“What?!” Xiao Fanghua raised her voice. She looked so anxious that it scared the class rep.
She quickly comforted the class rep before she said to Meng Chao, “I’m sorry, Meng Chao. Why don’t you sit here for a while? I have to check on Li Jue. He… is a good student with the best talent in this class.”
After saying that, she walked out quickly with a hand supporting her waist.
Meng Chao was worried about letting a pregnant woman walk around alone in a shelter, so he quickly followed after her.
Xiao Fanghua moved through the maze of tents with familiar ease. Sometimes, she jumped over piles of household waste or bent her back to move through a large layer of bedsheets.
Each tent had a number. Piercing noises came from Tent 1341. A middle-aged woman came out of the tent swiftly and stomped to the north. She nearly knocked Xiao Fanghua over.
Meng Chao quickly supported her.
Xiao Fanghua gave Meng Chao an apologetic look and shouted into the tent. “Mr. Li?”
Shuffling sounds could be heard within the tent. Soon, a man with a deformed nose and eyes came out. The muscles on his face twitched neurotically, and there was a wary look in his eyes. But there were also a lot of other emotions hidden beneath it.
“Ms. Xiao, you’re here, again,” the middle-aged man said stiffly.
“Mr. Li, I’m here to ask a question. Why won’t you let Li Jue go to school when things have been going well for him?” Xiao Fanghua asked.
The man’s eyes turned bloodshot, and he said, “What do you mean ‘things have been going well for him’? After Li Jue practiced the martial arts from your class, he coughed up blood three times! What sort of harmful martial arts are you teaching him?! I won’t let him go to school anymore!”
“Mr. Li, that’s not the case!” Xiao Fanghua said anxiously. “Didn’t I explain it to you last time? Li Jue has begun to activate the supernatural power hidden in his brain because of the mind attack by the monsters who descended during the last fog. His body is still young, so he can’t withstand that power and coughed up blood.
“The monsters’ mind attack didn’t just target Li Jue alone. It attacked everyone in a large area, but since he has really good talent and is sensitive to spirit energy and vitality magnetic fields, he’s showing signs of early awakening. This is good!
“As long as he takes the gene medicine and nutritional fluid I recommended every day and practices the stances and meditation methods we teach in school, those symptoms will disappear soon. His strength will also increase by leaps and bounds. He will definitely be able to score well during the high school entrance examination next year.
“Mr. Li, did you give him the gene medicine I recommended every day?”
Li Jue’s father’s eyes became even more bloodshot. “Gene medicine, my foot. It’s all a scam. I won’t fall for it!”
“That’s…” Xiao Fanghua was at a loss at what to do. “Mr. Li, how could you say that? The gene medicine we recommend in class is produced by a large legit company. Besides, the donation given by Blue Home should be enough to subsidize each child. You just need to pay 70% of the cost price, and Li Jue’s cultivation will rise to another level. The other children in the class are persevering through gritted teeth, so it’ll be a pity if Li Jue gives up halfway through. After all, he’s the one I value the most!”
Some part of those words must have stabbed Mr. Li where it hurt, because his eyes turned so red that they looked like hot iron. “I said he won’t be going to class, so he won’t!” he yelled. “Everyone knows your tricks by now! You said that we only need to pay 70% of the cost price?! But who knows what the truth is! It’s a lie! It’s all a lie!”
Because of his shouts, quite a number of citizens in the area peeked out of their tents and observed Xiao Fanghua and Meng Chao curiously.
Meng Chao frowned a little and whispered to Xiao Fanghua, “Big Sis Ya, what sort of drugs do you give the children when they cultivate in class every day? What price did you offer the students?”
“There’s bone cell growth medicine for teenagers produced by Photocreatures, rapid healing serums for muscle fibers made by Mighty Dragon Pharmaceuticals, and the high-efficiency blood replenishment serums by Ancient Pharmaceuticals…”
Xiao Fanghua mentioned the names of six gene medicine and high-calorie nutritional fluid before she said, “We’re working directly with these factories through Blue Home to help the citizens who lost their homes. We get these products at cost price from the factories, and we’re not earning a single cent from it.
“We also collect donations from members of Blue Home to cover 30% of the price.
“70% of the cost price is already the lowest possible price. They just need to spend a few hundred yuan every day for the children to have a future in cultivation!”
Meng Chao nodded.
Superstar sold raw materials from monsters and worked together with the pharmaceutical companies and biochemical modification companies Xiao Fanghua mentioned. He had heard about them and knew that they were legal companies who were famous in the industry. They would definitely not use a single monster to produce nutritional fluid for three years.
Recently, Superstar had been working together with Spirit Creation Creatures as well, so Meng Chao had a general idea of the price for the middle-grade gene medicine and high-calorie nutritional fluid for teenagers.
Xiao Fanghua was not trying to scam any money with the price she mentioned just now. Not only did it not earn her any money, she had to get donations from everywhere to cover the cost.
The best way to judge that would be by using Bai Jiacao.
Ever since the Meng family was able to earn some money, the family prepared the most luxurious cultivation set meals to help with high school entrance examination. Even if Meng Chao excluded all other fees and calculated only the price for her gene medicine and high-calorie nutritional fluid, they spent two-three thousand yuan per day, and in a month, the cost almost reached one hundred thousand yuan.
If they hadn’t spent that money on her, however, it would have been impossible for her to get into the experimental class in Construction High by relying on the Night Demon Blood alone.
