The next day.
Song Yi received a bank card where Murong Huan, Shen Yujing, and Quan Le's families would deposit their tutoring fees.
Although they were willing to pay ten or twenty times the market price, Song Yi felt uneasy accepting such amounts.
After discussing it among the four of them, they decided each would pay three times the market rate.
Song Yi felt very embarrassed but "reluctantly" accepted.
Well, only a fool would turn down good money.
After half a month of tutoring, the three students showed noticeable improvement. The four of them often spent time together at school, which caught the attention of other students.
People started discussing on the school forum:
[Has anyone noticed? Murong Huan, Quan Le, Shen Yujing, and Song Yi have been inseparable lately. Are they close friends?]
2nd post: Murong Huan and Song Yi have been close for ages
6th post: OP is so bored... Don't you have anything better to do? You'll gossip about anything.
9th post: Stop stalking people. If you like Shen Yujing, just go for it. Why throw shade here?
11th post: I'm the OP! No no no, you've got it wrong. I'm just really confused. Yesterday I saw the three of them going to the library to find Song Yi, and when they came out, her eyes were red. Think about it - are Shen Yujing and Murong Huan the type to study in the library? What else could they be doing there?
15th post: Quietly agreeing with OP. I saw Shen Yujing throwing books around. They seemed to be arguing. Song Yi probably cried because they bullied her.
17th post: Oh wow, that's too much.
24th post: Wasn't Shen Yujing and Quan Le not even on good terms with Murong Huan before? What's this? Forming a temporary alliance to bully the top student?
29th post: I don't get it. Why would the three of them bully Song Yi?
31st post: Quan Le is slightly better... but with Shen Yujing and Murong Huan's tempers, do they even need a reason to bully someone?
33rd post: True.
36th post: Yeah.
...
If Song Yi had seen this post, she would have called it ridiculous.
Although no one would believe it, they were actually studying together in the library yesterday.
Shen Yujing threw the book because he and Murong Huan had different answers to a problem, which led to their argument.
Of course, in the end, they were both wrong.
As for her red eyes, it was just because she was tired and had yawned. How did that get interpreted as crying?
Unfortunately, all four were too busy studying to check the forum, missing the best opportunity to clear up the rumors.
As the story spread, it began to sound more and more true, catching the attention of the Student Council's Disciplinary Committee Head, Jiang Yiheng.
When Murong Huan and Shen Yujing came to Class A to find Song Yi and Quan Le after school, Jiang Yiheng stopped them.
Shen Yujing asked puzzled, "What do you want?"
Jiang Yiheng looked Shen Yujing up and down, then turned to Song Yi and asked, "Where are you all going?"
"I don't know," Song Yi answered honestly.
Their tutoring locations weren't fixed - sometimes at Murong Huan's house, sometimes at Quan Le's or Shen Yujing's, and sometimes the three would follow her home for dinner.
But Song Yi's answer made Jiang Yiheng misunderstand—
He thought she didn't know where she was being taken because of bullying.
Jiang Yiheng's gaze fell on Song Yi as he said, "You can tell me if something's wrong."
Song Yi: "?"
What could be wrong?
She was earning money tutoring three classmates - honest work! Why was Jiang Yiheng looking at them like he was investigating some serious crime?
But Song Yi didn't want to explain everything to Jiang Yiheng, so she just shook her head and said, "Nothing's wrong."
As Song Yi reached for her backpack and turned to Murong Huan saying "Let's go," she exposed a small red mark on her arm - just an imprint from falling asleep during self-study.
This made Jiang Yiheng frown even more deeply. Although Song Yi and Murong Huan were close friends, and they were even in the same group during the grade trip, high school friendships were fragile. It wasn't unusual for friends to become enemies over small matters.
So Jiang Yiheng directly stated his purpose, looking at the other three, "We received anonymous reports that you three are involved in school bullying."
Shen Yujing, Murong Huan, and Quan Le all pointed at themselves and simultaneously went "Huh?"
Quan Le was the first to ask, "School bullying? Who are we bullying?"
"Don't make baseless accusations."
Shen Yujing was even more confused, as he hadn't done anything lately.
Murong Huan also looked completely bewildered.
Under their puzzled gazes, Jiang Yiheng turned to Song Yi, "So have these three been bullying you?"
Song Yi: "..."
This wasn't the first time Jiang Yiheng had suspected her of being bullied or bullying others.
Before Song Yi could answer, Murong Huan rolled her eyes and said, "You're always getting this report and that report. If you want to know what's going on, just come and see."
Quan Le nodded, clearly finding it amusing, and said, "Let's go."
And so—
That evening, there were five people studying instead of four.
