pjbooks Chapter 20 The Raven
Chapter 20 The Raven
Tang Huaiyi didn't say much; at least the campus was safe.
The two quickly closed the windows, plugged in the latches, turned off the lights, locked the classroom door, and then went to the dormitory together.
After walking for a while, Tang Huaiyi heard the sound of wings flapping overhead. He looked up and heard a crow caw, so he stopped and said, "Li Xiujuan, you go back first. I have something to do."
Li Xiujuan asked in surprise, "What's wrong? Should I come with you?"
"No need, you can go back first."
After Tang Huaiyi said that, Li Xiujuan didn't ask any more questions. She responded and silently walked towards the dormitory.
The male and female dormitories are not far apart; you can see the lights over there at a glance.
Tang Huaiyi watched Li Xiujuan walk into the dim light in front of the dormitory and opened his arms.
Two crows landed on his arm in the darkness.
"It's really impressive that you managed to find me..." Tang Huaiyi said in a low voice, "It seems that not only do I feel that you are special, but you also feel that I am special."
The two crows then handed what was in their beaks to Tang Huaiyi.
Tang Huaiyi reached out and caught two pieces of glass: one was a shard of glass, and the other was a dead whitebait, still wet and smelling fishy.
These two "good things" in the crow's eyes immediately amused Tang Huaiyi: "You should keep them for yourselves..."
After saying that, he took out a "Guangxu Yuanbao" coin: "If you come across one like this in the future, bring it to me. It will be useful to me."
"Don't pick up animals that have owners, or they'll beat you to death, understand?"
The two crows remained silent, only nestling gently against Tang Huaiyi's arm.
Tang Huaiyi reached out to preen their feathers, and they nestled comfortably against his palm, emitting soft hums.
The classroom was already dark when the school janitor turned off the power.
On the other side of the dormitory, the dormitory manager shouted, "Turn off the power to the dormitory immediately! Those who need to wash up, wash up; those who need to use the toilet, go to the toilet now!"
Tang Huaiyi patted the two crows and said, "Thanks, you can go back now. See you tomorrow."
Two crows spread their wings and disappeared into the night sky.
Tang Huaiyi returned to his dormitory with light steps, quickly washed and tidied himself up, and then the dormitory was plunged into darkness.
Regardless of whether the lights were still on in the dormitory, the dormitory manager immediately cut off the power.
Tang Huaiyi lay in bed, his mind drifting back to the knowledge he had learned that day, as well as the events of his first day of school.
The bed board was hard and rough, but luckily there were bedding provided by Teacher Chen.
Eating cornbread three times a day is something we need to change; it's definitely not good to keep eating like this.
And then there's tuition... If you're so strapped for cash, it's really not the right time to pay. You need to hold onto your money.
The words he spoke these past two days were neither grand pronouncements nor empty talk; Tang Huaiyi truly did not intend to spend his family's money to support his senior year of high school.
Also, I'll see if I can sell the Guangxu Yuanbao for a good price tomorrow; ten yuan should be about right...
As he pondered, his eyelids drooped slightly, and his young body drifted into a deep sleep.
When he opened his eyes again, the dim lights in the dormitory were already on. Song Siyuan called to him, "Tang Huaiyi, get up quickly... go to morning reading."
After Tang Huaiyi got up and washed his face, he felt a little empty inside.
There was nothing I could do; dinner consisted of just a cornbread bun, which wasn't very filling.
Tang Huaiyi walked out of the boys' dormitory with Song Siyuan and Li Jialiang. Afterwards, Li Jialiang went to Class 2 of Senior Three, while Tang Huaiyi and Song Siyuan entered Class 1 of Senior Three.
Li Xiujuan was already seated, quietly reading aloud from her textbook.
Upon seeing Tang Huaiyi arrive, he did not stop reading silently, but merely glanced at Tang Huaiyi and gestured.
Tang Huaiyi nodded, sat down, picked up his textbook, and began to read.
The sound of reading fills the air. If you can't concentrate on reading, you feel very annoyed by the noise and become drowsy. But if you read attentively and focus on your textbook, time seems to fly by.
Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan were engrossed in reading their textbooks when, before they knew it, daylight had broken outside. Their homeroom teacher, Ms. Tian, had made several rounds of inspections.
The two only stopped when the morning reading bell rang and the students packed up their books and went outside to eat.
I wasn't in a hurry to join my classmates.
After a while, I went to the cafeteria to find Guan Xiaolin to get the steamed buns.
Guan Xiaolin handed each of them a steamed bun, asking curiously, "Tang Huaiyi, Li Xiujuan, are you two eating together?"
"Hmm," Tang Huaiyi replied simply.
"I thought yesterday was just a coincidence..."
Guan Xiaolin said something, and seeing that the two of them didn't seem to intend to talk about it anymore, she didn't ask any more questions, but she couldn't help feeling curious.
They don't seem to share the same surname, so why are they eating together?
Even if male and female classmates are quite familiar with each other, they usually wouldn't act like this, right?
He ate a cornbread with pickled vegetables and plain water, which barely filled his stomach. Tang Huaiyi felt that he was still two steamed buns short of being full, but the plain water was enough to make up for it.
Looking at Li Xiujuan again, her face was even paler than yesterday, and her already thin appearance was now even more frail.
"We really can't eat like this."
Tang Huaiyi said, "How weak are you now? You look even worse than yesterday."
"Once I sell that silver dollar, we'll both eat more for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We need to make sure we're well-fed."
Li Xiujuan was taken aback and quickly shook her head: "I don't need it..."
"Why not use it? Look at your face, how can you possibly hold on? If you don't finish school and your health collapses first, that will be a big problem," Tang Huaiyi said. "Going to school now is like going up the mountain to chop wood, and our bodies are the axe. Sharpening the axe won't delay the work of chopping wood."
"No... I have other reasons."
A blush rose to Li Xiujuan's face: "You don't need to add more rice for me, just add it yourself."
Tang Huaiyi asked in confusion, "What's the reason?"
Li Xiujuan lowered her head, her face flushed, and remained silent.
Feeling Tang Huaiyi's gaze fixed on her, she could only whisper, "Um... it's here..."
Tang Huaiyi paused for a moment, then coughed and turned his head away.
Then he added, "Then you need to take better care of yourself and eat well."
"I'm going to the market to sell Longyang (a type of fried dough) at noon, so you don't need to come with me. Just stay in your dorm and rest."
"Um."
Li Xiujuan nodded. Listening to his instructions, she felt her heart go from empty to full, and she couldn't help but feel happy.
After another morning of classes, the students went to the cafeteria for lunch.
Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan went to the canteen a while later, where Guan Xiaolin was already waiting with a smile at the entrance, inviting them to the teachers' small canteen.
"Since you two missed this meal, I specially postponed it for you."
"Don't worry, not a single bit will be wasted."
By this time, all the students and teachers had finished eating and left. There were no students in front of the cafeteria, and no teachers in the teachers' small cafeteria; only dark yellow tables and chairs remained.
On a small table were two oily plates of vegetables and four white steamed buns.