Chapter 112 - I'm Your Aunt
Translator: Lav
Editor: Levs
Without realising, Shi Lei stayed up till late night and he was extremely energised. He felt overly excited for no reason and laughed from time to time.
When he laughed every time, he would turn around and check on Sun Yiyi. He made sure that Sun Yiyi was still sound asleep and he giggled in a low voice again.
Although it was only 3,250 yuan, but Shi Lei felt like it was his first actual victory against the Scepter.
Previously, the Scepter cursed at him all it wanted and even attempted to lie to him to make Shi Lei its slave willingly just like those people before him. Even if it was only the address of 'slave', Shi Lei said 'no' to it. Why would he be its slave? Especially something that wasn't even a living being.
Today, he felt the Scepter's loathe deeply. It was not the angry for no reason type, but the Scepter was really provoked by Shi Lei, and it was furious from its helplessness. It was like a child who hated his teacher, but also could not do anything to his teacher.
Substituting with the internet slang right now, it would be "I like the look of you when you hate me but can't kill me".
Shi Lei felt great!
Extremely great! Not to mention that his own funds were also reinforced.
The 9,300 yuan from before and the 1,500 yuan living expenses from his parents were his own money.
Plus the tutoring fees from Zhang Liangliang, Shi Lei's property had increased to a few yuan short till 11,100 yuan. Now, he had increased it by 3,250 yuan, which meant that his overall funds had reached 14,170 yuan. Without counting the money he received from the Black Card, this was the highest amount of money Shi Lei ever had in his whole life.
Don't look down on this 10,000 yuan as it was the basis of his life. Although he had already used the investment card's three chances to check stocks, but there's also next month. As soon as he grasped good investment opportunities, his funds will increase and so will his profits. What Shi Lei needed to do right now was to increase his funds as much as possible.
Of course, it was mainly because he won against the Scepter. Although it was small and didn't affect things on a big scale, but Shi Lei firmly believed that if he had these small victories, eventually he will be able to overpower the Scepter. After all, all great victories were accumulated from small victories.
Fighting! Shi Lei, you can do it! You can definitely defeat the Scepter or even the Black Card! One day, you can escape from them and spend money however you want!
Although he was indeed tired, but he was so high-spirited that he even increased the efficiency in reading the investment books. He now understood concepts which he couldn't understand before, perhaps even thoroughly. This thought pushed and motivated Shi Lei to absorb all the knowledges from the books. He needed to become stronger, and he needed to become stronger as soon as possible.
Shi Lei heard a soft exclaim from behind. He put down his book and turned around, seeing that Sun Yiyi woke up with her eyes half closed.
She squinted her eyes and realised that Shi Lei was sitting in front of her. She didn't notice where she was and asked in confusion: "Shitou ge, why are you here?"
Shi Lei smiled but kept silent. Sun Yiyi opened her eyes fully and realised that she wasn't at home, but……
Oh my god, I'm at Shitou ge's house! Did he do anything to me?! —— Sun Yiyi looked down in horror and realised that she was still neatly dressed. Other than the bear vest which was taken off by Shi Lei, she was still wearing everything else. Not to mention that Shi Lei even covered her with a think blanket.
Although girls would always worry this kind of thing, but when she finally realised that she was lying there and Shi Lei didn't do anything to her, she was rather disappointed.
Shi Lei did not think that much but perceived Sun Yiyi's concern. He said: "Idiot, don't worry, I would never take advantage of you when you are unconscious. Even if I wanted to do it, I definitely wouldn't do it when you are drunk. I will…… Hehe, do it with you are conscious……"
Sun Yiyi blushed instantly and all the worries previously disappeared as she was haunted by Shi Lei's word of 'do'.
Shi Lei got off the bed and quickly said: "Don't drink if you can't. You were so light weight and you didn't know how I had to drag you home! Don't leave the bed, just lay down, I'm reading a book."
Sun Yiyi said in a small voice: "I want to go to the bathroom…..."
Shi Lei laughed and Sun Yiyi quickly ran to the bathroom in embarrassment. Quickly, Shi Lei heard the soft sound of water and he couldn't control himself but to picture Sun Yiyi sitting on the toilet.
Tsk…… So perverted!
After Sun Yiyi came out, she was fully awake. She also realised that it was almost 2:30AM. She panicked and quickly ran over: "Shitou ge, why didn't you wake me up? It's this late already, my Mum will scold me."
Of course Shi Lei knew that a young girl like Sun Yiyi who didn't go back home was very worrying, but her mother knew that she was with him. If it was someone else, she would've called her a thousand times already.
"Put the vest on and I'll drive you home. But after you go back, don't tell Aunty that you were drunk. Say that we went to the movies after dinner and we were hungry after that, so we also went for supper, and we didn't tell her because we didn't want to wake her up from sleep."
Sun Yiyi pondered for a while and nodded: "Mhm. If I say I was drunk, Mum won't be happy about it."
