Meanwhile.
Hailan Dormitory, Jinling University.
Jiang Silu was working on the class assignments her professor had given her for the day.
Although university coursework was certainly much lighter than it had been in high school, if she wanted to get a scholarship, she had to rank in the top ten for GPA on the final exams.
To get the National Scholarship, she would even need to be in the top three of her department.
For students from well-off families, this was just icing on the cake. They were more focused on getting high scores than on the 8,000 yuan prize money.
But Jiang Silu was different.
With that 8,000 yuan, she could do so many things.
For instance, she could take the high-speed train to go home and visit her mom a few times on the weekends next semester.
Or she could buy her mom a gold necklace for the New Year.
For all these years, her mother's hands and neck had been bare. At most, she would wear a silver bracelet that cost a few dozen yuan.
This was why Jiang Silu had to diligently review her lessons and do her homework even after her classes were over.
Beside her, Song Miaomiao was watching a show on her phone. As soon as Jiang Silu finished studying, she couldn't wait to say, "Lulu, this show, *Strange Legend of Tang Dynasty*, is amazing! I have to get you hooked on it."
Jiang Silu nodded. "Okay, but I don't have a VIP membership. I'll wait until the whole series is out and then watch it."
"I don't either. I'm just finding pirated streams online," Song Miaomiao said with a sigh.
In reality, an iQiyi membership was only about ten yuan a month, the price of a cup of milk tea. But for these university students, spending money on a subscription just didn't seem worth it.
Just then, Liu Shiting came out of the bathroom after a shower. Hearing them talk about VIP memberships, she offered, "Miaomiao, I have a membership. Do you want to use it?"
"Really? That's great!" Song Miaomiao was ecstatic. "I was just worrying about how to watch tonight's new episode. Thanks, Shiting!"
"No problem." As she spoke, Liu Shiting entered her phone account information to log in.
Once it was logged in, Song Miaomiao immediately called Jiang Silu over to watch with her.
Liu Shiting watched Jiang Silu out of the corner of her eye while doing her skincare routine.
'This is a little strange,' she thought.
The other day, Jiang Silu had received so many expensive gifts. Logically, her family should be well-off.
But in the last couple of days, she'd learned from Song Miaomiao that Jiang Silu also worked a part-time job in the cafeteria.
She couldn't even bring herself to pay for a VIP membership to watch shows.
The contrast was just too great.
But she didn't dwell on it. 'Maybe people from Guangdong Province are just more frugal, saving money where they can.'
Then, she climbed into bed and played on her phone.
A short while later, Lu Yao returned, humming a little tune.
As soon as she entered the dorm, she first greeted Liu Shiting, then sidled up next to Jiang Silu and asked, "What are you guys watching?"
"We're watching a show," Jiang Silu said with a smile.
"Oh, you have a VIP membership! If I'd known, I would've just borrowed yours. I was watching this show yesterday too. Lulu, can I borrow your account later~?" Lu Yao asked cheerfully, grabbing her arm.
Song Miaomiao calmly replied, "This VIP account is Shiting's, not mine or Lulu's."
"Oh, so it's Shiting's." Lu Yao immediately turned toward Liu Shiting's bed. "Shiting, can I borrow the account later~?"
"Sure. After Miaomiao finishes watching tonight, you can ask me to log you in," Liu Shiting said. She wasn't going to play favorites; whoever asked to borrow it first would get to use it first.
Hearing this, Lu Yao's eyes darted around for a moment before she looked at Jiang Silu and said, "You know, Lulu, you really should just get your own membership. I heard that binge-watching shows on a top-of-the-line iPhone 17 is incredibly satisfying."
"I... I don't really follow shows that often. I usually just wait until a series is completely finished before watching it, so I don't really need a VIP membership," Jiang Silu explained awkwardly.
Song Miaomiao picked up on Lu Yao's underlying meaning and said sarcastically, "Yaoyao, Lulu and I are probably going to be watching for a while. Tonight's episodes are really good. Why don't you just watch tomorrow? Or, you could just get your own membership."
