It seems that the villain is targeting me.

Such unusual behavior naturally caught Xiao Niao's attention.

------

-

Another day of evening self-study.

Xiao Niao didn't have classes tonight, but after school she stayed in the office.

It was not until the bell for evening study rang that she stood up from the desk and packed her belongings.

"Um, Teacher Xiao, you haven't left yet?" A colleague raised his head. "Are you on patrol tonight?"

During evening self-study, the school will arrange teachers to patrol the grade: sometimes the school leaders are in charge, and sometimes teachers are also arranged.

Of course, she was not assigned to patrol tonight.

"I have something to deal with in class," Xiao Niao said, smiling good-naturedly at his colleague. "I'll take care of it and then I'll be leaving."

The colleague didn't suspect anything. He nodded and buried his head again.

Xiao Niao left the office and strolled around the first-year floor.

She slowed down her pace only when she reached Chen Xiaoya's classroom.

Xiao Niao did not walk in directly, but observed Xiaoya's location through the window - she went around from the back of the classroom, so no one in the room noticed that she was standing by the window at this moment.

After observing for a while, Xiao Niao found that Chen Xiaoya's posture was a little strange.

His head was buried very low, almost lying on the table, and his hand was still holding the pen, but if you looked closely, you would find that the tip of the pen was hanging in the air and did not touch the paper at all.

Xiao Niao: “…” He fell asleep.

In her short teaching career, she had seen many students sleeping with their eyes open or even sleeping standing up. Chen Xiaoya's case was nothing compared to her.

Xiao Niao silently opened the back door of the classroom, walked from the back row to the front, and slowly came to the side of Chen Xiaoya's seat.

She reached out and tapped the table lightly, then lowered her head expressionlessly, looking at the boy's bewildered face when he suddenly woke up.

Xiao Niao did not miss the hint of panic in the other person's eyes when he saw him.

"Chen Xiaoya," she said, "come out for a moment."

The bird's tone here is actually very calm, but the effect is extremely scary - probably no student would not be afraid of having their full name read like this.

After hearing this, Chen Xiaoya was stunned for a moment, but still subconsciously obeyed Xiao Niao's order and followed her out of the classroom.

The two walked down the aisle, one in front of the other.

Chen Xiaoya lowered her head, feeling too guilty to speak. She could only stare at the floor tiles under her feet. She wanted to apologize to Xiao Niao, or say something casually - she hadn't had a good talk with this person for several days.

But when it came to her lips, she didn't dare to speak, for fear that if she said too much, her shameful thoughts would be discovered by Xiao Niao.

There was no choice but to lower her head and follow Xiaoniao like a tail.

As he walked, Chen Xiaoya suddenly realized that he had left the teaching building.

Chen Xiaoya: "Huh?"

"Teacher..." she stammered, as if she couldn't even speak clearly, "Where are we going..."

Xiao Niao: "Midnight snack."

Chen Xiaoya was in a state of confusion: "But, but there is still self-study..."

Xiao Niao: "It's okay to stay up all night."

These words sounded like a bad student who took the lead in climbing over the wall. Chen Xiaoya was stunned for a while, and then felt helpless.

The two of them left the school gate openly. Xiao Niao used his identity as a teacher to take Chen Xiaoya out with him.

There weren't many people at the night snack stall, so Xiao Niao brought a small stool over and sat down next to her.

"Didn't you sleep well these days?"

As she spoke, her gaze fell on the dark circles under Chen Xiaoya's eyes, and her expression revealed a bit of concern, "Is your study load too heavy?"

"No, no," Chen Xiaoya stuttered nervously, "Studying is fine, I can handle it..."

"Then why are you so tired?" Xiao Niao was puzzled.

As she spoke, she stretched out her hand and gently placed it under Chen Xiaoya's eyes, rubbing it back and forth gently as if to confirm something.

"You haven't slept for several nights, have you?" Xiao Niao thought for a moment, "Are you doing homework for someone else?"

The fundus is a fragile part of the human body, even if it is just

Such a gentle touch made her heart tremble.

"Really, really not," Chen Xiaoya said awkwardly, "Maybe, maybe it's because of the weather. It's been so hot and cold these past few days..."