After they went downstairs, Sun Yiyi spoke again: "I'm never drinking again."
Shi Lei laughed loudly and said: "Idiot, you can just drink one glass. Why did you drink that much?"
Sun Yiyi blushed and said: "That's because the waiter said I could refill for free. So I thought, since the alcohol was that expensive at the price of more than 100 yuan, I thought that the more I drank, the cheaper it would become. I drank four glasses and it was about 30 yuan for one glass. It would be worth even less if I could drink another three glasses."
Shi Lei was impressed by her economic thinking.
Shi Lei got into the car with Sun Yiyi and sent her home. He urged her to text him after she's in bed and asked the driver to drive back to where they came from.
After he got off, the driver looked at Shi Lei seriously and earnestly said: "Man, you are a good guy."
Shi Lei was blank for a few seconds and as he watched the car disappeared into the darkness, he finally realised what the driver meant. The driver meant that Shi Lei didn't keep such a beautiful girl at his apartment but sent her home, hence he made the comment.
Sun Yiyi messaged Shi Lei at this time and said: Mum said you shouldn't buy clothes for me anymore. She said that we already owe you a lot and we can't keep doing this.
Shi Lei replied: Tell Aunty that she married you to me when were young. It's natural for me buy clothes for you.
Sun Yiyi didn't reply for quite a while and obviously it was because she didn't know what to reply to this. After Shi Lei entered his room, she finally sent another text. Shi Lei glanced and it said: Shitou, I'm your Aunty. Thank you for helping us like this, and thank you for liking Yiyi. I'm very happy to see you say this, It wasn't in vain when I took care of you when you were young.
Chapter 113 - Eavesdropped by Zhang Meimei
Translator: Lav
Editor: Levs
It was awkward. Sun Yiyi's mother saw the conversation and even replied to him. But luckily, she didn't seem to be angry, but rather comforted.
Shi Lei thought for a while and replied: Aunty, I grew up with Yiyi and you watched me grow up. I wouldn't have done anything if I didn't have the ability to do so, but now that I've earned some money, please don't bother about it.
On the other side, in the rental house which was renovated from a garage, Sun Yiyi panicked and complained at her mother: "Mum, don't do this. How can you use my phone to reply to Shitou ge?! He was just joking……"
Sun Yiyi's mother smiled and took her time to explain: "I watched Shitou grow up. You guys were very close to each other and do you think I can't tell what you are thinking? You are too shy and too embarrassed to ask. As your mother, I'll help you with it. I'll ask him and we'll know whether he's joking or not."
"Mum, no!" Sun Yiyi panicked even more. It was embarrassing to ask a boy whether he liked her or not as a girl, even if her mother asked for her, she still felt to embarrassed. What worried her more was like she never really understood what Shi Lei felt towards her. He seemed to like her, but he also treated her like his little sister. If Shi Lei only saw her as his sister, then Sun Yiyi would rather just stay like this.
Sun Yiyi's mother ignored her and sent a message: Then tell Aunty, do you like Yiyi?
Shi Lei read the message and thought that she was turning into his mother-in-law. Whether it was a joke or not, he had heard this a lot of times ever since childhood.
He had already embarrassed himself earlier. If Sun Yiyi's mother wanted to be his mother-in-law, then Shi Lei would just admit it. Shi Lei replied: Of course I like her. Except she's still young and not even in university yet. If you aren't against it, I planned to tell her after she starts university.
Sun Yiyi's mother saw the message and was relieved. She deleted the conversation without caring about Sun Yiyi yelling on the side and attempting to grab her phone back.
Then, she sent another message to Shi Lei: Aunty didn't make a mistake. You are a mature child. Yiyi's too shy, please look after her. I will delete these messages after I send it, don't tell her what I said.
After she sent the message, she deleted everything. After Shi Lei finishing reading them, he also deleted and didn't send another reply.
After a while, Sun Yiyi sent another text: Shitou ge, what did my Mum say?
Shi Lei played dumb: Aunty didn't say anything. Weren't you the one who was messaging me?
Sun Yiyi asked again: My Mum was using my phone to talk to you. What did you guys talk about?
Shi Lei continued to play dumb: You haven't replied for a while. I just teased and you ignored me. I thought you were embarrassed or angry at me! Yiyi, are you angry?
The other side was silent for a second but quickly messaged again: Then what's the last message you sent me?
Shi Lei thought briefly and sent a screenshot of the conversation. Of course, all Sun Yiyi could see was the conversation after everything was deleted. There was only their conversation and her mother's words to Shi Lei were all deleted.
Obviously Sun Yiyi didn't believe him but she couldn't ask more. She said: Nevermind, I'm going to bed. Shitou ge, you should also sleep. You stayed up till now and you must be tired. Good night.
Shi Lei smiled a replied: Good night.
