After returning the phone to Luo Yan, Jiang Xiaoguo couldn't help but said angrily:
"Then I will be bad to the end!"
After saying that, without waiting for Luo Yan and Duan Jiabao to speak, Jiang Xiaoguo angrily walked towards the girls' dormitory. Duan Jiabao and Luo Yan hurriedly followed her.
"Hey, Xiaoguo, walk slower!"
…
Back in the dormitory, Jiang Xiaoguo became angrier and angrier. She walked into the bathroom angrily, ready to brush her teeth, wash her face and go to bed. After taking a look at the little toothpaste left, Jiang Xiaoguo rolled up the end of the toothpaste box and squeezed out a little toothpaste onto the toothbrush. Just as she was about to brush her teeth, Duan Jiabao's voice rang out from outside the bathroom, "Thank you, Wang Wei!" Hearing Wang Wei's name, Jiang Xiaoguo was stunned for a moment, then put down her toothbrush and ran out quickly, saying:
"Wang Wei?"
Not seeing Wang Wei, Jiang Xiaoguo looked at Luo Yan and Duan Jiabao and asked:
"Where is Wang Wei?"
Luo Yan glanced at Jiang Xiaoguo and said with a smile:
"She left the money and left. There was three hundred dollars in total, all on your table!"
"real?"
"real!"
Jiang Xiaoguo was overjoyed to hear that Wang Wei had taken the initiative to return her money. She hurried to her desk and saw three brand new red banknotes on the desk, pressed with a mouse. She moved the mouse and took the banknotes in her hand. Jiang Xiaoguo couldn't help but reveal a happy smile on her face, with two shallow dimples at the corners of her mouth, just like a happy child.
Suddenly, Jiang Xiaoguo's smile faded. There were three hundred-dollar bills, two RMB bills, and one Hong Kong dollar. It was basically impossible for Wang Wei to have Hong Kong dollars, but Duan Jiabao was very likely to have them. Thinking of this, Jiang Xiaoguo looked at Duan Jiabao with the Hong Kong dollars and asked:
"Who gave me this money?"
"Wang Wei, what's wrong?"
Looking at Duan Jiabao who was still pretending to be confused, Jiang Xiaoguo said directly:
"She also gave me this Hong Kong dollar? Duan Jiabao, you went to Hong Kong last week, right?"
"Uh, I don't remember, I went to Hong Kong?"
"I remember!"
Putting three hundred yuan on the table, Jiang Xiaoguo sat down, turned his back to Luo Yan and Duan Jiabao and whispered:
"What do you mean by this?"
Seeing that Jiang Xiaoguo had already discovered that he was the one who put the money there, Duan Jiabao spoke directly from his heart:
"Xiao Guo, how about we just forget about it?"
Before Jiang Xiaoguo could speak, Luo Yan, who was standing beside her, followed Duan Jiabao and advised her:
"Xiao Guo, I think your goal is to buy a mobile phone, so we can collect the money for you, and then we can buy it, right?"
Seeing that Luo Yan and Duan Jiabao both advised him to forget it, Jiang Xiaoguo said in a depressed mood:
"What's wrong? I just said the same thing at the entrance of the supermarket. What did I do wrong?"
Seeing Jiang Xiaoguo like this, Duan Jiabao hesitated for a moment and said:
"You can see that Wang Wei's shoes are already so worn out. Why don't we stop making things difficult for her?"
"How did I embarrass her?"
Seeing Jiang Xiaoguo and Duan Jiabao arguing, Luo Yan next to them said:
"No, that's right...we feel that...between the three hundred dollars and everyone being happy, the latter is definitely more important, right?"
Hearing Luo Yan say this, Jiang Xiaoguo turned his head, looked at her and whispered:
"But everyone is happy, but I am not. Why shouldn't I ask her to pay me back the money I lent her?"
"No... no, I... we just feel that we are in the dorms next to each other, and we still have a year to go. It would be so awkward if we didn't see each other when we looked up, and it's too ugly!"