Under that kind of gaze, she couldn't lie at all.

Xiao Niao didn't say anything else, but just looked at the boy thoughtfully.

Could it really be because of the season? Xiao Niao thought, the doctor looked like he hadn't slept well these two days.

But some intuition told her: this child is worried about something.

It started raining on the way back, so they hurried to take shelter under a nearby building.

The rain gradually got heavier. Xiao Niao rolled up her wet sleeves and reached out to catch the soft raindrops. The water droplets meandered along the lines of her palms and flowed to her wrists.

"It should be a shower," she said. "It will stop soon."

Chen Xiaoya imitated Xiaoniao and stretched her hand outside the eaves. The rain was very cold and she shivered with the cold.

"Okay, don't catch a cold."

Xiao Niao caught her back and took the girl's cold and red fingertips into his palm.

Perhaps she was really afraid that the child would catch a cold, so she put the child's hands in her coat pocket.

Xiao Niao's hands were very warm. Chen Xiaoya noticed that her body temperature was slightly higher than that of ordinary people, and quickly warmed up her pockets and her cold fingertips.

Just like in a dream.

"Go home and get some rest early tonight," Xiao Niao didn't look at her, but lowered his voice and reminded her, "Remember not to stay up late."

Chen Xiaoya: “Yeah.”

"If you encounter something you can't solve, tell me."

"it is good."

"Little girl," Xiao Niao turned his cheek towards her and said in a gentle tone, "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. I'll take care of everything."

She realized that Chen Xiaoya didn't want to tell her about the "troublesome thing", but he didn't mean to get to the bottom of it either.

Children will eventually have to be independent, and they need to walk the path of life on their own. Xiao Niao does not intend to interfere.

However, she would tell the other person that she could confide her troubles to her at any time: she would always be there and would always support her.

Chen Xiaoya lowered her head, not daring to look up at the other person's expression. She obediently let Xiao Niao hold her hand, her palms loosely clasped together, but not using much force.

She didn't have the courage to hold the other person's hand, but she was reluctant to withdraw from that warmth.

After a long silence, she finally responded.

"……Um."

Chapter 102 My Gambler's Father

The ceiling of this room is very low. It is truly simple and shabby. It has almost all possible defects such as cramped, narrow, dimly lit, etc. It is more like a cement coffin than a house.

If you live in a place like this for a long time, you can probably write thirty suicide notes a month.

Now, the room, which was already small to begin with, was filled with aluminum cans and glass bottles, with sour wine dripping onto the floor, but no one was cleaning it up. It was incredibly dirty.

The most despairing thing is that this room, which would be cramped even for one person to live in, was crammed with four beds and housed five people.

Chen Zhengkang was sitting on one of the camp beds at this time, smoking desperately.

His hands were shaking, and the cigarette ash fell into the bed sheet on the lower bunk and burned a small hole, but he didn't notice it at all.

Chen Zhengkang has been sitting here like this for a whole day and night. During this period, he has hardly eaten a single grain of rice except for drinking. He has fallen into a state of madness.

After finishing his drink, he would pick up a cigarette and smoke it non-stop, until the room was filled with smoke as if he was smoking bacon.

Chen Zhengkang had no choice but to use this addictive drug to numb his nerves - because as long as his mind was clear, he would think over and over again about the fact that he lost nearly 40,000 yuan at the gambling table half a month ago.

A year ago, in order to avoid being pursued by creditors, he took away all the money in his family and fled all the way from He County to here. He hid in the corners of the urban village like a rat, fearing that he would be caught by the debt collectors.

He lived in fear, not daring to appear in crowded places or contact acquaintances. When he went out, he was afraid to turn corners, for fear that a burly man would suddenly appear from his blind spot and pin him to the ground.

Chen Zhengkang had to be afraid. He knew too well the various tactics used by these debt collectors. Being beaten and insulted was commonplace, and having hands and feet chopped off or even losing one's life was also very common.

Generally speaking, Chen Zhengkang still values his life, otherwise he would not have run away in a hurry after hearing the news, and before leaving, he would not forget to take away the last bit of savings in the family.

As for whether Chen Xiaoya would be targeted by creditors or would have no food to eat after losing his savings, he naturally did not consider it at all.

