CH 20

The next day, Lu Rong and Ji Wenfeng went to school together in Lao Song’s car. They were still a block away from the school, when Ji Wenfeng ordered the car to stop: “Uncle Song, I’ll just walk in.” His enrollment had already been so high-profile because of his father, and Ji Wenfeng didn’t want to be watched every day.

Lao Song steadily parked the car in front of a breakfast shop, Ji Wenfeng got out of the car first, but Lu Rong stayed in the car, unable to get off. He didn’t want to disclose his relationship with Ji Wenfeng. Ji Wenfeng was a man with his own spotlight, but he only wanted to be an ordinary big boss. If it was revealed that he lived under the same roof as Ji Wenfeng, he may become a celebrity in the school. What could he do? How would he make a fortune in silence?

In order to deceive others, he also hid something in his backpack, which could not be used in front of Ji Wenfeng.

He just hesitated for a while, and Ji Wenfeng immediately narrowed his eyes like a fox: “Oh? You don’t want to go with me?”

Lu Rong remembered that he had made a useful character design, so he immediately became indignant and proudly said: “I don’t want to use your money, and I don’t want people to know that I have something to do with you.”

Ji Wenfeng squinted at him for a long time, lazily hung the bright red Beats earphones around his neck on his ears: “Yes. That’s what I want.” After saying that, he walked away.

Lu Rong analyzed it and found that Ji Wenfeng was very unwilling to have a relationship with him at this time, just like a distant relative who had no money came to the door to get alms, but it was best not to show the family ugliness. Lu Rong put on his hat and asked Lao Song to move a little further before getting out of the car.

Lu Rong, who got rid of Ji Wenfeng, finally started his daily schedule. He first went to a row of food stalls in front of the school to inspect the situation. The breakfast suppliers headed by Chen Yulian was working hard to get rich, but there was no sign of Lao Wang. Lu Rong was so disappointed in him, he really didn’t come after giving him a few days off, did he not want to earn the money? There was no subjective initiative at all.

Yan Gou was buying red bean porridge in front of Chen Yulian’s stall with his schoolbag on his back. He took a sip of the red bean porridge, looked around, saw Lu Rong appearing in the crowd, and his eyes lit up, then he waved at him.

Lu Rong walked up to Yan Gou, and the two entered the school side by side, listening to Yan Gou’s report on yesterday’s big campus incident along the way.

Yan Gou handed the earphone to Lu Rong, Lu Rong put it on the right ear, Yan Gou opened the audio file, and Google electronic voice came out from the phone: “Yesterday, the major events that happened in Chengnan High School are: Class 1 and Class 8 of the first year of senior high school were held together. After a tense basketball game, Ji Wenfeng, a new super star, had a nosebleed and missed class!

Lu Rong: “…” Ji Wenfeng didn’t attend class because he was skipping class, okay?

Yan Gou continued to report: “It is said that on the night of the basketball game, Class 8 held a celebration party organized by the class leader, Fang Chang. 85% of the girls were filled with righteous indignation and felt that Fang Chang had gone too far! They were calling for the establishment of a more fair and equitable ball game mechanism which would allow Ji Wenfeng to take revenge on the field.”

Lu Rong said: “Ji Wenfeng is very popular with women, so you can start selling his photos.”

Yan Gou nodded vigorously.

Lu Rong hummed: “Let Li Nanbian do a market survey, Ji Wenfeng’s illegitimate photos, what price range girls can accept. And if they could date Ji Wenfeng alone, how much would they be willing to pay.”

Yan Gou stopped and looked at him adoringly. When Lu Rong looked back at him, he quickly typed a line with his mobile phone: Boss can handle Ji Wenfeng?

Lu Rong said four words: “In the future, it can be expected – how did the party in class 8 go?”