"You think I made you look very embarrassed and ashamed today, right?"
"No, that's not what we meant. We...we're afraid that others will think you're calculating and mean, and everyone knows that her family is in a difficult situation. Aren't we being too selfish?"
"I am selfish?"
Unexpectedly, Duan Jiabao and Luo Yan would say that they were too selfish like everyone else. Jiang Xiaoguo stood up from his seat and said angrily:
"I thought it was okay for everyone to say that, but I didn't expect you to see me like that. Yes, I am very vain, very selfish, and I love money very much. Are you satisfied?"
"Xiao Guo, that's not what I meant!"
"Xiao Guo!"
Without paying any attention to Duan Jiabao and Luo Yan, Jiang Xiaoguo rushed out of the door and said:
"I am the bad guy!"
Seeing Jiang Xiaoguo running out crying and ignoring herself and Duan Jiabao, Luo Yan couldn't help but complain to Duan Jiabao:
"It's all your fault. You're not good enough to do anything, but you're more likely to cause trouble than to do anything. Why did you go to Hong Kong when you couldn't even tell the difference between Hong Kong dollars and RMB?"
Seeing Luo Yan blaming him, Duan Jiabao couldn't help but said aggrievedly:
"Oh my, that money looks so similar, I accidentally took the Hong Kong dollar, Shitou, is Xiaoguo crying?"
"What do you think?"
"What should we do then?"
"How should I know what to do? It's all your bad advice!"
"You have a share, okay?"
"You really killed me!"
…
After leaving the dormitory, Jiang Xiaoguo walked aimlessly around the playground alone.
After an unknown amount of time, fewer and fewer people were exercising on the playground. At this moment, a cell phone rang. It was Jiang Xiaoguo's cell phone, which startled her. She took out her cell phone from her pocket and took a look. The caller ID showed Sister Juan. It was her mother calling. After counting to ten in her mind, Jiang Xiaoguo answered the phone and said weakly:
"Hello?"
"Ah, have you eaten yet?"
"have eaten!"
"Who did you eat with? With your roommate?"
"Why do I have to eat with my roommate? Can't I eat alone?"
"How can you talk like that? Okay, of course I can. Well, I want to ask you, you said that WeChat withdrawal, I still don't know how to do it, can you teach me again? You said that the money is still in that WeChat, what if it expires?"
"Why is this the same question again? Didn't I tell you? It won't expire. Just open that WeChat wallet!"
"I'm calling you, how can I open WeChat?"
“Minimize it first!”
“How do I minimize it?”
"Didn't I teach you before? Just click on that button to exit the call. Just click once!"
"I quit, so how can you teach me?"
"I've told you so many times, but you still don't understand. Besides, we have different phones. How can I tell you? Even if I tell you a hundred times, you still don't understand?"
"How can you talk to your mother like that, kid? What the hell is going on? Why are you so whiny when I ask you such a small question?"
"Mom, I'm sorry!"
Hearing that Jiang Xiaoguo's voice was different from usual, Jiang's mother asked with concern on the phone:
"Oh, is there something wrong with you?"
"I lent Wang Wei three hundred yuan, but she refused to pay it back when it was due. She insisted on buying herself some shoes for an interview!"
"Three hundred yuan. You said you could lend out such a large sum of money. What can I say about you?"
"Don't mention it. She keeps saying how poor she is and that I forced her to do it. How could there be such a person? I helped her out of kindness, but she... why did she say that I was a bad person?"
"Guo, don't cry, how about... how about just forget it? Besides, you've already found a job and stayed in Shenzhen, but I still have nothing, right?"
"So you also think I did something wrong and I shouldn't have asked her for money, right?"
"I didn't say I didn't support you. I said I felt that you should be more generous and stop being so fussy, understand?"
"If my family had money, would I care so much?"
"Yes, Mom..."
Without waiting for Mother Jiang to finish her words, Jiang Xiaoguo hung up the phone, turned around and kicked the iron fence next to him hard.
