Henry looked at Elena curiously. “What’s inside? Show me!”
“No, cannot!”
Elena was a bit stuttering, her face red from either fever or embarrassment, or both.
Seeing Elena’s reaction, Henry became even more curious about what was in the plastic bag.
But seeing Elena’s flushed face, Henry could only say, “Alright, alright, I won’t ask. Let’s get you back to your dorm. You won’t be able to carry all these things by yourself.”
With that, Henry took the initiative to pick up the black plastic bag, along with the bag of snacks he had bought.
Elena got down from the bed, still feeling lightheaded and weak, but fortunately, the infirmary was not far from the girls’ dormitory.
Henry escorted Elena to her dormitory.
When he saw that Elena’s dormitory was empty except for her and that her bed was only sparsely covered with a sheet, he hesitated for a moment.
“Thank you, Henry. I’ll just rest here by myself for a while.”
“Okay, you rest. Give me a call if anything comes up.”
With that, Henry left Elena’s dormitory.
Elena was exhausted. She opened the package and looked at what was inside the plastic bag.
There were sets of underwear and panties, each in packs of six. In addition to these, there were two sweaters, two cotton jackets, including women’s thermal pants and socks, and at the bottom, there was a vacuum-packed down jacket.
Seeing all these, Elena couldn’t help but purse her lips.
Did Nolan pack these in a black plastic bag to avoid me being laughed at by others on the way back to the dormitory?
Nolan may seem cold on the outside, but he’s actually more considerate than anyone else when it comes to thinking things through.
He doesn’t seem as terrifying as the rumors from the previous life suggested. How could someone like him possibly be involved in murder or arson?
In the afternoon, Elena was resting in bed when the dormitory auntie suddenly knocked on the door, “Elena, is that you?”
Elena opened her eyes, got up groggily, and went to open the door. There, behind the dormitory manager, were two men carrying a brand-new mattress.
“It was delivered by courier,” the manager explained as she let the men bring the mattress inside.
Elena didn’t recall ordering a mattress, and she remembered that the brand was quite expensive-something she couldn’t afford.
She immediately thought of Henry, who had escorted her back earlier, and felt a pang of guilt.
It is my situation, yet I have caused so much trouble for others.
The dormitory manager, a middle-aged woman in her forties known for her warm-heartedness, said to Elena, “I heard you have a fever. Rest well in your dormitory these next few days, and don’t hesitate to ask me if you need anything.”
Elena nodded at the manager and thanked her.
“No problem, dear. You’re all good kids here, and I’ll definitely help you out when you’re in trouble,” the manager replied before leaving with the couriers.
Elena looked at the bed linens on her bed, deep in thought.
Early the next morning, Elena returned to her class. Henry saw her back in school after just one day of rest and frowned, saying, “Didn’t I tell you to rest? Why are you back at school already?”
“Henry, I need to talk to you,” Elena said seriously.
Although puzzled, Henry followed her outside the classroom.
Elena spoke earnestly, “It’s the end of the year, and all the pharmacies are clearing out their stock at low prices. Does your company do the same?”
“Yes,” Henry replied.
“I want you to listen to me and remember this, make sure you have a stockpile of medical masks, effective medicine, and fever-reducing medications. The stock should be over a million units. I think your company should be able to manage that.”
“Why are you saying this all of a sudden? Over a million units means holding onto tens of millions of dollars’ worth of goods. My parents won’t agree to that.”
“I remember you have a pharmaceutical factory under your name. Although you’re just a nominal owner, I believe you have some say in it. Trust me, no matter how much you stockpile, just remember not to clear it out. By next February, you’ll understand.”
Seeing how serious Elena was, Henry paused for a moment, then said, “Alright, I got it.”
“Aren’t you going to ask why?”
“No, I trust you.”
Henry patted Elena on the shoulder and said, “I’m used to being a bit of a troublemaker. Even if my parents scold me for hoarding some goods, it’s not a big deal. Besides, it’s not a problem to keep medicine and masks for a year or two.”
“Thank you, Henry. I won’t betray your trust.”
“Okay, I believe you.”
