Chapter 8: The Teacher's Concern
Until the end of the physical education class, Wang Hai didn't pay any more attention to Zhang Yu. It was as if he had treated Zhang Yu like a piece of air and no longer gave him any guidance or teaching.
Under Wang Hai's leading isolation, the other students also subconsciously stopped approaching Zhang Yu. It was as if there was an invisible no-man's land around him.
"This old Wang is really... so petty."
But by this time, there was nothing Zhang Yu could do. He simply lay down quietly on the ground to rest again.
In the blink of an eye, the class was over, and everyone went to the cafeteria one after another.
After the crowd left, Zhou Tianyi walked up to Zhang Yu and gave him a thumbs-up. "Warrior, have you bought accident insurance?"
Zhang Yu slowly got up, patted his pants, and said, "What's there to be afraid of? Wait until my cultivation progresses greatly in a while and my grades soar. There will be plenty of teachers who will protect me."
He looked at the palm-leaf book in his hand confidently. His physical strength had increased from 0.83 to 0.84 without taking any injections, medications, or having any dietary supplements. It was just through practicing the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Techniques.
He could imagine that as the level of the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Techniques increased, the progress of his physical strength would become faster and faster.
Just thinking about this, Zhang Yu couldn't help but sigh again at the terrifying potential within himself.
Beside him, Bai Zhenzhen, who had just gone through intense body refining outside the training room, had a flushed face, sweat dripping down her forehead constantly, and steam rising from her whole body.
Knock, knock, knock!
She knocked on the door and said indifferently, "Zhang Yu, are you done? I'm so hungry. Let's go to have lunch quickly."
The three of them hurriedly joined the crowd in the cafeteria. When they arrived late, they saw a large crowd queuing up in front of the cafeteria entrance from a distance.
However, as students of the demonstration class, Zhang Yu and the other two had the privilege of entering the cafeteria directly through the VIP channel.
They walked into the cafeteria under the various gazes of students from other classes.
If Zhang Yu were to describe it, it would be like the inner-door geniuses in a novel slowly walking into the Immortal Gathering Tavern to have a meal while being watched with envy, jealousy, or the thought of taking their place by the outer-door servants.
Once they entered the cafeteria, Bai Zhenzhen said, "I'll have a food supplement meal today. I'll go to the second floor."
The so-called food supplement meal involved cooking with ingredients full of immortal Dao elements along with various medications. It could effectively strengthen the body, make up for the losses after intense exercise, and improve the efficiency of body refining and breathing cultivation.
It could be said that food supplement meals had countless benefits for immortal Dao learning. The only reason Zhang Yu wasn't going to have one was that it was too expensive. Really too expensive.
A meal cost at least several hundred yuan, and for some precious ingredients, it was normal to spend several thousand yuan. Even when Zhang Yu had a lot of money from the loan before, he couldn't afford to have it every day, let alone now.
Looking at Bai Zhenzhen walking upstairs alone, Zhang Yu felt that the second floor of the cafeteria was another divide, just like the line between the students in the cafeteria and those queuing up outside.
But a doubt welled up in Zhang Yu's heart: "Didn't A Zhen say she had no money? Why did she go to the second floor?"
...
Not long after lunch, while Zhang Yu was taking a nap, he was called to the teacher's office.
A middle-aged man was sipping tea while glancing at Zhang Yu standing in front of the desk.
The man's name was Su Haifeng. He was not only the homeroom teacher of the demonstration class but also the grade head of the first year of high school.
Looking disappointedly at Zhang Yu, he said, "Teacher Wang Hai told me about your matter."
At this moment, hearing what Su Haifeng said, Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback. Although he had integrated the memories of the original body, many details couldn't be recalled instantly.
Su Haifeng sighed and said, "I still remember what you said to me during the interview for admission to Songyang High School."
"At that time, you said you wanted to get into a prestigious university."
"Skipping medicine purchases and acupuncture on physical education class, lying on the ground to slack off, and even talking back to the teacher. Is this the attitude you have towards getting into a prestigious university?"
