Chapter 23: Not in This Lifetime
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The bus arrived at the stop.
Yang Jian sent Wang Shanshan home first.
Because she had called beforehand, when he and Wang Shanshan walked to the entrance of a high-end residential area, a middle-aged woman dressed in fashionable clothes walked over with a frown and a slightly unhappy expression.
“Mom,” Wang Shanshan’s face revealed a look of joy.
“I see you still remember to come home, huh? Where have you been all night? We couldn’t even get through to your phone. Do you know how worried we were about you? You’re a girl, what if something happens to you outside? If you hadn’t come back today, I was going to report it to the police with your father,” Wang Shanshan’s mother, Wang Haiyan scolded her.
“Mom, I’m sorry. Something happened at school, so…” Wang Shanshan lowered her head and said.
Wang Haiyan said, “Alright, tell your father the reason later. I’ll ask you, who is this boy? Why did he come back with you?”
“He’s my classmate, Yang Jian. Didn’t you see him in school before?” Wang Shanshan said.
“Classmate? You have so many classmates, how could I remember all of them?” Wang Haiyan sized up Yang Jian.
Yang Jian said, “Hello, Auntie Wang. Since there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first. I’ll visit you again when I’m free.”
He didn’t stay long and planned to leave immediately.
“Wait,” Wang Haiyan stopped Yang Jian and asked “You’re Shanshan’s classmate? Let me ask you, where did the two of you go last night? Why is Shanshan only back now? Did you bring her somewhere to fool around?”
Yang Jian said, “Auntie Wang, it’s not what you think. Something special happened at school after last night’s self-study session and everyone in the class stayed behind at school. All of us just left. I was just worried that it would be unsafe for Wang Shanshan to go home alone, so I sent her back.”
“I called Teacher Wang. Nothing happened at school yesterday,” Wang Haiyan said.
Yang Jian smiled and said, “None of us could get through to Teacher Wang yesterday. Auntie, you must be joking.”
Wang Haiyan knew that Teacher Wang’s phone couldn’t be reached. She was just deliberately trying to trick the boy to see if there was anything fishy going on.
She then said, “I should thank you for being kind enough to send Shanshan home. However, Shanshan’s upbringing is quite strict. She has never stayed outside overnight since she was young, and she has never been acquaintances with anyone shady. Besides, it’s the third year of high school. At such an important time, Shanshan has to put her studies first. I hope that you will not affect Shanshan’s studies in the future.”
What she trying to say between her words was to tell Yang Jian to stay away from Wang Shanshan and not to have any thoughts about her daughter.
After saying that, Wang Haiyan took out two hundred Yuan from her wallet and stuffed the bills into Yang Jian’s hand, saying, “It must have been hard on you to send Shanshan back so early in the morning. You probably haven’t had breakfast yet. Let me give you two hundred Yuan as a treat for breakfast. I hope you won’t think it’s little, please take it.”
Yang Jian looked at the two hundred Yuan in his hands and was stunned for a moment. Then, the smile on his face disappeared and he said calmly, “Thank you, Auntie.”
After saying that, he took the money and turned around to leave.
Once Yang Jian left, Wang Shanshan was so angry that she almost cried. “Mom, you’re too much. Although Yang Jian’s grades aren’t very good, he’s a good person. Why did you give him money? Aren’t you humiliating him?”
“You naive girl, what do you know? I’m just testing this boy. Look, he took the two hundred Yuan without even thinking of rejecting it. With one look I can tell that he’s a poor kid with no ambition. You must stay away from such people in the future. Don’t be deceived by the sweet words of such a person,” Wang Haiyan said.
“You don’t know anything. Do you know what happened at school last night? Without Yang Jian, I would have died. Do you think Yang Jian was willing to send me? I begged him to send me home. How can I see him after you do this?”
“Such a person has no backbone at all. It’s best not to see him,” Wang Haiyan said. “Our family is not so casual.”
“Sob…” Wang Shanshan was so angry that she cried, and she directly turned to leave.
Yang Jian, who had boarded the bus again, looked at the two hundred Yuan in his hand. He understood very well what Wang Shanshan’s mother’s actions meant.
There was a hint of humiliation in her contempt.
If it were anyone else, they would have exploded in anger.
However, Yang Jian’s expression was calm and unmoved. So what if he was angry?
Wang Shanshan’s family was well-off and she was beautiful. Usually, she wouldn’t have much interaction with a loser like himself. He suddenly sent her home, it was only a given that her parents would dislike someone like him and try every means to keep him away.
