Chapter 220

The office of the Painting and Calligraphy Society was on the far left of the second floor of the student union building.

A sign for the Painting and Calligraphy Society hung at the door.

Inside, it wasn't very big, looking like a small conference room.

But you could still feel a little of the Painting and Calligraphy Society's style, because the walls were hung with many framed calligraphy and paintings.

In the corner was an erect money tree, and thick green ivy.

In the middle was a long table, and against the wall was a row of file cabinets.

When Xiaoqi Su knocked on the door and went in, both the president Li Luanliang and vice president Han Wei were there.

Seeing Xiaoqi Su come in, vice president Han Wei's expression was a little unhappy, while Li Luanliang still had a very friendly smile.

Xiaoqi Su didn't know what the two had been talking about, but in any case she felt it was still rather awkward.

She went in, greeted them and asked how they were.

Han Wei then stood up and said, "I still have an elective class tonight, so I'm leaving first."

Then she left, leaving Xiaoqi Su with the president.

Xiaoqi Su thought that the last time she saw the vice president she had felt very sophisticated and social, coordinating everything very smoothly and being very attentive, chatting and laughing easily with that Mr. Ke, and Xiaoqi Su was quite envious, feeling that this kind of person was very capable.

She hadn't expected that she would also show displeasure like a little girl, and had assumed there was discord between her and the president. Although dating was prohibited at Enhua University, if people really wanted to date, as long as they didn't walk hand in hand and get caught, it was essentially impossible to prohibit.

Xiaoqi Su kept her eyes on her nose and nose on her heart, sitting docilely across from the president.

Li Luanliang looked at the rather ill at ease junior student sister, and said, "Don't be nervous. I asked you to come just to talk about joining the Alliance City Calligrapher's Association. Last week I saw your calligraphy and it was very good. I also showed it to some seniors, and they all thought it was quite good. You're still so young, first joining the Alliance City Calligrapher's Association, and later there will be even greater opportunities to join the National Calligrapher's Association. This is an official status, and usually you won't need to do anything or attend any activities, but having this member status, you can exchange ideas with more people, and learn from each other, which will be very beneficial for your life progression and career."

Xiaoqi Su felt the Calligrapher's Association and similar things were very far from her, that it sounded very impressive when talked about, and she hadn't expected that hearing the president speak of it, it seemed very easy, because previously when hearing of any kind of association, she had felt it was something very impressive.

"What do I need to do?" Xiaoqi Su cautiously asked.

"I need you to give me a copy of your ID, I've found two people to recommend you, they have an activity this weekend, I'll take you along to participate, and also get to know the recommenders, who are seniors in the Calligrapher's Association. You just need to show your face." Li Luanliang felt the junior student sister before him was a bit nervous, much more constrained than Han Wei. Han Wei had been especially lively and outgoing when first meeting him.

But it was probably this kind of personality that could calm the heart to practice calligraphy.

"Okay," Xiaoqi Su nodded, feeling that she should thank the president, but didn't know how to express it. She very rarely had this kind of feeling, of someone giving her goodwill without her actually doing anything, suddenly accepting another's help, which made Xiaoqi Su very uncomfortable.

Li Luanliang also didn't keep her long, after finishing discussing matters, told her he'd notify her about the specific time in advance.

Xiaoqi Su left in a daze.

To tell the truth, being alone in a room talking with a senior student brother, this kind of thing still felt a bit odd after all.

And the way the senior student brother looked at her was also a bit odd. It wasn't that kind of feeling between a man and woman liking each other, more like an elder looking at a junior with great expectations, a feeling that put unnameable pressure on her.

Xiaoqi Su walked out of the student union building, and let out a deep breath.

Her heart still felt heavy, a little happy, and also a little confused.

Every year when the Calligrapher's Association's list of new member recommendations was submitted, it would be looked over and discussed at a council meeting. Generally the names that appeared on the list were basically guaranteed to be approved, the discussion was more a formality.

But this time, when council member Ke Yinhua saw Xiaoqi Su (Enhua University) on the list, his brow furrowed.

He said, "Isn't she too young for this? Still a minor."

Next to him another council member immediately spoke up, "Regardless of age, judging just by her work, wasn't Old Li's grandson even younger? Old Ke, your thinking is outdated."

Ke Yinhua snorted twice, seeing who the recommenders were, one a council member, his face clearly displeased.

But in the end he did not say anything more.

Xiaoqi Su was unaware of these complications happening behind the scenes. Very fortunately she did not have to ingratiate herself by attending various banquets to recommend herself and look for recommenders. With ease she had handled it, which was also an advantage of being a university student. If she was already out in society, it would have been much more difficult to do the same thing.

