Transmigrated as the Villain Boss's Precious Darling Chapter 365: So Poor That He Can’t Even Afford a Notebook

Tang Xiaonan couldn’t focus on her afternoon classes. She was too busy thinking about Storm Xavier. ’Clayton Xavier must be devastated after seeing his father in such a disgraceful state, right?’

Tang Xiaonan regretted not having read the book more carefully. When Clayton Xavier and Jacqueline Spann got married, both Storm Xavier and Verna Golding were present. Logically, Verna should have known about the ugly affair between Storm Xavier and Phoenix Golding. Why didn’t she stop it?

Given how filial Clayton Xavier was, he surely wouldn’t have married Jacqueline Spann if Verna Golding had disagreed.

And then there was Old Mrs. Xavier. Everyone said she was a shrewd and capable woman. Verna Golding might have been too simple and honest to know what was going on, but the old matriarch surely did. How could she have let Storm Xavier bully Verna like that, and what’s more, allow Clayton Xavier to marry Jacqueline Spann, twisting a knife in Verna’s heart?

Tang Xiaonan recalled sothing else. After Clayton Xavier and Jacqueline Spann married, their business empire expanded, and they moved to Tristone for the long term. Verna Golding, however, remained in Xavier Village. Although the book hadn’t gone into detail, you could sense Verna’s loneliness. She clearly disliked Jacqueline—so much so that she didn’t even help raise the children after they were born and showed no affection toward her grandchildren.

This behavior was completely at odds with Verna Golding’s simple and kind personality. There could only be one explanation: Verna knew everything. For so unknown reason, however, she hadn’t stopped it and chose to bear the bitter consequences alone.

Clayton Xavier probably didn’t know. Based on her few interactions with him, Tang Xiaonan had a good impression of the male lead. Unlike Jacqueline Spann’s superficial perfection, Clayton was a man of integrity and sound values. He was a bit pedantic, perhaps, but still far better than the selfishly adaptable Jacqueline.

When school finally ended, Tang Xiaonan was packing her bag when she saw her lunchbox. It was already clean. Beside her, Mark Xavier whispered, "I washed it with soapwort. I washed it five tis."

Tang Xiaonan smiled. No wonder the lunchbox had a faint, pleasant scent. She knew about a type of grass that grew by the small river; it would foam up if you rubbed it hard. Many of the village children used it to wash their hair and bathe.

"Aren’t you going ho?"

Tang Xiaonan put the lunchbox in her schoolbag and asked curiously when she saw Mark Xavier still sitting at his desk.

Mark Xavier shyly shook his head. "I’m going to finish my howork before I go back."

’Once I get ho, there’s an endless amount of chores. I can’t find a single mont for howork. Plus, I’ll get yelled at for using even a little extra electricity. It’s much quieter here at school.’

Tang Xiaonan didn’t ask any more questions. She waved goodbye, but as she left, she noticed Mark Xavier pull a notebook from his bag. It was an old, used one. His pencil was just a stub that soone else had thrown away, so small he could only pinch it between his fingertips, which made writing incredibly difficult. He didn’t have an eraser, either; if he made a mistake, he could only smudge it out with spit. No wonder the teacher was always criticizing his howork.

"Here, use these. Just put them in the drawer when you’re done."

Tang Xiaonan took a pencil and an eraser from her pencil case, handed them to Mark Xavier, and left. Staring at the sharply-pointed pencil and the sweet-slling eraser in his hand, Mark sniffled, wiped his eyes with the back of his grimy sleeve, and sat down to do his howork. He wrote with intense focus, and his characters were neat and orderly.

’His sister had told him that studying was the only way to change their fate. She was first in the entire school every single year. He had to be like her, get into a university, and make sothing of himself.’

’He would repay the people who had helped him, and he would get revenge on the ones who had bullied him. He had etched it all into his mind. He would never, ever forget.’

(Mark Xavier is not just a minor character, and neither is his sister.)

Tang Xiaonan had intended to go straight ho, but her cousin, Armstrong Huxley, dragged her to his place, saying their grandmother had made "borosuo"—a dish whose na was only passed down orally by the elders, the true characters long forgotten.