There's Something Wrong With My Little White Flower - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Elder Sister of a Brother-Obsessed Family X University Professor

“Ding-a-ling—”

When the doorbell rang, Jiang Peifeng looked up. She first moved the laptop from her lap to the side, then called out: “One moment.” She then wheeled herself over to open the door.

The visitors outside were somewhat unexpected.

Ruan Jiyun was still wearing a semi-new, semi-old school uniform. A pair of delicate, slender calves were visible beneath the dark blue skirt. Her knees were round and white, only showing a hint of soft pink at the joints. She carried a school bag, and standing beside her was a very reluctant boy with bristly buzz-cut hair sticking straight up.

“Sister Jiang, sorry to disturb your rest,” Ruan Jiyun spoke first. She looked at Jiang Peifeng’s injured appearance and said awkwardly, “My mom said she discussed this with you yesterday, about you tutoring Jiabao… I don’t know…”

She herself found it difficult to continue. Last night, her mother mentioned the matter at the dinner table with a joyful expression, talking as if she had gotten a huge bargain.

“Nowadays, a tutoring class costs thousands, and the quality of those teachers is terrible! I’ve checked. Miss Jiang studied abroad and is now resting anyway. It’s perfect for Jiabao to go and learn from her, and he can practice his English speaking, too.”

Ruan Jiabao was unwilling to waste his precious weekend on tutoring, but he couldn’t stand up to his mother’s mindset that any gain was a profit. She pushed him out the door early in the morning. Afraid her son would agree in person but disobey in secret, she had Ruan Jiyun follow along to supervise her brother.

Jiang Peifeng looked at the siblings for a moment, then smiled: “Welcome… please come in.” As she spoke, she maneuvered her wheelchair to the side, opening the door wider.

Because she was moving back in, Jiang Zhiyu had already arranged for people to clear the apartment and remove any furniture that might obstruct the wheelchair. Now, the large living room only contained a desk and four or five plain wooden bookshelves against the wall.

“Please find chairs for yourselves,” Jiang Peifeng directed the siblings to change into slippers, then apologized, “My leg isn’t very convenient right now.”

Even if she hadn’t said anything, Ruan Jiyun would never have let her fetch chairs. She immediately said: “I’ll go get them!”

She walked briskly to the room Jiang Peifeng indicated and quickly brought out two desk chairs. She then took out her brother’s textbooks and scratch paper from her school bag, arranging them neatly on the desk.

While Ruan Jiyun did all this, Ruan Jiabao maintained his reluctant posture. When his sister finished tidying, he plopped down, impatiently demanding: “Pen!”

Jiang Peifeng understood. She silently waited for Ruan Jiabao to sit down, then smiled and said: “Ninth-grade curriculum, is it? Let’s start by seeing where you are in your progress.”

She reached out, took the exercise book from the table, randomly circled a few problems, and handed it back to Ruan Jiabao: “Solve these few problems first so I can see.”

Ruan Jiabao frowned. Although Jiang Peifeng’s tone was gentle, there was a faint sense of pressure in her demeanor that prevented him from easily losing his temper. He could only drag the exercise book over and start writing haphazardly.

While he was solving the problems, Ruan Jiyun also took a book out of her bag and sat quietly in the corner, reading.

Her mother only told her to supervise her brother. She dared not dream of receiving any benefit herself. She was very content just to have a place to read for a while.

A moment later, Ruan Jiabao pushed the exercise book over with a distressed face, whispering: “I only know how to do these few.”

“You eat a meal one bite at a time, and you build knowledge little by little,” Jiang Peifeng didn’t mind. She immediately started explaining the problems to him.

Her voice was neither high nor low, carrying a clear and gentle tone that was pleasant to the ear. For her, the content of junior high physics was child’s play. She explained it effortlessly, giving Ruan Jiabao a detailed solution.

Ruan Jiyun initially listened sporadically, but then suddenly realized that Jiang Peifeng was explaining things exceptionally well.

She started from simple principles, casually extrapolating the origin of the law, other related research, and analyzing the question types and key examination points with profound yet simple clarity. Some of the content… even she was engrossed.

She couldn’t help but listen attentively.

Jiang Peifeng naturally noticed her expression. She adjusted her glasses, passing the steps listed on the paper to him: “Did you understand?”

Ruan Jiabao: “…” Not at all, understood?

What kind of cryptic text was this serious sister talking about? Why, when talking about normal junior high physics, did he hear strange terms like celestial body movement and the Three Great Theorems? He scratched his head in frustration: “I don’t quite understand.”

Jiang Peifeng smiled: “It’s like this at first. More practice will help.” She handed the exercise book back to him. “These ten problems are all the same type. Solve them all.”

Ruan Jiabao: “Ten problems?”

He looked up miserably. Jiang Peifeng’s cool gaze, passed through her glasses, landed mercilessly on him. Her appearance was exactly like those annoying teachers at school! Ruan Jiabao reluctantly picked up his pen and fell into deep thought.

While he was distractedly procrastinating, Jiang Peifeng moved her wheelchair away from the desk. Ruan Jiyun, who was watching her actions, immediately stood up: “Sister Jiang, do you need any help?”

“I’m going to make you some cold drinks,” Jiang Peifeng smiled at her. “Why don’t you come and help me?”

She was particular about food. The kitchen had a newly installed, huge double-door refrigerator. Jiang Peifeng instructed Ruan Jiyun to open the fridge and first take out a few bottles of imported soda.

“There’s ice cream in the freezer compartment below. Pick the flavors you like,” she said, taking out three glass cups, pouring the soda into them, and then taking small spoons from a storage box.

