Chapter 2: Worry-Free Desk Mate

  After paying the tuition, reporting to the class, and distributing the textbooks for the first semester of junior high school, a new course schedule was posted on the wall. After the head teacher Yang Yang gave an inspiring speech, he prepared to announce the end of school, asking everyone to attend classes according to the time on the course schedule for the next day. However, after taking a look at the seating arrangement of the students under the podium, Head Teacher Yang Yang couldn't help but rub his forehead.

  Grade 3 Class 1 has a total of 44 students, including 29 boys and 15 girls.

  Wang Zhen is that single girl.

  The head teacher was very annoyed, this class, from the first year of junior high school he started to take charge, now it's the third year, this Wang Zhen, really don't know what adjective to use to describe her, say she has poor grades, but every time the exam is in the top few in the class, say she has good grades, she occasionally comes late or leaves early, just looking at her sleepy expression.

  Moreover, they are also very unwilling to come into contact with others, which can be described as being proud or possibly self-abased.

  Teacher Yang Yang has revealed the truth, in her previous life Wang Zhen was indeed inferior, her family was poor, and her father was often away from home. When she was in elementary school, cooking, burning vegetables, feeding pigs, chickens, and ducks were all done by her. Children of her age, especially in rural areas, in the 1990s, were also very happy, but Wang Zhen wasn't, because she had to share household chores with her mother.

  The Wang Zhen of the previous generation was self-abased.

  Although her mother always shows little affection towards her, she is still the one she relies on in this world. Even if it's just selling vegetables and earning a few cents, no matter how reluctant she is to part with the money, she will still give it to her daughter for tuition fees.

  So Wang Zhen just felt that her mother should love her, maybe it was just that life was too hard and she was too tired.

  Got off the subject.

  Yang Yang got a headache, Wang Zhen didn't like to talk, and there weren't many close classmates in the class. As a result, she sat alone at the third row by the window, while other girls all sat in pairs.

  Looking at the last single seat again, Liu Wenbo was also sitting alone.

  This kid is a transfer student, brought by the principal, and nobody knows where he came from. His grades are average, but as soon as class starts, he likes to brag and sometimes argues with his classmates so much that they end up listening to him instead of the teacher. He's tall and sturdy, and last time he got reprimanded by the new history teacher for talking too much in class, almost getting into a fight with the teacher.

  This class can't have two single seats together, right?

  "Hey, Liu Wenbo... come here." Yang Yang walked over to Wang Zhen's side, glanced at her and saw she didn't react, then tapped the desk next to Wang Zhen with his left hand: "You, sit here." He pointed at Liu Wenbo with his right hand.

  Wang Zhen just habitually turned her head to glance at Yang Yang, then turned back, flipping through the new book and looking at it, feeling that this matter had nothing to do with her.

  Liu Wenbo raised an eyebrow, glanced at the teacher, then glanced at Wang Zhen, and obediently listened to him, sitting down.

  Class teacher Yang Yang's eyebrows jumped twice, and a strange feeling rose from the bottom of her heart. These two people were too calm, would this seating arrangement be suitable?

  Everything has been arranged, Yang Yang decided to wait and see what happens next.

  Wang Zhen sat by the window, wearing her school uniform and ponytail, without even sparing a glance at her new deskmate, lost in her own thoughts.

  Looking at the new textbook, for Wang Yan now, it's really easy. With her current strength, taking the entrance exam to a key high school should be no problem.

  If I can get into a key high school, I will have to go to the county, let alone tuition fees, living expenses will make it even more difficult for my family, so for now, I'd better solve the economic source.

  How to solve it? Headache, Wang Zhen frowned and looked again, sighing lightly.

  The sunlight shone into the classroom, warming Wang Zhen's face. Liu Wenbo turned his head to look at his new deskmate, who had only transferred to this school in the second semester of junior high and was basically a stranger to him. All he knew was that her grades were okay, and he had heard from their male classmates that her family situation was quite poor.

  Never been this close to her before, skipped a beat, she's actually quite pretty, just looks a bit cold and hard to get close to.

  Wang Zhen felt someone was staring at her, turned her head and her line of sight collided with Liu Wenbo's. Liu Wenbo's ears turned slightly red as he unnaturally shifted his gaze away.

  Speechless for a moment.

  Wang Zhen didn't have the mood to care about others. Her most important task now was: to study hard and earn money diligently.

  Never want to meet that scumbag from past life again, never be someone's mistress again.

  The class teacher announced the dismissal and asked everyone to come to class on time tomorrow.

  Wang Zhen tidied up her books and put them in her old backpack, slung it over her shoulder, and quietly walked out of the classroom, thinking all the way about how to live from now on.

  Walking on the rural path, Wang Zhen walked and looked around all the way.

  Wang Zhen's hometown is called Wangchang Town, which is located in the Sichuan Basin. There is an artificial canal here, built at the end of the 1970s, with water sources from various mountain springs on the side of Qingcheng Mountain.

  So the land here is not fertile and sandy soil is common.

  The village where Wang Zhen lives is called Wangjiacun, and most of the villagers are descendants of people who fled to this place a few generations ago to open up wasteland and settle down. Therefore, there isn't much land, and they can only have enough food and clothing. If they encounter a bad year with low yields, they can't even eat their fill.

  Wang Zhen's family has one mu and five fen of land that can be used to grow rice, but the five fen of sandy land can only be used to grow vegetables. As the saying goes, "one mu of land is equal to ten mu of fields", meaning that growing vegetables is much more labor-intensive than growing grains. Weeds need to be removed, fertilizer needs to be applied every three to five days, and careful attention must be paid to make the vegetables grow well. Only then can they be sold at a good price. Therefore, growing vegetables is much harder than growing grains.

  Wang Zhen's family used to grow vegetables too, but Zheng Shuirong, a woman with a child, spent all day digging in the fields and still couldn't make a living by selling vegetables. So she simply wholesaled vegetables and took them to sell, earning a fixed 10 or 20 yuan every day.

  In her past life, Wang Zhen really thought that her mother was useless and her husband couldn't control himself, making herself poor and destitute. She never thought of changing this situation. However, for the current Wang Zhen, she thinks that her mother is not great in any way, doesn't have a clever mind, isn't fierce by nature, and is even a bit muddle-headed. But, it's only her who is willing to use the money she saved penny by penny to support herself in studying.

  It was already the limit of her mother's ability to support her until high school, and she didn't have any extra ability to support her through college. It wasn't that her mother didn't want to, maybe she just couldn't think of it or simply couldn't afford it, poor, too poor!!

  It seems that Wang Zhen not only wants to make money but also broaden her mother's horizons...