Stolen? No, I Gave It Away.

That same day, Margaret took me shopping and bought me plenty of essentials and new clothes.

In the mall, beside a trash bin, I saw Simon following Ronald as they collected recyclables.

Ronald pointed toward the mall’s storage room and said, “When the guy inside comes out, ask him to give us his trash. This place tosses out premium cardboard. We can get good money for it.”

Simon stood poised by the door, ready to spring into action. Just then, his eyes met mine as I walked out of the fitting room.

Having his embarrassing situation exposed in front of me, Simon could not keep his composure. He rushed over to me viciously.

“Wesley, are you mocking me?”

He raised his hand to hit me.

A store employee reacted quickly and shoved Simon aside. “How did you get in here, you little beggar?”

Simon gritted his teeth and lunged again, but Ronald rushed over and pulled him back.

Holding onto the agitated Simon with one hand, Ronald forced out a smile and apologized repeatedly to the employee.

If they were banned from the mall, it would cost him a significant source of income.

The next morning, Margaret dressed me up like a little prince and sent me off to school.

Simon, meanwhile, was still wearing the same clothes he had on while collecting scraps the day before. He looked worn and shabby from head to toe.

Quite a few of our classmates were from the orphanage. They had already spread the story of what happened yesterday.

Simon usually relied on his sweet tongue to win teachers over and strutted around school like he owned the place. Plenty of students had long since grown tired of him.

Terry Yates made the first move. Pretending to walk past casually, he deliberately knocked over Simon’s desk and sent his books scattering to the floor.

Simon was startled. He pointed at Terry and barked, “What’s wrong with you?”

Terry covered his nose and looked down at the pile of books. “Why does this smell like garbage?”

The entire class burst into laughter.

Instead of lashing out in embarrassment, Simon snapped back and called everyone idiots.

“You’re all idiots! I’m going to run a steel company someday. Don’t look down on a poor kid today! When I make it big, you’ll be the ones begging me.”

The laughter paused for a split second, then erupted even louder than before.

“Is he losing his mind?”

“I knew something was off yesterday when he ignored the rich family and begged a scrap collector to adopt him.”

“Steel company boss? More like the king of cardboard. Hahaha!”

Simon stepped onto the pile of books and looked down at the classmates who were laughing at him. His gaze was filled with disdain.

He casually ordered me, “Wesley, pick those books up for me.”

I did not move. Furious, Simon grabbed my arm. “Aren’t you being ungrateful? Look at what you’re wearing! That would’ve been mine. I gave it to you!”

I frowned and said, “You gave it to me? Didn’t you decide by yourself that you didn’t get enough and wanted me to walk the same path as you did in the previous timeline?”

Simon froze for a moment, then his eyes widened. “Don’t tell me you came back too? Hahaha, if that’s the case…” He pulled me closer and said in my ear, “They don’t know, but you do, don’t you? Wesley Weber, this time, I’ll crush you under my feet.”

I pulled my arm free and corrected him calmly. “We’ll see about that. And by the way, I’m Wesley Harrison now.”

After observing the Harrisons over the past two days, I realized that they were genuinely kind to me. There must have been another reason Simon was cast out of the Harrison family in the previous timeline.

He was simply too impatient. He only ever looked at what was right in front of him and never stopped to consider how much of it he had brought on himself.