32: Tutoring for the Empress

Su Chen was currently weak, so Xia Weiyu bought ingredients that were highly nutritious.

She planned to cook a good meal for Su Chen at noon, with things like black-boned chicken and pork ribs.

They had just completed a mission, and Su Chen had even shared over three thousand with her.

Her funds were still quite abundant, and splurging a little was all for the sake of Su Chen's recovery.

As they passed another vegetable stall, Wang Xiaoting asked:

"So for the next three days, Su Chen has to stay in the hospital, and we can't continue with missions for now."

"Yeah. If you're in a hurry, you can go find another team first. I'm staying here to take care of Su Chen until his injuries heal."

"Go back?"

"What kind of person do you take me, Wang Xiaoting, for? I'm staying too!"

"Even though I'm still one mission short, I'm willing to wait three days for a friend!"

Only a fool would go back.

She didn't want to leave at all; even including the three days of rest, completing this mission would only take five days in total!

Where else could she find such efficiency, finishing a d-rank mission in five days?

You should know that her previous mission took thirty days of hard work, only to end in failure.

Thinking back on how much she suffered then made her want to cry even now.

On the other hand, teaming up with Su Chen required no effort at all; the mission was finished after just hanging out with Yang Junlong for two days.

If she left Su Chen, where would she find such a great teammate to carry her?

This was also an opportunity—she could fleece Yang Junlong for a couple of meals and enjoy three days of good food and drink!

She'd go eat crawfish again tonight and eat him out of house and home!

"Xia Weiyu, it's not right for you to say that. We're teammates too. Asking me to leave at a time like this, what do you take me for?"

"Leaving now would be so heartless. I'll wait with you!"

"As it happens, this is also a chance to give you some extra lessons during these three days."

"Extra lessons?"

Xia Weiyu was confused. "What lessons are you giving me?"

Wang Xiaoting pulled out a makeup mirror and gestured; Xia Weiyu looked at herself through the mirror.

"Look at you. You don't even wear makeup when you go out. What lessons do you think I'm giving you?"

"Clothes make the man, and a saddle makes the horse. For us women, it's fine when facing others, but when facing the one we love, we should obviously show our best side, shouldn't we?"

This was something Xia Weiyu had truly never dabbled in; her only skincare product was a tube of Chilblain Cream.

Back in middle and high school, makeup wasn't allowed, so she never tried it because of that rule.

Combined with how busy her family was and a large amount of external debt, she naturally didn't have spare money for such things.

Even the little she earned from part-time jobs during holidays was meant to help with household expenses; she didn't pay much attention to herself. After all, she was just a 'nobody' whom no one noticed.

Among her friends so far, Wang Xiaoting was the one she talked to the most.

"I... dressing up and makeup is fine, but..."

"The last time I wore makeup was for Children's Day in the sixth grade. I really don't know anything about this."

Wang Xiaoting couldn't help but be stunned. Just how much did she neglect her appearance!

And you're already a college freshman. That was six years ago—is it really appropriate to use 'last time' to describe it?

..."It's fine, you have me. I'll teach you how to do makeup."

"If you're willing to work hard, three days is enough for you to master some basics."

"Dressing up beautifully every day to bring food to Su Chen—isn't that also a way to capture his heart?"

"This..."

"Even if you don't consider yourself, you should consider Su Chen's feelings, right?"

"For the same meal delivery, who do you think would make the food more appetizing: a great beauty or a sixty-year-old grandmother?"

"And this person delivering the food will be sitting by his side the whole time, chatting and talking."

"Your analogy..."

"Okay, my analogy is indeed a bit exaggerated, but the sentiment is the same."

"Think about those men on the street; which one of them doesn't turn their head to look at beauties? Who looks at old ladies?"

"Trust me, if you dress up, Su Chen will enjoy his food much more."

"In short, that's what I mean. If you want what's best for Su Chen, then listen to me."

Xia Weiyu felt that Wang Xiaoting had a point; she really should dress up a bit before delivering the food.

Otherwise, if she continued going like this, she might not care, but if it was really as Wang Xiaoting said...

It would be truly terrible if Su Chen lost his appetite because she dressed too plainly.

"Then Xiaoting, I'll have to trouble you."

"No trouble at all, no trouble!"

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to team up with Su Chen and finish the assessment."

"Nor would I have been able to make up with Yang Junlong."

"Consider this as returning the favor. Since you're going to be cooking personally these next few days..."

"I'll teach you how to do makeup and dress up, and you teach me how to cook. We'll learn from each other."

...Inside the inn two hours later.

Wang Xiaoting was extremely busy, running back and forth between the kitchen and the room.

She was stewing soup according to Xia Weiyu's instructions on one hand and guiding Xia Weiyu through makeup on the other.

Not a single moment was wasted.

She dressed Xia Weiyu up beautifully according to her own ideas, even having her wear her own white down jacket.

Her long hair was tied up, and she wore light makeup.

Her fair and delicate face, even without makeup, was enough to make another woman like Xiaoting feel a bit fluttery.

If Xia Weiyu weren't unaccustomed to it, a bit more powder, drawn eyebrows, and eyeshadow would have caused a string of car accidents if she stood on the street.

A typical GDP booster.

"Weiyu, you're a standard natural beauty! How did I not notice before?"

"If I were a man, I'd chase you too."

"No wonder Su Chen could pick you out from a crowd of thousands; your foundation is so good. If you walked outside dressed up every day, that Campus Belle wouldn't stand a chance."

"Listen to me, hurry up and confess to Su Chen within these three days."

"I..."

Seeing Xia Weiyu hesitate, she knew there was no hope for that yet.

"Then you can settle for the next best thing. Start with something simpler to promote your feelings for each other."

"Like what?" Xia Weiyu also wanted to know.

"Sleeping together."

Xia Weiyu: "..."

That certainly is 'promoting feelings'.

"Hahaha, just kidding. Actually, there are many things, like washing his clothes by hand, cooking for him, peeling fruit for him..."

Xia Weiyu appeared indifferent on the surface, but her hands were already moving frantically, recording every word Wang Xiaoting said in a notebook.

Wang Xiaoting thought for a moment and added:

"If the relationship gets even closer, then it's holding hands and kissing."

Xia Weiyu stammered in response, "Ki... kissing."

"Yeah, a deep, passionate kiss, get it?"

"But looking at you, it's too hard to ask you to take the initiative. You should start with holding hands."

"Holding hands..."

Xia Weiyu felt her face burning and didn't dare to think any further.

Looking at her left hand, her eyes dimmed again. "But in my condition, he would probably be repulsed, right?"

"It's fine. It's just a hand; once you have money in the future, it can grow back."

Picking up a glove from the table and putting it on, Xia Weiyu felt she needed to work hard.

She would focus on doing missions to earn money first and set the confession aside for now.

"It's getting late, I'm heading to the hospital. Let me see how your chicken soup turned out."

Hearing that Xia Weiyu was going to check, Wang Xiaoting's current mindset was like a student who hadn't finished their homework and was suddenly being checked by the teacher.

"Uh... it's fine."

"I followed all your steps, so you can't blame me later!"

Looking at Xiaoting's expression, she realized something was wrong; she might have ruined the stew.

Fortunately, she had been cautious; the chicken soup for Su Chen was stewed by herself, while she had Wang Xiaoting stew another pot for practice.

The main point was that it would be inappropriate to bring Su Chen food made by Wang Xiaoting.

Luckily she did that, otherwise Su Chen wouldn't have had anything to eat this noon.