Senior, Stop Pretending to be an Alpha - Chapter 29

“Sit tight for a bit.” Cheng Yeli sat down on the other end of the sofa. “The little brat is still sleeping. I’ll drag him down in a minute.”

Yu Qiao felt like she had guessed the situation. “Is it a family member of yours, Senior Cheng?”

“My cousin.” Cheng Yeli wore an exhausted, weathered expression of someone deeply troubled. “A real brat. Extremely rowdy.”

Yu Qiao nodded. “I understand.”

Back in her hometown, she had a younger male cousin who was a local terror—the kind who used his young age as an excuse to snatch or break everyone else’s things. The family never disciplined him, letting him grow more willful by the day.

“This kid has a nasty temper. He might be hard to handle at first,” Cheng Yeli said. “If he offends you, just tell me, or find your Senior Xie.”

Yu Qiao blinked. “Senior?”

“Your Senior is actually quite good at intimidating kids. She’s normally quite fierce, after all… so Li Yan is terrified of her.” Cheng Yeli said with a grin. “Oh, Li Yan is the brat’s name.”

Yu Qiao nodded absently, finding it truly difficult to connect the word “fierce” with Xie Bufei.

She’s clearly so kind…

Yu Qiao’s expression became a bit hesitant. “Speaking of which, there’s something I wanted to ask you, Senior Cheng.”

Cheng Yeli lowered his head to sip some tea. “Go ahead.”

Yu Qiao: “About the 9,000 monthly salary… are you serious?”

Cheng Yeli set down his teacup, his eyes widening as he looked at her warily. He asked tentatively, “What’s wrong? Not enough?”

Yu Qiao: “…” So you really are “Big Melon” himself?

She sighed and said bluntly, “It’s not that it’s not enough; it’s that it’s too much.”

Cheng Yeli, unaware that he had just been labeled a “big idiot” in Yu Qiao’s mind, scratched the back of his head in confusion. “Is that so… to be honest, I don’t really understand these things.”

Yu Qiao nodded. I can tell.

“University student tutor salaries are usually calculated by the hour, around 50 to 150 yuan per hour,” she explained. “Since this is my first time tutoring and I lack experience… the 9,000 a month you mentioned is a bit beyond my level.”

Cheng Yeli laughed. “Isn’t it about the same? If I calculate it at 150 per hour and you work two hours a day, doesn’t that come out to 9,000 a month?”

Yu Qiao was momentarily speechless. “I don’t deserve that much.” This Senior Cheng was unexpectedly easygoing.

Cheng Yeli said dismissively, “It’s fine, I trust your standards. You come highly recommended by Xie Bufei—” He cut himself off abruptly at the sight of Yu Qiao’s surprised gaze.

Yu Qiao frowned and asked thoughtfully, “Senior Xie recommended me?”

Crap, I definitely wasn’t supposed to let her know that, Cheng Yeli thought, breaking into a cold sweat. He scrambled to cover his tracks: “No, no! I just heard from her that you’re a top-tier student, so I wanted to bring you in for a trial.”

Yu Qiao nodded slightly, though it was unclear if she had seen through him. “I see. Then I still have Senior to thank.”

Cheng Yeli’s expression slumped. Great, probably another “Debt of Gratitude +1.”

He gave an awkward but polite laugh and sprang up from his chair. “It’s getting late. I’ll go wake Li Yan up.”

Watching his retreating figure as he practically fled the room, Yu Qiao lowered her eyes to her phone screen. Based on her intuition and his strange energy, she felt Cheng Yeli was still hiding something from her.

A short while later, Cheng Yeli sent word for Yu Qiao to come directly to the room.

Walking to the doorway, she saw a boy with his back to her sitting at a desk, irritably slamming his hand against the surface. “I don’t want to learn!”

Cheng Yeli was equally frustrated. “Your grades are a disaster. How do you have the nerve to refuse to study?”

“I don’t care, I’m not doing it!” Li Yan craned his neck, turning his head to shout in a rough voice. “I just want to play games!”

Cheng Yeli was so angry he rolled up his sleeves as if to strike him, but seeing Yu Qiao at the door, his expression softened slightly. “Come in first.”

Yu Qiao nodded, entered the bedroom, and closed the door behind her.

The room was a mess: clothes and socks were crumpled into balls hanging off the back of the chair, and the trash can was overflowing with snack wrappers. The desk was no better, with various test papers and books piled high in disarray. There was a visible layer of dust on the computer screen—the kind of sight that would make someone with a neat-freak complex flee on a midnight train.

Li Yan turned around, saw her, and asked disdainfully, “Who’s she?”

“Your tutor,” Cheng Yeli said. “Be polite. Call her Teacher Yu, got it?”

Li Yan’s voice instantly shot up. “You found another tutor behind my back?!”

His features were delicate, bearing a slight resemblance to Cheng Yeli, but his face was constantly twisted into a furious scowl, making him look rather fierce.

Li Yan sized Yu Qiao up. For some reason, a look of mockery entered his eyes. “Forget it. You’ll leave on your own in a few days anyway.”

“I won’t be leaving,” Yu Qiao said, looking at him. “I’ve already promised your cousin I would stay here as your tutor.”

Li Yan bared his teeth in a grimace and said arrogantly, “I’m not studying. Hit me if you’ve got the guts!”

Cheng Yeli remained unmoved. He glanced at his phone and said expressionlessly, “Xie Bufei will be here in two hours. Do as you please.”

