Going back to 18, demanding 30,000 yuan in compensation from the school beauty.

A week later.

Lin Zhao had just finished changing her dressing at the hospital when she received a call from An Yuanbiao.

Comrade Lao An kept his word and honestly gave the remaining 25,000 yuan. He also made Lin Zhao sign a written agreement promising never to harass their family again.

Lin Zhao wrote it as required.

As long as you pay, they'll cooperate with anything, and everything is negotiable.

After getting the money, Lin Zhao didn't go home. Instead, she dragged Sun Jiajun into the department store and went on a shopping spree to buy supplies for their upcoming university life.

I'll buy all the Nike and Adidas clothes and shoes.

I also added the newly released Apple 4S to my collection.

He rarely plays games, so he just bought a ThinkPad computer, the same model as the first laptop he bought in his original world.

After spending all that money, the 25,000 yuan in my account was quickly gone.

Sun Jiajun was dumbfounded by the speed and manner with which he spent money; even watching Korean dramas with his mother didn't involve such extravagance.

Seeing that this guy was actually picking out down jackets, Sun Jiajun couldn't stand it anymore and called him to stop.

The main problem is that I simply can't take any more!

"You're still buying? Even if you've struck it rich, you don't need to spend it all so quickly. There will be plenty of places to spend money after you register for university!"

Sun Jiajun gave a serious reminder.

Lin Zhao shook his head seriously: "What do you know! This is called ill-gotten gains are hard to keep. Windfall gains are meant to be acquired and disposed of, otherwise they will bring disaster!"

Sun Jiajun seemed to have heard something similar before, and nodded in realization.

"I've bought almost everything, and I've spent all the money I had left today. What do you want? I'll give it to you!" Lin Zhao said generously.

"Forget it, you already gave me five thousand last time..."

"Stop talking nonsense, what do you want!"

"..."

Sun Jiajun hesitated for a moment.

The two happened to be standing in front of a toy store. His gaze wandered around and finally pointed to a gift box at the entrance.

Lin Zhao tilted her head, glanced sideways, and looked on incredulously: "A four-wheel drive vehicle?"

Sun Jiajun nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Lin Zhao's vision went black.

"Big brother, how old are you this year? Have you graduated from kindergarten?"

"Fine, I won't buy it then!"

"Buy, buy!"

Lin Zhao felt helpless, as if he had become a father without any pain and was now taking his son shopping.

I went into the store and bought what the owner claimed was the most classic and highest quality toy four-wheel drive car for just over 300 yuan.

Lin Zhao was speechless.

Looking at the remaining balance of over three thousand in the card, I felt even richer than the tens of millions I had in my previous life!

You can't spend it all, you simply can't spend it all!

We had dinner at KFC.

Sun Jiajun had no interest in hamburgers and fries; he stared at his precious toy the whole time, assembling and playing with it as if no one else was around.

This thing quickly attracted a crowd of little boys, who no longer cared about their fried chicken and started drooling over the cool four-wheel drive car.

Lin Zhao deeply regretted her decision to eat KFC.

At this moment, he just wanted to find a crack to crawl into and didn't want to sit with this guy at all!

"Everyone else is reminiscing about their youth, but you're reminiscing about your childhood!" Lin Zhao couldn't help but complain.

"What?"

"Buying a four-wheel drive car at your age? I can tell with my toes that you must have begged your parents to buy one of these things a lot when you were in elementary school, right?"

Lin Zhao ordered a French fry and leisurely guessed.

Across from him, Sun Jiajun's excited eyes suddenly went vacant.

"When I was a kid... I never owned a four-wheel drive car..."

He said dejectedly.

Lin Zhao paused in her fries and asked, "Really? Your family must be well-off; your shoes are all Adidas. Back in elementary school, four-wheel drive cars were so popular; almost every little boy had one. Why didn't your parents buy you one?"

Sun Jiajun's expression was unusually serious: "My family isn't bad off now, but we were very poor when I was a kid. I remember my dad was in business, and everything he tried lost money. My mom would argue with him every day and threaten to divorce me. I was either staying at my aunt's or my grandma's. I didn't have any pocket money, and I didn't dare ask my parents for any... Back then, all my classmates had mini 4WD cars, and I wanted one too, but I didn't dare say anything. I told them I didn't like mini 4WD cars, that they were for little kids, and that I wanted to buy a real race car when I grew up... My classmates all admired me back then, and they told me that if I ever bought a race car, I'd definitely take them for a ride!"

As he spoke, he gave a silly, goofy smile, trying to hide his embarrassment and sadness.

Lin Zhao's fingertips trembled slightly, but her expression remained unchanged.

