I Let Poor Student Sell Snakes; Class Panicked

Rachel laughed softly and turned to the others. "My hometown's pretty poor, and I was the first one to make it to college. I thought I'd bring these snakes over so anyone who likes them can buy one. Our backcountry snakes are trained, they won't bite, they're loyal and protective of their owner, and they're useful in all kinds of ways." "In summer they double as a cooling wrap, you can wear them as a bracelet or a necklace, and for the girls they even work as protection. They'll scare off anyone who means harm. If some creep tries to hurt you, these snakes will defend you." At that, every one of them started to want one. "Rachel, how much for one of these snakes?" Rachel held up five fingers. "Five ninety-nine each, and you can pick whatever kind you want. Every cent of it goes straight to the charity school back in my hometown." In my past life, I recognized every one of these as deadly venomous. Snakes are cold-blooded by nature, impossible to tame, and far more likely to turn and strike a person. So I went straight to the fire department, and they came and captured and disposed of all of them. Rachel ran up to the rooftop and stood there crying, accusing me in front of everyone. "Nancy, I know you don't like me, but these snakes are trained, there's no way they'd bite anyone. They were the only hope those kids in my village had for an education, and now you've destroyed everything. I can't even face them again." While I was still trying to explain, Luke's hand cracked across my face. "Rachel only ever wanted to help her hometown, and you got jealous and called the police just to ruin it for her. How can anyone be so vicious?" The whole class pointed at me, screaming. "The snakes are gentle once they've been tamed, they'd never bite anyone. You're just out to get Rachel. You can't stand to see anyone else do well, can you?" "We're the ones who bought the snakes, and we're fine with it. Even if we got bitten, that's our choice. Who asked you to stick your nose in where it doesn't belong?" In the end, the whole class dragged me off to the woods nearby, shoved me into a nest of venomous snakes, and left me to be bitten to death. Remembering how I died last time, I couldn't help clenching my fists. Just then Luke stood up, smug, and spoke. "Rachel, you're so kind. You've got so little yourself and you're still thinking about helping your hometown. I'll take three hundred of these first, one for everyone in class and all my friends. Consider it my contribution to building that charity school." I narrowed my eyes slightly. Luke's family didn't have money, so how could he suddenly come up with enough to buy that many snakes? Then I remembered how I used to watch him eat nothing but a single dinner roll in the mornings, and out of pity I'd set him up with a linked payment account, two hundred thousand a month. I picked up my phone and shut the linked account off. The others, hearing Luke buy so many, rushed to speak up too. "I want two, one as a bracelet and one as a necklace. That would be so cool." "Rachel, I'll take three, to give my girlfriends for protection." Everyone scrambled to buy. Luke looked at me. "Nancy, aren't you getting one?" I refused, my voice cold. "No. I'm afraid of snakes." Rachel looked at me. "Nancy, these snakes won't bite, and they'll protect you. Why not buy one and try it out?" I shook my head. "No thanks." Luke gave a small scoff. "Rachel, she doesn't want one but I do. Add another hundred for me." Rachel's face lit up with excitement. "Perfect. Everyone can pay a ten percent deposit first. I'll get in touch with our village elder, and the pet snakes will be sent out to all of you within three days." Luke picked up his phone to pay. A few seconds later, up popped a message: insufficient balance. He came over to me, his face hard, and questioned me under his breath. "Nancy, what's going on? Why did you shut off the linked account?" I answered like it was nothing. "I felt like it, so I did." His expression soured, and his voice went cold. "Nancy, there are a lot of people watching. Turn it back on, now. Don't embarrass me." I said it flat and cold. "You're buying things. Why should you be spending my money?" With that I turned to leave, but Luke yanked me back hard, and my waist slammed into the corner of the desk. The pain made me suck in a sharp breath. "Nancy, don't be difficult. This money is for building the charity school out in the mountains. Those kids are waiting to go to school." The others looked over, puzzled. "Luke, what's going on?" Luke let out a laugh. "It's nothing. Nancy just got upset seeing me send money to another girl, so she's holding my money hostage. I'm working on smoothing things over with her."

