Rebirth begins with an arranged marriage

Chapter 15 Three Meals a Day of Cornbread

Seeing how nervous he was, Tang Huaiyi asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"Your dad just told me that we classmates should help each other and study hard together, what else could he say to me?"

Song Siyuan immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "You scared me!"

"You have no idea how strict my dad is with me at home. He complains that I sleep in late and always says that when he runs into a teacher or classmate, he'll have to give me a good talking-to. He says I don't study at home and I get up late every day... I'm afraid he'll say these things to you and make me lose face."

Tang Huaiyi couldn't help but chuckle: "Didn't you just blurt it out yourself?"

Song Siyuan was taken aback: "Huh? It really is..."

But then he grinned and said, "That's different. It's not the same when my dad complains to outsiders and when I tell him myself."

"Luckily he didn't say anything."

Tang Huaiyi then said, "They definitely won't say that; they'll probably just tell you to get up early and study more."

Song Siyuan didn't say much more about it, and then said with a smile, "Tang Huaiyi, I noticed that you only studied in your first year of high school and didn't talk to anyone. I thought you didn't like to talk."

"I only found out today that's not the case. You're quite easy to talk to."

Tang Huaiyi smiled; this was a difficult question to answer.

He used to eat cornbread for three meals a day, and subconsciously avoided other classmates, so he naturally didn't make any friends.

"Give me four yuan, come on, give me four yuan, I want to buy something delicious!" A classmate came over and joked with Song Siyuan.

Song Siyuan then turned around and started joking around with his classmate.

"I'd rather give you four 'farts' to eat."

They went off to chat and laugh, and Tang Huaiyi picked up his textbook for the next class. Just then, someone stopped in front of his desk.

Tang Huaiyi looked up in confusion and saw a city girl standing in front of him.

She had a slightly round, fair oval face, her hair was tied in a ponytail with a plastic hair clip, she wore a polyester shirt, blue and white polyester sweatpants that hugged her straight legs, and Feiyue shoes, and she was looking down at him.

For Tang Huaiyi now, this is practically a little rich girl—this outfit, shoes, and attire must cost at least forty yuan, while Tang Huaiyi only has less than six yuan on her, and is still worrying about the few yuan left for tuition and food expenses.

"Excuse me, what do you need?"

The plump, oval-shaped girl's expression immediately showed slight displeasure. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "Tang Huaiyi, why did Li Xiujuan give me your food coupons?"

"I went to pick up my textbooks earlier and asked her to bring them for me." Tang Huaiyi asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just wanted to ask if you two ordered the wrong food."

"You didn't make a mistake in ordering."

"No matter what, you can't eat cornbread three times a day, can you? You should at least have some..."

"We brought our own pickled vegetables," Li Xiujuan, who was sitting next to Tang Huaiyi, interjected at this moment.

"Pickled vegetables? Is that alright?" At this point, the girl frowned slightly. "Tang Huaiyi, don't you recognize me?"

Tang Huaiyi asked with some confusion, "Weren't we classmates in the first and second years of high school?"

The girl with the oval face was a little deflated: "It seems you really don't remember me. I met you at Teacher Chen Dahe's house before. My name is Guan Xiaolin."

"Fine, if you don't remember, you don't remember. Tang Huaiyi, are you two sure you only want cornbread for three meals a day and nothing else?"

Tang Huaiyi nodded to Li Xiujuan.

"Will this work?"

Guan Xiaolin muttered something to herself. Just then, two girls called out to her, and she turned and left.

The long break between classes is quite long, and the class bell hasn't rung yet.

Tang Huaiyi was about to read when he turned around and saw Li Xiujuan looking at him. He was a little surprised and asked, "What's wrong?"

"You know Guan Xiaolin?" Li Xiujuan couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

Tang Huaiyi shook his head: "I don't know him. I only met him today."

"She does remember you," Li Xiujuan said softly, pursing her lips.

She didn't raise her voice or say anything else, but she felt a little uncomfortable.

"I've been to Teacher Chen's house many times, but I've forgotten which time I last met her," Tang Huaiyi said with emotion. "Teacher Chen has taken such good care of me; I really don't know how I can ever repay such deep kindness."

Li Xiujuan didn't say anything more, but glanced at him again. His eyes were bright and beautiful, and he spoke with a different kind of feeling.

Looking at Guan Xiaolin, who was talking to other female classmates, she was radiant and confident, exuding an air of basking in the sunshine and seemingly capable of solving any problem.

I suddenly felt a little lost.

If Tang Huaiyi's family hadn't been poor, how could I, so skinny and barely audible, have been able to be exchanged for a marriage with Tang Huaiyi's family?

The class bell rang.

After two more classes, the students left the red brick classrooms and headed to the cafeteria for lunch.

"Tang Huaiyi, time to eat!" Song Siyuan called out.

Tang Huaiyi shook his head slightly: "You go first, I have other things to do."

Guan Xiaolin and two other class committee members went to the cafeteria window to collect their meals, carrying large metal buckets and baskets of steamed buns. The words "Senior Three, Class One" were painted in red on the outside of the buckets and baskets.

Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan followed the same rule they had in their first and second years of high school: they stayed in the classroom for twenty minutes, waiting until most of the other students had finished eating, before finally making their way to the cafeteria.

The red brick building in the canteen was used by the cooks, and there was another room where the teachers ate; the students ate on the lime slabs built outside.

When Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan got some boiled water and brought the pickled vegetables to the lime slab, the other two class committee members had already finished washing the large bucket and left with the other students.

Guan Xiaolin stood at the door of the room where the teachers ate, waiting for Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan.

Upon seeing the two arrive, Guan Xiaolin walked over and asked, "Why are you two taking so long to get here?"

"Something came up and I was held up." Tang Huaiyi said, lifting the basket of steamed buns from Class 1 of Senior Three. All the other students had finished eating, and there were only three coarse grain buns left.

Li Xiujuan picked up one and handed the other two to Tang Huaiyi.

Guan Xiaolin looked surprised: "You guys really only eat this...?"

Li Xiujuan, who wasn't usually very talkative, couldn't help but chime in, "And there are pickled vegetables too."

"That won't work either, will it?" Guan Xiaolin said in surprise. "How about I get you some food from the window where the teachers serve the dishes?"

"No need," Li Xiujuan quickly shook her head.

"It's not expensive, just a few cents." Guan Xiaolin was quite enthusiastic. "I don't really like the food in class, so I specifically talked to the teacher before and asked her to let me get food and eat with the teachers."

Just a few cents...

These words were too extravagant for Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan.

Tang Huaiyi also declined, saying, "Really, it's not necessary, Guan Xiaolin, thank you."

"We're both used to eating like this... It's okay, you go back and rest first, we'll put the basket back in its place ourselves."

"Are you really alright?"

Guan Xiaolin was a little worried: "You can't eat like this every day, you'll get sick if you don't get enough nutrition."