Don’t Pretend to be Poor with Me - Chapter 11

Then why are you sticking to me?

No wonder Xia Zhiye had that reaction when he got those studying materials.

It was also no wonder that Liu Yue believed that his grades were poor.

Turns out when Ruan Tian set up the one on one help, he was the one who was lagging behind.

It seems that he was imagining things1. Not to mention giving No.3 Middle High’s tyrant who was the grand defending champion, a book of basic foundational knowledge and error-prone questions, but he even arrogantly said he didn’t need the other to help explain questions.

After messing around for so long, it turns out he himself was the clown.

The more unreasonable thing was that Xia Zhiye clearly knew he had misunderstood, yet he didn’t provide any explanation. Instead watched as he arranged study materials, and wrong questions, then easily steamrolled himself to get the first place amongst the five schools.

It was simply as if Miaomiao’s mom opened the door for Miaomiao, and Miaomiao came home2.

As a result, on this celebratory and auspicious day, the originally happy and joyful little fatty found that the atmospheric pressure around him was so low to the point it was scary.

The neighboring Liu Yue had lost so terribly and became a dead person, so that was justifiable.

But the two masters behind him, one who tested in first place and got a scholarship of 2,000 yuan, and another who counterattacked and cleansed the unjust treatment, why did they have such unhappy expressions?

Xia Zhiye had the same exact question, tilted his head, then scratched his head: “Song Yan? Yan ge? Master Yan? Song Daxi?”

“Who’s the master?” Song Yan impatiently raised his head.

Xia Zhiye poked out a finger: “You haven’t said anything to me for an entire afternoon already.”

“I remember I said thank you.”

“Other than that.”

“Other than that we have nothing else to say.”

Song Yan lowered his head, and with drooping eyes continued working on problems, an apathetic expression on his face.

Xia Zhiye: “……”

Sure enough, pretty boys are all heartless.

He originally thought after explaining his reasoning to Liu Deqing and returning, he would be able to receive pretty classmate Song Daxi’s grateful and passionate hug. As a result, there was no passionate hug, but it seemed as if the other was even colder than usual.

Does this little one have no conscience.

Xia Zhiye settled for second best: “You should at least tell me what you want to eat for lunch.”

Song Yan: “No need. I have to go to the hospital to remove my cast this afternoon. I’ll eat outside by myself for lunch.”

“I’ll go with you?”

“Thank you for your good intentions, but there’s a school doctor.”

“……”

A certain someone suddenly became so polite, and Xia Zhiye was a bit unused to it. He still preferred Song Yan’s slap followed by his scolding ‘dumbass’ when he was upset.

So where did he offend this person?

Xia Zhiye didn’t understand.

Just then, the activities committee member passed by, and tossed a small box at Song Yan: “Delivery for you. It came from Beijing.”

Song Yan smoothly caught it, pulled out a knife, and the tip of the knife cut against the seam of the adhesive tape. A bottle of medicine carelessly rolled out.

He was holding things and it was inconvenient to bend over.

Xia Zhiye also didn’t think too much, and easily helped pick it up. But his eyes inadvertently saw the characters written on the surface of the bottle. He furrowed his eyebrows, and was just about to question Song Yan when the medicine bottle was snatched away.

He raised his head and just happened to see Song Yan stuff the medicine bottle into his bag. Xia Zhiye asked: “You have insomnia?”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

Song Yan pulled up the zippers of his backpack, and continued working on questions.

Xia Zhiye’s fingertips stretched out in front of him, and tapped twice against the desk. With a heavier tone: “Do you have insomnia?”

Song Yan impatiently pushed away the other’s hand: “I already said, it has nothing to do with you. You don’t understand?”

“Why does it have nothing to do with me?”

“Why does it have anything to do with you?”

“I’m your roommate.”

“Are we familiar with each other?”

An extremely impatient rhetorical question came out, and the air was suddenly plunged into a subtle silence.

The little fatty felt uncomfortable.

The kind of discomfort that you would feel when your mom and dad fought, and suddenly one person brought up divorce, exceeding the threshold of a normal disagreement.

After all, the entire half month that Song Yan was injured, Xia Zhiye attended to him inseparably, and the two were so close they were like conjoined twins. Now saying these kinds of words, really was a bit hurtful.

Song Yan also seemed regretful for a moment. His fingers paused, his eyelids half opened, but he quickly lowered his eyelids again, and immersed himself in his worksheets. As if he carelessly blinked just then.

“So don’t meddle in other people’s business.”

His tone was both extremely alienating and indifferent.

Xia Zhiye didn’t say anything else.

He just watched Song Yan’s unconsciously taut lips and his bony wrist, and suddenly thought of the little wild cat outside the entrance of his house when he was a child.

