Even though the air conditioner was running in the room, the serious atmosphere still made Ah Yunze break out in a sweat, especially with Jiang Sui here.
“Before we start, I’d like to ask Young Master a question.”
“Go ahead and ask.”
Rarely faced with Jiang Sui’s strict expression, Lu Yunze’s mood also tensed up a bit.
“Young Master, do you understand the work of a resident here? Or rather, how much do you know about the job of us maids?”
“Of course, I know it well.”
Lu Yunze thought she was about to say something else.
“Don’t you all just get up early every day, clean the manor, do chores, and then greet the guests when they arrive?”
“I just knew, Young Master, you don’t really understand.” Jiang Sui shook her head.
The work of a maid isn’t as simple as he described. Just the early rising Lu Yunze wouldn’t necessarily be able to do that. As a servant, you must get up earlier than the master. Waking up before dawn is a common thing.
From washing clothes, mopping the floors, to trimming flowers and tending to the courtyard pond, an entire day’s schedule is packed full. From morning until night, there’s hardly a moment of rest.
If the master has an order, even if it’s late, you can’t rest right away you have to go out and fulfill the master’s commands.
“Young Master, don’t think our work is easy. If we switched roles for just a day, I bet you couldn’t last even half a day.”
“It’s not as tough as you make it sound…”
“It is just as tough as I say.”
Jiang Sui flicked her hair.
“In this kind of situation, Young Master still wants me to spare time to serve you.”
“Haven’t you always been so cheerful about it?”
Lu Yunze laughed, remembering how Jiang Sui would always stick close and joke with him. Now that he was actually asking her to fulfill her proper maid duties, why was she hesitating in his room?
Jiang Sui, hearing this, closed her eyes for a moment and sighed.
If she truly had to serve Chen Yunze, even if he ordered her to undress in his room, she would grit her teeth and do it. Unless he forcibly tried to hug or push her onto the bed…
But the reason she was willing was because these actions benefited her plan. Once Chen Yunze did it once, there would be a second time. Then, if his pent-up urges exploded, he wouldn’t seek out others but would come to her.
But as things stand now—
“Young Master, did you call me to your room just to tutor you?”
“What else? What did you think?”
Hearing her say this, Lu Yunze felt a little awkward.
“In this entire manor, besides you and me, there are only a few university students. And only you and I have overlapping classes. Who else can I find?”
These words were music to Jiang Sui’s ears. Even if their classes didn’t overlap, she wouldn’t let Ah Yunze go bother Zhi Yao.
“The Final Exam is almost here, isn’t it? Reviewing together will do you good, too. What if you fail a course?”
Failing is failing, Jiang Sui wasn’t that concerned about university courses. Besides, she had more important things packed into her schedule and didn’t have the mind to study.
But at the very least, she’d never skip class. Getting high marks was another matter, but failing a course absolutely wouldn’t happen.
“Please, I really don’t want to fail.” Chen Yunze pressed his palms together, bowing his head in a pleading gesture.
“Fine, since Young Master is begging me, I’ll agree.” Jiang Sui played with a strand of her hair, her face still expressionless. “But for this period, I’ll still do my usual work as normal.”
“No problem. As for the maid leader, I’ll talk to her for you. I’ll even arrange a bonus for you, and if there’s any good news in the future, you’ll be the first I consider.” Ah Yunze gave her a thumbs up.
Deal struck.
Jiang Sui’s nose twitched almost imperceptibly.
She hadn’t planned to refuse Lu Yunze anyway, but since there was such a good opportunity, Jiang Sui certainly had to squeeze as many benefits as possible from him.
Now that everything had been happily agreed upon, their review session began right away. Jiang Sui pulled a chair over and sat down beside Chen Yunze.
No matter what, Lu Yunze wasn’t dumb, so this task shouldn’t be too hard.
That’s what she thought at first, but once they started, she realized it was even harder than she had imagined.
Lu Yunze’s grasp of the course material was absolutely astonishing!
During the tutoring process, he always tried to do the most complicated problems, and would often ask completely unrelated questions.
Jiang Sui only had enough knowledge to ensure she could pass, so facing Chen Yunze’s odd methods, she felt a bit overwhelmed.
If it were only this, it would be fine, but the worst part was that Jiang Sui had underestimated Chen Yunze’s lack of understanding for this course.
“Why is this problem solved like this?”
“Young Master, I’ve already explained this three times.”
Jiang Sui still forced herself to explain again.
“Okay.”
“You get it now, right?”
“No.”
“Ai, oh heavens!”
Jiang Sui was really angry now. Suddenly, she understood why in her previous life Old Master Wang would get so furious at his own son.
Turns out, teaching kids really is a heart-wrenching and exhausting task.
“Are you okay? Do you need some water?”
“I’m fine, I can, I can keep going.”
Jiang Sui silently told herself to endure. This was just an ordeal that had to be experienced in the course of her plans.
Just as she was flipping to a new page in the textbook, about to resume tutoring, the bedroom door suddenly sounded.
