Problem Girl

Sitting on the living room sofa, with a glass coffee table in front of her, Su Yuan accepted the tea Aunt Zhang brought them. Aunt Zhang smiled at her and said, "You must be Xiaowen's new teacher."

Su Yuan sat up straight and replied politely, "Hello, Aunt Zhang. My surname is Su, and my name is Su Yuan. Sister Xia recommended me to come tutor her."

Aunt Zhang smiled. "There's no need to be so formal. Since Xia recommended you, I'll leave Xiaowen in your hands from now on. She's a handful, and she just can't seem to get things through her head. Her father and I are at our wits' end."

"Mom, how can you say that about me!" the little girl named Tang Wen protested unhappily.

From the moment Su Yuan had walked in, the girl had been sneaking glances at her from the side. She was probably still getting used to the new tutor, so when she suddenly heard her mother criticizing her, she felt she'd lost face in front of her new teacher and immediately fired back, petulant as could be.

Aunt Zhang glared at her. "Am I wrong? Just look at yourself. There are forty students in your class, and you still came in sixth from the bottom last semester. And you have the nerve to talk back?"

Tang Wen pouted, her bright eyes flashing as though she'd suffered some great injustice. "I've improved, too, okay? What Mom's talking about is old news. We had another test at the start of this semester, and your daughter is confident she can move up to seventh from the bottom. By midterms, I'll try to make it to ninth from the bottom!"

"Well, well. You've even learned to set modest goals. Then tell me, when do you plan to climb out of the bottom ten?"

"Your daughter thinks that if she works hard, she has a good chance of doing it by the end of the semester."

"Smack!" Aunt Zhang rapped Tang Wen on the head, furious. "That's my good girl! Everyone else is working hard to get into the top ten, but you're working hard just to escape the bottom ten—and even then, you only think you have a chance!"

Tang Wen immediately sprang to her feet in protest. "You have to take things one bite at a time! Dad taught us that our family's motto is to be steady and grounded, taking one step at a time. We must never aim too high! Besides, the new teacher just got here. Don't ruin my image in front of her!"

At that, Su Yuan and Xia Linfei exchanged a look. They wanted to tell little Tang Wen that, after what she'd just done, she shouldn't expect to leave a good impression on them.

Aunt Zhang turned to Su Yuan, looking troubled. "You can see for yourself that Xiaowen's a wild one. If she doesn't listen, just give her a good scolding. We should've been stricter with her before. That's how she ended up with this kind of personality."

Tang Wen gaped at her in disbelief. "Are you my stepmother or something?"

"Say that again and see what happens."

Tang Wen immediately fell silent. She muttered under her breath, then sat beside Xia Linfei and swung her feet.

Su Yuan chuckled inwardly, already thinking of Tang Wen as a "bratty little princess." She turned to look at her and saw that the girl had milky-white skin and a delicate, pampered air, like a princess. Her long black hair was tied behind her head, and her features were neat and pretty. She was just over 1.4 meters tall, and beneath her lightweight casual clothes, the slight curve of her chest was charming.

A pretty little girl with boundless potential.

While Su Yuan was sizing Tang Wen up, the girl had been sneaking glances at her, too. After observing her for a while, Tang Wen had decided she was quite pleased with Su Yuan. This teacher seemed like Sister Xia and probably wouldn't be too strict with her.

"Since we still have time, why don't we have Su Yuan give Xiaowen a lesson now?" Xia Linfei suggested.

Aunt Zhang smiled. "Sounds good. Xiaowen, why don't you take Teacher Su to your room?"

"Teacher Su, please follow me." Tang Wen hopped off the sofa and led Su Yuan upstairs to her room, slippers pattering along the floor.

The room was full of girlish charm. Delicate wallpaper and pretty decorations made it look like the bedroom of a little princess in a fairy tale. A small mirror sat on the white desk, with pencils and textbooks scattered in front of it.

"Sister Su, let's get started." Tang Wen brought Su Yuan a chair, then sat on the other side of the desk like she owned the place.

She'd called her Teacher Su just a moment ago, and now she was calling her Sister Su. Su Yuan wanted to tell her it would be better to stick with Teacher Su, but in the end, she could only shake her head wordlessly.

"Don't call me Sister Su. Call me Teacher Su or big brother..."

Tang Wen looked up at her, her gaze falling on Su Yuan's chest. Her meaning couldn't have been clearer. After a moment, she nodded to herself and said, "I think Sister Su sounds better."

Fine. Kids these days were too clever. Su Yuan was just about to correct her again when Tang Wen suddenly said, "How about letting me touch them?" She pointed at Su Yuan's chest.

Su Yuan choked and surrendered.

"Where did Sister Xia leave off with you last time?" Su Yuan opened the book and got down to business.

