MORIC - Chapter 56
Chapter 56: You Scolded Me Again
As the holidays approached, the required courses at the academy had already ended. Xi Zhoumeng was very tired today and had no intention of staying at school.
Chi Yueshan: "Um… should we not drive the car in?"
She glanced at Xi Zhoumeng.
The self-driving hovercar's route was clear. Xi Zhoumeng glanced over: "Are you sure?"
It was nearly a half-hour walk from the school gate to the first-year dorms. How could Xi Zhoumeng not know what Chi Yueshan was thinking? "If you're afraid of people gossiping…"
Chi Yueshan shot her head up. "Who's afraid!"
As she looked up, her bangs flew up, revealing eyes that were still bright in the dim light. Although they were partially obscured by the glasses she had put back on, it made Xi Zhoumeng think of how those eyes looked when they were misty, like a morning fog, like a damp, illusory dream.
What kind of family did the author give her when creating her character?
What kind of parents, and were there any particularly important people?
And what kind of families did her Alpha and Omega parents come from?
Did this affect Chi Yueshan?
Xi Zhoumeng had only given this person her name. Even a sky-high donation couldn't sway the author's will, yet Xi Zhoumeng still found it interesting.
It was as if a part of Chi Yueshan belonged to her, and she was also curious about the stories hidden behind the scenes.
"Your smile is so disgusting."
Chi Yueshan turned her face away. "Then just drive to the dorm building. I'm already famous for today, anyway."
After speaking, she sighed again. "Although I was helping you, I also had a very delicious meal. Thank you."
She found that saying thank you to Xi Zhoumeng wasn't as difficult as she'd thought.
It was just that she still didn't dare to look directly at the other's face.
Xi Zhoumeng nodded. "The remuneration will be transferred to your account."
Guyun Academy was very remote, like an isolated island. The closest place to the academy was actually the interstellar spaceport, and the school had a direct route there for the convenience of students heading out for practical training.
Chi Yueshan let out an "ah," unable to contain her elation. "Remuneration?"
Xi Zhoumeng: "My sister said so."
She looked like she didn't want to say more, but Chi Yueshan couldn't help but ask, "How much is it? Is it enough for a million Star Coins?"
Xi Zhoumeng stared at her for a moment before speaking, just as Chi Yueshan was about to get angry. "It's definitely more than that."
One million Star Coins was the tuition for a single academic year at Guyun Academy. For students from the Upper World, it was truly nothing.
A young lady from a wealthy family could spend more than a million on a single handbag.
This was a cruelty reserved for students from the Lower World, with no reductions or special treatment.
In a world like this, being able to open enrollment slots to the Lower World was already a great blessing.
Chi Yueshan bit her lip. Her heart suddenly started beating fast, feeling as if a stone that had been weighing it down had suddenly vanished.
She had been worrying about how to scrape together the tuition for the next academic year.
Go back to live streaming?
She might not find someone as generous as the last one.
Besides, the platform's commission was very high, and there was a limit on single donations. It would be too difficult for her to gather four years' worth of tuition at once.
She never expected to gain so much just from walking in one show.
Perhaps because Chi Yueshan had been silent for too long, Xi Zhoumeng asked, "Moved to tears already? A million isn't that much."
Before, Chi Yueshan would have definitely started ranting at this kind of extravagant and hedonistic young lady. After all, the Xi Zhoumeng in front of her was completely different from the gentle, proper, dream-Omega image she presented to the public.
Her tone was frivolous and harsh, a complete top-down condescension.
But Xi Zhoumeng didn't seem to be that kind of person either.
Chi Yueshan had received so many gifts from her, both overtly and covertly. They might have been trivial to Xi Zhoumeng, but to Chi Yueshan, they were like life-saving charcoal in a snowstorm.
Just like now.
In the end, she still just snorted. "Who's crying? I never cry."
She sniffled and looked towards the Guyun Academy emblem in the distance. The giant school crest floated in the air, looking almost terrifying in the surrounding silence.
Only the interstellar spaceport, further away, was lit up as bright as day, looking somewhat prosperous.
Xi Zhoumeng let out an "oh."
"How did you pay for your tuition before?"
She asked it lightly, when Chi Yueshan was completely off guard.
"I…"
Chi Yueshan was about to answer subconsciously when she suddenly bit her tongue.
She looked at Xi Zhoumeng. "Why are you asking that?"
As if a sore spot had been poked, her eyes held a hint of ferocity.
Xi Zhoumeng had seen her send an Alpha flying, her eyes filled with pride and impatience, looking cool beyond measure.
She had also seen her with tears in her eyes, at a complete loss.