Moreover, it was Li Luanliang who had his grandfather pull some strings, otherwise where could she have found two Calligrapher's Association council members to recommend her? This kind of council member generally also held other prestigious titles, their social status not low.

Every year the Calligrapher's Association brought in new people, university students like her were relatively rare, but they existed. Other people from society would need to have a certain status, and of all kinds of status, students were without a doubt the ones who gained the most advantage.

Xiaoqi Su felt she still owed people favors. It was a very strange feeling.

It was like eating at her aunt's house all through high school. She also owed her auntie. But after all her auntie was family, they had some blood ties. But with the Painting and Calligraphy Society president, they didn't have any relationship at all. This was only the second time they had met. Xiaoqi Su didn't feel anything ambiguous or the like, the other party had purely helped her selflessly.

This feeling always made her a little uneasy. The education Xiaoqi Su had received since young was all very fair, with no unconditional help. Receiving another's help, the kindness was as precious as a trickle of water, and should be repaid like a gushing spring.

Her family had always been very poor. She was poor when starting elementary school. Actually Su Youfu and Sheng Juanhua were both hardworking and willing to work, so diligent, originally their family should not have been so poor they couldn't even afford to send one daughter to elementary school.

At that time Su Youfu was still very young. Although lame in one leg, he did not resign himself to Gumu Village, and had ambitions to go out and try his luck. He made winnowing baskets himself, took a bus to sell them in the provincial city next door, where he could get a much higher price. Taking the cheapest transport truck, staying in the most simple hostel with multiple person rooms, each round trip, after expenses he could still earn a few hundred yuan.

It was difficult money among difficult money, but one time when he went out, he finally sold the winnowing baskets, but ran into heavy rain, and the meager money he had on him was stolen by a pickpocket. He didn't even have money for the trip home. That time Su Youfu met a kind man, who paid for a room and meal. Su Youfu left the man's phone number and address, planning that next time he would pay the money back. The man didn't expect to be repaid. Unexpectedly Su Youfu especially went to find him and repay the money.

He didn't go sell winnowing baskets again after that. That time after returning home he fell ill.

Sheng Juanhua felt this business was too difficult, not worth it, and too prone to accidents. Going out, even running into robbers on the road or other mishaps, earning not a cent but losing money instead, she worried about him at home.

When Su Youfu went to repay the money, the man was very happy.

The two left each other their addresses, and kept in telephone contact. Su Youfu left the village phone number.

Then the next year, the man suddenly called Su Youfu, saying his business had lost money, he couldn't even pay wages, hoping Su Youfu could help out and lend some money to tide things over, although not asking Su Youfu to lend money himself, just to act as guarantor. At that time the village fund could lend money if a villager acted as guarantor. Su Youfu had received help from the man when in distress, and now he needed help, so Su Youfu agreed without much thought.

He acted as guarantor.

Later, the man disappeared, also changing his phone number. Su Youfu went to the address given to look for him, but didn't find him.

In the end that large sum became Su Youfu's responsibility as guarantor to repay.

And the Su family, that is, from that time on, the whole spine of the family collapsed, bent, and broken.

Little Seven started needing hardship subsidies to barely pay tuition since elementary school.

Every New Year's, the foundations would come to the door to collect debts, and while those from the same village wouldn't get violent, in Little Seven's memories, the New Year really was difficult, just as written in the textbooks, very sad, the money borrowed from the foundations kept accumulating interest, and it seemed like no matter how much was paid back, the debt was never cleared. In her memories, eating an apple or orange during New Year's was a luxury.

Su Youfu really repaid a drop of water with a gushing spring.

After paying it back for many years, not until Little Seven was nearing the end of middle school, was the debt finally cleared.

The villagers all laughed that Su Youfu was silly.

With this experience, Little Seven became very wary of others' goodwill.

She also didn't dare to accept it readily.

This kind of inferiority complex and fear was etched and cultivated by the worldview and environment she grew up in since she was little, and was hard to change.

But deep down she also had another emotion, which was after leaving GuMuLa village for the key high school at LvShan No.1 Middle School, and being exposed to a different world, she wanted to change, to improve, to break free of the past hardships, and to live a different life.

Little Seven felt that she and Lin Min were the same in this sense.

She always heard the system say that Lin Min was a moderately corrupted teenager, but as long as someone was a little nice to Lin Min, he would become very wary and grateful.

The system didn't say what kind of person she was, Little Seven thought, if the system did say, she was probably an extremely corrupted girl, because deep down she had an extremely inferior person, so on the outside she was extremely hardworking, extremely sunny.

She wanted to do good, to be good to others, because that was free of burden.

Even after all these years, Su Youfu had never complained about the elder brother who didn't pay back the money, and when it was brought up he was always worried that something might have happened to him, or other possibilities.

After over ten years, Su Youfu's daughter Su Xiaoqi was seventeen.