Yan Gou opened another audio file: “Class 8 held a grand party to celebrate Guo Jing’s smooth cast, but according to the interview on the spot, everyone didn’t have a good time. First of all, the location of the party was nothing new. Fang Chang chose the nearest one o’clock KTV, and there were no other activities except singing, drinking, playing dice and cards. The girls were singing and the boys were playing cards, and they were bored with each other. For this reason, squad leader Fang Chang posted a heroic post, asking for suggestions for any new venues for class activities to choose from.”

Lu Rong: “Did he say how much is left in the class membership fee?”

Yan Gou: “No. But according to my calculations, not much.”

Lu Rong hummed: “Let’s not talk about how much is left, the masses’ demand for entertainment venues is increasing day by day, and the usual KTV, Internet cafes, board game shops and other places can no longer meet their requirements. Write it down.”

Yan Gou recorded the quotations from Boss Lu. Infected by the spirit of Boss Lu’s quotations, he realized that where there was demand, there was a market, so he typed a paragraph in the memo and handed it to Lu Rong: “By the way, Guo Jing had a plaster cast, and everyone painted graffiti on it. Guo Jing’s leg has become a graffiti board, the market demand is huge!”

Lu Rong: “…the price is a bit too high.”

Yan Gou suddenly realized and nodded: “The first person with a cast plaster is very novel, and the second person to pay attention, the suspicion will be too great.”

Lu Rong: “…you can understand it this way.”

The two walked up to the third floor, Class 8 was on the side of the stairs, and Lu Rong wanted to go in first. Yan Gou touched his arm suddenly, pointed to the top of his head, and pointed the phone screen at him, with a sentence written on it: Boss, the hat is beautiful.

Lu Rong: “Okay, thank you.”

….

Lu Rong walked into the classroom, Fang Chang greeted him immediately, and patted him on the shoulder familiarly: “You did a good job the day before yesterday, Xiao Lu. I didn’t expect you to be so good at the game, do you want to consider joining the basketball team?”

Lu Rong shook his head, he had no time to participate in projects that didn’t make money.

Fang Chang was rejected and turned his face: “You skipped class yesterday?”

Lu Rong: “There was something at home.”

Fang Chang: “You are still wearing a hat in the classroom, which is disrespectful to the teacher.”

Lu Rong thought for a while: “I hit my head when I was playing basketball the day before yesterday. I had a headache and wanted to vomit yesterday. I called my mother and we went to the hospital. It was found to be a concussion. The doctor told me not to let it get blown the wind, so I wore a hat.”

Fang Chang: ” …Looks like we’re throwing you a party too.”

Lu Rong quietly lowered his head to sort out the homework to be handed in. Fang Chang told the student cadres who came to check his appearance about Lu Rong’s situation, and everyone expressed their understanding. Lu Rong knew that if he exposed his permed hair, it would definitely cause a lot of trouble, so he put on his hat in advance. He also knew that Fang Chang would report his concussion to every teacher in the future, so he didn’t have to introduce his lies one by one.

Then things went well, and he got the privilege of wearing a hat in the classroom and was allowed to skip morning exercises. The English class representative happened to have a stack of test papers which had to be sent to the English teacher’s office and asked if he could do it for her. If she passed by now, she would be late for the exercises, and class marks would be deducted for being late, and Fang Chang would nag her.

Lu Rong’s personality in class was that of a quiet, good-natured guy with no sense of existence, his eyes were always empty, and he looked a little incapable of concentrating, as if autism had spread in him from childhood to adolescence, and it had not been cured for a long time. So even though he was handsome, had a good temper, and didn’t talk much about people, girls still felt that no one could choose him as a boyfriend, but they could treat him as a coolie. He gave people a feeling that he had mental problems, every move was normal but there was a sense of disobedience everywhere, just like Yan Gou in Class 6.

Lu Rong would not offend anyone. Occasionally, a girl asked him for help, and he was very straightforward. He nodded and stood up holding the test papers and left.

The English class representative thought to herself: Even the fact that he can’t speak is exactly the same as Yan Gou.    

Lu Rong walked into the office with the test papers in his arms, and the English teacher let out a hey when she saw him: “I heard you have a concussion?”