The girl was sometimes like a piece of cast iron, unafraid of being hammered and tempered a thousand times, or perhaps she had already been tempered by life, fearless of power and class, simply admiring strength.
Yet, the girl could also be soft, like a gummy candy, like a block of cheese, flinching subconsciously at a single suck. It was as if her nerves were tugged, her shyness having nowhere to go, finally turning into a refusal that was little more than a mosquito's buzz.
Xi Zhoumeng: "Just asking."
She turned her head. The long, silver-thread-like earring still shimmered in the dimness, and her profile was perfect enough. Her question was as light and airy as a kiss.
Chi Yueshan thought out of nowhere: I don't think I've ever kissed her at all.
Not at the peak of pleasure, nor during times of torment.
And yet, it felt as if I had been thoroughly kissed open by her, from my forehead to the tip of my nose, to my chin, to the gland on my neck.
Collarbones, chest, and abdomen…
This intimacy was meltingly soft, a fluffy invasion that opened Chi Yueshan up, making her feel at this moment that her own attitude was a bit excessive.
Logically and emotionally, she shouldn't be so mean to Xi Zhoumeng.
She bit her lip, then coughed softly. "My tuition… I earned it doing odd jobs in the Lower World…"
Her voice was very soft, as soft as a whisper, and Xi Zhoumeng easily discerned the awkwardness within it.
Chi Yueshan actually had a loud voice, but it wasn't gratingly so because her voice was very crisp, like silver pearls falling onto a platter, not at all unpleasant.
At most, she was just boisterous.
Coupled with her short stature, it seemed like the only way she could build up her presence.
Xi Zhoumeng: "You live alone?"
She had looked up Chi Yueshan's information. Her Omega father passed away when she was five, and the stepmother from his remarriage kicked her out.
The Omega protection laws in the Lower World were clearly not well-enforced. If this were the Upper World, the stepmother would have had a duty to raise her.
But Chi Yueshan ended up wandering the streets just like that.
A year later, she was adopted by a Beta who ran a mechanics shop in the Lower World.
Until she was fifteen.
During those years, Chi Yueshan at least had someone with her.
But from fifteen until she enrolled at eighteen, there were still three years.
The average wage in the Lower World was very low. Even though Guyun Academy recruited five students from the Lower World each year, there were some years when they couldn't even fill the quota.
Most people, after completing their general education, would get married and have children, not choosing to continue their studies, especially since the Lower World had no universities at all.
Even for Xuan Ping to enroll, her parents had to sell their house to raise the money. So how did Chi Yueshan overcome so many difficulties to come to the Upper World?
Xi Zhoumeng, whether in the book or in her original world, was the type who had never suffered a day of hardship.
She was born a scandal, and it was precisely because of that scandal that no one dared to abuse her.
What was worse than physical abuse was mental torment.
And still, she was able to survive.
She didn't realize that the gaze she directed at Chi Yueshan carried a subtle gentleness. If any of her former 'friends' had seen it, they would have been astonished.
After all, Xi Zhoumeng was a capricious person; even her gentleness could be an act.
Even when dating her, a spring breeze could turn into a torrential downpour; she could turn hostile in an instant.
At the final breakup, they would be left wondering—
Was there ever a single moment when this person was genuinely good to me?
But Xi Zhoumeng had always felt she was being genuine.
It was just that she was someone who had never been genuinely loved, so her understanding was a bit skewed. She thought possession was sincerity, and that an intimate relationship was the breeding ground for maintaining that sincerity.
At this moment, Chi Yueshan also had a feeling that Xi Zhoumeng was treating her specially.
Why?
Why would Xi Zhoumeng be good to me?
She didn't understand, but she knew that her loneliness had always been adrift.
After some boundaries had been blurred, she still felt an irrepressible urge to confide in Xi Zhoumeng.
Just a little bit should be okay.
It's hard to tell even Xuan Ping, since I got my tuition money that way.
Even though Master Zhou Fengqin had said, "You shouldn't want too many shackles; achieving your goal is what's most important."
Chi Yueshan still found it hard to escape the expectations most people had for Omegas.
Like Xuan Ping, whose parents loved her very much. If she wanted to go to school, she could attend from elementary school all the way to the best high school in the Lower World.
Chi Yueshan was different. Her master taught her skills and wanted to send her to school. But Chi Yueshan knew she wasn't her master's responsibility and didn't choose a very good middle school. She always attended class for half a day and went back to help, then studied on her own.
The result was the same; both she and Xuan Ping were admitted to Guyun Academy.
It was just that she had never experienced that kind of campus atmosphere, never had classmates to walk home with. Her adolescence was her painful constitution, screwdrivers and patches, and the beeping of diagnostic tests.
