It could be said about Hua Shu that she had been the type of child around whom gifts could not be kept in the same house; every time her birthday or any other gift-giving occasion approached, she would rummage through the whole house until she tracked them down.
Over the years, due to her father's repeated scoldings, she had managed to cure herself of this obsession with discovering what surprises had been prepared for her. Well, it also helped that her father had started buying her increasingly boring gifts as she grew older.
However, when it came to a surprise that she expected to be to her liking—as was the case now, with the reward promised by Liu Fengying—she had a tendency to relapse quite easily. So, it was no wonder that at that very moment, her mind was focused exclusively on what Fengying could possibly offer her.
Yet, before long, Hua Shu would realize that she was heading down a dangerous path. More precisely, the problem was that instead of simple gifts like friends usually exchange, such as bracelets with complementary charms or matching phone cases, she seemed more interested in physical rewards from Liu Fengying, such as a hug or a kiss on the cheek.
And if it had stopped at just that, it would have been fine; however, a scene that suddenly flashed through her mind terrified Hua Shu completely: she imagined Liu Fengying lying on a bed, scantily clad, telling her in a timid tone that she was entirely at her disposal.
'Stop! Stop! Such thoughts are completely inappropriate...', Hua Shu made an effort to close the door to the exciting new world that had revealed itself to her. Since she had constantly been teased by Liu Fengying, it wasn't the first time Hua Shu had faced the urge to ravish her, but it had never been as strong as it was now.
Did Hua Shu feel guilty about the craving she had begun to develop for Liu Fengying's body? Well, a little bit, yes, because it made her kindness toward Liu Fengying look as though it sprang from ulterior motives rather than a feeling of genuine friendship.
But what could she do? Having someone she considered extremely attractive next to her for hours on end, someone who constantly flirted with her, how could she not be tempted? Honestly, she believed that for her current situation, the biggest blame lay with Liu Fengying—a demon who seemed to draw her energy from the act of corrupting the hearts of innocent girls. Because of this, if she ever felt ready to start a relationship, she believed she was fully entitled to make Liu Fengying take responsibility for her behavior.
Also, though she didn't like to admit it, another factor that played a role in her thoughts spiraling out of control was the realization that there was a high chance Liu Fengying had a soft spot for Professor Wei; she was under the influence of an urge to mark her territory—specifically, to ensure that no one was more important to Liu Fengying than she was.
Still, even though she had managed to banish those sinful thoughts from her head, Hua Shu could not overlook the possibility that Liu Fengying might come up with an "exciting" reward. After all, the girl was a fox capable of a thousand tricks; what if she wanted to take advantage of the occasion to tease her?
In that case, finding out how Liu Fengying intended to reward her was no longer just a simple way to satisfy her curiosity, but had become a strategic necessity, so she wouldn't react inappropriately in case Liu Fengying came forward with some open-to-interpretation proposal.
Yet without any clue, she was bound to shoot in the dark, so Hua Shu decided to see if she could extract something from Liu Fengying.
"Ahem, about the reward. I know you have quite a lot of money in your account right now, but if you want to buy me a gift, I wouldn't want you to look for something expensive...", Hua Shu addressed Liu Fengying, who had already dug into a dish.
Of course, she couldn't ask Liu Fengying directly about the reward; she figured the other girl would most likely make fun of her if she seemed too eager. So, she thought it was best to take a roundabout route; moreover, she could simultaneously show that she was a considerate person who wanted to make sure the one planning to give her something didn't feel too burdened.
It could be said that Hua Shu's strategy was quite good; it would have been hard for anyone to figure out her true intentions just from what she had said. However, what she hadn't taken into account were the numerous "interesting" expressions that had crossed her face in the time since the word 'reward' was first mentioned. Was it even possible for Liu Fengying not to realize that Hua Shu was, in fact, extremely preoccupied with how she was going to be rewarded? Perhaps only if she had some heavenly beef steak on her plate to occupy her full attention; but since that wasn't the case, she read Hua Shu like an open book.
"Don't worry, Shushu. Although what I intend to offer you can be considered something very valuable, it's not as if it costs me anything to do it...", Liu Fengying said, not hesitating to make Hua Shu even more curious about what she was planning; she simply found the other girl's behavior utterly adorable, like a loli pretending to be an adult. Well, this impression was also helped by the fact that, physically, Hua Shu was exactly the type of a slightly larger-sized loli.
