Chapter 61

That night, Su Ye opened the live stream and watched the footage of Qian Xiaohe buying food. As soon as she opened it, she noticed an increase in the extra rewards in the background. She didn’t expect the fans in her live stream to be so warm-hearted, unable to bear seeing her suffer a loss, and were enthusiastically supporting her.

It had to be said, this was truly a wonderful misunderstanding.

Weekend.

While Gu Xiangqian was out practicing, Su Ye extracted the reward, which was in the form of tuna, from the back-end.

Su Ye happily took out this luxurious tuna. The tuna, freshly taken out, had a slight chill to it, as if it had just been caught. It looked fresher than the fresh produce from a store.

Su Ye went to Grandma Zhou’s orchard and picked a few unripe green lemons.

High-end ingredients only need the simplest cooking methods. She used a knife to slice the tuna into thin pieces, chopped up chili and garlic, and poured soy sauce and lemon juice to make the sauce.

Su Ye picked up a slice of tuna with chopsticks. The thin fish slice wrapped around a rice ball, dipped in the sauce, and when she ate it, the cold, fresh tuna had the taste of the deep sea—delicate, refreshing, and fragrant on her palate.

The fresh flavor from the deep sea spread from the tip of her tongue to her taste buds. The familiar taste, at this moment, seemed to explode on her taste buds.

Those simple two pieces of tuna brought her back to the bustling, fast-paced modern world. Su Ye closed her eyes, feeling as if she were sitting in a luxurious restaurant with dazzling lights, enjoying Western cuisine.

The partner beside her was chattering incessantly about the winter period in the industry, with the three major communication giants being delisted from the national stock exchange, causing their stock prices to plummet.

In just a moment, Su Ye was back in the harsh and simple 1960s.

He Meimei noticed that Su Ye’s door was left open, and floated inside. She patted Su Ye on the shoulder and said, “What are you thinking about, so absorbed?”

On the plate in front of Su Ye were two slices of unfinished tuna. The golden-orange fish slices were tender and juicy, with delicate and beautiful patterns. Under the sunlight, they gleamed, as if coated with a layer of oil.

This food, which shouldn’t even exist, was now clearly visible right under He Meimei’s nose. She remained completely unaware, as He Meimei had never seen such high-end ingredients before.

“Su Ye, did I come too early? Did I disturb your breakfast?”

Su Ye smiled, “No, I love sleeping in on weekends. Would you like a slice? It’s fresh fish I caught yesterday.”

Su Ye was good at diverting, and He Meimei hadn’t even seen tuna before—let alone eaten traditional sashimi.

He Meimei nodded and tried a slice. The fish was smooth and tender, almost melting in her mouth before she had time to chew, softer than tofu. Su Ye teased her, asking if it was delicious, and He Meimei swallowed the fish, shook her head, then suddenly nodded.

It was, after all, a piece of meat, so He Meimei felt a bit guilty. “It’s delicious, but I’m just not used to eating raw meat. Why didn’t you cook it? It tastes a bit bland.”

Su Ye rolled the last piece of tuna with rice, dipped it in sauce, and ate it.

Seeing that Su Ye had finished her breakfast, He Meimei brought up the serious matter. “You didn’t leave with me after work yesterday. I ran into something, and it felt off, so I thought I should mention it to you.”

“Yesterday, after work, I ran into Lu Siyuan. I noticed that a few of the students were injured—they must’ve been fighting again. I overheard them mentioning something about ‘selling watches.‘”

Su Ye’s face changed a little when she heard this. “You should’ve told me about this earlier.”

She was used to hearing about Lu Siyuan getting into fights, but Yang Chenxing usually didn’t mix with those troublemakers. In addition, Su Ye had warned him many times, and Yang Chenxing had mellowed out a lot. On top of that, this fight seemed to involve “selling watches.”

After saying this, Su Ye quickly went to the bathroom to change clothes, grabbed some keys, and hurried out the door.

It was rare for Su Ye to be this angry. He Meimei rushed on her bike to catch up with Su Ye and said, “Get in, I’ll take you!”

Su Ye hurried to Yang Chenxing’s house and asked his mother, “Mrs. Yang, I’m Chenxing’s teacher. Is he home?”

Mrs. Yang was a smart and gentle woman. She said to Su Ye, “Little Xing didn’t come home last night. He said he was staying over at a friend’s house. What’s going on, Teacher Su?”

“It’s nothing. Since he’s not home, I’ll leave it for now. I actually planned to do a home visit today. Let’s schedule it for next week!” Su Ye said before turning and walking away.

After they walked some distance, He Meimei spoke softly, “These students are always fighting. I’ve gotten used to it. You can’t control them, Su Ye. They’re all grown up, they have their own ideas, and they know what they’re doing.”

For so long, He Meimei couldn’t understand why Su Ye cared so much about the students who skipped school.