Sitting in front of the computer, Ji Wenfeng was watching a tape. He turned his head slowly, and their eyes met.

The English teacher didn’t appreciate the glare of swords in this gaze, and said cheerfully: “The hat is not bad—is it necessary to wear a hat for a concussion? It’s the first time I’ve heard of it.”

Lu Rong was startled. And did not know which pot to hide in.

Ji Wenfeng looked at Lu Rong for a while with knife-like eyes, then stood up and said to the English teacher, “Thank you teacher, I’m running out.”

The English teacher was drinking red dates and goji berry tea as she asked, “Is it up or down?”

Ji Wenfeng smiled “kindly” at Lu Rong: “Someone is going to be locked up.”

Lu Rong narrowed his gaze, put down the test papers silently, and worked hard to stand there, ready to face the next bloodbath. Ji Wenfeng walked past him and hit him on the shoulder with such force that the hat on Lu Rong’s head was knocked off.

The English teacher tasted the red dates and goji berry tea: “Xiao Lu, your hair looks good…huh? Did you get your head permed?”

If she was a steel straight man like Zhu Renliang, she might not be able to tell that Lu Rong had gotten his hair done, but as a fashionable girl, the English teacher only needed to take a look at Lu Rong’s naturally curled air bangs to know that this hairstyle was time-consuming and not worth the money.

Ji Wenfeng raised the corners of his lips, glanced at Lu Rong maliciously, opened the door and walked away. Lu Rong was left in the office with the English teacher. Not long after, Gu Yijun rushed back from the place where the exercises were done and sat across from him.

Their homeroom teacher, Gu Yijun, had just graduated with a master’s degree. He wore a suit and tie to give lectures on stage every day. It was in stark contrast to the English teacher who wore revealing fashion and had a very social animal-like temperament. Gu Yijun entered high school after graduating from university, had no contact with society, was still young, and sometimes looked like their big brother.

Gu Yijun had a long talk with Lu Rong: “I heard from the English teacher that you skipped school for half a day yesterday to get your hair done. Hmm… everyone has a desire for beauty, where did you get your hair done?”

Lu Rong: “…”

English Teacher: “Gu-Yi-Jun–” Reminding him that this was against the teacher’s morality.

Gu Yijun cleared his throat: “Everyone has a love of beauty. You are in adolescence, and it is normal to want to make yourself look more handsome. A man dies for a confidant, and a woman for a man who pleases her. You can tell me the truth. Which girl do you have a crush on?”

Lu Rong: “…my mother is getting married, and I have to go to her wedding.”

Gu Yijun nodded and admitted after a few seconds: “I don’t understand. Your mother is going to get married, why do you have to get your head permed? Are you going to marry your mother?” After speaking, he was frightened by this conjecture and his face changed.

Lu Rong also looked at him in horror.

Gu Yijun: “Sorry, I can only think of this reason, what else?”

Lu Rong said blankly, “My parents were arrested and imprisoned for crimes when I was just born. My adoptive mother then got divorced and worked hard so that she could support us both. My adoptive mother, my aunt, worked so hard to bring me up and she’s getting married this weekend. She picked out a new suit for me with all the money we had left in the family, so I had my head permed, because I hope that everyone can be harmonious when taking pictures.”

Gu Yijun was stunned for a while, took a small breath, and looked at the English teacher in dismay.

Gu Yijun picked up the hat on the table, and solemnly put it on Lu Rong’s head: “You should recover from the concussion before your mother holds the wedding.”

Lu Rong: “Thank you, teacher.”

Gu Yijun watched Lu Rong leave, and whisper asked the English teacher: “Should I give a red envelope in such a situation?”

The English teacher: “…No need in general, but it depends on your conscience.” Lu Rong’s family seemed to be in particularly bad condition.

Gu Yijun looked at his bank card balance sadly. Why did Ji Wenfeng have to shake Lu Rong’s hat off?

Lu Rong also wanted to ask this question. He walked out the door, and Ji Wenfeng was waiting for him outside.