Seeing that Su Lin did not ask further, Chen Yang did not press the matter either. If Su Lin wanted to talk about it, he would; if not, Chen Yang would not ask another word.
Su Lin patted Chen Yang on the shoulder. "I know you can't afford to lose. But aren't I here? I'll cover you."
Chen Yang was instantly tempted, but in the end, he still shook his head. "Brother Lin, this business is yours. I don't know why you think this necklace can make money, but since you're so certain, I believe it really can."
"I've already taken so much money from you. I can't steal your business too, so forget it."
Su Lin chuckled. He had expected Chen Yang to refuse, but he had not expected that to be the reason.
"Alright, find your distributors and head home. Your family is waiting for you to eat."
"Mm~!!"
Su Lin patted Chen Yang on the shoulder and walked out of the private room.
Mother and Daughter Talk, Asking for Flowers and Votes
"Hello! Teacher Wang, how has Xiao Wan been doing at school lately? Has anyone bullied her, or has she shown any unusual behavior?"
"Xiao Wan's mother, Lin Xiaowan has been doing very well at school. Her grades are excellent, and she gets along wonderfully with her classmates."
"Come to think of it, I was just about to call and thank you."
Wang Xiaoqian frowned slightly, unsure what Wang Yi meant.
However, she did not say anything. She keenly sensed that this had something to do with Lin Xiaowan's worries.
"Lin Xiaowan really is a good child. You and Mayor Lin have also set a wonderful example."
"On behalf of Xia Shiyu, I would like to thank you for your generous donation of 220,000 yuan to pay for her father's treatment."
"The school wants to establish this as a model example. Would you have time to come to the school?"
"220,000?" Wang Xiaoqian repeated, her almond-shaped eyes widening. When had she donated that much money?
"That's right, Xiao Wan's mother. You may not know this, but Xia Shiyu's father has kidney failure and needs a transplant. Before this, they could not even afford the deposit for compatibility testing..."
After Wang Yi finished rambling on, Wang Xiaoqian finally understood what had happened.
Lin Xiaowan had mentioned the donation when she came home yesterday.
But they had not given her much, only 10,000 yuan.
Yet Lin Xiaowan had donated 220,000 yuan. Where had the remaining 210,000 come from?
After hanging up, Wang Xiaoqian found it more and more suspicious. She went to Lin Guoqiang's study and told him everything from beginning to end.
"Old Lin, do you think our daughter accepted money from someone?"
Lin Guoqiang frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "We know Nannan. She would never take money from people carelessly. She's only seventeen, but she has long understood what she should understand. Have you ever seen her accept anything from anyone?"
"Besides, to prevent exactly this kind of thing, you've never been stingy with her allowance. The point was to keep our daughter from being deceived."
"So accepting money is impossible."
"But Teacher Wang kept saying our daughter donated 220,000 yuan. That isn't a small sum."
Lin Guoqiang frowned. "I drove Nannan to school this morning. When we passed the bank, she did withdraw money, but it only added up to 20,000 yuan. Then the remaining 200,000..."
"No, I need to ask her about this clearly." Wang Xiaoqian stood up.
"You can ask, but be gentler about it. Don't go in and start interrogating her." Lin Guoqiang reminded her.
Wang Xiaoqian nodded. "I know. Our daughter's grown up, and her temper has grown too. I know better than you how to talk to her."
"Ha ha ha~!!!"
Wang Xiaoqian returned to Lin Xiaowan's room. At that moment, Lin Xiaowan was chatting with Su Lin.
After school, Su Lin had stayed behind for something. Lin Xiaowan did not know what had come over her, but she had sent Su Lin a message as if possessed.
"Su Lin, are you home yet?"
"Not yet. I was just about to head home. What's wrong, Xiao Wan?"
"Oh! It's like this, the monthly exams are coming up. I wanted to ask how your studying is going."
Sitting in the taxi, Su Lin found the message rather amusing. "No matter how well I study, I still can't beat you. You're first in the entire school."
"Hehe, you can work harder. There's only a dozen or twenty points between our total scores. If you try, you might still surpass me."
"Hehe, I don't want to surpass you for now. I should first think about how to surpass Xia Shiyu."
"Hehe, I believe you can do it."
"Really? You have that much confidence in me?"