Luke turned around. "Nancy, quit being jealous. This money is to help kids in poor mountain villages. Give it back to me, now." I actually laughed, that's how angry I was. The way Luke said it, you'd think I was the one who'd taken his money. The others started pointing at me. "Nancy, you're unbelievably petty. Luke buys something and you have to control that too?" "Ha. Rachel's out here doing something noble, giving back to her hometown, and you're standing here sulking over jealousy. People really can't be compared." Rachel's eyes went red, and she looked at me like I'd wronged her. "Nancy, this money is the only hope those village kids have to go to school. Please don't make it hard for Luke, okay?" For a second I was too furious to speak. I looked at Luke. "Give it back? Luke, is this money yours? Why should I give anything back? You want to play the generous saint, so you force me to foot the bill? How do you even have the nerve to say that?" The others went blank. "What's that supposed to mean?" Luke's face turned ugly, and he grabbed my arm, trying to shut me up. I threw his hand off and pulled out my phone. "The money Luke used to play the big generous guy came out of my linked payment account. I didn't feel like being a sucker, so I shut the account down. Luke roared at me. "Nancy, shut your mouth. What are you talking about?" I let out a soft laugh. "I'm talking nonsense? Am I wrong?" Rachel stepped up and said gently, "Nancy, Luke just wanted to do a good thing. This money can get more than a dozen kids in our mountains out of there. He has a big, generous heart." Luke nodded hard in agreement. "Rachel's right. Nancy, you need to have some kindness in you. Learn from Rachel a little. Stop being so selfish and calculating all day long. Now hurry up and turn my linked payment back on." I couldn't help rolling my eyes. "No. It's my money. You don't get to decide that. You want to be the big philanthropist, use your own cash." Luke glared at me. "Nancy, you know perfectly well my family's ordinary and can't pull together that kind of money, and you're deliberately making it hard for me. When did you turn into someone this hateful? You're such a disappointment." I smiled, then swung my hand backward and slapped Luke across the face. "Have some shame. You eat on my money, drink on my money, spend my money, and now you want to use my money to butter up another girl and look like a saint. Do you really take me for an idiot?" Luke clutched his face and stared at me, stunned. "Nancy, are you insane? You actually dared to hit me." Then Rachel suddenly dropped to her knees in front of me. "Nancy, it's all my fault. Don't blame Luke. I just wanted the kids in our mountains to have one more chance at school. This money is nothing to you, but it's the hope of the children in my hometown. Please, help them." Luke's eyes filled with heartache, and he pointed at me, cursing at the top of his voice. "Nancy, just because you've got a little dirty money, you force Rachel down on her knees. You're pure poison!" The other classmates couldn't stand it either. They grabbed the books off the desks and hit me over the head with them. "Nancy, Rachel only wants to give back to her hometown, and here you are throwing your weight around. How did we end up with a classmate as vicious as you?" The person beside me flung a bubble tea straight into my face. "Your family's so rich. What's the harm in helping Rachel? Being this cold-blooded, watch out you don't get what's coming to you someday." Someone even kicked my desk over, sending my books scattering across the floor. "You rotten little capitalist. Your kind bleeds regular people dry, and now you won't even part with a little money to help kids in the poor mountains. With a heart that black, aren't you afraid heaven strikes you down?" I took out my phone, pulled up 911, and warned them coldly, "Touch me one more time and I'm calling the police right now." Seeing that, the others quickly let go. A flicker of triumph crossed Rachel's eyes. "Nancy, as long as you're willing to help the mountain kids, I'll slave for you the rest of my life to repay the kindness."

Luke looked at Rachel. “Rachel, you're just too kind. That's why Nancy walks all over you.” Her eyes filled with tears, but she forced a smile. “As long as it helps the kids back in the mountains, Nancy can treat me however she wants.” That only made the others pity her more. “Nancy, turn your account back on right now, or get out of our class. We don't want a cold-blooded person like you as a classmate.” I curled my hands into fists. I hadn't done a single thing. I'd only taken back what was mine, and somehow it was my fault. “I didn't force Rachel to kneel. And my money is my business, not yours to decide.” Then I glanced at the snakes coiled on them and couldn't stop myself from saying it again. “Snakes are cold-blooded. They can't be tamed. And these ones are highly venomous. If they bite you, the chance of dying is very high.” Luke let out a cold sneer. “Nancy, I think you're just jealous of Rachel, so you're standing here spitting lies.” Rachel spoke up, all wounded innocence. “Nancy, these snakes pay for the school fees of the children in my village. When you smear me like this, you're destroying their only hope.” The others just kept toying with the snakes in their hands, unbothered. “Ha, these little snakes are so gentle, so obedient. How could they bite anyone?” “Rachel, don't worry. We're not going to listen to Nancy's nonsense.” I gave a cold laugh. I only hoped they'd still be this loyal to Rachel after a snake sank its fangs into them. In the days that followed, Rachel's snakes were a hit. Everyone was buying them. I was resting in the dorm when a sharp pain shot through my neck. I reached back and yanked. It was a little rat snake. I let out a breath. At least it wasn't venomous. The scare made me fling it to the floor, and my roommate shoved me aside. “Nancy, what do you think you're doing?” She scooped the snake up like it was something precious. Anger flooded through me. “Who said you could bring a snake into the dorm? Your snake bit me. What if it had been venomous?” Rachel came back right then and cut in. “Nancy, a tamed snake doesn't bite. Unless you abuse it and corner it, then it strikes.” My roommate glared at me. “Nancy, so this is what you really are, a monster wearing a human face. You even abuse snakes. Those stray cats that died so horribly at our school, that was all you, wasn't it?” One line from Rachel, and suddenly I was the one abusing snakes. The dorm door was open, and the words drew a crowd fast. “Holy crap, all those stray cats on campus skinned alive, that was you? Do you even have any humanity left?” “Too bad the one that bit you wasn't venomous. Dying from it would've just been justice.” I took out my phone and started recording. “Do you have proof? If you don't, this is slander.” Every one of them went quiet. “We'll find the proof, and we'll get trash like you thrown out of this school.” I didn't bother with them. I just packed my things and filed to become a day student. That night, after I got home, my mother suddenly got a call. “Hundreds of people bitten by venomous snakes? I'll be right there.” She hung up and turned to me. “Nancy, a lot of students from your school have been bitten. The hospital's short-staffed, and you know the antivenoms. Come with me.” I nodded. At the hospital, the lobby was full of people lying everywhere. Luke and my classmates saw me and asked, stunned, “Nancy, what are you doing here?” I said coldly, “My mother is a snakebite specialist.” The moment they heard it, they lit up. “Nancy, hurry, get your mom to save us!” I shook my head. “They can't be saved.”