The Foolish Bookworm of the Aristocratic Boys’ School chapter 57

Chapter 57: The Grand Prize

Shi Ye froze for a moment. He turned around, buried his hand in his hair, and rubbed it roughly, making a sound of frustration.

Then he turned back and said, “You said you wouldn’t stand on Shi Jing’s side, but you were with him all noon today.”

“Why did you pull me over here?”

Shi Ye paused, his hand stopping mid-motion.

“Don’t come looking for me. I don’t stand on your side right now either.”

After speaking, Wen Rong ignored him. He thought he heard the sound of metal hitting the ground earlier, so he turned on his phone’s flashlight and squatted down to look for the small gadget Senior Leon had given him.

He didn’t notice Shi Ye’s tall figure trembling in the darkness, shaking even more violently than when he had been shocked just moments ago. Occasionally, a beam of light would sweep across his shoes; the sneakers remained motionless, as if cast in concrete.

After a long while, Shi Ye took a deep breath and asked in a lowered voice, “Would you fall for Zhang Jincheng’s girlfriend?”

Wen Rong ignored him, so he continued, “Would you fall for Lin Qizheng’s girlfriend? Or Zhang Lin’s girlfriend?”

Wen Rong: “…”

Shi Ye lifted his foot and nudged Wen Rong’s shoulder with his knee. “Hey—”

“I don’t understand what you are talking about at all.” Annoyed, Wen Rong propped himself up on his knees to stand, his voice involuntarily rising.

Shi Ye let out a light scoff. “You don’t understand, or you just weren’t listening to me? You don’t even think seriously about my questions, yet you still want to be friends with me.”

Wen Rong was furious. “If you had asked me this yesterday, I definitely would have thought about it seriously. But not now. I hate you.”

“I…”

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Wen Rong didn’t wait for him to finish. He angrily squatted back down and continued using his flashlight to search for his item.

Shi Ye squatted down beside him, softening his voice. “Is it just because I didn’t follow you back? I’ve already followed you back.”

“No.”

Shi Ye hesitated for a few seconds before changing the subject. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for the thing Senior Leon gave me. If I had known it was you, I wouldn’t have used it.”

“Who did you think it was otherwise?”

“A pervert like Wang Allen, obviously.”

Hearing this, the expression on Shi Ye’s face softened considerably.

At least in Wen Rong’s eyes, he was different from the likes of Wang Allen.

But Wen Rong immediately added, “I just didn’t expect to encounter so many creepy men with bad intentions toward me.”

“…” Shi Ye inexplicably felt like he had taken an arrow to the knee.

“You’re very good-looking too. Why don’t they like you?”

The corners of Shi Ye’s mouth curved up for no reason. “That’s different.”

Wen Rong searched for nearly ten more minutes. He practically overturned every inch of the ground but couldn’t see that tiny object. Looking around and seeing that no one would come to this place, he stood up and gave up.

It was hard to find things at night; he would come back when it was light.

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“You’re not looking anymore?”

“I can’t find it. I’ll come back tomorrow.” After saying that, he couldn’t help but add, “Can you stop coming to find me? Our personalities clash. We aren’t suitable to be friends.”

Shi Ye didn’t reply, so Wen Rong took his silence as agreement. He turned to leave, but his arm was suddenly grabbed and he was hauled back. “Why aren’t we suitable?”

Wen Rong took a deep breath. “You are too emotional. I tried to tolerate your flaws, but every time I tried to be nice, I got the cold shoulder. I have other friends who treat me well. They don’t get angry with me; even Shi Jing doesn’t lose his temper at me. I feel that being friends with you isn’t as happy as being friends with them.”

Shi Ye abruptly let go and took two steps back, his figure completely buried in the darkness. Wen Rong couldn’t see his expression clearly, but inexplicably felt that he looked a little pitiful like this.

Thinking about the matter with his parents, Wen Rong couldn’t help but feel a pang of compassion again.

It seemed Shi Ye only had this one flaw. Apart from being emotional, he was actually quite good in every other aspect.

Wen Rong hesitated, then said, “I think you should change your flaws. As long as you change, many people will want to be friends with you.”

The air fell into an inexplicable silence.

Wen Rong didn’t say anything more. He put his phone in his pocket and went upstairs.

Winter was approaching, and gusts of wind knocked against his bones like needles.

Shi Ye felt frustrated and wanted to punch the wall. He raised his hand, but remembering Wen Rong’s words, he forced himself to shove his hand back into his pocket.

