[Chapter 1]
It was nine o'clock at night at the male dormitory building in the university campus.
"Gerald, please go down to dormitory 101 on the first floor and bring my laptop up for me!"
A guy with blonde hair from the dormitory next door opened Gerald's dormitory room door directly before he dropped one dollar on the floor, then turned around and walked away.
"By the way, please get me a bottle of mineral water from the supermarket downstairs too!"
The blond-haired student turned around before he dropped another three dollars on the floor—two dollars for the bottled mineral water and another dollar for running the errand for him.
"Hey, Blondie! Why are the people in your dormitory always asking Gerald to run errands for you? Why are you guys being such bullies?"
The people in Gerald's dormitory asked in a cold manner because they could no longer stand it.
"Hahaha! Gerald lives in your dormitory and you don't understand him yet? If you give him a dollar, he'd even eat shit if you asked him to!" Blondie replied sarcastically. Then, he laughed before he left the dormitory.
Gerald's face flushed red with embarrassment as he turned a deaf ear to what the guy with blond hair said. After that, he bent down to pick up the few dollars on the ground before he thought to himself, 'This way, I'll make two dollars and that's enough for me to buy three steamed buns and a bag of pickles! I won't have to go hungry anymore.'
"Gerald…don't go! If you don't have enough money, we'll lend you some and you won't even need to pay us back!"
The head of the dormitory could not stop himself from sympathizing with Gerald.
Gerald shook his head before he smiled and said, "Thanks, but it's okay…"
After speaking, Gerald turned around to walk out of the dormitory. At this time, all the boys looked at Gerald's back as they shook their heads in pity.
In fact, Gerald did not want to run errands for others and he wanted to enjoy his university life too.
It would be great if he could just continue studying in university without having to worry about anything.
However, he was really very poor!
Although the other boys in his dormitory treated him very well, he did not want them to pity him. Otherwise, Gerald was afraid that they would eventually get sick of him.
Apart from his dormitory roommates, Gerald had no other friends in university.
"Gerald, I heard Blondie saying that you were heading downstairs, right?"
At this time, a very well-dressed boy exited from the dormitory next door.
His name was Danny Xanders and he was the head of Blondie's dormitory. He was every female students' idol because he wasn't only rich but he was also very handsome.
However, he had always looked down on Gerald because he felt that Gerald was an embarrassment.
Gerald could not understand why Danny would talk to him.
Gerald simply nodded and said, "Yes, I'm heading downstairs."
Danny smiled before he passed Gerald a box full of items.
"One of my friends will be waiting at the east grove today. Please pass him this box. Here's ten dollars for you."
Danny was a playboy and everyone knew about how he'd often ask different girls to meet up with him at the grove.
Danny also had many friends who would do the same thing.
However, Gerald did not think too much about it as he was already used to running errands for others.
He simply took the box and the ten dollars before he walked downstairs. As soon as he turned around, he seemed to hear Danny's faint laughter in the background…
Gerald went downstairs to pick up the laptop and buy the bottle of mineral water before he decided to drop the box of items off for Danny.
The small grove outside the university was a very famous place for couples to have their secret rendezvous at night.
After that, Gerald arrived at the place that Danny had mentioned to him.
He could immediately see a man and a woman sitting in the woods, talking and laughing together.
However, Gerald was shocked when he saw the man and woman's faces under the moonlight.
He was stunned.
It was Xavia!
Gerald's eyes reddened immediately and the items he was holding fell to the ground.
Xavia was Gerald's ex-girlfriend and it had only been three days since they had both broken up. Of course, it was Xavia who wanted to end the relationship.
When they were breaking up, Xavia had told him she wanted some time alone to herself. However, it had only been three days and she was already spending time with another man at the grove!
Both of them also noticed Gerald's presence immediately and the expression on their faces changed abruptly.
"Gerald…why are you here? You, you…don't get me wrong. I'm here with Yuri because…"
Xavia started to panic immediately, feeling very embarrassed at this time. She quickly lowered her head, not knowing how to face Gerald.
The boy named Yuri Lowell, who was a second-generation rich kid, glanced at the box of items that Gerald dropped to the ground before he laughed out loud.
"Damn it! Danny really knows how to make a fool out of people. I asked him to send me this box of items and I really didn't expect him to send you here to run his errands instead. This is exciting. This is really too exciting!"
Gerald knew that Yuri, who was a second-generation rich kid, was Danny's close friend. His family owned several restaurants and he usually drove a BMW 3 series car to school.
Gerald could only clench his fists tightly together after listening to Yuri's words.
It turned out that Danny had intentionally done this.
Moreover, Gerald believed that Danny actually played a role in his break up with Xavia. Otherwise, why would Xavia be with Yuri just a few days after their break up?
"Xavia, I know that you dislike me but you don't have to get together with this kind of person after our break up. Do you know how many girlfriends he has changed before this?" Gerald yelled out loud.
He loved this girl very much. He really loved her.
