Being a Tutor to a Rich, Psychopathic Young Lady - Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Shi Mingyue agreed to go with Xiao Dengqu. That day, she received 20,000 yuan, and the steward’s memo said it was a bonus for the exam.
The bonus, plus the computer, was much higher than the total value of the contract she had signed.
The day before they left, Shi Mingyue planned to ask for a day off to go out and buy some clothes. Her clothes were too cheap and would only make her a laughingstock in high society.
The steward first asked her to give her her sizes.
On the day they left, it was hot. At eight in the morning, the sun was so strong it felt like it could melt a person.
She was about to see Cheng Jin, so Shi Mingyue, worried about the relationship between the cousins, said to Xiao Dengqu, “Your cousin was the one who persuaded me to come this time.”
Xiao Dengqu just said, “Oh.”
Shi Mingyue said, “Your cousin probably doesn’t dislike you that much.”
Xiao Dengqu smiled and said, “You and my cousin are always chatting.”
Shi Mingyue gave a response. Xiao Dengqu then asked, “Do you also chat secretly after I fall asleep?”
“What do you mean by secretly?”
Shi Mingyue looked up at her. “You’re using the wrong word.”
The luggage and gifts had all been packed by the maids. Shi Mingyue had thought a maid would be coming with them, but on the day of departure, it was just Shi Mingyue, Xiao Dengqu, and a driver. She guessed she would have to take care of Xiao Dengqu herself for the next few days. But, she thought, the steward was paying her in tens of thousands, so it was her duty to take care of her.
The steward kept giving her instructions. “Don’t let her get into arguments with people, and avoid crowds. You two just eat and drink, and try not to let her play with others. You just play with her.”
“Okay, you can count on me.” Shi Mingyue promised.
At this point, she understood that the dog incident from back then had really happened.
The steward also gave her a new phone so they could communicate over there. Shi Mingyue didn’t refuse. Her old phone was so slow it could be considered an antique.
Shi Mingyue had a complete new set of custom-made clothes. Even her backpack was a big brand. She chose a set that was not too flashy, a white shirt and jeans. But her temperament and looks were already excellent. Standing next to Xiao Dengqu, she looked every bit the wealthy young lady. Xiao Dengqu was dressed simply in a black tank top and long pants, as usual. The tank top had the word “Teacher” on it, and she had a new cartoon sticker on her arm, a trio of little bears.
Xiao Dengqu insisted on wearing this, and the steward let her. But she told Shi Mingyue to be sure to change when they got to the hotel to see the grandmother, who was very particular about etiquette.
The two of them got in the car and sat in the back. Xiao Dengqu looked at the front with her eyes, behaving properly. The steward walked around to her side to talk to her, but after only two sentences, Xiao Dengqu frowned impatiently. “You’re so annoying.”
The steward was helpless. She looked at Shi Mingyue. “Stay safe.”
After the car left the Xiao family villa, Shi Mingyue could clearly feel that Xiao Dengqu’s mood had changed. She curled her lips, and her eyes were bright. Her gaze turned excitedly, looking out the car window, as if she hadn’t been out in a long time.
Could it be that the last time she went to school was the first time she had been out?
Shi Mingyue thought she was overthinking it. Xiao Dengqu wasn’t in prison, after all. Her phone vibrated, and Shi Mingyue took it out to look.
Cheng Jin: “Have you guys left yet?”
Shi Mingyue had just typed “mm-hmm” when Xiao Dengqu’s eyes immediately turned to her screen, as if to say, “I knew you were chatting behind my back.”
Shi Mingyue sent the message and didn’t look at it again. She was a little carsick, so she closed her eyes to rest. During this time, she felt Xiao Dengqu secretly touching the hand she was holding her phone with. The back of her hand was ticklish. She pretended to be sleeping uncomfortably and turned her body to hide her hand.
Then, her ear felt hot. Xiao Dengqu put her mouth to her ear and said, “Teacher, this feels like we’re on our honeymoon.”
She was so close that Shi Mingyue’s whole ear was scalding hot. Xiao Dengqu was excited and kept chattering. “Really, really, I’m so excited.”
Xiao Dengqu seemed to be bubbling all over.
“?” Shi Mingyue didn’t know whether to think that Xiao Dengqu was randomly learning strange things online or that she was using the word without knowing what it meant.
Unfortunately, Shi Mingyue didn’t have to tutor her in Chinese.
They arrived at the airport half an hour later. The airport was crowded, and Xiao Dengqu looked around, curious about everything.
Shi Mingyue remembered Steward Xiao’s instructions. She reached out and grabbed Xiao Dengqu’s sleeve. Xiao Dengqu’s wandering gaze returned and stared at her fingers. She obediently followed Shi Mingyue. Occasionally, she would say, “Teacher, a big plane. Do you like it?”