The contents of the refrigerator made Ruan Jiyun a little stunned. She squatted in front of the fridge. The ice compartment was neatly stocked with dozens of small white-and-red-edged Haagen-Dazs boxes. This ice cream was expensive. Her fingertips hovered cautiously: “I… I can eat any of them.”

A warmth spread from beside her. Jiang Peifeng’s wheelchair stopped next to her. She asked with a smile: “Do you have trouble making choices?”

Ruan Jiyun was slightly stunned. Jiang Peifeng’s profile was very beautiful. From her elegant nose bridge to her chin, it drew a perfect arc. The silver-rimmed glasses rested on her nose bridge, giving her an extra sense of coolness. Suddenly, those eyes turned toward her, containing a hint of an inquiring smile, bright and luminous.

“N-no,” Ruan Jiyun lowered her head, masking her slightly flustered emotions. “I haven’t had this before…”

Jiang Peifeng understood. This time, she reached out and picked up a box of ice cream herself.

“Then let’s have the pistachio flavor,” she said gently. “I highly recommend this one.”

She finally made three glasses of ice cream soda. The fizzy orange soda was cool and refreshing, and with the sweet ice cream, the flavor was even more delightful. Ruan Jiyun rarely got to eat dessert. Usually, when the family bought ice cream, it was for her brother. She could only occasionally get a stick when her parents were in an exceptionally good mood.

She held the silver spoon solemnly, digging into the ice cream ball little by little, somewhat awkwardly. Just as Jiang Peifeng said, the pistachio flavor was truly delicious. Large chunks of nuts were hidden in the ice cream. She carefully sought them out with her tongue, chewing them in small bites like she had found a treasure, eating with a feeling of happiness.

However, even the delicious dessert did not soothe Ruan Jiabao’s wounded heart.

“She doesn’t know how to teach at all!” he complained vaguely, chewing on the pork ribs in his mouth. “She just keeps making me do problems, problems, it’s so annoying…”

Cheng Nuoe clearly had some doubts about her precious son’s words: “She is a teacher from a prestigious university. Isn’t that much better than those normal school graduates at your school? I think you just want to be lazy.”

Ruan Jiabao argued plausibly: “Maybe university teachers just aren’t good at teaching junior high students! If you don’t believe me, ask Sis. Doesn’t she only make me do problems!”

Ruan Jiyun was innocently drawn into the argument and could only softly defend: “I think… Sister Jiang is very knowledgeable. She makes you do problems because she wants you to understand the key examination points in similar types of questions…”

“Then I can just do them at home, can’t I?” Ruan Jiabao interrupted her discontentedly. “Anyway, I don’t want to go next week.”

“You foolish child!” Cheng Nuoe glared at her daughter, then looked at her husband. “Jiabao is taking the high school entrance exam next year. If he can’t improve, the bonus points for being a child of a school employee won’t matter. A difference of one point is five thousand yuan. Don’t just eat. What do you say?”

Ruan’s father listened to his wife complain, unhurriedly taking another sip of wine: “What can be done? There’s a notice from above forbidding in-service teachers from tutoring outside school. Starting next week, you’ll have to go to the tutoring center yourself.”

“Are you crazy?” Cheng Nuoe raised her voice. “Your pitiful salaries, and they won’t even let you tutor on the side?” She clenched the chopsticks in her hand. “I tutor, do housework, and still have to serve you two father and son. I must owe you something!”

But this meant the pressure for the school selection fee next year would be even greater. She looked at her son resentfully: “If only you studied like your sister, it would be fine. She studied without costing a penny, but you are nothing but a little debtor!”

Ruan Jiabao said unhappily: “She’s just a bookworm. Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll definitely earn a lot of money in the future. I’ll buy you a big house and a small car then!”

“Mom is waiting for you to be filial,” Cheng Nuoe was amused by her son’s words and turned to put a piece of pork rib on his plate. “Eat more.”

After the family finished dinner, she opened her mobile banking to check her balance, but ultimately sighed. Her husband’s salary wasn’t high. He relied on secretly tutoring to earn some extra money. If this source of income was really cut off…

Before she could come up with a solution, she heard the doorbell ring outside.

The person outside was Jiang Peifeng. She had changed into a silk shirt and held a paper bag in her hand.

“Last week, Jiabao came to me for tutoring. I analyzed that the child’s main problem is an unstable foundation,” she smiled, handing the paper bag to Ruan’s mother. “This is a set of high school entrance exam practice questions I asked someone to buy in A City. If he works through them diligently, it should help.”

A City was famous for its schools. A set of practice questions could sell for several hundred yuan on the market, and the bag Jiang Peifeng held contained seven or eight books. Ruan’s mother’s face immediately broke into a wide smile: “How can I let you spend so much…”

“It’s all for the child’s good.” Jiang Peifeng’s eyes were clear, and then she seemed to hesitate. “I mainly came this time because I have something I’d like to ask Auntie Cheng for help with…”

“I’ve been working on my Ph.D. thesis recently, and there’s a lot of material. My leg… is also very inconvenient. I wanted to ask if I could hire your daughter to work for me? Organizing materials and entering them into the computer…”

Ruan’s mother interrupted her upon hearing the request: “A Ph.D. thesis—well, would Jiabao be okay? Jiabao is very proficient with computers. He can help you out while he comes to you for tutoring…”

“Many of the materials are in English,” Jiang Peifeng was prepared and refused with a smile. “Besides, isn’t your son preparing for the high school entrance exam? Delaying his studies would not be worth the gain. I won’t use your daughter for free. She can come three days a week, and I’ll pay her the salary of a lab intern… two thousand yuan a month.”

If Ruan’s mother was still hesitant at first, when she heard the number two thousand yuan, she immediately made up her mind.

“You are too polite with me, Auntie!” she said, smiling broadly. “Jiyun is idle after school anyway. It’ll be perfect for her to go and help you out!”

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