Chapter 26 I'm Not a Thief
Morning, Piltover University.
Lina came to school early, but not for class, but to go to the library. She went to the library not to read books, but to line up at the door of the library to get free notebooks and pens.
Every month, Piltover University regularly distributes free notebooks and pens to students.
This tradition is said to have started 300 years ago when the university was first established.
But the original intention of the school administrators at that time was just to give these chosen ones some cultural souvenirs printed with the emblem of Piltover University that could highlight their status.
But later, with the split of the two cities and the polarization of rich and poor, the students at Piltover University gradually evolved into two distinct factions: Piltover locals and Zaun students, rich and poor.
The poor people from Zaun certainly wouldn't miss these free papers and pens;
The wealthy students of Piltover are certainly not willing to lower their status for such a small profit and queue up with the Zaun peasants whom they look down upon.
So unknowingly, the campus cultural project that was originally aimed at all students has become a targeted poverty alleviation project for Zuan people.
At this moment, the morning mist had just dissipated, and a long line of students formed in front of the library.
They were all wearing the Piltover University uniform, dressed in suits and ties, and looked quite respectable.
But everyone knows that they are from Zaun.
Only Zaun people would line up here.
"Really? Can you please hurry up..." Such murmurs were heard from time to time in the team. The voices were full of resentment and embarrassment.
Everyone was embarrassed.
The same is true for Lina.
Because there were people coming and going at the library entrance, other students and teachers passed by them from time to time.
Standing in this "Zuan" team, Lina always felt a little embarrassed. Even if those passers-by didn't look at her, she always felt that countless eyes were looking at her.
What's more, there are indeed many pairs of eyes here looking at her and looking at them.
"Lina?" Someone called her name in surprise.
Lina raised her head reluctantly and looked in the direction of the voice:
It turned out to be a senior schoolmate whom she had met a few times recently.
This senior sister had been quite polite to me the previous times we met, but she had never known that she was from Zaun.
However, the senior must know now:
“Lina, you…why are you queuing here too?”
She looked up and down at Lina's delicate face, which was very much in line with the style of Piltover, and then looked at the line full of Zaun students. Her expression was shocked at first, and then quickly became complicated.
This complexity is hard to describe.
But it's always uncomfortable.
"Senior..." Lina responded with a stiff face: "Do you... need something from me?"
"No, no." The senior student smiled and shook her head without saying anything.
She just left with a smile.
This is a bit like when a poor student asks a top student for help with a very stupid question, and the top student hesitates to speak, with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth.
Only more malicious.
"You bitch who looks down on others... why are you talking to me for no reason? There's no one blocking the butt hole on your face, so if you want to poop, just do it directly!" Lina cursed a few words of Zuan dialect.
But after cursing, she felt powerless again... She looked around at the villagers who were queuing up to receive "relief" like her. They were all the same, with their heads lowered, afraid of being recognized by acquaintances passing by.
But no one is leaving.
The dignity of the people of Zaan is only worth a pen and a notebook.
"Hurry up...ah." Lina just wanted the torture to end soon.
Fortunately, she arrived early.
After much perseverance, she finally made it to the front of the team.
At the front of the line, responsible for distributing pens and notebooks to everyone, were two middle-aged women who worked as errand boys in the school.
They are all natives of Piltover, but they are obviously the lowest class among the locals.
With their bloated bodies fattened by cheap fried chicken, their tasteless clothing, and their imitative "trendy" curly hair that has been permed and dyed, these two Piltover aunties look even more unfashionable than the Zaun students lining up.
Their job was to distribute pens and notebooks, but in reality they just piled the free stationery on the table and let the Zaun students in line pick them up themselves.
Then they sat there and ate melon seeds while chatting about campus gossip:
"Hey, did you hear that?"
"Professor Jayce last night..." Jayce is the scientific research star of the entire Piltover. Anything related to him can spread throughout the campus at the fastest speed.
What's more, as a muscular handsome man with overflowing hormones, Jace is the dream man of middle-aged women.
"…recruited a new student into his research group. This seems to be the first student Professor Jess has accepted!"
"Who is it that Professor Jace likes?"
"Kaya Firoz, have you heard of it?"
"Philos? That 'Philos'? Tsk tsk..." One of the aunts sighed: "People from big families are still different."
"What are you guessing! Miss Philos is a real genius, not a bit of pretense..."
"It is said that Professor Jace personally gave the test last night, and among the dozens of the strongest students in the academy, only Miss Kaya was able to answer the test. And she is only 18 years old!"
"Look at them... they have a better family background, are smarter, and work harder than others. No wonder the Philos family can make a fortune. It's what they deserve!"