Li Yan’s expression froze.

He lowered his voice. “She… she’s coming?”

Yu Qiao was also startled. “Senior is coming?”

Cheng Yeli: “Yes, she’s coming to check on his progress. So, start your lesson now.”

Li Yan’s eyes darted around before he huffed. “Tsk, fine. I’ll write for a bit then.” Having said that, he pretentiously picked up a mechanical pencil.

Seeing this, Cheng Yeli breathed a sigh of relief and nodded toward Yu Qiao. “I’ll leave him to you. I’ll be downstairs; call me if you need anything.”

Yu Qiao nodded and watched him leave before closing the door.

The room became abruptly quiet. She looked around for a moment before dragging a clean chair over to sit next to Li Yan.

Li Yan was staring at a math paper, looking solemn and refusing to write.

“Why aren’t you doing it?” Yu Qiao asked. “You don’t know how?”

“Who says I don’t know!” Li Yan turned to glare at her like a ruffled cat. “The problems are too simple. I’m beneath doing them.”

Yu Qiao didn’t say anything. She glanced at the problems, pulled a black pen from his messy pencil case, took a clean sheet of scratch paper, and began writing.

“Hey, who told you to touch my stuff.” Before Li Yan could finish, Yu Qiao pushed the paper covered in formulas toward him.

Yu Qiao looked at him calmly. “Try plugging these formulas in and see.”

Li Yan stared at her for a moment, then looked down at the scratch paper. After a brief hesitation, he began scribbling. A few seconds later, he dropped the pen triumphantly. “The answer is negative one!”

“You calculated wrong,” Yu Qiao said.

Li Yan blinked. “How is that possible!”

Yu Qiao circled his mistake with a red pen and began explaining the problem. Her tone was steady and calm. After a minute of listening, Li Yan began to feel drowsy, yawning repeatedly. “Boring. I don’t want to write anymore.”

Yu Qiao stopped. “Want to play games?”

Li Yan’s eyes lit up. He tested the waters excitedly. “Of course! You want to join? We can duo, I’ll carry you.”

Yu Qiao looked at him and actually nodded. “Okay.”

Li Yan felt a surge of unexpected joy, but in the next second, she said, “When Senior arrives later, I’ll tell her you were too busy ranking up to study.”

Li Yan’s expression changed. He yelled, “Are you threatening me?!”

“Exactly.” Yu Qiao smiled. “Still want to play?”

Li Yan weighed the choice between Xie Bufei and Summoner’s Rift for a moment, then let out a huff and obediently shrunk back into his seat, quieting down.

Time passed silently. The sun gradually climbed to its peak. In front of the desk was a clean glass window; a gentle breeze rustled the thick green leaves outside, casting a table full of golden spots of light through the glass.

Li Yan managed to work on his homework for an hour before his mind began to wander. He fiddled with the curled edge of a test paper and whispered, “Hey, is Sister Bufei your Senior?”

Yu Qiao looked at him. “Yes.”

Li Yan pursed his lips into a look of schadenfreude. “Then you’re pretty miserable…”

Yu Qiao asked, puzzled, “Why do you say that?”

“Don’t you think she’s scary? She has a terrible temper and a very sharp tongue.” Li Yan looked sympathetic. “My cousin and I are constantly being oppressed by her.”

“I feel like she’s… quite gentle.” Yu Qiao paused and said softly, “Senior treats me very well.”

Li Yan looked bewildered. “I’m sorry, are you talking about a Xie Bufei from a parallel universe?”

Yu Qiao: “No, it’s the same person.”

Li Yan: “How is that possible? She’s never ordered you around? What about her ‘spoiled princess’ temper?!”

Yu Qiao thought for a moment and shook her head. She remembered that when she first met Xie Bufei, the older girl did sometimes give off a sense of issuing commands, but while her attitude was firm, it was never excessive.

As she got to know her better, she realized that Xie Bufei’s outward coldness was just a facade, and her inner personality was actually very good.

Yu Qiao argued seriously, “She doesn’t have a princess temper. Senior takes good care of me.”

Li Yan was speechless, leaning back in disbelief. “Are you under some kind of spell?”

Yu Qiao frowned, feeling confused. Did Xie Bufei really have two faces for different people?

“So how does she ‘oppress’ you?”

At this mention, Li Yan got excited. He held up his fingers to count: “Every time she comes back, she makes me and my cousin carry her luggage—it’s exhausting! And she has to have the final say in all minor matters; we have to report what we’re eating to her daily. If we do something wrong, she gets all sarcastic and cynical…

I don’t know if she’s a neat freak, but she’s always yelling at me for my room being a mess and forcing me to clean it… even though I’m perfectly comfortable in it!

And every time I do poorly on a test, she tattles to my mom. So annoying! Most importantly, the moment she sees me playing games, she says she’ll confiscate my phone. Now I don’t even dare play when she’s home…”

He rattled off dozens of complaints in one breath, seeking validation. “So, isn’t Xie Bufei way too much?”

After listening, Yu Qiao said calmly, “I think that sounds alright.”

Li Yan: “Are you sure you aren’t under a spell?”

A soft, pleasant voice appeared behind him, asking ghost-like: “What kind of spell?”

Li Yan’s eyes went wide. His whole body stiffened. He turned around slowly to see Xie Bufei leaning against the back of Yu Qiao’s chair. One hand was propping up her chin, while the other was gently playing with Yu Qiao’s hair. She looked at him with a beaming smile. “Go on, keep talking.”

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