Meanwhile.
Upon receiving the news that Su Ning was coming over, the atmosphere in the entire room changed. Shang Wenyun was surprised to find that her official student, Su Zhenzhu, and her two auditing students, Half-Immortal Su and Su Chen, suddenly fell into a panic.
"Quick, quick, quick, Zhenzhu, hurry up and review that... right, vocabulary."
"Dad, we only just learned the alphabet today!"
Su Zhenzhu rolled her eyes at her own father. It was him who had brazenly dragged her brother in to audit the class, arguing that since he had spent so much on tuition, teaching one was the same as teaching two or three.
And it was also him who, barely five minutes into the lesson, had slumped over the desk, sleeping soundly and snoring softly.
Now he was being even more outrageous.
He didn't even know what was being taught!
"Oh, well, you still need to review the alphabet,"
Half-Immortal Su said sheepishly. He couldn't really be blamed. It was the dead of winter, the room was toasty warm, and someone up front was unhurriedly chanting some foreign gibberish.
Who wouldn't want to meet the Sandman under these conditions!
Watching the father and daughter bicker, Shang Wenyun couldn't help but feel curious about what kind of person this Miss Su was.
There were all sorts of rumors going around outside.
Most of them weren't very pleasant. Some said she was domineering and ruthless. Some said she was so hideously ugly that she grew jealous of her cousin's marriage and cruelly broke it up. Others said she was arrogant and ignorant, meddling in politics.
But these remarks were often followed by a sour addition:
Isn't she just relying on her filthy money...
Even though she knew the principle that repeated rumors become facts, Shang Wenyun, due to her past experiences, still felt apprehensive about such a figure.
If she hadn't run into genuine difficulties in life...
And if the salary offered here wasn't far above the market rate, she wouldn't have been willing to come.
Seeing now that even an elder like Half-Immortal Su treated his niece Su Ning with such caution and awe, Shang Wenyun silently raised Su Ning's danger level in her mind.
Not long after.
Knock, knock, knock—someone knocked on the door.
The room, which had still held soft murmurs, instantly fell quiet. Everyone stood up and looked toward the door. Then, they heard orderly footsteps, with the ones at the very front catching Shang Wenyun's attention.
Deep and steady, with a consistent rhythm.
It must be someone with absolute self-confidence, someone whose word was law...
With a creak, the door finally opened.
...
"Cousin, you came to see me, right?" Su Zhenzhu was the first to joyfully pounce forward. Su Ning chatted with her for a few moments before her gaze landed on the only stranger in the room.
Shang Wenyun's heart actually skipped a beat.
She involuntarily stepped forward, extending her hand to introduce herself. "Miss Su, hello, I am Shang Wenyun." As soon as she finished speaking, she regretted it, wondering if her wording hadn't been respectful enough.
Her hand also hesitated, wanting to pull back—it would be too awkward if she was ignored.
The next second.
A cold, slender hand reached over, touching hers briefly before pulling away.
According to standard handshake etiquette, this was actually quite impolite. But at that moment, Shang Wenyun couldn't think about that. Relieved, she even thought to herself that Miss Su wasn't as terrifying as the rumors made her out to be.
"Hello."
Su Ning nodded, giving a brief, two-word reply. She raised her right hand slightly backward, palm up. This gesture left Shang Wenyun momentarily stunned.
She wondered if it was some etiquette she didn't know about.
Just as she was hesitating.
She saw the respectful, silent young man beside her take out a red envelope and hand it to Miss Su with both hands. It looked heavy and quite substantial.
The next second, this red envelope was offered to her.
"For our first meeting, my preparations were inadequate. Please forgive me." Su Ning looked at Shang Wenyun with reserve; her gaze couldn't be called proper and was even somewhat rude.
Fortunately, Shang Wenyun couldn't notice it at this moment.
Her mind was a tangled mess.
To put it bluntly, she was just a private tutor hired by Su Ning with money. Having lived abroad for many years, she understood the awkwardness of this profession very well.
You have some status, but not much.
You are considered half a servant.
Therefore, she should have refused this greeting gift. But firstly, Su Ning's actions were too natural, and secondly, Shang Wenyun genuinely needed the money...
Her thoughts were so chaotic and conflicted that she didn't even realize the scene had reached a bit of an impasse.
Right at this moment.
"Wow, so heavy! Cousin is so generous." Su Zhenzhu lively and naturally took the red envelope from Su Ning's hand, playfully weighed it, and then shoved it into Shang Wenyun's hands, looking at her with a beaming smile:
"Teacher Shang has struck it rich today."
"Indeed." Half-Immortal Su also chimed in, speaking with great seriousness:
"I was just about to say, Ms. Shang's nose bridge is flushed red, and her glabella is smooth and bright. It's a sign of great fortune, a look that says bad luck is swept away and your fate is about to change. Doesn't this prove it right here?"
These were words he always had on the tip of his tongue.
No one else paid them any mind.
Hearing this, however, Shang Wenyun felt her heart relax. If only her luck really could change. Her deeply devoted husband had offended someone and vanished without a trace, and their wealth had been entirely wiped out to pay off debts.
