Only then did Red Hair realize the little beauty hadn't introduced herself.

"Who are you?"

Xia Yao cleared her throat and put away the stick, so as to look less scary, before answering: "I am Xu Shizhou's tutor."

Red Hair had a black question mark on her face and in the empty silence, the girl's clear voice sounded.

"And you have time to collect money because you don't have enough homework assignments. I'm his tutor, how about this? I have the book he usually uses, don't you all like him? But you don't know how to study, do you believe you deserve him? Today is your lucky day, I will sell you exercises 90% off. He likes good students, and if your academic performances improve, he will like you."

The Rainbow sisters were stunned and rather mind-blown. After Xia Yao finished speaking, she checked the time and realized it was almost 8 pm. She had wasted about an hour and a half of study time because of this ridiculous situation!

"Okay, it's getting late. The papers will be printed and sold to you tomorrow."

The Rainbow group was still lying on the ground and was ready to get up and flee when they saw Xia Yao bend down and grab the wooden stick. Xia Yao remembered something and squatted next to them again.

"Hey, protection fee. 2000 yuan."

She tapped the ground with the stick every word she spoke.

"It was 1000 yuan!" Red Hair yelled.

"As I said, time is money." Xia Yao glanced at her coldly and noticed the girl was hiding her pocket with her left hand. She hit it with her stick and Red Hair hissed in pain.

She found the girl's phone and pressed the power button, but it was password protected.

"Password." She asked.

"I will love you for a lifetime."

Xia Yao frowned and looked at her with some contempt: Was that Stockholm syndrome?

"Don't make me ask again."

Red Hair clutched her hand: "1314520."

Xia Yao entered the code and a photo of the Rainbow Sisters came into sight; she had not expected they would be on such friendly terms.

Xia Yao lowered her head to find the transfer app among all the colorful icons when a shadow suddenly appeared above her head.

Thinking it was the girl with the glasses, she raised her hand and said: "Sister, take your phone out, I will transfer the money to you."

A warm hand landed on her palm and Xia Yao felt something was wrong. She rubbed the intrusion, which was a bit rough and not as delicate as a girl.

She was startled and she turned her head abruptly. In a split second, the wooden stick in her other hand fell to the ground.

Xu Shizhou!

Why was he here?

A faint echo sounded in Xia Yao's head: Go home early.

In the dim alley, the boy's eyes looked too bright, as if a resting wolf had just scented its prey. His gaze was on the girl squatting on the ground.

Her hand was soft and cold and he yanked her up. Xia Yao was caught off guard but managed to not fall into Xu Shizhou's arms, and she avoided his eyes with some guilty conscience.

The boy's lazy and slightly magnetic voice sounded in her ear.

"Good evening." Xu Shizhou's mouth curled up, "Teacher."

Xia Yao's legs weakened the next second. She tried to take her hand back but he tightened his grip instead.

—It seemed that he had heard everything she had just said!

She had just spread rumors that he liked good students and she had been robbing money. She had claimed she was his tutor and had even tried to sell his learning materials...

Xu Shizhou was the one person she really couldn't afford to provoke.

Xia Yao: Escape!

Xia Yao took a deep breath in her heart and said: "It's late, I should go home."

She tried to withdraw her hand again but was pulled tightly again. The young man slightly bent over and stared at her, before raising his eyebrows.

"Teacher, why are you here so late?"

Xia Yao took a step back and tried to distance herself. She suspected Xu Shizhou was trying to screw with her but she had no evidence.

"I just... just came to hang out."

"Did you, now? I thought we agreed you would go home early." Xu Shizhou took a step closer, "Why are you so disobedient?"

Xia Yao raised her eyes, dissatisfied. Why should she listen to him? She met the boy's gaze and said: "I am very obedient, I will go home now, goodbye."

But she couldn't get her hand back and she wanted to cry without tears. If it wasn't because she didn't want to provoke him, she would have knocked him down with a flip of her wrist.

"Oh, now you are obedient, but I fear it's too late." The corners of the boy's mouth were raised and he approached her again, "Tell me what you're doing here, be honest."

His minty breath reached Xia Yao and she desperately controlled her impulse to push him away.

She answered truthfully: "I'm selling learning materials."

"Oh?" He chuckled, "90% off? But is that all?"

"What do you want to hear? I will tell you everything."

"..."

It was Xu Shizhou's turn to be stunned but he seriously thought of what he wanted to know.

—Xia Yao was definitely not here just to sell textbooks and he didn't know why these colorful people were lying on the ground.

—He had heard something about collecting money, which may be related to the learning materials.

—She had scolded the red-haired girl and had said he liked good students. Could it be that Xia Yao liked him and was trying to get rid of the competition?

Xia Yao avoided his gaze and took the advantage of his distraction to plan her escape route. The Rainbow group was still lying on the ground; they had had enough time to rest but the most difficult people had arrived and they could only pretend to be dead.

Four or five boys stood behind Xu Shizhou. They were all dressed in black and silver chains were gleaming under the light of the streetlamp. The girl with the glasses was also still holding Xia Yao's bag and was trying to lower her sense of existence.

Looking towards the entrance of the alley again, Xia Yao could vaguely see something. But realizing the girl wasn't paying attention to him, Xu Shizhou felt ignored. He frowned and stretched out his hand to touch her head.

Xia Yao vaguely felt his fingers and met Xu Shizhou's eyes once more.

"What kind of girl do I like?" His tone had become inexplicably softer.

Xia Yao blinked, feeling that Xu Shizhou's aura was somewhat different from before as if he had become gentler. But it must have been an illusion...

"You like good students."

