AIBBFSCITMLA Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The moment Lu Xinyuan said this, the atmosphere turned slightly awkward. Mr. Sheng looked at He Tang and said, "Yubai said you're first in the grade."

A statement, not a question—clearly, Mr. Sheng had no doubts about Pei Yubai's word.

"Yes, I am now first in the grade," He Tang replied calmly.

"And what Xinyuan said?"

"Also true. I went from last in the grade to first over the course of one summer." He Tang's expression remained steady as she considered how to counter the negative impression left by two consecutive years at the bottom.

"Oh, but your grades aren't stable yet, are they? Can you really be a tutor? Besides, Sheng Fu is in middle school now…" Lu Xinyuan interjected, implying that He Tang's middle school grades had also been poor.

He Tang smiled. "I think my situation makes me even more qualified to be a tutor, don't you?"

She swept her gaze across the room, making eye contact with each person in turn looking confident, composed.

"I actually find this quite interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do," Mrs. Sheng said slowly.

"Dad! Mom!" A loud voice rang out. Everyone turned to see Sheng Yan, still in his jersey, sweaty and holding a basketball, bursting in from outside.

"Sheng Yan! Stop being so reckless all the time!" Mr. Sheng said sternly.

"Oh, I know. So annoying!" Sheng Yan frowned impatiently, then looked at He Tang and smiled. "He Tang's here too! Then let's head upstairs and get started with Sheng Fu's tutoring!"

He reached out to grab He Tang's wrist.

"Sheng Yan!" Mr. Sheng barked. "Go take a shower!"

"Fine, fine, what's the rush?" Sheng Yan tossed the ball aside. "But why are you all standing around here? Isn't it cramped? Come on, He Tang, let's go upstairs."

Ignoring his father's icy glare, he grabbed He Tang's wrist and headed upstairs.

He Tang pulled her hand free and stopped.

She turned to Mr. and Mrs. Sheng and said, "I believe you won't be disappointed."

Only then did she follow Sheng Yan upstairs.

As soon as they reached the second floor, they saw Sheng Fu standing in the hallway.

Sheng Fu showed no particular reaction. He simply said, "Brother, Teacher He," and walked back into the study.

He Tang followed behind him, but before she could enter the study, Sheng Yan grabbed her wrist firmly and pulled her into another room.

Bang—

The door closed. Sheng Yan looked at her angrily. "Why did you shake me off just now?"

He Tang: ???

"Are you disgusted by me?" Sheng Yan's puppy-dog eyes glared fiercely. He grabbed his own hair and said, "Are you disgusted because I just played basketball and didn't shower? What do you know! This is the scent of a real man!"

Seeing that Sheng Yan was about to spiral again, He Tang quickly grabbed his sleeve. Sure enough, he stopped, looking at her with hurt puppy-dog eyes.

"I'm not disgusted. It's just… you were gripping too hard."

Sheng Yan paused, looked down at He Tang's slender wrist, then at his own large hand. His ears turned slightly red, and he looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry… I forgot. I forgot you're a girl."

Seeing that she had calmed him down, He Tang breathed a sigh of relief, opened the door, and headed to the study.

She was confident in her teaching because during last week's session with Sheng Fu, she had realized he was exceptionally smart. He only needed to hear a concept once to understand it.

She didn't know why such a bright student had such poor grades, but based on the current situation, as long as she kept tutoring him, his improvement would be significant.

For the sake of that generous paycheck, she had to keep this job!

He Tang returned to the study and sat across from Sheng Fu, only to notice that he kept looking up at the study door.

"What's wrong?" He Tang asked.

Sheng Fu dropped his gaze again. "Nothing."

Bang—

The door burst open again. Obviously, it was Sheng Yan.

He Tang saw Sheng Fu's head snap up, a glimmer of light sparkling in his eyes. The corners of his mouth curved up involuntarily. But the light vanished as quickly as it appeared. His dark eyes returned to calmness, though the hand holding his pen tightened slightly.

He Tang was a little confused. Did he like his brother or not?

The moment Sheng Yan entered, the room suddenly felt as crowded as if a dozen people had piled in. He Tang picked up a book and smacked it against the back of Sheng Yan's hand. "Be quiet!"

Sheng Yan pressed his lips together, reluctantly sat down on the sofa, and stayed silent, only looking at her with those pitiful eyes.

Ignoring him, He Tang continued teaching Sheng Fu.

Knock, knock, knock—

After three knocks, the door was pushed open, and Lu Xinyuan entered with her companion.

"Auntie asked me to bring you all some snacks," Lu Xinyuan said with a smile.

Sheng Yan, lounging on the sofa, rolled his eyes.

He Tang paid her no attention at all, and Sheng Fu, as always, remained silent.

The atmosphere turned awkward in an instant.

Lu Xinyuan stood there stiffly, holding the fruit platter, at a loss.

"Just put it down," Sheng Yan said coldly, lifting his gaze.

Lu Xinyuan set down the fruit platter as told, then walked over to the desk and moved to sit down.

"What are you doing?" Sheng Yan suddenly spoke up, stopping her.

"I'm just going to study with Sheng Fu," Lu Xinyuan said sheepishly.

Frowning with impatience, Sheng Yan stepped forward, pulled out the chair Lu Xinyuan was about to sit on, and plopped himself down, crossing his legs arrogantly. "Who ever heard of needing company during a lesson? Don't you know you're disturbing us?"

Lu Xinyuan was mortified. Unwilling to lose face in front of He Tang, she looked at Sheng Fu for help.

But Sheng Fu only gazed back at her with a calm expression, saying nothing.