At the Shen residence.
A huge whiteboard for teaching had been set up in Shen Yujing's room.
Song Yi sat on the nearby sofa, seriously applauding, "Everyone, welcome Teacher Jiang!"
Scattered applause followed.
Jiang Yiheng: "..."
His face clearly showed disbelief as he picked up the three students' workbooks. Only after seeing the correction marks did he accept what was happening before his eyes.
Yes, he wasn't seeing things.
The three notorious troublemakers of Saint Slee were gathered together, quietly accepting tutoring from Song Yi.
Jiang Yiheng's gaze returned to Song Yi, more complex than before, and he asked, "How did you manage this?"
How did she manage to control all three of them at once? Actually getting them to attend lessons together? The school teachers would be shocked if they saw this.
"They came to me," Song Yi shrugged, with a genuine smile. "When classmates want to learn, how could I refuse?"
Song Yi then handed Jiang Yiheng a pen and a workbook, continuing, "Since you're here, why don't you teach them pages fifty-two to fifty-five?"
Jiang Yiheng seemed not to have processed it all yet. He looked down at the workbook in his hands, and although the situation felt bizarre, he thought it would be wrong to discourage them now that they were finally studying.
So after some hesitation, Jiang Yiheng began his explanation on the whiteboard.
Song Yi opened a bag of sunflower seeds and sat nearby like an exam proctor, watching the three students.
"Murong Huan! No looking in the mirror!"
"Shen Yujing! I saw you open that game, turn off your phone!"
"Quan Le? What are you daydreaming about? Is pen spinning that interesting?"
The three: "..."
Finally, Murong Huan turned to Song Yi with a pitiful look, "He's explaining too fast."
Quan Le nodded, "I understand what he's saying, but I'm not quite getting the middle calculation process."
Shen Yujing: "Can't understand him. He's not very good."
Song Yi finally looked at the whiteboard and saw that Jiang Yiheng's teaching method was quite complex. Even Quan Le had to think hard to keep up, let alone Shen Yujing and Murong Huan.
So Song Yi took the pen from Jiang Yiheng and explained the problem in a different way.
Jiang Yiheng sat in Song Yi's original spot, his eyes following the movement of her pen.
She used simpler formulas that, although appearing more complex, were easier for students with weaker foundations to understand, and better to master.
The same was true for the following problems. Song Yi always found the best way to explain things to the three of them, grouping similar problem types together, and gradually increasing the difficulty through repeated practice to enhance retention.
After more than an hour, the day's tutoring session was coming to an end.
Meanwhile, downstairs at the Shen residence.
Shen's Mother walked in wearing high heels, handed her suitcase to the butler, and removed her sunglasses. As she walked inside, she anxiously asked, "What's going on? Tell me everything!"
She was happily playing with her beloved adopted gorilla son abroad and was about to buy him another villa with a private amusement park when she suddenly received a call from the butler.
She heard that her somewhat immature biological son had been acting strangely lately, giving the butler a bank card number and asking him to transfer some money into it.
Though the amount wasn't particularly large, since Shen Yujing usually didn't pursue branded goods or luxury cars and rarely spent money, this sudden request for funds seemed very suspicious.
Shen's Mother thought it over and concluded that, given her son's intelligence, he might have fallen victim to a scam.
Deciding her biological son was more important, she couldn't stay to play with her adopted son anymore. She even left her husband in the middle of business negotiations and rushed back to the country on her private jet.
After entering the main hall, the butler handed the luggage to the servant and poured tea for Shen's Mother before saying, "Madam, please mind your volume. The young master and his classmates are upstairs."
Hearing this, Shen's Mother lowered her voice and asked, "Alright, now quickly tell me what exactly he's been up to lately?"
The butler replied, "The young master has been spending a lot of time with several of his classmates lately. Sometimes he brings them home, but most times he returns very late and refuses to let me pick him up."
Hearing the butler's description, Shen's Mother frowned and asked, "Who are these people?"
The butler continued, "Miss Murong from the Murong family, young master Quan Le, the top student of the senior class at Saint Slee Academy Miss Song Yi, and today, young master Jiang Yiheng from the Jiang family."
Shen's Mother could match faces to these three names, and her intuition told her that her son's recent strange behavior must have something to do with them.
Just as Shen's Mother was about to ask more questions, she heard footsteps.
A group of people came down the stairs one after another.
Upon seeing his mother, Shen Yujing's eyes widened as he asked, "Why are you back?"
"Why can't I come back?" Shen's Mother looked at Murong Huan and smiled, "Huan Huan? Long time no see."
"Auntie!" Murong Huan rushed forward to greet Shen's Mother.