Lu Yao just said, "Oh," and took her clothes to the bathroom.
After she went into the bathroom and closed the door, Song Miaomiao took out a pen and paper and wrote: [The only reason she said that was to deliberately get you to buy a membership so she could borrow it. It's just like that makeup your relative bought you. You've barely used it, but she's already used it two or three times.]
Seeing Song Miaomiao stick up for her, Jiang Silu gave an embarrassed smile.
She took the pen from Song Miaomiao and wrote back: [It's okay. We're all roommates, we should help each other out.]
Song Miaomiao sighed after reading this. [No way. You're too kind, and you'll get taken advantage of and bullied. You don't see Shiting and me acting like that.]
Jiang Silu then grabbed her hand and urged, "Come on, let's just watch the show. This male lead is so cool."
"Yeah, yeah! He's Lu Lingfeng, the Stubborn Master! As in, stubborn as a mule, haha."
...
Since it was Saturday, Jiang Sifan arrived at He Lingyi's house before it got dark.
Aunt Zhang opened the door and asked, "Teacher Jiang, have you eaten?"
Jiang Sifan nodded. "Aunt Zhang, I've already eaten."
"Good. Lingyi is already waiting in her bedroom," Aunt Zhang explained.
Jiang Sifan walked inside and knocked on the bedroom door.
From the side, Aunt Zhang called out, "Lingyi, Teacher Jiang is here! Hurry up and open the door."
"Coming, coming!" He Lingyi immediately opened the door, a smile blooming on her face. "Hello, Teacher Jiang~ Come on in."
Then she said to Aunt Zhang, "Mom, can you get two drinks from the fridge? One for me and one for Teacher Jiang."
Seeing her daughter so eager for her lesson, Aunt Zhang was pleased. "Alright, alright. You're the boss, whatever you say goes."
Then she went to the fridge and got two drinks.
Jiang Sifan quickly thanked her, "Thank you, Aunt Zhang."
"You're welcome. Take a look at Lingyi's test papers from this week. See if there are any questions she couldn't do and help her with them."
"Okay."
Aunt Zhang then went to the living room and started watching television.
After she left, He Lingyi eagerly took out her test paper to show Jiang Sifan. "Teacher Jiang, the concepts you tutored me on last week? There were two multiple-choice questions on them this week, and I got them both right!"
Jiang Sifan took a look and saw that she had actually gotten four multiple-choice questions right this time. It was a cause for celebration.
Looking at the score of 45 marked on the test, he saw that while it was still a long way from Aunt Zhang's goal, progress was always a good thing.
So, he encouraged her, "Not bad, that's progress. When you improve by another 15 points, I'll treat you to some milk tea."
"Really? Hmm... let me think what kind of milk tea... I guess I'll choose Bawang Chaji." He Lingyi replied.
Jiang Sifan froze for a second, then nodded awkwardly.
'So this girl has no idea you're not supposed to add "I guess" when you say "Bawang Chaji".'
'Oh well. She'll figure it out once she gets to university.'
Then, Jiang Sifan began to seriously explain the questions she'd gotten wrong on the test.
Throughout the process, He Lingyi was secretly staring at his face.
Jiang Sifan noticed and tapped her on the forehead. "See? You're getting distracted in class again, aren't you?"
He Lingyi rubbed her forehead and giggled. "It's mainly because Teacher Jiang is too handsome. I can't help but look at you."
"As long as you study hard and bring up your math scores, once you get to university, there will be plenty of guys more handsome than me—more than you can ever look at," Jiang Sifan said with a laugh.
But He Lingyi shook her head. "I don't believe you. I still think Teacher Jiang is the most handsome."
She then asked curiously, "Teacher Jiang, do you have a girlfriend?"
Seeing that this girl was up to something, Jiang Sifan stated proactively, "I have a girlfriend."
"I don't believe you." He Lingyi held out her hand. "Not unless you show me a picture."