Shi Mingyue majored in aviation because she liked planes. She nodded. Xiao Dengqu then said, “In the future, I’ll work hard to reward you with a big plane.”
Shi Mingyue wanted to laugh a little. “Dummy,” she thought, “planes are so expensive.”
Even if she gave it to her, she couldn’t accept it.
It was Shi Mingyue’s first time on a plane. She followed the procedure and led Xiao Dengqu to the plane smoothly. When they took off, Xiao Dengqu suddenly bit her lower lip, and her eyes widened. Shi Mingyue reached out and patted her arm.
Xiao Dengqu’s lips were still tight. Shi Mingyue then held her hand until the plane reached a stable altitude. Xiao Dengqu’s hand was hot from being held. Xiao Dengqu sighed with relief. “Oh, teacher, this is truly terrifying…”
Shi Mingyue was actually okay. She withdrew her hand and cooperated by saying, “It’s a little bit.”
The young lady exhaled again and turned her head to look at the clouds outside. Shi Mingyue took out her phone and took several photos of the thick clouds. She happened to capture Xiao Dengqu’s profile. In the photo, Xiao Dengqu was looking at the window with a slightly curled lip and a look of wonder. The light from outside outlined her pale cheek with a golden glow.
Undoubtedly, Xiao Dengqu really liked the blue sky and clouds. Shi Mingyue moved her finger away from the “delete” button and chose to save the photo.
The pair of eyes Xiao Dengqu looked at Shi Mingyue with could not hide her joy. In the light, she smiled brightly at her. Her red lips and white teeth were beautiful and enchanting. “You know, teacher, this is different from what I see from the window.”
When they got off the plane, a completely black luxury car came to pick them up. The person who greeted them was dressed in a suit.
Xiao Dengqu held Shi Mingyue’s hand and sat quietly in the back. When they arrived in this unfamiliar city, the young lady was no longer curious, and her excitement instantly vanished.
The driver took them to a seaside resort hotel. The UV rays were strong here. When they got out of the car, Shi Mingyue took out a sun hat for Xiao Dengqu. As Shi Mingyue was about to reach out to help Xiao Dengqu adjust the angle, she heard Cheng Jin’s voice from behind.
“Mingyue!”
Cheng Jin was wearing a pure white T-shirt and jeans and holding a cup of bubble tea. Shi Mingyue turned to look at her. At that moment, Cheng Jin was very surprised. Shi Mingyue was beautiful, but because of her cheap clothes, it was easy for people to see that she was poor, as if her natural demeanor should be one of poverty and coldness.
Now, the shirt outlined her figure, complementing her beautiful face. She was breathtakingly beautiful, sparkling in the hot sun.
The poverty that had once been revealed by the traces of cheapness was completely gone. Cheng Jin’s pupils widened slightly, and her mouth was half-open.
Xiao Dengqu also slowly turned around and looked at her. She used her tongue to sort the plum candy in her mouth and bit down hard, separating the plum pulp.
Cheng Jin walked over, her eyes still appreciating her. “It’s a little hot by the sea, isn’t it?”
Shi Mingyue nodded.
Cheng Jin handed her the fruit tea. “It’s five-tenths sweet. I just bought it, and it’s still iced. It’s for you.”
Shi Mingyue was about to politely refuse, but Cheng Jin said, “There’s more inside.”
Cheng Jin held out her hand. Shi Mingyue thanked her and took it. Cheng Jin smiled and talked to her, asking if she was tired. Sensing Xiao Dengqu’s gaze on her, she made sure to give Xiao Dengqu a moment of attention, too.
Xiao Dengqu tugged on Shi Mingyue’s arm. “Teacher, I’m so hot and thirsty.”
Cheng Jin still wanted to stay with Shi Mingyue for a while. “I’ll go inside with you. I can take you guys out to look around later.”
“No need, you two can keep talking,” Xiao Dengqu said.
“Then is it okay for you to go in alone?” Cheng Jin had only wanted to take Shi Mingyue out anyway. “Then…”
“Mm-hmm…” Xiao Dengqu leaned over and put the straw of the fruit tea in her mouth. She sipped the fruit tea, her eyes slightly narrowed. After drinking one sip, she paused and drank a second one.
Cheng Jin stared at her in surprise, with a strange feeling. Xiao Dengqu seemed to be kissing Shi Mingyue, one sip at a time, right in front of her.
Xiao Dengqu swallowed the juice and used her fingers to tug on the cat-ear hat on her head. “Oh!” she exclaimed, looking dewy-eyed and incredibly cute. “It’s so cool now! It’s not hot or thirsty anymore.” She smiled and said, “Cousin, the juice you bought is so delicious. Thank you, Cousin.”