Hearing the criticism, Zhang Yu didn't know how to explain for a while. He couldn't just say that he was poor and useless, so he couldn't buy medicine or get acupuncture, and because his potential had been stimulated, he could take physical education class casually.
Feeling Zhang Yu's silence, Su Haifeng sighed again and said, "Zhang Yu, your performance has been good in the past three months. I know you are a good kid."
"Is there something wrong with your family recently?"
Zhang Yu looked at him in surprise. Feeling the caring look in the other party's eyes, he found it hard to believe and said, "Are there teachers in this school who actually care about students?"
He thought for a while and said softly, "Well, I had some conflicts with my family."
"I'll try to mediate and help you get back on track soon."
Although he felt the care from the other party, Zhang Yu could only stall for time for now. Once his grades improved in a while, he naturally wouldn't need to explain these hard-to-explain things to the teacher.
Su Haifeng seemed dissatisfied and frowned, scolding, "What are you afraid of telling the teacher?"
"Is there a problem with your family's financial situation recently?"
"The collection calls from the lending platform have reached the school."
"What?" Zhang Yu suddenly raised his head. "Did they call you, teacher?"
Su Haifeng nodded solemnly. "If they hadn't called me, I wouldn't have known that you owed so much money. Why didn't you tell me?"
Zhang Yu: "I..."
He really didn't think that telling the school about this would be of any use. Especially considering the atmosphere of Songyang High School, he guessed that knowing about it would only make his situation worse.
But Su Haifeng sighed deeply and looked at Zhang Yu kindly. "I know the school can be strict sometimes. You were afraid to tell us when something happened."
"But you should know that we are your teachers after all. How could we not help our own students?"
Saying that, he took out a document from the drawer and handed it to Zhang Yu. "This is the Poverty Alleviation Subsidy Plan I applied for you specifically. Sign it quickly."
Taking the document, Zhang Yu looked at Su Haifeng gratefully. "Thank you, teacher."
He found that his view of the teachers in this school was wrong again.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Although there are unreliable guys like Teacher Wang Hai, there are also kind and patient teachers like Teacher Su."
Su Haifeng smiled and waved his hand, handing over the pen. "Sign it quickly."
Zhang Yu lowered his head and skimmedthrough the document. Then he froze in place.
Su Haifeng chuckled and said, "What's wrong? Sign it quickly. I'll submit it to the relevant department before I leave work today."
Zhang Yu's voice was low. "Teacher, this seems to be a debt restructuring contract. Did you get it wrong?"
Su Haifeng laughed heartily. "The reason why impoverished students are poor is that they owe debts. After restructuring the debts, won't it help the impoverished students? This is the Poverty Alleviation Subsidy Plan."
Zhang Yu looked at the content of the contract. Specifically, it meant bundling all his debts together and having the school lend him a sum of money to pay off the debts.
From then on, his creditors would become the school.
Zhang Yu estimated the debt amount after debt restructuring. After all kinds of complicated procedures, with various interests, principal amounts, handling fees, and hidden fees... it seemed to have increased to over one million yuan.
"What debt restructuring! Isn't this just borrowing new loans to pay off old ones?"
He roared in his heart: "Are even the homeroom teachers in this school involved in lending?"
"Are you playing like this? Are there no normal teachers in this lousy school?"
Suppressing the anger in his heart, Zhang Yu exhaled and said, "Teacher, I think I'd better not. I can pay off this money myself."
Su Haifeng persuasively said, "How can you, a kid, pay off such a large sum of money? Sign it quickly. The school will take care of it for you."
"Don't worry. The installment plan from the school is very lenient."
Zhang Yu: "No need, teacher. Really no need."
After Zhang Yu refused several times, he simply threw the contract and ran out of the office.
Looking at his retreating figure, Su Haifeng lifted his teacup and blew gently.
A moment later, he picked up the ringing phone and said, "He refused."
"Yeah, I'll try again in a while."
"Don't worry. Poor people... will eventually succumb to the collection methods and come to borrow."