Chapter 97

PS: Third update, the author has decided to go all out. If the recommendation votes can reach 1,000 today, I will do four updates.

At noon, after eating, Xiao Fei bought some sunflower seeds and four small bottles of glass-bottled soda from the school's small store and returned to the dormitory.

Each bottle of soda costs 50 cents, and the empty bottles need to be returned to the seller after drinking. If you want to take the bottle away, you have to pay an additional 50-cent deposit, and you can only get it back after returning the bottle.

50 cents can buy a meal in the cafeteria. In his previous life, this kind of soda was a luxury for Xiao Fei, and he wouldn't dare to touch it under normal circumstances.

But now, his situation has changed, and he can finally afford it.

Bringing these things back to the dormitory, Xiao Fei had only one purpose: to improve his relationship with his roommates.

Why did he want to improve his relationship with them?

To use these relationships in the future.

Chinese society is a thorough relationship-based society. Without connections and networks, you can't expect to get anything done smoothly.

Li Peizhen's father would definitely be useful in the future, and Zhu Xiling's father is always a strong support. If he wants to smoothly make his first fortune from the village land project, he must have connections and support in the county.

Otherwise, the windfall from selling the land might be snatched away by envious wolves.

Xiao Fei would never allow such a thing to happen.

Xiao Fei doesn't think what he is doing is worldly. This is just how society works. If you remain aloof and proud, you will end up in poverty.

The so-called conflicts between him and Li Peizhen and Wang Fei are just children's games. Is it really necessary to fight to the end?

He believes that he has already shown enough strength in his studies. Even in school, it is a world where the strong rule.

If you study well and have good grades, you will naturally earn respect.

Li Peizhen and Wang Fei must also want to improve their relationship with him, right? In his previous life, after a brief competition, they quickly became good friends, at least on the surface.

With this in mind, Xiao Fei arrived at the dormitory door.

In the dormitory, Wang Fei, Li Peizhen, and Zhu Xiling were all there. A peeled pomelo was on the table, and Wang Fei was dividing it into segments.

"It's hot. I got a few bottles of soda on my way back. Let's all cool off a bit." Xiao Fei smiled and put the soda and sunflower seeds on the table, inviting them to drink.

"Wow! Xiao Fei, how can we let you pay for this? Well, we won't be polite then." Wang Fei's chubby round face smiled like a wilting chrysanthemum. He put down the pomelo, picked up a bottle of soda, opened the cap, and drank it all in one go. He put down the bottle and shouted, "Refreshing!"

"We were just waiting for you to come back to eat the pomelo. This is from old Zhu's home, and it's said to be from Hainan. It's sour and sweet, quite delicious, and not common here." Li Peizhen also came over and took a bottle of soda. "Old Zhu" refers to Zhu Xiling. He might have been called "old" by many male classmates because of his mature and quiet demeanor.

Zhu Xiling glanced at the changed attitudes of Wang Fei and Li Peizhen, smiled, and said nothing. He took a bottle of soda, opened it, and sat to one side, sipping it delicately like a lady.

Indeed, before Xiao Fei returned, Wang Fei and Li Peizhen had been discussing how to ease their relationship with Xiao Fei. Continuing the conflict was meaningless.

None of them expected that Xiao Fei would bring back soda and sunflower seeds for them when he returned, and both Wang Fei and Li Peizhen felt a bit flattered.

This was a friendly signal from Xiao Fei.

Of course, they had to respond enthusiastically.

There was no irreconcilable conflict, just a hidden competition in studies. Why keep up the antagonism?

Thus, in the following half day, the relationship between Xiao Fei and his three roommates warmed up rapidly, like a mercury column under the sun.

They lined up by age. Wang Fei, born in 1976, was the oldest and became the leader. The other three were all born in 1977, but based on their birth months, Xiao Fei was a bit older than Zhu and Li, so he became the second oldest, and Li Peizhen became the youngest in the dormitory.

The three of them didn't take a nap at noon. They sat around the table, cracking sunflower seeds, eating pomelo, smoking, and chatting, getting warmer and warmer, like long-lost brothers.

Of course, this was partly due to Xiao Fei's efforts to push things along.

With decades more life experience than Wang, Zhu, and Li, and after careful consideration of how to build a good relationship with them, Xiao Fei knew their personalities very well.

Wanting to befriend these young guys was a piece of cake.

In the afternoon, the four of them went to the classroom together for the first time, laughing and chatting, which greatly surprised their classmates.

Wasn't it said that Wang Fei and the others were unhappy about Xiao Fei's favor and were thinking of ways to deal with him?

How come they now seem to have a good relationship?

This turn of events was too quick, wasn't it?

Sitting at his desk, Xiao Fei reflected and concluded that, overall, the plan to build a good relationship with Zhu Xiling and Li Peizhen was progressing smoothly.

In his previous life, their conflict lasted for two to three months, but now, in just over a day, he had already established a preliminary friendly relationship with them.

He knew that he had only just eliminated some of the tension with these two. To truly become close and use them as support in the future, he needed to continue to warm up and cultivate their relationship.

Neither Wang Fei nor Li Peizhen mentioned the upcoming weekly exam competition.

Xiao Fei didn't mention it either.

This also showed that they hadn't completely submitted to him and still planned to outperform him in the exams.

So, let's have a real showdown.

At this moment, before class started, Xiao Fei was thinking when the light dimmed, and Yan Zhang leaned over, looking serious, and said, "It seems you've improved your relationship with Wang Fei and the others."

Xiao Fei replied, "In the world, you can't always control everything. Living in the same dormitory, it's not good to have a tense relationship. It's better to get along peacefully."

"Indeed," Yan Zhang nodded.

"Who made the first move?" Yan Zhang was concerned about this. "Did they bully you? Did you have to submit to them out of necessity?"

"Ha ha, Comrade Yan, you're overthinking it. How could that be? Am I the kind of person who easily submits to others?" Xiao Fei was drenched in sweat.

"Oh, really? Are those guys planning something? Did you notice anything strange?" Yan Zhang frowned.

Yan Zhang had heard from classmates last night that Wang Fei was saying he would give Xiao Fei a taste of his own medicine.

How could he believe that the three of them had become so close to Xiao Fei in such a short time? This made Yan Zhang suspicious.

Xiao Fei patted Yan Zhang's shoulder and smiled, "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

At this moment, the class bell rang, and Yan Zhang hurriedly got up but turned to Xiao Fei and said, "If you notice anything they might do to you, let me know. I'll deal with them even if I get expelled."

Saying this, he ran back to his seat.

Xiao Fei was taken aback and felt a warm feeling in his heart: This is what a brother is!