Money-Adding Hermit

After speaking privately with several students, Liu Shuying returned to the classroom to pack her things.

"Next Saturday is a day off, and there'll be a parent-teacher meeting that weekend. Students whose homes don't have telephones, remember to go back on Saturday and notify your parents..."

"There's still half an hour before evening self-study ends. Class monitor, keep an eye on the discipline!"

With that, she left.

Teachers wouldn't keep watch over evening self-study the whole time.

Class monitor Li Rui stood up. "No talking. Everyone, keep quiet."

After all, this was an advanced class. They still had basic discipline.

Even people like Li Jun and Guan Zhiqiang, though they couldn't make themselves study, wouldn't make loud noise and disturb others.

At most, they whispered to one another.

Li Jun put on his MP3 earbuds, lay facedown on his desk, and listened to music while sleeping. Every now and then, he opened his eyes to look at Bian Guanyue. The more he looked, the prettier he found her, and he pondered how to get closer to her.

Guan Zhiqiang was still reading a novel, drooling again without realizing it.

Xie Yang was spacing out, puffing out his lower lip and blowing at the hair on his forehead for fun.

Xu Haibo carefully reviewed his English mistakes, took out the essay he had copied down, "A Proclamation Denouncing Tao Mi," and quietly pushed it in front of his deskmate, Wu Yuehan.

Wu Yuehan was an excellent student certain to get into a first-tier university. After seriously reading the whole piece, she asked, "You wrote this?"

They communicated silently through lip-reading.

"It's Chen the Hero's essay. He's submitting it to New Concept," Xu Haibo replied.

He had always regarded Chen Guiliang as his idol. Whenever Chen Guiliang did something Xu Haibo considered impressive, he would eagerly publicize it.

Wu Yuehan sincerely praised him. "That's amazing. Just as expected of the Chinese Language and Literature class representative."

The two talked more and more. Lip-reading was no longer enough, and they gradually began making sounds.

Xu Haibo said, "I think Chen the Hero can win first prize. He should've entered the New Concept Writing Competition ages ago."

Wu Yuehan was good at keeping a conversation going. "Maybe he could even get recommended to a prestigious university."

Yao Lingling, who sat behind them, lightly poked Wu Yuehan's shoulder with her pen. "Let me see."

Wu Yuehan passed the essay back.

Yao Lingling savored it twice, trying to learn its writing techniques. But this sort of parallel prose mixed with classical Chinese was beyond her ability to write, so she passed it to her deskmate, Wang Lei.

Wang Lei glanced at it and showed no interest.

Yao Lingling handed the essay to the next desk, making a point of explaining, "This is Chen the Hero's New Concept submission."

In just twenty minutes, the essay had circulated through nearly half the classroom.

Senior year was dull and tedious. They had to find some amusement for themselves, and passing around an essay counted as entertainment.

Besides, they liked watching Chen Guiliang stir things up.

When he demanded that the school refund the senior-year computer fees, Li Jun had been the only one in the class not to sign. In the end, they got what they wanted, and the students were all thrilled, feeling honored to have participated in a major event.

Chen Guiliang had gained tremendous prestige among his classmates because of it.

Before anyone realized it, the essay had reached Wang Siyu, who sat in front of Chen Guiliang.

Evening self-study was almost over by then. Wang Siyu directly turned around, leaned over Chen Guiliang's desk, and asked, "Chen the Hero, you entered New Concept?"

Chen Guiliang nodded. "Just trying my luck."

Wang Siyu said, "Your essays are so good. You'll definitely win something." She even waved her fist. "Go for it!"

"Thanks." Chen Guiliang smiled back.

The class atmosphere was still quite friendly, and the students got along well. No one looked down on Chen Guiliang for being poor.

Except Li Jun!

Bian Guanyue listened to their conversation without reacting at all, continuing to memorize English vocabulary.

After chatting with Chen Guiliang for a few sentences, Wang Siyu curiously asked Bian Guanyue, "Bian, you're from Hibiscus City?"

"Yeah." Bian Guanyue answered with only one word.

But Wang Siyu was naturally outgoing. "Do you live on campus or commute?"

"I commute," Bian Guanyue said.

