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Chapter 23: The Money Arrives
In the hallway, Fan Xiaotian wore an expressionless mask, even imagining himself exuding a hint of cold indifference. He walked several meters ahead before abruptly turning back.
When a wolf turns its head, it’s either to repay kindness or exact revenge. When a husky does the same, disaster looms—whether tearing down walls or destroying buildings. Gu Lu watched Fan Xiaotian curiously, wondering which girl’s heart he was planning to break into.
“Who are you looking at?” Gu Lu asked.
“No one. I just thought I saw a friend,” Fan Xiaotian replied.
Gu Lu almost believed him but didn’t press further since the other party clearly didn’t want to elaborate.
“Gu Lu, are we brothers or not?!” Fan Xiaotian suddenly blurted out.
“If you’re borrowing money, wait a week or two—I’ll have some by then,” Gu Lu said matter-of-factly.
“You don’t even have money, so why would I ask you for it?” Fan Xiaotian retorted, exasperated. As close friends, though they rarely discussed personal matters, Fan Xiaotian had a rough idea of Gu Lu’s family situation.
Whenever there was something beneficial, Fan Xiaotian always tried to share it with Gu Lu. There was no way he’d ever borrow money from him.
“So what’s up?” Gu Lu pressed.
“Next Tuesday at noon, come with me somewhere,” Fan Xiaotian said.
The request came unusually early—considering that for most guys, scheduling something two days in advance was already impressive, let alone a full week ahead. This piqued Gu Lu’s curiosity, but Fan Xiaotian kept his lips sealed, insisting Gu Lu would find out when the time came.
Back in the classroom, Gu Lu noticed something brewing among their classmates. Small cliques huddled together, whispering and plotting like conspirators.
“Erase the blackboard,” someone reminded him.
Ah, right—poor Gu Lu. It was his turn to clean up today.
Every day, two students (desk partners) were assigned cleaning duties, including erasing the blackboard, sweeping the classroom, and replacing the water cooler jug. Zhou Lin and Gu Lu split the tasks. Since Gu Lu didn’t attend evening study sessions, he took on more responsibilities during the day.
Slam! Ms. Yan slammed her hand on the desk, jolting awake a few sleepy underachievers who looked up to see their fuming math teacher. Luckily, her anger wasn’t directed at them this time.
“I’ve explained this problem countless times—it’s a guaranteed exam question! Yet so many of you still got it wrong.” Ms. Yan glared at those who had failed, mostly average students.
“The high school entrance exam will determine your future. If you fail, your life is over! You’ll end up as migrant workers, while cushy office jobs won’t be within reach.” Her words dripped with disdain—not only overly harsh but also dismissive of manual laborers. No wonder Ms. Yan ranked as the least popular teacher in class.
“Even Gu Lu knows how to create opportunities for himself to get into high school. Why can’t you learn from him?!” she continued.
Gu Lu, who prided himself on staying uninvolved, was caught off guard when the spotlight suddenly turned to him.
Swish-swish.
All eyes in the classroom turned toward Gu Lu—some astonished, others mocking, some incredulous, and a few merely entertained. After all, in everyone’s eyes, Gu Lu was about 0.8 of a failing student. Where did that remaining 0.2 come from? His literature scores were solid; out of 150 points, he often scored around 110, placing him in the upper-middle tier of the class.
But his other subjects? English: 40-50 points. Math: 30-40 points. Physics and chemistry? Even worse.
Go to high school? What kind of joke was that?
“These past couple of days, some students have been asking why Gu Lu doesn’t have to do math homework,” Ms. Yan went on. “It’s because he’s preparing for a writing competition. If he performs well, he could secure direct admission to high school.”
So that was it!
Just like Wang Hongming—the dance prodigy. Wang had performed classical dance at last year’s school anniversary, visibly showcasing his talent. But Gu Lu participating in a writing contest? To the classmates, it felt far-fetched.
“You’d better work harder, or you might end up worse than Gu Lu,” Ms. Yan concluded, holding up the test papers. “Alright, let me explain this again. Take notes if you don’t understand!”
Unable to argue, Gu Lu lowered his head, only to spot a note passed by his desk partner.
Zhou Lin loved passing notes during class and had even bought a dedicated notebook for this purpose.
[What competition are you entering? When will the results come out? Can winning really guarantee admission?]
Clearly, Zhou Lin wasn’t paying much attention to the lesson.
After class, as Ms. Yan left the room, Gu Lu found himself surrounded by curious classmates, feeling like an exotic animal on display at the zoo.
“You’re such a genius, coming up with this excuse to skip homework!”
“‘Envious’ doesn’t even cover it. Can I join too? I don’t want to do homework either!”
“Sure, your essays aren’t bad, but rankings aren’t that easy to earn.”
Comments like these buzzed around him thanks to Ms. Yan’s remarks, making Gu Lu the center of attention.
Chen Na nudged Zhao Juan, her eyes gleaming mischievously like a treasure hunter. “Look, others are working hard for your sake to get into a good high school.”
“Don’t say nonsense,” Zhao Juan said, blushing slightly. “I never told him anything. This just shows Gu Lu is naturally ambitious.”
“Well then, good luck getting into the same high school!” Sister Nana teased.
The hype lasted nearly half the day, finally dying down a bit by dismissal time.
Class Five generated trash three times a day—who knew where it all came from? Gu Lu hadn’t noticed before, but now he vented dramatically, “Humans are nothing but garbage producers!”
“You haven’t taken out the trash yet?” Zhou Lin burst back into the room, flushed from whatever energetic activity she’d been doing. Teenagers truly had endless stamina.
“We agreed—one trip each. This is the third round, so we go together. That’s called fairness!” Gu Lu declared.
“Fair enough,” Zhou Lin agreed.
Thus, Gu Lu and Zhou Lin each grabbed a corner of the garbage bag and headed toward the dumpster behind the flowerbeds.
Gu Lu’s strides were longer, but he slowed down deliberately to stay alongside Zhou Lin.
As dusk settled, the two strolled leisurely to dispose of the trash.
After being home for five days, Gu Lu’s father disappeared again.
A little disappointed, Gu Lu admitted he quite enjoyed homemade meals—especially those with meat.
“So yeah, I guess I’m just spoiled. In my past life, I only ate lean meat and found fatty pork disgusting. Now, I think even cheap cuts taste heavenly,” Gu Lu mused aloud.
What made matters worse was that his father left without leaving any money behind!
Two possibilities crossed Gu Lu’s mind: either his father simply didn’t care about him, or he cared but hadn’t planned to leave for such an extended period.
“I lean toward the first option. I have a bank card—if he really cared, he could transfer funds anytime,” Gu Lu reasoned. “The only silver lining is that we still have rice.”
Life resumed its calm rhythm for another three days until Gu Lu officially entered midsummer.
That evening, returning home, Gu Lu noticed a missed call on the phone—it was Old Li, notifying him that the payment should have arrived!
“The Edogawa Ranpo anthology revisions are done, and I can submit nine copies. Double celebration!” Gu Lu hummed cheerfully to himself.
He decided to check the bank account first thing tomorrow.
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