Seeing Wang An and the other two park their car at the main gate, the elderly security guard took the initiative to walk out and asked
"What are you all here for? School is already on break."
Wang An opened the door and got out of the car. Just as he was about to pull out a cigarette, he saw that Wang Yi had already nimbly propped up his motorcycle and removed the fur strip from his cotton hat used to keep his nose, mouth, and chin warm. He said to the guard with a beaming smile
"Uncle, it's me, Xiao Yi! My classmate is still in the dormitory; we've come to pick her up. I had my big brother find her a job with room and board."
The security guard clearly recognized Wang Yi. As soon as he saw his face, he immediately smiled and said
"You've done well for yourself, kid, riding a big motorcycle now, hahaha!"
Wang Yi gave a modest smile, then puffed out his chest and said with great pride and confidence
"My big brother bought it for me. Whatever I want, my big brother buys it for me."
At this moment, Wang Yi's face was full of smugness, as if he wanted the whole world to know that he, Wang Yi, had a great big brother.
However, there was nothing wrong with what he said. Aside from the ten yuan in pocket money Mu Xueqing gave him every week, whenever Wang Yi wanted to buy something and asked Wang An, Wang An almost never thought twice before giving him the money.
But every time Wang An gave him money, he would say one thing
"You better study hard. If your grades drop, I won't give you a single cent next time."
Though he said it, Wang An rarely actually asked about Wang Yi's grades.
Of course, when it came to studying, Wang Yi didn't require his family to worry at all.
As soon as Wang Yi's smug words left his mouth, Wang An's eyelid couldn't help but twitch. Mainly, Wang An hadn't expected Wang Yi to come out with a line like that.
Twitching the corner of his mouth, Wang An didn't say anything.
The security guard glanced at the silent Wang An and chuckled, replying
"You just keep showing off your big brother every day. Everyone in the whole school knows you have a great big brother, hahaha..."
Clearly, while at school, Wang Yi had definitely spent a significant amount of time showing off Wang An, to the point that even the security guard knew.
Wang Yi chuckled, his face showing no sign of embarrassment; instead, he looked completely delighted.
The security guard continued
"Now then, that classmate you mentioned, it's Yang Qiuju, right? You'd better hurry up and take her away. That child wailed and cried, insisting on staying in the dorm. Your homeroom teacher is the same—actually agreeing to it. In this freezing cold weather, with her lacking food and drink, I was truly afraid something would happen to her from the cold."
Wang Yi said with a smile
"Yeah, my classmate's family situation is a bit special. Besides, it's hard to find work right now. My big brother just arranged something for her, so we came to pick her up."
Only then did Wang An pull out a cigarette and hand one to the guard. After lighting it for him, he said with a smile
"It's almost New Year's in a few days. Uncle, aren't you going home yet?"
The old man took a puff of the cigarette and said quite helplessly
"Going, I'm going. If it weren't for that Yang Qiuju, I wouldn't have come back so soon. It's great that you've come to take her away, hehehe..."
After a few more words of small talk, the old man opened the gate. Led by Wang Yi's motorcycle, Wang An drove the car directly to the entrance of the girls' dormitory where Yang Qiuju was staying.
When the three of them entered the dormitory, they saw Yang Qiuju wrapped in a quilt of an indistinguishable color, sitting on the bed in a daze.
Seeing the three of them enter, Yang Qiuju was stunned for a moment, then immediately threw the quilt aside and jumped from the bed to the floor. With a face full of awkwardness, nervousness, and surprise, she said
"Mon... Monitor, you... you all, why are you here?"
Hearing Yang Qiuju's address for Wang Yi, Wang An couldn't help but turn his head to look at him.
Wang An truly hadn't expected that his younger brother was actually the class monitor! Mainly, when Wang Yi was at home, he had never mentioned this!
It had to be said, Wang Yi was truly a peculiar child. When speaking to outsiders, he showed off with all his might, yet at home, he never mentioned how impressive he was at school.
Wang Yi looked at Yang Qiuju, his face full of sympathy and pity. After a two-second pause, he spoke with the authority of a class monitor
"Put your shoes on first; the floor is so cold. Then pack your things and come with us."
Yang Qiuju clearly trusted Wang Yi as her monitor and hurriedly agreed, finding her shoes and putting them on. Only then did Wang An shift his gaze back to Yang Qiuju.
To be honest, at this moment, Yang Qiuju looked no different from a little beggar. The only feeling one got at a glance was that this child was far too miserable—truly as miserable as one could be.
Her face was smeared black, and her hair was messy and scattered, with bits of grass and coal ash clinging to it. It was unclear how long it had been since she had washed her face or hair.
It was one thing that her clothes were covered in patch upon patch, but there were also several places where the cotton stuffing was leaking out.
Crucially, even with such clothes, they were still too small for her. A section of her blackened forearm was exposed, and a section of her blackened lower leg was visible.
Fortunately, Yang Qiuju was quite thin and small; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to fit into these clothes at all.
The cloth shoes Yang Qiuju was putting on also made Wang An frown.
Not only were they single-layered shoes, but the toes were poking through. Worn on Yang Qiuju's dirty little feet, they looked like two pieces of ragged rags wrapped around them.
Yang Qiuju's attire was enough to prove just how cold-blooded and indifferent her relatives were toward her!
As her elders, those relatives were clearly in a state of complete ignorance and neglect.
Their hearts must have been made of iron; after all, Yang Qiuju was their own niece!
Wang An stopped looking at Yang Qiuju and turned his head to survey the environment of the dormitory.
The living conditions at the County First Middle School had to be considered quite good.
Ten people per room, staying in large communal beds. However, all these beds were empty, except for Yang Qiuju's set of indistinguishable luggage spread across one of the straw mats.
In the middle of the dormitory was a large iron stove used for heating. On the stove lid sat a blackened aluminum lunchbox containing a small amount of cornmeal porridge.
Though it was called cornmeal porridge, in Wang An's eyes, it looked like dishwater, as there was far too little cornmeal in it.
And the most frustrating part was that the porridge had now frozen into a block of ice.
From this, it was evident that there wasn't a single spark of fire left in the stove.
This was because it was currently the holiday period, and the logistics teacher in charge of the coal room had long since gone home. This resulted in the dormitory having a stove, but no coal.
Of course, there were some stalks, broken twigs, and a small amount of wood scraps near the stove; these were clearly things Yang Qiuju had scavenged.
However, it was obvious that Yang Qiuju likely only dared to use this firewood to light the stove when cooking or when it was too cold at night.
There was no other way; residents in the county town would also scavenge twigs or stalks around the outskirts to save on coal. For Yang Qiuju to scavenge enough firewood to make the dormitory warm would definitely be a very difficult task.
After surveying the entire dormitory, Wang An couldn't help but suck in a breath through his teeth.