Chapter 39 Those Who Trust Me

Lu Fan thought for a moment and still decided to make a call to Xia Hongying to brief her on the situation.

"Mom, I've disconnected the cable TV at home."

"Huh? Why did you do that?!"

"You guys are all at work during the day. Baishuang stays home all by herself and stares at the television from morning till night. She's practically going to blind herself. Besides, do you have any idea how disastrous her academic grades are?"

"We really haven't paid much attention to her studies these past couple of days. Now that you've cut off the cable, how is your dad supposed to watch the Evening News? And how am I supposed to watch my TV dramas?"

"TV dramas are like slow poison; watching too much of them turns people's brains to mush. What does Dad need to watch the Evening News for anyway? He's not striving for any further promotions, so what good does it do him? Oh, wait, I remember now—even though I've disconnected the cable, Channel One and the local channels are still available. It won't stop him from watching, and it won't stop you either."

"Well, disconnected is disconnected, I suppose. But you should have said something sooner. I could have brought Baishuang to my workplace and supervised her studies right there in the office."

Lu Fan was stunned for a second, thinking to himself that she hadn't mentioned that any earlier either.

"Mom, your job is easy. From now on, spend more time tutoring Baishuang at home and try your best to cultivate her into someone as brilliant as me."

"You little brat, just how do you think you got good grades? It was only because your dad used to beat some sense into you. Can other people's children be disciplined like that?"

"Just treat her like your own child and give her a beating when necessary. Bailing and... her mom would definitely be fine with it, right?"

Bailing was nodding frantically off to the side.

"Baishuang is so well-behaved, and she does all the chores around the house. I simply can't bring myself to hit her. You were far too mischievous when you were little. If you had even half of Baishuang's good behavior, your dad wouldn't have had to beat you."

"All right, all right, that's all I wanted to say. Just put some effort into it, because when it comes to educating children, nobody can compare to you."

After hanging up the phone, Xia Hongying immediately began to blissfully map out her grand educational strategy for Baishuang.

If she could raise such an outstanding boy, she could certainly raise an outstanding girl just as well.

Meanwhile, Lu Fan took Bailing with him to their old familiar haunt with Wang Zihao: the Xingyue Internet Cafe.

Sure enough, upon arriving at the internet cafe, he found the fellow slumped over a computer, swearing up a storm while playing Counter-Strike.

Lu Fan stood right behind him for a while without the other noticing at all.

"Cover me, I'm going in! Flashbang, throw them all right now!"

"Bang!"

The character on the screen charged down the alleyway.

However, a grenade bounced off the wall, landed right at his feet, and detonated, instantly claiming half his remaining health.

"Who the hell threw that grenade? I told you guys to throw flashbangs! Are you all deaf?"

"Who else is to blame when you practically run to your death? Don't you know you're supposed to clear the alleyway with a grenade before charging?"

Across the row of computers, a bearded, burly man stood up and yelled back.

Wang Zihao shrunk his neck back, slumped back into his seat, and muttered under his breath, "He could at least give a warning when tossing a grenade."

Instantly, his game view switched to spectator mode, allowing him to see the exact positions of all his teammates.

Grumpily, Wang Zihao pulled a cigarette out of a Lion-brand pack on the table, lit it, and expertly blew out a ring of smoke.

"Damn it, when did you learn how to smoke?"

Lu Fan scolded with a hint of annoyance.

"Huh?" Wang Zihao spun around, his face lighting up with pleasant surprise.

"Fanzi, you're finally here! Do you have any idea how I've survived these past few days?"

"Let's start a new room. The two of us will team up and take on all of them."

Pointing excitedly at the guy who had just cursed at him, Wang Zihao said, "That big guy right there—come into my room and let's go gun-to-gun against them."

Wang Zihao always felt immensely confident whenever he was with Lu Fan.

He deeply admired Lu Fan, both for his gaming skills and his physical prowess.

"We aren't playing today," Lu Fan said. "I just came by to check on you."

Noticing that the bearded man was starting to stalk over with a menacing expression, Lu Fan pulled a cigarette from his pocket and handed it over.

The bearded man took it, glanced at it, and remarked, "Yuxi, huh!"

Then, without another word, he turned around and walked back to his seat.

Interactions between men are actually quite simple; sometimes, a single cigarette can smooth over most negative emotions.

Especially when it was a good cigarette—this single Yuxi cost a full yuan, which was equivalent to half an hour's internet fee.

"Did you steal my Uncle Lu's cigarettes again?"

"It's the other way around. Your Uncle Lu smokes *my* cigarettes nowadays; he can't even afford this brand yet."

