Ch 223: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

Lu Yao had anticipated that Xu Xiaoxiao might come, but she hadn’t expected to see her like this.

Drunk and disoriented, Xu Xiaoxiao leaned against the doorframe, calling out for Alfred.

Lu Yao noticed a few men standing by the road, watching them with tilted heads, and felt a pang of unease. She quickly helped Xu Xiaoxiao inside.

She settled Xu Xiaoxiao in the glass-walled tea room, pulled out her phone to call Xiao Ze, but reconsidered as it was late.

Xiao Ze had just finished a tutoring session today, which had gone well, but he might not have realized how mentally exhausting it was.

After a tutoring session, both the student and teacher were typically very drained. It was best to rest for one or two days.

Seeing the men still lingering outside, Lu Yao decided to close the shop door and return to the tea room.

Xu Xiaoxiao was slouched on the chair, eyes closed, hands and feet curled up, with the empty bottle already rolling on the floor.

Lu Yao poured hot water, woke Xu Xiaoxiao, helped her take a hangover remedy, and fetched a blanket from her other shop.

The remedy from the nail salon worked well, and by the time Lu Yao returned, Xu Xiaoxiao was awake, sitting in a daze.

Lu Yao draped the blanket over her, prepared two cups of hot soy milk, and sat in the chair opposite, letting Erxin settle on her lap while she quietly observed Xu Xiaoxiao.

Xu Xiaoxiao didn’t seem very old; her features weren’t the most refined but held a youthful charm. Dressed in a beige dress, she looked like a swaying wild peony.

“I think I’ve fallen for Xiao Ze,” Xu Xiaoxiao said, her emotions unraveling.

Perhaps the effects of the alcohol hadn’t entirely worn off, or maybe she really needed someone to talk to. Without waiting for Lu Yao’s response, she began sharing bits of her past, her words coming out in fragments.

Her topics jumped—one moment, she was reminiscing about childhood, the next, she was talking about Xiao Ze. Then she’d switch to mentioning a customer she encountered at work, only to return to talking about Xiao Ze again.

Lu Yao handed her a tissue packet and listened quietly as she poured out her thoughts.

After some time, Xu Xiaoxiao felt parched, grabbed the soy milk on the table, and gulped it down. Her reddened eyes looked at Lu Yao. “I’m so tired.”

Lu Yao replied, “If you’re tired, then sleep.”

Xu Xiaoxiao curled up under the blanket on the chair, closed her eyes, and soon her breathing became steady.

The system spoke up: “I thought you’d take this chance to offer her a test and get her to sign a tutoring contract.”

Lu Yao replied, “Do you think I’m that unprofessional?”

System: “…Not exactly. But aside from Xiao Ze, you haven’t had any new customers in a while, so I thought you’d be anxious.”

Lu Yao stood up, adjusted the blanket over Xu Xiaoxiao, dimmed the tea room lights, leaving only a small lily-of-the-valley night lamp on the table. “Of course, I want new customers, but she’s not in a clear state of mind. How could I push her to sign a contract? Tutoring childhood isn’t as simple as you think. It only has a positive effect when the client is ready to face their past and desires a change.”

Though she hadn’t given Xu Xiaoxiao the test, Lu Yao had already gained a fairly good understanding of her situation.

Ultimately, whether she wanted to proceed with tutoring was up to Xu Xiaoxiao.

…

The next day, at the Childhood Tutoring Center.

The sounds of people talking, combined with a cat’s meowing, were noisy in Xu Xiaoxiao’s ears. She frowned, resisted for a while, but eventually opened her eyes, irritated, realizing she was in an unfamiliar room.

Panic set in, and her first instinct was to check herself. She found herself wrapped in a blanket, her dress still in place.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she relaxed, hearing a familiar female voice from outside. Her brows raised slightly as she thought about getting up, though she hesitated.

As her memory cleared, fragments of the previous night returned.

After leaving Xiao Ze’s place, she had felt inexplicably down and gone to a nearby bar to drink, letting the alcohol loosen her mind. Somehow, she ended up at the Childhood Tutoring Center.

Later, she vaguely remembered drunkenly ranting to the shop owner, saying all sorts of things.

Covering her face with her hands, her cheeks grew hot. Those few blurry fragments were enough to make her want to move to a different city altogether.

Lu Yao had been keeping an eye on her and, hearing some movement, came over to check. “You’re awake? There’s a bathroom in the tutoring room. I bought a new toothbrush and towel this morning; they’re on the shelf, so feel free to use them.”

After thinking for a moment, Lu Yao lowered her head to speak to Erxin, “Erxin, sweetie, take your sister to the bathroom, and I’ll give you some canned food afterward.”

Erxin trotted off to supervise Xu Xiaoxiao.

When Xu Xiaoxiao finished freshening up, a warm breakfast awaited her on the table in the glass tea room: hot congee with small side dishes, a fried egg, and beef cubes—plentiful and comforting.

