Chapter 21 : Sacred Radiance
21: Sacred Radiance
Su Mo was unaware of Chu Tianlan's psychological activities while she accompanied the two little ones with their homework.
If she had known, Su Mo could only say that these were all misunderstandings caused by the system.
After all, Emmmmmm without doing challenge missions there would be no Challenge Coins, without Challenge Coins she couldn't buy Cardiac Stimulants, and not buying Cardiac Stimulants was equivalent to slow suicide.
Everything was simply her pure survival instinct.
Ningning and Chenchen's elementary school homework wasn't too much due to only having three subjects: Chinese, Math, and English.
However, given that the two little ones were too lively, plus tutoring both together doubled the chaos level, and their thoughts were too wildly imaginative, the time was stretched out considerably.
By the time Su Mo had coaxed and tricked the two little ones into finishing their homework with a dry throat, an hour and a half had passed, reaching 3 PM.
Perhaps doing homework was truly an unhappy task, or perhaps afternoon naps were part of elementary students' daily biological clock.
After finishing their homework, the two little ones who disliked studying directly protested by collapsing on the table and falling asleep.
For a moment, the room became quiet.
Looking at the two little ones sleeping beside her, Su Mo was somewhat lost in thought.
Because in the past when working part-time, she would always discuss wages first before starting work earnestly. But today, it seemed there were some procedural oversights.
However, looking at the several homework books on the desk filled with crooked but cute characters, she should have been hired by President Chu. But with a monthly salary of 6000 yuan, she still hadn't asked how many hours per month this tutoring job required!
Just as Su Mo was pondering some part-time job details and thinking about asking employer Chu Tianlan for clarification later, perhaps because the two troublesome little ones had suddenly quieted down, Chu Tianlan timely entered this small study carrying a glass of juice, her face carrying a gentle smile.
"Junior Su, thank you for your hard work."
Perhaps because she had relaxed her guard at home, or perhaps Chu Tianlan had also taken a nap just now.
At this moment, her delicate eyebrows carried a touch of languidness and peace, making her entire person look completely unguarded, plus the big sister aura surrounding her.
For some reason, Su Mo had the dangerous illusion that even if she pounced on her, she would be patted on the head and told "it's okay."
Shaking her head to cast these inappropriate thoughts from her mind, Su Mo accepted the other's juice. She had originally wanted to remind Chu Tianlan that she was a boy and that men and women being alone together required more caution.
But when the words reached her lips, recalling the scene at the theater this morning when she had been subdued by the evil loli, Su Mo swallowed her words back. After all, the nearly 170cm tall neighborly big sister Chu Tianlan clearly looked much more capable of fighting than the 150cm evil little loli. Thinking of this morning's theater incident, it was better not to humiliate herself.
Taking a sip of the cool juice, her throat that had been imitating Klee + Qiqi for over an hour got some moisture.
That refreshing feeling made Su Mo happily narrow her eyes. Then, as if remembering something, Su Mo patted her jacket pocket.
Su Mo's original intention was to return Chu Tianlan's handkerchief to her.
After all, it was a cotton handkerchief that felt expensive.
However, as she reached into her jacket pocket and felt another silky texture, Su Mo's movements froze.
Because she suddenly remembered that An Xiaoqian, that evil little loli, had stuffed white stockings into her pocket. And just now she had put both items together.
If she directly returned this to President Chu, although An Xiaoqian's little feet clearly wouldn't smell, it would still be strange in every sense.
So her words changed to:
"Thank you for President Chu's juice. Um... the handkerchief, I used it and it got a bit dirty. I'll wash it before returning it to you."
Chu Tianlan, who was putting Ningning and Chenchen to bed, was slightly stunned upon hearing Su Mo's words.
Are boys nowadays this clean?
However, being clean was certainly a plus point!
If Su Mo were bound to a romance system instead of a challenge system at this moment, she would discover a "+3 favorability" notification appearing above Chu Tianlan's head.
After putting the two little ones in their respective beds and checking and organizing their crooked homework to find no errors, Chu Tianlan brought Su Mo to the living room. The top floor of Weiyang Apartments, like many residential buildings, had a top floor + attic layout.
Unlike Lin Muyao and An Xiaoqian's regular apartment with four units per floor and 50-70 square meters of usable space, Chu Tianlan's home was one of those legendary large houses—two units per floor with an exaggeratedly large area of 200-250 square meters.
