Tang Hao furrowed his brows and his face darkened.
Zhang Tianhao was the culprit in the incident that resulted in his expulsion from school. Fighting in school would not usually result in expulsion, so he must have done something behind him.
Tang Hao cannot forgive that grudge.
He did not resent that his girlfriend was snatched by him. This world was a materialistic one, and he could only blame himself for being poor.
His gaze shifted toward the beautiful girl that stood next to Zhang Tianhao.
Memories of the past flooded him like the incoming tide. At that moment he was detached from reality. His face looked bitter for a while, then immediately became cold and distant.
Both of them used to be intimately close with each other, but now they were mere strangers.
“Hey! Stop taking up space in the store! I have real customers here.” The saleswoman looked at Tang Hao with disgust as she yelled at him.
“I say, don’t a peasant laborer like you know any shame? Do you know what kind of place Sky City Plaza is? Do you think people of your social class can afford anything here?” The saleswoman continued to raise her voice as she looked condescendingly at Tang Hao.
The couple came over to see what was happening.
“Where did this peasant laborer come from? Has he no shame?” Zhang Tianhao joked. He did not recognize Tang Hao at first glance.
He took a closer look at the person and was shocked. Then, he laughed out loud. “Oh, I thought who might it be. Turns out it’s an old friend!”
Li Qiaoqiao had also recognized Tang Hao by then. She looked uncomfortable.
She glanced at Tang Hao and showed an expression of disgust when she saw his ragged outfit.
Zhang Tianhao laughed as he walked over. “Long time no see, Tang Hao! Living the high life?”
He acted like he was an old friend, but his tone of voice was sarcastic and jeering.
“Ah, right! I forgot. You’re a peasant laborer. You must be hauling bricks at a construction site somewhere! It’s a lot of hard work, isn’t it?” He wore a false expression and he did not hide the tone of mockery in his voice.
Tang Hao’s face darkened and did not offer a reply.
“Ha! Still as stubborn as before!” Zhang Tianhao smirked. “I say, Tang Hao, you should be conscious of your status! You can’t escape your fate from being a poor peasant forever. Some places are not meant for poor peasants like you, such as this place. F*ck off if you don’t want to be embarrassed even further!
“Can’t you look at yourself? You’re in such shabby clothes, do you think you can match this place? Don’t you think so too, Qiaoqiao?” As he said that, he reached out and huddled the girl close to him and looked at Tang Hao provocatively.
Tang Hao’s face grew even colder. He abruptly sneered. “What’s the matter, Young Master Zhang? Looking down on peasants? Don’t forget that your ancestors are peasants too!
“Also, this is a store for everyone right? If the doors are open, who is to say who can come in and who cannot? I’m just gonna stand here. Who’s going to kick me out?” He glared at Zhang Tianhao again, then looked toward the saleswoman standing at the side.
“Hah! You dare to talk back? You don’t look like you can afford anything here, so what did you come in for? If your filthy hands ruined a shirt, can you afford to pay for it?” The saleswoman shrieked.
“Shut up!” Tang Hao roared, “It’s only nine thousand yuan, right? Now, look carefully with your dog eyes!”
He opened his backpack and retrieved a stack of banknotes. He flung it toward the saleswoman and hit her squarely on her face.
The saleswoman yelped in surprise and stepped backward. She was dumbfounded when she saw the thick stack of banknotes on the floor. She guessed that it was a stack of one hundred hundred-yuan notes.
She did not expect a shabbily-dressed poor-looking kid would have ten thousand yuan in his backpack.
“It’s just ten thousand…” she mumbled, still carrying a hint of condescension. She guessed that the ten thousand yuan must be this kid’s life savings.
“Not enough?” Tang Hao reached into his backpack again and pulled out another stack, then threw it at her. “Twenty thousand. Is that enough? No? There’s more!”
Tang Hao threw stacks of cash at her one after another. He threw another five stacks in total.
The saleswoman was flustered and even a little dizzy.
One stack of banknotes was ten thousand yuan. There were seven stacks, which meant seventy thousand yuan.
This poor kid had seventy thousand yuan on him!
Even Li Qiaoqiao and Zhang Tianhao who witnessed all this were shocked.
“Where did this fella get seventy thousand yuan from? How is it possible?” Zhang Tianhao looked ghastly. He knew that Tang Hao came from a poor family, and had been working odd jobs ever since he was expelled from school.
How was he able to save up seventy-thousand yuan from doing odd jobs?
He had expected Tang Hao to live a life of poverty and hardship for the past year. When he saw Tang Hao’s appearance from the door earlier, he was even more sure that it was the case.
However, Tang Hao casually threw seven thousand yuan in cash. The gesture made him dizzy.
Even a typical white-collar worker would only earn this much in a year!
So what talents did Tang Hao have so that he could earn this much money?
Li Qiaoqiao was dazed. She was perfectly aware of Tang Hao’s household condition. Now, she was becoming suspicious.
“That should be enough, right?” Tang Hao smirked. He continued to speak loudly, “Where’s the store manager? I would like to ask them if this is the manner that your store conducts business. Even a saleswoman can mock their customers.”
His voice was booming and was heard over a wide area.
Even passersby outside the store also stopped to look at what was happening.
“I am so sorry, sir!” A middle-aged woman hurriedly ran from the interior of the store. She bowed at Tang Hao. “You, won’t you apologize to this sir over here?”
The saleswoman unwillingly bowed and muttered “Sorry”.
Tang Hao did not want to pursue the matter. He stepped forward and picked up the money.
“Sir, as a token of apology, I would like to offer you a ten percent discount on your total bill. What do you think?” The store manager said.
“Whatever!” Tang Hao replied nonchalantly. He did not care about such a small discount.
Zhang Tiaohao interjected. “Hmph! What are you so arrogant about? How can an odd-job worker like you earn so much money in a year? Don’t tell me you’re doing something illegal!”
Tang Hao smirked. “Zhang Tianhao, which of your dog eyes saw me doing something illegal?”
“You…” Zhang Tianhao was angry. His face turned all red. “Tang Hao, how dare you mock me!”
“So what if I did? Why, you wanna fight?”
“I… I don’t fight with people like you! I won’t stoop to your level! I have an uncle who’s a police officer. I’ll get him to run a background check on you,” Zhang Tianhao said viciously.
Tang Hao rolled his eyes at him and laughed, then turned around and continued looking at the suits.
He had to find one that fit him perfectly for the meeting tomorrow.
“What do you think of this suit, sir? It matches your body type well.” The store manager gave recommendations by the side.
Tang Hao finally picked a suit, then entered the fitting room.
It was Tang Hao’s first time putting on a business suit. He felt a little awkward in it, and took him a long time to dress up properly.
He smoothed his messy hair with his fingers. When he saw the new him in the mirror, he was shocked.
‘Is this really me?’
The trim business suit had turned him from a poor kid into the scion of a noble family. He had undergone a total transformation.