"Auntie, stop it."
Song Yunshen wore a helpless expression as he removed the hand from his head and introduced her to the short-haired woman. "This is the tutor I hired, Teacher Xia Jinshu."
"Huh? She's a teacher?" Song Yunshen's aunt looked at Xia Jinshu in surprise. "Sorry, sorry. You look so young that I thought you were a high school student."
"I actually am a high school student..." Xia Jinshu said, a little embarrassed. "I'm just working part-time over summer vacation."
"Oh, oh..." This time, his aunt wasn't playing dumb. She really hadn't known. She turned and shot Song Yunshen a glare.
You little brat.
You didn't explain it clearly on WeChat, either.
He'd only said that a friend was coming to eat at the restaurant and insisted on paying, so she'd made time to come take a look.
And when she arrived, well, what did she know? Such a pretty young girl-she'd thought her nephew had finally wised up.
But she was only his tutor...
"You're still in high school, and you already know to work to support your studies?" His aunt reached out and rubbed another Rasengan into Song Yunshen's hair, unable to hold back her admiration. "Look at her. She's so sensible."
"You're messing up my hair." Song Yunshen narrowed his eyes and removed his aunt's hand again.
Just then, a server brought their braised chicken to the table. On seeing Song Yunshen's aunt, the server hurriedly said in a low voice, "Boss..."
"Go on with your work." His aunt waved a hand. "They're my guests. This meal's on me."
"Okay." The server nodded and immediately returned to the front desk to take care of it.
Seeing this, Xia Jinshu hurriedly said, "No, there's no need... I..."
"Oh, there's no need to be polite." His aunt smiled. "How much can one meal cost? You're putting your knowledge to work as Shenshen's teacher. That's worth much more than a meal."
"But... Song Yunshen will be paying me, too..."
"Then just think of it as me treating his teacher to a meal." His aunt waved a hand. "Even if the teacher gets paid, how willing she is to actually teach matters a lot, too."
"Since you've eaten this meal on me today, put a little extra care into teaching him over summer vacation and make sure this boy studies hard."
"By the way, what do you teach?"
Xia Jinshu blinked. "English."
"English? English is good." His aunt smiled. "I remember this guy isn't much good at English."
"I'm okay, I guess," Song Yunshen muttered beside them. "At least I can pass."
"And you have the nerve to brag about passing?" His aunt said irritably. "Back when your older sister was at Ningjiang Middle School, she scored over 130 in English. If she weren't so lazy, I'd have wanted her to teach you myself."
"Wouldn't that be snatching someone else's rice bowl?" Song Yunshen grumbled. "Besides, what's 130? Our Teacher Xia can get full marks in English, you know."
"She's that good?" His aunt was a little surprised.
"It's not quite that impressive..." Xia Jinshu hurriedly explained. "I did get full marks on the midterm... but the final exam results aren't out yet. It all depends on how I do."
"That really is impressive." His aunt smiled. "How about this, Teacher Xia? Put in some extra effort over summer vacation, and if you can get this boy's English score up to 100, you can eat at our restaurant for free from then on!"
At those words, Xia Jinshu's expression froze. As she smelled the aroma of braised chicken rising from the table, even her breath caught.
Free braised chicken? F-for free?
She knew she should refuse.
But why won't my mouth obey me?
No, no, she's probably just joking. Xia Jinshu, don't overthink it!
"No, no." Xia Jinshu hurriedly shook her head and politely declined. "Getting 100 is actually very easy. Your offer is too generous."
"Oh, oh, so there's no challenge in it." His aunt nodded in understanding. "Then how about 120? If you can really get his score up that high, you can eat whatever you like here from then on."
Xia Jinshu: "..."
What should I do? It doesn't sound like she's joking.
But 120 points... Xia Jinshu thought of the negative attitude Song Yunshen had shown in his diary and felt it would be quite difficult.
Although, to her, getting less than 120 in English really was hard to understand...
"Okay, then, 120." Xia Jinshu thought it would probably be hard to get Song Yunshen's score up that much in a single summer vacation, so she agreed for the time being.
Otherwise, refusing repeatedly would be a little impolite.
"All right, I won't keep bothering you. Go ahead and eat." His aunt felt they'd talked enough, so she played with Song Yunshen's hair some more. "Study hard, got it?"
"Got it." Song Yunshen looked helpless. Once his aunt had left, he tidied his hair again.
Across from him, Xia Jinshu bent over her food and tasted a piece of braised chicken. It was so delicious her tongue was about to melt, and she hurriedly took another bite of rice.
After swallowing, she fell silent for a moment before finally asking, "Does your aunt own this restaurant?"
"Mm-hmm." Song Yunshen had already entered full eating mode. With his mouth full of meat, he could only respond with a few muffled sounds.
"Then your aunt gave you the buy-one-get-one-free coupon too, right?"
"Yeah."
"Why did you lie to me?"
"I didn't lie to you, did I?" Song Yunshen swallowed a mouthful of rice and said with a smile, "I only said I had a coupon."
"..." Xia Jinshu pressed a hand to her forehead in exasperation. "But I still don't think it's right, having your aunt treat me and all."
"Then you should work hard and make sure you don't let her meal go to waste," Song Yunshen said indifferently. "At worst, once you're making big money, you can treat her to a meal."
"Mm." Xia Jinshu thought that would work too and nodded earnestly.
The two continued eating, discussing some details about the tutoring as they did.
When they were nearly done, Song Yunshen said, "There's a printer at the convenience store next door. If you think everything's okay, we can go print out the contract in a bit."
"Sure." Xia Jinshu nodded in agreement.
"Oh, right." Song Yunshen suddenly thought of something else and invited her with a smile. "Classes start next weekend anyway, so why don't you come home with me in a bit and get familiar with your work environment first?"
"Huh?" Xia Jinshu froze for a moment at his words and, for some reason, felt a little nervous. "T-today?"
"Yeah." Song Yunshen nodded. "Just to have a look. I'll show you around, and if you like it, we can sign the contract."
"Well..." Xia Jinshu hesitated.
After all, she was still only a second-year high school student.
She'd met the boy in front of her for the first time and eaten with him, and now she was even going to his house for a tour...
It just feels kind of strange.
No, no. I'm only visiting as his tutor. It's not like we have some other kind of relationship.
After encouraging herself, Xia Jinshu finally took a deep breath, her gaze gradually growing serious. "Okay, then. Sorry for the trouble."
"You don't have to be so serious... My house isn't some pyramid scheme hideout. Relax a little and think of it as visiting a friend."
"O-okay."
"Now that we're done eating, shall we go?"
"Mm."