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"Do you have any money on you? Let's pool it and see if it's enough," another classmate said, taking out his wallet first. He was poor too, with only a little over twenty yuan in loose change.

"I only have enough for the bus ride home tomorrow!" the impatient classmate said irritably. The party was tonight, and vacation started tomorrow. None of the boarding students had much money left on them; some even had to borrow bus fare.

Without a word, Su Yan took out his wallet, pulled out three hundred yuan, and handed it to Lin Qiang. "Is this enough?"

With tears in his eyes, Lin Qiang grabbed Su Yan in a hug. "Su Yan! I'll work like an ox and a horse to repay you, brother! Thank goodness you're a rich guy!"

"Want to offer yourself to me?" Su Yan teased, raising his brows.

Lin Qiang nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes! How could I refuse when a rich guy like Su Yan throws himself into my arms? Maybe I've landed myself a sugar daddy too." Lin Qiang chuckled, then readily paid for the oranges.

The four of them went on to buy fruit, snacks, and other treats, each carrying a huge pile of things back to school. They were too stingy to even take a ride.

Back in the classroom, Lin Qiang rushed to his seat and searched for his wallet, but the result was disappointing. It really was gone; he had not left it in the classroom. Lin Qiang was miserable. He had lost the class funds, so he had to bear the responsibility. The money he had borrowed from Su Yan would have to be repaid sooner or later, meaning he could only slowly save it out of his allowance.

Su Yan saw that he was worried and patted him on the shoulder. "No rush to pay me back."

"Ah, I've got nothing to say. You're a friend for life," Lin Qiang sighed.

News that the class monitor had lost the class funds quickly spread through the class. Lin Qiang could do nothing about it. Once word got out, someone was bound to say he was unfit to be class monitor, but it had already happened, and people had mouths of their own. What could he do? He could only let it go.

As the sky gradually darkened, every class was decked out in lights and decorations, and the students put their all into preparing their performances. Deputy class monitor Chen Wanwan had specially hauled her family's television and sound system over. Otherwise, they could only count on their homeroom teacher to sing a cappella at the wall, since the teacher's home did not yet have any high-tech equipment for karaoke. Back then, many classes throughout the entire high school borrowed equipment for this day from students with well-off families. Teachers' salaries would not improve for another year or two.

As the countdown to the party began, all the desks were arranged in circles. Several girls handed out fruit and sunflower seeds, one portion per desk.

Chen Yan and Liang Kui sat on either side of Su Yan. Liang Kui was in love and in a great mood, his eyes full of Chen Wanwan; he could not even see Su Yan. Su Yan lounged against the back of his chair, cracking sunflower seeds as he watched the news on the television.

Suddenly, Liang Kui called out, "Chen Yan, why didn't your desk get any snacks?" He was merely curious and meant nothing by it.

Chen Yan said nothing. Only then did Su Yan notice that Chen Yan's desk was completely bare, with nothing on it.

Su Yan immediately got angry. He looked around the classroom but did not see Lin Qiang, only Chen Wanwan bustling about. "Deputy class monitor, Chen Yan didn't get any food." He pointed at Chen Yan's desk.

Chen Wanwan frowned, took a notebook, walked over to Su Yan, and handed it to him. Su Yan opened it in confusion and saw records of every student who had paid the class fee, but Chen Yan's name was not there.

Chen Wanwan said calmly, "Chen Yan didn't pay the class fee. There's nothing I can do." With that, she walked away.

"..." Su Yan was speechless. After a moment, he could not help sneering. "It's only five yuan. Do you really have to be so petty and hurt everyone's feelings?"

Chen Wanwan turned back at his words. "You're right. It's only five yuan in class fees per person. Just five yuan, yet some people stubbornly refuse to pay it. What am I supposed to do, rob them?"

Su Yan frowned. "You know at least a little about Chen Yan's family situation. Can't you be a little more understanding?"

Five yuan really was not much, but Su Yan had shared a desk with Chen Yan for an entire semester and had never once seen her eat snacks. He had not even seen her eat a fifty-cent packet of instant noodles.

"This is a group activity. It has nothing to do with family circumstances. If Chen Yan had the awareness to want to join in with everyone, then she should have told me earlier if she was having difficulties, or told the teacher. Then either I or the teacher could have understood, but she kept quiet. How was anyone supposed to know what she was thinking?"

"Don't be so sharp-tongued as a woman. You and Chen Yan are practically family anyway. You both have the surname Chen. Is it that hard to cut her some slack?"

Chen Wanwan's expression darkened further, and she shouted in exasperation, "Who's family with her? How embarrassing!"

"Alright, alright, don't argue." Liang Kui stood up and pushed Chen Wanwan away from the battlefield. He felt rather awkward. Chen Wanwan was actually nitpicking over five yuan, and he was the one who found that embarrassing. But she was his girlfriend, so he had to coax her.

Only after the flames of war had died down did Lin Qiang come in. He went straight to Su Yan and Chen Yan. "There's food left. I'll get a portion for Chen Yan. Su Yan, don't argue with Chen Wanwan. She's just got a spoiled rich girl's temper, always making people uncomfortable. It's exhausting. You should've told me about something like this. Why go to her?"

Su Yan snorted. "I didn't see you, so I went to her. What the hell was that? You don't need to bring food over. I'll give Chen Yan some myself, so no one can say that she didn't pay the class fee but still ate the class's food to take advantage of everyone. That'd be quite the offense."

Lin Qiang laughed. "You've got a point." Then he leaned closer to Su Yan and whispered, "You're being awfully nice to Chen Yan. Brother, don't tell me you've really taken a fancy to that girl?"