He put down his phone, showered and went to bed.
It was already noon when Shi Lei woke up. Shi Lei didn't forget to tutor Zhang Liangliang, or more accurately, accompany her when she was doing her homework. He sent a message to Zhang Liangliang and she expressed her excitement in looking forward to his arrival and hoped for him to go earlier.
As Shi Lei didn't have much to do, he grabbed some food downstairs and caught a taxi to Zhang Liangliang's place.
It was unexpected that when Shi Lei arrived at Zhang Liangliang's place, Zhang Meimei was still home. She simply nodded: "You are here already? You are early."
Shi Lei also smiled and said: "I asked er'jie and she told me to come over early. Aren't you going to work today?"
"I don't have anything on during the day. I just have a business dinner night." Zhang Meimei didn't seem to have the desire to converse with Shi Lei. She pushed her glasses back onto her nose bridge and walked back to her room.
Zhang Liangliang was making faces at Shi Lei in joy. She was only this happy when she saw Shi Lei everyday.
She dragged Shi Lei into the room and began to talk non-stop. She asked what Shi Lei did during the week and why he didn't contact her.
Shi Lei said helplessly: "I don't really have a reason to contact you. Plus, you have school and you don't finish class till late. You didn't complain this week so I thought that your Mum ate dinner with you this week. Isn't that nice?"
Zhang Liangliang pouted and said: "Whenever you post something in Moments, I always like and comment. But you? You never even liked any of my posts. Dashu, did you block me?" With that, Zhang Liangliang grabbed Shi Lei's phone and wanted to check.
Shi Lei wasn't bothered to argue with her and said: "I'm not as bored as you. You are a brat, and those posts mean nothing so there's no reason for me to like them. Alright, hurry up and do your homework. Did you get a lot this week? Aren't you doing your half yearly next week?"
"I finished my exams already! I'm waiting for the marks to come out next week! You don't even care about me!" Zhang Liangliang pouted as she was upset. Shi Lei then remembered that she indeed mentioned it to him and he even agreed to something like giving her a present if she scored the average of 85 marks for all of her subjects.
"Oh, you finished it. How was it? Can you reach the average of 85 marks?"
Zhang Liangliang replied proudly: "Mhm, just wait and you'll have to get me a present!"
Shi Lei shrugged and said: "It has to be within my ability though……" As he spoke, he heard a slight crack from the door. Shi Lei's heart skipped a beat and thought that perhaps Zhang Meimei was eavesdropping them.
He pondered and thought that it was reasonable. He seemed to be too close to Zhang Liangliang. She was only 15 or 16 years old, if he was her parent, he would be worried too.
"Ok, stop talking, hurry up and do your homework, I'm going to get a glass of water." Shi Lei stood up and spoke extra loudly on purpose for Zhang Meimei to hear.
"I have drinks here." Zhang Liangliang said brightly.
"Carbonated drinks are bad for your health. I don't drink it and you shouldn't drink that much either." Shi Lei didn't mind her and intentionally stepped on the floor harder towards the door.
Zhang Liangliang thought Shi Lei was acting odd and rubbed her nose: "Dashu, you are really odd today."
"Huh?! How can I be weirder than the you I met for the first time? You just had to copy those people and dress like a punk. Isn't it much better now than what you were before? Hurry up and do your homework."
Shi Lei pulled the door open and walked out. He saw Zhang Meimei sitting on the couch whilst drinking from a glass. Except, it was a shame that there was no water in the glass.
Chapter 114 - Scold the Beauty
Translator: Lav
Editor: Levs
"Mrs. Zhang, you are still in the living room? I thought you went back to your room already." Shi Lei closed the door and beamed at Zhang Meimei.
What Shi Lei meant was very obvious. Zhang Meimei blushed and pushed her glasses up again: "I accidentally made a sound just then, you heard it, right? That's why you tried to warn me. Please forgive my worries as a mother."
Shi Lei also found it awkward as he did not expect Zhang Meimei to be this straightforward. Shi Lei also regretted it after he made a comment teasing her. He was accustomed to joking around with his friends and he couldn't control himself. What he said was clearly accusing that Zhang Meimei was eavesdropping on them.
"Uh…… No, not really, I really want to get a glass of water."
Zhang Meimei quickly composed herself as she had dealt with plenty of situations before. She picked up a glass from the table and passed to Shi Lei.
She had a thought and passed her own to Shi Lei too: "I can't just keep pretending I'm drinking without water in my glass. Please fill it for me too."
Shi Lei filled both glasses with water and passed Zhang Meimei's glass back.
"Thank you." Zhang Meimei naturally replied and crossed her legs. Because she was at home, she only wore a turtleneck knitted sweater on her upper body. It was very tight and her good body shape was displayed perfectly. Shi Lei's vision accidentally fell on her chest and he quickly shifted his gaze as he felt himself turning pink.
