066 Wait, I Will Work Hard…
Pei Ningle was very happy today.
In the evening, it was her bar singing time again. And after tonight’s performance, she not only received the two hundred yuan from Yan Zitao but also a thousand yuan from Teacher Zhao.
This Teacher Zhao was an administrative teacher at the University of Electronic Science and Technology, one of the organizers of this welcome party. She was over forty, not particularly beautiful, and her face always had a somewhat cold feeling, but she was very fond of Pei Ningle’s singing voice. After coming to the bar to listen to the girl sing live, she gave her a thousand yuan as a deposit and urged her to come to the campus next week to participate in the rehearsal.
Ten one-hundred-yuan bills at once. It was the first time Pei Ningle had received such a high payment—and this was just the deposit, only a part of the total payment!
Coming out of the bar, she didn’t go straight back to her rental apartment as usual but called Wang Heng instead.
“Hey, where are you… I have something very, very important to tell you! Don’t wait until tomorrow, you’ll know in a bit! Where can I find you… near the playground, right?”
With that, she hung up the phone and walked towards the campus.
Tonight, because Teacher Zhao had come to watch, the performance had started earlier than usual, and thus ended earlier. It was still far from lights-out time. Although it was already completely dark, there were still many students active on campus. Under the lights, people were playing basketball on the basketball court, soccer on the soccer field…
Pei Ningle arrived at the T-junction in front of the stadium and saw Wang Heng waiting for her under a streetlight.
The girl ran over happily and, without a word, stuffed an envelope into his hand.
Wang Heng opened the envelope in confusion, and then, ten one-hundred-yuan bills fell into his palm, startling him.
“Where did you get this money?”
The girl put her hands behind her back and said with feigned helplessness, “Sigh, I originally wanted to keep it a secret for a few more days, but I really couldn’t hold it in… I received an invitation from your school to sing at your welcome party! So this thousand yuan is the deposit. That Teacher Zhao insisted on giving it to me, so it would have been rude not to accept, right?”
Wang Heng: “…Look at you, so smug.”
“Heehee,” Pei Ningle laughed. “Anyway, half of the two thousand I owe you is paid off. After I finish singing at the party, I’ll pay you back the rest with interest!”
Wang Heng: “I didn’t ask you for interest.”
Pei Ningle: “Whether you want it or not is your business. Whether I give it or not is my business.”
Wang Heng said calmly, “Alright then. If you insist on giving it, it would be unreasonable for me not to take it. Besides this, is there anything else you came to find me for?”
The girl shook her head.
“Then I’ll walk you back. Let’s go.”
With that, Wang Heng and Pei Ningle walked towards the school gate.
**
On a September night, Rongdu had not yet begun to cool down, but Han Yixuan’s hands and feet were ice-cold.
On the train to Rongdu, that night, she had had a dream. She couldn’t remember the other details of the dream; she only remembered seeing Wang Heng and another petite, cute girl.
That girl seemed… to be exactly the same as the girl in her binoculars at this moment! The only difference from the dream was that the strange girl and Wang Heng didn’t seem to be that intimate; she wasn’t holding his arm.
But just now, when the two of them met, the girl had stuffed an envelope into Wang Heng’s hand. The contents of the envelope were money!
Of course, Han Yixuan couldn’t see exactly how much money it was, but it was definitely a lot.
“So that dream, was it really a premonition…” Han Yixuan muttered. “What is the relationship between these two? Why did she give him money?”
The two walked out of the school.
Han Yixuan followed silently behind and saw them arrive at a nearby residential complex and stop at the entrance of a residential building.
Then the girl reached out to pat Wang Heng’s head, a gesture that really felt a bit intimate. But Wang Heng subconsciously ducked his head and dodged it.
The girl didn’t seem to mind much, waved her hand, and went into the building entrance.
Wang Heng turned and left.
But Han Yixuan didn’t follow. She stood in the shadow of the building next to them, her eyes already welling up with tears.
The girl remembered that day when she had confessed to Wang Heng—how had he rejected her?
He had taken her to the entrance of his old home, and then what had he said?
“Honestly, the classmate I paid the most attention to these three years of high school was you. You asked if I’ve ever liked you… I should say it was more than just liking. It was a secret crush.”
“But the worst thing is meeting the right person at the wrong age…”
“My dad is just an ordinary office worker with an average salary, and he divorced my mom a long time ago. We bought this house a few years ago. It’s second-hand, not too expensive, but my dad’s salary has to support me and pay off the mortgage. It’s a struggle.”
“So you get it now, right? Whether I want to or not, I can’t be in a relationship. I don’t have the heart for it.”
Recalling that scene, recalling his heartfelt words, and then looking at Wang Heng’s dejected back under the streetlight at this moment, Han Yixuan felt that she had finally understood him.
A mature man must always learn to bow to reality.
Bowing to reality, so he couldn’t be with the person he truly liked, because he didn’t have the financial means. He didn’t even dare to be in a relationship, and was even more afraid of wasting his lover’s youth.
Bowing to reality, so he could only debase himself with someone he didn’t like in exchange for payment.
Why did that girl give him money? Was there even a need to ask? Love, dignity, and even his body, all had to become bargaining chips in a transaction!
“How much weight have you been carrying…” Han Yixuan was overcome with grief and couldn’t help but sob. “You’ve endured so much humiliation, and I didn’t understand at all, only knowing how to give a flippant confession…”
Gradually, her tears dried, but the girl’s heart ached even more.
If a woman was forced to endure humiliation for the sake of her family’s livelihood, how sad would that be?
Then, what if the genders were reversed? A male student who had not yet graduated, trapped by money, even abandoning his male dignity, enduring humiliation to please those rich lolis… How tragic was such a life?
Putting herself in his shoes, her heart was about to break.
Han Yixuan wiped the remaining tear stains from her cheeks, clenched her fists, and squeezed the tear stains in her palm.
“You wait. I will definitely work hard! One day, I will take out a check and let you know that what they give you, I can give you too!”
The girl turned and left.
Compared to continuing to follow Wang Heng, she felt that it was obviously more important to go back and improve herself as soon as possible, and then earn her first pot of gold.
But she didn’t notice that not far away, a hamster and a little white cat were staring at her.
**
The hamster clapped its little front paws. “Alright, just finished the melon seeds. Time to go back.”
The little white cat let out a curious “meow.”
The hamster jumped up and slapped the cat’s head. “Don’t just stand there dazed. Let’s go!”
The little white cat let out a wronged and obedient “meow.”