Xavia felt very anxious and annoyed when she heard Gerald's words. "Gerald, who do you think you are? Who gave you the right to teach me how I should be acting and what I should be doing? I've already broken up with you and I can choose to be with whoever I want to be with!"
"Also…" Xavia was furious at this time. After that, she stared at Gerald before she said, "Did you come here to disgust me on purpose? Get lost!"
Slap!
After she was done speaking, Xavia stepped forward and gave Gerald a tight slap across his face.
Yuri laughed even more heartily at this time. "Hahaha. Xavia, why are you chasing him away? You should just let him stay and watch us!"
Xavia blushed immediately. "Yuri, I've already lost all interest after seeing this guy over here! Maybe next time…"
After that, Xavia broke free from Yuri's grasp.
Gerald did not know how he walked away from the grove and his mind was completely blank at that moment.
Everything came down to money. Gerald was in this state because he had no money!
"Hahaha…"
After returning to his dormitory, Gerald was greeted by the laughter of his classmates in the corridor.
Danny was holding his belly as he laughed out loud.
He had obviously told all of their classmates about this matter.
"Hahaha. Gerald, what did you see when you were delivering the items earlier?" Blondie asked him with a smile on his face.
"Damn it! Xavia really has the most perfect figure," Danny said as he grinned.
Gerald clenched his fists tightly together and his eyes were flushed red at this time. He really wanted to kill Danny! He wanted to perish together with Danny.
"Why? Why are you doing this to me?" Gerald hissed angrily.
Danny laughed before he replied, "Hey, look here. I'm not scared of you at all."
"Among all the poor people in our class, you're the one I look down on the most! Xavia is such a beautiful woman and it's such a waste for her to be in a relationship with someone like you! It'd be better for my brother to enjoy and play around with her for a few days at least…"
"By the way, Gerald, did you know that Yuri managed to pick Xavia up after texting her for less than half an hour while you had to chase after her for more than a year before she finally agreed to be your girlfriend?"
Everyone was laughing at this time and no one cared about Gerald's dignity at all.
"I did it for you!"
Gerald rushed towards Danny immediately.
As a result, he ended up getting beaten up by Danny's buddies instead.
In the end, Gerald's roommates came to his rescue and they brought him back to their own dormitory.
Gerald covered his face with his quilt as he continued sobbing as he laid in bed.
'Why? Why must they bully me and trample on my dignity? Why?'
'Do I not have any feelings just because I'm poor? Am I not a person in their eyes?'
Gerald continued struggling internally and he could not stop the tears from flowing down his cheeks. He could not forget the scene that he had just witnessed tonight.
He did not know how long he huddled up under the covers, crying before he finally fell asleep.
Perhaps it was because it was such a dark and silent night, Gerald slept very peacefully that night.
When he woke up the next morning, there was no one in the dormitory. Gerald knew that the head of the dormitory must not have wanted to wake him up as he probably felt it would be better for Gerald to stay in the dormitory instead of going to the classroom after the previous night's events!
When Gerald picked up his cell phone, he discovered that he had received many text messages and missed calls.
To Gerald's surprise, they were all foreign numbers.
Gerald also received a text message stating that someone had transferred money into his bank account!
"[Daxtonville Bank] Nineteen years. The balance of your account ending in 107 is USD 1,500,000.00."
Gerald was stunned when he looked at the series of numbers.
One million five hundred thousand dollars?
Who would transfer one and a half million dollars to him?
Gerald hurriedly called the bank to confirm the transfer and he was even more confused after receiving confirmation from the bank.
At this time, his cell phone started ringing again. It was another phone call from an international phone number and Gerald answered the call immediately.
"Gerald, have you received the money that I transferred to you? I'm your elder sister!" A familiar voice sounded over the other end of the line.
"Sister! What the hell is going on? Aren't you and our parents working hard to make money abroad? Where did you get so much money?"
Gerald was completely in shock.
"Erm, our father was intending to hide the truth from you for another two years but I can't bring myself to do so because I know you're constantly getting bullied in school. Therefore, I planned to tell you the news in advance. Our family is actually really wealthy. The Crawford family has a huge business industry throughout the world. Do you know that eighty percent of the gold mines, minerals, and petroleum in Africa actually belongs to our family?"
"This is not inclusive of all the other industries in Daxtonville and abroad."
What!
Gerald gulped immediately. If this one and a half million wasn't already in his hands, he wouldn't have believed this at all.
He really thought that his sister was merely making fun of him!
"I know you find it really hard to believe me, Gerald, but you have to learn to accept the truth slowly. In the beginning, I was also raised in a poor environment but after some time, I've gradually gotten familiar with living the lifestyle of a wealthy person. By the way, I've sent something over to you by courier and it should arrive by this morning. You no longer have to worry about money in the future."
"I don't know how much anything costs in Daxtonville nowadays but you shouldn't worry, just use the one and a half million dollars for the time being. I'll call you again next month!"
After hanging up the phone, Gerald was still in disbelief.
He had always lived as a poor person throughout his entire life.
But…
He was actually a second-generation rich kid?