Thanks to the hangover remedy, Xu Xiaoxiao didn’t feel too bad after her night of drinking, and the aroma of the food made her swallow in anticipation.

Erxin scurried over to find Lu Yao for the promised treat, so the shop owner knew Xu Xiaoxiao had come out. From across the shelf, Lu Yao called out, “Go ahead and have breakfast. I’ll join you after I finish up here.”

By a little past nine, the morning rush had passed, leaving the shop quiet.

Lu Yao came in, and Xu Xiaoxiao, who had been casually reading a comic book, quickly put it down, straightened up, and fidgeted with her dress. “About what I said last night, you…”

Lu Yao replied, “Yes, I won’t tell Xiao Ze.”

Xu Xiaoxiao’s face flushed with embarrassment, and she stammered, “I didn’t mean… I…”

The breakfast dishes had been washed and stacked neatly on the table.

Lu Yao poured herself a glass of water, took away the plates, and then brought a box of snacks, placing it between them as she sat across from Xu Xiaoxiao. “Xiao Ze has been through two sessions at the tutoring center, and your insights are quite valuable to us.”

Xu Xiaoxiao asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Didn’t the shop owner understand her feelings?

Lu Yao explained, “You know your own thoughts. Last night, you mentioned you might have feelings for Xiao Ze. I think it’s something worth examining further.”

Lu Yao’s calm and measured tone irked Xu Xiaoxiao slightly.

“Why would you say that? Don’t I know my own feelings? What’s there to examine?” Xu Xiaoxiao retorted.

Lu Yao waved a hand gently, as if to soothe her. “I’m merely suggesting a possibility. You said quite a lot last night, including that Xiao Ze isn’t the only man you’ve been close to. For a long time, there was no progress between the two of you. Your feelings for him emerged at a very specific time—right after he completed two tutoring sessions. I suspect that yesterday, you saw something different in him, something you’re naturally drawn to.”

Lu Yao was pleased to receive feedback from an outside perspective so soon.

After making enough money selling bubble water and sticky rice cakes, Lu Yao had asked Li Xiaoguo to help her purchase a new phone.

With the system’s help in setting up her ID, she had smoothly obtained a phone number in this world.

Information technology in this world was on par with that of the shopping street and the Might light city, making it easy to access various historical records online.

Lu Yao had learned that since the appearance of the first superhuman sixty years ago, humanity had miraculously gained the power to evolve. This advancement set the entire world on a path of rapid development.

People’s pursuit and dependence on superpowers intensified, with an unyielding focus on “maximizing efficiency.”

Where human capabilities fell short, superpowers filled the gap.

Superpower assessments began to overshadow cultural norms, becoming the ultimate measure of a person’s worth. This shift gradually erased personal values, interests, ideals, and individuality, pushing everyone toward the pursuit of a singular form of power.

Society had begun to enslave itself to superpowers.

Much like the relentless pursuit of wealth and status, people in this world were overly attached to the superiority afforded by superpowers.

And superpowers themselves seemed governed by a set of “innate talents.”

Some individuals awakened with extraordinary abilities, while many others received minor gifts—like the equivalent of a “finger flashlight.”

All around the world, humanity has become like superpower mystery boxes. Those who don’t “draw” powerful abilities end up like worn-out cogs in society’s machine, eventually replaced by a new batch.

Sanhua City is merely a small, somewhat underdeveloped city in this world.

The influence of superpowers here is nothing compared to that in the bustling metropolises. Yet even in this small town, many people are gradually reduced to discarded parts, leading to places like the notorious Sanhua Road No. 66, a death trap for the abandoned.

Most of the people who fell from the pedestrian bridge were products of a mechanized society, pushed to the margins as failed beings, stripped of humanity by the city.

Lu Yao thought about this extensively but refocused on what mattered most now: Xiao Ze had shown growth through tutoring.

This change not only affected Xiao Ze himself but also caught the attention of those around him.

Lu Yao looked back at Xu Xiaoxiao. “Didn’t you want to see Alfred? He’s one of our tutoring instructors, but he only appears when a student is undergoing a session.”

Under Lu Yao’s clear, gentle gaze, Xu Xiaoxiao felt like an awkward, ruffled hen.

The shop owner always exuded a calm, composed warmth, unperturbed even when contradicted or challenged.

Xu Xiaoxiao, feeling defiant about the shop owner’s assumption that her feelings for Xiao Ze were just a whim, suddenly felt a renewed sense of urgency. She blurted, “How do I sign up? I’ll join the program.”

Lu Yao smiled, standing up to lead Xu Xiaoxiao to the tutoring room at the back.

After the process of fingerprinting and crafting her spiritual key, Xu Xiaoxiao realized that Lu Yao might be a very powerful superhuman, filling her with growing unease.

Once she received the key, she immediately asked, “When does the tutoring start?”

Lu Yao replied, “If you’re eager, we can begin right away. Just give me a couple of minutes to call a colleague over to mind the shop.”

In less than two minutes, Ji Feiming arrived.

Lu Yao quickly instructed him to watch the shop with Erxin, then led Xu Xiaoxiao to begin her session.