There was a small tooth mark on the straw. The straw, which had been wrapped in Xiao Dengqu’s mouth, was now wet and slippery. She had bitten it in such a way that Shi Mingyue couldn’t possibly drink from it.
Was she doing this on purpose so Shi Mingyue couldn’t drink the milk tea she bought?
Cheng Jin’s expression was a bit complicated. Shi Mingyue’s heart was no different. She could also tell that Xiao Dengqu had intentionally drunk the fruit tea.
Shi Mingyue said, “Then we’ll go in first.”
Cheng Jin opened her mouth, but words failed her.
Xiao Dengqu said to Shi Mingyue, “Why, teacher? Cousin still wants to chat with you. You haven’t chatted with Cousin in a long time, have you? Mm-hmm, 15, 16. Oh, today is 17 days. You’ve been with me for 17 days. You haven’t seen your cousin in 17 days. You guys should chat for a while. After I drink the teacher’s water, I won’t be so thirsty anymore.”
“I’m hot…” Shi Mingyue held the fruit tea and almost dragged Xiao Dengqu away.
As they walked, Xiao Dengqu said, “See? Cousin is so good to you. She bought you milk tea, but she didn’t buy me any.” Then she took the fruit tea from Shi Mingyue’s hand. “But I drank it, so sorry. Let’s throw it away. Cousin said there’s more inside. I’ll get some for you.”
Plop. The fruit tea was thrown into the trash can.
Xiao Dengqu was clearly asserting her ownership. The thing Cheng Jin was most worried about had happened. Xiao Dengqu was getting jealous of Shi Mingyue again. She hadn’t drunk the fruit tea, yet her throat felt sour. What should she do?
It was quite annoying.
After the two of them entered the hotel, the driver gave them their room key cards. Shi Mingyue and Xiao Dengqu were staying in the same room.
As soon as they entered the room, Xiao Dengqu began searching for things all over the place. After Shi Mingyue reported to the steward, she squatted on the floor to pack her suitcase. She asked Xiao Dengqu, “What are you doing?”
Xiao Dengqu said, “Cousin lied to me. She said there was more fruit tea inside? Why isn’t there any? She’s doing it again.”
Shi Mingyue told her to take a shower and put on some sunscreen. The steward had told Xiao Dengqu that she had to go and see her grandmother soon.
Xiao Dengqu directly opened a suitcase with rough movements. Shi Mingyue was about to say something, but she saw the clothes inside and quietly withdrew her gaze.
Xiao Dengqu took out a set of clothes. Shi Mingyue helplessly stopped her. “It’s not appropriate to wear a bikini right now. Don’t wear this yet.”
“Oh.” Xiao Dengqu squatted on the floor, looking disappointed.
The young lady was served by special attendants at home. She didn’t even have to lift a finger to get dressed or put on her shoes. Shi Mingyue picked out a decent dress for her. “This one. Go see your grandmother after you shower.”
Xiao Dengqu was silent. She said, “I don’t really want to go.”
“Didn’t you come to celebrate your grandmother’s birthday?” Shi Mingyue said. “After you say hello, we can go out and look around.”
Xiao Dengqu still didn’t say anything. Shi Mingyue added, “I’ll buy you fruit tea.”
“Mm-hmm… What about Cousin?”
“Just the two of us.”
Xiao Dengqu obediently took a shower. When she came out, Shi Mingyue re-tied her hair and gave her some simple makeup. Shi Mingyue told her not to argue and to talk to her grandmother nicely.
The elderly woman’s room was on the floor below theirs. When they got to the large living room of the private room on the next floor, Shi Mingyue didn’t go in with her. She just looked into the living room on that floor. It was filled with people dressed in luxurious clothes, including many in suits and formal dresses.
An hour passed, and Xiao Dengqu still hadn’t come out. Shi Mingyue messaged Xiao Dengqu: “Still talking?”
Xiao Dengqu: “No, I’m just sitting here. I’ll wait a little longer. Someone should talk to me soon.”
Shi Mingyue felt uncomfortable reading that. She asked: “Where’s your grandmother?”
Xiao Dengqu said: “She didn’t call for me.”
Shi Mingyue: “Xiao Qu, come out first.”
Soon, Xiao Dengqu came out. When she saw Shi Mingyue, she smiled. Shi Mingyue’s heart was filled with mixed feelings. She asked, “Didn’t you see your grandmother?”
Xiao Dengqu shook her head.
“No, I sat inside for a long time, and no one talked to me,” she said. She then raised her chin. “I was very well-behaved, though. I didn’t say anything out of line. I just sat there and waited for a long, long time. Everyone was talking, but no one talked to me. Even though I think they were deliberately giving me the silent treatment, I didn’t lose my temper.”
Shi Mingyue felt a pang in her heart. She knew best that Xiao Dengqu was a very patient person who could sit still for a long time. She could sit by the window all day.
