When Zhu Xingyao was still thinking about how to refuse the 60 yuan, she saw Jiang Tu pull his hand out stiffly, turn to look at her, and explain coldly: "I don't have any money today, I'll give it to you tomorrow when I go to school."
She was stunned for a moment, and an idea popped into her mind - did she forget to bring money or did she have no money
Thinking of this, she hurriedly shook her head: "No, no, you haven't been able to pay attention to the blackboard and listen to the class this week, 60 yuan is just... just consider it as missed tuition."
Yes, there is loss of wages when working, and there is loss of tuition fees when studying.
Jiang Tu: “…”
He looked at her somewhat flustered but well-intentioned explanation, his complex psychology mixed with a hint of tenderness, but his face was tense, and he said coldly: "No, I still have 60 yuan, I don't like to owe others."
As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of cold wind blew through his chest, and he suddenly felt cold.
Zhu Xingyao felt that he was colder than the late autumn night and was suddenly at a loss. Her cell phone suddenly rang and she quickly took it out of her bag. She saw that it was almost eight o'clock.
Zhu Yunping said before that he would pick her up after working overtime, so it would be around this time.
She lowered her head and answered the call, her voice soft: "Dad."
Zhu Yunping smiled and asked, "I'm almost there, come down."
"I went shopping with Xixi this afternoon and didn't go back to the practice room. I was... I was..."
She had hardly been here before, and for a moment she couldn't describe where she was. She subconsciously looked at Jiang Tu, and he whispered, "The intersection of Hexi Lane and East 1st Road." She quickly repeated, "I'm at the intersection of Hexi Lane and East 1st Road."
"Why did you go over there?" Zhu Yunping turned the steering wheel. "Then stand over there and wait for me. Don't go inside. It gets a bit chaotic over there at night."
Zhu Xingyao wanted to say that she was not alone, but was afraid that Zhu Yunping would think too much, so she said obediently, "Okay."
Jiang Tu watched her hang up the phone and took a step forward, "Let's go, I'll take you to the intersection."
Zhu Xingyao was stunned for a moment, then she zipped up her backpack and followed. She originally thought that the intersection of East 1st Road was ahead, but Jiang Tu took her around a corner and walked for several minutes before stopping at a bright intersection with heavy traffic and people coming and going.
The two stood under the road sign. Jiang Tu looked down at her and said, "Wait here. Cars passing by will see you."
Zhu Xingyao looked up at him: "Okay, thank you."
"No need." Jiang Tu said nothing more, "I'm leaving first."
"Okay, see you tomorrow."
"… "
He turned around and walked away without saying anything. His back figure looked thin and frail in the crowd. Zhu Xingyao felt cold just by looking at him. She couldn't help but mutter in a low voice: "You're not afraid of catching a cold when you wear so little. If you catch a cold, you still have to spend money on medicine... It's not worth it!"
She turned back and looked up at the road sign.
A minute later, a black Mercedes stopped in front of her. Zhu Yunping lowered the window. She immediately smiled, opened the door and got in. At the corner at the end of the street, the boy looked back and left after seeing her get in the car.
Jiang Tu walked all the way home from East Lane. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Jiang Jinhui, who hadn't been home for several days. Jiang Jinhui seemed to be in a good mood and smiled when he saw him: "Hey, you got new glasses? Do you want me to reimburse you?"
Looks like I won money.
Jiang Tu ignored him and walked straight into the room.
Shu Xian came out of the kitchen carrying a rice cooker and called out, "Xiao Tu, go call your brother back."
Jiang Tu hummed, went back to his room, got a coat and put it on, then went out again to the black internet cafe that took in elementary school students to pick up Jiang Lu. Jiang Lu had been beaten up two days ago, so this time he followed him obediently and praised him, "Brother, your new glasses are much cooler than the old ones."
Early Monday morning, Ding Xiang walked into the classroom and saw Jiang Tu's glasses. He immediately shouted, "Emma! Jiang Tu, you finally got glasses!"
He had a loud voice, and when he shouted, all the students who were preparing for morning reading in a gloomy mood looked over at him.
—Except Zhu Xingyao.
Jiang Tu didn't even raise his head. He just hummed softly and continued to do his homework. He didn't have time to do his homework on weekends, so he would come early on Monday morning to do it.
