Tutoring for two-once the door was locked, there was no way she could escape [Please keep reading!]
Lu Yuanqiu looked up at his homeroom teacher, Liu Wei, and discovered to his horror that she was staring eerily at him from the podium.
Liu Wei crooked two fingers on her right hand into a V, pointed at her own eyes, then pointed across the room at Lu Yuanqiu.
I see you.
Fuck, this woman was like a ghost!
The corner of Lu Yuanqiu's mouth twitched. He lowered his head and went back to his book.
When evening self-study ended, he packed his bag and left. Hu Caiwei seemed to have something to say to him, but Lu Yuanqiu moved so quickly that he was gone by the time she looked up.
Lu Yuanqiu rode his bicycle to the supermarket, parked outside, and went in.
Seated beside the checkout counter, Lu Tian looked up at his son while trimming his nose hair in a little makeup mirror.
"Huh? Do you and that girl finish school at different times?"
Lu Yuanqiu asked in surprise, "She's here?"
"She's been here a while. She's working right now. That girl's so hardworking, she puts you to shame. Learn a thing or two from her."
Lu Yuanqiu turned just in time to see Bai Qingxia approaching in a little red vest, carrying a broom and a trash can. Strands of hair clung to her fair cheeks.
The little red vest was the supermarket's employee uniform. Lu Yuanqiu had always thought it was ugly as hell, but on Bai Qingxia, it somehow looked ugly-cute.
No, she was the cute one. The uniform was still ugly.
At the sight of Lu Yuanqiu, Bai Qingxia paused, then awkwardly averted her eyes and looked at Lu Tian. "Uncle, should I throw the empty bottles away too?"
Lu Tian promptly sat up and nodded. "Yes, just put them in the trash can outside with everything else."
He was clearly treating the girl much better today.
Bai Qingxia looked conflicted. "But we can sell the bottles."
"Hahaha, honestly, how much could you get for those? Just throw them away." Lu Tian waved a hand with a laugh.
Lu Yuanqiu frowned and slapped the counter in front of his father. "Waste is shameful! Haven't you heard that every little bit adds up? You, find a woven sack and collect the bottles."
He directed the latter order at Bai Qingxia. The girl nodded happily and immediately went to do it.
After getting a scolding from his son out of nowhere, Lu Tian looked up in utter bewilderment.
"Who in this world wastes more than you, brat? And you're lecturing me?"
Lu Yuanqiu didn't answer. Instead, he lowered his voice. "Don't overdo it. She only gets five hundred a month, and you're working her like a slave. This supermarket's huge, and you're making her clean it all by herself?"
Lu Tian protested, looking wronged, "She volunteered to clean! How's that my fault?"
...That did sound like something this stubborn girl would do.
Lu Yuanqiu was speechless.
"What, feeling sorry for her?" Lu Tian teased.
Lu Yuanqiu glanced up at him. "..."
I couldn't be bothered with you, you old fart.
Lu Yuanqiu set his schoolbag on the checkout counter and walked toward Bai Qingxia as she worked.
He caught the girl by the arm and pulled her into a corner, unaware that his father had seen the whole thing on the surveillance feed.
Lu Tian munched on sunflower seeds and watched the monitor with keen interest.
"So you went to the office to ask our homeroom teacher to let you leave evening self-study early? And you slipped away while I wasn't around?"
Lu Yuanqiu cornered the girl against the wall and questioned her.
The girl had no answer. She could only lower her head, her small hands clutching an empty Nutrition Express bottle helplessly.
Lu Yuanqiu took the empty bottle from her hands and raised his other hand to pat the wall behind her.
"Gone mute? Say something. You think working longer will get you a raise? Not happening, let me tell you."
He looked down at her.
Lu Tian watched the scene on the surveillance feed with relish. "Hehe, the brat's even doing that wall-pin move."
Bai Qingxia lifted her head to look at him, sincerity shining in her beautiful eyes. "I wasn't trying to get a raise."
"Evening self-study ends at nine, and I can get off work a little after ten. I only work an hour a day, but I get five hundred a month..."
She lowered her head afterward, as though remembering something, and said stubbornly, "Five hundred is too much."
