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"Teacher Qian really loves taking petty advantage," Xue Yuantong secretly told Jiang Ning.

He often mooched vegetables grown by Uncle Tang and asked Zhang Butcher for pig offal. Whenever there was a holiday and her mother steamed buns, fried pastries, or made pickles, Teacher Qian always took the biggest share.

Jiang Ning started the Electric Bike. "True. He even scams Dongdong out of his pocket money."

Dongdong was the notoriously troublesome Bear Child of the single-story houses. Jiang Ning had scared him away with the Ghost Array during summer vacation this year; otherwise, he would still be tormenting the neighbors.

Xue Yuantong recounted it all. "Right. A few years ago, just after my family moved into the single-story houses, there was a day with strong winds. Dongdong picked up a dish and sold it to a scrap collector at the River Dam. On his way back, he passed Teacher Qian's house and saw him spinning a top. Teacher Qian sold the top to Dongdong for ten yuan. Even if that top had been brand-new, it would only have cost five yuan."

"Pretty ruthless," Jiang Ning said.

Xue Yuantong nodded like a pecking chick. "Mm-hm, so Teacher Qian got his comeuppance."

Jiang Ning asked, "What comeuppance?"

Biting her lip to hold back a laugh, Xue Yuantong said, "Teacher Qian was watching TV one night when he found he had no signal. Only later did he learn that the dish Dongdong had picked up was his Satellite Dish."

Jiang Ning chuckled twice, then shut his mouth.

At that moment, he deeply understood just how difficult life was in the single-story houses. Yet in his previous life, Tongtong had spent three years of middle school and another three years of high school in such an environment.

During middle school, the little girl had