“She said there was something going on at home, so she took leave. As for her usual academic performance… it’s been average.”
Teacher Qi handed Zhou Yuwei’s leave request to Principal Bao.
After reading it, Principal Bao set it down.
“When she comes back to school tomorrow, have her come to my office. As for these three who got into a fight…” He turned to Liu Aihua. “Director Liu.”
“Yes.”
Liu Aihua stepped forward.
“You handle it as you see fit.”
Since Liu Changyun was his son, how he chose to discipline him was his own business.
With that, the principal left the office.
Liu Aihua glared at the three boys.
“The three of you will be cleaning every toilet in the school for the rest of this month.”
Three miserable faces immediately appeared.
Liu Changyun shot Wu Di a vicious glare.
Wu Di looked equally eager to tear him apart.
After school, the three of them obediently went to scrub the toilets.
“Just you wait.”
Before leaving, Wu Di threw them a vicious threat.
“Ha! I’ll be right here waiting.”
Liu Changyun rolled up his sleeves, only to be stopped by Xu Zitao.
“Take it easy. The important thing right now isn’t him. We should go back and see whether Zhou Yuwei’s home yet.”
“True enough.” Liu Changyun nodded before suddenly asking, “Zitao, do you think Zhou Yuwei really cheated on this midterm?”
“No.”
Xu Zitao answered without hesitation.
“She’s not that kind of person.”
“I don’t think so either.”
Liu Changyun scratched his head.
“I’ve honestly got to hand it to her. The moment she decided she wanted to make money, the entire Zhou family sprang into action. Then she said she wanted to study—and look at her now. It’s only been a short while, and she jumped straight into the top six on the midterms.”
He paused.
“Do you think she was pretending all along? Keeping a low profile?”
Otherwise, how could anyone improve that much overnight?
“Maybe.”
Xu Zitao thought for a moment.
“Someone as beautiful as she is, with grades like that… she’d probably attract even more trouble.”
In the past, Zhou Yuwei had always hidden behind thick bangs.
Only after the Lin family’s troubles were resolved had she started exposing her forehead.
“Anyway, I have a feeling there’ll be plenty of people looking to make trouble for her from now on.”
Liu Changyun stretched lazily.
“But with us watching out for her, she’ll definitely be fine.”
Smack!
Someone slapped him on the back of the head.
“You? You couldn’t even beat Wu Di. Who exactly are you planning to protect?”
Liu Changyun turned around.
“Dad! You’re alright?”
He had personally watched his father walking around holding his lower back.
The two boys helped Old Liu back to the residential courtyard compound.
“Need me to help you over to Uncle Fang’s clinic?”
“No need.”
Liu Aihua waved him off.
“Go home and take a bath. You stink.”
Supporting his aching waist, he walked toward Fang Zheng’s traditional Chinese medicine clinic inside the hutong.
“What happened to you this time?”
The moment Fang Zheng saw Liu Aihua clutching his back, he hurried over to support him.
“I twisted my waist.”
“Let me take a look.”
After examining him, Fang Zheng frowned.
“The injury’s pretty serious. You’ll have to come here every day for the next few days so I can apply medicated plasters.”
He went to fetch one.
“How’d this happen?”
“Don’t even mention it. It was all because of that useless son of mine—”
Before he could finish, he noticed Zhou Kun walking in and immediately swallowed the rest of his sentence.
“Doctor Fang, I’ve finished repairing the table.”
Zhou Kun emerged from another room.
“Great. Thanks for your hard work, Old Zhou.”
“It’s nothing. We’re neighbors—it was only a small favor.”
Zhou Kun then noticed Liu Aihua.
“Director Liu, what happened to you?”
“It’s nothing.”
Liu Aihua hurriedly waved his hand.
“I twisted my back by accident. It’s an old problem. Nothing serious.”
“As long as you’re alright.”
Zhou Kun gathered his things and prepared to leave.
“Old Zhou, didn’t you go out to the countryside today?”
“I did.”
He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall.
“But I came back early. My two girls are returning from Suzhou tonight, so I need to go to the station to pick them up.”
“Then I’ll get going.”
If he went home to eat first and left afterward, the timing would be just right.
“Go ahead.”
“Old Zhou, your money!”
Fang Zheng hurriedly reached for some cash.
“No need. It was nothing—just a small favor.”
“Oh, come on…”
Fang Zheng chased after him, but Zhou Kun had already run off.
“That man…”
Shaking his head, Fang Zheng returned inside.