Zhang Meimei crossed her legs. Seeing that Shi Lei didn't go back to the room, she looked at him and said: "You have something to tell me?"
Shi Lei had a thought and stopped in front of her: "Mrs. Zhang, there are some things I would like to discuss with you."
"When I thanked you just then, I wasn't only thanking you for filling my glass. I mainly wanted to thank you for making er'jie return to normal and not like before."
Shi Lei was sizzy. He thought that even Zhang Meimei called her own daughter er'jie, except he didn't know that she was the one who gave the nickname of er'jie to her own daughter.
"That's nothing to worry about. I'm getting paid and this is what I should do. If I couldn't do it, I would've apologized to you."
Zhang Meimei nodded and said seriously: "What do you want to talk to me about? Do you think you are not getting paid enough and want more pay? Of course I know that you played a great part in er'jie's drastic change, but……"
Shi Lei quickly gestured her to paused: "Hold on, I don't want more pay. It's quite opposite, I feel ashamed to take all these money, honestly, I don't have much to teach er'jie. Originally, I was indeed in need for money, so I asked my friend to give me this tutoring job. When I saw er'jie for the first time, I was rather lost and didn't know how I could help to make her go back to normal, but it wasn't that bad because er'jie is very smart and everything she did was for the sake of grabbing your attention, even scolding her. Except, I think that you don't even want to scold her. There's a lack of communication between you and her."
Seeing that Zhang Meimei wanted to speak, Shi Lei sat down opposite her and gestured to be quiet first.
"Don't be in a hurry to stop me, let me finish talking first. Er'jie is very smart and she probably got that from you. You are a great lawyer and I think you dealt with exams and study very easily.. Er'jie is actually the same. When I first saw her, I thought she was failing. Although I returned majority of what I learnt in high school back to my teachers in the past three years of university, but I do remember the basics and I can remember them after flipping through the book, if er'jie was really failing then I could help her push her marks up. Then, I realised that er'jie doesn't need my help at all, she doesn't need anyone's help. With her cleverness, she could deal with the middle school graduation exams quite easily. It shouldn't even be a difficult thing for her to make it into a selective or international school. Of course, you mentioned before that you need someone who can watch over er'jie so she doesn't go out and hang out with the shady kids. But when I get paid, I'm doing nothing but spending a few hours to accompany her when she does her homework."
Zhang Meimei didn't speak. She looked at Shi Lei with interest and smiled in her eyes, waiting to see what else Shi Lei had to say.
"I talked to er'jie about my thoughts last week. I thought that it wasn't nice for me to take your money but she was furious at me, she said she didn't have a father, her mother didn't care about her, and now even I don't want to look after her anymore. If she didn't get angry at me, I wouldn't even know that I was that important to her. I considered that and realized that if I was really that important, 60 yuan for an hour wasn't too much. But today, I saw your concerns as she's your daughter, and it's natural for you to be concerned and be on your guard against me because I'm at a not so mature age and er'jie is rather young. What I wanted to say is that, you worry and care about her, and I can definitely see that, even er'jie understands. Of course, I understand that you need to work for money and it's difficult for you to earn money and support the family as a single mother, but because er'jie is rather young, her needs aren't too materialistic yet. She just needs you to communicate with her more. You are busy, I know, but I don't think you are so busy that you can't even spare the time to WeChat or call her. You definitely won't work till late and just ask her whether she had dinner or not, or at most, tell her to sleep early or tell you if she doesn't have enough money. Between mother and daughter, you need to communicate more. Er'jie likes me, and you can treat that as the liking of a child to an older brother, it's only because I have enough time to be with her, if you can do that, I don't think you would need me and er'jie wouldn't need me either."
Zhang Meimei nodded and asked: "Are you done talking?"
Shi Lei also nodded and said: "About this much. Perhaps I wasn't very clear with my expressions and it was wordy, but that was about it."
Zhang Meimei sighed and smiled: "First, thank you for willing to tell me these things. To be honest, I understand what you said perfectly well. Everyone has a rebellious phase when they are young. When I was at your age, I was like this too. It looks like I don't talk to her often because one, I'm indeed busy, and two, my personality isn't someone who's good at persuading or negotiating. On this point, you are doing it much, much better than me. It wasn't that I've never tried to communicate with her, but it was because it always ended on a bad note. It was like this when I listened to your advice. When I wanted to take er'jie out to play, I screwed up everything. Of course, it wasn't er'jie's responsibility, but mine. That's how I am as a mother and er'jie could only learn to be independent."
"I can't agree on that. Er'jie is very independent already. I've never seen such independent 16 year old child before. Mrs. Zhang, perhaps you don't understand, but even if it was an argument, although the outcome wasn't exactly what you expected, but it's better than no communication at all. Perhaps it's related to your occupation, you are accustomed to put in efforts and receive a positive outcome, but this is life, not work, the process is often far more important than the outcome."
