"You've learned to lie, haven't you? You did so badly on the exam this time, even the teacher called to laugh at me. I wash dishes and clean basins every day to earn money to support your studies, do you think I'd let you go out and play? You even dare to cause trouble at school. Do you think your family has any connections? You dare to mess with people you can't mess with? I might as well kill you. What was the point of having you? You're a money-loser! You can't even get scholarships. Look at Fang Jingjing, look at Jiang Cuo, who's number one in the whole school. Aren't they all better than you? What's the use of raising you? You're just a burden to your younger brother."
The girl who was hit covered her cheek, her eyes filled with tears, her expression filled with resentment, and her other hand was clenched into a fist, as if suppressing the injustice in her heart, before she loudly retorted.
"Money, money, money, you gave birth to me just for money, so why don't you sell me then?"
With a slap, another mouth slapped.
"Now you've learned to talk back, haven't you? With your grades now, what good university can you get into? What am I doing renting a place in the city to support your studies? If you go back to the village with grades like this, people will laugh you to death. If I were you, I would have died long ago."
The teacher said you messed with that Su Qianqian in class? She's so rich, why did you mess with her? Can you even afford to? Our whole family will be dragged down by you, you jinx! I have to work the night shift tonight, no one will go with you to see the teacher tomorrow, so figure it out yourself.”
"Mom, I'm home."
The girl's mother was halfway through her scolding when she heard the door open, and a clear, boyish voice rang out.
"Hey, son, you're back. Hurry up and wash your hands and eat. Was school tiring today? Did you have enough pocket money? Maybe Mom will give you some more tomorrow?"
Upon seeing her son, her tone of voice instantly changed 180 degrees.
During meals, the only meat dish was placed closer to the son.
The girl reached in with her chopsticks to pick up a piece of meat, and a sudden sound rang out.
"You did so badly on the test, and you still have the nerve to eat meat? Your younger brother is still growing, so you should eat less. We only have so much food left in our family. Luckily, your old drunkard father died early, otherwise someone in our family would have starved to death."
Hearing her mother's words, the girl could only reluctantly withdraw her hand, lower her head, look at her rice bowl, put down her chopsticks, and get up to return to her room.
"Mom, what happened to my sister?"
"Ignore her, she's useless." Then he shouted towards the girl's room, "Remember to wash the dishes later. You're so old and you still don't understand anything. You're getting worse as you get older. Also, the teacher made you write that self-criticism, don't forget."
"Mom, I've already found the link on my phone, when can I buy it?"
"I'll buy it tomorrow. Mom will give you your sister's food money. Your sister ranked over 300th on the exam. It's such a disgrace. No wonder those parents didn't tell me her grades. What's the point of her eating? She probably just took the money to play at school. I won't tolerate her bad habits."
The boy didn't offer a word of concern after hearing this, his face cold and indifferent. "Oh."
Even when the girl returned to her room halfway through her meal, the mother and son still didn't leave her a single bite of food.
...
Back at the villa, Su Qianqian had eaten and drunk her fill, dressed neatly, and sat at the desk in her room, waiting for Jiang Cuo to come and tutor her.
Su Lian also acted as a third wheel for a long time.
Su Lian received a text message.
It was sent by Su Jianxiu.
Su Lian and Su Qianqian had discussed it and decided that all they needed to do was convey to Su Jianxiu the message that Su Lian was not having a good time here.
Su Lian: [Dad, when are you going to take me back? I'm not getting enough to eat or wear here, and my sister beats and scolds me every day.]
Su Lian: [Dad, I think the butler's gaze towards me is a little strange.]
Su Lian: [Dad, I have to take back what I said after I finish speaking, otherwise I'm afraid Su Qianqian will see my phone and find out.]
Su Jianxiu: [My dear daughter, Daddy's company has recently lost money. If you stay with me, it will only make things harder for you. You should stay with your sister for now.]
Su Lian: [Dad...]
Su Jianxiu: [Listen to me.]
After sending the message, Su Lian proactively showed her phone screen to Su Qianqian.
Su Qianqian glanced at it briefly and nodded.
A short while later, Jiang Cuo reappeared, still carrying his schoolbag and holding his textbook.
Jiang Cuo wore a casual bun today, and her voluminous hair made her widow's peak look even more beautiful.
This gave Jiang Cuo, who seemed aloof and cold, a more peaceful and approachable demeanor.
Su Qianqian felt a little strange when she thought about how Jiang Cuo had taken out the test paper that morning, which looked like it had been carefully preserved.
Moreover, some perfect test papers even had colorful little flowers pasted in the corners.
There's a really big contrast between cuteness and innocence.
"Class has started, what are you daydreaming about?"
The clear, spring-like sound brought Su Qianqian back to her senses.
She noticed that Jiang Cuo was sitting between her and Su Lian as usual, and the two of them were looking at each other, seemingly quite close. If they moved closer together at the same time, their lips would touch.
Su Qianqian immediately turned her head away, her face feeling a little hot.
