The trial lesson was scheduled for two o’clock on Saturday afternoon. If it went smoothly, she could officially start the next day, Sunday, at the same time.
For Song Fu, the third-grade elementary curriculum was still very simple. So-called preparation just involved skimming the content and picking out a relatively proper outfit from a pile of clothes.
“Hello, could you please take about three minutes to introduce yourself?” As the video call began, the person on the screen was not a child but a serious adult in a black suit. The trial lesson felt just like a job interview… though the purposes of the two weren’t that different to begin with.
Song Fu followed the standard script, briefly stating her name and school before emphasizing her brag-worthy College Entrance Exam scores.
The man in the suit nodded from time to time to show he was listening, then looked down and scribbled on his notepad. “I have another question here, which might involve privacy. Would you mind answering?”
Song Fu was cautious. “…Go ahead.”
“Do you have a younger brother?”
Song Fu had thought it would be some offensive question. “Yes, I do.”
The man in the suit continued, “Is his personality good?”
Song Fu didn’t even need to think. “Extremely bad.” From birth, the supporting female character had no experience of family warmth. While other kids played outside, she had already picked up the broom and dishes. But that wasn’t the worst of it. After her younger brother was born, the stark and brutal comparison became what she couldn’t tolerate most.
It turned out little kids got picked up and soothed when they fell, and they could get what they wanted by acting cute. The bride price her older sister received after growing up was definitely going to be used for her brother to marry a wife… The supporting character was too lazy to argue. Leaving was enough. “Does this question have any direct relation to me tutoring?”
The man in the suit looked utterly speechless. “The student you’re going to teach has an extremely bad personality too, so you need some special tactics.”
…
Bad personality?
Special tactics?
On Sunday, Song Fu splurged on a taxi. After steeling herself mentally, she arrived at the agreed location. An aunt led her to a room on the third floor of a villa, and then the door opened—
Before she could see inside clearly, her face was smacked by a flying unidentified object. It didn’t hurt; she was just stunned.
Catching it, she saw it was a fluffy rabbit plush toy with a cheeky, smirking expression.
At the same time, the cute-looking kid inside let out a shrill wail. “I don’t want to! I don’t want to! I just don’t want to study!”
Song Fu’s eardrums nearly burst. She now had a clearer picture that her student was a total brat and forced a smile.
“Little Yuan, be polite. This is your Brother Shiyue’s girlfriend.” The aunt spouted nonsense with a straight face. “If you act like this toward her, your Brother Shiyue will get angry. If he gets angry, he won’t come play with you anymore.”
Though it had been arranged beforehand, Song Fu still felt speechless hearing she had suddenly become someone’s girlfriend.
The uncle had said this little brat feared nothing in heaven or earth except his brother—and by extension, people close to his brother—so they gave her the identity of the brother’s girlfriend. This was also why they wanted a pretty girl; if she wasn’t attractive, the kid probably wouldn’t accept or believe it.
Song Fu snapped back and followed the script. “Hello, Little Yuan. I’m your brother’s girlfriend. He heard you’re not studying seriously and got really angry, so he asked me to watch you study.”
The boy named Little Yuan huddled on the sofa, looking vigilant. He didn’t believe her right away and eyed her up and down. “You?”
Song Fu gritted her teeth and nodded. “Yes, me. Got a problem?” Could she punch this brat? “You just threw something at me. Should I tell Brother Shiyue?”
Little Yuan shook his head without thinking. “No!”
He might still not fully believe her, but he didn’t dare risk it.
The kid said he needed the bathroom one moment, then that he was hungry the next. After twenty minutes of fussing, he finally sat at the desk.
Glancing at the high tutoring fee that had arrived on her phone, Song Fu kept her smile. “Come on, Little Yuan, take out your homework. Ask the teacher if there’s anything you don’t understand, okay?”
Little Yuan looked reluctant, but he at least followed through, pencil in hand, mumbling under his breath. After just two problems, he looked up. “Sister, how did you and Brother get together?”
“Your brother chased me, and I agreed. Simple as that.” Song Fu poked his notebook with her finger. “Focus on the questions first. Finish your homework, and the teacher will explain in detail.”
The kid went “oh” and finally settled down to work, though he sneaked glances at Song Fu now and then.
Once the homework was done, Song Fu graded it while pondering how to spin a story. Little Yuan suddenly spoke up again. “I don’t believe Brother chased you. You must have pestered him relentlessly, right?”
