"A relative’s kid isn’t doing well in school, so I’m going to help tutor them."
"Where does your relative live? Next time we have a break, I’ll come find you at your relative’s place, and we can play some basketball together." Zhuo Feng didn’t have many hobbies other than studying—basketball was his other love. Playing basketball alone wasn’t fun, and since Jianbin liked it too, they would often play together. Unfortunately, Jianbin always seemed to disappear during the holidays.
"My relative’s kid didn’t get into high school, so no more tutoring needed. You can just come to my place next time." In fact, Gu Jianbin had never tutored his relative’s child.
It was just an excuse he had made up.
Living in the city was expensive, and his family wasn’t doing business anymore, so he’d return to his village during the breaks, only coming back to the city when school started again.
Zhuo Feng was a city dweller with a comfortable home life. The two of them had been sharing a dormitory since high school, but Zhuo Feng didn’t know that Gu Jianbin came from the countryside.
And Jianbin had no intention of telling Zhuo Feng about it.
None of his classmates knew he was from a rural area. They saw he had a house in the city and always had enough pocket money, so they assumed his family were city businesspeople. He never let his family visit him at school.
One could say, Gu Jianbin had created a very good facade for himself, wrapping himself up perfectly. Content orıginally comes from 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩✶𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚✶𝕟𝕖𝕥
"You tutored him and he still didn’t get into high school? Seems like your relative’s kid really isn’t cut out for studying! But then again, aptitude is very important in learning. If it’s not in his nature, there’s nothing to be done. It might be better that he doesn’t go to school. Starting to learn a trade early can lead to a comfortable life too. Studying isn’t the only way out." Zhuo Feng consoled Jianbin.
Jianbin saw that there were no suspicions and no further questions, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He casually fabricated another lie, "My relative runs a food processing plant, and they plan to have him work there. If he applies himself, he won’t do too badly in the future."
Zhuo Feng was easygoing and down-to-earth, which was one of the reasons he and Zhuo Feng got along so well.
With Zhuo Feng’s help, he could avoid many detours in society later on.
So, he definitely couldn’t let Zhuo Feng find out he was from the countryside; he had to maintain his facade at all costs.
Just as Zhuo Feng was about to speak, a sudden ’ouch’ came from behind him. He instinctively turned around and steadied the person who almost fell.
Seeing a rather delicate-looking girl before him, his eyes lit up, "Are you okay, classmate?"
Honestly, there were far more boys than girls at the school, and most of these girls came from families with little money and didn’t know how to dress up, so they weren’t much to look at.
Pretty students like her were rare in this school.
"I’m fine, thank you." Zhou Siyu put on a grateful face, but inwardly she cursed him for being a busybody. Her plan was to pretend to fall and have Gu Jianbin play the hero to rescue her, then recognize each other.
But now, she had been ’rescued’ by Zhuo Feng, and Jianbin had only glanced back before continuing his laundry, failing to recognize her.
"Your clothes are dirty, you’ll have to wash them again." Zhuo Feng thought she was frozen in shock and bent down to pick up the basin of clothes she had dropped.
Zhou Siyu took her clothes and glanced at Jianbin again, but he showed no sign of looking back at her. She hesitated, wondering if she should pretend to be surprised and recognize him when she heard Zhuo Fei speak again.
"Which class are you from, classmate? How come I’ve never seen you before?"