But this was already the luckiest time of Chi Yueshan's life.
She didn't have any 'what if' or 'if only' thoughts.
"I had a master. She was very good to me. Part of my tuition was money my master left behind."
Chi Yueshan said, wringing her hands.
Xi Zhoumeng: "Odd jobs, what kind? I remember your mecha notes. You weren't doing business in the black market, were you?"
Chi Yueshan froze for a moment. She had thought Xi Zhoumeng was just a young lady who only knew about manicures, hairstyling, and buying luxury goods, but she found that Xi Zhoumeng always said things that surprised her in a nonchalant way.
The black market wasn't a secret, but most Omega girls wouldn't pay attention to it.
It was as if mecha only belonged to a small portion of Betas and Alphas.
Xi Zhoumeng: "What's so surprising about that? Some toys also need mechanics."
Mecha pilots and mechanics were two different professions. Like Zhou Fengqin, she had a mechanic's license, but in the Lower World, she even repaired cleaning robots.
A mecha pilot's license was much harder to obtain than a mechanic's: spiritual power, household registration status, a recommender…
Most mecha pilots came from Guyun Academy, having already taken the exams during their time at school. For example, some of the third-year Betas were now preparing for the annual mecha pilot exam.
Chi Yueshan's mouth twitched, but then she felt it wasn't that surprising.
Xi Zhoumeng: "But business in the black market can't be that easy, right? The risk of trading between the Upper and Lower Worlds is very high."
Of course, Chi Yueshan knew that. Many people would dock some of her commission because she was young. Most of her clients were contacts left by her master.
None of them were big shots.
She was still thinking of using Ling Xun as a breakthrough point to try and earn some more money.
Xi Zhoumeng: "I did the math. Raising over six hundred thousand was your limit."
She didn't look at Chi Yueshan, just stared at the hands wringing her fingers. Xi Zhoumeng's skin was delicate and tender, but Chi Yueshan's hands were not; the calluses on her fingertips were even quite rough.
Chi Yueshan was starting to regret telling this person so much.
It was just supposed to be a polite response, who would have thought Xi Zhoumeng would probe so deeply.
She hummed and hawed for a long time, and just as she was about to say, "It's none of your business," she saw Xi Zhoumeng tapping on a subscription on her light-brain.
She hadn't hidden her screen, so with one glance, Chi Yueshan spotted a piece of software she was very familiar with.
Chi Yueshan: "You watch Miao Meng?!"
Xi Zhoumeng was startled by her. She had been thinking that this crafty girl Chi Yueshan must have some other ways and means, but she was caught off guard by the shout. Her hand tapped open the pink icon, and it just so happened to open to a public platform showing a hot Omega live streaming.
Chi Yueshan wasn't surprised by this. What she noticed was the avatar in the top right corner. This person actually had a gold frame!
My god! That's a 'human rights' avatar frame you can only get by spending a million!!
She thought about how practiced Xi Zhoumeng was at handling her and figured she must have watched a lot of this kind of paid content.
"You… you you you actually… Isn't this something only old Alphas play with…"
"What?"
Xi Zhoumeng turned her head, just as the car drove into the academy. She switched the screen from the hot Omega to a faceless female Alpha in a suit.
She was dressed so primly and properly, she looked like someone from the last century.
Chi Yueshan blinked.
Xi Zhoumeng looked at Chi Yueshan. "What are you thinking? This is for short videos and live streams."
She expertly tapped open the categories. "This is what you were thinking of. Is it illegal to watch these in our star system?"
Xi Zhoumeng was completely unabashed, even using the standard Capital Star broadcast announcer's voice to read the friendly reminder at the top to Chi Yueshan—
"Entering sub-sections requires identity verification. Identity information is not made public. Firewall level RI13…"
Chi Yueshan: "I know…"
She stared at Xi Zhoumeng, feeling a faint sourness for some reason. "I just didn't expect you to have this kind of hobby."
The dream Omega of the academy's Alphas directly opened a sub-section where every stream room had a lock on it. Xi Zhoumeng exited nonchalantly. "What do you mean, only old Alphas play with this?"
She opened the car door, and before pushing Chi Yueshan out, she wrapped an arm around Chi Yueshan's shoulder. "Junior, is your thinking still stuck ten thousand years in the past?"
"Adults just get what they need."
Passing students stared in surprise at the Omega in the still-open door of the luxurious hovercar.
Then they looked at the fuming Chi Yueshan standing there.
The seemingly transformed first-year stomped her foot and cursed, "She actually called me feudal! I was a damn streamer back when you were still pretending to be gentle!"
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