When she had first entered, Su Mo had been directly pulled to the study to teach the two little ones, so she hadn't paid much attention to the details of Chu Tianlan's home.
But now, examining carefully, Su Mo discovered this room was terrifyingly large and quite well-decorated.
Could it be that Emmmmmm President Chu Tianlan was also a rich lady?
Just as Su Mo was curiously examining the mansion like an interested baby, Chu Tianlan was also observing Su Mo.
Although due to the 'legendary' incident, Chu Tianlan knew some information about Su Mo, such as: average family background, top scorer on college entrance exams, always working part-time, and poor health.
But that investigated information seemed pale compared to interacting with the real person.
Looking at Su Mo now sitting in front of her, with a slender figure like a girl, a feminine little face with a hint of sickly pale weakness that aroused pity, plus Su Mo's naturally soft demeanor due to her weak constitution.
At this moment, Chu Tianlan felt her eyes brighten. Due to her personality of liking to take care of people, she had always fantasized about having a little brother figure since childhood. The current Su Mo perfectly fit her dream little brother standards: clean appearance, gentle and refined, emotionally stable, physically weak, pitifully adorable, polite and well-behaved.
In her excitement, looking at the off-brand clothes Su Mo was wearing and thinking of him coming to apply for tutoring and always working part-time, Chu Tianlan couldn't help but imagine a series of tragic stories about Su Mo in her mind. Even her gaze toward Su Mo carried a touch of loving pity, becoming even more gentle.
Su Mo, who had prepared for tutoring negotiations, was waiting for Chu Tianlan to make some normal tutoring requirements, such as improving grades by how many points or tutoring class hours.
But after waiting a long time without response, when she looked up, she saw President Chu with a big sister appearance of pitying the weak. This development left Su Mo confused, so she tentatively asked:
"Chu... President Chu, what's wrong? Did I not teach something well?"
Seeing Su Mo's cautious tone, Chu Tianlan, who had fallen into some misunderstanding, finally came to her senses. Recalling the rental matter the part-time job guy had casually mentioned, after some consideration she spoke:
"No, Junior Su, I just saw that you taught very well. I was just thinking about what the agent mentioned about you wanting to rent in Weiyang Apartments. My family happens to have spare property for rent. Would you like to take a look?"
Hearing Chu Tianlan's kind rental suggestion, Su Mo's eyes lit up.
After all, when renting, compared to an unfamiliar landlord, President Chu Tianlan in front of her clearly looked like a virtuous homebody. The room would definitely be well-maintained.
Moreover, being from the same school, the deposit should be returnable when moving out, without the black deposit retention issues rumored online.
However, just as Su Mo was about to nod, she hesitated somewhat. After all, Emmmmmm this current house was so large—if the rental property was also this large, it would be completely financially unsupportable!
As Su University's Student Council President, Chu Tianlan had also negotiated some collaborations at school. Seeing Su Mo's difficulty in speaking, she quickly guessed the general situation.
Perhaps to repay Su Mo's help in the legendary incident, or due to Chu Tianlan's instinctive big sister personality of liking to take care of people, after brief contemplation, she said softly:
"The house I'm renting is about a 50 square meter single apartment. Compared to renting to others, I'm more at ease renting to you, junior. Plus we're from the same university, so the deposit can be waived!"
Actually, after just finishing tutoring the two little ones, Su Mo had planned to contact the part-time job guy later about renting.
After all, sleeping in the dorm was too risky. Viewing houses, signing contracts, and buying bedding all took time. If delayed further, she might not be able to move into the new room tonight and would have to pay for a hotel. Although Su Mo had only completed one mission and changed very little—basically undetectable as a girl without looking at details—her ID could still be used for hotels.
But thinking about renting at Weiyang Apartments required one month's deposit plus one month's rent, even the cheapest single room would be 4500, plus deposit would be 9000+, while she had at most 9000 in her pocket.
Although she had credit card options and could manage living expenses, money should still be saved when possible. What if the challenge system issued missions that required real money? These things were unpredictable.
As for asking family for money, her parents would definitely give it.
But the problem was explaining the reason, which made no sense from any angle!
Now hearing Chu Tianlan mention a single apartment and propose waiving the rental deposit, compared to Lin Muyao who threatened her into being a boyfriend, and that evil little loli who discovered her secret.
At this moment, Su Mo felt that Chu Tianlan was like a legendary angel, radiating sacred light.