Big Brother Opened a Back Door for Me!

After days of hard work, Qi Hao finally finished writing his paper.

For anyone in academia, finishing the content was only the first step of the Long March. The little boss of formatting and proofreading was waiting for him now.

Qi Hao sat in front of his computer, staring at the dense jumble in his LaTeX editor until he felt like his eyeballs were about to pop out.

Since he had never submitted a paper before, Qi Hao had no choice but to laboriously adjust the formatting while consulting the journal's official template.

The whole ordeal was more grueling than proving a lemma.

By the time the final compilation succeeded and he exported the PDF, another day had passed.

Qi Hao had no time to rest. He took a deep breath and logged into the submission system.

After carefully filling in a pile of information, he uploaded the paper.

With one final click on "Submit," the progress bar slowly crawled forward.

[Status update: Submitted to Journal]

Looking at the status bar on the screen, Qi Hao felt little relief.

He had submitted it, but by the usual logic of academia, this was only the beginning of the queue.

For a core journal in the second quartile, the process from the editor-in-chief's initial screening to finding peer reviewers and receiving the first-round feedback took a long time.

The system task requires publication within ninety days, and there are only fifty-some days left. At the normal pace, by the time the reviewers finish their coffee and read through my proof, the system will probably have already declared the task a failure. What should I do?

Just as Qi Hao was scrolling the mouse in frustration, the Soviet System, which had been silent in his mind for days, suddenly spoke.

[Detected that the host's academic output has entered a node of the Western system. In view of the journal's editorial office currently operating at extremely low efficiency and seriously hindering the great progress of red science, the system has automatically activated queue-jumping mode!]

Qi Hao froze. "Jump the queue? You can open a back door for something like this too?"

[Soviet computer technology is no slouch!]

[Bypassing normal queueing logic...]

[Queue jump successful!]

[Davarishch's paper has now successfully moved to first place on the review list!]

"Holy crap!" Qi Hao's eyes filled with delight. "Big Brother System-no, Davarishch! That was one hell of a quick and dirty back door!"

Now that his paper had jumped the queue, the review should be much faster than he had estimated!

Qi Hao felt that the first glimmer of completing the task was already in sight!

He shut down his computer and was about to take a break when the phone beside him vibrated.

He opened it and saw a message from his mom:

"Hao, how have things been at school lately? Mom needs to tell you something, but don't worry. Your sister started her first year of high school this year, and all the school's miscellaneous fees have piled up. Things are a little tight at home right now, so I might have to send your living expenses for this month two weeks late."

Qi Hao immediately checked how much money he had left. It was a little over five hundred yuan.

He could make that last if he was frugal, but since his mom had admitted they were having trouble, it definitely wasn't as simple as sending his living expenses two weeks late.

He knew his parents were both ordinary factory workers, and his sister's first year of high school was especially expensive. As her older brother, he was studying at a 985 university in a big city. Not only had he failed to ease his family's burden, he still had to ask them for money. Guilt surged through him.

He quickly replied, "Mom, don't worry about me. I still have plenty of money here. Just take care of things at home and look after my sister. Don't send me any living expenses this month. I've been planning to find a part-time job lately. There are tons of opportunities around school, and the money comes fast!"

After putting down his phone, Qi Hao grew despondent.

A part-time job.

As a first-year student, finding a part-time job he could balance with his studies didn't seem so easy.

A few days later, a dull mathematical analysis class came to an end.

The bell rang, and Old Wang gathered up his teaching materials. Instead of hurrying away as usual, he stood at the lectern and searched the classroom.

"Qi Hao, come here a moment."

Qi Hao, who had been about to look for part-time work around campus, went over with his bag on his back. "Teacher Wang, did you need me?"

Old Wang glanced at him, sounding somewhat displeased. "What's been going on these past few days? You haven't come to see me at all. Don't you have any questions?"

Qi Hao explained awkwardly, "Teacher Wang, of course I do. I've just been preparing to find a part-time job lately, so I haven't been getting through my reading as fast as before."

He didn't mention finishing and submitting his paper. After all, it hadn't been officially published yet, so there was no point bringing it up.

Old Wang frowned. "A part-time job? You're a first-year with such a gift for mathematics, and instead of focusing on your studies, you want to work part-time? Handing out flyers or waiting tables? That would be a waste of your brain!"

Old Wang had intended to scold him some more, but the student file he had obtained from the counselor a few days ago suddenly flashed through his mind.

Qi Hao came from an ordinary family with two working parents, and he had a younger sister.

He swallowed the harsh words on the tip of his tongue.

As a professor who had taught countless classes of students, he understood how a lack of money could bring even a capable person to their knees.

If he told a hungry person to gaze at the stars, it would be like asking why they didn't eat meat when they had no bread. Wouldn't that be cruel in its own way?

Old Wang's mind raced, and he came up with an idea. "I see. You can work part-time, but you can't just take any job. You're not allowed to do brainless work like waiting tables or handing out flyers."

As he spoke, he pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to Qi Hao.