"Jiang Xiaoguo!"
Yuan Xudong came out of the school supermarket and walked along the track of the playground. He was about to take a shortcut back to the dormitory when he saw Jiang Xiaoguo fiercely kicking the iron fence around the playground under the street light. He couldn't help but trot over and looked at the angry Jiang Xiaoguo with some amusement and said:
"What's wrong? Who bullied my sister?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Who is your sister?"
Jiang Xiaoguo rolled her eyes at Yuan Xudong, and thinking that she was wearing the clothes Yuan Xudong said he would buy for his sister, she couldn't help but blush and said:
"It's like this. I accidentally put on the wrong clothes today. I was going to return the clothes to you, but I..."
"Okay, okay, I know everything!"
Looking at Jiang Xiaoguo's incoherent words, Yuan Xudong raised the snacks and drinks in his hand and said with a smile:
"Let's have a couple of drinks together?"
"OK!"
"Let's go over there!"
"Um!"
Taking Jiang Xiaoguo to the viewing platform of the school playground, Yuan Xudong found a relatively clean step. He spread a napkin on it, then looked at Jiang Xiaoguo and smiled:
"Okay, you can sit down now!"
"Thanks!"
Yuan Xudong and Jiang Xiaoguo sat side by side, with a small area between them, where some scattered food, as well as a few bottles of milk and drinks were placed. Glancing at Jiang Xiaoguo, who lowered her head and didn't speak, Yuan Xudong opened a bottle of Nutri-Express and handed it to her, saying:
"Bad mood?"
“Hmm~~”
Nodding slightly, Jiang Xiaoguo took the Nutri-Express, looked at it for a while, and blurted out:
"How much does a bottle of Nutri-Express sold in the school supermarket cost?"
“It should be five dollars, right?”
"Six dollars!"
Glancing at Yuan Xudong, Jiang Xiaoguo took a sip of Nutri-Express and said:
"I'm short of money right now, so I want to pay you back the money for the clothes after a while, is that ok?"
"no problem!"
"And this dress, I..."
Before Jiang Xiaoguo could finish, Yuan Xudong interrupted her and said:
"It's my birthday next month, how about you give me a gift then?"
After looking at Yuan Xudong, Jiang Xiaoguo hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded and agreed to him:
"good!"
"When you're in a bad mood, eat something sweet!"
Looking at the unhappy Jiang Xiaoguo, Yuan Xudong peeled a White Rabbit candy and handed it to her, saying with a smile:
"How about trying it?"
"Thanks!"
Jiang Xiaoguo took the White Rabbit candy and put it in his mouth. While holding the candy in his mouth, he said:
"Have you read the school's bulletin board?"
"The post 'Shocking, there was a massive fight between girls in my school!'?"
"Yes, it's that post. They all say I'm a bad person. What do you think?"
"Who said that?"
Looking at the depressed Jiang Xiaoguo, Yuan Xudong smiled and said:
“People’s perception of pain and happiness is completely different. To give a simple example, if you lose a hundred dollars, you will probably feel pain for several days. On the contrary, if you pick up a hundred dollars, you will only be happy for one day, or even for a short while.
In the same way, for that post with a very obvious bias, many ignorant people, or keyboard warriors, who expressed their opinions wantonly on the Internet and denigrated you to pieces. However, apart from them, there are many people who support you, such as a person with the ID "Angel Tachibana Kanade". He supports you very much, right?
What I mean is that for those you care about and who care about you, as long as they support you, don't care about the opinions of others, especially those strangers you don't know. There will always be fools in this world. If you argue with fools about right and wrong, aren't you stupid in yourself?"
Hearing Yuan Xudong say this, Jiang Xiaoguo thought for a moment and said:
"I don't care what other people think of me, but my mom and roommates also told me to give up!"
"I think they did this for your own good, not because they think you did something wrong. On one hand, there is friendship between classmates, and on the other hand, there is 300 yuan. Many people think that it is not worth it for 300 yuan. Then what if you change the 300 yuan into 30,000, 300,000, or even 3 million or 30 million? At that time, how many people would not care?"