Despite their age difference, the two outgoing personalities got along surprisingly well.
Shen Yujing rolled his eyes at the scene and said, "Alright, everyone should leave now. I'm not keeping you for dinner."
"We haven't prepared anything special today anyway," Shen's Mother nodded and smiled, "Next time, have Shen Yujing let us know in advance so we can prepare dishes you all like."
Everyone politely agreed, then bid farewell to Shen's Mother and left.
Shen's Mother's gaze lingered on Song Yi's retreating figure. After they had all left, she turned to Shen Yujing and said, "Dad and Mom have been gone for a whole half month. How have you been managing on your own?"
Shen Yujing: "..."
Could this even be called managing on his own?
Living in his own house with everything from food to accommodation perfectly arranged by the butler and servants, except for having one less person nagging in his ear, there was absolutely no difference from before!
Shen's Mother had clearly just asked casually, not really caring whether Shen Yujing was independent or not. She continued, "And that girl, Song Yi, right? You even brought her home this time? What's this, have you made up your mind about her?"
Shen Yujing's face was written all over with irritation as he directly said, "Can you stop making things up?"
"Don't try to deny it. I'm a very open-minded parent, I support your puppy love," Shen's Mother looked at Shen Yujing with an all-knowing expression and said, "I told you last time too, wouldn't it be too pitiful to look back on your youth and find that not only were your grades poor and you had few friends, but you didn't even have a taste of innocent love?"
Poor grades? Well, they'd been poor for so many years, no way to change that now.
Few friends? With his temperament, having Quan Le as a friend was already a miracle, impossible to have any other friends.
Innocent love? With that beautiful face that inherited her good looks, attracting girls wouldn't be a problem, so perhaps only the path of love was still somewhat viable.
Shen Yujing: "..."
There was no point in arguing, really no point.
He was already used to such ineffective communication with his mother, so instead of arguing, he directly asked, "Why did you suddenly come back?"
Just as Shen's Mother was about to answer, the butler suddenly came to her side and said in a low voice, "We've found out who owns the bank card, and there are two other accounts transferring the same amount of money into it. We've identified one of them as belonging to the Quan family."
Shen Yujing crossed his arms and said, "Hey, what are you trying to say? If you're not going to tell me, I'm leaving."
Shen's Mother said with a complicated expression, "Go wherever you want."
Shen Yujing: "?"
Coming back mysteriously, saying all these mysterious things to him, and then mysteriously telling him to leave?
Fine, he'll leave then.
Shen Yujing turned and went upstairs.
Meanwhile, Shen's Mother remained standing there, thoughtfully watching his retreating figure, her expression growing increasingly troubled.
So it turned out her son hadn't fallen victim to an online scam, but rather a double scam involving both emotions and money?
That girl called Song Yi perhaps wasn't as simple as she appeared, otherwise how could she trick three people into transferring money to her at the same time?
Shen's Mother clearly looked unhappy. The daughter-in-law she thought she had secured seemed to be slipping away. Although this girl was beautiful and clever, but...
It seemed uncertain whether her son could still pursue the third path of love, besides his already hopeless paths of friendship and academics.
*
The next day, in class.
Song Yi sneezed eight times in a row and quietly wrapped her clothes tighter around herself.
Jiang Yiheng turned his head to look at her and asked, "Do you have a cold?"
"No," Song Yi immediately shook her head in denial, then sneezed for the ninth time, "I just don't know why I keep sneezing."
After speaking, Song Yi took out a mask from her pocket and put it on.
Perhaps it was because of the recent temperature drop, or maybe because the classroom was too stuffy and poorly ventilated.
Thinking this, Song Yi went to the corridor during break time to get some fresh air.
Suddenly, footsteps approached, and a bottle of Want Want milk was held out in front of her, with a band-aid on the index finger of the hand holding it.
Song Yi looked up puzzled, and upon seeing Hang Feng, she took the milk.
It was warm.
Song Yi was thirsty, so she immediately opened the milk and took a sip, then asked, "What happened to your hand?"
Hang Feng looked down at his hand, remained silent for a few seconds before saying, "Got bitten."
"Huh?" Song Yi asked curiously, "Bitten by what?"
Hang Feng: "..."
Hang Feng: "A turtle."
"You keep turtles?" Song Yi was surprised, then commented, "That's quite an unusual hobby."
Hang Feng: "It's the one you sent last time."
Song Yi: "..."
But Song Yi still didn't understand, "Didn't you make turtle soup with it?"
Hang Feng said, "Grandmother thinks these creatures have spirits and shouldn't be killed carelessly, so we kept it as a pet."
