Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 150 - 150 147 No Need for Face-Saving

Chapter 150: Chapter 147: No Need for Face-Saving Chapter 150: Chapter 147: No Need for Face-Saving The female boss and her employees scrambled to try making Mango Pomelo Sago, but all that had nothing to do with Yang Dan anymore. She walked disheartenedly to have dinner with Jiang Yan and Song Jiawen.

“I worked for her for nothing for a few days and even contributed a new product… I’m really such an idiot!”

Ever since they started ordering in the restaurant, Yang Dan kept repeating this line.

Jiang Yan was rendered speechless.

He placed a meticulously deboned piece of fish into Song Jiawen’s bowl and told Yang Dan, “Learn from your mistake; just consider it paying for a lesson. Your main problem is that you’re too anxious. I already told you, if you have something in hand, you’ve got leverage, different from the average part-timer.”

“Alright, let’s eat first, and after dinner, you take the both of us around to browse. I’ll see if there’s any place suitable, and I’ll help you negotiate.”

Yang Dan’s eyes lit up. With Jiang Yan helping her with the negotiations, she wouldn’t have to worry about finding a new part-time job.

She picked up her chopsticks, then remembered to ask if the two of them had returned to their hometown.

After Jiang Yan mentioned Song Jiawen’s grandmother’s situation, Yang Dan felt a bit guilty. She should have thought of it; unless there was an emergency, Jiajia wouldn’t have left without any notice.

She wanted to offer her a few words of comfort but seeing Jiawen’s composed demeanor, it was clear that the initial sorrow had passed.

So she didn’t bring it up again.

After finishing the meal, Yang Dan had intended to first take the two for a tour around the school, but both shook their heads simultaneously. Jiang Yan pointed toward a street at the entrance of the school and suggested, “Let’s stroll around here first and see what shops there are.”

Since they were already here, they might as well take care of the important matters first.

The three of them walked and looked around. Seeing how eager Yang Dan was to earn money, Song Jiawen remembered what Yang Dan had said about her brother and sister-in-law coming to see her off before the semester started, and casually asked, “When your brother and sister-in-law came to drop you off, besides tuition, how much living expenses did they leave you with?”

Beijing Agricultural University is also a national key university, but to rural folk, the word “agricultural” makes them think studying there still means having to return to farming later.

So when Yang Dan received her admission letter, not many relatives and friends were optimistic about it. After all, they had been farming all their lives, and their subconscious belief was that education should lead away from the land, toward a stable government job and a life away from the toil of farming.

But what’s this Agricultural University for?

To study a few years and return to farming?

With that in mind, everyone’s expectations for her college education faded. Forget about hosting a celebratory banquet or giving money; some neighbors and relatives even advised her parents, “You are both getting on in age and not earning money. Both your older brothers’ families are not wealthy either. It might be better not to pursue education, help your parents farm for a year, and find a husband. With a decent dowry, just get married off.”

Her mother hesitated at that time. Fortunately, her father was not content with this and, wanting to see at least one university graduate from his family, he took the admission letter and went to see Teacher Yu at the school to clarify things.

Teacher Yu became anxious when he heard this, “Nonsense! Beijing Agricultural University is a key national university. If she goes on to pursue postgraduate studies, she could even join the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Yang Dan is a good student; you folks better not be confused and mess up the child’s future.”

That reassured Yang Dan’s father.

He went home and called his sons over, relayed the teacher’s exact words, and said to them earnestly, “Out of the four siblings, only Dan has been admitted to a university, and it’s even a national key university. Your mother and I could still sell some grain and vegetables to support her high school studies, but now the tuition fee for the university is over five thousand, and we really can’t afford it. You brothers discuss and see how you can come up with the money. Don’t worry, once Dan graduates from university, I will have her pay you back.”

Pay back?

When would that be!

Yang Dan’s eldest brother hemmed and hawed for a long while, basically signaling just one thing: with two kids in junior high, there were expenses everywhere, and he had no money.

The second brother stayed silent, saying he would discuss it with his wife when he got home.

In the end, Yang Dan’s tuition was cobbled together from her eldest sister who lent two thousand, her second brother who contributed three thousand, and the eldest brother… the eldest brother pitched in five hundred.

Her father managed to scrape together another six hundred by selling vegetables and grain, adding up to a total of six thousand one hundred.

The tuition was five thousand four hundred and eighty, and after paying it, she was left with only six hundred and twenty, then she bought some inexpensive daily necessities. By scrimping and saving for a month, she still had two hundred yuan on her.

As for the matter of her second brother accompanying her here…

That was hardly an escort; it was because his sister-in-law’s younger sister had been accepted to Kang City’s Teacher’s College, and her second brother and his wife had gotten off the train one stop before Beijing, in Kang City, along with the sister-in-law’s younger sister and her luggage.

“Dandan, your school is just one stop away, so your second brother and I can say we’ve seen you off. When you call home later, you know what to tell mom and dad, right? Your second brother and I have not only paid for your tuition but also for your travel expenses, we haven’t let you down, have we?”

Before leaving, her sister-in-law had been broadcasting around the village that she and the second brother were worried about a girl traveling so far for the first time by herself, so they decided to accompany her to school.

For this, her parents had gone to the extent of weeding their second brother’s farm and picking corn in the blazing heat… but what was the result?

They got the credit without doing the work and even made the elderly couple feel indebted to them.

Moreover, Yang Dan also knew why her sister-in-law was willing to provide three thousand for her tuition: she had given her own younger sister five thousand.

Over the past few years, her second brother had become a small foreman in the construction crew in the county and had some money in hand; only the couple hid it from everyone, not letting anyone know.

Outsiders heard they gave Yang Dan three thousand, compared to the eldest brother’s five hundred… the result speaks for itself.

But Yang Dan still couldn’t say anything about it, she could only praise them publicly, saying her tuition was paid for by her second brother and his wife.

She also knew that her second brother and sister-in-law had no obligation to her, and that giving three thousand was indeed generous, but… she always felt awkward and couldn’t bring herself to feel grateful.

So why was she so eager to earn money?

Because she was indeed running out of money, and no one was going to give her more.

Song Jiawen pulled out two hundred and thirty-some yuan from her pocket, held onto the change, and handed two hundred yuan to Yang Dan, “I didn’t bring much with me today, but you take this for now… It’s a loan, I’m not saying you don’t have to pay me back.”

Yang Dan was silent for a moment but ultimately kept the money.

Song Jiawen said, “I thought considering our relationship, if you ever needed money, you’d definitely tell me. How much is pride worth? In front of me, you can be without pride. Besides, look, I’ve never cared about pride either.”

Indeed, whether in the past or now, Song Jiawen always spoke and acted according to her own wishes, never compromising herself and not causing trouble for others.

Almost immediately, the gloominess in Yang Dan’s heart cleared, and she laughed, “Alright, I’ll have no pride in front of you from now on. I know you’re a little rich girl now, so if I ever run out of money, I’ll come to you.”

Jiang Yan was walking about two meters ahead of the two girls, having deliberately kept his distance to let them whisper. And when Song Jiawen slipped Yang Dan the money, he pretended not to notice.

After they had finished talking and put away the money, he pointed to the milk tea shop at the turn-back entrance of the school, which was doing good business, and asked, “Shall we check it out?”