Without Jiang Xiaoguo's reply, Yuan Xudong continued:
"I think this is a matter of principle. It is only natural to pay back debts, no matter how much money it is. To put it bluntly, if someone can't even find an excuse to not pay back 300 yuan, how can such a person have any sense of responsibility?
In my opinion, people have two kinds of wealth, one is material wealth and the other is spiritual wealth. The amount of material wealth cannot be determined by ourselves to a large extent. It requires opportunities, abilities, inheritance, etc., but spiritual wealth can be determined by ourselves, such as being physically disabled but mentally strong, refusing to eat steamed buns to fight for one's dignity, etc. Compared with the rich, the poor are far inferior in material wealth. If they throw away their own spiritual wealth, then what are the poor?
So, I don't think there's anything wrong with you asking Wang Wei for money. On the one hand, being poor is not a reason not to pay back the money. On the other hand, three hundred yuan is not beyond her ability. To put it bluntly, as long as you are a normal person, who can't pay back three hundred yuan? Everything else you say is just an excuse. After a few years, when you think of this, I think Wang Wei will definitely regret it. For a mere three hundred yuan, she threw away the most precious wealth a person is born with!"
After listening to Yuan Xudong, Jiang Xiaoguo hesitated for a moment and said:
"Then tell me, do you still want my three hundred dollars?"
"Yes, of course!"
Looking at Jiang Xiaoguo's hesitant look, Yuan Xudong smiled and said:
"After talking about so many great truths, let me share a little story of my own with you. However, you have to promise me not to tell anyone else, okay?"
"Okay, go ahead and tell me. I won't tell anyone else!"
"good!"
Looking at Jiang Xiaoguo, who was full of curiosity, Yuan Xudong recalled:
"My father passed away when I was young. The boss paid more than 200,000 yuan in compensation for an accident on the construction site. For the first time, I understood a truth: money can be equated with life. Single-parent families are always looked at differently by others. Most people think that the other party is pitiful. I hate it when others pity me and mention my father in front of me, no matter if he means well or pretends to pity.
Later, I went to the city to attend junior high school. I studied well and my teachers liked me very much. I still remember one exam. I got an English listening question wrong. The question was about who the Olympic champion Liu Xiang was. There were three pictures below, and I chose the wrong one. Then I asked the teacher why I got it wrong. The teacher asked me why I didn’t know who Liu Xiang was. My classmates all laughed, and I laughed too. But in fact, I really didn’t know who Liu Xiang was. I didn’t even know how many years the Olympics were held.
This was when I first moved to the city from the countryside. There were many embarrassing things during that time. I was afraid that others would laugh at me for being from a single-parent family, so I told others that I had a father and a mother. However, the teacher knew the truth and asked me if I needed to apply for family subsidies. He meant well, but I did not appreciate it at the time. I hated him very much and felt that he had embarrassed me. I felt that receiving government subsidies was a shameful thing because only poor people needed government subsidies. I hated poor people and hated others knowing the actual situation of my family.
In the eyes of many people, these thoughts and actions are very bad behaviors, which can be said to be vanity , hypocrisy, cowardice, etc. In fact, I myself know that it is wrong to do so, and losing my father is not a shameful thing, but knowing is one thing, and doing it is another, especially for a child.
Later, something happened. I went to a bookstore to buy books. After buying study materials, I saw a hardcover book about five thousand years of Chinese history. It cost more than fifty yuan, but I didn’t have the money to buy it. Do you know what I did? "
Hearing Yuan Xudong say this, Jiang Xiaoguo slightly widened his eyes and said:
"You...you don't want to..."
"Yes, stealing!"
Looking at Jiang Xiaoguo who couldn't believe it, Yuan Xudong smiled and said:
"At that time, I was in the first grade of junior high school. I was a good student, obedient and sensible. People around me said I was a good kid. However, this good kid wanted to steal a book he liked from a bookstore, an extracurricular book that had nothing to do with the exam.
