Chapter 29: Stirring Things Up

    When the two siblings returned home, Grandma Li was at a loss for words seeing what they had bought. They smiled at her sweetly, their faces so charming that she couldn't help but think that her grandchildren were really charming.

    "Grandma, Aunt Li from the fruit shop gave us a melon for free!" Li Yifeng quickly boasted.

    Grandma Li sighed, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Look at this, Grandma. It’s got to be super sweet," Li Yifeng continued.

Li Yifei watched anxiously, worried that Grandma Li might lose her temper.

"Alright, place it down, and I'll cut it for you," Grandma Li finally said.

Hearing this, Li Yifeng nudged his sister, and the two said in unison,

"Thank you, Grandma."

    As they waited at the dining table, Li Yifeng went to watch Grandma Li as she cut the melon. Soon, he brought a plate of sliced melon and set it on the table.

"You should eat first since you got us the free fruit," he said.

    Li Yifei didn’t refuse and picked a piece with her fork. As soon as she tasted it, she understood why her brother liked this melon so much—it was crisp, sweet, and as delicious as an A-grade melon.

"It’s good, right, Sis?"

    Li Yifei nodded in agreement and couldn’t resist taking another bite. In fact, this was the first fruit she had eaten since becoming Li Yifei.

After a few bites, she suddenly realized something.

"Isn't Grandma going to have some?"

"Grandma saved her portion already. Don’t worry."

    Hearing that, Li Yifei felt relieved. Dinner that night was a complete meal with everyone present, and after finishing their food, they even had fruit to top it off. It was a meal that nourished the whole family.

    "I never thought my daughter could make money just by tutoring her friends," her mother remarked.

    "But... the parents of those kids aren’t going to complain, right?" Grandma Li asked, focusing on a different concern than her mother.

    "They won’t, I promise. My teacher checked the homework Sis helped me with, and it was all correct," Li Yifeng reassured them, speaking up for his sister.

"Is it 10 yuan per student?" their father asked.

    "Yes," Li Yifei replied, and a thought struck her. If each student paid 10 yuan a day, that would be 300 yuan a month—more if she taught on weekends.

    It had only been one week, and everything seemed fine.

    But her father’s question made her think more carefully.

    "I’ll ask my friends how much allowance they get. If it's too much for them, I’ll reduce the fee," she offered.

Her father smiled proudly, and Grandma Li looked relieved as well.

    That Sunday, when the group gathered at the café near the alley, Li Yifei brought up the topic. She didn’t want to take advantage of her friends, even though private tutoring sessions cost more than what she was charging.

    However, she knew she couldn’t compare herself to those tutors—after all, she was just a second-year high school student with no teaching qualifications.

    To put it bluntly, she was just an "unlicensed tutor."

    Fortunately, her friends' responses reassured her. They had no issues with the fee.

    Still, when Li Yifei didn’t seem fully convinced, Li Ying shared how much weekly allowance she received.

    When the siblings heard this, they exchanged glances. The disparity was clear, but there wasn’t much they could do—life just wasn’t equal.

    The others also either received slightly more or slightly less than Li Ying.

    "Besides, if paying for tutoring helps improve our grades, our families won’t complain. We might even get a bigger allowance!" Lu Han pointed out.

    "Exactly! I got a bonus for not needing to attend extra classes during the last break—from both my grandma and my aunt." Xiu Min, who rarely spoke much, added.

    The way they all recounted their experiences showed they were speaking sincerely.

    Li Yifei was now confident that she wasn’t taking advantage of her friends.

With that, Teacher Yifei decided she would carry on without hesitation!

    Though 10 yuan per session wasn’t a huge amount, the money from her friends allowed her family to eat well at every meal. These friends had unknowingly become benefactors of the Li household.

    When they returned home, it was a rare occasion when their father didn’t have work. It was too bad that their schedules never quite aligned with their parents’.

But what could they do? Money was important, even if it was just a small amount.

    Li Yifei shared with her parents the conversation she had with her friends about the tutoring fees.

    Her father looked relieved after hearing it, but still said,

    "You could lower the price for your friends. Normally, in a group of friends, we help each other out."

Hearing this, Li Yifei thought her father was a very kind person.

"Okay, Dad."

    "Your father’s just worried that if you keep charging them, and the results don’t meet expectations, their parents might complain," her mother added.

    It seemed that despite Li Yifei being the top student in her class, her parents weren’t fully at ease.

    Li Yifeng stayed silent, choosing not to add anything further, and instead invited his sister to continue opening prize boxes in their game.

    After all, even these small earnings were important.