"Five hundred is too much? What the f..." Lu Yuanqiu's brain crashed on the spot.
He raised a finger toward Bai Qingxia's face. Frightened, the girl squeezed her eyes shut and drew her head back, her eyelashes trembling.
She did this every time Lu Yuanqiu was about to poke her forehead. It had practically become an instinct.
"Do you know how much the other employees make?"
Lu Yuanqiu asked, forcing himself to withdraw his finger.
Bai Qingxia opened her eyes and looked at him, shaking her head. "I don't care how much they get. You're definitely paying me too much. If you pay me more, I have to work more. What I put in should match what I get back."
She met Lu Yuanqiu's gaze without backing down.
"You really are... fucking hell... why are you so stubborn?" Almost driven mad, Lu Yuanqiu held both hands beside her small, fair face. He was so frustrated that he wanted to knead those pretty cheeks hard, until she cried and begged for mercy. Only then would he feel better.
Bai Qingxia eyed the grabby hands on either side of her and nervously stepped back, threatening, "If... if you bully me, I'll tell your dad."
"That old..." When the girl raised her beautiful eyes to stare at him, Lu Yuanqiu paused, then changed tack with a drawn-out breath. "Old... but still vigorous man might indeed take your side."
Forget it. There was no winning against her...
There really was no winning against her!
Lu Yuanqiu felt that if he ever had a daughter, she would absolutely drive him half to death, and he wouldn't have the heart to smack her.
He took a deep breath and said, "Anyway, don't let it interfere with your studies. Got it?"
Seeing that the boy had conceded, Bai Qingxia gave him a lovely smile and nodded briskly.
Lu Yuanqiu turned his head aside. "Go on."
Bai Qingxia immediately snatched the empty bottle back from him and trotted away, her eyes bright with shy delight.
Watching her retreating figure, Lu Yuanqiu smiled despite his helplessness.
Before long, Friday arrived.
When evening self-study ended, Hu Caiwei finally found a chance to stop Lu Yuanqiu at the classroom door.
"Lu Yuanqiu, tomorrow's Saturday. Wang Haoran invited a few people over to his house. I said yes. You're coming too."
"Like hell I am. Move," Lu Yuanqiu said impatiently. "I'm studying tomorrow."
Stung by his sudden outburst, Hu Caiwei watched him leave with reddening eyes and shouted tearfully, "Studying, studying! Now you're even using studying as an excuse?! Keep staying at the bottom,
Lu Yuanqiu! You'll never get a seat in the front row!!!!"
With his schoolbag on his back, Lu Yuanqiu swaggered down the corridor without even turning his head.
Drawn over by the noise, Wang Haoran said mockingly, "Ignore him. A bad student's always a bad student. He's not even in the same circle as us. We have nothing in common."
He had barely finished when someone walked past and bumped into him, sending him staggering and even knocking his center-parted hair askew.
"Zheng Yifeng, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Wang Haoran snapped.
With his schoolbag slung over one shoulder, Zheng Yifeng turned his head slightly to look at him and gave a soft scoff, his handsome face full of contempt.
"Fuck, those back-row cancers."
Wang Haoran trembled with rage.
At ten that evening, Lu Yuanqiu locked the supermarket's front doors, then handed Bai Qingxia a slip of paper.
"This is my apartment complex's address and my apartment number. What time are you coming tomorrow?"
Bai Qingxia took it and glanced at it. "Around one in the afternoon."
"Okay, I'll be home waiting for you."
Bai Qingxia checked once more. "...There really will be someone else at your place?"
"Really. Why would I lie to you?"
Lu Yuanqiu had lied.
Lu Yidong and his mother might be home in the morning, but in the afternoon, the little girl had tutoring classes, and his mother had work.
But if he said no one would be there, Bai Qingxia wouldn't come.
Besides, once she was there, she was there. He'd lock the door, and there was no way she could fly away. Hehehehehe...
And it really was just tutoring.
Lu Yuanqiu wanted to improve so badly.
If you have any monthly votes, please send some my way. I just noticed we're fourth on the new-book monthly rankings. First place only has fifty-something votes. Let's see if we can overtake them.