The Poor School Heartthrob Was Secretly a Financial Titan - Chapter 45
The next day, Han Xuetao ran into Li Man.
The sun was scorching, and the rubber track on the playground had softened under the heat, becoming a bit sticky to the touch.
Han Xuetao stood in the geology department’s formation, his hat pulled low, his eyes squinting as he looked ahead.
The column began to move.
As they walked forward, the political science department’s formation came from the opposite direction. The two groups had to pass each other, stand at a halt in the middle, then march in unison, before turning and separating.
Just one minute.
Out of the corner of Han Xuetao’s eye, he caught a glimpse of greenâit was a formation of female students from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration. They were wearing the same military uniforms and the same hats, walking towards them from the opposite direction.
As he walked, he suddenly felt that someone was watching him.
Turning my head, I saw Li Man.
She was standing three rows from the outside of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration’s formation, with two girls between her and the others. Seeing Han Xuetao, Li Man was pleasantly surprised. She gritted her teeth, switched places with the two girls next to her, and squeezed to the very edge.
The group continued moving forward, getting closer and closer.
Li Man reached out and quickly tugged at his sleeve.
Han Xuetao looked down at her.
Li Man’s image has changed a bit; her hair is shorter, revealing her fair neck. Her chin is also sharper, making her eyes appear much larger.
“I heard your instructors train really hard?” Han Xuetao asked.
Li Man said, “Did the news get to you?”
She spoke quickly: “I won’t say much more, but I need your help. Buy me some sunscreen! Our formation has to stand at attention at noon, so we don’t have time to go out!”
Han Xuetao was taken aback: “Standing at attention in the middle of the day? We don’t do that. Aren’t we going to the canteen for lunch?”
Li Man gritted her teeth: “At noon, we’ll all eat steamed buns on the parade ground and stand at attention!”
Han Xuetao gasped, wanting to ask another question, but the two formations had already staggered.
Han Xuetao withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward.
But during the few dozen seconds they spoke, many people in both formations saw it.
After rehearsal, it’s time for a break.
The students in dormitory 203 were drinking water under a big tree. As soon as Han Xuetao walked over, several pairs of eyes turned to him.
Li Jing was the first to speak: “Brother Tao, I have a questionâdid you take the initiative to seduce her, or did she take the initiative to seduce you? This active and passive relationship directly affects our judgment of the nature of this matter.”
Yu Xin pointed at Li Jing and Ba Hui, looking at them with exasperation: “You two hang around the girls’ contingent every day, asking this and that. What good does it do? Look at Brother Tao. He stood alongside the contingent for a minute, and the girls took the initiative to squeeze over and pull up his sleeve. That’s a level of skill, you know?”
Ba Hui, being short, stood in the front row during rehearsals and couldn’t see anything. He was so anxious that he scratched his head and asked, “Wait, what are you guys talking about? Who is Brother Tao talking to? Which formation are they in? What do they look like?”
Chu Qiang added expressionlessly, “He’s from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, the one on the far right of the third row. He spoke for a total of fifty-two seconds. The other person pulled his sleeve first, then Brother Tao spoke, and the two sides exchanged about three and a half sentences.”
Zhao Jiang looked bewildered: “Are you solving a case here? Didn’t the instructor say we were to look at the back of the person’s head?”
He turned to Zhou Xiaobai and asked, “Xiaobai, did you see it?”
Zhou Xiaobai nodded, her gaze drifting as if looking into the distance.
âI also wrote a short poem,â he said.
“Green surges in from all directions / submerging the scale / in that instant of tilting our heads / we are merely two directions outside of inertia / gently / trembling amidst the convergence of countless straight lines…”
After he finished reading, he looked at Han Xuetao and said, “That scene would be beautiful if it could be captured on camera.”
There was silence under the tree for a few seconds.
Yu Xin exclaimed, “Trembling? Holy crap, your recitation of that poem is making me all hot and bothered!”
Zhou Xiaobai opened her mouth to speak.
Yu Xin quickly waved his hand: “Alright, alright, don’t tell me that. I’m a rough man, I can’t appreciate art, okay?”
He turned to Han Xuetao, his eyes sparkling: “Brother Tao, tell me, what’s going on?”
Han Xuetao screwed the cap off his mineral water bottle and said in a flat tone, “Nothing to say. We’re just high school classmates. We just greet each other when we run into each other. It’s not as complicated as you guys think.”
Old Xie, who had been leaning against the tree trunk with a smile, saw that they were not going to let Han Xuetao go and finally spoke up: “Alright, alright, let’s talk about it back in the dorm. Hurry up and go to the toilet, the instructors will be calling for us to assemble soon.”