The time machine coordinates for Xu Xiaoxiao’s first tutoring session weren’t set to her earliest childhood memory but to her fourth-grade school.

Xu Xiaoxiao had been born and raised in a remote town in Taimu City.

Lu Yao and Xu Xiaoxiao found themselves standing in an empty corridor, with classrooms on the left.

However, the rooms were deserted, with no students or teachers.

Looking around in surprise, Xu Xiaoxiao grabbed Lu Yao’s arm. “Did we really go back to my childhood?”

Lu Yao replied, “This is your memory; you should know it better than I do. Is it after school? The place is deserted.”

Footsteps echoed from the staircase behind them, and Xu Xiaoxiao quickly pulled Lu Yao to hide behind a nearby classroom door.

A young girl with twin pigtails and a red backpack ran down the corridor, completely unaware of their presence.

Lu Yao was still observing the classroom’s layout when Xu Xiaoxiao tugged her out of the room.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Yao asked.

Xu Xiaoxiao looked unsettled. “That girl who just ran by… that was me.”

Focusing, Lu Yao quietly followed Xu Xiaoxiao as they tiptoed over to the restroom by the fourth-grade classroom.

They stood close to the wall. When Lu Yao tried to peek inside, Xu Xiaoxiao stopped her.

From the girls’ restroom, faint sobbing could be heard, followed by a man’s angry shouts. Soon after, a loud crash echoed through the hallway as a panicked man bolted out of the girls’ restroom.

In the elementary school, the restrooms were separated by gender on each floor, with the girls’ restroom for the fourth-grade level at the far end of the corridor, split into left and right sections.

Lu Yao and Xu Xiaoxiao were now hiding in the opposite restroom. Through the door crack, Lu Yao glimpsed a short, stout figure in a gray shirt hurriedly fleeing the scene.

Xu Xiaoxiao leaned against the wall, looking down as she spoke in a cold voice, “My superpower is just having more strength than others. In elementary school, I could easily lift over 200 pounds. But whether in the past or now, this ability has been completely useless and even ruined my life.”

Outside, the younger Xu Xiaoxiao helped a tear-streaked little girl out of the restroom, and they walked away together. The girl’s clothes were wrinkled, and there were bruises on her face.

Once they left, Xu Xiaoxiao led Lu Yao down the stairs. Standing by the stairwell window, she watched the two small figures disappearing across the playground and, with a hint of resentment, explained, “The town where I was born is far from the city center of Taimu City, underdeveloped. Both the daycare and school lag behind those in bigger cities. But the people here are just as busy. My parents were the same. Since I was strong and fearless, they never worried much about me.

“That day, I’d almost reached home when I realized I’d left my pencil case in the classroom, so I went back for it. I’d kept a Superman eraser I really liked in that case and couldn’t resist taking it out to play while doing homework. I grabbed the pencil case and was about to leave when I heard crying coming from the restroom. I pushed the door open and saw a man pressing a third-grade girl against the wall. I didn’t really understand what was happening.

“The girl saw me and begged for help, while the man started shouting at me. I thought he was a bad guy and figured it was a good chance to use my superpower, so I ripped off a door panel and threw it at him. He got scared and ran.

“After he left, I took the girl from Class Three home, and then I went home myself. That night, I even bragged to my parents about how I used my superpower to save a classmate.

“At that time, I didn’t know I was in big trouble.”

The next day, strange rumors started circulating at school about a girl who had been harassed by an unknown man.

Another day passed, and flyers with Xu Xiaoxiao’s black-and-white photo were posted on the school bulletin board.

Rumors quickly spread, with everyone assuming Xu Xiaoxiao was the victim.

Later, it escalated, with people saying Xu Xiaoxiao had willingly gotten close to the man.

Lu Yao asked, “Wasn’t there any surveillance?”

Xu Xiaoxiao shook her head. “Back then, only the main entrance had surveillance. I was too young to understand anything. In the end, I was inexplicably labeled as the violated victim, and even my parents believed it.”

Lu Yao asked, “What about the girl from Class Three? Didn’t she help explain?”

Xu Xiaoxiao looked lost and shook her head. “I don’t know. The rumors completely destroyed my family. My mom came home and slapped me twice, calling me shameless. My dad would argue with my mom after work, and eventually, they even started fighting. The school almost expelled me, and my mom had to beg them to let me stay. I barely made it through elementary school, but the rumors didn’t die down when I moved on to middle school, and no school wanted to admit me.”

Later, Xu Xiaoxiao’s family paid a large sum to get her into a distant middle school.

But before she could finish her studies, her parents divorced.

Xu Xiaoxiao barely made it to high school graduation, didn’t continue studying, and no one looked after her anymore.

She looked at Lu Yao, confusion written on her face. “Was what I did wrong that day? If I hadn’t meddled, would my life have been completely different?”

🛍️🛍️🛍️🛍️🛍️

Thingyan: Next chapter is Pw locked. Pw is yaoyao.