The Poor School Heartthrob Was Secretly a Financial Titan - Chapter 36

This direction…is it the municipal government compound?

He looked at the familiar gate ahead. There was a guardhouse and security guards standing at the entrance, and the people coming and going didn’t look like ordinary citizens. He paused, a sense of unease creeping into his mind.

Last time I saw Li Man having dinner with her parents in front of the Chunmei Hotel, I knew her family must be well-off. I didn’t expect they lived in the municipal government compound.

These days, only officials or their relatives can afford to live in places like this.

Could it be that her family is also like that…?

He didn’t think any further.

Luo Diandian turned into an alley next to the compound, walked to a public phone booth, took out a coin, inserted it, and dialed a number.

“Hey, Manman? Someone brought you candy, come down quickly!”

After hanging up the phone, she winked at Han Xuetao: “Wait, I’ll be right down.”

A few minutes later, a figure ran out of the courtyard.

Li Man was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and a floral skirt, her hair tied in a ponytail that swayed as she ran. When she reached him and saw Han Xuetao, she was overjoyed.

“Han Xuetao? You’re back?”

Han Xuetao nodded, took a candy box out of his bag and handed it over: “My mom asked me to bring this. Thank you for making the call.”

Li Man took it, glanced at it, and said with a smile, “Please thank Auntie for me.” She looked up, “Did you get your acceptance letter?”

“I got it.” Han Xuetao took it out of his bag and showed it to her.

Li Man took it, flipped through it, and thought to herself: I’ve already seen this before.

Luo Diandian leaned closer and said, “It’s great that you two are both at Ninghai University. Next time I visit you at the school, you have to treat me to a meal!”

Ma Hui chimed in from the side, “Your teachers’ college is close to Ningbo University, but our agricultural college is quite far away.”

Luo Diandian glanced at him: “But I heard that the food at your agricultural college is the best!”

Li Man said, “Really? Then I’ll come to the agricultural college next time and ask you for a meal.”

Ma Hui was flattered: “Oh, class monitor, you and Taozi come here, you can max out my meal card!”

Li Man blushed slightly and did not reply.

Luo Diandian looked up at the sky and suddenly said, “It’s rare to run into someone like this, let’s go have some fun!”

Li Man asked, “Where to?”

Ma Hui immediately perked up: “Let’s go to the riverside park! A new barbecue area has opened there, let’s have a barbecue there!”

Luo Diandian frowned: “We need to buy meat for barbecue, where can we get it?”

Ma Hui patted his chest and said, “Have you forgotten what my family does? We have plenty of meat! I’ll go home and get some!”

Several people became interested.

Only Han Xuetao shook his head: “I can’t go, I still have to deliver candy boxes.”

Luo Diandian glared at him with displeasure: “Han Xuetao, you’re such a spoilsport!”

Li Man asked, “Who are you going to send it to?”

Han Xuetao counted on his fingers: “My neighbors, people from my mother’s former workplace, several of my father’s old colleagues from the factory, and Yin Qin and a few others from Chunmei Hotel.”

Li Man thought for a moment, then adopted the air of a class monitor: “How about this, I’ll go with you to deliver the candy box. Dian Dian and Ma Hou will need time to go home to get the meat. Let’s meet at the riverside park in two hours.”

She looked at Han Xuetao: “Is it okay?”

Han Xuetao opened his mouth, but couldn’t refuse.

“Let’s go then,” he said. “We’ll split up and meet at the bus stop.”

Li Man waved her hand: “No need to wait for the bus. Wait for me, I’ll go get my bicycle.”

A moment later, a men’s bicycle was pushed out.

Han Xuetao was stunned for a moment—this bike was clearly the kind his dad rode, with a large crossbar, black in color, and a spring clip strapped to the back seat.

Li Man pushed the bike in front of him: “You ride it.”

Han Xuetao took the handlebars: “And you?”

“I’ll sit in the back,” Li Man said matter-of-factly. “This bike is hard for me to ride; I can’t reach the crossbar.”

Han Xuetao glanced at her, said nothing, and strode onto the car.