She had brought her son and daughter back to the country, only to be cursed as a jinx by her in-laws and driven out.
Her life was unimaginably destitute.
Having gotten this job... surely her days were going to get better now?
Gripping the red envelope tightly, Shang Wenyun offered her thanks gracefully.
Seeing this, Su Ning finally smiled. They began discussing the Su family's learning progress. When it came to this subject, Shang Wenyun appeared extremely serious.
She showed Su Ning the teaching materials and resources she had prepared, a thick stack of them.
"Since your requirement for Miss Zhenzhu is to converse fluently like foreign nobility, the domestically compiled textbooks can only be used in small parts."
Domestic English textbooks placed too much emphasis on written language.
Furthermore, the vocabulary words all had Chinese phonetic annotations underneath. If one truly studied according to them, their accent would definitely not be authentic.
"Therefore, I referenced books and picture albums used by middle-class and above children abroad, and compiled some teaching materials and stories myself..."
Shang Wenyun spoke with assurance, her eyes brimming with confidence.
"Very good."
Su Ning expressed her satisfaction.
"Although you are not a professional teacher, Ms. Shang, your attitude and proficiency are excellent. I look forward to Zhenzhu learning English as quickly as possible under your instruction."
"You flatter me."
Receiving Su Ning's affirmation, Shang Wenyun actually felt an urge to cry.
It was the relief of finally securing this high-paying job, as well as the bittersweet feeling of having her hard work recognized.
At this time, Su Ning said she wanted to take away a copy of the teaching materials. Shang Wenyun didn't overthink it and even sighed with emotion that although Miss Su appeared cold, she was responsible and thoughtful toward her family—
Truly, you cannot judge a book by its cover.
After conversing for a while, Su Ning stood up. "It's getting late. Let's end today's lesson here." Then, as if remembering something, she had Lin Sen bring in some candied haws.
Everyone was given one skewer.
The two extra skewers happened to all be given to Shang Wenyun.
"How could I accept this..."
"Eating too much sugar is bad for the teeth; even one skewer per person is too much," Su Ning interrupted her with a soft smile. "If Ms. Shang has children, you can share them with your kids."
Mentioning her children hit right at Shang Wenyun's weak spot.
Ever since their family went bankrupt, her son and daughter hadn't had anything sweet to eat for a long time.
"I happen to have two children. Thank you, Miss Su."
...
It was nothing.
There would be plenty more occasions for her to say thank you in the future.
Su Ning was in a great mood. "System, wherever Half-Immortal Su is, good things are sure to happen. Another plot character has automatically jumped into my territory."
The Rich and Heartless System, however, was fraught with worry.
Metaphysics working once was a pleasant surprise.
Always succeeding, that would be a bit terrifying and creepy.
"Host, please think twice. Although this Shang Wenyun is a character in the plot, she barely qualifies as a secondary character." It spun its database, trying its best to persuade her.
"She is also a pitiful and hateful cannon fodder. You are the company you keep. Host, if there are too many unlucky people around you, it will drag you down too!"
"No worries, my fate is tough."
Su Ning did not care at all, walking forward with brisk steps. "Besides, meeting me means her fate is already changed. I remember in the original story, she had no money after returning to the country, and yet the son of her husband's first love and her own biological daughter fell ill one after another."
"After curing that bastard child, her biological daughter died because she could not afford the medical bills."
"Now, with the salary I am giving her, won't her daughter's life be saved?"
Speaking of this, she sighed with emotion.
"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. How could a good person like me have bad luck?"
The Rich and Heartless System choked in speechlessness.
A good person, heh.
Isn't it just so she can openly interfere and torture the husband who deceived Shang Wenyun, that is, the second male lead, and perhaps also that cuckoo-in-the-nest son?
After thinking about it, it decided not to expose the host's true colors.
It wasn't because it, a grand system, was afraid.
It was just that Shang Wenyun was truly a bit pitiful.
In the original story, she was tricked into raising the son of her husband's first love as one of her own twins. Her daughter died of illness, and her missing husband returned, saying he wanted the child to acknowledge his biological parents. That is right, he was the ultimate simp.
The child born to his first love was not even his.
It was fathered by another man. This pair was the actual male and female leads, acting out a story of being separated by layers of misunderstandings before finally reuniting.
Shang Wenyun could not take it and went mad, actually trying to stop the protagonist's family from reuniting. She did all sorts of evil deeds, and her final ending was falling seriously ill and dying in the hospital, while her husband affectionately declared that she would be his only wife in this lifetime.
They would be buried together in the same grave...
"System, draw a prize for me."
Su Ning's cheerful voice interrupted the Rich and Heartless System's deep thoughts. She said seriously.
"I just did a great deed, and I also met Half-Immortal Su to rub off some of his good luck. It is the perfect time to draw a prize."
System: ...Hmph, draw then.
Let us see you learn that luck cannot favor you forever...
It actually did favor her.
A familiar light effect flashed. It looked like an ordinary bag of sliced toast, but what was extraordinary was its price, and the name beneath it.
Extraordinary Memory Toast.