He didn't even notice that his daughter hadn't lived at home for a long time.

In short, he ran away and lived a life of hiding and having no food to eat, and this has continued to this day.

It was not until two months ago that Chen Zhengkang learned from several fellow villagers that his creditor had died a year ago.

"It's normal that you don't know," the fellow villager waved his hand at him, "We're not allowed to talk about this. That kid ran away with the money before. The Gu family in Jiangcheng knows about it, right? I heard that he was liquidated after he came back..."

Chen Zhengkang is an uneducated street urchin who has only come into contact with the highest-ranking people, the local lenders in He County.

He has no concept of home at all - of course, this does not prevent him from understanding the current situation.

The creditor is dead, so he doesn’t have to pay the money back!

Chen Zhengkang immediately felt happy, his life became hopeful, and the sun became brighter - in just a few minutes, he completed the psychological transition from a debtor to a big boss.

He first went to a restaurant to eat and drink a good meal, then counted the two dollars left in his pocket, and his mind became active again.

While avoiding debt collectors, Chen Zhengkang had no proper job to do, so he could only do daily paid work. The money he earned was basically only enough for daily expenses, and he even owed his coworkers dozens of yuan.

He hadn't saved a penny, and although he was planning to go back to He County, he couldn't even afford a train ticket.

If he were to borrow money from relatives or friends, he had been out of touch for more than half a year, and they would inevitably ask the reason, which would be really embarrassing.

Chen Zhengkang thought: No, I must find a way to make some money. I can’t go back penniless.

In theory, the money for a train ticket can be raised by finding a daily-paid job on a construction site and working for a maximum of three days.

This is the safest and most appropriate method, and it is a way that all normal people can think of.

But Chen Zhengkang refused to do so.

Everyone knows that he is a gambler. The most obvious characteristic of this type of person is that their view on money is completely rotten.

Any way ordinary people make money and save money is a joke to gamblers. Ordinary people work hard to save money and sweat every day to earn a month's salary, but it will be gone in just five minutes when they get to the table.

How can people who have been corrupted by such values for a long time concentrate on their work?

Coincidentally, during the time when Chen Zhengkang was hiding from place to place and barely making a living by doing daily wages, he got to know a few local street thugs. They became familiar with each other after smoking and playing cards together.

With those people leading the way, Chen Zhengkang soon came into contact with an underground casino run by a local coal boss.

The gangsters enthusiastically invited him in to play a few rounds, and even threatened that it didn't matter if he had no money, because they had channels for lending and borrowing money in their casino, and they didn't even charge interest for the first three days.

Chen Zhengkang was eager to do something after hearing this. If he had not been afraid of being found by his creditors, he would have followed those people in.

So, after confirming that his old creditor had died, even though he only had a dozen dollars left in his pocket and even though all he wanted was to go home as soon as possible, he still walked into the casino without hesitation and borrowed a thousand dollars to sit at the table.

Chen Zhengkang thought: I will just play twice, make a small profit and go home. Even if I really lose it all, I can still earn back the thousand yuan by working as a bricklayer.

Winning and losing, he lost all the money in less than half an hour.

Nearly two months' salary of an ordinary person was thrown into the toilet without even a sound.

He gambled until he was dizzy, his blood boiling, and his hands trembling. He went into the bathroom and smoked half a pack of cigarettes, then gritted his teeth and borrowed another two thousand yuan.

This time he was thinking: I was just not good at it before, I will take it easy this time, I will definitely be able to make up for it.

Chen Zhengkang entered the casino in the morning, and by the evening, he was in debt of nearly 8,000 yuan.

By the fifth day, the number had reached 40,000.

Finally, seeing that the situation was not good, Chen Zhengkang tried to escape, but was caught by the casino owner and severely beaten. His face was covered in blood and his eyes were not visible. He was thrown into the street like a dead dog.

The casino owner was lending money at high interest rates. He ordered Chen Zhengkang to pay the interest within a week, otherwise not only would he have to double the interest, but he would also have to cut off his hand as collateral.

The casino was not afraid that Chen Zhengkang would run away. A gambler like him with no foundation or connections would eventually be caught by debt collectors no matter where he went.