Su Qianqian fanned her face with her right hand. It must have been because Jiang Cuo pinched her today, it couldn't be because she was shy.
How could she possibly be charmed by a little kid?
"No, I wasn't thinking about anything, Teacher Jiang, let's start class."
Su Qianqian said sullenly.
Jiang Cuo, with a calm expression, shifted his gaze from the back of Su Qianqian's head back to his textbook.
Originally, Su Lian was brought to class to avoid the awkwardness of being in the same room as Jiang Cuo, but today, Su Qianqian suddenly felt that Su Lian's presence made her even more uncomfortable.
It's as if she and Jiang Cuo really have something going on, and she's avoiding suspicion here.
Jiang Cuo teaches from 8 pm to 10 pm every day, a total of two hours of teaching time.
Every night at 9:20, Su Lian would take over from Su Qianqian's maid and heat up a cup of milk for Su Qianqian.
At this time, Jiang Cuo would also give Su Qianqian a ten-minute break between classes, or ask her some simple questions.
When Su Lian went downstairs to heat up the milk this time, the two of them suddenly faced each other and fell silent.
If it were any other time in the past, Su Qianqian would have already been captivated by what Jiang Cuo was saying and would have discussed it with him.
But today, Su Qianqian felt something was off, and she felt that Jiang Cuo seemed different from usual.
Jiang Cuo suddenly turned around and started rummaging through his bag.
Su Qianqian suppressed her curiosity and did not crane her neck to look.
Jiang Cuo took out a slightly exquisite gift box from her schoolbag, with a rather clumsy handmade bow tied on it.
Although Su Qianqian had some guesses, she was still not quite sure. "What is this?"
Jiang Cuo: "A gift."
Anyone would be happy to receive a gift.
Moreover, Su Qianqian received a gift from Jiang Cuo.
[Waste System: Congratulations, host, for completing the tasks of Jiang Cuo delivering a gift to you and ranking in the top ten of the monthly exam. The reward is a 10% increase in your integration with the system world; your current integration level is 72%.]
Su Qianqian took a long breath to calm her rapidly beating heart.
I try to attribute this extra joy to completing the tasks assigned by the system.
Can I open it now?
"sure."
With starry eyes, Su Qianqian gently pulled open the bow that Jiang Cuo had personally made.
The gift box was a long, narrow box.
However, someone with ulterior motives deliberately painted patterns on the outside with oil paints.
Although it's clear that the artist's skills aren't great, they've done their best to be meticulous in every detail.
It's obvious that a lot of thought and effort was put into it.
Because each of the six sides of the box is decorated with a different little person and a different background.
There are little figures sitting at their desks in their rooms, clutching their messy braids and poking their foreheads with pens; there are little figures walking their dogs in the garden; there are little figures sitting in classrooms diligently answering questions; there are little figures playing volleyball on the playground; and there is a little figure curled up in pain on a bed in the infirmary, with a pained expression.
Su Qianqian's heart felt as if it had been poked by something, and instantly softened.
My eyes were a little wet.
This gift box is so thoughtful and has such great attention to detail.
She asked Jiang Cuo to give him a gift, but it was just a task assigned by the system. She said it without thinking, but she didn't expect Jiang Cuo to take it to heart.
Su Qianqian looked up at Jiang Cuo's face and saw that the coldness in Jiang Cuo's eyes seemed to have been replaced by gentleness, and he also looked down at her seriously.
What touched Su Qianqian the most was that the gift and the little figures on each side all happened after she came to the system world, not the original owner of Su Qianqian.
This gave Su Qianqian the feeling that she truly existed in this world.
After slowly opening the gift box, a bright golden fountain pen appeared in front of Su Qianqian.
Su Qianqian didn't know much about fountain pen brands, but intuitively, she felt that this fountain pen was very valuable.
In her original world, during her high school years, she would have had to save up her allowance for a long time to afford it.
Su Qianqian carefully picked up the pen and found that there were three characters engraved on the end of the pen in seal script.
"Your name is Su Qianqian."
Perhaps sensing the confusion in Su Qianqian's eyes, Jiang Cuo immediately whispered a reminder.
"Did you carve this yourself?"
"Yes, I spent three days carving with a magnifying glass. Luckily, I didn't damage the pen's appearance."
Su Qianqian was deeply moved.
Jiang Cuo really put a lot of effort into it.
[Waste System: Ta-da! Congratulations, host, for triggering a daily random mini-ambiguous task.]
The system detected that the host, deeply moved by Jiang Cuo's gift, is experiencing a rapid heartbeat. The system requests that the host gently pinch Jiang Cuo's chin with their fingers and then kiss Jiang Cuo's cheek to express their gratitude.
Su Qianqian: "??"
Her heartfelt gratitude was interrupted by the notification sound from the useless system.
[Waste System: A friendly reminder to the host: There will be no reward upon completion of this task. However, if the host fails the task, 15% of the host's fusion level will be deducted.]
ha?
Why make such a strange gesture of gratitude? It's really misleading.