By the time Li Shuyao finally managed to coax the child into stopping his tears,
she subconsciously raised her head.
At that moment, she saw who was outside the door.
It was actually Lin Wansheng.
She was somewhat surprised, then smiled and waved to him.
Li Shuyao was distinctly different from the white girls at Lin Wansheng’s high school, or the ABC girls who had already become thoroughly Westernized.
There was a quiet, serene quality about her that seemed out of place with her surroundings.
Because she had practiced calligraphy for years, her posture was always very upright.
On ordinary days, she usually wore simple long dresses, her jet-black hair casually pinned up behind her head with a wooden hairpin.
Lin Wansheng took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and walked in.
“Why didn’t you go to summer training?” Li Shuyao stood up and asked softly.
Her voice was just like her person—warm and gentle.
“Bench players don’t need to go.” Lin Wansheng shrugged, speaking in a self-mocking tone.
Li Shuyao froze when she heard that and immediately realized she had asked the wrong question.
A trace of regret flashed through her beautiful eyes, yet she had no idea how to steer away from such an awkward topic.
Fortunately, Lin Wansheng had long since made peace with it.
He smiled and took the initiative to explain.
“No way around it. For a high-contact sport like football, skill alone isn’t enough. If your body can’t keep up, then there’s only one outcome when you step onto the field—a concussion.
Besides, I only played before because I wanted to get an athletic scholarship.
I never really thought of making it my career.”
His candor made Li Shuyao breathe a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to say something,
a stern voice suddenly came from the inner room.
“Shuyao, why are you still chatting with your classmate?
Have you finished the summer reading list assigned for AP Literature?”
As the voice fell, a stern-looking middle-aged woman wearing red round-framed glasses walked out. It was Li Shuyao’s mother.
“Hello, Auntie Li,” Lin Wansheng greeted her politely at once.
Teacher Li nodded and swept her gaze over him. “Wansheng, is it? What brings you here?”
Lin Wansheng got straight to the point.
“Auntie Li, I’d like to find a part-time job here with you.
I can be a teaching assistant and tutor the younger kids, or I can help you with odd jobs. Just give me whatever you think is fair for the trouble.”
When Teacher Li heard this, she adjusted her glasses, her eyes filled with suspicion. “You? Wansheng, it’s not that Auntie wants to criticize you, but you can’t even speak Chinese fluently. How are you supposed to tutor others?”
Li Shuyao also spoke up for him from the side. “He just sometimes doesn’t understand the classical Chinese you talk about, Mom. It’s not like he can’t speak Chinese… Let him try.”
“I can give it a try,” Lin Wansheng insisted.
Teacher Li originally wanted to say more, but her daughter tugged at the corner of her clothes.
She had no choice but to swallow the words of refusal.
“Fine.” Teacher Li curled her lips and pointed to the little boy in the corner who was still sobbing. “See him? His name is Tony. He’s been coming here for almost three weeks.
He still can’t even write the character ‘山’ properly. The moment he’s asked to write, he starts wailing.
If you want to be a teaching assistant, fine.
As long as you can get him to finish one page of tracing practice today,
I’ll let you work here. The hourly wage will be twenty dollars.”
Li Shuyao felt that this was obviously an impossible task.
She looked at him worriedly from the side, wanting to say something but not daring to.
Even so, she still braved her mother’s gaze and said, “Mom, the minimum wage is already 16.5 now. A teaching assistant’s hourly wage should be a little higher, right? After all, it’s a job with no tips.”
Teacher Li looked at her and said irritably, “If you can handle it, I’ll give you twenty-five.”
When Lin Wansheng heard that, he thought, As expected of my childhood friend—when something happens, she really helps!
He walked over to Tony and crouched down beside him, but did not force him to write.
Instead, he picked up a blank sheet of paper and asked, “Hey, Tony, do you like dinosaurs?”
The little boy nodded while sniffling.
