Chapter 49: Poacher (1)
“Young Miss, these are your textbooks for the new semester.” Before she left, Butler Ye handed a brand new stack of books to Mi Wan, along with her school bag.
“This many?” Mi Wan yawned as she despondently flipped open her schoolbag. These books were so thick and there were so many of them. She was going to die from learning!
“Young Miss, look how puffy your eyes are! You must have not slept well last night. Have some tea.” Auntie Zhang set down a cup of red tea, hoping it will energize Mi Wan.
“Thank you, Auntie Zhang.” What do you mean ‘must not have slept well’? She didn’t get to sleep AT ALL.
“Don’t you worry Young Miss, when I first applied for sick leave on your behalf, the school was told that you went to the countryside to recuperate from an illness. They don’t actually know that you were undergoing drug rehabilitation. Even if there were rumors floating around, as long as you don’t acknowledge them, they would not have the evidence against you.” Butler Ye thought that Mi Wan was worried that her drug addiction would make her classmates discriminate against her if they found out, so he reminded her gently, “Worst comes to worst, we can always change schools.”
“Can I not go to school?” Mi Wan was not worried about her drug addiction scandal getting exposed. She was worried that she would not understand a word in class.
“That won’t do. You must get your undergraduate diploma.” Butler Ye immediately rejected the idea.
“Fine.” Downing the remaining red tea in her cup in one gulp, Mi Wan hoisted her school bag and left dispiritedly. Who knew that after 500 years, education would turn from a commodity that was once craved by commoners, to something that was compulsory?
Butler Ye took Mi Wan to school and accompanied her to handle all administrative tasks before leaving. As for Mi Wan, she followed her counselor into an office, lugging her school bag along.
“Miss Mi, has your body recovered?” The counselor asked warmly.
“Yes, teacher. Thank you for your concern. I’m all better now,” Mi Wan replied obediently. To ancient people, a teacher was a person who deserved the utmost respect.
“That’s good.” The counselor nodded with a smile, and then pulled out a sheet of paper from the desk and handed it over to Mi Wan, “Here is this semester’s course schedule. Use it for your classes, don’t be absent again.”
Mi Wan accepted it and stared. The dense pack of courses almost made her eyes roll back into her head.
“You missed two months of classes this semester. The other professors and I have discussed it and decided that you may resume your classes as per normal, but you must pass your final exam. If you fail, then you would have to repeat the entire year.”
“Repeat? You mean I have to go to school for an extra year?” Mi Wan’s eyes became as wide as saucers.
“Which is why you should work hard for the next two months. Okay?”
“O…okay,” Mi Wan uttered defeatedly.
“Tap Tap!”
At this moment, there was a series of knocks, and there was a man in a grey sweater standing by the door, “Professor.”
“Han Xiao, you are here.” The counselor looked at the guy and waved for him to step inside, “Miss Mi has recovered from her illness and has returned to class today. Please take care of her in the meantime.”
“Yes, teacher.” Han Xiao turned and glanced at Mi Wan, who was holding her class schedule with a lost look, and smiled, “Miss Mi Wan, follow me.”
“Where to?” Mi Wan was still in shock.
“The next class is in the lecture hall, I’ll take you there.” Han Xiao explained, thinking this classmate not only lacked presence, but she also seemed to have become duller after being sick for so long.
The pair left the office and when they reached the staircase, Han Xiao suddenly took a sharp turn and pulled out a rectangular piece of cardboard. Since the cardboard was quite large, Mi Wan glanced over curiously and saw a few characters in large font: Please save the Child.
Han Xiao noticed Mi Wan’s stare and explained shyly, “I placed this over here just now since it’s not good to bring it into the teacher’s office, that’s why…”
“Oh.” Mi Wan was only curious enough to look but not enough to understand the reason behind it.
“Do you mind if I bring this over first and then take you to your lecture?” Han Xiao explained, “The first period in the morning will be dismissed soon, we plan to do a fundraiser at the school gate.”
“I don’t mind.” The original host did not have many memories of her classmates. Han Xiao was considered as one of the few that she was somewhat familiar with. This was because Han Xiao was the class monitor. Whenever there was a class activity, he would always do his best to keep her informed, even though Mi Wan had never participated in them. That was why the original host retained a good impression of Han Xiao.
While the two made their way to the school gates, Han Xiao introduced the origins of his current fundraising activity to Mi Wan. Han Xiao was the school’s liaison for the outreach programs. Last weekend, they organized an activity where volunteers taught children to sing and dance at an orphanage. During this time, he found that one of them was suffering from a serious heart condition since birth. The child would need surgery to get a medical device implanted into his chest while they waited for a compatible heart transplant. However, the orphanage was having financial difficulties and could not collect enough money, which left this child bedridden with no other options. They could not bear the sight, so they started this fundraising activity in hopes to help what little they could.
On the topic of donations, Han Xiao asked casually, “Erm… Miss Mi Wan, do you want to show some generosity and donate a little?” He recalled that Mi Wan’s family background was somewhat well-off.
“Sure.” Mi Wan replied readily. Prior to rebirth, all her senior brothers and her were orphans picked up by her master. Their sect was technically also an orphanage.
Seeing that Mi Wan answered willingly, Han Xiao’s impression of Mi Wan instantly improved.