Su Ye said, “It’s nothing, just managing them doesn’t take much effort. If I really can manage them and help a few of them get into college, it would be an honor for me.”

College students? He Meimei widened her eyes. It would be impressive if they could even manage to graduate from the No. 1 high school.

Under normal circumstances, Su Ye wouldn’t bother with these people, but since they were the ones who supported her livelihood, she couldn’t ignore them.

These guys were a bit rough around the edges, but they were sincere. Over time, Su Ye had developed a bond with them. After all the hard work she put into tutoring them for so long, with the finish line in sight, how could she allow anyone to ruin her efforts?

These people weren’t just her students, they were her everything.

Su Ye pedaled her bike furiously and arrived at the nightclub where Lu Siyuan and the others often hung out.

The city’s dance hall had been closed for more than half a year. Normally, the only person who came was the old man who swept the floor every few days. No one else came to this place. After the old man’s salary was cut, he stopped coming regularly to clean. Su Ye hadn’t been there in a month, and the dance hall was covered in a thick layer of dust.

Su Ye suddenly pulled back the curtains, and the bright sunlight flooded into the dance hall.

A few boys, around sixteen or seventeen, suddenly woke up. Su Ye looked around and immediately saw that all of them had bruised faces. As soon as Yang Chenxing saw Su Ye, he hid in a corner like a rat seeing a cat, trying to sneak towards the door.

Lu Siyuan had even more bruises than Yang Chenxing, and the moment the curtain was drawn, the fierce look in his eyes was completely exposed—it was almost terrifying.

Su Ye clicked her tongue and sighed, “Oh, still fighting, huh? You guys sure are something! Xu Le, Yang Chenxing, tell me what happened here?”

Xu Le, who was called out, lowered his head, pretending he hadn’t heard. Yang Chenxing, on the other hand, rushed out the door.

Su Ye crossed her arms. “If you won’t talk, I’ll leave. I won’t bother with you anymore.”

She then turned to warn Lu Siyuan, “You’d better stay away from them this month. They’re slowly getting on the right track. They can go to college and get their high school diplomas. If you don’t want to study, that’s your choice, but don’t drag others down with you.”

Xu Le felt uncomfortable hearing this. His lips twitched as if he wanted to say something, but Lu Siyuan kicked him, making him swallow his words.

Lu Siyuan shot Su Ye with a cold look.

Yang Chenxing grabbed Su Ye and turned his head frantically. He lowered his voice and said, “Teacher Su, you misunderstood Brother Lu. He doesn’t not want to study, and he didn’t start the fight!”

Lu Siyuan kicked Yang Chenxing in the backside, threatening him, “If you say a word, do you want to die?”

Yang Chenxing was kicked so hard that tears streamed down his face. He rubbed his sore backside for a long time before he recovered.

“You can’t keep letting Teacher Su misunderstand you. This approach of yours won’t work, Brother Lu!”

Su Ye looked at Lu Siyuan suspiciously. What could he possibly have done to be misunderstood?

Everyone in the nearby streets had heard of Lu Siyuan’s reputation. It was said that he once beat someone to the point of paralysis, and his parents had to pay a lot of money to settle the matter. Su Ye suspected that if he wasn’t the type to hit women, she would probably have been beaten by him a few times already. What kind of struggles could a delinquent like him have?

If it weren’t for the food, Su Ye wouldn’t want to have anything to do with such a dangerous person from society.

Yang Chenxing dragged Su Ye outside, angrily saying, “Have you heard of Yu Fuda, Teacher Su?”

Su Ye shook her head.

Yang Chenxing continued, “Have you heard of Teacher Gao Xiaoyang?”

Su Ye actually recognized the name. She quickly remembered that Gao Xiaoyang was Gao Anna’s uncle—the lazy, good-for-nothing brother-in-law who had stayed with the Gao family without contributing. He used to scam people outside the high school, selling watches, until Teacher He caught him in the act.

Yang Chenxing continued to explain, “He used to sell watches outside our school under the school’s name, and he got a good beating after being caught. Now we’ve discovered ^[1]“he’s still not straightened out” means that the person has not yet changed or improved his behavior, particularly in a positive or proper way. he’s still not straightened out.”

“Yesterday, Gao Xiaoyang got drunk at the tavern and rambled on, telling others that Teacher Su made a lot of money selling tea leaves. He said that the villagers didn’t even know how much they were selling their tea leaves for, just a few cents per pound, and then some people would resell it for a few bucks. He said he wanted to get in on the tea-selling business too.”

“He hasn’t even grown any facial hair, but it seems like he’s just trying to make money for himself! We’ve personally visited Shanggou Village and seen how miserable those villagers are. How could we stand by and let that happen? Anyone with a conscience wouldn’t tolerate it! So, we gave him a beating yesterday afternoon.”

