Tang Wulin's Emotional Trauma

What was that novel about again... Could it be that this guy had taken a liking to Na'er? How could that be? Based on my many years of reading novels, most protagonists had multiple female leads. What position would that leave Na'er in?

And usually, the female leads the protagonist liked went through countless hardships, so the protagonist could show his worth. No, absolutely not. At that moment, Meng Li was like an old father. He would never allow the cabbage he had raised to be rooted up by a pig.

"Hello, little friend. Want a candied hawthorn skewer?" Meng Li asked with a smile.

"Thanks. I'll take one." Tang Wulin had been about to strike up a conversation with Na'er. He rubbed his growling stomach and thought for a moment.

"Here." Meng Li smiled and picked out the biggest skewer for Tang Wulin.

"This candied hawthorn skewer is twice as big as the ones I usually eat." Tang Wulin thought Meng Li had deliberately given him one because his eyes looked nice. He said innocently, then took a bite before paying because he was hungry and began searching his pockets for money.

"You're welcome," Meng Li said with a sincere expression.

"One hundred."

"What?" Tang Wulin's mouth fell open. Startled by the sky-high price of the candied hawthorn skewer, he dropped the one in his mouth onto the ground. "Why don't you just rob me?"

Na'er looked at Meng Li in confusion. It had just been ten Federal Coins per skewer. Why had it become one hundred now? Was it because she had spoken to Tang Wulin?

Then I should stay farther away from him in the future.

"Hey, these are specially selected strawberries. Every single one is plump, all premium quality. It's worth the price, okay?" Meng Li said sincerely, smiling brightly.

Tang Wulin's favorable impression of Na'er decreased by one.

Tang Wulin's favorable impression of Meng Li decreased by twenty.

"You're robbing me." Tang Wulin looked painfully at the candied hawthorn skewer on the ground, then shakily pulled out a handful of loose change from his pocket. He counted and recounted it until he scraped together one hundred.

Meng Li snatched it up and held each bill to the sunlight to check whether it was real.

"It's real!" Tang Wulin's kind heart had been ravaged no fewer than ten times today, and Meng Li was the worst of them all. He had never seen such a shameless person.

"Mm-hmm. My little sister and I are rather poor, so I have to be careful. This is one hundred, after all. If I got scammed, the loss would be considerable."

"You..." Tang Wulin's mouth twitched. Who exactly was scamming whom? He turned and left.

Tang Wulin's favorable impression of Meng Li decreased by twenty.

Tang Wulin's favorable impression of Na'er decreased by one.

"Brother, want some candied hawthorn? See this strawberry flavor? Little kids love it," Meng Li said with a smile after watching Tang Wulin leave in a huff.

"Big brother, you seem to dislike that person?" Na'er asked as she ate her candied hawthorn and watched Meng Li count the money.

"Oh, that's right. I just don't like him." Meng Li spoke with a serious expression, as though teaching her an important lesson.

"Then I won't like him either." Na'er blinked her big eyes.

A certain sentence echoed in her mind.

Big brother is right.

If he isn't, refer to the first sentence.

"Okay, I'm hungry." Na'er nodded as if she understood.

"Come on. We made quite a bit today. I'll take you out for a big meal."

Tang Wulin's home.

"Wulin, who upset you? You look like you're in a bad mood." Tang Ziran looked at Tang Wulin with concern written all over his face.

"Dad, am I really useless?" Tang Wulin had first been mocked at school, then tricked by Meng Li. His kind little heart had shattered.

"How could that be? My Wulin is going to become a Soul Master in the future. How could you possibly be useless?" Tang Ziran comforted him.

"I got scammed out of one hundred today..." The more Tang Wulin thought about it, the angrier he became, and the angrier he became, the more he thought about it. He told his father everything that had happened to him that day.

"That child really did go too far. Consider the one hundred the price of a lesson. They're scammers, so just stay away from them in the future." Though Tang Ziran ached over the loss of one hundred, he still decided to educate him in an adult tone.

Tang Wulin wanted to say something but stopped. He only hated the person who had scammed him. As for Na'er, that pretty little girl, he did not dislike her at all. He even wanted to be friends with her.

"Keep away from bad influences and stay close to good ones, hear me? Stay away from them. Anyone who can scam you out of one hundred must be smarter than you, so don't get scammed again," Tang Ziran said in the tone of someone speaking from experience.

"Okay." Tang Wulin nodded, determined to keep his distance from those two.

That evening, Meng Li bought Na'er two more sets of suitable clothes and added some furniture.

By the time the two had eaten, drunk, and played to their hearts' content, it was already ten at night.

With their living situation settled, it was time for him to consider school.

He should have gone today, but he had nearly starved to death, so he could only figure out a way to make money first.

Early the next morning, Meng Li prepared breakfast and lunch. After waking Na'er, giving her some instructions, and buying a batch of dolls from the South City Wholesale Department, he went to school.

"Little friend, which class are you in?" Meng Li looked around for his classroom when a voice called out to him.

"Beautiful lady, I'm going to Class One-Four." Meng Li turned around, saw a beautiful woman in a long dress, and blurted it out.

"You should call me Teacher here." The beautiful teacher frowned. Whose brat was this? Did he not know how to speak?

"Yes, yes, yes. Hello, Teacher." Meng Li looked embarrassed. First, he had misspoken. Then he remembered that he had the soul of a twenty-two-year-old and was about to attend first grade.

I'm socially dead. Please do not disturb.

"Which class did you say you were going to just now? Teacher was too focused on those first two words you said," the beautiful teacher asked.

"I found it." Meng Li found the room number and sighed in relief. Constantly dying of embarrassment was bad for every part of the body. He pointed to the sign for Class One-Four.

"You're a student in our class?" The beautiful teacher thought for a moment. "Mm, it's true that our class had one student absent yesterday."

"Beautiful lady—no, Teacher, you are?" Meng Li asked.

The beautiful teacher automatically ignored the first two words and nodded. "I'm your homeroom teacher, Lin Ximeng. Go on in. Today is a cultural studies class."

"Since we're in the same class, what you missed yesterday was important. Don't leave after school. I'll give you some extra tutoring."

Don't leave after school. What a familiar sentence. My high school English teacher used to tell me that all the time. Meng Li drifted off slightly.

"Did you hear me?!" Lin Ximeng felt that this child was hopeless. He had skipped school on the first day, then flirted with a female teacher on the second. As his homeroom teacher, she naturally had to intervene.

"I'm sorry, Teacher, but I have a little sister at home waiting for me to take care of her. I can't stay," Meng Li said.

"Where are your parents?" Lin Ximeng's heart stirred, and her impression of Meng Li improved somewhat.

"My sister and I don't have parents. I've always been the one taking care of her," Meng Li said.

"Then bring your sister over. Teacher can tutor you while you study, and the academy cafeteria has food. You can both eat at school," Lin Ximeng said righteously.

Meng Li had wholeheartedly wanted to refuse, but now he found that he did not quite want to. Who wanted extra tutoring at school? Unless it came with food and lodging.