Only after returning to his seat did Song Yunshen suddenly remember that he seemed to have forgotten to ask his uncle about the going rates for tutoring.
With noon fast approaching, Song Yunshen slacked off at his seat for a while. When Zhang Zhidong came by the classroom on his rounds, he used the bathroom as an excuse to head out again.
Back at the main subject teachers' office, Song Yunshen pushed the door open and entered.
Hearing the door open, Jiang Wenpei looked up and saw Song Yunshen. She immediately put away the remaining lollipops on her desk and held the freshly opened bag of chips in her lap protectively against her chest.
Song Yunshen walked over to Jiang Wenpei's desk and pretended to reach for them, then drew his hand back and laughed. "Teacher Jiang, don't look like I'm about to bully you."
"You dare say you weren't thinking about eating my chips?" Jiang Wenpei chuckled. "Weren't you just here? Why are you back?"
"Isn't it because I'm worried Teacher Jiang will get fat from eating too many snacks? Then you wouldn't look pretty anymore." Song Yunshen looked thoroughly righteous. "So I came back to help you finish off some more chips."
"Scram, scram, scram. Don't come to the office if you don't need anything."
"I do need something, but not from you." Having finished teasing Peipei as usual, Song Yunshen turned and walked over to Song Minggui.
Seeing that he really did have business, Jiang Wenpei pursed her lips speechlessly and put her headphones back on to continue watching her show.
Lao Bao was still in the classroom, and Jiang Wenpei had her headphones on, so Song Yunshen stopped hiding it and grinned at Song Minggui. "Uncle..."
"Call me Teacher at school." Song Minggui glanced at him. "If you've got a fart to let out, hurry up and let it out."
"It's about Xia Yunuo, from earlier." Song Yunshen didn't beat around the bush with his own uncle and asked him directly, "Could you put some thought into it and try to find her a suitable one? Especially when it comes to the student-he can't be a boy."
At that, Song Yunshen couldn't help coughing to cover up his guilty conscience and embarrassment. "I don't mean anything by it. I just don't think it's very safe for a girl to go to a boy's home to give him one-on-one lessons."
Of course, the "boy" he was talking about didn't include Song Yunshen.
If a girl came to his home to tutor him one-on-one, that would definitely be perfectly safe.
Hearing him cover his ears while stealing a bell, Song Minggui couldn't help curling his lips in a sneer. "I told you to study hard, not come to school to flirt with girls."
"What kind of thing is that to say?" Song Yunshen protested. "I could let it slide if someone else said it, but hearing it from you, Uncle, is going to break my heart."
How could Song Minggui not know this brat? He let out a scoff. "Show me how heartbroken you are, then. If you can cry, I'll put some thought into finding her a student."
At that, Song Yunshen immediately turned to look at the eye drops on Jiang Wenpei's desk. He picked them up, tilted his head back, and put two drops in his eyes before looking at Song Minggui with tears brimming in them.
"I'm crying. Boo-hoo..."
"All right, all right." Song Minggui really couldn't stand this guy. He waved his hand repeatedly. "You don't need to stick your nose into this. Your Teacher Zhang already told me about it, and he's even treating me to a meal later."
"Huh? Lao Bao's that nice?"
"What Lao Bao?"
"Oh, oh, nothing, nothing." Song Yunshen had let it slip and immediately changed his tune. "What else did Teacher Zhang say?"
"He told me not to find her a boy."
"Teacher Zhang and I really are heroes who think alike!" Song Yunshen gave him a thumbs-up.
Song Minggui was growing impatient. "Anything else? If not, hurry up and scram."
"Yes, yes." Song Yunshen hadn't forgotten the real reason he was there. He asked, "What are the going rates for tutoring now? My dad found me a tutor privately, but they're still negotiating the price."
He didn't say he'd found the tutor himself, lest Song Minggui think it was inappropriate and go to his dad to talk him out of it.
"Where did you find the tutor?" Song Minggui asked with a frown. "Don't go picking someone unreliable. If you want a tutor, why not ask Teacher Jiang? During summer vacation, she only has to come to school for the remedial classes in the morning."
Song Minggui spoke much louder toward the end, and Jiang Wenpei, sitting nearby, heard him immediately.
But the next second, Jiang Wenpei shook her head repeatedly. "I can't, Teacher Song. You're single, so you wouldn't understand. I have dates to go on!"
Song Minggui's face darkened the moment he heard that.
"Teacher Jiang, why don't you introduce Teacher Song to someone?" Song Yunshen said with a grin. "Do you have any pretty close friends or anything?"