"I have a friend who runs a business. His son is in middle school and is absolutely terrible at math. He's been asking me to find a tutor lately. He has just one requirement: clear thinking, no rote memorization. Three hundred yuan a lesson, one hour per lesson. Are you interested?"

Qi Hao's eyes lit up at once.

Three hundred yuan!

At a time when part-time jobs generally paid only twenty or thirty yuan an hour, that was an astronomical sum!

"Yes! Teacher Wang, thank you so much!" Qi Hao nearly couldn't resist hugging Old Wang.

Old Wang chuckled and scolded him. "Cut the chatter! The address is here, at the Yutian Peninsula over in the high-tech zone. Be there at nine thirty sharp on Saturday morning. Let me warn you, that kid is a real handful. He's already gone through four tutors. You'll have to teach him well and keep him in line. If they send you packing, don't tell anyone you're my student!"

"Yes, sir!"

At eight thirty on Saturday morning, Qi Hao changed into a clean sweatshirt and took an hour-long bus ride to the place called the Yutian Peninsula.

When he reached the area near his destination, Qi Hao was stunned.

Detached villas stood hidden behind dense landscaping. Uniformed security guards stood at the entrance, straighter than pencils.

After contacting the Fang Household at the security post, he walked through the gate. Qi Hao noticed that the cars parked along the road were all Porsches and Maseratis.

"Is this the dull life of the rich?" Qi Hao felt a twinge of envy. "If I could buy a place here someday, I'd probably wake up laughing in my dreams."

But he quickly shook his head, forcing himself to calm down.

Get a grip, Qi Hao. Your subject experience hasn't even reached the maximum level yet. Don't let the rich life blind you!

I can't let Old Wang's kindness go to waste.

Perhaps because of his family circumstances, Qi Hao was very sensitive when it came to personal favors. Old Wang had immediately recommended him to the Fang Household after hearing he wanted a part-time job, definitely because he trusted him as a student.

Otherwise, with the Fang Household's wealth, tutors of every level would be lining up for the job. How could it have fallen to a first-year student like him?

So he couldn't afford to mess up the tutoring.

Following the address, he arrived at the door of the Fang family villa.

A middle-aged man in a well-tailored suit answered the door. The man carried himself well, the sort of middle-aged guy who wasn't sleazy.

"You're... Qi Hao, the one Professor Wang recommended, right?" The man looked Qi Hao up and down.

Qi Hao greeted him politely and gave a brief introduction.

The man's first impression of Qi Hao was favorable, and he stepped aside to invite him in.

At a glance, Qi Hao saw that the interior wasn't decorated in the gaudy, opulent style of the nouveau riche. Instead, it had a modern minimalist look that was quite pleasing.

"My name is Fang Guoping. You can call me Uncle Fang." As they walked, the man explained the situation. "My boy is called Fang Jiaze. He's in his first year of middle school. He's not stupid, but his mind is on games, not studying. He's always saying there's no use learning math. He even says you don't need equations to buy vegetables at the market. He drove all his previous tutors away with one twisted argument after another."

Fang Guoping sighed and continued, "I also have a daughter, Fang Jiaxue. She's a first-year at Sichuan University, studying literature. I originally wanted her to teach him, but that kid Xiao Bo is such a handful. He insisted that humanities students are bad at math and aren't qualified to teach him. He made my daughter furious."

"Don't worry, Uncle Fang. Teaching math is my specialty." Without thinking twice, Qi Hao decided to reassure him first. He needed money and couldn't miss this part-time opportunity.

"I'm relieved to hear you say that. I have a meeting at my company, so I'll be going. Just go up to the second floor and turn left to the study. Jiaxue is there with him."

After Fang Guoping left, Qi Hao gathered his thoughts and stepped onto the thickly carpeted spiral staircase.

He had just reached the study door on the second floor and hadn't even gone in when he heard a clear female voice, tinged with anger, from inside. "Fang Jiaze! I'm telling you one last time, solve this problem!"

A boy's lazy voice followed, drawing out his words. "Sis... I don't understand what you're explaining. Absolute values, number lines... You study literature, so aren't you just reading the textbook out loud when you teach math? You can read it, and so can I, so why do I need you to teach me?"

"You!"

"Believe it or not, I'll beat you up!"

She wouldn't really hit him, would she?

Qi Hao was startled.

If she made him cry, wouldn't his first day of work be ruined?

No, for the sake of his tutoring fee, he had to stop this tyrannosaurus from striking a killing blow.

Qi Hao pushed the door open and entered, just in time to see a girl in a gray short-sleeved knit top, her long hair falling over her shoulders and her chest heaving with anger.

He had to admit, the girls of Sichuan lived up to their reputation. Fang Jiaxue had the air of someone from a scholarly family, and even in a rage, she looked beautiful.

Fang Jiaxue turned and saw Qi Hao. She froze for a moment before realizing who he was. "Are you the new tutor my dad found?"

As she spoke, Fang Jiaxue quietly withdrew the hand she had reached toward her younger brother.