Chapter 112 - I'm Your Aunt
Translator: Lav
Editor: Levs
Without realising, Shi Lei stayed up till late night and he was extremely energised. He felt overly excited for no reason and laughed from time to time.
When he laughed every time, he would turn around and check on Sun Yiyi. He made sure that Sun Yiyi was still sound asleep and he giggled in a low voice again.
Although it was only 3,250 yuan, but Shi Lei felt like it was his first actual victory against the Scepter.
Previously, the Scepter cursed at him all it wanted and even attempted to lie to him to make Shi Lei its slave willingly just like those people before him. Even if it was only the address of 'slave', Shi Lei said 'no' to it. Why would he be its slave? Especially something that wasn't even a living being.
Today, he felt the Scepter's loathe deeply. It was not the angry for no reason type, but the Scepter was really provoked by Shi Lei, and it was furious from its helplessness. It was like a child who hated his teacher, but also could not do anything to his teacher.
Substituting with the internet slang right now, it would be "I like the look of you when you hate me but can't kill me".
Shi Lei felt great!
Extremely great! Not to mention that his own funds were also reinforced.
The 9,300 yuan from before and the 1,500 yuan living expenses from his parents were his own money.
Plus the tutoring fees from Zhang Liangliang, Shi Lei's property had increased to a few yuan short till 11,100 yuan. Now, he had increased it by 3,250 yuan, which meant that his overall funds had reached 14,170 yuan. Without counting the money he received from the Black Card, this was the highest amount of money Shi Lei ever had in his whole life.
Don't look down on this 10,000 yuan as it was the basis of his life. Although he had already used the investment card's three chances to check stocks, but there's also next month. As soon as he grasped good investment opportunities, his funds will increase and so will his profits. What Shi Lei needed to do right now was to increase his funds as much as possible.
Of course, it was mainly because he won against the Scepter. Although it was small and didn't affect things on a big scale, but Shi Lei firmly believed that if he had these small victories, eventually he will be able to overpower the Scepter. After all, all great victories were accumulated from small victories.
Fighting! Shi Lei, you can do it! You can definitely defeat the Scepter or even the Black Card! One day, you can escape from them and spend money however you want!
Although he was indeed tired, but he was so high-spirited that he even increased the efficiency in reading the investment books. He now understood concepts which he couldn't understand before, perhaps even thoroughly. This thought pushed and motivated Shi Lei to absorb all the knowledges from the books. He needed to become stronger, and he needed to become stronger as soon as possible.
Shi Lei heard a soft exclaim from behind. He put down his book and turned around, seeing that Sun Yiyi woke up with her eyes half closed.
She squinted her eyes and realised that Shi Lei was sitting in front of her. She didn't notice where she was and asked in confusion: "Shitou ge, why are you here?"
Shi Lei smiled but kept silent. Sun Yiyi opened her eyes fully and realised that she wasn't at home, but……
Oh my god, I'm at Shitou ge's house! Did he do anything to me?! —— Sun Yiyi looked down in horror and realised that she was still neatly dressed. Other than the bear vest which was taken off by Shi Lei, she was still wearing everything else. Not to mention that Shi Lei even covered her with a think blanket.
Although girls would always worry this kind of thing, but when she finally realised that she was lying there and Shi Lei didn't do anything to her, she was rather disappointed.
Shi Lei did not think that much but perceived Sun Yiyi's concern. He said: "Idiot, don't worry, I would never take advantage of you when you are unconscious. Even if I wanted to do it, I definitely wouldn't do it when you are drunk. I will…… Hehe, do it with you are conscious……"
Sun Yiyi blushed instantly and all the worries previously disappeared as she was haunted by Shi Lei's word of 'do'.
Shi Lei got off the bed and quickly said: "Don't drink if you can't. You were so light weight and you didn't know how I had to drag you home! Don't leave the bed, just lay down, I'm reading a book."
Sun Yiyi said in a small voice: "I want to go to the bathroom…..."
Shi Lei laughed and Sun Yiyi quickly ran to the bathroom in embarrassment. Quickly, Shi Lei heard the soft sound of water and he couldn't control himself but to picture Sun Yiyi sitting on the toilet.
Tsk…… So perverted!
After Sun Yiyi came out, she was fully awake. She also realised that it was almost 2:30AM. She panicked and quickly ran over: "Shitou ge, why didn't you wake me up? It's this late already, my Mum will scold me."
Of course Shi Lei knew that a young girl like Sun Yiyi who didn't go back home was very worrying, but her mother knew that she was with him. If it was someone else, she would've called her a thousand times already.
"Put the vest on and I'll drive you home. But after you go back, don't tell Aunty that you were drunk. Say that we went to the movies after dinner and we were hungry after that, so we also went for supper, and we didn't tell her because we didn't want to wake her up from sleep."
Sun Yiyi pondered for a while and nodded: "Mhm. If I say I was drunk, Mum won't be happy about it."
