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

"You should go back and ask your dad about your father's affairs." Zhang Yifan picked up his thermos, took a sip of water, and said, "What's the use of coming to me?"

Peng Kaifei's hand slowly loosened.

His shoulders slumped, like a deflated balloon.

He didn't say anything more, turned around and left, his steps dragging and heavy.

On the third day after the cafeteria reopened, a new menu and a hygiene commitment letter were posted in the window, with the new manager's name signed in black and white.

The cafeteria is now directly managed by the school and is no longer outsourced.

Zong Wen waited in line at the window for a long time with his tray. After getting his food, he sat down opposite Zhang Yifan, poked a lion's head meatball in his plate with his chopsticks, and then looked up at Zhang Yifan with an expression as if he were in a dream.

"This lion's head meatball has meat inside," Zong Wen said seriously. "It's not that fake meat made from flour and starch; it's real meat. You can even see the cheese stretching when you bite into it."

He picked up the lion's head meatball, took a bite, chewed it twice, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"I've been eating at the school cafeteria for two and a half years, and this is the first lunch I haven't had that tasted weird."

"The steel wool is gone too." Zhang Yifan used his chopsticks to move the vegetables aside and flip them over; there were no insects under the leaves.

"It's not just the steel wool; look at this green vegetable. It's green, not the yellow kind. All the green vegetables in the cafeteria used to be yellow, and I once thought that green vegetables were supposed to be yellow."

Zongwen picked up another piece of green vegetable with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth, saying something indistinctly.

"How much did Zhou Degui embezzle in the past? He couldn't even bear to buy fresh vegetables."

"Enough for him to support two billiard halls outside of school."

Zongwen almost choked on his vegetables when he heard the words "billiard hall".

He coughed twice, picked up the free soup and took a sip, then put down the bowl and lowered his voice: "Speaking of the billiard hall, I remembered something. The old lady who sells tea eggs at the school gate hasn't come back since Zhou Degui kicked down her stall that day."

Zhang Yifan paused for a moment while picking up food with his chopsticks.

"I've inquired about it," Zong Wen wiped his mouth. "She lives in the south of the city and pushes her tricycle several kilometers back and forth every day. Zhou Degui stepped on her aluminum pot and it got deformed, but she can't bear to buy a new one. Now she can't cook eggs in a pot and can't set up her stall. How about we chip in some money and buy her a new pot and send it over? We can also ask her if she'd like to come back to set up her stall. Now that the cafeteria has been renovated, the school probably won't care if she comes back to set up her stall."

"No need to chip in." Zhang Yifan lowered his head and shoveled some rice into his mouth. "I'll pay."

"You're rich now," Zong Wen chuckled twice, then paused, his eyes darting around. "But speaking of which, how much money do you actually have? You won 300,000 in the lottery before, Yifan, tell me the truth, do you have other ways to make money?"

Zhang Yifan ignored him.

Zong Wen, still holding his chopsticks, persisted: "Was your winning scratch-off ticket really just luck? You won 300,000 on your first try?"

"Um."

I don't believe it.

"You're right not to believe it."

Zong Wen's mind went blank for a moment, and just as he was about to ask more questions, Guo Hao sat down opposite them with his tray.

Guo Hao wasn't wearing his black-rimmed glasses today; he had switched to contact lenses, and his face looked much cleaner.

He put his plate on the table, sat down, and his first words were: "I just saw the prices at the window, and they're a third cheaper than when Zhou Degui was here."

"It's not just cheap," Zongwen tapped the edge of his plate with his chopsticks, "look at this lion's head meatball, it's solid, solid!"

Guo Hao glanced down at the lion's head meatballs on his plate, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

He looked up at Zhang Yifan, his eyes filled with a certainty he had never shown before: "Zhou Degui has been arrested, the cafeteria has been reformed, Principal Meng has stepped down, do you know what the students call you behind your back now?"

"Um?"

"Some people call you the 'Cafeteria God of War'," Guo Hao said seriously.

Zong Wen nearly spat out his soup: "Who gave you such an awful nickname?"

"I think it's quite fitting." Guo Hao smiled, then his smile faded and he said seriously, "Yifan, if you ever need my help in the future, just let me know. As for what happened before..."

"What happened before is in the past." Zhang Yifan interrupted him, picked up his tray and stood up. "Let's go, lunch break is almost over."

Lin Wanqing didn't glance at the last row once all morning.

She sat in her newly assigned seat, by the window, close to the blackboard, and far from the last row.

She took the initiative to apply to Fu Kai, and Fu Kai agreed without asking any questions.

At this moment, she lowered her head, mechanically drawing circles on the notebook with her pen. The paper was covered with circles of varying shades, like the disordered rings of a tree.

Zhao Rong's seat was empty, and the strawberry yogurt drink box in the desk drawer still had a dried-out straw stuck in it; no one had cleaned it up.

The whole class was discussing the braised pork meatballs and vegetable prices in the cafeteria. Some people were talking about when the old lady selling tea eggs would come back, and others were saying that they almost didn't recognize Peng Kaifei because of his outfit today.

These voices flooded into Lin Wanqing's ears like a tide. Not a single word was about her, but she felt as if every word was mocking her.

When Zhang Yifan led the smashing of the cafeteria, she was still thinking of watching the show, believing it was just poor students causing trouble that would never amount to anything.

As it turned out, the cafeteria really was vandalized, it really was rectified, Principal Meng really stepped down, and Zhang Yifan really turned the impossible into possible.

And he did all this without even glancing at her.

She jabbed her pen hard into the paper, tearing through several layers.

On what grounds?

Why can he just pursue her whenever he wants, and then give up whenever he wants?

When he was pursuing her, he would bring her breakfast in different ways every day. When she was unhappy, he would frantically try to coax her. If she said just one sentence, he would run all over the city.

At that time, she thought that this kindness was her privilege, something she deserved.

Now he's taking that kindness back without any warning, as if she had never held any place in his heart at all.

She did nothing wrong; she just didn't agree to his request.

Should I be treated like this just because I didn't agree to his request?

Zhao Rong's words echoed in her ears again: ruin Shen Zhiyi's reputation.

At the last minute, she refused, feeling it was too vicious and that doing such a thing would make her less than human.

But now that Zhao Rong is gone, no one is there to give her advice, no one is there to share her hatred, and no one is there to stop her anymore.

These words were like a seed that fell from Zhao Rong's mouth into her ear, was doused with water amidst the fear of the billiard hall, and secretly sprouted amidst the discussions that filled the classroom today.

She has no plans to do anything right now.

She wasn't like Zhao Rong, who knew any powerful figures or had the guts to carry out any plans.

But that seed in her heart neither rotted nor was it pulled out.

It just lay there quietly, waiting for someday.

Who knows what mistakes Shen Zhiyi might make? Who knows what fate might do for her? Who knows what just a coincidence might be all it takes?

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