After satisfying their curiosity, everyone turned back to do what they were supposed to do.
Li Xixi turned to look at Zhu Xingyao and commented: "This pair of glasses is much better looking than the previous black-framed ones. It's true that clothes make the man, and Jiang Tu makes the glasses... Bah, not really. He still looks better without glasses."
Zhou Qian lay on the table and whispered, "Xingxing, do you still want to pay?"
"Does it look good? I chose the frame, and the money..."
Zhu Xingyao was tidying up her desk and looked up at Li Xixi with a smile. Suddenly, she saw a physics homework on the desk. Jiang Tu's name was written on the name column. She paused and opened the homework to take a look.
Sure enough, there was a fifty-dollar note and a ten-dollar note inside.
She glanced back.
Li Xixi tugged at her sleeve, surprised: "Ah? What did you just say? You chose the frame? When did you go to choose it? I was with you the whole afternoon yesterday and didn't hear you say anything!"
She asked several questions in a row, her voice quite loud.
The people at the tables in front and behind heard it. Zhang Sheng and Cao Ming walked by arm in arm. Suddenly, he paused and looked down at Zhu Xingyao with a bad expression. "Zhu Xingyao, you really compensated him for his glasses? Is he embarrassed?"
He was louder.
Okay, now the whole class knows.
Zhu Xingyao felt that Zhang Sheng was simply inexplicable. She couldn't help but frowned: "This is my business, you have no right to interfere."
Zhang Sheng's face turned green and he returned to his seat angrily.
Zhu Xingyao frowned, put the money away, and took another look at Jiang Tu's homework. It was the first time she had looked through his homework book. His handwriting was unexpectedly good, a little sloppy, but the strokes were strong and neat.
In the afternoon, the three classes had physical education class together. When Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi went downstairs together, they heard girls from other classes saying, "Lu Ji won first place in the physics competition. Is that true?"
"Really? Someone heard Teacher Xie talking about it with the head teacher of Class 7 next door this morning. But I heard that Jiang Tu was originally going to participate, but was forced to withdraw due to family matters."
"That doesn't mean you can beat Lu Ji in the exam. Apart from his poor handwriting, Lu Ji doesn't have any flaws, right?"
…
As everyone knows, Lu Ji's handwriting is poorly written, which is totally inconsistent with his handsome appearance.
Li Xixi turned around and asked Zhu Xingyao: "I remember that the final results haven't been announced yet, did they all predict the future?"
Zhu Xingyao thought for a moment and said, "Lu Ji's score in the semi-finals is very high, so there's a good chance that he'll get first place. Just guess."
Everyone gathered in the playground. Jiang Tu and Zhang Sheng were about the same height, so they stood together. Zhang Sheng was also the physical education committee member. When the physical education teacher asked him to take people to get equipment, he called three boys, including Jiang Tu and Cao Ming.
Jiang Tu didn't say anything and followed everyone to the equipment room.
Four boys walked into the equipment room. When Jiang Tu reached out to take the tennis racket, Zhang Sheng glanced at him. Cao Ming suddenly raised his hand and took away the glasses on Jiang Tu's nose. "Let me see the glasses chosen by the goddess! Lend them to me. My prescription is about the same as yours..."
Jiang Tu grabbed the basketball and looked over with a frown. He had been wearing glasses for so long that there were two shallow marks on the bridge of his nose. His eyes were dark and cold, and Cao Ming was a little frightened by his gaze.
Zhang Sheng laughed and snatched it away: "Let me see it too."
Cao Ming came back to his senses and remembered that he still had a play to perform, so he hurriedly grabbed it and said, "I borrowed it first. You're not nearsighted, so why are you joining in the fun?" The two of them pushed and grabbed the glasses, treating the owner of the glasses as if they were air.
Snap—
The glasses fell to the ground.
The two were still pushing, and Zhang Sheng, wearing a pair of new red sneakers, was about to step on the glasses.
Jiang Tu didn't think twice and threw the basketball hard. His force was so strong that Zhang Sheng's knee went numb and he fell to the side. Zhang Sheng hissed, covered his knee and looked up at him, "Fuck - your mother!" He bit his cheek, stood up and rushed over.
Jiang Tu bent down, held down his legs, took the glasses out from under his feet, and pushed his legs apart with force.
He stood up and looked at Zhang Sheng: "I don't want to fight in school."