do with them! They had never spoken to Guan Baiyu or Liang Qinxuan; they only knew of these two people.
The person who disliked Guan Baiyu: "..."
However, although his companions could not understand his dissatisfaction, he still found some people at school who, like him, disliked Guan Baiyu.
For example, people who used to hang out with Liang Qinxuan but have recently been distanced from him.
In another monthly exam, Guan Baiyu ranked third in the grade.
He became famous overnight during his first year of high school.
After all, his name is easy to remember: Guan Yu with the character "Bai" in the middle.
Along with his fame, some rumors also spread, such as that Guan Baiyu's family was extremely poor and that he relied entirely on Liang Qinxuan for money after he entered high school.
Guan Baiyu was unaware of this at first; he only found out after his roommate told him.
"Guan Baiyu, some people outside are saying that your family is very poor, and that you are now being supported by Liang Qinxuan. That's going too far!"
"Exactly! What they said is outrageous!"
"It was also really funny, saying that you couldn't even afford to eat before!"
...
Guan Baiyu was stunned for a moment before asking, "What happened?"
Guan Baiyu's roommates told him about the rumors circulating outside.
Guan Baiyu: "..." Apart from the fact that he was supported by Liang Qinxuan, everything else was true.
"Where did I get supported by Liang Qinxuan? It was clearly my brother who supported me," Guan Baiyu said. He ate with Liang Qinxuan, but he also urged Liang Qinxuan to study. Recently, Liang Qinxuan had been cramming for the first year of high school, and he could even explain the problems to Liang Qinxuan.
“That’s right!” the people in the dormitory exclaimed.
They remembered that on the first day of reporting, Guan Baiyu's older brother brought Guan Baiyu over, and both brothers were dressed quite well.
In their dormitory, many people used bedding and sheets brought from home, but Guan Baiyu used ones that were purchased by the school.
As for the things Guan Baiyu usually uses, they aren't the expensive kind that Liang Qinxuan uses, but they're not particularly cheap either. It feels like Guan Baiyu is just a kid from an ordinary family.
In short, the stories people told about Guan Baiyu wearing clothes that Liang Qinxuan didn't want are completely untrue.
Moreover... although Guan Baiyu was frugal, they had previously discussed living expenses, and Guan Baiyu's living expenses were considered high among their dormitory members.
Every time Guan Baiyu came back from home, he would share the food his brother had prepared with them.
Not only their dorm roommates, but everyone in their class also felt that what was being said outside was just a rumor.
"Forget it, it doesn't matter if people talk about it, just ignore them," Guan Baiyu said.
It's not like he'll lose a piece of flesh if people say he's poor, so let them say it!
Guan Baiyu didn't take the rumor seriously; it really wasn't something that could cause serious harm, and it just passed by.
However, because there was a student in another experimental class at No. 1 Middle School who came from the same junior high school as Guan Baiyu, that person confirmed some of the rumors, so many people at No. 1 Middle School believed that... Guan Baiyu was very poor.
Guan Baiyu was even called in by his homeroom teacher, who then inquired about his life and asked if he needed to apply for poverty assistance.
"Teacher, no need." Guan Baiyu refused again.
"Hmm... I heard you were selling the paper and pens that other students gave you in your dorm room?" the homeroom teacher asked again.
"Teacher, here's what happened. I went to Liang Qinxuan's father's factory and found that the office supplies they bought were very cheap, so I bought some and brought them back to school. My roommates all liked them and wanted some too, so I brought some back for them." Guan Baiyu embellished her actions.
"I see... Don't worry, your teacher believes in you," the homeroom teacher said.
Those of them who were teachers knew more than the other students, including the fact that Chen Shaojin had broken the law and was detained, and that Guan Baiyu had urged Liang Qinxuan to study.
Regardless of how Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan became friends, they are encouraging each other, which is a good thing!
As for what others said about Guan Baiyu selling paper and pens in the dormitory... He asked other classmates and found out that you could buy a stack of draft paper for one cent from Guan Baiyu, and his ballpoint pens were cheaper than those in stationery stores outside. It must be what Guan Baiyu said, that he was bringing some to school for his classmates.
Even if Guan Baiyu were to sell things in the dormitory, given his grades, they wouldn't say anything.
This isn't something that will affect my studies!
In the end, only Liang Qinxuan found out and was furious. He encouraged Guan Baiyu to take out his five thousand yuan to show others, and even said that he could lend Guan Baiyu some more money so that Guan Baiyu could take a lot of money and throw it in the faces of those who said he was poor.
Guan Baiyu: "..." This is really unnecessary.
Guan Baiyu was too lazy to pay attention to this matter, and then, for some reason... his poor persona was firmly established at school.
One evening, when a boy came to buy his draft paper, he even offered to give him a little extra money: "You went through all that trouble to bring it to school, and now you're selling it to us at the original price... We're getting a huge bargain!"
Guan Baiyu refused to accept it: "Really, there's no need..." He had already made a little money!
One morning, while he was eating salted vegetable fried rice, a girl brought him two meat buns: "Guan Baiyu, these are for you."
“I don’t need it,” Guan Baiyu quickly said. “You eat it yourself.”
"This is for you! Guan Baiyu, Liang Qinxuan is not a good person. He even forced Chen Shaojin to drop out of school. If you don't have money for food, I can help you organize a donation drive. You don't need to lower yourself to please Liang Qinxuan," the girl said earnestly.
Different people react very differently when they hear the same thing.
Some people think Guan Baiyu is cunning and cheated Liang Qinxuan out of his money, while others feel sorry for Guan Baiyu, thinking that he was forced to follow Liang Qinxuan and curry favor with him because of his livelihood.
The latter... are mostly girls.
After Guan Baiyu had eaten and drunk his fill, he no longer looked like a refugee.
He looked like a well-behaved little prince.
In addition, he had excellent grades...and quite a few girls at school liked him.
“Liang Qinxuan and I are friends. Chen Shaojin’s dropping out of school has nothing to do with Liang Qinxuan. Chen Shaojin is still at the police station. He committed a crime.” Guan Baiyu explained on Liang Qinxuan’s behalf.
Guan Baiyu ultimately didn't accept the steamed buns; he was too embarrassed to do so.
He's not really short of money!
He has more than five thousand yuan, which is probably more money than most students in the school!
Even many of his classmates didn't have five thousand yuan in savings.
Shi Zhen was unaware of what was happening at Guan Baiyu's school.
Mr. Wang's house already had its plumbing and electrical work done. He went there once, and then Mr. Wang said that he no longer needed to help with the work: "I plan to take my time with the carpentry work at home. The carpenters are relatives, so there's no need for anyone to watch over it."
"Then I won't come here anymore," Shi Zhen said with a smile.
Mr. Wang settled Shi Zhen's wages without him having to come over again.
Shi Zhen worked for him for more than two months and earned a decent amount of money, about two thousand yuan.
In comparison, even though the clothing factory paid less, he still earned more from sending and receiving sweaters than he did working for others.
That job was easier than the one he did for Boss Wang.
He has a lot of responsibilities here, so he can't just sit idle all the time. He does everything from bricklaying to subsequent painting, and he's even used his tractor to help load things up quite a bit.
Of course, doing these things is necessary. For example, Mr. Wang has never said anything bad about him when he's out in public.
Shi Zhen stopped going to Boss Wang's place and started working on the business he had just taken on.
Although he won't start building the house until after the new year, he can buy the bricks and other materials first and keep them.
This is an era of high inflation; even something as basic as bricks will definitely increase in price after the Lunar New Year!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com