Yu Shu yawned. Before Mister Liu's gaze turned to her, she closed her mouth and pretended to be listening attentively. However, she did not have the foundation to learn, and she did not even understand the principles. Only God knew that after sitting here for half a day, she did not understand anything and did not learn anything.
After yesterday's punishment of fainting while standing, Yu Shu knew that her name in Mister Liu's student list must have been crossed out with a big red cross. This morning, when she handed in her homework, Mister Liu looked at her messy homework paper. His expression was like he had seen a nest of cockroaches. Even Yu Shu felt bad for him.
However, there was nothing she could do. She was used to using a pen. How could she compare to this group of children who had been holding pens since they were young? Moreover, the ink and paper used were the worst. For a beginner like her, it was not easy to make the runny ink take shape on the paper, let alone look good.
After sitting for an entire morning, it was finally time for the class to end. Mister Liu took out a stack of papers from the books he had brought. He shook it in front of everyone and said,
"Yesterday's homework, aside from two people who did not do it, half of the people sitting here did it very well. This old man will write it down for you. These are the calculations that were wrong. You can take them back later."
Mister Liu placed the stack of papers on his special desk and left with the books. The students of the private school watched him leave. Then, they stood up and surrounded him. They wanted to see if their homework was among the returned homework.
"Ha ha ha! It's not mine, it's not mine! "
"Liu Er, you wrote this, right? Hehe, let me see …"
"Give it to me!"
"No, I won't give it to you. I want to see where your calculations are wrong, you idiot!"
The naughty teenagers played around. Yu Shu saw that there was nothing else for her to do. She picked up her bag and called Yu Xiaoxiu to go home.
Yu Xiaoxiu reluctantly walked to the door with her. Yu Shu was wondering how to ask him to borrow the book when she suddenly heard someone call out to her. She turned her head and saw two little girls under a tree not far from the street. One was short, the other was fat. They were waving their hands and running toward her. Soon, they arrived in front of her and clamped her arms, pushing Yu Xiaoxiu to the side.
"Shu Shu, we waited for you for several days before we heard that you were beaten and locked up. Where did they hit you? Does it still hurt?"
"Shu Shu, why didn't you come to find us when you were out? If we hadn't heard that you were in school, Tian Tian and I would have been waiting for you at the entrance of the Ji family every day."
Yu Shu felt a little dizzy as she listened to these two little girls, who were about the same age as her, calling her "uncle" over and over again.
Who, who were they?
"I'll go back first. Go home before lunch. No one's waiting for you." Yu Xiaoxiu glanced at the two people hanging on Yu Shu's left and right with disgust, then turned around and left.
"Xiaoxiu, hey, wait for me! Don't go!"
"Shu Shu, let's talk over there."
Yu Shu didn't respond to Yu Xiaoxiu. She was half-dragged and half-dragged by the two little girls to the opposite side of the street. She watched Yu Xiaoxiu turn into the alley and disappear.
"Shu Shu, how many times did you get beaten? Did the Ji family beat you with whips or sticks?"
"Shu Shu, does it hurt when they beat you?"
Ula, ula, ula …
"That's enough!"
Yu Shu had a headache from the noise. She called out to stop the two little girls from shouting. She put her hands behind their backs and grabbed their collars. She brought them in front of her and recognized their faces first.
Judging from what they said, the short girl and the fat girl should be the friends of her predecessor. It was not easy for such a sick girl to have friends.
"Ahem, I'm fine. The Ji family didn't beat me. They locked me up for a few days and released me. Look, I'm fine."
After saying that, Yu Shu spun around and stretched her legs for them to look closely.
"Ah?" The fat girl was stunned. "You didn't get beaten?"
Why does it sound like he's disappointed?
The short girl secretly nudged the fat girl with her elbow and grinned at Yu Shu. "It's good that you're fine. It's good that you're fine. Hehe."
Yu Shu originally thought that she was overthinking, but when she saw the two's small movements, she knew that there was definitely a problem. She rolled her eyes, reached out and patted their shoulders in a friendly manner, and said with a smile,
"I said I would look for you this afternoon. Who knew you couldn't wait and came."
The fat girl looked at the short girl. The short girl scratched her head. Looking at Yu Shu, she knew that she could no longer play dumb with her. Hence, she stopped smiling and reached into her sleeves. She took out a small piece of silver the size of her thumb and handed it to Yu Shu with gritted teeth, saying,
"You lost the bet. Take it."
She was still trying to play tricks with her when her teeth were not fully grown.
Yu Shu took the silver without saying anything and reached out to the fat girl with her other hand.
"Why didn't the Ji family hit you when you broke Miss Ji's things? Strange." The fat girl muttered as she reluctantly took out a small piece of silver from the pouch on her waist and placed it in Yu Shu's hand with a pained expression on her face.
Yu Shu counted the two pieces of silver, which could be exchanged for about a hundred copper coins. She stuffed them into her belt and smiled at the two men.
"It's almost noon. Go home for lunch. I'm leaving. See you tomorrow."
She waved her hand and pushed the two away. She walked towards the alley across the street and didn't hear what they were shouting behind her. When she entered the alley, the smile on Yu Shu's face disappeared.
She dug out two small pieces of silver horn from the seam of her waist, tossed them in her palm, and clenched them tightly.
"She lost her life for a hundred copper coins. Stinky girl, she's really a stinky girl."
***
"Paper money?" Cao Zixin, who was fiddling with a few spring inkstones on the shelf, turned his head, "Why do you ask? Is it because someone at home —"
"No," Yu Shu moved two abacus beads with her left hand and quickly interrupted him. She was afraid that he would accidentally curse Yu Xiaoxiu, "I've been unlucky these days. I want to pray to the gods to change my luck."
Cao Zixin didn't know that she was talking nonsense. He laughed, "Burning paper money and praying to the gods to change your luck? Heh, where did you hear that? Does it work? "
"Just tell me if you know where to buy it."
Yu Shu ran out after lunch. She wandered around Changmen Street for a long time but couldn't find a place to buy paper money for the underworld. She had no choice but to ask Shopkeeper Cao for help.
"I remember there is a Fushou shop in the alley behind. Do you want me to take you there after closing?"
"I don't dare to trouble you. Just tell me how to go."
"Turn right after you go out of the door. Just go in the third alley."
"Thank you, shopkeeper." Yu Shu wrote it down and thanked him. Then she started to calculate on her abacus again. She held the brush crookedly in her right hand and boldly wrote down the numbers on a piece of waste paper with Arabic numerals.
She felt that she was being paid for her work. She was embarrassed that she had to work on her abacus every day and have the boss keep the books for her. This afternoon, when she came over, she suggested a compromise. First, she would calculate the accounts and use her own method to write it down. Then, she would report it to Cao Zixin before closing time so that he could copy it and put it into the account.
Cao Zixin put away the new goods and turned back to the counter to pour tea. Seeing her scribbling some ghost characters on the paper, he asked curiously,
"Can you understand these by yourself?"
"I can understand it. This is how I count. It's just that the writing is a little ugly. Hehe." Yu Shu laughed dryly.
Looking at the young man's delicate side face, Cao Zixin had a lot of doubts in his heart. A person who knew how to use the abacus but couldn't write, no one would believe it.
What was the background of this young man?
Cao Zixin was curious, but he would not take the initiative to ask. Since the other party had the intention to hide, why should he get to the bottom of it? Everyone had secrets that they didn't want others to know, didn't they?
Shaking his head and smiling, Cao Zixin bent over and straightened the brush in Yu Shu's hand. He said pleasantly,
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