Natural Science covered material from three subjects—Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Tang Wen was only in her second year of middle school, so she mainly needed to master the first-year material. Before getting the textbook, Su Yuan had looked up the relevant material online, so she'd come prepared.

"Can we start from the beginning?" Tang Wen asked innocently, blinking at her. Perhaps worried Su Yuan would think less of her, she added, "Sister Xia mainly helped me with fifth- and sixth-grade math..."

Well, that meant they had to start from the beginning.

Su Yuan wasn't discouraged. A challenge was what made things exciting!

Su Yuan had to admit that she was a good speaker, well suited to teaching a problem child like Tang Wen. The girl went from being skeptical at first to listening attentively by the end. Xia Linfei and Aunt Zhang came in once during the lesson, saw how focused the two of them were, and happily left again.

The two-hour lesson passed quickly. Su Yuan closed the textbook, ready to take a break. Overall, Tang Wen's foundation was extraordinarily weak. Thankfully, Xia Linfei had already helped her with fifth- and sixth-grade math, and the first-year middle school courses in Natural Science and Math were relatively simple. Otherwise, Su Yuan might really have felt like banging her head against a wall.

Some people thought high school science was the hardest to teach, but Su Yuan believed the basics were harder. High school topics went deeper, but with a clear explanation, even students who struggled could learn them. The foundational stage, when students were first building their understanding of the concepts, was what left tutors at a loss for words.

After taking an hour-long break, Su Yuan saw they still had time and gave Tang Wen another two hours of lessons.

That meant she could collect two days' worth of pay.

By evening, the head of the Tang household came home. Tang Wen's father was very pleased with Su Yuan, and when he learned that his daughter had studied with her all afternoon, he became even more enthusiastic.

His daughter's refusal to go to school had always been a thorn in his side. Now she was willing to study with a private tutor; it was easy to imagine how he felt. If Su Yuan hadn't been a student herself and short on time, he would have wanted her to become his daughter's full-time tutor!

Unable to resist the Tang family's hospitality, Xia Linfei and Su Yuan stayed for dinner before leaving. They also adjusted the schedule they'd initially agreed on: besides two-hour lessons on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings, they added a four-hour lesson on Saturday afternoon.

Ten hours a week for eight hundred yuan. That was quite a high rate in Binhe City.

For Su Yuan, it was all income!

Dormitory 330.

Gao Jun was tinkering with his electronic equipment, wires strewn all over his desk. Su Yuan sometimes really admired him. Somehow, he always managed to turn a perfectly good desk into a complete mess. She wondered what kind of invention he was working on this time.

A large fan sat on the desk. Gao Jun held a small wind turbine in his hand, with a wire running from one end to a voltage regulator. After that came a jumble of loose wires, which finally connected to his phone via a USB cable.

"What are you doing?" Su Yuan asked as she pushed the door open.

"Oh, perfect timing! Take a look at my latest invention. It charges a phone using wind power!" Gao Jun beckoned her over with a smile, then switched on the fan. It immediately began to whir, turning the little turbine. A charging notification appeared on the phone's screen.

Su Yuan exclaimed, "That's an incredible invention!"

"Right?" Gao Jun said smugly.

Ji Yehao couldn't help laughing. "Gao Jun, build me a solar-powered flashlight in a few days. If it works, I'd like to use it for lighting..."

His words hit the mark. Gao Jun's smile froze on his face, and it was as if he and the background had turned gray. He let out an awkward chuckle, then slumped his head in dejection.

Su Yuan paused, then laughed a little too "hysterically." She patted Gao Jun on the shoulder solemnly. "The revolution hasn't succeeded yet, comrade. You still have a long way to go."

After taking Gao Jun down a peg, Su Yuan was in a pretty good mood. She took out the piece of green jadeite and examined it. If one day she could figure out its secret, she'd have a chance to turn back into a man. Then she could open a breast-enhancement clinic and give one busty girl after another a fuller chest!

But no matter how hard she tried, the jadeite didn't react at all this time. It really was strange.

After fiddling with it for a while, she decided there was probably no hope for it today. She put the jadeite away, figuring there was no need to rush.

Bored, she happened to glance at Ji Yehao. Remembering that he'd planned to buy shares in Huaxin Technology, she wondered how things had gone over the past few days. "Ye Hao, you were looking at Huaxin Technology's stock last time. Did you end up buying it?"

"I did."

"Is it up or down?" Su Yuan asked, suddenly interested.

Ji Yehao furrowed his brow. "Down!" A moment later, his brow relaxed. "But I think it should go up when the market opens tomorrow."

"Didn't you have inside information? How did it still go down?" Su Yuan asked, surprised.

"Even with inside information, you can't be sure what day it'll rise. All I can say is that its prospects are bright! This stock is a long-term investment!" At the mention of Huaxin Technology, Ji Yehao seemed unusually thoughtful. He was probably annoyed that he hadn't managed to buy in at the lowest point.