Since he made a stop at the counselor’s office, he was a little late and by the time he arrived, the other classmates had already set up the fundraising table and were only missing the sign in his hand.
“Han Xiao, hurry up, you’re the only one left.” A young woman in a short skirt and a scarf around her neck waved at Han Xiao hurriedly.
“Coming, coming.” Han Xiao hastily made his way over and set up the sign-in his hands.
“What about the payment code, did you print the QR code?” This lady, Zhang Luo, must be the person in charge. When she was finished with Han Xiao, she continued firing questions at other people.“It’s printed. Right here.” Another male student pulled out a white and a green QR code image from his bag and set it on the table. People nowadays wouldn’t bring money with them when they go out, so donations would also need to have QR codes to function successfully.
Mi Wan spied the two familiar QR codes. During her time here, she realized that anything transaction-related would require these two codes. Recalling that she had just promised Han Xiao that she would donate, she casually pulled out her phone and swiped, “How much should I donate?”
“100,000,” The male student who set up the QR codes replied absentmindedly.
“Oh.” Mi Wan lowered her head, entered in 5 zeros, clicked, and transferred.
“Ding! Received 100,000 yuan.” The automated alert sounded abruptly in the middle of the crowd.
The busy members of the outreach program froze. In the end, it was the male student who set up the QR codes who was the first to react. Pulling out his phone, he checked the donation records, and asked shakily: “Who donated just now?”
“Me,” Mi Wan replied offhandedly. After making the donation, she decided to check her account balance. Seeing the Sparrow Spirit had not transferred the 3 million yuan, she immediately sent a text to remind him of his debt. She had not even gotten a chance to put her phone away when the other party asked who had donated.
“Rustle… Rustle…”
The students in charge of the fundraiser collectively stared at her.
“Mi Wan, H-…How much did you donate?” In the end, it was Han Xiao who spoke up and asked.
“100,000. Wasn’t that what he just said?” Mi Wan pointed at the guy who set up the QR codes.
“I… I didn’t, I…” The male student shook his head exaggeratedly. After about two shakes, he seemed to have come to a realization and immediately explained with an uncomfortable look, “I thought you were asking me how much money we needed to raise to meet our goal!” Who knew you would just up and donate 100,000 yuan just like that?!
Got it, it was just a mistake. Luckily, since they had to quickly set up this fundraiser, they were unable to set up a QR donation code for the orphanage in time, so they were using a classmate’s personal account, which meant the money could be directly refunded. Han Xiao immediately turned to the male student, “Wen Wu, hurry up and refund the money back to Mi Wan.”
“Oh oh oh…” The male student who went by the name Wen Wu quickly took out his phone, “Err Miss, what’s your account number? I’ll refund the money back to you.”
“Wasn’t this a donation?” Mi Wan asked.
“You donated too much,” The male student replied.
“No problem, I have the money.” Mi Wan could care less, especially since Fan Chen had given her 2 million last night without her doing anything. She could just pretend that she’s donating on his behalf.
Such bold words! For three college students who lacked life experience, it was a shock to the senses.
At this moment, the Sparrow Spirit had replied back with a text message saying that he would immediately make the transfer. Feeling satisfied, Mi Wan put away her phone and raised her head to find Han Xiao still in a daze, so she asked hesitantly, “Aren’t we supposed to go to the lecture hall?”
“Oh…yes. Let’s go.” Han Xiao immediately set down the things that he was holding and forgot to greet the other two students as he took Mi Wan away.
After walking for some distance, Han Xiao gradually regained his rationality. Although Mi Wan claimed that she had the money, donating 100,000 yuan in one setting was still too extravagant for a student. Besides, if he had not brought Mi Wan over in the first place, Mi Wan would not have made that donation. Therefore, he decided to give Mi Wan one last chance to regret her decision, “Miss Mi Wan, even though you came from a good family background, 100,000 yuan is still a large sum of money. As students without our own income, it is not good to spend so much of our family’s money. I will get Wen Wu to refund the money back to you later. It is okay to only donate a few hundred or a few thousand as a gesture of goodwill.”
“No need.” She would never reduce the money that was owed to her, nor would she ask for money that she had already decided to spend.
“But…”
“Class monitor, I recall your academic results are pretty good.” Mi Wan suddenly remembered that this class monitor was awarded a national scholarship at the end of their freshman year.
“It’s pretty okay,” Han Xiao replied modestly.
“Seeing that I have generously donated such a huge sum of money, if you really can’t live with your conscience, how about you pull together a cheat sheet for me for the finals? It doesn’t have to be a lot, just enough to pass,” Mi Wan negotiated.
“You can get expelled for cheating.” Han Xiao flat out rejected. He also stopped mentioning anything about donation refunds, as if he was afraid that Mi Wan might bring up cheating again.
The two entered the lecture hall where Han Xiao’s roommate had already reserved him a good spot. Seeing Mi Wan tagging alone, he did not ask additional questions and even nodded politely at her. As for the rest of the classmates, there were many who did not notice that Mi Wan had returned, and the few who did, showed indifference. College was different from high school. Aside from a few close relationships, everyone would rather stick closely with their roommates, and everyone else was just familiar faces.