"We'll talk about it after you improve by 30 points on your next test," Jiang Sifan said, naturally not giving in to her demand so easily.
Hearing that, He Lingyi's brow furrowed, and she looked aggrieved. "Improving by 30 points? You might as well just kill me."
"You have to trust me, and you have to trust yourself," Jiang Sifan encouraged.
"Fine, fine..."
The one-and-a-half-hour one-on-one session ended. Before leaving, Jiang Sifan reminded her, "Remember, you have to improve by 15 points on next week's quiz to get that milk tea."
"I know~"
Just before he left, He Lingyi suddenly grabbed a Christmas reindeer antler headband from her bed. "Teacher Jiang, do you think I look good with these reindeer antlers?~"
Jiang Sifan smiled. "You look great."
"Hee hee, I knew I looked good in them~"
It had to be said that no matter their age, a love for beauty was in a woman's nature.
On the way back, Jiang Sifan remembered that Christmas was approaching.
So he opened Taobao, intending to buy a similar headband for Huang Hui. 'Girls definitely like this kind of little trinket,' he thought.
After paying for it, Jiang Sifan sent her a message: [Huihui, what are you up to? I just finished my session.]
At that moment, Huang Hui was chatting with a rich second-generation guy she had never met.
When she saw the message from Jiang Sifan, she immediately replied: [I'm just playing on my phone in bed.]
Huang Hui: [You worked so hard, babe~!]
Jiang Sifan: [Not tired at all. Once I save up a bit more money, I'll take you out for barbecue on the weekend.]
Huang Hui: [Sounds good!]
Realizing he hadn't seen Huang Hui all day, Jiang Sifan missed her.
So he made a small request: [Babe, can you send me a selfie?]
Huang Hui: [Nooo, I'm in my pajamas, and I don't look good without makeup.]
Jiang Sifan: [It's fine, we're dating, what does it matter? I haven't seen you all day, and I miss you.]
Huang Hui: [Aiya, no. We'll see each other tomorrow. Okay, I'm going to get my beauty sleep. You should hurry back~]
Jiang Sifan glanced at the time. It was indeed getting late, so he replied: [Okay, goodnight then, babe~]
Huang Hui: [Goodnight~]
After ending her chat with Jiang Sifan, Huang Hui was about to say goodnight to the rich guy, Lin Bei, as well.
But unexpectedly, a new message from him popped up: [Haha, I still haven't seen what you look like. How about you send me a selfie so I can see?]
Huang Hui immediately blushed, feeling a bit shy: [I'm in my pajamas right now, and I don't look good without makeup.]
Lin Bei: [It's okay. As the saying goes, a person's soul is their most beautiful feature; their appearance is just the icing on the cake. Besides, my classmate said you're gorgeous. I refuse to believe you don't look good without makeup.]
Being praised like this by Lin Bei, Huang Hui felt a little smug.
But she still maintained some modesty. After all, they were just online friends, and she had a boyfriend. If word got out that she was sending selfies to a guy she'd only been talking to for a couple of days, it wouldn't look good.
Huang Hui: [How about some other day? I'll post a selfie on my Moments after I put on some makeup.]
Lin Bei: [Sure, or you could just turn off the "Visible for last 3 days" setting on your Moments. I can just look at them there.]
Huang Hui thought that was a good idea, so she opened up her permissions.
Huang Hui: [Okay, I've opened up the permissions. I'm going to sleep now.]
Lin Bei: [Okay, goodnight~]
Huang Hui: [Mhm, goodnight.]
After their chat ended, Lin Bei slowly scrolled through Huang Hui's Moments. The charming and sexy woman in the photos was certainly attractive.
But the most important part was the added label: "someone else's girlfriend."
Meanwhile, Jiang Sifan got back to his dorm just before curfew.
After showering and lying down in bed, he opened WeChat, preparing to scroll through his Moments for a bit. That's when he happened to notice that Huang Hui's Moments permissions had been fully opened.
He remembered that it had always been set to only show content from the last three days. 'Why can I suddenly see everything?'