“Yunze-ge, are you in your room?”
Upon hearing this familiar voice, the two of them immediately stood up. As usual, Lu Yunze was about to hide in the closet, but Jiang Sui grabbed him.
“Young Master, this is your room.”
“Ah, right, right.”
“Let me borrow your bed for a moment.”
Jiang Sui pushed away the chair she had just sat on and tried to quickly roll under the bed as naturally as possible.
Because the big stuffed bunny was in the way, Jiang Sui’s forehead bumped right into the bedframe, making her gasp softly.
Sometimes, being too big isn’t a good thing.
Tsk.
Hearing Lu Yunze’s helpless chuckle, Jiang Sui glanced over, seeing Lu Yunze pretending nothing had happened.
She snorted, and this time didn’t dawdle, quickly and obediently crawling under the bed to avoid getting stuck halfway.
Making sure Jiang Sui was well hidden and out of the direct line of sight from the door, Ah Yunze finally responded to the knock and went to open the door.
“What are you doing, Yunze-ge?”
Zhi Yao greeted Chen Yunze with a sweet smile the moment she saw him.
“I’m studying. Did you need something?”
Zhi Yao didn’t immediately answer, but strolled in with purpose.
“The Final Exam is coming up, so I came to help Lu-gege review.”
“Oh?”
Lu Yunze was stunned.
“But we don’t have the same courses, how are you going to help me?”
“Lu-gege, honestly! We actually do have overlapping classes.”
“To prove it,” Zhi Yao took out her mobile phone and pulled up her class schedule from her album.
Among the long list of unfamiliar courses, Lu Yunze really did spot a familiar name—Zhi Yao hadn’t lied.
It’s just that for his major, it was a required course, while for Zhi Yao’s it was an elective. Even so, as the young lady of the Zhi family, she’d always had high standards for herself.
“Don’t worry, with me helping you, Lu-gege will surely be able to enter the Capital’s top university again this term.”
“No, the scholarship and all that should go to someone who needs it more…”
Before Lu Yunze could finish, Zhi Yao already pulled over a chair and sat down with a flourish.
“Huh, why is this seat still warm?”
Sure enough, she noticed!
Under the bed, Jiang Sui nearly spat out her breath, inwardly cursing at Lu Yunze for being useless—why hasn’t he kicked this woman out yet?
So you’re really going to study together with her?
Seeing the little lady frown and nervously bite her fingernails, Jiang Sui clung tighter to her resolve.
Facing Zhi Yao’s question, Chen Yunze replied seriously:
“It’s because the weather’s hot. If you sit on the same chair too long, it gets stuffy. I was thinking of buying a few more cushions to rotate.”
“…You’re so boring, Lu-gege.”
It was a ridiculous excuse, but Zhi Yao believed it.
As June drew to a close, the Summer Heat had already begun to show its full power. Unless a Taiwan passed through, the temperature simply wouldn’t go down.
With no way to chase Zhi Yao away, Chen Yunze could only sit with her and quietly look for the next chance.
Jiang Sui, hiding under the bed, was thinking the same thing.
If nothing else worked, she’d just wait. Zhi Yao couldn’t possibly sit here all day, right?
Looking on the bright side, at least she hadn’t been discovered, and things hadn’t gotten out of control yet.
Just as Jiang Sui was comforting herself, Zhi Yao’s next words made her heart skip a beat.
“Lu-gege, tell me honestly—why does your Notebook have someone else’s handwriting in it?”
“Ah, does it?”
“You see here, I remember Lu-gege’s handwriting very clearly. But next to it is a much prettier style—anyone can tell it’s a girl’s handwriting at a glance.”
At this moment, Zhi Yao’s feminine radar was on high alert.
“Um, that’s…that’s a classmate’s handwriting.”
Lu Yunze, your voice is too nervous!
Jiang Sui was anxious on his behalf.
“Really? Which classmate?”
“She’s in my club, and happens to be in the same major as me.”
“I see.”
Zhi Yao’s expression grew more interested as she carefully watched his reaction.
“So the Notebook is yours, but there’s another person’s handwriting in it. Lu-gege, you’re not hiding anything from me, are you?”
“How could I? There’s nothing I’d hide from you.”
Lu Yunze was sweating, and under the bed, Jiang Sui clenched her fists tightly.
If she could see Zhi Yao in her strict uniform approaching their side, every step was deliberate and measured, her posture perfect.
“Come to think of it, Lu-gege’s room hasn’t changed at all.”
“A room that’s used every day, how much can it change?”
“That’s not true. I change my bedroom’s style every half a year. Always using the same style gets boring.”
“You’re a girl; it’s normal to love beauty.”
“Lu-gege, your room really hasn’t changed at all. Or are you just pretending it hasn’t, because you knew I was coming?”
Zhi Yao’s voice dropped lower, and her expression became even sharper.
As if, in this room, she had caught the scent of a Fox Spirit.
Girl radar!