Chapter 99: Acquaintance 1/2

The dormitory cabinets were all locked, and Feng Yi’s cabinet was no exception. However, the lock he used was just an ordinary one, bought from the school’s convenience store. Such locks were easy to open; sometimes, with one’s own key, they could even open someone else’s lock.

Yet, everyone used these locks. After all, this was a school, and incidents of theft were quite rare.

Feng Yi knew that Shao Chengdong must have found a way to open his cabinet and then planted the watch to frame him. Explaining such a situation would be challenging, and even if the school didn’t punish him, his classmates would undoubtedly regard him with suspicion.

But Shao Chengdong probably didn’t realise that Feng Yi was actually quite wealthy.

Five thousand yuan was undoubtedly a significant amount for people at this time!

In 1990, the average salary in Shanghai was 243 yuan. In some smaller places, many people earn only a hundred yuan a month!

For the students in their school, having a monthly living allowance of a hundred yuan would be considered quite a lot!

The passbook Feng Yi had placed in his cabinet actually held five thousand yuan!

The counsellor for Feng Yi’s class was not very old, and his total savings did not even reach five hundred yuan. Seeing that Feng Yi had so much money, he was astonished.

Before this, he had heard some gossip and thought Feng Yi was quite poor. It turned out that Feng Yi was a rich second generation!

The school leaders, seeing the passbook, had similar thoughts to the counsellor.

Even without the passbook… Considering Feng Yi’s appearance, he didn’t seem like a poor person.

When Feng Yi showed the passbook to the school leaders, the counsellor, seeing that there were five thousand yuan in it, was dumbfounded.

He had heard some unofficial information before and assumed Feng Yi was struggling financially. Unexpectedly, Feng Yi was quite wealthy.

The school leaders had the same reaction.

Even without the passbook… Judging by Feng Yi’s attire, he didn’t look like a poor person.

When Feng Yi showed the passbook to the school leaders, some students came over to take a look and were shocked. “Feng Yi has five thousand yuan in his passbook!”

“What? Feng Yi has five thousand yuan in his passbook.”

“How did he get so much money?”

“Wasn’t he said to be very poor?”

“Feng Yi’s family is actually very wealthy.”

…

Feng Yi’s classmates were all shocked.

Qi Mingze and Shao Chengdong had spread the news about Feng Yi working outside. They believed Feng Yi was a poor kid from the countryside who dressed well and ate well only to save face. But now… Feng Yi was so rich?

However, thinking carefully, Feng Yi’s behaviour all along didn’t seem like that of someone who was struggling financially.

His clothes looked of high quality, and he always ordered meat dishes in the cafeteria.

People who dared to eat meat dishes regularly weren’t that common!

Since Feng Yi was so wealthy, he really had no reason to steal Shao Chengdong’s watch.

Everyone’s gaze towards Shao Chengdong had a strange tint.

Shao Chengdong rushed forward, took a glance at the passbook, and immediately said, “This can’t be possible; this passbook must be fake!”

“You say my passbook is fake; I might as well say your high school exam scores are fake!” Feng Yi turned to the school leaders and said, “I want to report Shao Chengdong; he’s attending university on someone else’s behalf! He’s probably framing me because he’s afraid I’ll expose this!”

Even if Shao Chengdong hadn’t framed him, Feng Yi planned to report Shao Chengdong to the school in a few days.

Shao Chengdong’s performance at the school didn’t match his high school exam scores!

Their major, computer software, was in the science stream, and all the students in their class excelled in science. Especially those who had originally chosen a different major but were later transferred to their programme—their math scores were even better.

In the beginning, when the professor tested them, the content was about memorisation, so Shao Chengdong scoring twenty points was unusual but not impossible.

By looking at Shao Chengdong’s high school exam scores, it was apparent that he was weak in certain subjects.

Given his poor Chinese scores, it was reasonable to assume he couldn’t remember the material requiring memorisation.

However, over the past half month, Feng Yi had repeatedly tested him and found out that Shao Chengdong was not only weak in liberal arts but also struggled with science.

A few days ago, Feng Yi brought out a moderately difficult math problem he had solved in his senior year and deliberately gave a wrong answer, presenting it to Shao Chengdong provocatively, asking if he could solve such a problem…

After seeing the incorrectly solved problem, Shao Chengdong didn’t realise the mistake and said, “Feng Yi, don’t be too arrogant. One day, I’ll surpass you!”

That’s when Feng Yi realised something was wrong.

It had only been a few months since the high school exams, and Shao Chengdong couldn’t have forgotten all his knowledge so quickly. The fact that he couldn’t detect the mistake in the math problem could only mean his high school exam scores were questionable.

No matter the details, Shao Chengdong’s poor performance was almost certain, and there was something fishy about it.

Feng Yi didn’t have concrete evidence, but his confident demeanour made people instinctively want to believe him.

On the other side, Shao Chengdong’s face turned pale. “Feng Yi, you’re talking nonsense!”

People who worked as teachers for a long time could easily see through students’ thoughts.

Shao Chengdong was obviously acting strangely! Most of the school leaders had figured it out.

Feng Yi continued, “Several teachers, I officially report Shao Chengdong!”

At this moment, Shao Chengdong was genuinely frightened.

Feng Yi casually guessed a possibility and reported him, unaware that he had hit the nail on the head.

Indeed, Shao Chengdong had just graduated from high school, but he hadn’t been admitted to university. Instead, another student with the same surname, Shao, who was poor, had entered the university.

Shao Chengdong’s father had some influence, so they swapped the two students, and Shao Chengdong replaced the other student to attend H University.