After they went downstairs, Sun Yiyi spoke again: "I'm never drinking again."
Shi Lei laughed loudly and said: "Idiot, you can just drink one glass. Why did you drink that much?"
Sun Yiyi blushed and said: "That's because the waiter said I could refill for free. So I thought, since the alcohol was that expensive at the price of more than 100 yuan, I thought that the more I drank, the cheaper it would become. I drank four glasses and it was about 30 yuan for one glass. It would be worth even less if I could drink another three glasses."
Shi Lei was impressed by her economic thinking.
Shi Lei got into the car with Sun Yiyi and sent her home. He urged her to text him after she's in bed and asked the driver to drive back to where they came from.
After he got off, the driver looked at Shi Lei seriously and earnestly said: "Man, you are a good guy."
Shi Lei was blank for a few seconds and as he watched the car disappeared into the darkness, he finally realised what the driver meant. The driver meant that Shi Lei didn't keep such a beautiful girl at his apartment but sent her home, hence he made the comment.
Sun Yiyi messaged Shi Lei at this time and said: Mum said you shouldn't buy clothes for me anymore. She said that we already owe you a lot and we can't keep doing this.
Shi Lei replied: Tell Aunty that she married you to me when were young. It's natural for me buy clothes for you.
Sun Yiyi didn't reply for quite a while and obviously it was because she didn't know what to reply to this. After Shi Lei entered his room, she finally sent another text. Shi Lei glanced and it said: Shitou, I'm your Aunty. Thank you for helping us like this, and thank you for liking Yiyi. I'm very happy to see you say this, It wasn't in vain when I took care of you when you were young.
Chapter 113 - Eavesdropped by Zhang Meimei
Translator: Lav
Editor: Levs
It was awkward. Sun Yiyi's mother saw the conversation and even replied to him. But luckily, she didn't seem to be angry, but rather comforted.
Shi Lei thought for a while and replied: Aunty, I grew up with Yiyi and you watched me grow up. I wouldn't have done anything if I didn't have the ability to do so, but now that I've earned some money, please don't bother about it.
On the other side, in the rental house which was renovated from a garage, Sun Yiyi panicked and complained at her mother: "Mum, don't do this. How can you use my phone to reply to Shitou ge?! He was just joking……"
Sun Yiyi's mother smiled and took her time to explain: "I watched Shitou grow up. You guys were very close to each other and do you think I can't tell what you are thinking? You are too shy and too embarrassed to ask. As your mother, I'll help you with it. I'll ask him and we'll know whether he's joking or not."
"Mum, no!" Sun Yiyi panicked even more. It was embarrassing to ask a boy whether he liked her or not as a girl, even if her mother asked for her, she still felt to embarrassed. What worried her more was like she never really understood what Shi Lei felt towards her. He seemed to like her, but he also treated her like his little sister. If Shi Lei only saw her as his sister, then Sun Yiyi would rather just stay like this.
Sun Yiyi's mother ignored her and sent a message: Then tell Aunty, do you like Yiyi?
Shi Lei read the message and thought that she was turning into his mother-in-law. Whether it was a joke or not, he had heard this a lot of times ever since childhood.
He had already embarrassed himself earlier. If Sun Yiyi's mother wanted to be his mother-in-law, then Shi Lei would just admit it. Shi Lei replied: Of course I like her. Except she's still young and not even in university yet. If you aren't against it, I planned to tell her after she starts university.
Sun Yiyi's mother saw the message and was relieved. She deleted the conversation without caring about Sun Yiyi yelling on the side and attempting to grab her phone back.
Then, she sent another message to Shi Lei: Aunty didn't make a mistake. You are a mature child. Yiyi's too shy, please look after her. I will delete these messages after I send it, don't tell her what I said.
After she sent the message, she deleted everything. After Shi Lei finishing reading them, he also deleted and didn't send another reply.
After a while, Sun Yiyi sent another text: Shitou ge, what did my Mum say?
Shi Lei played dumb: Aunty didn't say anything. Weren't you the one who was messaging me?
Sun Yiyi asked again: My Mum was using my phone to talk to you. What did you guys talk about?
Shi Lei continued to play dumb: You haven't replied for a while. I just teased and you ignored me. I thought you were embarrassed or angry at me! Yiyi, are you angry?
The other side was silent for a second but quickly messaged again: Then what's the last message you sent me?
Shi Lei thought briefly and sent a screenshot of the conversation. Of course, all Sun Yiyi could see was the conversation after everything was deleted. There was only their conversation and her mother's words to Shi Lei were all deleted.
Obviously Sun Yiyi didn't believe him but she couldn't ask more. She said: Nevermind, I'm going to bed. Shitou ge, you should also sleep. You stayed up till now and you must be tired. Good night.
Shi Lei smiled a replied: Good night.