Even if he lost his temper in front of her, it would only be a disgrace. He couldn’t possibly jump and hit Wang Haiyan just because she gave him 200 Yuan, right?
Moreover, to the current Yang Jian, this was just a trivial matter. It wasn’t like he had saved Wang Shanshan with ulterior motives.
“It’s not easy to be a good person. No wonder ghosts have appeared,” Yang Jian touched the back of his hand and smiled self-deprecatingly. He put the 200 Yuan into his pocket.
When he got home, he immediately fell asleep on the bed.
It was because he was simply too tired.
The other students also went home one after another. Even if such a big thing had happened, they still had to go home, didn’t they?
At this moment, Zhang Wei returned to his villa.
He hadn’t lied. He was indeed a rich kid. It was just that he usually kept a low profile and didn’t have the temperament of a prodigal.
“Why did you come back so late? I couldn’t even get through to your phone. What have you been doing all night?” As soon as Zhang Wei entered, his father, Zhang Xiangui, heard the door open and walked out of the room, looking at him with a serious face.
Zhang Wei shrunk his neck and said, “School… I went out to play with my friends.”
He wanted to say that the school was haunted and that he had been tortured half to death, but he felt that saying such a thing seemed like an insult to his father’s IQ, so he did not say it out loud and chose to tell a lie.
“You went out to play? You’re not allowed to do this again next time,” Zhang Xiangui did not criticize him too harshly. He just casually said, “Remember to go to school after you eat breakfast. Don’t be late.”
Go to school?
Zhang Wei’s pupils suddenly shrank. He said in fear, “No, I’m not going to school.”
“What are you going to do if you’re not going to school?” Zhang Xiangui asked.
“I can do anything, but I’m not going to school,” Zhang Wei said.
How could he still dare to go to No.7 High School? Was he sick of life? That place was haunted. He had finally escaped a few hours ago with such difficulty. If he still went to school, wouldn’t that be suicide?
No, even if he committed suicide, he wouldn’t go to that school again.
“Do you need a beating? How dare you skip class?” Zhang Xiangui glared at him. “The college entrance exams are just around the corner, are you not going to apply for university by taking leave at such a timing?”
“I’d rather not go to university than go to school. Dad, don’t force me, please. The school is being haunted by ghosts at the moment. If I go to school, I’ll die. Last night, dozens of my classmates had died. I finally escaped with such difficulty, even if you beat me to death, I’m not going to school,” Zhang Wei said.
“Haunted? Have you gone crazy? Let’s go, I’m taking you to school. If it’s really haunted, I’d like to see it. Your father has never seen a ghost in his life,” Zhang Xiangui said as he grabbed Zhang Wei’s hand.
Zhang Wei immediately flung his hand away and jumped, saying with a hint of shock and anger, “Let go of me. I said I won’t go to school and I won’t! Even if I, Zhang Wei, am to die, I’ll die outside. I’d rather jump down from here or get a gun pointed at my head, but I will never take another step into No.7 High School in my life. I mean my words. Dad, if you don’t believe me, go ahead and try me.”
“It’s fine if you don’t go to school, but I won’t be giving you any more pocket money in the future. You can support yourself,” Zhang Xiangui said angrily.
“…” Zhang Wei fell silent and turned back to his room.
Zhang Xiangui said, “If you’re so great, just hide in your room and don’t come out.”
A moment later, Zhang Wei walked out with two books in his hands. “Dad, I’m going to school.”
“Okay,” Zhang Xiangui nodded his head in satisfaction.
Zhang Wei, who had left home, sneered.
Go to school?
Not in this lifetime, not in the next either.
Who said he had to go to school with books in his hands? Couldn’t he go to the internet cafe?
“Today, I, Zhang Wei, will play twenty rounds of PUBG in the internet cafe,” Zhang Wei came to the door of the internet cafe and said loudly.
However, not long after Zhang Wei went online, two special personnel came to him.
“Are you Zhang Wei, a student of No.7 High School?” One of them asked.
Zhang Wei was stunned for a moment. Then, he crossed his legs and pretended to be mature as he said, “Big brother, you have mistaken me for someone else. My name is Yang Jian, Zhang Wei is my classmate.”
“Your ID is registered at the counter, and it’s most certainly you. Come with us. There is a case we need your help in investigating.”
“…” Zhang Wei was bewildered, but he was quickly taken away.