Don't underestimate the poor and elderly; I was thrilled to refuse the class beauty's adva

"Rongrong,"

Lin Wanqing spoke at the opportune moment, first tugging at Zhao Rong's sleeve, then turning her head and speaking in a gentle yet disappointed tone towards Zhang Yifan.

"Rongrong may be a bit blunt, but she means well for you. Zhang Yifan, your grades are good, but it's a fact that your family isn't well-off. If your family isn't well-off, you should be even more ambitious and not always resent the rich. The things you said when you clashed with Peng Kaifei at noon made you seem a bit resentful of the rich. People should be down-to-earth and not always dream of getting something for nothing, and don't just follow what others say."

After she finished speaking, several boys around her who still had feelings for Lin Wanqing nodded in agreement.

Seeing that public opinion was on her side, Zhao Rong's smugness was almost overflowing.

Zong Wen was stunned for two seconds, then laughed in anger.

"No," he stood up, his voice trembling, "You're saying Zhang Yifan is resentful of the rich? That he lacks ambition? Zhao Rong, what did you just say? That we're poor losers? That if we won 300,000, our legs would go weak? That we'd make a fool of ourselves?"

"I didn't say anything wrong." Zhao Rong rolled her eyes. "You two are poor to begin with."

"The person who won 300,000 today is—" Zong Wen took a deep breath and pointed at Zhang Yifan, "It's Zhang Yifan!"

The classroom was quiet for a moment.

Then, someone burst out laughing first, followed by Zhao Rong, who slammed her hand on the table, laughing so hard she exclaimed, "Who are you talking about? Zhang Yifan? He probably doesn't even know which way the lottery shop faces!"

Several boys and girls who were discussing the topic also started laughing.

Zhao Rong laughed so hard she could barely breathe, and had to lean on Lin Wanqing's table to steady herself: "Zong Wen, you're bragging for him without even thinking! Zhang Yifan, if you won the lottery, then show me the proof! Do you even have 300,000?"

Lin Wanqing shook her head slightly, looking at Zhang Yifan with an expression of sympathy: "Zhang Yifan, Zong Wen meant well in speaking up for you, but you should at least have stopped him. People should be down-to-earth; boasting is meaningless. Even if you want to prove you're no worse than Peng Kaifei, you don't need to do it this way."

Zhang Yifan finally raised his head.

He didn't look at Zhao Rong, nor did he look at Lin Wanqing.

He reached into his pocket and touched the piece of paper he had brought from the lottery shop that afternoon—the scratch-off lottery ticket he planned to give to his parents after claiming the prize.

I didn't intend for anyone to know.

But the conversation had already progressed to this point.

He took the scratch card out of his pocket, placed it on the table, and pressed one corner with his finger, pushing it forward half an inch.

"Evidence?" His voice wasn't loud, but the classroom was quiet enough for everyone to hear. "Is this enough?"

Zhao Rong was about to say, "Who are you trying to fool with a piece of scrap paper?", but the next second, the students who were closest to her came over first.

Then she saw the expressions of those classmates freeze at the same time.

Some people's mouths formed an "O" shape, some rubbed their eyes thinking they were seeing things, and some suddenly turned their heads to look at Zhang Yifan as if they were looking at an alien.

Under the classroom's fluorescent lights, the large, gold-stamped characters on the paper were crystal clear: 300,000 yuan.

"Holy crap!! It's real!! The grand prize!! Three hundred thousand!!"

"Let me see! The lottery shop owner's signature is still on it! The prize redemption instructions are all written down!"

"Everyone's been talking about that mystery lottery winner this afternoon—it's Zhang Yifan?! And from our Class 9 again?!"

"Who just told him to bring evidence? Is this evidence strong enough?"

The smile on Zhao Rong's face seemed to be frozen by liquid nitrogen, shattering little by little.

She stood in front of Zhang Yifan's desk, her chest heaving visibly, her face flushing red, then turning pale, then pale again, her lips moving as if she wanted to speak, but she couldn't utter a single word.

Every word she just said—poor loser, weak-kneed, making a fool of herself, not knowing which way the lottery shop door faces—hung in the classroom like a row of slaps that couldn't be shaken off.

Lin Wanqing's gaze was fixed on the scratch-off lottery ticket, her mind completely blank.

Her earlier statement, "People should be down-to-earth," now seems like a boomerang, spinning around and slamming back hard into her own face.

Does Zhang Yifan harbor resentment towards the rich? Does he boast? Is he unrealistic?

The 300,000 yuan scratch-off lottery ticket in his hand carried more weight than any of her words.

Zhang Yifan slowly put the scratch-off lottery ticket back into his pocket and lowered his head to continue doing the fill-in-the-blank exercise.

Throughout the entire process, he didn't look at Lin Wanqing even once.

In the classroom where evening self-study was taking place, the shockwaves from the 300,000 yuan scratch-off lottery ticket had not yet completely dissipated, but the smell in the air had already changed.

Those who had just joined Zhao Rong in mocking Zhang Yifan now shrank back behind their textbooks, their eyes darting around, wishing they could bury their faces in the pages.

Some people pretended to memorize vocabulary, some pretended to do math problems, and some stared at the same page of the book for several minutes without turning a single page. Their hands holding the pen were not very natural, and their knuckles turned white from gripping it so tightly.

It wasn't that they were unconvinced; the facts were undeniable. The lottery shop owner's signature, the prize redemption instructions, and the three large gold-embossed words "Grand Prize" were all slaps in the face to them.

The overwhelming emotion was shame. After all, they had just been joining in the commotion, but now they realized that the person who was being commotion was the real lucky winner. This kind of contrast was hard for anyone to process.

Several boys tried to get closer to Zhang Yifan, asking how he chose the number and if he could share some tips.

But seeing that Zhang Yifan kept his head down and did his homework, not paying any attention to anyone, he swallowed back the words he was about to say.

But Zhao Rong and Lin Wanqing's thoughts were different from the others.

Lin Wanqing glanced at Zhao Rong, who was also looking at her.

The two exchanged a look that only best friends would understand, and then moved closer to each other without prior arrangement.

"Wanqing,"

Zhao Rong lowered her voice, her lips almost touching Lin Wanqing's ear.

"Three hundred thousand! Do you see that clearly? The grand prize is three hundred thousand, not thirty thousand or three thousand. Zhang Yifan is not only a good student, but he also has three hundred thousand in savings. Didn't you always say he was nothing but a student?"

"But he's not bad-looking either, he's in the top three of his grade, and he has 300,000 yuan in cash. In our class, no, in our grade, how many people can compare to him?"

Lin Wanqing pursed her lips and did not reply immediately.

But her eyes betrayed her.

Those almond-shaped eyes were glancing over Zhao Rong's shoulder, almost imperceptibly, towards the last row of seats by the window.

Zhang Yifan was looking down at his homework, his profile clearly defined under the fluorescent light.

She used to think he was dull and boring, good at nothing but taking exams, and a bookworm who was not good enough.

But looking back now, those so-called "dull and boring" seem to have been interpreted in a different way.

He never haggled over the price when he bought her breakfast; that was generosity. He never questioned her when she went out with other guys; that was trust. He would buy her anything she casually mentioned the next day; that was thoughtfulness.

What do you mean by dull and boring? That's clearly being devoted!