The pain in his heart was slowly blown away by the wind, and the place where he had been electrocuted began to regain sensation.

You haven’t fallen for the same person as your best friend, so how could you possibly understand me?

He rubbed his hair irritably again, spinning in circles on the spot and exhaling sharply.

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When someone passed by and called out “Brother Shi,” Shi Ye suddenly thought of something. He took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and began searching for something on the pitch-black ground.

Wen Rong woke up half an hour early the next morning. He went downstairs but couldn’t find the item Senior Leon had given him, so he had to apologize to Senior Leon on Black Pigeon first, though it was highly likely Leon wouldn’t see it.

Just after sending the message, the Black Pigeon system sent a notification: [Wang Allen provoked trouble in the cafeteria, suspected of corrupting school morals. Penalty: Yellow Card.]

Not seeing Shi Jing’s name, Wen Rong breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn’t want to owe Shi Jing another favor. If Shi Jing had been given a Yellow Card because of him, he wouldn’t know how to stand on Senior Leon’s side anymore.

The day passed peacefully. No mission triggers, no harassment from Shi Jing, and no baffling encounters with Shi Ye.

Before dinner, Zhang Jincheng announced in the News Club group chat that they were going out for a team-building event tonight.

It was a bit unexpected and disrupted Wen Rong’s plans. However, thinking that this was the first time Zhang Jincheng had gathered everyone recently, he ended up meeting the other three at the parking lot next to the Administration Building.

Zhang Jincheng, who had been wilted for nearly a month, showed a rare excitement as he drove the three of them to a shopping mall in the city center.

The mall was a single building, massive and constructed like a hollow tower, with escalators spiraling around the interior.

Even though they were just different storefronts, the moment they entered, a word popped into Wen Rong’s mind: “Resplendent.”

Wen Rong followed Zhang Jincheng into the first store. Unexpectedly, he saw the woven bag he had used at the start of the school year on the counter. Curious, he walked up to take a look, but was stopped by a shop assistant. “Don’t touch.”

Wen Rong paused. “I didn’t…”

Before he could explain, the shop assistant said, “Is this your first time in our store? Tell me what you want to see and I’ll get it for you, to avoid getting it dirty.”

“Okay.” Wen Rong shoved his hands into his pockets, looking for all the world like an awkward country bumpkin.

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“What’s okay about that? He didn’t even touch it.” Lin Qizheng put a hand on Wen Rong’s shoulder. “President, let’s go. What kind of trash store is this? The attitude is terrible.”

Wen Rong: “Actually—”

Zhang Jincheng came back and interrupted Wen Rong. “Let’s go. I’m in a bad mood today, I won’t tolerate any grievance.”

The shop assistant was stunned and quickly said, “That’s not what I meant.”

“Go, go, go.”

Zhang Jincheng took Wen Rong to the store next door, swiping his card for a colossal sum of 1.79 million. He even had the store arrange for four bodyguards to carry the bags behind them as they walked past the entrance of the previous store.

Naturally, this attracted the attention of many passersby.

“That shop assistant didn’t really say anything wrong just now… Isn’t it a bit wasteful for the President to spend so much money next door just because of that?” While Zhang Jincheng began a new round of shopping, Wen Rong dodged the gazes of passersby and quietly asked Zhang Lin.

Zhang Lin rubbed his forehead. “He’s in a bad mood, just let him be.”

“Did something happen?”

“You saw the news this morning, right? Wang Allen got a Yellow Card.”

Wen Rong nodded.

“Something like a penalty card doesn’t have much deterrence for someone like Qizheng who idles around, nor does it matter to someone like Shi Ye who has more money than he can spend. But Wang Allen has things to do and isn’t that rich, so he’s quite unlucky.”

Zhang Lin continued, “Didn’t his studio need renovation after the arson incident a while back? Since it happened on school grounds, the school should have funded it. But now that he’s been given a Yellow Card, the school will terminate his funding due to poor conduct. Also, if his Yellow Card isn’t cleared, he won’t be able to apply for any resources from the school in the future.”

So a Yellow Card was that serious.

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Wen Rong scratched his head, thinking it was fortunate he was poor and had no needs, otherwise carrying a “Red Card” would really be the end of him.

Zhang Lin: “I’m guessing Wang Allen was in a bad mood, so he went back on his word and refused to lend the craftsmen to the President. The President has been slaving away for him for weeks, and now that Wang Allen suddenly reneged, the President has no choice but to suffer in silence.”