Xu Shizhou's hand was not grasping hers as tightly as before. She took advantage of the situation and softly shouted: "Brother."

Xu Shizhou was about to say something but he heard her small and coquettish voice, and he was in a daze for a second. Xia Yao took the opportunity and quickly pulled her hand back, threw Red Hair's phone at the boy, and quickly grabbed her bag from the other girl before running away.

Xu Shizhou's reaction was quick but as soon as he turned around, the girl was already carrying her bag and had taken a few steps with her long legs. He reached out to grab her but was too late.

He watched her run out of the alley like she was on fire. A bicycle was at the entrance and she quickly picked it up and left.

After running for a few more seconds with her bicycle, Xia Yao found out Xu Shizhou was not chasing after her. She took a few deep breaths, turned her phone on, and took off. It was really getting late and she couldn't waste anymore, otherwise she would not have time to do a few more questions.

***

The air stagnated for a while in the dim alley next to the Third High School. The Rainbow sisters were still lying on the ground and the boys were standing around them, in a daze.

—It was amazing! Someone was able to escape Master Xu's grasp!

Xu Shizhou had a calm expression on his face and was silent, but the pressure emanating from his body made everyone afraid to make a sound.

Yet one person stood out from the shadow of the wall. The girl with glasses had lowered her sense of existence all along but she trembled and said: "Master Xu, the young lady was just collecting money for me. She was just helping me, don't be angry with her."

Everybody knew about Master Xu.

The boy glanced at the girl, only noticing her. The girl didn't dare to look at him directly and said slowly: "You... You... Can you give me the phone for the money?"

Xu Shizhou also finally realized Xia Yao had stuffed a phone in his hand and he slightly coldly asked: "Tell me what happened before you leave."

The girl shuddered, closed her eyes, and recalled everything very fast. Her ears were very good, in addition to the one-sided torture, she could repeat the conversation word for word.

After listening to her, Xu Shizhou was silent for a second and handed the phone to the girl.

"Thank you, Master Xu! You and the young lady are perfect for each other, I wish you good fortune!"

After that, she escaped, and Xu Shizhou touched his nose with a smile.

Red Hair saw the other girl run away and she straightened up before shouting: "Hey, my phone!"

Her voice was loud and it attracted everyone in the alley. Zhang Sa naturally recognized at first glance and couldn't help being surprised: "Little Red!"

Red Hair was in a mess, her makeup was melting, her fake eyelashes had fallen and her lipstick was half wiped. If Zhang Sa hadn't been both cheated on and robbed of his money, he actually might have not been able to realize it was her.

Red Hair heard the familiar voice. She instinctively turned her head and saw Zhang Sa. It was over, she had already spent all the money she had taken from him!

Zhang Sa opened his mouth but his friends started joking.

"Tsk, Xiao Sa, this is the redhead who lied to you and cheated you of your money? She's so ugly!"

"My mom looks better than her."

"I didn't even see her on the ground."

"No, look, there are more people with her."

"Hey, why are you all on the ground? Are you trying to sunbathe under the moon?"

"..."

Zhang Sa's face was red and white and he couldn't help but doubt his own eyes. How had he gone out with her and how had he been conned?

Xu Shizhou walked by and patted him on the shoulder: "Good eyesight."

Zhang Sa: This is obviously sarcastic!

Xu Shizhou picked up the wooden stick Xia Yao had left on the ground and said: "Xiao Sa, how do you want to take care of it?"

Not only had Red Hair cheated on him, but she had also stolen 100,000 yuan from him and Xu Shizhou had come to help his friend today.

Zhang Sa could no longer look directly at Red Hair's face and he raised his hand: "Forget it, she already got beaten up so badly. Let's do it another day!"

After a pause, he couldn't help but ask: "Hey, what's the relationship between the little beauty and you?"

Xu Shizhou glanced at him lightly and Zhang Sa covered his mouth in surprise: "Could it be teacher-student love? Master Xu, this is so exciting!"

***

When Xu Shizhou's group finally left, only ragged breaths were heard in the alley. Green Hair rubbed her sleepy eyes and got up first before kicking the other Rainbow sisters at her feet: "Get up, I'm tired, let's go home."

Red Hair opened her eyes wide and shouted: "Help me up, hurry! It fucking hurts!"

Green Hair lifted her up and said: "Boss, I think I know that person."

Red Hair looked at her with some contempt: "That's Master Xu. You come to visit me and sleep in my bed, don't you recognize him? He's my custom-made pillow!"

Green Hair shook her head: "No, boss, not Master Xu. The little beauty who beat us, I just remembered who she was."

"Who?"

"Last week, someone claiming to be Xu Shizhou's classmate sent us a picture, do you remember? She said it was the girl who was trying to seduce Master Xu."

Red Hair thought about it, trying to recall.

***

When Xia Yao returned home, there was no one in the living room and she guessed Xia Xi and Xia Yuan had most likely gone out for yet another five Michelin stars romantic french dinner.

Tsk, tsk, she was in the third year of high school but not studying hard.

Xia Yao went upstairs, whistling on the way, and just as she pulled out a pen from her bag, her phone rang next to her. She glanced at the screen and seeing it was Xu Shizhou, she hesitated for a second before answering. The call should not last long and after delaying her study so long, she could wait a few minutes longer. But the most important was that the ID showed the boy's name and she had already provoked him enough for today.

She picked up the phone and for a second, there was no sound on the other end. Xia Yao was about to ask what was going on when she heard a shallow laugh and a lazy voice asked: "Want to see me naked?"

Xia Yao was startled and instinctively answered: "How do you know?"