Li Man sat sideways on the back seat, gripping the edge of the seat with both hands, her legs dangling, unsure of where to put them.

“Hold on tight.” Han Xuetao kicked the pedal, and the car lurched forward.

Li Man leaned back and instinctively grabbed his clothes around his waist.

The bicycle wobbled and swayed onto the road.

A gust of wind blew by, and a few strands of Li Man’s hair fluttered. She clutched Han Xuetao’s clothes, her fingers able to feel the warmth of his waist. Her face felt a little hot, and she didn’t know where to look, so she stared at the sweat-soaked mark on his back.

I ran into a few people wearing the school uniform of No. 1 Middle School on the way, and they stared at me.

The class monitor of No. 1 High School, the top scorer in the entire school’s college entrance examination, actually sat on the back of a boy’s bicycle!

…

We arrived at our apartment building, a tenement building.

Han Xuetao went upstairs to deliver candy boxes, while Li Man watched over the bicycle downstairs. She would come down in a little while, then ride the bicycle to the next store.

After visiting several places, only Chunmei Hotel remained.

Li Man said, “I used to work here too. I didn’t prepare any gifts, and I’m too embarrassed to go up with you.”

Han Xuetao opened the bag. “That’s easy, we’ll each take half. My mom prepared a lot.”

He divided the candy box into two piles, one half for each person.

Li Man looked at the pile of candy boxes and said, “This is not good…”

Han Xuetao ignored her, looked around, and saw a stationery store by the roadside. He ran in, bought a few blank cards, and borrowed a pen.

“What’s your name again? Li Man?”

Li Man rolled her eyes at him: “Nonsense.”

Han Xuetao wrote on the card: “Respectfully presented by Li Man.” After writing it, he put it in a candy box.

“Alright, now it’s your turn to prepare.”

Looking at the crooked and messy characters, Li Man couldn’t help but laugh: “Your handwriting is really something else.”

“As long as you can see it clearly,” Han Xuetao handed her the remaining cards and pen. “You can write the rest yourself.”

Li Man took it, leaned over the back seat of the car, wrote down each piece of information, and stuffed them into the candy box.

After they finished, the two of them went upstairs.

On the sixth floor of Chunmei Hotel, in the same restaurant, Yin Qin and the other waitresses were clearing tables when they saw Han Xuetao and Li Man come in together, and they were pleasantly surprised.

“Xiao Han! What brings you here!”

“Li Man! How did you two get here together!”

Several people gathered around, chattering and asking questions. When they heard that both of them had been admitted to Ninghai University, they exclaimed in surprise:

Wow! Ninghai University! That’s a top-tier university!

“You two are amazing!”

“You’ll all be college students now, so don’t forget us!”

Han Xuetao handed out candy boxes to everyone, and Li Man followed suit. Yin Qin took two candy boxes, looked at them, and suddenly laughed: “Oh, you two gave out the same candy!”

A waiter nearby came over to look: “It’s real! Exactly the same!”

“It must have been planned beforehand!”

“They got into the same university together, and they even exchanged candy together, so what?”

Li Man blushed at their words, opened her mouth as if to retort, but didn’t know what to say. Although she was the class monitor, she had no authority over these waitresses.

Han Xuetao smiled but didn’t say anything.

…

After leaving Chunmei Hotel, Han Xuetao pushed his bicycle, and the two walked towards the riverside park. After walking for a while, Li Man suddenly remembered something, turned her head, and asked:

“Do you remember those people we ran into in the private room and room 508 last time?”

Han Xuetao glanced at her: “Which ones?”

“Oh, it’s those guys…” Li Man lowered her voice, “the ones who hit me with an ashtray in the private room, and then took pictures of me naked, they were really disgusting.”

Han Xuetao’s heart skipped a beat, but his face remained impassive: “I think I vaguely remember. What’s wrong?”

Li Man leaned closer, tilted her head, and said mysteriously, “There’s one inside. His dad works for the court, and he was just arrested!”

Han Xuetao narrowed his eyes.

“Really?” He looked at Li Man. “How did you know?”

Li Man proudly raised her chin: “My dad said so.”