But today, she was a guest. How could everyone just ignore her and leave her sitting there alone?
Xiao Dengqu whispered, “Since I didn’t say hello, can we still go out together?”
Shi Mingyue’s heart ached even more. “Of course.”
“Why not?”
Xiao Dengqu immediately became happy.
Shi Mingyue quickly understood.
She had experienced it too many times. This was what it felt like to be marginalized and cold-shouldered. When she was a child visiting relatives, her aunts would coldly watch her mother get beaten by her own brother. They would also look down on her mother and say hurtful things to her face, insulting her mom.
Shi Mingyue would often sit alone on the steps in a daze. But unlike Xiao Dengqu, she didn’t have the patience and would find a place to hide and cry.
The sun was harsh on the beach, and the sand was still hot under her feet even with shoes on.
When they went out, Xiao Dengqu rummaged through her suitcase, looking for sunscreen to spray on Shi Mingyue. She took out a cat-ear hat for her, but Shi Mingyue, who didn’t like that style, refused. Xiao Dengqu regrettably took out sunglasses for Shi Mingyue to wear. She then looked at the sexy bikini she had brought with a sense of regret…
“Sigh.”
Shi Mingyue first went to queue for fruit tea, then for ice cream. Shi Mingyue was in charge of the money for this trip, so she paid for everything. Neither of them had eaten lunch, so Shi Mingyue also bought two skewers of grilled squid.
Xiao Dengqu licked her ice cream. The two cat ears on her hat stood upright. When she smiled, even her shadow looked cute.
They walked a couple of times on the beach. As they passed three girls with good figures, they overheard them say, “Xiao Dengqu?”
“That must be her, that pervert.”
“Who’s that next to her?”
“Her cousin Cheng Jin said she’s her tutor. A good friend of Cheng Jin’s. Cheng Jin introduced her to her.”
“Only Cousin Cheng Jin would be that nice.”
Shi Mingyue looked at Xiao Dengqu next to her. Xiao Dengqu was focused on eating her ice cream and didn’t seem to be affected. Shi Mingyue, on the other hand, felt very uncomfortable, as if something she liked had been mocked.
Since they didn’t go in the water, they took a couple of walks and then sat on a chair by the shore to rest. Shi Mingyue messaged Steward Xiao about the situation here. The grandmother wouldn’t see Xiao Dengqu, everyone was ignoring Xiao Dengqu, and some were even cursing at her. The messages implied that it would be better to go back early.
Steward Xiao replied: “The wealthy are not as simple as you think. That’s why I told you to play with her and not to interact with others.”
Shi Mingyue was quite annoyed. She couldn’t understand.
After being wronged on the first day, they didn’t go out again. They were supposed to be on vacation, but Xiao Dengqu didn’t miss her lessons. They had a whole night of classes.
The next day, the two of them came out to the restaurant wearing matching white dresses, looking like a pair. Cheng Jin’s eyes lingered on them for a long time. She seemed to mind a lot. “Why are you two wearing matching outfits?”
Shi Mingyue said, “The clothes were prepared by the steward.”
“You could have worn them on different days,” Cheng Jin said.
“It’s fine. I came out with her anyway, so it’s normal for us to wear matching outfits.” Shi Mingyue had also wanted to wear something different that morning, but Xiao Dengqu kept looking at her with pitiful, cute eyes.
After that, no matter what Shi Mingyue ate, especially if Cheng Jin gave it to her, Xiao Dengqu would definitely go over, take a bite, and then throw it away.
Cheng Jin felt extremely uncomfortable. The other two cousins also frowned when they saw this. Fu Wanxing said, “Why is she still so disgusting? When someone was close to her as a child, she would do this on purpose to gross people out.”
Cheng Jin felt the problem was with herself. She had helped Xiao Dengqu a few times, which made Xiao Dengqu think they had a good relationship. Now she was targeting Shi Mingyue everywhere, and Shi Mingyue’s life in the Xiao family was probably not easy.
If she had known this was going to happen, she should have told Shi Mingyue not to come. That way, she could have introduced Shi Mingyue to another tutoring job. Now that everyone knew Shi Mingyue was Xiao Dengqu’s tutor, who would dare to offend a person who was mentally unstable just to snatch a tutoring job?
Xiao Dengqu wasn’t treating Shi Mingyue like a person; she was treating her like a possession. It was extremely disrespectful.
After eating, the group went to the large living room again. The interior was filled with dazzling light, and everyone was dressed luxuriously. The last time, they had only caught a glimpse. This time, they saw the full picture and understood what a true elite was.
After her meal, Cheng Jin had specifically changed into a decent white dress.
She was about to go and find Shi Mingyue when, without warning, Xiao Dengqu walked up to her, stared at her dress, and whispered, “Cousin, are you and I wearing matching couple’s clothes?”