Rebirth begins with an arranged marriage

Chapter 72 The Late Returnee

As night deepened, the bell rang, signaling the end of evening self-study and marking the end of another day of learning.

Students who should go home should go home, and those who should return to their dormitories should return to their dormitories.

Tomorrow is the first mock exam for senior high school students, and many students are concerned about it and are staying in the classroom to study a little longer.

Wang Man came to find Guan Xiaolin to go home together. After meeting Guan Xiaolin at the classroom door, she peeked into the classroom.

"Wang Man, what are you looking at?"

"I bet that scoundrel who was indirectly insulting me!" Wang Man said, looking inside. She only looked away after spotting Tang Huaiyi, complaining to Guan Xiaolin, "Just how bad is that Tang Huaiyi?"

"How bad is he? At most, he's a little petty," Guan Xiaolin said with a smile. "If you had just avoided provoking him in the first place, wouldn't that have been fine?"

"That's because I was worried about you... When Zhao Weimin told me that Tang Huaiyi was going to do this or that to you, I was furious. Isn't that the kind of scoundrel who would ruin a female classmate's reputation?" Wang Man said. "But now, although he is a bit annoying, he doesn't seem like that kind of bad person."

"Okay, okay, thank you for your concern," Guan Xiaolin said with a smile.

"You're welcome, even though we're best friends."

As Wang Man spoke, she pointed to the streetlights in the night and asked in confusion, "Hey, isn't that Zhao Weimin? What's he doing?"

Guan Xiaolin glanced around and saw Zhao Weimin and the other two surrounding He Genbao again, so she walked over and called out, "Zhao Weimin—"

"What's wrong?" Zhao Weimin asked with a smile. "Look at us, aren't we doing just fine?"

He Genbao also said, "It's none of your business, Guan Xiaolin, we're friends."

Guan Xiaolin sniffed the air and detected a whiff of smoke. She frowned and asked, "You guys were smoking?"

"I've already told you, it's none of your business!"

He Genbao spoke again.

Seeing that he had repeatedly expressed his attitude towards her, Guan Xiaolin gave up the idea of ​​helping him.

"I hope you've thought this through and won't let yourself be bullied."

After saying that, he and Wang Man left the school together.

Along the way, Guan Xiaolin recalled Tang Huaiyi's words and deeds. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that although what he did was mundane, He Genbao was much more extreme and naive compared to him...

Perhaps it is true, as Tang Huaiyi said, that all of this is due to different personal choices and personalities.

Thinking back to Tang Huaiyi's initial attitude of "it's none of my business and I'm too lazy to get involved," Guan Xiaolin felt that she herself had become a bit naive.

After arriving home, Guan Xiaolin shared her thoughts with her father.

His father was also a little surprised.

"Although He Genbao isn't very reasonable, I think it's understandable. After all, people inevitably exhibit strange behaviors when under pressure."

"As for this Tang Huaiyi you mentioned, I find him a bit hard to understand."

"Perhaps children from poor families mature early and are more adept at reading people from a young age?"

"Maybe so. He's very smart and never makes people feel annoyed," Guan Xiaolin said.

"Yeah?"

Guan Xiaolin's father said thoughtfully, "Linlin, you wouldn't have exaggerated some of his good qualities just because you're on good terms with him, would you? It's rare for someone from a poor family to act so calmly and steadily, and be neither arrogant nor humble."

Hearing his father say this, he seemed to doubt that he was speaking in favor of Tang Huaiyi.

Guan Xiaolin felt vaguely uncomfortable and began to regret telling her father about it.

From now on, there are some things I'd better not talk about.

………………

"Gurgle...gurgle..."

With the soft hooting of an owl, a heavy silver coin fell into Tang Huaiyi's hand.

Tang Huaiyi was overjoyed: "You found silver dollars too?"

"Caw!" A crow nearby cawed in dissatisfaction and placed a silver coin in Tang Huaiyi's hand.

Tang Huaiyi was not just surprised, he was utterly astonished.

"You found it too?"

The crow cawed softly, gesturing to him repeatedly, and then circled the owl once more.

Tang Huaiyi gradually understood: "You mean, you found a place, you brought one with you, and it brought another with it?"

The crows stopped cawing, clearly indicating that Tang Huaiyi had revealed the truth.

Tang Huaiyi's heart skipped a beat: "Is there anything left? Is anyone around?"

From the crow's reply, Tang Huaiyi learned that there were still silver dollars left, and since no one was around, he asked if he could bring them over tonight.

The crow replied that it would take a long time to fly, so Tang Huaiyi didn't insist: "Alright, let's talk about it tomorrow."

As he spoke, he took out two cornbread buns and gave them to the child to take away and eat.

The leftovers from lunch today, after Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan had eaten their fill in the evening, still left two steamed buns, which they gave to the crow.

Tang Huaiyi stroked the feathers of the crow and the owl, promising them, and also telling himself, "After a few days, I'll sell these silver dollars and have some spare money, then I'll buy you some meat to eat."

The crows and owls clearly didn't care about such things; their closeness to Tang Huaiyi couldn't be measured by food alone. However, even when it comes to feeding, Tang Huaiyi's methods were certainly completely different from how others fed him.

Back in the dormitory, the lights were still on, and Song Siyuan, Ma Laixi, Li Jialiang, and their roommates were still chatting and laughing.

The story goes that because Teacher Monkey Butt was caught bragging by the students, some of them went to find out what happened that night. Some of them somehow found out that Teacher Monkey Butt had been drinking and went to the girls' dormitory to find Liu Fangfang from Class Two. Then, he got drunk and was beaten up on campus, yelling something like "monster".

"In my opinion, the person who hit him was the one who acted bravely!" Li Jialiang said indignantly. "Liu Fangfang is so beautiful, and that monkey-butt guy is inhuman, always trying to take advantage of her!"

Immediately, a roommate next to him laughed and said, "Li Jialiang, you've got your eye on Liu Fangfang, haven't you?"

Li Jialiang blushed deeply and stammered, "No...no..."

She quickly changed the subject: "Why hasn't that tattletale from our dorm come back yet? Isn't he always pretending to study with a book in his hand?"

His roommates were all surprised when he said that.

Indeed, why hasn't He Genbao come back yet tonight?

Just then, the dormitory supervisor's voice came from outside: "Everyone, get to sleep right now! We're cutting off the power!"

Before long, the dim lights went out, plunging the dormitory into darkness.

In the darkness, Song Siyuan wondered, "Hasn't the tattletale returned yet?"

"Yeah, today is really strange!"

Someone said, "It's better if he doesn't come back! We can relax!"

This immediately drew a chorus of approval.

"Yes, yes!"

Just then, footsteps came from outside, and a person reeking of cigarettes and alcohol walked into the dormitory in the dark. With a creak, he sat down on He Genbao's bed.

The roommates fell silent, and the dormitory was quiet.