"Of course. Your English is the only subject you're terrible at. Seriously memorize vocabulary and listen to recordings when you have time, and your grades will improve."
"You make it sound easy. If it were really that simple, no one in class would be bad at English. Everyone would get perfect scores."
Seeing the youthful smile overflowing across Lin Xiaowan's face, Wang Xiaoqian became wary again.
Wasn't that the kind of smile people had when they were in love? As someone who had been through it, she understood that expression all too well.
When she had secretly dated Lin Guoqiang back then, she had looked exactly the same.
"Nannan, who are you chatting with that has you so happy?"
"Ah~!"
Lin Xiaowan quickly closed the QQ chat window, then turned around and said unhappily, "Mom, why did you come in without knocking?"
"Nannan, you've wronged me. Your door was open, so what was there to knock on?"
"Uh... fine. Let it go this time. Remember to knock next time."
"Alright, alright~! I'll definitely remember."
"Mm-hm." Lin Xiaowan smiled sweetly.
Wang Xiaoqian pulled over a chair and sat beside Lin Xiaowan. "Xiao Wan, Teacher Wang called me just now."
"Uh..."
Lin Xiaowan immediately grew nervous and looked carefully at Wang Xiaoqian. "Mom, what did Teacher Wang say on the phone?"
Wang Xiaoqian patted Lin Xiaowan on the shoulder. "Don't be so nervous. He called to thank us."
"Xiao Wan, you should explain this donation to me, shouldn't you? This is 200,000 yuan, not a small sum."
Lin Xiaowan pulled a long face. "Mom, can you not ask about this?"
"What, is there really something going on?"
Wang Xiaoqian said seriously, "Nannan, you know our family's situation. As long as money from an unknown source is involved, we need to ask clearly even if it's only 100 yuan. Let alone 200,000. You should understand how serious this is."
"I... I... I don't know how to explain it." Lin Xiaowan looked discouraged.
Her mind was already being turned upside down by a storm of thoughts.
Seeing her daughter's hesitation, Wang Xiaoqian understood. She smiled and asked, "Daughter, did you make some agreement with someone, so you can't talk about it?"
Lin Xiaowan nodded. "I promised not to tell anyone. If word gets out, the consequences would be very bad."
"What, are you worried your mother will go around telling everyone?"
"That's not what I mean."
"You say that's not what you mean, but that's exactly what you're thinking."
Wang Xiaoqian took Lin Xiaowan's little hand. "You agreed with someone not to tell your classmates, but you never agreed not to tell your parents. Tell us where this money came from. Once your father and I know, we won't interfere with what happens afterward. But if you refuse to tell us, I'll go to the school tomorrow and get to the bottom of it."
"Mom, don't force me."
"I'll tell you, alright?"
Lin Xiaowan knew there was no use hiding it anymore. Given Wang Xiaoqian's personality, if she said she would do something, she would truly do it.
If Wang Xiaoqian really went to the school tomorrow and made a huge scene while investigating, that would truly ruin someone else.
"Alright, don't worry. As long as the money came from a legitimate source, your father and I won't tell anyone after we know."
"Mm-hm."
Lin Xiaowan organized her words, then began explaining where the 200,000 yuan had come from.
A Grand Scheme? Asking for Flowers and Votes
More than ten minutes later, Lin Xiaowan finally explained the whole story behind the 200,000 yuan, including her agreement with Su Lin.
"That's what happened, Mom. We agreed that you can't tell anyone."
After hearing it all, Wang Xiaoqian was somewhat surprised. A young man of seventeen or eighteen had actually thought things through so carefully.
Donating 200,000 yuan did not mean much. Plenty of big shots in Zhongjiang City donated money every year.
But donating the money without wanting credit and considering the other person's situation so thoroughly—someone like that was either immensely kind or immensely evil.
"Nannan, is that Su Lin you mentioned Su Zhenguo's son?"
Lin Xiaowan nodded. "Yes. We even had dinner together before. Mom, you haven't forgotten, have you?"
"How could I forget? I remember that boy kept staring at you."
Lin Xiaowan's little face instantly turned red. "Mom, what are you talking about!!!"
Seeing her daughter like this, how could Wang Xiaoqian not understand? Her daughter had fallen for someone. "Nannan, what do you think of this Su Lin?"
Before you continue