The next day, when Song Xinya went to tutor Sheng Tianjun, she brought along pepper spray and a stun gun.
She followed the address Sheng Tianjun had sent, stood in front of the gate, and rang the doorbell.
The doorbell rang once, and the door swung open. Sheng Tianjun stood at the doorway, his eyes excited: "Sister, you're finally here. I've been waiting for you for ages. Why are you so late?"
Song Xinya: "It's still ten minutes to 6 p.m. I'm not late."
Sheng Tianjun: "Sister isn't late—it's me who was too eager."
Song Xinya walked into the house and glanced around. It was utterly silent, with no trace of anyone else.
"Is this whole penthouse just for you?"
Sheng Tianjun: "I'm not used to having other people live with me. It's more comfortable being alone."
Song Xinya wasted no time and said crisply, "Let's start the lesson. Which subject should we begin with?"
Sheng Tianjun: "It's dinner time, and sister hasn't eaten yet, right? I haven't either. Let's have a meal together."
He reached for the switch on the wall. With a click, all the lights in the room went out.
Everything was plunged into pitch-black darkness.
Suddenly, three tiny flames flickered to life.
Song Xinya looked toward the flames and saw the setup on the table.
Three lit white candles, a decanted bottle of red wine, a bouquet of red roses, and two plates of pan-seared steak.
Sheng Tianjun walked over to a chair, gripped the back of it with both hands, and pulled it out: "Sister, please, have a seat."
With a click, Song Xinya flipped the wall switch and turned the lights back on.
"Candlelight dinners are for couples. The two of us—one tutor, one student—don't need all this."
Sheng Tianjun refused to give up: "But we still need to eat, right, sister?"
Song Xinya: "I already wolfed down two sandwiches on the way here. I'm stuffed. Can't eat another bite."
Sheng Tianjun: "Sister eats so carelessly. It breaks my heart."
Song Xinya: "Those sandwiches were made for me by a five-star hotel chef, at my husband's request. Whole wheat bread, filled with tender, succulent filet mignon and American spot prawns. All top-tier ingredients—not just delicious, but packed with protein. What are you heartbroken about? That I eat too well?"
Sheng Tianjun: "…"
Song Xinya glanced at the food on the table: "The premium sandwich my husband prepared for me—isn't it better than that blood-dripping hunk of beef on your plate?"
Sheng Tianjun was rendered completely speechless.
Song Xinya took out the tutoring materials she had prepared in advance, flipping through them slowly, while not forgetting to jab at him: "Go ahead and eat your blood-dripping steak, quickly. If you wait any longer, the bloody juice is going to pour right out."
Sheng Tianjun: "I cooked that steak pretty well-done. It won't leak blood."
Song Xinya: "Then what's that red liquid on the plate? If it's not the cow's blood, is it yours?"
Sheng Tianjun fell silent.
He had been pretty hungry before, but now his stomach was full of anger. He was no longer hungry.
This woman really had a razor-sharp tongue—her mouth was sharper than a knife. And her… he liked it even more!
Sheng Tianjun walked over to the desk and spread out a set of math exam papers: "Sister, come explain some problems to me."
Song Xinya strolled over at a leisurely pace: "Don't keep calling me 'sister.' I'm not your real sister. My role right now is tutoring you—call me Teacher Song."
Sheng Tianjun: "Okay, Teacher Song."
After being coldly rejected and sternly scolded by Song Xinya, Sheng Tianjun behaved himself and stopped making any boundary-crossing moves.
Over the next two days, tutoring sessions went smoothly. Everything Sheng Tianjun talked about was related to his studies—no more ambiguous, flirtatious remarks.
On the third day, as Song Xinya was about to head over for his lesson, she received a message from him saying he felt unwell, was sick with a high fever—40 degrees Celsius, he wrote—practically dying. He said they'd take the day off from tutoring.
Song Xinya didn't mention going to see him at all. A rare day of leisure called for celebrating, so she made plans with Tiantianquan and went out for a happy meal.
Mid-meal, Tiantianquan asked, "Your husband's been away on business for a while now, hasn't he?"
Song Xinya: "Two weeks already."
Tiantianquan followed up: "So how have you been handling your, you know, physical needs lately?"
Song Xinya was in the middle of eating fish and nearly choked on a bone.
Having a meal with Tiantianquan was always an adventure. Any random sentence out of her mouth could choke you, suffocate you, stab you with a fish bone, or make you inhale chili powder and cough till you're gasping for air. Surviving a single meal with her was a feat of luck and longevity.
Song Xinya looked around them: "Could you keep your topics a little more PG-rated?"
Tiantianquan: "This is already the tame version. I haven't even asked you what Qin Yuhe's favorite position is, how long each round lasts, how many times he goes a night, or whether he makes you climax every single time."
Song Xinya: "Sis, you've already asked all of that."
Tiantianquan let out a cheeky laugh: "Oh, you caught me, didn't you?"
She was like a gopher bouncing up and down, all gossip and nosiness: "So, are you going to answer those four questions?"
Song Xinya picked up a tissue, wiped her hands, and then tossed the used tissue right into Tiantianquan's mouth.
"Citizen's privacy. No comment."
Tiantianquan spat the tissue out with a loud "bleh": "Understood, respect it. But I've got a nasty mouth and just had to ask."
She pressed on: "Your husband's been gone so long—do you miss him?"
Song Xinya: "If you didn't see Chen Siyan for that long, would you miss him?"
Tiantianquan: "Nope."
Song Xinya: "Whoever ends up with somebody as heartless as you is a lucky one—you smile, and pigs start jumping rooftops; you coo gently, and chickens scatter in panic."
Tiantianquan: "Sorry, salute, drop a toot, sending it right at you."
Song Xinya: "Stop. If you keep going, I won't be able to finish my meal."
They stopped bantering and focused on their food.
When they were stuffed and content, Tiantianquan wiped her mouth and said, "Actually, what I really wanted to ask was—when your husband's gone for so long, don't you worry even a little?"
Song Xinya: "Worry about what? When he's not here, I don't get tossed around by him every night, and I can get to bed nice and early."
Tiantianquan: "So President Qin—a man with that much stamina—when he's alone in the city all that time, how does he handle his, uh, needs?"
Song Xinya had honestly never thought about that question.
How did he handle them?