That was the first time I tried to steal someone else's things. I stuffed the book into my clothes, then put it back, then stuffed it into my clothes again, then put it back again, and did this back and forth several times. I could feel my cheeks burning. The store staff could not have failed to notice such an unusual situation. A girl walked past me, then looked at the others and said that if you stole a book from the store, you would be fined ten times the amount, and she hoped that everyone would not do the wrong thing. I knew she was talking to me. I put the book back and took the study materials to the cashier to pay. It was the girl who paid for me. I really wanted to say thank you, but in the end I ran out without saying a word.
That night, I had a nightmare. In the dream, I stole the book and no girl reminded me. Then everyone knew about it and laughed at me as a thief. The feeling of shame was terrible and made people feel ashamed. Some things are precious only after they are lost. Fortunately, it was just a dream and everything could be recovered. After waking up from the dream, I told myself in my heart that I can be without money, but I cannot be without dignity. This dignity is not given by others, but the most basic requirement a person has for himself. For example, never steal anything from others, not even a piece of paper. It is not because I am so noble, but because I know I cannot afford the consequences of stealing. Compared with what I have lost, I don’t think there is anything worth stealing.
In this story, the girl who kindly reminded me is particularly important. It can even be said that she changed the trajectory of my life. What I want to tell you is that sometimes, a kind act can change someone's life. Before we think that our behavior is correct and noble, is there a possibility that we can try to redeem others?
Just imagine, when I wanted to steal a book, if that girl didn't kindly remind me, but caught me in public, with the evidence in hand, others would surely praise her for being conscientious and responsible at work, or for being brave and righteous, etc., then what would I do?
In this case, I was the thief, and my behavior was wrong and immoral. The girl was a clerk, and her behavior of catching the thief was correct, noble, and moral. After this matter spreads, the girl may soon forget about it, but the impact of this incident will accompany me throughout my life. A child who just came to the city from the countryside, lost his father, and is psychologically fragile, is accused of being a thief because he stole a book he liked. I think this result will have a huge impact on him, even fatal. "
Looking at Jiang Xiaoguo who seemed to be thinking about something, Yuan Xudong smiled and said:
"Since then, in addition to asking myself not to steal other people's things, I also warned myself to learn from that girl. Except for some irreversible and unforgivable mistakes, I should forgive others and give them a chance to reform. I think compared to those who insist on principles and refuse to compromise, can we be more tactful and keep a kind heart? Give others a rose and your hands will be fragrant."
"I know what to do now, thank you!"
After listening to Yuan Xudong, Jiang Xiaoguo finally laughed. She looked at Yuan Xudong curiously and said:
"Is the story you told true? And that girl who changed your life, did anything romantic happen between you two later?"
“Do you know what a story is?”
"What do you mean?"
Looking at Jiang Xiaoguo, whose eyes were slightly wide open and full of curiosity, Yuan Xudong took a sip of Nutri-Express and said with a smile:
"The story is a true story that has been artistically processed. At that time, I was just in the first grade of junior high school, and that 'girl' had already officially started working in the bookstore. What do you think will happen between us?"
Hearing Yuan Xudong say this, Jiang Xiaoguo blinked and said mischievously:
"Isn't sister-brother love popular now?"
"Who said that?"
Rolling his eyes, Yuan Xudong looked at the petite Jiang Xiaoguo and said with a smile:
"Compared to those fair-skinned, beautiful, long-legged queens, I prefer petite and cute sisters. For those girls, a mature and steady man like me is particularly attractive, right?"
"Pah, you're the only mature and stable man like me?"
Jiang Xiaoguo rolled her eyes at the self-praising Yuan Xudong and couldn't help curling her lips in disdain:
"Little brat, have you ever had a girlfriend?"
"Yes!"
"several?"
"More than a dozen, maybe dozens, I forgot exactly how many!"
"boast!"