"Oh, childhood trauma... I know it all!"

"what?"

"My mom cheated on me and ran away. I grew up in a single-parent family, didn't you know?"

"Well……"

Now it was Sun Jiajun's turn to feel awkward. He was about to nod when he quickly stopped, scratching the back of his head, wondering why they had suddenly started comparing who was more miserable.

"So how did your family manage to get back to normal later?" Lin Zhao successfully changed the subject and asked.

"When I was in fifth or sixth grade, my dad suddenly stopped his business and went to work on a construction site with a relative. In those years, houses were being built everywhere, and being a construction worker was quite lucrative, so he kept doing it."

Recalling the past, Sun Jiajun sighed, "Until last year, my dad was diagnosed with liver problems and lost a lot of weight. Luckily, it was caught early, and after a two-week hospital stay, he recovered considerably. My mom then absolutely refused to let him go back to the construction site. Now, the two of them run a small supermarket, earning less than they did on the construction site, but it's still alright. Suddenly, they stopped arguing and are now inseparable, which gives me goosebumps..."

He suddenly stopped talking, seemingly realizing that his friend had just recounted his tragic childhood and the breakdown of his parents' marriage, and that it wasn't appropriate for him to be showing off his parents' love like this.

Lin Zhao, however, hadn't expected this at all, and laughed with great emotion: "Very good... so I guess today I'm making up for your childhood regrets?"

Sun Jiajun glanced at the four-wheel drive car in his hand; its lines were smooth, its color shimmering, and it looked very cool.

"I guess so~"

"Then call him Dad!"

"?"

"I've made up for the childhood deficiencies your father caused you, so it's not too much for you to call me 'Dad,' is it?"

"...I'm fucking pissed off!!"

……

That evening, Lin Zhao returned home carrying large and small bags.

He eventually squandered all that ill-gotten wealth.

I packed all my gear into my suitcase and stuffed it under the bed.

Just then, a noise came from the main gate; it was homeroom teacher Ms. Lin, who had just finished her night shift and was heading home.

Lin Zhao came out of the room.

The father and son looked at each other, and it was hard not to feel awkward.

Lin Zhao thought of a song at an inopportune moment—"The Most Familiar Stranger".

"Aren't you going to sleep yet?"

Lin Haidong asked as he changed his shoes, his tone as cold as ever.

Lin Zhao looked down and saw that his father's shoes were almost worn down to the point of being cloth shoes.

"Yeah, I'm waiting for you," he replied lazily.

Lin Haidong paused for a moment as he took off his shoes, and his indifferent expression instantly took on a strange look.

"What for?" he asked.

"Here, this is for you!"

Lin Zhao picked up the two cloth bags next to the water dispenser and handed them over.

Lin Haidong took it suspiciously without saying a word, but the suddenly deepened frown lines clearly asked: What is this?

"These are the clothes and shoes I bought for you," Lin Zhao explained.

"?"

Lin Haidong looked even more cautious, unable to understand what had gotten into his son.

"I already have clothes, why would I buy random things!"

"Your clothes are so yellow they're impossible to wash out. You're supposed to be a teacher; you should pay more attention to your appearance."

Ignoring her father's coldness, Lin Zhao squatted down and rummaged through the bag. "Hey, two polo shirts, two pairs of dress pants, a box of underwear..."

The clothes were laid out on the chair.

Lin Haidong's forehead wrinkles have deepened; I never expected he even had underwear.

"Buying so much?"

"This is too much? This is just for summer. It's so hot, you should have at least two sets to change into, right? I haven't bought any for autumn and winter yet..."

"..."

Lin Haidong was speechless for a moment.

He had never seen these brands before, but the fabric felt cool to the touch, so they must be expensive.

He wanted to reiterate that he already had clothes and didn't need to waste money on these unnecessary expenses.

But the thought that this was the first time her son had bought her anything made her swallow back the words she was about to say, which turned into an awkward cough.

"Here are two more pairs of shoes...try them on!"

Lin Zhao then took out two shoe boxes from another, even larger bag.

These are two pairs of sneakers, one black and one dark brown. They are both very ordinary in style, but they are very light in the hand, and the mesh uppers look breathable and comfortable.

"As a homeroom teacher, you should walk at least 20,000 steps a day. If your shoes aren't comfortable, you'll have knee and leg problems when you get old!"

Lin Zhao's face darkened, and she deliberately made it sound serious.

Lin Haidong stood to the side, his cold expression inexplicably turning awkward—his father was no longer acting like a father, but rather like a son who had caused trouble.

Lin Zhao couldn't hold back her laughter and almost blurted it out:

"Which of you is whose father?"