After waking from his nap, Zhou Li continued job hunting.
Huai Xu was still binge-watching his drama, and the watermelon had all been eaten. Zhou Li went out and brought him another plate.
By five in the afternoon, he finally found a tutoring job.
It was to tutor a fifth-grade boy in math, two days a week, two hours each day, at forty yuan per hour. Yan City was a small town, and Zhou Li thought the pay was quite good. If he were to distribute flyers, he would earn about the same working from morning till evening. He could consider taking on a couple more tutoring jobs or wait until the summer break when there would be a higher demand for tutors.
At five-thirty, he went to the living room.
Aunt Jiang’s plan hadn’t panned out, leaving the elderly woman somewhat exhausted. She had especially watched Wang Gang’s cooking show the night before and learned several new dishes. However, judging by Zhou Li’s attitude, she guessed she wouldn’t get a chance to show them off anytime soon.
"Ask your dad what time he’ll be home," she said.
So Zhou Li messaged Old Zhou.
Old Zhou didn’t reply.
Zhou Li and Aunt Jiang started eating without him. Twenty minutes later, Old Zhou replied, telling them to go ahead and eat, as he was almost home.
Zhou Li didn’t reply.
He thought Aunt Jiang’s cooking had improved again.
After dinner, Zhou Li checked the time, picked up his keys, and said to Aunt Jiang and Old Zhou, "I’m heading out."
"Going out to have fun?" Aunt Jiang asked with concern. "Do you have enough money?"
"You should take more, just in case."
"I found a tutoring job; I’m going to check it out."
"Oh..." Aunt Jiang sounded disappointed.
"Tutoring, huh?" Old Zhou looked up, smacking his lips. "How much per hour?"
"Yes, it’s a bit too cheap," Aunt Jiang interjected. "You might as well tutor your brother. Have your dad pay you, and charge him well!"
"He doesn’t need it."
Zhou Li quickly changed his shoes, greeted them, and left the house.
Huai Xu naturally followed him. He chose a less crowded spot to manifest and said, "Your family’s dinner smelled so good, it nearly drove me crazy with cravings! I really want to eat something now."
"Come over to my place next time."
"Yeah." Seeing how thrilled Huai Xu was, Zhou Li asked, "Do you want to eat something now?"
"I don’t know. I don’t have any money."
"I’ll buy it for you."
"That’s kind of embarrassing..." Huai Xu hesitated. "You always end up paying for me."
"How about a scallion pancake?"
Zhou Li spotted a small stand.
Huai Xu nodded unconsciously. By the time he realized something was off, Zhou Li had already pulled out his money and was walking over.
Soon, he was holding a hot pancake in his hand.
Huai Xu reluctantly bit into it. "I really feel awkward about this."
Zhou Li remained silent.
Soon after, he arrived at the home of the student he was going to tutor.
The family’s surname was Luo.
The father, who wore glasses and looked rather scholarly and polite, greeted him and even provided cookies and a drink.
After getting to know each other, Father Luo said, "Xiao Zhou, why don’t you go over a few problems? My son has a few he can’t figure out, and neither can I, funny enough. Then we’ll see if it’s a good fit and finalize everything."
He had checked strategies online beforehand on how to interact with a child as a tutor. Given that he was currently at the academic peak of his life, he could likely handle elementary math with ease. Parents usually just wanted to check if the tutor was good at communicating and guiding, and how well they got along with the child.
Most parents weren’t too strict and treated it as a formality.
Zhou Li was naturally good-looking, which gave him an advantage.
A few minutes later, Father Luo, who had been standing at the door, left. A while after, he brought Zhou Li and Xiao Luo a plate of watermelon with toothpicks stuck in the pieces.
"Xiao Zhou, Luo Yuhang can be a bit of a handful; you’ll need to be patient with him!"
"No worries, Little Hang is really cute!"
"Haha, that’s just because he hasn’t started acting up yet..."
"It’s good for kids to be a bit mischievous; being too obedient can actually be a problem. I think Little Hang is just right. He must be quite popular with his teachers at school too." Zhou Li knew that affirmation was important for children and that it could also help bridge the gap between him and the child. "Isn’t that right, Little Hang?"
