Another two members pulled the club president away.
"What are you doing!" The president broke free from their grip, her beautiful eyes glaring: "Are you rebelling?"
"President, calm down! Do you know her?"
The president shook her head; it was her first time seeing her today.
The school is so big, it’s not surprising not to have seen her before. After all, even on the same floor, you might not know people from the next class by graduation.
Boy: "Exactly, none of us know her, so why would she want to sponsor us?"
The girl nodded: "President, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. If there is, it’s definitely a trap."
President: "..."
Everyone’s just a student; how much of a conspiracy could there be?
The president waved her hand dismissively: "Ah, who cares, after all, our drama club has nothing to gain, what are you afraid of!"
Boy/Girl: "..." The president makes a very good point.
With only four members in the drama club, what could be worth it?
"Hey classmate, come here and let’s discuss the sponsorship issue." The president turned her head, putting on a business smile: "May I ask your name?"
"It’s not important."
"Uh..."
-
Including the president, the drama club had only four members.
One of them had something to do today and didn’t come.
The drama club’s expenses weren’t high, as they played as a hobby and did not do much else.
The biggest expense was participating in school activities, needing costumes and props.
Chuzheng transferred a sum of money to the president’s account.
"Cla...classmate, did you enter too many zeros?" Why does it add up to a hundred thousand?
Even a thousand seems astronomical!!
She had envisioned at most a few hundred, at most over a thousand.
Who would have thought, counting the zeros revealed it was a hundred thousand.
"No." You could only input less, not more!
"...But...but..." The president stuttered.
A hundred thousand is no small sum even for adults; how could the president dare to take it?
"I have money." The big shot’s face was sincere.
President: "Classmate, it’s not about having money or not, you’re giving so much..."
"If you think it’s too much, donate it." Anyway, my task is completed; it doesn’t matter how you handle the money.
The money spent is like water poured out; Chuzheng certainly couldn’t take it back, so she left quickly.
Just as she opened the drama club door, someone outside was about to come in.
They bumped into each other at the doorway, and the person outside looked at Chuzheng in shock, then exclaimed: "Hang Chuzheng, what are you doing here!!"
"Why can’t I be here?" Chuzheng retorted: "Is this your territory?"
Jiang Jing had just come from the dormitory’s honor board, looking at Chuzheng as if she were an enemy.
"Of course this is my territory, what are you doing here!"
Jiang Jing was the last member of the drama club.
Chuzheng appearing here made Jiang Jing feel her territory was being infringed, and her whole body bristled with spikes.
"Xiao Jing, what are you doing!" The president was a step behind Chuzheng: "Why are you making such a fuss!"
Jiang Jing pointed at Chuzheng: "President, she..."
The president expertly cut in: "She’s our drama club sponsor; don’t be so rude."
Jiang Jing: "???"
Sponsor?
Her?
They shared a dorm room; how could she not know? Usually frugal and stingy, would she fork out money to sponsor the drama club?
What a joke.
"President, hasn’t our drama club not reached the point of needing a few dozen dollars in sponsorship?" Jiang Jing sneered.
President: "It’s not just a few dozen dollars this classmate is sponsoring."
Jiang Jing: "A few hundred? That’s not much, just a little money; President, you can’t just lose your backbone!"
President: "..."
The president pulled out her phone, opened the message, and showed it to Jiang Jing.
"See for yourself."
A string of zeros lay quietly on the message, and Jiang Jing hadn’t counted them clearly at first.
A hundred...thousand??
Jiang Jing looked at the president in shock.
"I’m leaving now."
"Hey classmate, wait, this money is really too much; we can’t take it!" The president quickly chased after her, leaving Jiang Jing standing in disbelief.
Jiang Jing snapped out of it and immediately asked the other two classmates on the scene: "Did she really give the hundred thousand?"
"Yeah."
"How’s that possible! How could she have a hundred thousand?" She’s such a stingy person, where’d she get so much money?
She never talked about her family’s situation, but from her living habits, it seemed average.
Jiang Jing was unwilling to believe this fact.
"Do you know her?" The girl asked curiously: "Which year is she from?"
"...She’s in the same class as me."
The girl was surprised: "Your classmate!"
Jiang Jing: "..."
-
Chuzheng dodged the president’s chase, planning to take a shortcut back to the classroom.
Rustle—
Chuzheng: "..."
What was that sound?
Don’t scare people like this in broad daylight!
Rustle, rustle—
A distant bush swayed, as if something was moving it.
Chuzheng held her wrist, warily watching over there, considering whether to run or go back.
At that moment, a figure suddenly emerged without warning from the bushes.
Then a second one.
The third boy appeared with striking burgundy hair, his school uniform held in his hand, seemingly wrapped around something.
The three of them burst out of the bushes, probably not expecting anyone outside, facing her directly.
The two boys in the front clearly panicked for a moment.
The boy with the burgundy hair ran over, his bangs fell apart as he ran, revealing a smooth, full forehead.
The boy’s features were polished and exquisite, his skin much fairer than the other two, with elongated eyebrows, and his eyes dark as ink reflecting the light and shadow of the path like faint specks in the ink.
As he got closer, Chuzheng realized the burgundy hair wasn’t fully dyed.
It was highlights, and possibly due to soft hair, slight movements exposed the burgundy hiding beneath.
Chuzheng: "..." She kind of wanted to touch, really wanted to touch...
"Let’s go." The boy tugged someone, running past Chuzheng.
As they passed her, the boy glanced at her, with no particular emotion, as if looking at a passerby.
The sunset’s afterglow fell through the tree canopy, scattering on the ground in bits and pieces.
The two brushed past quickly, a breeze gently blowing, and the boy ran off stepping over the scattered shadows until everything was quiet.
Chuzheng withdrew her gaze, rubbed her fingertips, and walked toward the classroom.
Before evening self-study ended, Chuzheng overheard someone saying that ten thousand yuan had been lost from the school.
"Who stole it?"
"Who knows... Daring to steal from the school, they’ve got guts."
"I bet it was Huahai’s people."
"The money was missing around the new teaching building."
"This never happened before."
"Ever since people from Huahai came, there’s been trouble here and there..."