At noon, after the class was dismissed, Han Xuetao did not go to the cafeteria but went straight out of the school gate.
The sunscreen in the small shops near the school gate was sold out. He took the bus for two stops to the nearest shopping mall, picked one out at the cosmetics counter, paid for it, and came out.
A new KFC has opened next to the shopping mall, and there are flower baskets placed at the entrance.
He thought for a moment, realizing there probably wouldn’t be much left in the school cafeteria at this hour. So he decided to go in and eat.
After finishing my meal, I remembered what Li Man had said about “eating steamed buns while standing at attention at noon,” so I grabbed a hamburger to go.
Back at school, he went straight to the playground.
From afar, you could see the formation from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration still standing in the same spot. Dozens of girls sat neatly on the ground, each with a steamed bun in hand, struggling to eat it. When they couldn’t finish, they would take a sip of the mineral water next to them.
Han Xuetao really couldn’t understand their instructor. What was she thinking?
It’s just university military training, is it really that serious? Do you really expect to train them into female soldiers to go to the battlefield in the future?
He couldn’t help but recall some past events.
Such guards also exist in prisons. Those with a bit of power enjoy tormenting inmates, finding pleasure in doing so. He’d seen more than one such psychologically disturbed guard. Of course, inmates aren’t without tempers either; it’s not uncommon for them to harbor resentment and seek revenge on their guards’ families after release.
He shook his head, shaking off the past he didn’t want to recall, and walked straight toward the formation.
A female student from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration was sitting on the ground eating a steamed bun, looking miserable.
Just then, someone looked up and paused for a moment.
“Hey, look over thereâ”
Everyone followed her gaze.
A boy is walking this way.
Han Xuetao was wearing his military training uniform, his hat pulled down low, but it couldn’t hide his face. His features were clean and bright, and he walked at a leisurely pace, his steps like arrows, heading straight towards their formation.
There are no detours or bends in the middle.
The act of eating steamed buns stopped abruptly.
Dozens of eyes fell on him at once.
Li Man sat in the middle of the line, half a steamed bun still in her mouth, frozen in place, her heart pounding!
No way, he just delivered it like that?
She asked Han Xuetao to buy her sunscreen today, actually on a whim. She’d rushed out of her dorm this morning and mistakenly brought hand cream instead of sunscreen; by the time she realized it, it was too late to go back and get it. She couldn’t ask a male classmate for helpâshe’d only just entered university, didn’t know anyone, and felt too embarrassed to ask.
Li Man wasn’t afraid of getting tired and losing weight, but she was worried about getting a tan. That’s when she ran into him during rehearsal.
In a moment of impulse, the words were spoken.
But she regretted it as soon as she said it.
Because she thought of a questionâ
How do we get Han Xuetao’s supplies delivered? Should we ask a girl to pass them over? They’re not from the same department, so who should we ask? Or should we ask one of their instructors to speak to our instructor?
She thought of a whole bunch of convoluted ideas, but she just couldn’t come up with anythingâ
Han Xuetao just swaggered over there on his own.
As he drew closer, Li Man was completely stunned.
Han Xuetao walked to the edge of the formation, didn’t stop, and went straight into the line. He reached her, took out a tube of sunscreen from his pocket, and handed it to her. Then he handed her a paper bag with the KFC logo printed on it.
“Let’s eat this. I bought it on the spur of the moment.”
All the girls in the formation watched this scene.
Dozens of eyes, some wide open, some fixed, some gleaming, were all staring at Li Man’s face.
Li Man felt her face burning red.
She took the things, opened her mouth, but couldn’t say anything; her mind completely went blank!
This guy is being way too blatant!
Over there, the instructor frowned and lifted his foot to walk this way.
Han Xuetao had already turned and walked out.
He walked towards the instructor, glanced at him, and nodded slightly.
The instructor paused for a moment, then stopped walking.
Han Xuetao left without looking back.
As soon as he left, the female students from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration erupted in cheers.
The instructors couldn’t stop them even if they wanted to.
Li Man had already stuffed the sunscreen into her pocket, and everyone’s attention was focused on the KFC paper bag.
“Oh my god! KFC!”
“I saw the opening advertisement in the newspaper, but I haven’t eaten there yet!”
“Li Man, is this your boyfriend?”
“Wow, so handsome… Did you guys see that face just now…?”
“Wow, this is so romantic!”
Li Man was surrounded, holding the bag of KFC in her arms, which felt extremely hot.
The instructor stood not far away, watching the group of chattering girls who were completely out of control, and sighed, a rare occurrence for him.
He waved his hand: “That’s all, everyone. Take a half-day off this afternoon. Be ready to meet again tomorrow morning!”
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