“Look.” As Lin Wansheng spoke, he quickly drew a simple cartoon version of an ankylosaurus on the paper.
“Doesn’t this character ‘山’ look like the three mountain peaks on the ankylosaurus’s back?”
Tony looked at the dinosaur on the paper, and his eyes lit up. He stopped crying as well.
—
Before anyone realized it, an entire page of tracing practice had actually been completed.
Lin Wansheng stood up, handed the exercise book filled with characters to Teacher Li, and said with a smile, “Auntie Li, take a look. Will this do?”
Teacher Li took the exercise book. Although she was surprised, her mouth was still unforgiving. She sighed and complained, “Hmph, looks like chicken scratches.
You children, born here and raised here, mouths full of foreign words.
You’re almost unable to recognize Chinese characters anymore.
Forgetting your roots—how are you supposed to stand firm in the world?
The things contained in brush, ink, paper, and inkstone are our true roots.”
Hearing these words, something stirred in Lin Wansheng’s heart.
Fortunately, during this period, in order to deal with the system,
he had crammed quite a bit of knowledge about classical Chinese. Words like these were no longer complete gibberish to him.
He put away the casual smile on his face and replied in Chinese, “Auntie Li is right to instruct me. This junior would not dare forget.
It is precisely because of that that I want to come here—to earn some money while also learning more about our own culture.”
His neither servile nor overbearing response softened the scrutiny in Teacher Li’s eyes considerably.
She fell silent for a moment, then finally nodded. “Very well. Since you have that intention, you can start now. Three hours every afternoon. Is that all right?”
Lin Wansheng was delighted and hurriedly thanked her.
And in the instant he agreed, the system notification sounded right on schedule.
【Primary Task: Seek an Enlightening Teacher. One part has been completed.】
【In ancient times, the sages paid three visits to the thatched cottage before proving their sincerity. You should follow their example. Persevere, and come for ten consecutive days to prove your heart for learning.】
【However, the body is the foundation of knowledge. Without a strong physique, how can one bear the vast sea of literature? A preliminary body tempering is hereby bestowed to strengthen your foundation.】
【Reward: Physique +5.】
【Character Panel unlocked.】
As the system notification faded, Lin Wansheng felt an almost imperceptible warm current spread through his limbs and bones in an instant.
The sensation was wondrous. It was not like suddenly gaining explosive strength, but more like a feeling of being filled from the inside out.
His body seemed to have become much sturdier and more powerful all at once.
Subconsciously, he reached out and touched his abdomen.
Holy shit. Six-pack abs.
Before this, no matter how he trained, his muscles had never really grown.
Now this was amazing—he had only completed a simple elementary-school-level task.
With a thought, he silently recited in his mind, “Open panel.”
Sure enough, a translucent panel unfolded before his eyes.
【Miner Success System】
【Host: Lin Wansheng】
【Age: Ten】
【Intelligence: Eleven】
【Physique: Seventeen】
【Remaining functions still locked.】
【Family Circumstances: Poor.】
—
For the next three hours, Lin Wansheng officially began his work as a teaching assistant.
He discovered that handling these energetic children was far easier than he had imagined.
At dusk, Lin Wansheng took his first day’s wages and prepared to leave.
His phone rang with a “ding.”
He opened the email, and his heart gave a jolt. It was an email from the school’s college application counseling office.
The email informed him that the itinerary for the Northwestern University visit group he had previously signed up for had changed.
Due to the large number of applicants,
the school had decided to hold it jointly with the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The itinerary had been upgraded to an “In-Depth Study Tour of Chicago’s Top Universities.”
But along with that came a sharp rise in cost.
The original fee had been 1,500 dollars.
Now, however, he was being informed that the cost would be raised to 3,500 dollars,
and that it had to be paid in full within one month after school started.
Lin Wansheng looked at the number in the email. The sense of ease he had just felt from earning money instantly grew heavy again.