There was no way he could tell Zhou Kun something like, ‘If anyone in your family gets sick in the future, you can come here and get medicine for free.’
That would only sound like he was hoping people fell ill.
Who would say something like that?
“You hadn’t finished what you were saying earlier.”
Fang Zheng handed Liu Aihua a painkiller and poured him a cup of water.
“Your son didn’t get into that fight because of the Zhou family’s youngest daughter, did he?”
Liu Aihua accepted the pill, popped it into his mouth, and washed it down with a gulp of water.
“How’d you figure that out?”
“The moment Old Zhou walked in, you stopped talking.”
Fang Zheng smiled knowingly.
“And your son’s been spending a lot of time with his youngest daughter lately. That Xu family boy too.”
He leaned forward with interest.
“So… are your two families thinking about becoming in-laws?”
“How would I know?”
Liu Aihua laughed.
“Besides, that depends on whether the girl would even take a liking to my useless son.”
He paused.
“Though maybe… if that happened, the brat would finally turn over a new leaf and start studying seriously.”
“You have no idea how much that girl’s improved lately.”
“She even placed sixth in the entire school.”
“That impressive?”
Fang Zheng looked genuinely surprised.
“Sounds like she’s quite something.”
“She really is. Ah—!”
A sharp stab of pain suddenly shot through Liu Aihua’s waist.
While he wasn’t paying attention, Fang Zheng had slapped the medicated plaster onto his back.
“You could’ve at least given me some warning!”
Liu Aihua grimaced.
“That nearly killed me.”
Meanwhile, Zhou Yuwei and her sister had gotten off the train.
“Thank you.”
Zhou Yuwei smiled politely.
“We’ve troubled you again.”
She had assumed they would never meet Shen Changfeng and Zheng Chenwen again.
After all, she and her sister had bought ordinary tickets, while the other two were traveling in a sleeper compartment.
Yet, in the middle of the night…
“Beautiful, come on. Let’s switch seats.”
Zheng Chenwen himself couldn’t understand what had gotten into Shen Changfeng.
Instead of sleeping in the middle of the night, he had dragged him over to exchange seats.
“No, thank you.”
Zhou Yuwei shook her head.
“We’re fine here.”
Their seats were cramped.
The sacks beneath their feet left them curled up in a corner with barely enough room to sit.
But that was only because they couldn’t afford sleeper tickets.
There was no reason they should enjoy a bed while making someone else squeeze into these seats.
No matter what, she couldn’t agree.
“His back is injured, so he can’t lie down.”
Zheng Chenwen spoke before Shen Changfeng could.
“And I think the sleeper bed is too hard. I can’t get used to it. Since neither of us can really lie down anyway, we might as well sit here.”
As he spoke, Shen Changfeng had already picked up one of the sacks.
Zheng Chenwen nodded repeatedly.
“That’s right.”
He even sucked in a breath dramatically.
“I hurt my back recently. It hurts like hell, so I can’t lie down. Since I’ll be sitting either way, it doesn’t matter where I sit.”
He pointed at Shen Changfeng.
“And this young master here is especially picky. He can’t sleep on a hard bed.”
“So let’s switch. Otherwise the sleeper berth is just going to waste.”
Zhou Yulan lowered her head, too shy to say anything.
Zhou Yuwei, however, looked puzzled.
“Then why didn’t you just buy regular seats from the beginning?”
Wouldn’t that have saved money?
“Beautiful, you don’t understand.”
Zheng Chenwen smiled helplessly.
“You buy whatever class of ticket matches your position. That’s not something we get to decide.”
In those days, tickets were issued according to one’s letter of introduction.
National ID cards didn’t yet exist, so everyone needed an introduction letter wherever they went.
“Really, come on.”
He urged them again.
“If you stay like this… we’ll feel bad too.”
He picked up another sack and started walking ahead.
Then, as if remembering something, he immediately shoved it back into Shen Changfeng’s hands.
“Back injury! Back injury!”
The meaning couldn’t have been more obvious.
I can’t carry it.
“Should we go?”
Zhou Yulan quietly asked Zhou Yuwei.
“Let’s.”
Since they insisted so sincerely, there was no point refusing.
She could always repay this favor together with the debt she already owed them for saving her life.
“I’ll carry this one.”
Zhou Yuwei bent down and hoisted up the other sack.
Shen Changfeng glanced at her before taking it from her hands.
“No need.”
He tucked one sack under each arm.
They weren’t light at all.
With both bulky sacks wedged under his armpits, his walking posture became rather… peculiar.