    Their parents watched the two siblings playing together, not saying anything to interrupt. Nowadays, the kids were behaving well, obedient without the defiance they used to show, especially Li Yifei.

    Then, their mother went to check on the braised chicken. Lately, thanks to the kids’ earnings, they could afford better food without touching the family’s savings.

    If things continued like this, they might even have more money to pay off the house, and finally own a home without any worries. Even though it would be an old house, they wouldn’t have to stress about it anymore.

    After that, they could start saving for Li Yifei’s university education.

    Since the accident, their daughter had changed for the better.

    That Sunday dinner featured delicious braised chicken, both tender and flavorful, accompanied by the lively conversation and laughter of the Li family. The sounds of their joy might have carried all the way to the front of the building, making the neighbors both envious and curious.

    On the first evening of school, after classes ended, Li Yifei’s students gathered at their usual spot. Once they finished their homework, they reviewed the math problems Li Yifei had prepared. If there was time left, they added some English practice too.

    This time, four or five students from other classes joined, but Li Yifei declined to take on more students. As much as she regretted missing out on extra income, she knew she couldn’t handle it anymore. Maintaining quality was more important.

When Li Yifei turned them down, they said,

"In that case, we’ll just do our homework at the table next to you."

"Feel free," Lu Han replied.

    Lu Han then stepped in to help explain the homework to them, with Xiu Min joining the group as well.

"If all your homework is correct, you owe me snacks as a thank you," Lu Han joked.

    "Deal," the four boys replied.

    The next day, they returned in the evening with snacks, as the homework Lu Han and Xiu Min helped with was all correct.

    Those snacks were then handed over to Li Yifei.

    The small tutoring group continued to grow, partly because Li Yifei was known as the school’s beauty.

    Some came just to talk to her, though Li Yifei wasn’t too interested in that. She remained focused on teaching the paying students, ensuring they got their money’s worth in learning.

    Still, her students shared the knowledge with their classmates who tagged along.

    Word began to spread throughout the school about the top student tutoring behind the school’s security post.

    Even Huang Feihong, the previous top student, stopped by to see if Li Yifei was the real deal. He didn’t directly talk to her, but pretended to review the homework her friends were explaining to others.

    From what he observed, the answers were correct.

    Huang Feihong kept coming by for two or three days, but then stopped showing up. He needed to work harder to reclaim his top spot in the class.

    He finally had a real competitor now.

    As for Li Yifei, she didn’t care much about who came and went. Every day, she carried a large bag of snacks home with her brother helping, as there were so many.

    Instead of keeping them all, she handed them out to the neighborhood kids.

    Because of this, she had earned the nickname "the pretty and kind sister."

    In fact, she had considered selling the snacks at half price but decided against it since they all lived in the same building. It was better to share.

"But don’t accept things from strangers, okay?" Li Yifeng reminded the kids.

"Why?" one of them asked.

    "Because you might get kidnapped and sold! Only take things from me or my sister, or make sure an adult is with you."

    Li Yifeng went on to explain the dangers, telling them how children who were kidnapped could have their limbs cut off and be forced to become a beggar. This scared the kids, and they all firmly promised not to talk to strangers or accept treats from them.

Li Yifei, hearing this, smiled silently, feeling proud of her younger brother.

    On weekends, their friends continued to gather at the café near Li Yifei's house for tutoring.

    One evening, when the café was almost empty and the other friends had left, the owner called the siblings over and handed them a medium-sized cake.

    "This is a thank-you gift. Because of you two, the café’s gotten more customers, and business is doing really well. Maybe they come to do homework like your group, or maybe they just want to see Yifei. Either way, as the owner, I wanted to show my gratitude."

    The siblings looked at each other and smiled, thanking the café owner.

    That day, they carried the cake home, smiling the whole way.

    It had been a long time since their family had enjoyed a cake. Even on New Year's, they only had a cheap, hard cake with greasy frosting.

    But this time was different.

    That evening, after dinner, they shared the cake for dessert. The only thing that could have made it better was some good tea to go with it.

"The cake is so soft," their mother said happily.

    Even Grandma Li, who really shouldn’t eat the cake too much due to her age, took a bite with a smile. Their father did the same.

    The two siblings exchanged happy looks.

    Just one cake had filled their small home with so much joy.

    The next day, after school, when Li Yifei and her brother got off the bus, they heard someone call out to her. Turning around, they saw a group of girls—one of whom sparked a memory in Li Yifei’s mind.

    It was the teenage girl who had caused the accident.

    "You little bitch, Li Yifei! What are you doing flirting with my boyfriend again? Didn’t you learn your lesson the last time you got hurt?"

    The girl shouted and lunged at her.