Wang Siyu said, "My family lives in Fugui Garden Community. Where do you live? If we're on the same route, we could go to and from school together."

"I live in Old Alley in Back Street," Bian Guanyue said.

Wang Siyu said regretfully, "Then we're not on the same route."

Zheng Feng, Wang Siyu's deskmate, had wanted to talk to Bian Guanyue for a while. Seizing the chance, he excitedly turned around. "I live near Back Street. Security over there is a little bad at night. I can walk you home after evening self-study."

"No need." Bian Guanyue always refused.

Zheng Feng was somewhat disappointed, but then he thought about how close they lived to each other. They would probably run into each other often in the future, and he secretly became happy again.

When they had changed seats earlier, Bian Guanyue hadn't been wearing her hood. Somehow, her ponytail had become crooked, with a lock of beautiful hair draped over her left shoulder.

Wang Siyu acted as though they were already close, reaching out to touch Bian Guanyue's hair as she said enviously, "Your hair is so nice—dry and smooth. What shampoo do you use?"

"It's an ionic perm. It has nothing to do with shampoo," Bian Guanyue said.

Wang Siyu asked, "What's an ionic perm? You can perm your hair straight?"

Li Jun sneakily edged closer. Because he was too tall, it was inconvenient for him to stand during self-study, so he squatted halfway down and said, "There's a place on Fuzhou Avenue that does ionic perms. Business is especially good. I heard it's a new technology brought in from overseas."

In order to join the conversation, Zheng Feng suppressed his disgust and picked up Li Jun's thread. "I know that place on Fuzhou Avenue. It's called Hanliu Fashion Hair Salon. My older sister got an ionic perm there. It was ridiculously expensive, and my mom scolded her for it."

The three of them discussed beauty and hair care, making Bian Guanyue increasingly irritated.

She didn't like being disturbed.

Especially by strangers.

Bian Guanyue pulled up her hood again and tightened the drawstrings at her collar, hiding her entire face inside it and leaving only her eyes and nose exposed.

She was clearly unwilling to keep talking.

Wang Siyu smiled awkwardly, turned back around, and sat properly to read.

Zheng Feng hesitated as if he wanted to say something, then gave up trying to strike up a conversation with the beauty.

Only Li Jun remained squatting beside her. "Bian, where did you buy that Nokia?"

Bian Guanyue said nothing, treating Li Jun like air.

Li Jun continued, "I actually want to buy a Nokia too, but your model is sold out. I'll make a trip to Hibiscus City later and get the same one as you."

Bian Guanyue remained silent.

Li Jun felt a little embarrassed. He stood up, walked behind Chen Guiliang, and patted his shoulder. "Let's switch seats."

"Get lost!"

Chen Guiliang's answer was simple and direct.

Li Jun pulled out some cash. "Ten yuan for your seat."

Chen Guiliang finally looked him in the eye. "You think ten yuan is enough to brush off a beggar?"

"Tch." Li Jun curled his lip.

Chen Guiliang added, "This seat and I have a deep emotional bond. At least a hundred yuan."

What the hell did he mean, a deep emotional bond?

Bian Guanyue was left speechless.

She turned to look at Chen Guiliang, her eyes full of contempt as she took him for a greedy little man.

Li Jun felt that spending a hundred yuan for a seat was especially not worth it. But if it meant sitting beside a beauty, then perhaps any amount would be worth it.

Li Jun gritted his teeth, pulled out his wallet, and handed over a hundred yuan, urging him repeatedly, "Hurry up and move!"

Chen Guiliang grinned as he took the bill, lifted his desk, and shifted it over.

Li Jun hurriedly got busy too, fantasizing about being deskmates with a beauty. There was something missing in this guy's brain—he never considered why Bian Guanyue had wanted to change seats in the first place.

"Heh heh, we're deskmates again." Guan Zhiqiang gave the relocated Chen Guiliang a foolish grin.

Chen Guiliang and Li Jun's transaction had already drawn the attention of the nearby students. Like Bian Guanyue, they all felt somewhat disdainful of Chen Guiliang's greed.

Just then, after sitting down again, Chen Guiliang smiled at Bian Guanyue and said, "Bian, aren't you switching over?"