Su Ye furrowed her brows as she listened. So this matter, after all, had something to do with her?

Her tense expression softened a lot. “People like that deserve a beating. If that’s the case, then I really misunderstood you all this time. I apologize.”

Yang Chenxing wiped away a tear of frustration. “Actually, Brother Lu is a really good guy… He didn’t come to school before because he had his reasons. We’ve been trying to persuade him to study well and prepare for college, and he agreed. Our Brother Lu is really smart—way smarter than me!”

Yang Chenxing kept praising Lu Siyuan, which felt a little off.

She tapped on the table, cleared her throat, and asked, “And then?”

Yang Chenxing clasped his hands together and said, “Then, yesterday, Brother Lu got into a fight and injured someone named Yu Fuda. Gao Xiaoyang is handling it for him now. All the money Gao Xiaoyang made through shady deals was given to him by Yu Fuda.

Yu Fuda has already gone to the hospital for an injury check and said he’s going to report Brother Lu to the police to have him locked up. Brother Lu is only seventeen, and if he goes to the station, his life will be ruined.”

He gritted his teeth and said, “If we’ve really hurt someone, we’ll take responsibility, but he only got a small scratch. It’s shameless of him to go to the hospital to check it out. Teacher Su, our ‘^[2]“老大” (lǎodà) is a Chinese term that generally means “big boss” or “leader.” It is often used to refer to the head or leader of a group, whether in a family, … Continue readingLaoda’ is really powerful, right? He’s the type to deal with these things. Please, help Brother Lu!”

Su Ye listened, both amused and helpless. He even made up the term “Laoda” now.

Yang Chenxing had been laying the groundwork, apparently pleading for Lu Siyuan. So, Lu Siyuan had actually gotten into a fight for her, huh?

Su Ye smiled and said, “It’s fine, don’t worry. If you didn’t really injure him, it’s just a small matter. I know people at the hospital, I can help you talk to them.”

Yang Chenxing didn’t relax, instead, he nervously said, “Yu Fuda is really disgusting, Teacher Su, don’t underestimate him.”

For the next ten minutes, Yang Chenxing listed Yu Fuda’s background, identity, the bad things he had done, and how troublesome he could be. Finally, he asked, “He’s very vengeful and petty. This time, he’s definitely targeting Brother Lu. Teacher, how do you plan to handle this?”

Su Ye tapped her temple with her thumb. “Of course, with my brain.”

The students who were eavesdropping almost rolled their eyes. Lu Siyuan just snorted in response.

After finishing, Su Ye decisively pulled out a piece of paper from her bag and quickly wrote down a few lines.

She smiled as she handed out the paper. “Come on, pass this around, and make sure everyone signs it.”

Yang Chenxing took the paper, and after reading it, his vision blurred for a moment.

He saw that Su Ye had written that if she solved this issue, everyone listed below had to attend school on time and never skip a single class, especially Lu Siyuan. Anyone who broke their word would have a life full of misfortune—poor, ugly, fat, and unlucky forever.

Yang Chenxing stared at the words on the paper, speechless and not knowing what to say.

“Teacher Su, are you being too stubborn? Aren’t you still our teacher?”

Su Ye smiled. This was a small matter for them, but for her, it was a big deal—one that determined whether she would have enough food to eat. If she ^[3]“Didn’t stand her ground” means that someone failed to maintain their position, opinion, or decision in the face of opposition or pressure.didn’t stand her ground, would she even have food?

She wore a faint smile at the corners of her mouth and said, “I’ve put in so much effort to help you sort this out, and you think I’m doing it just for good deeds? Do I look like that kind of good person to you?”

“Each of you signed it. Study well, get into college, and make me proud. Once you’ve signed, I’ll take care of this matter right away.”

Su Ye opened the backend of her system and took a look. There was an extra twenty pounds of flour. This morning, when she was eating tuna, she had specifically checked how much grain was in the warehouse. In such a short time, the amount had increased by twenty pounds of flour.

This group of people was incredible! They were like Su Ye’s ^[4]“Golden chives” (金韭菜) is a metaphorical expression often used in Chinese to refer to a resource or group of people that can be repeatedly exploited without running out. The concept … Continue readinggolden chives—harvested once, grown again, harvested again—endlessly replenishing, never running out.

Yet, Su Ye still hadn’t figured out why they were the golden chives. Yang Xue, Qian Xiaohe, and even many of the promising students she had her eye on weren’t, but somehow, this group of delinquent youths were.

The heavens were truly unfair…

Those who were familiar with Su Ye would probably realize now that her eyes had gone blank, completely focused on the money—she looked like a full-fledged money-grubber.

Su Ye frowned and impatiently urged the group of social delinquents, “Hurry up! It’s just signing a name. Are you hesitating like this, not even men? If you don’t sign, I’m leaving!”

“Do you really need to be forced to study? Is this how you turn out?”