"This is this month's friendship fee."
Xiaopang shuffled up to the little girl's desk again, sniffling, and placed a few bags of snacks on it.
"What are you building today? The Eiffel Tower?"
Xiaopang asked curiously, looking at the tall tower on the little girl's desk.
"This is the Pisa Leaning Tower..." the little girl replied helplessly.
Xiaopang was indeed a bit slow, and because he was very overweight, none of the other kids in class wanted to play with him. Only the little girl, who "worked for pay," was willing to be his friend.
These snacks were the price he paid.
After being in school for a while, the little girl had come to understand that the outside world wasn't like her home—everything came at a price.
Making friends, for example, didn't require a price.
But Xiaopang still paid the "friendship fee" every month because he was afraid the little girl wouldn't play with him otherwise.