Wen Rong looked at Zhang Jincheng, who was preparing to swipe his card again. “The craftsmen were applied for from the school by Wang Allen. Can’t the President apply to the school himself?”

“If you applied to the school to use Shi Ye’s tennis court right now, do you think the Student Council would agree?”

Wen Rong didn’t know why the Senior always liked to use Shi Ye as an example, but the example was inexplicably fitting.

The answer was obvious; a tennis novice like him would definitely not be approved.

Pat pat.

Zhang Lin patted Wen Rong’s shoulder. “Don’t think too much, this matter has nothing to do with you. Besides, society is just like this. Excellent people occupy more resources. You’ll understand when you grow up a bit more.”

Wen Rong could understand without growing up.

The logic was correct, but he didn’t want his friend to be sad.

“Youngest, the mall has a lucky draw event!” Lin Qizheng, who had no worries, suddenly shouted from ahead.

In the center of this floor, there was a huge billboard, seemingly organized by the mall, stating that spinning the wheel could win gifts.

Quite a few people were gathered around. There was also a host warming up the crowd, announcing with a microphone that someone had won the third prize—a “One Gram Little Golden Pig” from the mall. The whole crowd applauded.

Wen Rong’s eyes lit up instantly when he heard “Golden Pig.” He couldn’t help but look at the prize introduction on the billboard.

Every 200,000 spent earned one spin of the wheel.

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Third Prize: One Gram Golden Pig.

Second Prize: 10,000 in Cash.

First Prize: Island Vacation.

Grand Prize (marked with a special colorful logo): Mystery Grand Prize.

Zhang Jincheng was in a spending mood, so he shoved Lin Qizheng toward the wheel. “Number Three, you spin!”

Lin Qizheng happily spun the wheel. Since “Thank You for Participating” occupied a large portion of the wheel, he failed several times.

“Let me try again! I can definitely do it.” Unwilling to admit defeat, Lin Qizheng tried three more times and finally won a Third Prize.

Zhang Lin and Zhang Jincheng also went to spin but didn’t win anything, which allowed Lin Qizheng to regain a little confidence.

Of the four, Wen Rong was probably the happiest, holding Lin Qizheng’s little golden pig and examining it left and right, his eyes curved in delight.

It was gold!

“Youngest, you go try,” Zhang Jincheng suddenly said.

“Huh?”

Before Wen Rong could react, he was pushed in front of the wheel, still carefully cradling the little golden pig in his hands.

“Spin it! Go on, win us a First Prize.”

“Youngest, I hope you get a ‘Thank You for Participating’ so I can be the luckiest person in our club.” Lin Qizheng had just finished speaking when Zhang Lin slapped him. “Get lost.”

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Lin Qizheng corrected himself. “Okay, okay, Youngest, do your best. Win me that island vacation.”

Under the encouragement of the three, Wen Rong gently spun the wheel.

The wheel whirred, various colored blocks flashing past the pointer.

At one moment, the wheel seemed about to stop near the First Prize. The surroundings went completely silent, everyone holding their breath.

But the pointer eventually deviated from the First Prize. Everyone couldn’t help but feel disappointed, saying things like “So close.”

Just as Wen Rong was preparing an awkward smile, the wheel suddenly played music—Dun dun dun dun! He was startled and hurriedly scrambled away.

“Wow, Grand Prize!”

The people around were even more excited than Wen Rong, and some even started applauding.

Wen Rong couldn’t believe it. He looked back at the pointer; sure enough, it had settled on the thin slice marked “Grand Prize.”

The host raised the microphone and announced loudly: “Congratulations to this customer for drawing the Grand Prize!”

Lin Qizheng rushed up and hugged Wen Rong. “That’s amazing, Youngest! You actually got the Grand Prize. There’s only one, the odds are one in tens of thousands.”

Zhang Jincheng also came up. “If the First Prize is an island tour, then the Grand Prize must be something incredibly impressive. Maybe it can help me make back my money.”

Make back the money!

1.79 million!

Caught up in the atmosphere, Wen Rong felt proud, the corners of his mouth lifting high.

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A staff member quickly came over holding a box and handed it to the host.

When the host handed the box to Wen Rong, he kindly asked if Wen Rong could take a photo with the prize.

Wen Rong was so happy he nodded repeatedly.

However, in the next second, the host raised the microphone and announced loudly:

“Congratulations to this lucky customer for winning a tennis ball personally signed by the youngest Grand Slam winner in history, Shi Ye!”

Wen Rong: “…”

Zhang Lin: “…”

Lin Qizheng: “…”