The child laughed shyly.
However, Father Luo’s smile was brilliant.
Two hours later, Zhou Li bade farewell to them. He didn’t know how Father Luo rated him, but he figured he made a good impression on Little Hang.
"So tiring!" Zhou Li sighed in the elevator.
Little Hang is probably a bit of a handful. Kids his age, though, have mostly passed the stage of fearing nothing and are usually just little tyrants at home. In front of me, Little Hang was quite reserved, even a little scared of me. What tired Zhou Li was the process of maintaining his image in others’ minds.
As he reached the gate of his residential complex, he saw a girl with an attractive back crouching by the roadside, her fingers randomly scribbling on the ground.
"Why have you turned into a girl again?" Zhou Li walked over and asked.
"You’re out! How was it? Was it fun being a teacher?" Huai Xu ignored Zhou Li’s question and threw out his own without waiting for Zhou Li’s response. "I just went and asked some nearby demons. Most said they last saw a Heavenly Master in the previous era. Only one said they saw a very powerful person a few days ago but didn’t know where."
"Is the previous era before the hibernation?"
"You didn’t encounter any danger while asking about this, did you?"
"No! This city is full of Little demons; Great Demons don’t come into the city without a good reason. Moreover, most demons are quite approachable. Only a few steadfastly refused to talk to me, but I managed to make them see reason. I just suspect they might feed me false information to escape."
Zhou Li slowly walked back.
He really wanted to meet one of those Heavenly Masters or Mages Huai Xu talked about. If for no other reason, just to see one. It would let him know he wasn’t alone.
Huai Xu followed him, chatting non-stop. "That demon said the person he last saw was a young and beautiful girl. Do you think he meant you? Besides that dimwit San Zheng, have any other demons noticed that you can see them, or have you unintentionally shown any of your Spiritual Power or something..."
When they got back to their own residential complex, Zhou Li saw Lao Hui and Xiao Yuan sitting side by side on the trash can lid. The street lamp was right above them, casting a dim yellow light as they gazed in the direction of a peach tree, lost in thought.
Zhou Li sensed something was wrong and followed their gaze. The street lamp above cast dappled shadows, creating a complex pattern of light and darkness on the ground where unripe green peaches lay scattered.
It must have been some kid from the neighborhood again...
Lao Hui and Xiao Yuan turned to look at him, remaining silent.
So Zhou Li walked over and said, "The peaches are about to be in season; I’ll buy some for you then."
Lao Hui nodded. "Thanks for the offer, but there’s no need; we aren’t lacking in food."
Xiao Yuan then let out a long sigh.
Soon, Lao Hui glanced at Huai Xu behind Zhou Li and hesitated before saying, "Did you know about the Great Demon that woke up in the south the other day?"
"Yeah, I even went to see."
"I heard that not long after he awoke, he was taken away by some powerful figures. Has no one come looking for you?"
"Strange..." Lao Hui said.
"Should I act like that fool and start loudly releasing my aura so others will know I’m awake?" Huai Xu blinked and asked.
"We’re just Little demons; we don’t really know about that. You could go back and try it."
Zhou Li and Huai Xu went upstairs.
Lao Hui and Xiao Yuan continued to sit, whiling away the summer night. A while later, Xiao Yuan hopped down, picked up a fruit, wiped it on his clothes, and popped it into his mouth. His features wrinkled all at once.
"So bitter," he turned to Lao Hui and said.
By this time, Zhu Shuang had also reached home. As soon as he saw Zhou Li enter, he turned and stared at him miserably.
"Bro, you’ve really put me in a tough spot!"
"Oh, sorry, I let that slip by accident," Zhou Li said nonchalantly, "Should I go explain it to Aunt Jiang?"
"No need, no need, it’s fine!" Zhu Shuang was an angel, clearly afraid his brother would feel guilty. "I’ve already cleared it up with Mom. Besides, Xiao Meng and I are just good friends."
"Really? You’re not just comforting me, are you?"
"Then I feel much better."