Pretty, vigilant, and bad-tempered. At the drop of a hat it would fight with other wild cats and injure his whole body. There were good natured people that wanted to raise it, but regardless of others’ goodwill, it was unwilling to act lovable.

Even if some person gave it good food and drink to make it reluctantly get along with them, but as long as it felt its territory being encroached upon, it would immediately arch its back and scratch out its paws in a ruthless manner.

As the elders would say, the little ones who have suffered have heavy hearts.

No matter how you raise it, it’ll never get close to you.

.

The two didn’t speak for the entire afternoon.

In the afternoon, after removing the cast and leaving the hospital, Song Yan didn’t really want to return to class.

Mainly because he didn’t want to face Xia Zhiye.

So after speaking with the school doctor, he went directly to the dormitories to catch up on sleep.

Only after walking to the entrance, did he find the door was securely shut.

There was even a bright red notice stuck on the door:

[Dorm Management’s New Rules: If there are any students who enter the dorms before the 5:30pm class dismissal or leave after lights out at 11pm, you must contact the homeroom teacher and the Educational Administrative office to verify the circumstances. This regulation of discipline will put an end to the harmful incidences of skipping class and returning late. End of announcement.]

Song Yan: “……”

With a paralyzed face, he pushed his bag up his shoulders, then turned around and left the small alley.

It was almost September, and the intense heat has yet to fade. The air felt as if it couldn’t be completely wrung dry, and always felt damp and sultry.

Song Yan lifted the collar of his school uniform and fanned himself twice. He didn’t know where he should go.

The half month after he arrived at Nan Wu, he rode with Xia Zhiye on that pink bicycle to and from school nearly every day, and never visited anywhere else.

And when he thought of Xia Zhiye, Song Yan felt the weather was even more stuffy.

Actually rather than being angry, he just felt more embarrassed.

As long as he thought of himself attentively watching Xia Zhiye and stopping him from sleeping in class or playing on his phone, pressuring him to complete his homework every day, and the way he wholeheartedly wanted to help the other receive the most improved award, Song Yan felt he was such an idiot.

Then he also thought of how Xia Zhiye clearly knew he was meddling in others’ business, but didn’t say anything to explain it, and felt that in the other’s heart, he probably was a bigger idiot.

So when Xia Zhiye asked about the medicine, he felt his safe space had been completely insulted.

After all, they only knew each other for half a month, if he hadn’t been imagining things3 and unnecessarily trying to provide poverty alleviation, from the start, there would have been no deep relationship.

Also Xia Zhiye was number one in the grade, and had won the scholarship. From the beginning to end Xia Zhiye had no need for himself, and later the two would have no need to interfere with each other, nor would they owe each other. They could do whatever they wanted.

When he thought of this, Song Yan’s heart didn’t feel much more at ease.

He suddenly felt a cold sensation on his cheeks.

He raised his head to look, then found that it began to rain at some point.

He really was unfortunate wherever he went.

With a cold face, Song Yan prepared to turn and walk back, but suddenly heard the faint sound of a dispute from the entrance of the alley, vaguely interspersed with the sound of an old lady as well as the cries of a small girl, as well as a few familiar foul-mouthed voices.

After arriving at Nan Wu, there was only one old person he’d spoken with.

Song Yan glanced at the familiar, surrounding scenery, and immediately felt a bad premonition in his heart. He immediately turned around, pulled out his cellphone, and while calling, he quickly ran towards the small courtyard at the innermost portion of the alley.

Several old people were standing not too far away from the entrance to the courtyard, anxiously pacing around in circles. After they heard the sound of footsteps, they looked over as if they’ve been saved.

“Oh, someone with the school uniform is coming, is it Xiao Ye?”

“It doesn’t look like it, aiyah. It’s been so long since we’ve called him, how come he’s still not here.”

“He’s still in class, it’s normal for him to have trouble coming out.”

“Aiyah, isn’t it almost time for school to end, I’m worried to death.”

“Hey! Young man! Who are you! What are you doing!”

“Excuse me, please.”

Song Yan stuffed the phone whose screen was still lit into the pocket of his uniform, and pushed aside the door of the courtyard. As expected, across from the door he saw a row of feather dusters sitting in the courtyard with their leg raised high in a show of their military strength.

And in the direction of the door, little mahjong extended her short little arms standing in front to block grandma Liu, crying out with enough force to tear her heart and crack her lungs: “You’re not allowed to bully my grandma! Not allowed! Wu wu wu wu……”

The red feather duster seemed to find this interesting, and took a step forward, then squatted down: “Who’s bullying your grandma? It’s your grandma who didn’t return the money she owes, and is bullying us. But it seems like a little girl like you is quite pleasing to look at. If you really love your grandma, why don’t you come with us, and we can sell you for a low…… Ah ah ah! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”

He originally planned to reach out and touch little mahjong’s face, but the hand that just reached out halfway was stopped at the wrist by a pale white and thin hand.