He put down his phone, showered and went to bed.
It was already noon when Shi Lei woke up. Shi Lei didn't forget to tutor Zhang Liangliang, or more accurately, accompany her when she was doing her homework. He sent a message to Zhang Liangliang and she expressed her excitement in looking forward to his arrival and hoped for him to go earlier.
As Shi Lei didn't have much to do, he grabbed some food downstairs and caught a taxi to Zhang Liangliang's place.
It was unexpected that when Shi Lei arrived at Zhang Liangliang's place, Zhang Meimei was still home. She simply nodded: "You are here already? You are early."
Shi Lei also smiled and said: "I asked er'jie and she told me to come over early. Aren't you going to work today?"
"I don't have anything on during the day. I just have a business dinner night." Zhang Meimei didn't seem to have the desire to converse with Shi Lei. She pushed her glasses back onto her nose bridge and walked back to her room.
Zhang Liangliang was making faces at Shi Lei in joy. She was only this happy when she saw Shi Lei everyday.
She dragged Shi Lei into the room and began to talk non-stop. She asked what Shi Lei did during the week and why he didn't contact her.
Shi Lei said helplessly: "I don't really have a reason to contact you. Plus, you have school and you don't finish class till late. You didn't complain this week so I thought that your Mum ate dinner with you this week. Isn't that nice?"
Zhang Liangliang pouted and said: "Whenever you post something in Moments, I always like and comment. But you? You never even liked any of my posts. Dashu, did you block me?" With that, Zhang Liangliang grabbed Shi Lei's phone and wanted to check.
Shi Lei wasn't bothered to argue with her and said: "I'm not as bored as you. You are a brat, and those posts mean nothing so there's no reason for me to like them. Alright, hurry up and do your homework. Did you get a lot this week? Aren't you doing your half yearly next week?"
"I finished my exams already! I'm waiting for the marks to come out next week! You don't even care about me!" Zhang Liangliang pouted as she was upset. Shi Lei then remembered that she indeed mentioned it to him and he even agreed to something like giving her a present if she scored the average of 85 marks for all of her subjects.
"Oh, you finished it. How was it? Can you reach the average of 85 marks?"
Zhang Liangliang replied proudly: "Mhm, just wait and you'll have to get me a present!"
Shi Lei shrugged and said: "It has to be within my ability though……" As he spoke, he heard a slight crack from the door. Shi Lei's heart skipped a beat and thought that perhaps Zhang Meimei was eavesdropping them.
He pondered and thought that it was reasonable. He seemed to be too close to Zhang Liangliang. She was only 15 or 16 years old, if he was her parent, he would be worried too.
"Ok, stop talking, hurry up and do your homework, I'm going to get a glass of water." Shi Lei stood up and spoke extra loudly on purpose for Zhang Meimei to hear.
"I have drinks here." Zhang Liangliang said brightly.
"Carbonated drinks are bad for your health. I don't drink it and you shouldn't drink that much either." Shi Lei didn't mind her and intentionally stepped on the floor harder towards the door.
Zhang Liangliang thought Shi Lei was acting odd and rubbed her nose: "Dashu, you are really odd today."
"Huh?! How can I be weirder than the you I met for the first time? You just had to copy those people and dress like a punk. Isn't it much better now than what you were before? Hurry up and do your homework."
Shi Lei pulled the door open and walked out. He saw Zhang Meimei sitting on the couch whilst drinking from a glass. Except, it was a shame that there was no water in the glass.
Chapter 114 - Scold the Beauty
Translator: Lav
Editor: Levs
"Mrs. Zhang, you are still in the living room? I thought you went back to your room already." Shi Lei closed the door and beamed at Zhang Meimei.
What Shi Lei meant was very obvious. Zhang Meimei blushed and pushed her glasses up again: "I accidentally made a sound just then, you heard it, right? That's why you tried to warn me. Please forgive my worries as a mother."
Shi Lei also found it awkward as he did not expect Zhang Meimei to be this straightforward. Shi Lei also regretted it after he made a comment teasing her. He was accustomed to joking around with his friends and he couldn't control himself. What he said was clearly accusing that Zhang Meimei was eavesdropping on them.
"Uh…… No, not really, I really want to get a glass of water."
Zhang Meimei quickly composed herself as she had dealt with plenty of situations before. She picked up a glass from the table and passed to Shi Lei.
She had a thought and passed her own to Shi Lei too: "I can't just keep pretending I'm drinking without water in my glass. Please fill it for me too."
Shi Lei filled both glasses with water and passed Zhang Meimei's glass back.
"Thank you." Zhang Meimei naturally replied and crossed her legs. Because she was at home, she only wore a turtleneck knitted sweater on her upper body. It was very tight and her good body shape was displayed perfectly. Shi Lei's vision accidentally fell on her chest and he quickly shifted his gaze as he felt himself turning pink.