Song Fu circled the wrong answers and feigned surprise, mouth agape. “How did you know?”
The kid huffed smugly. “I just know. Brother’s super popular.”
Song Fu smiled. As long as he accepted her identity, it was fine. “Exactly.”
The brat was easier to handle than expected and pretty smart too. The two-hour session flew by. The aunt who hosted her discussed future tutoring times, then reimbursed the taxi fare as agreed.
Back at the dorm, Song Fu first paid back what she owed her roommates, then settled her loan app. Pleased, she messaged the male lead:
Bro, got time?
Let’s knock out that Romance Quest.
No reply. Instead, after she logged into the game, he pulled her into a party and initiated a voice call.
The specially set pleasant ringtone chimed for five or six seconds. Song Fu exhaled and reluctantly accepted, softening her tone. “Hey, Bro, can you hear me clearly?” Truth be told, she wasn’t the type to chatter endlessly on her own. Talking to someone she only interacted with in-game without lapsing into silence was a tough challenge. “I can’t chat too long. My roommates will be back soon.”
“Okay.” From the voice alone, she couldn’t tell if he was being cold or perfunctory.
Song Fu didn’t dwell and used a teleport scroll to reach the Romance Quest location, officially starting the task.
Not much plot. The quest mainly threw hurdles at the “lovers'” path: climbing mountains, crossing waters, fighting monsters, solving puzzles. Finally, it tested their rapport. Since they were on voice, the process went fairly smoothly, except they got stuck for a bit on the rapport test.
They were on voice, so the rapport test should have been easiest. But the male lead, for some reason, insisted sharing answers ruined it and made them go by gut instinct.
First question: What season does the other like most?
Song Fu had the System to cheat with and smoothly picked spring. The male lead didn’t fare as well. After the countdown, the rotating gear in the game interface jammed briefly before tightening again.
Before he could ask, Song Fu answered first. “I like autumn.”
He followed up. “Why?”
Song Fu explained in a casual tone. “Summer’s too hot.” Without AC, people were like steamed buns; fans were pointless. “Winter’s too cold.” Frostbite always formed on hands and feet. “Spring isn’t that warm either, and it’s too short.”
Second question: What animal does the other like?
They both answered dog, so it passed smoothly.
Third, fourth… Ten rapport questions, from favorite colors to sports, ending with music genres.
During this, Song Fu muttered it was a waste of time and they could just pick the first option every time. But the male lead stubbornly insisted it was meaningless without serious answers. Please, serious answers were meaningless too, right?
Of course, she couldn’t say that out loud.
She couldn’t seem more impatient than the male lead.
The quest plot advanced, and the male lead suddenly spoke again. “You had a lesson Sunday too?” It was afternoon when she logged on.
Song Fu, relieved for a topic, honestly said she’d gone tutoring. “That kid has zero manners. Threw something right at my face… But it was a plush, so no pain.”
“Can’t you skip it?” the male lead asked.
“I’m broke, Bro.” Song Fu controlled her character to leap across rooftops and walls. At the destination, she propped her chin on one hand. “If I don’t go, I won’t even have money for food and will starve.” She casually played pitiful per the plot, expecting him to ask where the previous transfer went or if her family didn’t give her living expenses.
But right then, her roommates returned.
“Fu Fu, how’d the tutoring go today?”
Song Fu hung up on the male lead first. “Pretty good. Kid’s got a bad temper but easy to placate.”
Her roommates urged her not to stay cooped up in the dorm and suggested playing badminton on the field together. Song Fu nodded, verbally agreeing enthusiastically but with zero intention of going.
Song Fu grabbed her phone to message the male lead labeled “Yan,” explaining she hung up because her roommates came back. But before opening the chat, she spotted the transfer notification.
【¥5000 received】
The transfer stood alone and abrupt, with no explanatory note.
Song Fu swiftly accepted it, looking eager, then sent a puzzled cat-head emoji. Bro, why’d you suddenly send me money?
Yan: Didn’t you say you had no money and would starve?
For real? Song Fu blinked, silently going “wow.” She’d met plenty of rich people, but this world’s male lead was the first to send money over a throwaway line of unknown truth.
[Purebred sucker.] The System’s mechanical voice carried complexity. [Host, you don’t need to worry about your scamming skills falling short.]