There was only one person from their area who had been admitted to H University, and after coming to Shanghai, no one would recognise Shao Chengdong. As long as he studied quietly here, no one would know about this.

By the time he graduated from university, his father would arrange a good job for him.

For this reason, Shao Chengdong’s father warned him to keep a low profile after arriving at H University and focus on studying without causing trouble.

However, when the leader is corrupt, the followers are bound to be corrupt too.

The money Shao Chengdong spent was, in fact, his father’s grey income.

Shao Chengdong was also arranged by his father to take away someone else’s opportunity to attend university.

Under the influence of his father, Shao Chengdong naturally deviated from the right path!

When he was back in his hometown, because the source of the family’s money was not legitimate, Shao’s father always kept a tight rein on Shao Chengdong, not allowing him to spend recklessly. This made Shao Chengdong exceptionally generous with money once he came to Shanghai, where no one supervised him.

Moreover, because he had been used to bullying others back home, when he encountered Feng Yi, who challenged him, he couldn’t bear it.

The several school leaders looked at each other and then took Feng Yi and Shao Chengdong away from the dormitory.

Once the two left, the other students in the dormitory erupted into chatter: “Is it true that Shao Chengdong is attending university on someone else’s behalf?”

“It should be, right? Feng Yi was so confident!”

“Shao Chengdong’s grades are really poor. I always suspected that there was something wrong with his performance.”

“Yeah! The education resources in our province aren’t great. After I came to university, I felt that there was quite a big difference between my grades and others’, but I could still learn the new knowledge. It shouldn’t be as bad as his.”

“So Feng Yi didn’t steal the watch, and it was him framing someone?”

“It seems so. Feng Yi is doing fine; why would he steal a watch? And he’s not short of money either.”

…

Previously, some students in the class had sided with Shao Chengdong because they were afraid of offending him.

But now, who dared to stand with Shao Chengdong? They were all eager to distance themselves from him.

As a result, Qiao Mingze felt very awkward.

He had always been Shao Chengdong’s best friend, and the talk about Feng Yi being poor had been spread by him.

Now, those classmates looked at him with strange eyes.

Qiao Mingze had never suffered any injustice from childhood to adulthood. How could he bear this?

His eyes turned red, and he was almost in tears!

On the other side, Feng Yi and Shao Chengdong were taken to the office.

Feng Yi had a clear conscience and wasn’t afraid at all. He even gave the school leaders an idea: “Teachers, as long as you give Shao Chengdong some high school questions, you’ll know how bad his grades are! His high school exam scores are questionable; they definitely weren’t achieved by him!”

Shao Chengdong retorted, “Feng Yi, stop slandering people!”

Shao Chengdong is genuinely frightened now.

He shouldn’t have targeted Feng Yi!

Back in high school, he used to bully those poor students from rural areas who had no one to rely on. They could only endure his bullying because they had no one to turn to.

Even if he bullied them, they couldn’t do anything about it.

It was precisely because he had had it easy that he didn’t take Feng Yi seriously. Who would have thought that Feng Yi would reveal his secret?

If he had known this would happen, he definitely wouldn’t have targeted Feng Yi!

But now, it was too late to say anything.

This matter concerning Shao Chengdong was not small!

It was almost ten o’clock now—not early at all. Still, the school leaders contacted a professor who had a high school student at home and asked them to bring over the high school math and science comprehensive exam papers. Then they had Shao Chengdong do the papers.

Shao Chengdong’s face turned pale. “I’m too nervous; I’m afraid I won’t perform well.”

“You did well in the college entrance examination; now you’re worried about not performing well?” Feng Yi chuckled at him.

Shao Chengdong wanted to bite Feng Yi to death.

Seeing this, Feng Yi felt even better.

Shao Chengdong was very unwilling, but under the watchful eyes of the teachers, he had to start working on the test papers.

When Shao Chengdong was in high school, his grades weren’t good.

He wasn’t among the worst in his class, but he was around the twenty-first or thirty-first place. If calculated across the entire grade, he ranked around two hundredth.

Moreover, the high school he attended was not a key high school!

Their school had only about forty to fifty students who could make it to university, and the gap between the top students and the rest was significant. Shao Chengdong’s usual scores were only half of those of those top students.

The test paper given by the school leaders proved disastrous for Shao Chengdong.

The school leaders’ faces turned extremely unpleasant.

Shao Chengdong hadn’t even finished the test paper when the school leaders asked Feng Yi to leave.

Shao Chengdong’s current state confirmed that Feng Yi had been telling the truth.

They had also verified that Feng Yi had excellent academic performance. A student like him should go back early to rest.

When Feng Yi returned to the dormitory, the lights were already out, but the roommates were still awake, discussing Shao Chengdong.

Seeing Feng Yi return, Lu Haijun immediately asked, “Feng Yi, how’s Shao Chengdong?”

Feng Yi replied, “The school leaders gave him a high school test paper to do, and he couldn’t solve it.”

“So, he really attended university on behalf of someone else?”

“He’s too much!”

“I didn’t expect him to be such a person.”

…

Lu Haijun and the two Northeasterners were indignant, and even the two local Shanghai students, who usually got along well with Qiao Mingze, now looked down on Shao Chengdong.

Only Qiao Mingze had the face to speak.

“Let’s go to sleep,” Feng Yi said.

Now that Qiao Mingze’s problem was resolved, he was in a good mood and just wanted to sleep.

Feng Yi suggested sleeping, and the others didn’t say anything more, but each one of them was still very excited and couldn’t sleep for a long time.

The next day, even Lu Haijun, who usually got up early, overslept!

When he woke up and checked the time, Feng Yi was already reviewing his books.

Feng Yi was too diligent!