374. Neighbor [22/99]
For Lin Nan, being a tutor seemed a bit tougher than being a regular student.
After all, she didn’t exactly have a professional level of expertise; her knowledge just couldn’t compete with that of a prestigious university student. She was practically relying on magic to be a tutor, so it was only natural to expect some side effects in other areas.
Earning six hundred a week meant a cool two thousand four hundred a month.
Lin Nan did the math and thought that feeling a headache for an hour after one of her lessons didn’t seem like a huge issue. With that paycheck, even if her mother decided to stop giving her an allowance, she could still live quite splendidly.
“Thanks!” Lin Nan waved goodbye to Li Na.
“No need to thank me,” Li Na nodded but suddenly remembered something and pulled Lin Nan, who was headed back to her rental apartment, back.
Lin Nan turned around, slightly confused.
“Don’t forget about the side effects of your magic… be careful when you’re alone with Pan Maoxin.”
Side effects? A headache?
She paused, but quickly recalled what Li Na had said earlier.
While the students she taught would remember her words, they could also potentially develop a crush on her.
That thought sent a little shiver down her spine.
Initially, she had thought that even if she became a teacher, it’d be a stretch to teach elementary school with her qualifications. But the side effects? They shouldn’t matter, right? After all, they were just a bunch of immature kids, barely twelve years old. But now…
She recalled Pan Maoxin’s towering height of over six feet and felt a bit uneasy.
At least she could punch him away if things got dicey.
Setting off at noon, she finally returned to her rental apartment at six o’clock.
The subway system here wasn’t very advanced, so she had to rely on the bus. Luckily, it wasn’t a busy route, and she managed to get a seat.
Chen Yao was already having dinner when he looked up at Lin Nan and noticed that she seemed particularly exhausted today.
“What’s wrong?”
“I felt a bit nauseous on the bus…” Lin Nan slumped down onto the couch, leaning against Chen Yao. “I get motion sickness, and I haven’t been on such a long bus ride in a while—four hours round trip.”
Normally, Lin Nan’s motion sickness wasn’t too bad, but today her headache made it worse after two hours of bumpy bus rides.
Chen Yao pulled out another plate of food from the coffee table and set it in front of her. “You’ve gotta eat, no matter how car sick you are.”
“I’m not hungry, I just don’t feel like it.” Yang Nan yawned, but suddenly felt queasy and dry-heaved, swallowing hard as she coughed, her brows scrunching up in discomfort.
“Maybe next time take some motion sickness medication? Or get some pickled olives?”
“Olives sound good.”
Seeing Lin Nan’s pale face, Chen Yao felt a pang of concern and ruffled her hair. “We could just skip it altogether from now on?”
“I can’t! I can earn over two thousand!” Lin Nan shook her head vigorously, “No way I’m giving that up!”
“Then how’s work going?” Since his girlfriend was clearly not going to let go of this part-time job, Chen Yao switched topics.
He felt it was a bit strange—this girl who usually seemed so oblivious could now rake in over two thousand a month amidst her studies, while he felt he was just wasting time with basketball and studies.
It was giving him a sense of being a freeloader.
This couldn’t go on.
Lin Nan thought for a moment and burst into laughter, then started sharing the quirky stuff that happened today.
Honestly, she had never seen a family where a parent applauded after their kid got smacked.
When Chen Yao heard about Lin Nan heroically knocking Pan Maoxin out of the park, he didn’t laugh. Instead, he felt an inexplicable sense of sorrow.
How tragic.
Finally found someone worse off than me.
“Eat up, eat up.” Chen Yao felt a chill running down his back, like a ghostly breeze.
Clearly, Lin Nan used to be such a soft, cute girl who would shyly hide behind him. But ever since they got together, she seemed to have developed violent tendencies?
“Seriously, no more hitting people.” Chen Yao reminded her, handing her a bottle of cola.
Mainly, please don’t hit me.
“I know, am I really the type to just hit people?” Lin Nan took a sip of the cola, and her appetite perked up as she bent down to eat. But after a few bites, she sighed heavily, “What a pity, starting next week, weekends will be off, and I have to wait until Labor Day to earn some cash.”
“Labor Day is a five-day holiday; where should we go?” Chen Yao suggested, “I’ve been saving up some money too, let’s splash out a bit then?”
“How are you making money? I think you’d be better off studying with me for grad school. Finding a job is tough right now, and part-time gigs are even tougher to come by.” Lin Nan grumbled, “You’re smarter than I am, you’d surely handle grad school better.”
Chen Yao shook his head. He wasn’t considering grad school; he knew he wasn’t cut out for that.
“Let’s do this: you go for grad school, and I’ll join the army? That way we’re both busy for two to three years.”
“Absolutely not.” Just the thought of Chen Yao being away for three whole years made Lin Nan panic, and she shook her head furiously.
Chen Yao chuckled while gently ruffling her hair, but this time she smacked his hand away, glaring at him. “You’ll have me bald at this rate!”
“With all that hair you have, it won’t happen anytime soon.”
After dinner, Lin Nan lazily rested her head on Chen Yao’s thigh. Having found a new part-time job, her mood was clearly bright, and her legs were swinging lightly.
Chen Yao powered up the game console and handed her a controller.
“Want to play Overcooked?” he suggested.
“Overcooked, you say?” Lin Nan nodded enthusiastically.
She had played it before at her uncle’s house, but back then she hadn’t delved deep enough to understand why it was called Overcooked.
For normal folks, wasn’t playing a game like this supposed to be a breeze?
Sitting up, she curled her legs on the couch and focused on the screen, determined to score three stars in every level.
At first, it was okay—simple, even a bit boring.
But gradually, the difficulty ramped up…
“Chen Yao! Wash the dishes! We’re out of plates!”
“The noodles are burning! They’re burning! Where’s the fire extinguisher?!”
Lin Nan made a scrunched-up face, shouting as she punched Chen Yao’s shoulder. “How did you spill the food? Time’s running out!”
“Can you help me instead? Quit just standing there gawking!” Chen Yao grumbled, relieved Lin Nan wasn’t actually hitting him hard.
“You’re really bad at this!”
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
The previously loud Lin Nan instantly fell silent, hiding behind Chen Yao and watching the door warily.
Feeling a bit sheepish, Chen Yao stood up and went to open the door.
“Could you keep it down? You’re bothering the neighbors.”
Lin Nan peeked over to see who it was, and it was the new tenant who had moved in next door.
The neighbor wore a helpless expression as he looked at the little couple inside. “I’ve got to study for grad school; I can’t have any distractions.”
“We must’ve been too loud.” Chen Yao nodded sheepishly. “We’re really sorry. When do you usually study? We’ll try to keep the noise down during those times.”
“From six to ten in the evening.”
The conversation went surprisingly well. Both Chen Yao and the neighbor were understanding folks—one expressing understanding while the other apologized, and soon the matter was settled.
However, when the two of them returned to the couch, neither felt like continuing with the game.