But while Hua Shu's exterior was very innocent, the same could not be said about her brain; carefully analyzing Liu Fengying's words, Hua Shu was almost certain that she really was planning to reward her with "her own body". After all, Liu Fengying was neither a famous painter nor a renowned sculptor; what kind of thing could she create that would deserve the title of "very valuable"? On the other hand, since she had so many admirers due to her ravishing beauty, any intimate interaction with her was coveted like a treasure of immeasurable worth; in the end, it wasn't something someone could buy, no matter how rich they were.
This "discovery" was not enough to satisfy Hua Shu; quite the contrary, she was extremely curious about the level of intimacy Liu Fengying's reward would involve.
'Could it be a tight hug? No, that seems like too little. Besides, she has held me in her arms before, so it lacks the element of novelty. What could top that? A kiss, right? Maybe even one on the lips. But how could this girl—who always seems terrified of having to take responsibility—go about proposing something like that? After all, friends, no matter how close they are, don't kiss on the lips.
No, wait a minute... Weren't there two female friends in that foreign TV show who kissed just for the purpose of improving their technique? So, it's not out of the question for Liu Fengying to come up with a proposal like: "Shushu, do you want this big sister to teach you how to kiss?"'
As she kept trying to guess Liu Fengying's intentions, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Hua Shu was just a step away from having steam blowing out of her ears; of course, it would have been hard to determine how much of it was due to the mental effort and how much to the fact that she had relapsed, once again creating highly stimulating scenarios.
However, before that could happen, Liu Fengying came up with a follow-up that felt to Hua Shu like a bucket of cold water poured straight over her head. After all, as the saying goes: it is the responsibility of the one who lights the fire to put it out.
"Come to think of it, I guess it's no problem if I tell you right now what reward I've decided on. In fact, it would be advisable to do it as early as possible. So, here's what I propose: let's stay behind for an hour or two after classes so I can tutor you in math. After all, what is more valuable than knowledge, especially now, with the graduation exam drawing near?"
Hua Shu was left with an expression of utter stupefaction on her face. That she had been mistaken about the type of reward Liu Fengying wanted to offer was something she could accept. However, she couldn't explain what sort of twisted logic Liu Fengying had used to reach the conclusion that the best way to reward her was by tutoring her in math; after all, in her brain, a synaptic pathway between the neuronal structures where the concepts of "reward" and "math" were stored hadn't even formed, as she had never imagined these could be used in the same sentence.
On the other hand, the situation also seemed ironic to her: hadn't she been thinking about a kind of "tutoring" herself? Well, it seemed that because she kept hesitating about that kind, those responsible for her fate had decided to give her the real deal.
If she found anything attractive about this proposal, it was only the fact that it implied spending extra time with Liu Fengying; and not just any time, but time spent completely alone. But why did they have to deal with math during that time when they could be doing anything else? Hua Shu thought that it was her reward, not her father's or Professor Liu's, so it would only be normal to do something she actually enjoyed.
Moreover, she didn't really believe she would manage to focus on solving math exercises with Liu Fengying right next to her, who most likely wouldn't be able to help herself from teasing her every now and then; Hua Shu could almost see her saying, "If you don't find the correct solution this time either, this teacher will punish you."
'Come to think of it, she wouldn't even need to do anything. Just being alone together is enough for my mind to start going off the rails...', Hua Shu corrected herself; it was enough just to imagine herself in a completely quiet classroom accompanied by Liu Fengying, constantly feeling her warm yet fresh breath directed toward her as Fengying leaned in to check her work, for her pulse to skyrocket.
And if she weren't able to concentrate, how could she explain the reason to Liu Fengying? Hua Shu feared she would turn as red as a tomato while stammering around trying to find an excuse. Why an excuse? Well, openly admitting that she couldn't concentrate because she was having naughty thoughts about her would make her blush a thousand times harder; Hua Shu wouldn't be surprised if her body were capable of reaching the temperatures of a supernova.
"Ahem, I'm afraid that after classes, I'm just too tired...", Hua Shu quickly decided to reject Liu Fengying, intending to nip in the bud the possibility of the atoms making up her body undergoing nuclear fusion. After all, she wasn't doing it just for her own sake, but for the safety of the entire planet.
"Plus, it's not like I'm actually that bad at math. It's just that Professor Raccoon is too demanding...", she hurried to add; she had realized that if she didn't strike at the root of the problem, it was highly possible for Liu Fengying to come up with a counterproposal to tutor her before classes started.
On one hand, that would have partially solved the issues caused by the attraction she felt; when you can barely keep your eyes open, feeling as though you have sand under your eyelids, even the most ravishing beauty loses much of her charm. However, for Hua Shu, having to wake up an hour earlier was an absolute national tragedy.