Who Told You Not to Talk Back?

When Chen Lu heard that, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. Looking at the girl's earnest expression, he joked, "So I was that impressive, huh?"

He didn't know whether this silly girl was trying to comfort him, but he felt much better all at once.

Then another thought struck him, and he looked at her with a mischievous grin. "By the way, it's Saturday. Time for you to go tutor, Teacher Liang."

Chen Guanglin and Wang Xiaoxia were very pleased with the girl, so her part-time job had naturally been settled without a hitch.

They had been shocked by the price of two hundred yuan an hour, though. They weren't the sort to take advantage of others, so they still wanted to pay the normal rate.

Chen Lu had refused.

Chen Lu thought the old couple didn't understand what it meant to boil a frog in warm water. Paying Liang Zhirou so much would not only put her under enormous pressure; it might even scare off the silly girl, who had never earned so much before.

Being called Teacher Liang made the girl feel strange, but she couldn't put her finger on what was wrong.

Unable to figure it out, she could only nod slightly.

"I'll drive you there when it's time, then take you home afterward." As Chen Lu spoke, he messaged Jiang Chao to borrow his Mercedes E300. He got an "OK" as soon as the message went through.

Liang Zhirou hurriedly said, "You don't have to go to all that trouble. I can..."

When she saw the indifferent expression on Chen Lu's face, as if to say, "What are you going to do about it?" she swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue.

Experience had proven time and again that standing her ground was useless in front of Chen Lu... The girl could only go along with him.

Even if she refused, he would just talk circles around her and trick her into it later anyway. She might as well give in from the start.

Chen Lu smiled in satisfaction. "That's more like it. Experts recommend that you resist as little as possible. Otherwise, the more you resist, the more excited I get."

The girl's delicate body trembled violently, and the tips of her ears turned crimson. She looked at him with a hint of grievance. "You're bullying me again..."

Satisfied, Chen Lu turned back to watch them rehearse.

The guy who had come over to greet them earlier had already been killed off, and a girl was holding his "corpse" and crying.

He was ruthless enough to write himself to death. Impressive.

"You turn bad after you drink," Liang Zhirou said earnestly, her voice soft and adorably silly.

Chen Lu found that amusing. He should have sobered up by now. "Turn bad?"

He pondered for a moment, then deliberately continued in a perfectly calm tone, "Then do you like the old me or the current me?"

"I like..." Liang Zhirou abruptly stopped when she realized she'd fallen for his trick. Her bright eyes stared straight at Chen Lu. She wanted to be angry, but she just couldn't work up the anger. Yet if she pretended nothing had happened, she felt he would have gotten the better of her for nothing.

She could only turn her head away, and even that took a great deal of effort.

I won't talk to him for at least an hour.

The girl thought to herself.

Maybe half an hour. Chen Lu doesn't look like he's in a very good mood.

Would ten minutes be enough? What if I make Chen Lu feel even worse?

She was torn.

Just then, Chen Lu suddenly spoke.

"Who told you to be so silly that you don't even know how to talk back when you're bullied? As long as you don't learn, I'll keep bullying you."

The girl turned back and pretended to understand. "I see..."

She didn't want to learn to talk back. As long as she didn't learn, she could stay by Chen Lu's side forever.

She didn't know why, but that was what she wanted.

Chen Lu narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling that getting Liang Zhirou to hold her head high would be a heavy burden and a long road.

That evening.

After bringing Liang Zhirou over, Chen Lu sat on the sofa with his laptop.

His eyes stayed fixed on the screen as he browsed the latest news about the gaming industry.

Although he hadn't decided whether to agree to Jiang Chao's proposal, as a friend, he was still willing to spend some time learning more about it.

Chen Mo and Liang Zhirou sat side by side at the desk. Chen Mo kept letting her mind wander and couldn't sit still, twirling her pen one moment and wondering whether the novel she was following had updated the next.

Liang Zhirou, meanwhile, was diligently studying the "lesson plan" she had prepared. She took this part-time job very seriously.

No other tutor could possibly have kept the little devil Chen Mo in line, but silly Liang Zhirou's diligent attitude made Chen Mo feel a little embarrassed to mess around.

After all, Liang Zhirou had filled two sheets of paper for this single lesson, afraid that she might get nervous, stumble over her words, and waste time.

Seeing the two sheets of A4 paper covered in Liang Zhirou's neat, beautiful handwriting, Chen Mo felt it would be a little rude to slack off too much.

There was always one thing that could subdue another.

Once she had established what they would do today, Liang Zhirou slowly raised her head. "After you finish this page of multiple-choice grammar exercises, I'll help you review grammar again..."

Chen Mo hurriedly changed the subject. "Sister, your school's anniversary is tomorrow, right? I'll come watch your anniversary gala after my study session. Day students at our school can leave evening study early.

"I'll come find you then!"

Liang Zhirou was curious. After all, each class had only been given five audience slots for the gala, and even her own slot had been secured with Lin Miaomiao's help. She couldn't help asking, "How are you going to get in?"

As she asked, she took it upon herself to help Chen Mo organize her books.

At first, Chen Mo had been embarrassed and kept refusing, but Liang Zhirou still quietly helped her tidy up at every opportunity.

In the end, Chen Mo had no choice but to let her, drawing the line at letting her tidy her room.

Although she considered herself to have little conscience, if Liang Zhirou tutored her and also had to tidy her room while she did exercises,

her conscience would still ache terribly.

She had no idea where her brother had met such a gentle, caring girl.

No, she had to think of a way to make her sister-in-law right now, this instant.

"My dad is the head of the political science department at Yuhang University. Didn't my brother tell you?" Chen Mo blinked, finding it strange too.

She had always thought Liang Zhirou knew.

Liang Zhirou froze, then slowly shook her head.

After a moment of silence, she said, "Then come find me tomorrow night. But only if you do more than today's assigned work. You can't keep doing just enough to finish each day like before."

"Okay!"

Chen Mo fought back a smile at the success of her plan and nodded repeatedly.

Even doubling today's workload would have been a breeze for her. She had been slacking off all along, giving Liang Zhirou the impression that this was simply how fast she worked.

A lot of people were always working overtime because they finished their work too efficiently, giving their bosses the impression that they could squeeze every last drop of use out of them.

In fact, the best approach was to appear diligent and turn in the work shortly before it was time to leave.

Chen Mo didn't know whether it was hereditary. All she knew was that she and her brother were alike: both were slyly mischievous.

At last, the school anniversary gala, which everyone had spent so long preparing for, arrived as scheduled.