A cold wind blew past, making Song Yi shiver involuntarily. She said, "Oh, I see. Let's stop chatting, I should go back inside..."
Before Song Yi could finish speaking, she saw Hang Feng lower his head and remove his scarf, then wrap it around her neck.
The scarf still carried his body warmth, leaving Song Yi momentarily stunned.
The young man's narrow eyes were downcast, not meeting her gaze as he said, "My father won't last many more days, and grandmother hasn't been in a good mood lately. If you have time, could you come visit her?"
So that's why.
Song Yi looked down at the milk in her hand, instantly understanding.
The milk, the scarf - it was all because he had a favor to ask.
So Song Yi nodded in agreement, "Tomorrow's Friday, and I happen to be free. I'll go with you after school."
"Okay." Hang Feng raised his eyes to look at her, his thin face carrying a somewhat pale beauty, the slight dark circles under his eyes now visible to her.
Song Yi only then realized that for Hang Feng, no matter how much he hated Xu Yuanguo, that man was still his father.
Humans are emotional creatures, and at times like these, the contradiction between hatred and the innate dependence of blood ties becomes extremely apparent.
Song Yi opened her mouth wanting to comfort Hang Feng, but didn't know what to say, and finally could only say, "You should go back too. Get some rest early tonight and have a good sleep."
*
After school.
Song Yi was today's class duty student, so she was the last one to leave Class A.
At this moment, most people had already left the school, with only ginkgo leaves scattered on the ground and occasional students passing by.
When Song Yi reached the school gate, a BMW stopped in front of her, and the window slowly rolled down—
Shen's Mother took off her sunglasses, revealing an irritated expression, and muttered, "If I wasn't worried about being recognized, I wouldn't be driving this kind of car!"
Song Yi: "?"
Shen's Mother then turned to look at Song Yi, showing a smile, "Young lady, we've met before. I have something to discuss with you. Would you mind getting in the car?"
*
At the café.
Looking at the 50-million-yuan check on the table, Song Yi's hands trembled as she held her coffee.
Holy crap!
Holy crap!!
Holy crap!!!
Those Mary Sue novels weren't lying! The rich CEO's mother really does come with a check to find the ordinary female lead! This is real! This is... this is too good to be true!
Song Yi was extremely excited but still tried to maintain an innocent, confused expression as she looked at Shen's Mother and asked, "Auntie, what do you mean by this?"
Song Yi had already imagined that Shen's Mother would next say something cool like "Take these 50 million and leave my son."
Then she would cry prettily and say, "No! We're true love! You need to offer more!"
It would be foolish not to make money when you can!
Although she and Shen Yujing had only just established a bit of friendship, but in front of 50 million—
Sorry, who is he again?
Song Yi had it all planned out perfectly, but then Shen's Mother looked at her and said, "I heard you've been getting close to my son, is that right?"
Song Yi neither confirmed nor denied it, instead responding with the all-purpose white lotus phrase: "Shen Yujing and I are just friends."
"Very good." Shen's Mother nodded, then pushed the 50-million check closer to Song Yi and said, "I'll give you 50 million to start playing with my son's feelings from today onwards."
Song Yi put on an "utterly offended" expression and began to recite her prepared lines, "No! We're true..."
Huh? Wait!
This isn't the right script?!
Song Yi looked at Shen's Mother in confusion, asking in disbelief, "What did you say?"
Did she hear wrong? What kind of nonsense was that just now?
Shen's Mother smiled brightly and repeated, "I said, I want you to play with my son's feelings."
Song Yi was still in a state of "doubting her own ears" and asked, "W-why?"
"Because I think his attitude needs adjusting." Shen's Mother shrugged and said with interest, "I want to see him cry from heartbreak. You know, sons grow distant from their mothers when they grow up. It's been many years since I've seen him cry."
Shen's Mother looked at Song Yi and continued, "Oh, and if he cries really hard, I'll add another 10 million."
Song Yi: "..."
She didn't understand, but she was utterly shocked.
Although Song Yi was tempted by the money, the task of "playing with Shen Yujing's feelings" was obviously much more difficult than "leaving my son."
So Song Yi reluctantly pushed the check back, righteously saying, "I'm sorry, I can't accept your offer."
It wasn't that she didn't want to earn the money; she just didn't have the ability.
But Shen's Mother stared into Song Yi's eyes, as if trying to see through something.
The next moment, Shen's Mother slapped the table, "I knew it! Someone as beautiful as you couldn't be the type to care only about money! There must be some misunderstanding!"
Shen's Mother then grabbed Song Yi's hands across the table, "You've passed my test! There aren't many good girls like you nowadays!"
Song Yi: "...?"
Huh?