Once she entered high school, Bai Suxin once participated in a parents meeting so they could exchange experience in taking care of children. When other parents learnt that the Meng family only spent thousands of yuan every day for cultivation fees but still managed to send Bai Suxin into Construction High’s experimental class, they were all shocked.
The cultivation families spent more than ten thousand yuan on their children’s daily education fees.
Xiao Fanghua was very kind and considerate about the poor children. She carefully came up with a plan to ensure that the children who could only spend a couple hundred yuan per day would get a cultivation set meal that was carefully crafted with the best cost-price ratio.
When Meng Chao realized it, he felt a little frustrated.
His expression turned dark, and he stepped in front of Xiao Fanghua. “Mr. Li, it’s your freedom to decide whether your son will attend class or not. In any case, Ms. Xiao has been using her free time to help the children get extra classes.
“But Ms. Xiao never scammed even a single coin from you. She has been forking out her own money to subsidize your son, and yet you’re biting the hand that fed you and spitting on her kindness? This will disappoint her, and you might even make others unwilling to help the children in the shelters too. Isn’t this bringing harm to yourself and others?
“I’d like to give you a word of advice: Cast your sights further. The world in the future will definitely belong to superhumans. Since your child has talent for cultivation, he should cultivate properly. This is the only way for him to change his destiny!”
Meng Chao’s voice was not loud, but it was enough to make the neighbors around them understand what was going on.
Li Jue’s father’s expression turned really strange. It was as if the mask of wariness and anger shattered, revealing the incredibly frail man underneath.
He went back inside and stumbled around inside.
Meng Chao and Xiao Fanghua looked at each other before they went inside.
Li Jue’s father had sat down on a narrow folding hand and buried his head buried in his hands.
The big man’s shoulders trembled. He was weeping silently.
Meng Chao could smell a faint stench.
He looked around for the source of the smell and noticed that Li Jue’s father’s right leg was bound by a few layers of gauze and bandages. Even so, there was still suspicious liquid in shades of green and purple oozing out.
“You’re poisoned,” Meng Chao said with a frown.
“When the fog descended, I was hit by a monster’s poison. In the beginning, I went for treatment and they dug out all of the rotten flesh. I thought I was fine, but the poison had invaded my bones. After working for a few days in the ruins, the poison acted up.”
Li Jue’s father rubbed his face hard a few times before he gradually calmed down. He whispered softly, “I’m sorry, Ms. Xiao. I argued with my wife just now, so I was in a bad mood. I wasn’t thinking straight, so I said some really bad things.
“I know that you’re a good person. You’re all good people. I also know that the price for the gene medicine is already very cheap. But… no matter how cheap it is, it still costs hundreds of yuan a day. Even if I worked without sleeping in the ruins, I couldn’t afford it, let alone now that I’m in this state.”
Xiao Fanghua looked at the empty tent and asked, “Were all your belongings in your house? You didn’t bring anything with you?”
“No. Everything was burnt to a crisp. We didn’t manage to take anything out.”
“The public welfare organizations must have arranged to provide free treatment, right?” Xiao Fanghua asked hesitantly. “Your leg…”
“There’s free treatment, but we need to queue up for it. We need to wait a few days for even the simplest debriding and dressing. After all, simply too many people were hurt during the fog,” Li Jue’s father said.
“Besides, the poison has invaded my bones. It keeps on acting up, and treating it is a major problem. I’ve been thinking about acting ruthless and borrowing some money for an amputation so that I can get a prosthetic leg.
“That way, I could soon look for a job, but my wife won’t let me, and Li Jue refuses it too. In any case, it’s not easy looking for jobs now, and even if I manage to find one, the salary wouldn’t be high. I don’t know when I’d be able to return the money for the amputation and prosthetic limb, much less let Li Jue cultivate.”
Xiao Fanghua and Meng Chao fell silent for a while.
“No matter what, your son must not fall behind in his cultivation,” Xiao Fanghua said. “Mr. Li, please let Li Jue go to class for now. The teachers, volunteers from Blue Home, and I will think about how to solve the problem with gene medicine and high-calorie nutritional fluid.”
“Forget it, Ms. Xiao. You’ve helped Li Jue a lot. Our entire family is grateful to you, so we won’t be causing you anymore trouble.” Li Jue’s father smiled bitterly. “Li Jue is the one who said himself that he doesn’t want to go to class anymore.”
Xiao Fanghua was shocked. “Why?”
“He said that cultivation is not something that can be done overnight. The further you go down the path of cultivation, the more resources you need. Even if he can get your help and solve the problem of gene medicine and high-calorie nutritional fluid for the time being, what about a few months later? What about next year and the year after that?
“Even if he manages to get into a key high school, it doesn’t mean that he will definitely become a superhuman. The classes in key high schools are even more strenuous and the competition is harsher. Without sufficient resources, it’ll be very easy for him to go through spirit energy deviation and lose himself.
“At that time, he won’t be able to awaken to supernatural powers but will end up wounded instead. He won’t even be able to take up a normal job and just end up causing trouble to the family.
“Li Jue is a sensible child. We’re poor, so it’s impossible for us to support him in becoming a superhuman. He is thinking about using the time he would spend cultivating to work so that he can pay my medical fees.
“I-I’m sorry, Ms. Xiao. I’m sorry for disappointing you. Don’t blame Li Jue. If you want to blame someone, blame me for being a useless father!”