Zhang Liu adjusted his glasses hesitatingly.
"...Can I ask the reason, Ms. Ma?" He was just curious about why this excellent student would give up her privilege to such... a lazy man.
Although he knew the answer inside of him, he hoped that it was different.
"Why? Eh, I don't know either..." Ma Xiaoli's face turned red as she spoke.
Seeing the pure student bashfully giving a "reason" to him, Zhang Liu sighed, before bidding goodbye to his students one more time and leaving.
Ma Xiaoli returned to her seat and went back to sleep.
Zhou Lei, however, felt gazes stabbing into his skin.
Some were jealous, and some were planning something...
He didn't know why, but Zhou Lei felt uneasy about the next days of his school life.
.....
Finally, school was over. Zhou Lei headed back home to update his novel, before going to the arcade to practice DDR.
As he walked back, he saw a woman who was about the same age as him. Her mouth drooled endlessly. Judging by her dirty clothes, and her big bag, Zhou Lei thought she was homeless.
Zhou Lei felt bad for the person and tapped her shoulder to give her some change.
As she turned around and saw Zhou Lei, her eyes widened and her mouth turned into a smile.
It looked like... she was waiting for him all along!
Misunderstanding something, Zhou Lei shook his head and reached into his wallet to give her some money, when she spoke.
"Please... give me a sandwich."
"Hmm?" Zhou Lei didn't expect the girl in front of her to actually make a request.
It was quite astonishing. After all, there was a saying, "Beggars can't be choosers." That meant that most beggars would be grateful for anything someone gave them.
In the end, Zhou Lei decided that it was too troublesome. "...Go buy a sandwich yourself."
The beggar turned sad for a moment before leaving slowly, her steps getting louder with each one she took.
Zhou Lei felt that the beggar was throwing a tantrum, so he just shrugged and walked away.
As the beggar saw the man that was supposed to give her a sandwich walk away carelessly, her panic went up.
However, a truly kind man the boy in front of her was not. She could not just chase after the boy either, as it would further lower her already negative dignity.
'It was only a tasty sandwich after all, why do I have to go through all this trouble just to get one more? Forget it, I'll just come back to normal begging. Eventually, I'll save up enough to clean myself up, and find a job...'
As her train of thought got derailed more and more, the beggar eventually got back to the topic of the sandwich again.
'...oh, but the sandwich tasted out of this world. This maybe my only opportunity to taste it again! After all, Em**em did say that I only got one shot... and also that he vomited his mom's spaghetti... Anyways, that's irrelevant!'
In the end, the girl chose to stalk Zhou Lei back to his house.
That way, she would remember where he lived. If he threw away more of those sandwiches, she could take them for herself.
As Zhou Lei walked back home, he noticed scurrying sounds coming from behind him. Thinking that it would be temporary, he carried on his way.
Contrary to his expectations, the scuttling behind him didn't stop. Instead, it appeared to be growing louder every second.
'Hmm, this must be a dog... Err, I don't really care if it follows me home.'
With the tension all gone, a smile appeared on Zhou Lei's face as he walked back home. He unintentionally displayed a face so handsome. Too handsome, in fact.