“…”
The two ladies were engrossed in their discussion, but Lina felt uncomfortable listening to them:
Kaya Firoz is indeed capable, and even she admits that this young lady's achievements are not exaggerated.
But what does it mean that "Kaya was the only one who solved the problem"?
Obviously she also solved the problem, and did no worse than Kaya!
Why did the rumors turn into Kaya Fellowes's solo show just overnight?
Miss Kaya in the story is hardworking, smart, and not dependent on her background at all. Even Professor Jace falls in love with her at first sight and exclaims, "This girl's talent is no less than mine, and she will become a great person in the future."
If Lina hadn't seen the young lady's face with her own eyes, she would probably have worshipped her after hearing what she said.
"etc……"
Lina couldn't help but think of the biographies she once believed in, which introduced the wealthy families, parliamentarians, scholars, and other great figures in Piltover.
The stories of those great men are also full of such "young and talented" jokes:
What is the Falling Cherry Axe, what is the Focusing Mirror, what is the Heimerdinger's small stool...
It seems that great people have been different from ordinary people since childhood, and success is natural.
"These stories... aren't they all exaggerated and embellished like Kaya's story?" Lina couldn't help but doubt everything she had accepted before.
However, there is no point in thinking about these things.
Kaya won and she won, and no matter how angry she was, it wouldn't change anything.
Her only hope now was Professor Victor. Victor said he would help her take the paper back to show everyone in the research group, but now that one night had passed, it was still unknown whether there was any result.
perhaps……
In a little while, Victor will appear in front of her and tell her with relief that she has also been admitted?
Thinking of this, Lina became full of hope for the future.
She didn't care about the little things like waiting in line and being watched by people, or the aunties praising Kaya.
You can just bear with it. It will pass if you bear with it.
Lina warned herself in her heart, and then unknowingly, she stood at the front of the line - it was finally her turn to get a pen and a notebook.
But at this time...
“No, no more…”
The free stationery on the table has been taken by the students in front.
But there was actually a lot of stock. It was just that the pens and notebooks were placed behind the table, blocked by the two fat Piltover women. They had to bend down and move a pile of them to the table.
But the two of them were still chatting about gossip with relish, talking about various legendary stories of Kaya and the Firos family, and ignored Lina.
Although he was sitting behind the desk, he seemed not to notice that the stationery on the desk was gone, nor did he see Kaya standing in front of the desk, and the long line of Zaun students waiting to get their stationery.
"Um...Auntie?" Lina held her schoolbag a little uneasily and reminded them quietly: "The pens and notebooks on the table have all been distributed..."
The two ladies didn't hear it at all.
"Aunt?"
Still no response.
Just like a teammate who can't see the signal.
"Auntie!" Lina finally couldn't help it and reached out to pat one of them.
The old lady from Piltover frowned immediately, stopped gossiping, and looked over with a dark face:
"Who are you calling auntie?"
"Can't you tell how old I am? Do you have any manners?"
"S-Sorry..." Lina apologized tremblingly: "Sister, that..."
"Um, what? If you have something to say, say it now!"
"The stationery has been distributed..." Lina pointed to the empty table in front of her that anyone with a straight face could notice.
"It's done! Just say it directly!" The aunt glared at her unhappily, but finally bent down reluctantly and brought up a pile of notebooks and pen cases.
"Thank you..." Lina said thank you silently.
But just as she was about to reach out to take it, the other lady spat out the melon seed shell, raised her eyebrows, and looked at her suspiciously:
"Wait, you look familiar."
"I say, you didn't already receive the items, and then sneaked in line to receive them again? Hey, hey... I'm warning you, this is also considered stealing!"
"Huh?" Lina was slightly stunned.
She didn't expect that she would be accused of this for no reason... er...
It seems there is nothing unexpected.
In the past, whenever someone lost something in class, she and other Zaun students would always be called in for questioning first.
"But I didn't steal anything!" Lina couldn't help but burst into anger: "I, I am also a student of Piltover University, how could I steal!"
"If there is none, then there is none!"
"Why are you yelling so loudly?"
"Are you guilty of a crime?"
Lina: “…”
Endure, must endure...
If she could bear with it, Professor Victor would be able to bring her good news .
If she endures it until she graduates and finds a job, she can also become a noble Piltover citizen.
But Levi's article appeared in Lina's mind. It was just a historical analysis paper without emotion, but somehow it could inexplicably provoke the anger of the people of Zaun.
One can't help but point at the faces of these Piltover people and curse them harshly:
"Fuck you!!!"
"I'm not a thief!!!"