"Now that you mention it, I really do." Jiang Wenpei's eyes lit up, her matchmaker instincts awakening. She asked eagerly, "Are you interested, Teacher Song?"
"Stop fooling around." Song Minggui had reached the end of his patience. "Teacher Jiang, if you keep messing around with him, I'm reporting you to the director of student affairs for watching shows at work."
"Oh..." Jiang Wenpei drew her head back and immediately covered her mouth to show she wouldn't say anything else.
Of the three main subject teachers, Zhang Zhidong was already in his forties and had long since started a family and established his career.
Song Minggui was also in his thirties, no spring chicken, but he had never found a partner.
Jiang Wenpei was only twenty-four, a generation or two younger than the other two teachers. She was a newcomer, and even though they were all colleagues, she was still a little afraid of them.
After all the fooling around, they returned to the subject at hand.
Song Minggui gathered his thoughts and finally said, "The price of one-on-one tutoring varies a lot. A renowned teacher and an ordinary college student would obviously charge completely different rates."
"Then how much would an ordinary college student charge?" Song Yunshen asked.
"Normally, about 150 to 200 yuan an hour," Song Minggui said. "Of course, that's when an education agency takes a cut or charges an intermediary fee."
"If your dad found someone privately, it should be a bit cheaper."
"If you want to bargain, some college students are easier to talk around. You might even get them to agree to sixty or seventy yuan an hour."
"Oh~" Song Yunshen nodded in understanding.
Looking at it that way, the 100 yuan an hour he was paying was a fair price.
"If that's all, get back to the classroom." Song Minggui issued another order for him to leave.
"Uncle." Song Yunshen hadn't asked enough yet and shamelessly stayed put. "You said agencies also take a cut or charge an intermediary fee?"
"Mm." Song Minggui nodded helplessly, thinking that the brat had so many questions. "My friend's agency mainly charges an intermediary fee, calculated from the teacher's lesson rate. They charge about two or three lessons' worth, probably only five or six hundred yuan."
"Then could you not tell Xia Yunuo about it?" Song Yunshen asked. "I'll pay the intermediary fee."
There was no way Xia Yunuo could pay that much in intermediary fees all at once.
If she couldn't tutor because of that, it would be too hard on her.
"She can pay it after she's taught three lessons. There are plenty of ways to handle it, so why are you sticking your nose into everything?" Song Minggui said irritably. "Ask me one more question and I'll tell your dad you're dating at your age."
"What dating?! I'm just showing normal concern for a classmate!"
"Bullshit!" Song Minggui cursed at him. "If your grades drop because of this, just see if I don't beat you!"
At those words, Song Yunshen's expression changed.
Oh no!
He still hadn't figured out how to bluff his way past his final exam results!
Song Minggui wasn't as easygoing as Song Mingyuan. Because he had remained single, he actually treated his nephew Song Yunshen as his own son.
If Song Minggui found out about his science results this time, Song Yunshen felt his ass had already been beaten into four pieces.
But now that things had come to this, he could only take it one step at a time. At worst, he could just avoid his uncle all summer vacation.
At the start-of-term exam next semester, I'll astonish everyone with a single brilliant feat and wash away this disgrace!
Thinking about all this, Song Yunshen coughed twice, a little guiltily, and prepared to grease his soles and slip away.
Just then, the noon bell rang, and a rumble immediately arose in the corridor outside.
The army of hungry students had already set out.
Song Yunshen wasn't in a hurry. He still had to find Xia Jinshu anyway, so before leaving, his gaze fell on the chips in Jiang Wenpei's hands.
"Teacher Jiang, it's almost lunchtime. You should eat fewer chips," Song Yunshen said with concern.
"Take them, take them." Jiang Wenpei rolled her eyes at him and handed over the chips, of which there weren't many left. "If you want some, just say so. Why beat around the bush?"
"Thank you, Teacher Jiang~ You're the prettiest!" Having achieved his goal, Song Yunshen took the chips and immediately turned to leave.
Having been praised for her looks, Jiang Wenpei was in a good mood and decided not to hold it against him.
Song Yunshen left the office and returned to the classroom with the chips. There were only a few people left inside.
But Xia Yunuo was still sitting at her desk. He didn't know why she hadn't left for the cafeteria.
Seeing her from behind, Song Yunshen walked over and put the chips in front of her.
Xia Yunuo looked up at Song Yunshen, then at the chips on her desk, and blinked. "Where did you get these?"
"Teacher Jiang specifically gave me permission to bring them to you."
Of course, Xia Yunuo knew there was no way Teacher Jiang had sent them to her. She pursed her lips and picked up the chips, then asked quietly, "Today... um... do you want to have lunch together?"