Lu Fan tossed his own pack of cigarettes onto the table and slipped the bearded man's half-pack of Lions into his own pocket.

"Come on, let's go outside and chat for a bit. The air in here is choking."

"We aren't playing a round first?" Wang Zihao asked with a hint of regret.

"Play my foot. Didn't I just spend a few hours keeping you company here last time?"

"You say that as if you didn't enjoy yourself just as much."

Once outside, Wang Zihao's gaze froze instantly the moment he caught sight of Bailing standing beside the motorcycle.

Bailing's appearance and figure would rank at the absolute pinnacle in any school.

Dressed in a sports outfit, she radiated youth and vitality, causing every passerby to sneak an involuntary second glance.

Lu Fan gave Wang Zihao's head a light slap and said, "Say hello to your sister-in-law."

Wang Zihao looked momentarily brain-dead, staring at Bailing, then at Lu Fan, and then back at Bailing again.

It was hard for him to connect the two dots.

It wasn't until Bailing offered them both a sweet smile that Wang Zihao snapped out of his daze and stammered out, "H-hello, Sister-in-law."

He then muttered under his breath, "Didn't we promise to look for girlfriends together? How could you sneak behind my back and find one first? What about Xiaoyao in our class—are you still going to pursue her or not?"

"You talk too much nonsense. Bailing, let me introduce you. This is my childhood best friend, Wang Zihao, nicknamed Rat. And this is my... girlfriend, Bailing."

"Hello, Sister-in-law. Don't listen to Lu Fan's nonsense, my nickname is Prince."

"Hello, Prince!"

Bailing nodded back at him with poise and grace.

"Which school is Sister-in-law from?"

Bailing looked toward Lu Fan, who immediately answered, "She's already finished school. Once I go to Jiangcheng for university, she'll rent an apartment outside with me."

This statement delivered yet another heavy blow to Wang Zihao.

It was sheer psychological warfare!

"Lu Fan, how did you even meet my sister-in-law? You never mentioned her to me before."

Lu Fan smiled. "Our families arranged an arranged marriage when we were kids. Now that we've both grown up, our parents wanted us to get to know each other. To be honest, we aren't all that familiar with each other yet, we're still getting acquainted."

Internally, Wang Zihao was already cursing his own old man: *You old fogey, aside from lecturing me, you never get a single useful thing done!*

*Look at Uncle Lu—he's already got an arranged marriage set up, and she's gorgeous to boot.*

*Why aren't you in any rush to upgrade the family's genetic pool?*

"Rat, take my advice: stop spending all your time at the internet cafe. Not only is it a waste of money, but you're also squandering your prime youth. If you've got free time, go to the library and find some books on computer programming—well, learn whatever you can manage."

"Applied mathematics doesn't look like it has a very clear career trajectory right now, but it's going to be profoundly important in the future and closely tied to many different fields. That's the future, though; right now, the closest thing within our grasp is computers."

"Use mathematics as your foundation and master computer programming, and I guarantee you'll make a fortune."

In his past life, Wang Zihao had become a major-tech coder entirely through self-study, and Lu Fan believed he possessed a certain degree of innate talent.

As long as he put in enough effort, he was bound to reap rewards.

However, in their past life, that drive had only been beaten into them by the harsh, merciless blows of reality down in a basement. For the present-day Wang Zihao, who hadn't experienced any of those hardships yet, Lu Fan wasn't entirely certain if he could successfully guide him onto this path again.

"Wait, Fanzi, do you actually believe I can get into Jiangcheng University of Technology?"

Lu Fan blinked. "If you don't believe it, why the hell did you fill out the application for it?!"

"I believe you, but I just don't really believe in myself."

"You can pass, and in the future, you're going to become a programming expert. That's my word. If you don't believe me, just wait and see."

"I believe you, I believe you!" Seeing the solemn look on Lu Fan's face, Wang Zihao hurriedly nodded in agreement.

Looking at the youth's naive face, Lu Fan sighed inwardly.

*He still hasn't been slapped across the face by reality; he's lacking that primary driving force.*

Pondering for a moment, he walked over to the motorcycle and slapped the seat firmly. "See this? A Honda 125, cost 12,000. I bought it with the money I earned using my own wits and capability."

Wang Zihao stared at him in utter shock.

Following that, Lu Fan unzipped the crossbody bag Bailing was wearing and opened it wide for Wang Zihao to see.

Inside were stacks upon stacks of banknotes, bundled according to different denominations—a colorful and sizable pile of cash.

"See that? All of this was earned by me too!"

"If you want to be as rich as me, you'd better do exactly as I say."

"Besides, you won't even be able to marry a wife as pretty as this without money!"