Zhang Meimei crossed her legs. Seeing that Shi Lei didn't go back to the room, she looked at him and said: "You have something to tell me?"
Shi Lei had a thought and stopped in front of her: "Mrs. Zhang, there are some things I would like to discuss with you."
"When I thanked you just then, I wasn't only thanking you for filling my glass. I mainly wanted to thank you for making er'jie return to normal and not like before."
Shi Lei was sizzy. He thought that even Zhang Meimei called her own daughter er'jie, except he didn't know that she was the one who gave the nickname of er'jie to her own daughter.
"That's nothing to worry about. I'm getting paid and this is what I should do. If I couldn't do it, I would've apologized to you."
Zhang Meimei nodded and said seriously: "What do you want to talk to me about? Do you think you are not getting paid enough and want more pay? Of course I know that you played a great part in er'jie's drastic change, but……"
Shi Lei quickly gestured her to paused: "Hold on, I don't want more pay. It's quite opposite, I feel ashamed to take all these money, honestly, I don't have much to teach er'jie. Originally, I was indeed in need for money, so I asked my friend to give me this tutoring job. When I saw er'jie for the first time, I was rather lost and didn't know how I could help to make her go back to normal, but it wasn't that bad because er'jie is very smart and everything she did was for the sake of grabbing your attention, even scolding her. Except, I think that you don't even want to scold her. There's a lack of communication between you and her."
Seeing that Zhang Meimei wanted to speak, Shi Lei sat down opposite her and gestured to be quiet first.
"Don't be in a hurry to stop me, let me finish talking first. Er'jie is very smart and she probably got that from you. You are a great lawyer and I think you dealt with exams and study very easily.. Er'jie is actually the same. When I first saw her, I thought she was failing. Although I returned majority of what I learnt in high school back to my teachers in the past three years of university, but I do remember the basics and I can remember them after flipping through the book, if er'jie was really failing then I could help her push her marks up. Then, I realised that er'jie doesn't need my help at all, she doesn't need anyone's help. With her cleverness, she could deal with the middle school graduation exams quite easily. It shouldn't even be a difficult thing for her to make it into a selective or international school. Of course, you mentioned before that you need someone who can watch over er'jie so she doesn't go out and hang out with the shady kids. But when I get paid, I'm doing nothing but spending a few hours to accompany her when she does her homework."
Zhang Meimei didn't speak. She looked at Shi Lei with interest and smiled in her eyes, waiting to see what else Shi Lei had to say.
"I talked to er'jie about my thoughts last week. I thought that it wasn't nice for me to take your money but she was furious at me, she said she didn't have a father, her mother didn't care about her, and now even I don't want to look after her anymore. If she didn't get angry at me, I wouldn't even know that I was that important to her. I considered that and realized that if I was really that important, 60 yuan for an hour wasn't too much. But today, I saw your concerns as she's your daughter, and it's natural for you to be concerned and be on your guard against me because I'm at a not so mature age and er'jie is rather young. What I wanted to say is that, you worry and care about her, and I can definitely see that, even er'jie understands. Of course, I understand that you need to work for money and it's difficult for you to earn money and support the family as a single mother, but because er'jie is rather young, her needs aren't too materialistic yet. She just needs you to communicate with her more. You are busy, I know, but I don't think you are so busy that you can't even spare the time to WeChat or call her. You definitely won't work till late and just ask her whether she had dinner or not, or at most, tell her to sleep early or tell you if she doesn't have enough money. Between mother and daughter, you need to communicate more. Er'jie likes me, and you can treat that as the liking of a child to an older brother, it's only because I have enough time to be with her, if you can do that, I don't think you would need me and er'jie wouldn't need me either."
Zhang Meimei nodded and asked: "Are you done talking?"
Shi Lei also nodded and said: "About this much. Perhaps I wasn't very clear with my expressions and it was wordy, but that was about it."
Zhang Meimei sighed and smiled: "First, thank you for willing to tell me these things. To be honest, I understand what you said perfectly well. Everyone has a rebellious phase when they are young. When I was at your age, I was like this too. It looks like I don't talk to her often because one, I'm indeed busy, and two, my personality isn't someone who's good at persuading or negotiating. On this point, you are doing it much, much better than me. It wasn't that I've never tried to communicate with her, but it was because it always ended on a bad note. It was like this when I listened to your advice. When I wanted to take er'jie out to play, I screwed up everything. Of course, it wasn't er'jie's responsibility, but mine. That's how I am as a mother and er'jie could only learn to be independent."
"I can't agree on that. Er'jie is very independent already. I've never seen such independent 16 year old child before. Mrs. Zhang, perhaps you don't understand, but even if it was an argument, although the outcome wasn't exactly what you expected, but it's better than no communication at all. Perhaps it's related to your occupation, you are accustomed to put in efforts and receive a positive outcome, but this is life, not work, the process is often far more important than the outcome."