“Also!” Elena called out to Henry. “I’m not close to Colton and Lewis, so it’s not appropriate for me to tell them directly, but they should also stockpile the items I mentioned. Also, if your four families cooperate, you should be able to gain some profit next year.”
Elena had to stop there; saying any more would sound like a wild tale. Henry didn’t ask further and agreed.
Back in the classroom, Nolan, sitting at the back, casually asked, “What did you talk to Henry about?”
“Nothing much, just about stockpiling some supplies.”
Upon hearing about stockpiling supplies, Nolan glanced at Elena. She seemed to be recovering well as she flipped through her books. At that moment, Elena took out a few crumpled dollars from her pocket and placed them in front of Nolan.
Seeing the money, Nolan frowned and asked, “What’s the meaning of this?”
“For the things you gave me yesterday… thank you.”
“Thank me with money?”
Nolan’s tone was tinged with mockery. “Henry gave it to you, and you accepted it without a second thought. But when I give something, it makes you uneasy?”
“It’s not what you think…”
“If it’s not, then take your money back. I’m not so poor that I need your few bucks.”
With that, Nolan stuffed the dollars into the hood of Elena’s sweatshirt.
“I…”
“Take it back. I don’t want to repeat myself.”
Without looking up, Nolan’s voice carried a hint of coldness.
Elena had no choice but to keep the money.
Those 120 dollars are my last bit of living expenses.
Ever since I had cut ties with the Delaney family, my parents hadn’t contacted me once. Fortunately, I had worked during the summer break in the first half of the semester and had some spare cash to get by; otherwise, this month would have been really tough.
Fortunately, she only needed to hold on a little longer; once February rolled around next year, everything would get better.
When class ended, Elena rummaged through her desk, planning to take out the electronic keyboard Henry had given her. But after searching for quite a while, she still couldn’t find it. Frowning in confusion, Elena said, “That’s strange; where did the keyboard go?”
Her voice caught the attention of the students around her. Henry came over and asked, “Try to think, did you leave it somewhere else yesterday?”
“No way; I put it right in this drawer. There’s no reason it should be missing.”
Elena furrowed her brows. She had already gone through the entire drawer, but the keyboard Henry had given her was nowhere to be found.
“Everyone, check your own drawers. See if anyone accidentally ended up with an electronic keyboard.”
Henry asked the students in Class 6 to check their desks, but one by one, they all reported they hadn’t found anything.
Henry said, “No one else usually comes to our class. Could you have left it in the dorm?”
Elena shook her head. “The keyboard was still in my drawer yesterday. There’s no way it just disappeared.”
Nolan, who sat behind Elena, was silent for a moment.
He remembered seeing the keyboard in Elena’s drawer when school let out yesterday.
“If the keyboard’s missing, then we should check the security footage.”
As soon as Henry suggested this, Colton shot him a cold glance. “All the cameras in our classroom were already taken down. Where do you expect to find footage?”
They hated being monitored, so over time, they had broken several of the classroom’s security cameras. The school eventually decided not to waste any more money fixing them and simply ignored the issue.
Henry smacked his own forehead. “Right-I totally forgot!”
Colton was speechless.
Elena thought for a moment and said, “I was sick yesterday, so I didn’t come to class. Could it be… someone snuck in after school?”
Because Class 6 had such a notorious reputation, no one usually dared to step foot in their classroom. Over time, they had gotten lazy about locking the door when they left.
In other words, anyone could have walked in.
And it wouldn’t have been hard to steal the keyboard.
Henry said, “I don’t know… My watch was sitting on my desk yesterday too. If someone really came in to steal something, why would they only take a cheap keyboard? This watch is worth a hundred of those.”
Henry’s watch was a Rolex. Even if it wasn’t the top-tier model, it was still worth a few thousand dollars.
Surely no one would pass up a Rolex and take an ordinary keyboard instead.
“It’s fine. Since it went missing from my drawer, I should be the one to figure this out.”
Besides, she had a pretty good guess about who had done it.
“No worries-if you want, I can get you a new one tomorrow. It wasn’t that expensive.”
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