Standing to the side, Xu Yingjun glanced at her own dress, then at how Qin Yangyang was dressed.
’Suddenly, she felt she’d made the right call yesterday.’
’It seems mature women really are more appealing.’
"So beautiful and formidable. From now on, she’s what I’ll picture when I think of a female protagonist in a novel."
Lin Jiang smiled without a word. Everything about Qin Yangyang did indeed fit the image of a strong female lead from a novel.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. An urgent case came up and I got held up."
"Sister Qin, what kind of cases do you normally handle?"
"Mostly economic disputes, but I handle other areas as well. It’s mainly non-litigation work."
When facing Li Yueting, Qin Yangyang always had a smile on her face. Her attitude was even better than when she was with Qin Youyou.
"Is your work exhausting?"
"Well, how should I put it..." Qin Yangyang paused for a moment before saying:
"It’s all about time management. Since you’re preparing for your postgraduate exams, you need to be especially mindful of that."
"Mm-hm," Li Yueting said.
"So the cases you handle, do they involve huge sums of money? Like, hundreds of thousands or even tens of millions?"
"That’s on the smaller side. Cases involving several hundred million to a few billion are more common."
"Whoa—no way! Sister Qin, you’re incredible!"
"If you can get into Jiaoda’s graduate program, your starting point will be just as good as mine was. Keep up the good work."
"Mm-hm."
The four of them arrived at the private dining room, where Qin Yangyang briefly explained the situation.
The people joining them weren’t just Liu Tieqiang, but also one of his former students, Shen Qingqiu, who was now a lecturer at Jiaoda.
She would be the one tutoring Li Yueting and Xu Yingjun.
Someone of Liu Tieqiang’s caliber usually teaches doctoral candidates, so having him personally tutor the two of them wouldn’t be appropriate; it might even be counterproductive.
It was like asking a university professor to teach kindergarteners; you really needed a preschool teacher for that job.
According to Qin Yangyang, this Shen Qingqiu was also incredibly impressive.
She had done her undergraduate and master’s degrees at Jiaoda before getting her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, which was ranked number one in the world for her field.
With such a dazzling academic record, not to mention her name, she sounded completely out of their league.
Qin Yangyang checked her watch. "It’s about time. They should be here any minute. I’ll go wait outside for them."
"You two should go, too. She’s going to be your teacher, after all. It’s important to show some courtesy," Lin Jiang said.
"Mm-hm."
The three women left, leaving Lin Jiang alone in the private room, scrolling through his phone.
He had a message from Yang Tao. He’d found two potential storefronts and was waiting for Lin Jiang to make the final decision.
He was typing out a reply when he heard voices from outside the room.
It was Qin Yangyang making introductions, presenting Li Yueting and Xu Yingjun to the two teachers.
Soon, the door to the room was pushed open, and the group walked in.
Liu Tieqiang was a man in his fifties with a somewhat retro hairstyle and thick glasses. His smile was kind, and he had a very scholarly and refined air about him.
Beside him stood a tall, slender woman with a lovely, oval-shaped face.
She was a little more curvaceous than Qin Yangyang, and her hair was pinned up in a bun. The first impression she gave was one of intelligence and grace, the perfect picture of serene beauty.
Standing next to Qin Yangyang, her presence was a stark contrast.
This must be the Shen Qingqiu that Qin Yangyang had mentioned, Liu Tieqiang’s star protégé.
But what Lin Jiang hadn’t expected was the blue exclamation point that had suddenly appeared above Shen Qingqiu’s head!
A new NPC had appeared!
Looking at Shen Qingqiu again, he realized she looked familiar.
’Lin Jiang was sure of it; he had definitely seen this person before!’
’But he just couldn’t remember where.’
Just then, Shen Qingqiu’s gaze also fell upon Lin Jiang.
Their eyes met in mid-air.
Shen Qingqiu paused for a second before reservedly looking away.
’This person looks a little familiar. Have I seen him somewhere before?’
’So they really have met before,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, they wouldn’t both feel this way.’
After they came in, Qin Yangyang made another round of introductions, and everyone took their seats.
With Qin Yangyang acting as the intermediary, there was less of the usual awkwardness and formality.
When it came time to order, no one went through the usual dance of politely refusing; they simply let Liu Tieqiang take the lead.
"I’ve learned a bit about their situation," Professor Liu said with a smile. "Their foundations are a little weak, with shortcomings in almost every subject. I suggest they get tutoring for English and Math as well. Politics isn’t Qingqiu’s strong suit, so you could enroll them in an outside class for that."
"But that’s just my recommendation. You could also find outside tutors for English and Math. After all, we don’t write the tests for those subjects, so it’s up to you how you want to handle it."
"We’ll follow Professor Liu’s advice. We’ll do as you arrange."
"Then it’s settled. Qin Lu has probably already told you about my involvement, but I’ll be supervising them as well."
"Thank you, Professor Liu. Let me toast you with tea," Lin Jiang said, raising his teacup.
"You’re too kind."
The lunch was a pleasant affair. Professor Liu was very talkative and didn’t put on any airs.
He became even more chatty after learning who Lin Jiang was.
Lin Jiang seized the opportunity to ask Professor Liu many questions about economics, which would be very helpful for his future business endeavors.
Thanks to his increased comprehension, he was able to grasp the concepts Professor Liu explained with minimal clarification, and could even extrapolate from them at times.
Professor Liu even joked that Lin Jiang was so smart he should take the postgraduate exams himself.
Shen Qingqiu, for her part, was a woman of few words, spending most of her time talking with Li Yueting and Xu Yingjun.
Throughout the meal, however, Lin Jiang noticed her occasionally glancing his way out of the corner of her eye.
’I meet so many different people every day. It’s possible I’ve seen him somewhere before.’
’I hope they can handle the intensity of Jiaoda’s curriculum. If they don’t pass the exam, I can’t collect the full fee.’
’Once I earn this, I’ll just need another hundred thousand yuan to cover the medical bills. I can do this.’
’She needs money for medical treatment?’
Around one in the afternoon, the meal began to wind down on a very pleasant note.
Lin Jiang and Professor Liu, in particular, had really hit it off. If the professor hadn’t had a meeting to attend, they probably would have had a few drinks.
After the lunch, Shen Qingqiu led Li Yueting and Xu Yingjun away. From this moment on, their exam preparation had officially begun.
Watching Shen Qingqiu’s retreating figure, Lin Jiang still couldn’t recall where he had seen her before.
He opened the quest menu.
[Quest Name: Part-time Job]
[Quest Description: Sickness waits for no one. I hope I can earn this 200,000.]
[Quest Reward: Foreign Language Card x1, 20 EXP]
’This quest doesn’t seem too hard to complete,’ he thought. ’I just have to wire her the money.’
He examined the Foreign Language Card.
[Foreign Language Card: Select any language to learn and instantly achieve Master Level proficiency.]
’Not a bad reward.’
’It’s like another version of the Learning Card.’
’The scope isn’t as broad, but the quality is top-notch. It takes you straight to Master Level.’
’Now that’s what I call a power-up.’
’Picking English is a no-brainer.’
’But Japanese seems pretty good, too. I wouldn’t need subtitles when watching movies anymore.’
’Such a tough choice.’

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