Her face burning red, Lu Xinyuan finally said, "You're right. I should go. I'll come back another time to hang out."

With that, she turned and left.

Sheng Yan looked at He Tang smugly. He Tang chuckled softly but said nothing.

"Hey! I stuck up for you, and you're not even going to praise me?" Sheng Yan said, unhappy.

"You were sticking up for me?" He Tang hadn't considered that possibility—Sheng Yan was rude to everyone, after all.

"Of course I was!" Sheng Yan jumped up. "Downstairs, when she said all that, she was trying to get my parents not to hire you! Hmph! Looking down on people like that!"

Watching Sheng Yan all huffy, He Tang thought he was actually kind of cute for the first time. Without meaning to, her tone softened. "Thank you."

Sheng Yan's bristling instantly smoothed over. The tips of his ears turned slightly red as he obediently sat back down, mumbling under his breath, "Hmph. At least you know it."

He Tang had Sheng Fu work on some problems while she got up to go to the restroom.

As soon as she stepped out, she heard whispering from the staircase nearby.

"Why is Sheng Yan taking her side?"

"He's not taking her side. Sheng Yan has always had a bad temper. There's no way he'd actually help He Tang. Absolutely impossible!" It was Lu Xinyuan's voice.

"That's true. But Uncle Sheng didn't fire He Tang. What do we do now?"

"Obviously. Brother Yubai introduced her, so Uncle Sheng can't just disregard his recommendation."

"Then why did we come today?"

"…Are you stupid? We're here to bring up He Tang's embarrassing past and make Uncle Sheng doubt her. Then, as long as she can't improve Sheng Fu's grades, she'll have to pack up and leave! And on top of that, He Tang will gain a reputation as someone who's just riding on one good grade to fool people. Everyone will look down on her!"

"But what if Sheng Fu's grades do improve?"

"Impossible! How many renowned tutors has Sheng Fu had before? He's too stupid—there's no way."

"Yeah, and He Tang doesn't have the skill for it anyway."

"Enough talking. Let's hurry back. I don't want to share the same space as He Tang anymore."

With that, the two rushed downstairs.

He Tang stood with her arms crossed, thoughtfully pressing her lips together. Suddenly, she caught sight of Sheng Fu standing beside her out of the corner of her eye.

"Ah!" He Tang jumped, startled. "What are you doing here?"

Sheng Fu's expression didn't change. "I came back to my room to get something."

"Then… did you hear all that?"

Sheng Fu nodded.

"Don't mind what they said. I think you're smart—extremely smart!" He Tang quickly tried to boost Sheng Fu's confidence.

"It's fine. I don't care." With that, Sheng Fu left and headed to his own room.

Watching his retreating figure, He Tang frowned.

He'd had many renowned tutors and still had such poor grades? That didn't make sense. Logically, even without a tutor, Sheng Fu should be able to learn well on his own.

Harboring this doubt, He Tang returned to the study and couldn't help asking Sheng Yan, "Has Sheng Fu always had bad grades?"

"No. He did really well when he was little. Who knows what happened after that? Suddenly, he became just like me—terrible grades." Sheng Yan added, "But my brother is really smart. He just hasn't had his breakthrough yet!"

He Tang tilted her head, genuinely puzzled.

After a while, Sheng Fu returned. Pushing aside her questions, He Tang continued with the lesson.

The class went on until evening. Just as He Tang was marking some key points for Sheng Fu to review on his own, the study door opened.

Mr. Sheng's tall figure appeared at the doorway. His face, as always, was stern. "Sheng Fu, are you done? When you're finished, come with me. I want to talk to you."

Sheng Fu's eyes sparkled. He jumped up hastily and said, "I'm done!" Then, without a second thought, he followed his father out.

He Tang's hand paused mid-motion. Wait—she wasn't finished marking yet. What's the rush?

"Tsk, tsk, tsk… my brother is so young and naive. He's about to get lectured, and he's still so happy about it." Sheng Yan propped his chin on his hand and stared at the doorway.

"Lectured?" He Tang was puzzled.

"Yeah. Whenever my dad says he wants to 'talk,' it means he's about to lay into you. But Ah Fu's lucky—he's well-behaved, so Dad only lectures him once in a while, usually about his bad grades. Unlike me, getting yelled at every few days. Inhumanely cruel!"

"Mr. Sheng really is a strict father."

"Not just my dad. My mom too. Ugh, it's just so annoying." Sheng Yan ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

He Tang waited about ten minutes before Sheng Fu returned. He was unusually cheerful, wearing a rare smile. He walked up to Sheng Yan and tugged at his sleeve. "Brother, will you play games with me tonight?"

"Sure!" Sheng Yan grinned, reaching out to ruffle Sheng Fu's hair.

He Tang grew even more puzzled. Had Sheng Fu ever been this affectionate with Sheng Yan before?

But she didn't dwell on it. After finishing the remaining assignments and key points, she left.

The next day, back at school, He Tang felt that her classmates were looking at her differently.

This went on all morning, until finally a female student couldn't resist sneaking over.

"Tangtang, um… I heard you've been really short on money lately?"

"Who said that? What's going on?"

"Um, you should check the school forum." The girl kindly warned her. "But brace yourself, okay? Just so you know, I believe in you. You're not that kind of person. It's just… I got the feeling you had no idea, and I was afraid things might blow up."

With that, the girl left. He Tang pulled out her phone, opened the campus forum app, and saw a pinned hot post.

[Big Shocking News: He Tang, Bankrupt and Desperate for Money, Suspected of Being Kept!!!]

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