Then it twisted backwards, and a ‘kacha’ could be heard.

At once he shouted out in pain: “It hurts, it hurts! Let go! Who the fuck are you!”

“Your great grandfather.”

“?”

Seems to have carefully chosen their seniority?

The red feather duster turned his head to look: “Fuck! Why is it you!”

“It’s me, what about it?”

Song Yan’s pitch black pupils carried an extremely displeased gloom and hostility.

The others had also recognized him as Xia Zhiye’s accomplice, and thought of the beatdown at that time, and felt a bit fearful in their hearts.

Only the leader with a buzzcut who hadn’t appeared before, twisted around a small knife in his hand and smiled insincerely: “Little brother, are you the grandson of this family?”

“Nope.”

“If you’re not, then this matter has nothing to do with you, and it’s best you not meddle in other people’s business.”

“The grandson of this household is my friend. His business is my business. If there’s anything you want to say you can say it directly to me.”

Song Yan securely hid little mahjong behind him with a face as if he were the master of the household, as if he wasn’t the same person that said he was ‘not familiar’ with Xia Zhiye this morning.

Buzzcut bit on his bottom lip: “Not bad, pretty loyal. Then why don’t you help your friend and return the money this old lady owes?”

“If he really owes money, then helping him return it isn’t impossible. But I remember he paid it back in full already.” Song Yan thought back to what Xia Zhiye said that day, his manner of speaking cool-headed.

The leader didn’t disagree: “Yes, he paid back the initial principal. But in our line of work, interest is our bread and butter. When we lent out the money, we agreed to give 90% and you return 130%. Three months have already passed. If you say you don’t want to return the interest, then you don’t return it? There’s no justification for that.”

Song Yan pretended he didn’t know, then raised his eyes a bit, and with a cold voice: “What does it mean to lend 90% and return 130%.”

Hearing this, the little gangsters on the scene couldn’t help but let out a few jeers: “Sure enough you’re a good student, you don’t even know what lending 90%, returning 130% is. Then gege will be nice and give you a lesson today.”

Buzzcut sloppily took a step forward, then lowered his head to look at Song Yan. He smirked with contempt: “Lending 90% and returning 130% is literal. It means when you ask to borrow 10x, then I’ll give you 9x, then there’s 1x interest every month. After three months, you have to return 13x. Understand?”

Song Yan met the other’s gaze, then indifferently said: “So how much did he borrow, how much did he return, and how much does he still owe.”

“Not much.” Buzzcut extended his hand, then stuck out his thumb, and his pinky, “The old lady asked our boss for 18,000 yuan to do surgery for the little girl. According to reason, she should return 26,000 yuan. Now she has 6,000 yuan left so how are you going to settle this?”

“Don’t lie to children!” Song Yan hadn’t said anything when grandma Liu behind him couldn’t hold back her sob, “That time you clearly wrote 20,000 yuan on the IOU! I returned it all! Why did it turn into 26,000 yuan? You’re clearly just stealing money!”

Grandma Liu was so angry she was trembling, and her eyes looked as if she wanted to go beat those gangsters up, but Song Yan held her back, and lowly said: “I’ll handle this matter, you take little mahjong and go back to the room.”

Grandma Liu first stared blankly, then made eye contact with Song Yan, understood in an instant, then hurriedly hugged little mahjong to walk quickly into the room and lock the door.

Song Yan also didn’t wait for the group of gangsters to say anything, just turned and interrogated: “Didn’t we agree before?”

Buzzcut knew he was in the wrong, and lightly laughed: “Everyone knows the rules. It’s not like she’s so old that I still have to explain it to her.”

Truly shameless.

Song Yan asked: “So you’re saying grandma Liu asked for 18,000 yuan from your boss, and after three months, only returned 20,000 yuan?”

“That’s right.”

“If the initial capital is 18,000 yuan, three months of interest is 2,000 yuan which is a monthly interest rate of 11%, and an annual rate of 30%. It’s nearly four times as much as the maximum rate set by the state, and you’re still not satisfied?”

The group of gangsters’ math wasn’t anything to write home about, and after calculating for a long time, they couldn’t calculate it in the same way. They were too lazy to calculate again, so: “If it is then what about it? Those are the rules in this line of business. If you have issues with it then don’t borrow money, and if you borrow money then you should follow the rules set up.”

“But shouldn’t you have informed the old lady of these rules ahead of time?”

“We provide loans. It’s not as if we’re doing any good deeds. Do we have to look after everything? So are you going to return the money owed or not? If you return it, ge will take the money and leave. But if you don’t return it, then just fuck off!” Buzzcut finally grew impatient with his speech.