Bian Guanyue was secretly annoyed, already considering finding someone else to switch seats with tomorrow.

At Chen Guiliang's question, the sudden reversal nearly threw Bian Guanyue for a loop. Her tense little face relaxed somewhat. Hugging her desk, she said to Guan Zhiqiang, "Classmate, sorry to trouble you, but can we switch again?"

Guan Zhiqiang froze for two seconds. "Huh? Oh, okay."

Seeing Bian Guanyue and Guan Zhiqiang switching seats too, Li Jun immediately went dumbfounded. "No... you can't switch! I... I paid a hundred yuan!"

"Excuse me. Please don't block the way," Bian Guanyue said.

Li Jun was afraid of making the beauty unhappy, so he could only step aside and watch her move her desk.

Guan Zhiqiang carried over the desk and set it down, then gave Li Jun a foolish grin. "Heh heh, we're deskmates again."

"Fuck your mother!" Li Jun cursed under his breath.

Having his mother insulted for no reason, anger flashed across Guan Zhiqiang's face, but it quickly vanished. He soon grinned foolishly again and took out his novel.

Li Jun was full of frustration with nowhere to vent it. He walked up to Chen Guiliang and held out his hand. "Give me my money back!"

Chen Guiliang asked, "What money?"

Li Jun said, "The hundred yuan for buying your seat."

Chen Guiliang asked, "Did you buy the seat?"

Li Jun flew into a rage. "How the fuck is this any different from not buying it?"

Chen Guiliang said, "You only need to answer one question. Did you buy the seat or not?"

"I fucking..."

Li Jun was instantly at a loss for words.

If he answered that he had bought it, then the transaction had been completed, and he had no legitimate reason to ask for the hundred yuan back.

But he really had bought it.

"Pfft..."

Listening to their exchange, Bian Guanyue couldn't help laughing out loud.

She hurriedly covered her mouth, hid her face beneath her hood, and lay on her desk. But her shoulders were still trembling slightly. She was obviously trying hard to hold back her laughter.

Bian Guanyue thought, This new deskmate of mine is really interesting.

Li Jun was so angry his lungs were about to explode. He grabbed Chen Guiliang by the sleeve. "Are you giving the money back or not?"

Chen Guiliang said calmly, "Li Jun, please don't act impulsively. Bian Guanyue just transferred into our class. If she sees students fighting on her first day, what will she think? She'll definitely think this class is bad, that there are troublemakers ruining the learning environment. Maybe she'll even apply to transfer to another class."

Li Jun continued gripping Chen Guiliang's sleeve, glaring furiously at him before looking at Bian Guanyue, who was holding back laughter.

Then he looked around and discovered that many students were also trying not to laugh.

He knew that he had become a clown.

"Fuck!"

Li Jun released Chen Guiliang's sleeve, grabbed his schoolbag, and left. In the blink of an eye, he was out of the classroom.

Evening self-study had not ended yet, but Li Jun couldn't stay any longer. He hurried home as if fleeing.

He cared deeply about saving face, yet this time he had thoroughly humiliated himself.

Class monitor Li Rui drove the knife in deeper. "Evening self-study isn't over yet. Students, please don't leave early!"

Hearing that, Li Jun ran even faster.

"Hahahaha!"

As soon as Li Jun left, the students in the back rows burst into loud laughter.

The students in the first few rows had no idea what had happened. Hearing the sudden laughter, they turned around with puzzled expressions.

A few minutes later, the bell signaling the end of evening self-study rang.

Bian Guanyue packed her schoolbag, took two steps, then stopped. Turning back, she asked, "Classmate, what's your name?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Chen Guiliang. Chen as in the left ear radical. Gui as in wealth, Liang as in kindness."

This lousy name had gone completely off course.

He was neither wealthy nor kind.

Bian Guanyue introduced herself again. "My name is Bian Guanyue. My father's surname is Bian, and my mother's surname is Guan."

(Recommended: "Rivers and Mountains Sacrifice" by Chicken Fork. If it's bad, curse him out; if it's good, thank me for recommending a good book. Also, please vote with your monthly tickets.)