Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life

Chapter 867: Xiao Chong Extra Story 2_2

Xiao Chong grabbed a handful of his own hair and said with a bitter smile, "I’ll go to the barbershop to get it cut later."

Because of the belief that "the body, hair, and skin are received from the parents," Xiao Chong always disliked cutting his hair.

But in modern society, men all have short hair, so he had to blend in a bit.

Previously, in the third year of middle school, because his grades were outstanding and he was pre-admitted, the teachers didn’t really bother him during the last semester.

Being first in the grade always comes with some privileges of being willful, so he didn’t cut his hair again. By the time he reported to high school, his hair was long enough to reach his shoulders, and he could tie a small ponytail at the back of his head.

During the summer vacation, he didn’t participate in the military training because he went to Beijing for a traditional Chinese painting exhibition, so he kept this hairstyle until the orientation meeting.

As soon as he appeared, he was surrounded by the school principal, the dean of studies, and his future homeroom teacher, all earnestly persuading him to shave his head.

What could Xiao Chong do!

Respecting teachers and valuing education was ingrained in his bones, so he couldn’t refuse the teachers’ reasonable requests.

Lin Wanwan chuckled, as Xiao Chong’s worried expression was just too amusing.

Watching her smile, Xiao Chong was momentarily mesmerized; it had been too long since they’d last met.

"Oh right, I’ll go get some fruit, you wait here." Xiao Chong suddenly stood up and walked to the kitchen.

Lin Wanwan stood up and waved her hand, saying, "No need, no need, I’m not hungry."

"Even if you’re not, I am."

Xiao Chong ignored her polite refusals and quickly cut a small yellow-fleshed watermelon, peeled two apples, and a red dragon fruit, all into pieces.

With his knife skills, cutting fruit was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and soon, a platter with watermelon pulp, dragon fruit, and apple pieces was served.

Xiao Chong, a descendant of the Lanling Xiao family, who had been served by a group of servants since childhood, didn’t know how to take care of others, but twelve years of modern life taught him how to be considerate.

In the home where his adoptive parents raised him, surprisingly it was his father who cooked and did household chores, overturning Xiao Chong’s patriarchal views ingrained since childhood.

"Join me and have some?" Xiao Chong naturally offered a small stainless steel fork to Lin Wanwan.

Lin Wanwan held the fork but didn’t move, feeling awkward eating someone else’s food, especially since she had nothing to give in return.

After eating two pieces, Xiao Chong saw Lin Wanwan wasn’t eating and laughed, "Not going to show such a lack of respect, are you? If fruit’s cut and not eaten, it will oxidize, and I can’t finish it all myself. Frugality is a virtue, and waste is shameful."

"Alright then, thank you."

Since he’d put it that way, Lin Wanwan couldn’t refuse and had to pick up a few pieces to eat.

It was Lin Wanwan’s first time tasting yellow-fleshed watermelon; her grandparents had never bought such a thing.

After finishing the fruit, Xiao Chong still hadn’t offered to help Lin Wanwan with her bicycle, and she wanted to remind him but felt embarrassed.

However, Xiao Chong seemed to read her thoughts and explained, "The tools aren’t in this new house, they’re at my parents’ place. I’ve messaged them to bring them over when they come tonight. I’ll have the repaired bike at your door by morning; don’t worry, it won’t delay your school."

See, everything was already arranged neatly.

After thanking him, Lin Wanwan said goodbye and left.

*

In the August afternoon, it was too hot at home to concentrate on studying.

After a simple lunch, Lin Wanwan took her newly issued high school textbooks, grabbed her bus pass, and headed to the county library seven kilometers away to enjoy the air conditioning.

Her junior high school teacher, Mr. Chen, told her that to change her fate, she must work hard in her studies, as it is one of the fairest competitive opportunities available to ordinary people, and Lin Wanwan deeply agreed.

When only Xiao Chong was left at home, he glanced at the bicycle with the broken chain and chuckled lightly, took out his phone, and called the owner of the bike shop where he bought it.

Half an hour later, someone came with the tools to fix the bike.

*

Early the next morning, Lin Wanwan got up and had a simple breakfast made by her grandfather—soup rice with last night’s leftovers.

After eating, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and was about to head to school when her grandfather called her, "Wanwan, here are three thousand, take it to pay the fees, and the remaining six hundred or so is for your lunch."

Lin Wanwan was stunned, she hadn’t even figured out how to ask her grandfather, but he had already found out.

It had always been this way since she was little; her grandparents never delayed in paying any fees required at Lin Wanwan’s school, always paying them immediately, so much so that Lin Wanwan never felt her family was poor when she was a child.