Red-haired chicken also hurriedly agreed: “That’s right, if you’re not fucking returning the money, what’s the point of you standing around chattering about and speaking nonsense!”

“There truly is no point.”

Song Yan answered calmly and coldly, standing there with a backpack hung over his shoulder, with a face full of confidence.

But he was just a weak high schooler, where did he have the confidence?

Several gangsters couldn’t understand it at all.

After thinking it over, they heard the sound of sirens amidst the pattering of rain, and it was getting closer, and closer, and closer……

“?”

“……”

“Fuck! You actually called the fucking police?!”

The red-haired chicken realized Song Yan kept talking about trivial matters with them to waste time while waiting for the police to come. Once he realized he was played by this little brat, he flew into a rage, and directly raised the stick in his hand and struck at Song Yan.

Song Yan reacted extremely quickly, and directly dodged the attack, then with a horizontal kick, ruthlessly kicked the red feather duster’s wrist, which loosened its grip due to pain. He then snatched the stick, turned his hand to hack at the other’s abdomen, then used the momentum to lift his arm upward, chopping at the red-haired chicken’s jawbone.

The brittle sound of bone cracking could be heard, and the red-haired chicken crumpled on the ground. Song Yan completed his counterattack on the spot.

When stood arrogantly at the steps of the entrance way with a stick held high in the air, the cold decadence of disgust between his eyebrows had all but broken through his pretty face to vent outwards.

His health wasn’t good when he was young, so in order to strengthen his body, he was forced to learn taekwondo. Although he didn’t learn that well, in any case he did become the city champion during a competition in elementary school. At the very least, he could win against a few of these trash gangsters.

Also his cellphone had been recording from beginning to end. Their conversation was clear and distinct, and he had evidence for reasonable self defense. At times like this, if he didn’t act ruthlessly, he would have let down this group of immoral gangsters.

But the little young master who was raised in an ivory tower was different from the gangsters who were seasoned in hand to hand combat.

Uon seeing this, several gangsters remained unperturbed, and immediately swarmed forward.

Buzzcut was also quite ruthless. Anyways, it wasn’t the first or second time he’d gone to prison. Since he encountered difficulties today, if he didn’t cause this little brat to suffer, then he’d be too ashamed.

Thinking this, buzzcut pulled apart his little knife and directly thrust it towards Song Yan.

Song Yan had just turned around to kick at another gangster, and his legs hadn’t regained strength yet. At best he could only turn to avoid injuring his vital points, but after dodging once, another slash of the knife came.

If he was getting slashed then so be it. Anyway, he already heard the footsteps of the police. He wouldn’t die, and it was better than going to bother the old lady and the child in the room.

But the moment right before the edge of the knife slashed his face, Song Yan suddenly felt his arm getting pulled, immediately followed by someone’s forceful tug, and then his body was suddenly caged in by a shadow.

He heard a stab, and the sound of clothes ripping, and saw with his own eyes, the edge of the blade directly cut across Xia Zhiye’s shoulder.

The fabric of the white school uniform was ripped into shreds, and the youth’s pale shoulder immediately exuded dark red droplets of blood.

“Fuck!”

Song Yan didn’t think of anything else. He directly raised his leg across Xia Zhiye and fiercely kicked away Buzzcut who had been behind him. Then he turned around and surrounded Xia Zhiye in a corner for protection. He blurted out in anger: “Are you a fucking idiot or what!”

The little young master had always paid particular attention to his temperament, and it was the first time he had scolded anyone in such a way.

Xia Zhiye lowered his head to look at him, then lightly laughed: “Don’t be so fierce. Also the police uncles are here, we have to act more pitiful.”

Song Yan: “……”

Still fucking thinking of schemes at this time?

“Also……”

Xia Zhiye’s eyebrows bent slightly.

Song Yan: “What?”

“Didn’t you say we’re not familiar with each other?”

“?”

“You said we’re not close, then why are you sticking to me now?”

“……”

“And you’re even sticking to me so tightly?”

“…………”

“Could it be that the way all cool brothers express being unfamiliar is this special?”

“………………”

Special my ass.

Song Yan thought, you should’ve been hacked to death.

1. Here, author writes 自作多情, which means ‘showering affection on an uninterested party’ or ‘to imagine that one’s love is reciprocate.’ I thought these were a bit much to write, but this is the idea the author wanted to portray

2. Author writes 妙妙他妈给妙妙开门，妙妙到家了, and is meant to be a catchphrase in which the second part of the sentence is the actual point. Meanwhile, miaomiao is usually a nickname given to beautiful and amazing girls. Thus SY is essentially saying that the prodigal son (XZY) returns, and is meant to be sarcastic.

3. Same as note 1