The Male Protagonist’s Daughter

The red color symbolized the blood shed by the soldiers!

The two of them walked towards the school gates.
The fifth graders didn’t say anything when they saw their scarves and allowed them to pass.

Ning City Elementary School wasn’t very big.
The first turn when you enter the school grounds would lead you to a tiled wall.
The tiles were covered with paintings, a world map, and some famous quotes.
The most striking quote on the wall was — ‘Laggards will face beatings.’

The two of them were in different classes, Shen Yan didn’t say goodbye to Luo Shuyan and immediately entered his class from the back door.

Even though midterms weren’t around the corner yet, the teachers knew of Shen Yan’s potential and gave him the best seat in the class.

There were five classes in one grade.
Shen Yan was in Class 1 and Luo Shuyan was in Class 2.

Luo Shuyan was a cute and beautiful child who was articulate and had good grades.
Thus, her head teacher, who was someone who judged people by their looks, appointed her as the class monitor.

During the 10 minute break between class, the boys gathered together and played with marbles whereas the girls skipped Chinese rope.
At first, Luo Shuyan had no interest in extra-curriculars like these.
Despite not having any memory from her past life, she knew that these were games for kids.

’

However, she was the class monitor and she was popular so many of her classmates invited her to join them.
In addition to that, considering the fact that she’s a bit chubby and loved eating, she had no choice but to play along.

She looked lively and adorable as she jumped up and down in her pink dress with her hair tied into two ponytails.

She wasn’t sure if she drove the trend of wearing dresses, but she saw a few girls in her class wearing dresses today.

“Malan flower blooms.
Twenty one, two five six, two five seven, twenty eight twenty nine thirty one…”*

*This is a children’s rhyme that they recite when skipping Chinese rope.

There was a huge patch of grass in front of the first graders’ classrooms.
Most students would come out to play even if it was only for 10 minutes.

On the other hand, Shen Yan stayed indoors to read.
He heard an annoying young boy whisper among his group, “The monitor from Class 2 is so scary.
When Liu Dong tugged her ponytail, she stabbed him with a pencil and he was at the verge of bleeding.
If anything, I wouldn’t go near her, and it’s best we not leave any rubbish in front of their class door.”

’

Everyone knew that Shen Yan and Luo Shuyan were close since they saw them walking to school together everyday.
However, no one dared to ask Shen Yan about the details of their relationship because after half a month, the little ones could tell that Shen Yan wasn’t someone you’d want to mess with.

Shen Yan looked back down at his books and took note of this issue in his heart.

–

After Luo Tianyuan sent the children to school, he didn’t rush to work.
Instead, he went back to their housing area and happened to bump into Shen Qingruo who was heading out for work.

Shen Qingruo’s main job was relatively undemanding.
In the 90s, parents in Ning City merely wanted their children to have good grades, they didn’t care much about extracurriculars.
Some parents would send their children for art classes if that was their child’s hobby.
The ability to play the piano wasn’t a popular skill set to acquire.

Piano classes were expensive, so few parents sent their children for piano classes.
The piano shop gave Shen Qingruo a commission and when she had nothing to do, she’d also play the piano in the shop to attract customers.
All in all, Shen Qingruo knew that her idle-ness was not a good thing.
She was at the brink of losing her job.

Luo Tianyuan and Shen Qingruo walked side-by-side with a gap between them.

He suddenly remembered his plans to buy a car and asked, “Qingruo, have you ever thought of owning an apartment?”

’

Shen Qingruo froze and unintentionally tightened her grip on the handles of her bicycle.
She bit her lips and nodded.

There were new housing developments in Ning City.
She overheard from her colleagues that it cost CNY800 to 1,000 per square foot.
Based on that, she couldn’t afford a square foot on a month’s salary.
A second-hand apartment would be more affordable, however, she couldn’t even afford that.
That was why she didn’t dare to plan any further.

Luo Tianyuan breezily said, “I heard that you can take out a loan from the bank.
In a sense, you’ll prepare a third of the funds and borrow the rest from the bank.
You’ll have a scheduled repayment at the end of each month.
A friend of mine took out a ten year loan to buy a property in Jing City.”

Shen Qingruo has been away from the market for many years.
She’d never heard of such a thing as taking out a loan to buy a house and was still a bit skeptical about it.

“Oh, we can do that?”

Luo Tianyuan smiled and said, “Mn, but I heard that you’d have to go through a very tedious process to get a loan from the bank.
Qingruo, I’ll be frank with you, if you like the apartment that you’re staying in, I’ll sell it to you at a 20% discount based on the market price.
If you have the money, you can pay me 30%, or even 20% as a downpayment, and you can repay the rest on a monthly basis.
We can sign a contract just like everyone else and the repayment will be over ten years.
The interest I’m charging you will definitely be more affordable than that of a bank.
When you earn enough money, you also have an option of repaying me earlier.”

Shen Qingruo was enticed by the terms and conditions of his offer.

’

There was no doubt that she wanted an apartment of her own.
After all, it was a place for her to stay and renting indefinitely wasn’t an option.

Taking out a loan to buy a house was something new to her, and she knew that her credit rating wouldn’t allow her to do so.
Luo Tianyuan has given her the perfect option, and if she were to agree, she’d also be taking a huge advantage of him.

‘A 20% discount… There would definitely be a demand if Luo Tianyuan were to sell it to the public.’

She was rooted in her morals but she was also conflicted.
She couldn’t take advantage of another person’s kindness yet she was also very tempted by the offer.

“Give it a good thought.
My plan is to buy a car, but I don’t have enough money to do so.
I’ll be able to afford it if I sell off the apartment.”

Luo Tianyuan also had a headache.
Despite being a rich man, he had to put on a show to allow everyone to know that he was buying a second-hand car…

‘It was a difficult life indeed.’