The Dons Heir A Campus Underworld

"Excuse me, how much is the watermelon?"

"Three catties for ten yuan. Would you like some, young man? You can have a taste before you buy it!"

Seeing the young man's eyes lighting up at the watermelon, a simple middle-aged woman said quickly.

"No, no, I'm just looking!"

"It's OK. You can taste it without paying!"

"Well..."

"Don't worry. Have a try."

While talking, the middle-aged woman handed a piece of watermelon to the young man.

"Well... Please pick a bigger and riper watermelon for me! Thank you."

The young man was about 15 or 16 years old. He was 1.80 meters tall and a little thin. But his figure was proportional. He wore a blue school uniform which was a little discolored. His features were very beautiful, especially his bright piercing eyes. But he looked a little pale and underfed.

The young man was eventually persuaded by the watermelon vendor to make up his mind. He took out a creased ten-yuan banknote from his trouser pocket.

...

The young man's name was Lu Yao. He was abandoned by his family when he was a baby.

Later he was found and adopted by a kind tramp, who was 40 years old or older. Since then, they had depended on each other to survive.

The tramp, Lu Yiqian, was a bachelor who traveled from place to place looking for work. He was very fond of the child, so he let him take his surname and named him Lu Yao.

It was after Lu Yao was old enough to remember that Lu Yiqian told him this story.

Later, Lu Yao was old enough to go to school, so they settled down in Shuangta, a small frontier town in Xinlu Province.

Shuangta City, a border city of Shina, was adjacent to Hazan.

Many ethnic minorities lived here, such as Mong, Hwui, Uyer, and Hazak. Local people were simple and honest.

However, this city was rather underdeveloped compared with other mainland cities in Shina.

The vital resistance of economic development in this frontier town was the inconvenient transportation. The only railway was still under construction. So there were no large factories. And the local business depended on tourism and agriculture.

When Lu Yao was six or seven years old, he was injured in an accident. After going to the hospital for examination, he was found to have a rare congenital heart defect.

The news just made the difficult situation even worse for the father and son.

From then on, Lu Yiqian was more concerned about Lu Yao. Each time they had good things to eat, he would let Lu Yao eat first.

But somehow Lu Yiqian only let Lu Yao call him godfather, not father.

As time went by, Lu Yao became a 16-year-old boy. But Lu Yiqian's health started failing.

During this summer vacation, Lu Yao wanted to help his godfather shoulder the burden. They heard that a newly-built food processing factory was recruiting a large number of people. The job paid 4,000 yuan per month and offered the option of live-in accommodation with all meals provided. So they came to apply for the job.

However, Lu Yao had three heart attacks in one week. At last, the personnel department of the factory couldn't stand it and dismissed both of them.

Just when they were worried, a laborer who was looking for a job told them that many local farmers were looking for hourly workers in the labor market on the street. One person could earn 100 yuan a day no matter what he did. So they began to do odd jobs for the farmers.

However, the weather was changeable these days. Flu struck. Lu Yiqian had a high fever and couldn't go out to work. He could only rest in bed. What was worse, they had to spend money on medicine every day.

Each day, Lu Yao had to rush to the market before dawn and tried to find some odd jobs that could be done earlier in the afternoon.

Although Shuangta City was no match for the "Three-Furnace Cities" in Shina in hot weather, it was also very hot in summer.

The hot sun was blazing down on the naked skin.

When Lu Yao was about to go home at noon, he saw the vendor selling watermelons by the roadside. When he thought that his godfather had a high fever on a hot day and his cracked lips were just like the sunbaked fields, he felt really upset. So he made up his mind to spend ten yuan buying one watermelon.

Lu Yiqian had never forgotten to tell Lu Yao to be positive and optimistic though they led a bitter life these years.

To his delight, Lu Yao did as he told him.

Unconsciously, Lu Yao arrived at the courtyard where he and his godfather lived.

"Godfather, I'm back. Look! I brought you something." As soon as Lu Yao entered the "gate", he quickly adjusted his mood and put those worries all behind him.

Actually, it was not so much a gate as a wooden fence. And this fence was simply tied with two interlocking iron wires.

In addition to two bed boards supported by some bricks and several pieces of simple furniture, there were only some books of Lu Yao in this room.

At the moment, Lu Yiqian was lying on the relatively large bed, which was only covered with a thin mattress.

Hearing Lu Yao's voice, Lu Yiqian managed to move towards the wall and wanted to get up against the wall.

"Godfather, what are you doing? You are still sick. You should lie down."

As soon as Lu Yao entered the room, he saw his godfather trying to get up. He quickly stepped forward to hold Lu Yiqian and stopped him.

"Godfather, look what I brought back for you."

Lu Yiqian didn't force himself and lay down again. Lu Yao lifted the watermelon above his head and shook it.

"Where did you get this? Didn't I tell you not to buy these things? We have to save money to treat your disease. Ahem..." Lu Yiqian coughed so badly that he couldn't speak anymore. And his face also turned red.

"It's OK, godfather. I'm fine now, right? Sometimes what the doctor says is not necessarily right." Lu Yao continued after a pause, "The doctor said I had a diseased heart and I would die if I didn't have an operation before I was 15 years old. But I'm 17 years old now. And I'm still standing in front of you. So, thanks to you, good is rewarded with good. Godfather, don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Well, you're just making me happy."