Ch 236: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

Lu Yao remained unfazed by An Yan’s aloofness.

With the shop now on its sixth branch, they inevitably encountered each other with each opening.

Without a doubt, Xiao A was somehow tied to her wish.

After careful consideration, Lu Yao sensed that Xiao A and the system weren’t on the same side. Compared to the Wish Fulfillment System, Xiao A seemed more trustworthy.

But ultimately, these insights didn’t alter what she needed to do.

Lu Yao sat at the table, addressing An Yan and the new test subject, “Are you both interested in signing up for the Childhood Tutoring?”

An Yan shook his head. “Not me.”

The test subject also shook his head. “I came to buy bubble solution and flying toys. Professor An just happened to have time, so we decided to come out together.”

Turning to Zheng Siyao, Lu Yao said, “You were the first to register the other day, so let’s begin.”

During tutoring sessions, non-participants couldn’t stay in the tutoring room.

The test subject was particularly interested in the center, so the remaining three booked a tearoom to drink tea, enjoy some snacks, and reminisce about childhood.

Shortly after they sat down, more customers arrived to buy snacks and toys, and Xiao Xiao busily attended to the front.

Erxin trotted over from the hallway to the tearoom, tilted his furry head, meowed, and rubbed against An Yan’s pant leg.

An Yan, holding a comic book, was just about to open it when he noticed movement by his feet. Leaning down, he picked up the tricolor cat.

Xiaomei and the test subject watched in surprise.

An Yan never seemed to attract animals’ affection; even the lab mice would scurry into the corners at his presence. Cats and dogs usually avoided him entirely.

Yet here was Erxin, a chubby, round-faced, round-eared kitty, contentedly curling up on Professor An’s lap, purring away, giving him a surprisingly endearing look.

In other words, he looked rather…down-to-earth.

…

Inside the tutoring room.

Lu Yao took out Zheng Siyao’s time key and information packet.

Zheng Siyao’s request for tutoring was simple—she wanted to break a bad habit.

Her superpower was highly practical, and she had focused on developing it during her studies, reaching a high power rating upon graduation. After graduation, she joined the city’s research institute and worked on one of the hottest topics in the field.

Among her peers, Zheng Siyao was in the top salary bracket.

Since her promotion to An Yan’s assistant, she’d even received a pay raise.

Her minor flaw, however, was that she couldn’t save money.

Each month, as soon as she received her salary, she would spend most of it online, buying clothes, makeup, snacks, or electronic gadgets she had previously eyed.

She’d tried various methods, with the most effective one being depositing her money in a fixed-term account, which she’d managed to maintain for six months.

But the urge to shop hit hard during a shopping festival, and she ended up spending everything she’d saved in one go.

Now sitting across from Lu Yao, Zheng Siyao’s gaze was fixed on a small area in front of her, too embarrassed to meet Lu Yao’s eyes.

As an adult and a researcher, it was a bit humiliating to admit she couldn’t control her shopping impulses.

Lu Yao listened attentively, her gaze sweeping over Zheng Siyao, who grew inexplicably nervous from the silence.

After a pause, Lu Yao tilted her head, her eyes softening as she let out a quiet laugh. “No need to feel so burdened. Researchers are human, too. We all have our desires. Liking to shop isn’t any more shameful than someone who enjoys dating, eating, or collecting things.”

Zheng Siyao fell into deep thought.

The research institute was filled with prodigies who only discussed work during business hours, and in private conversations, they often shared experiences from their privileged backgrounds—experiences out of reach for the average person. The sense of disparity was strong.

She wasn’t sure if her intense urge to shop was a response to outside pressures, but she doubted the shop owner would fully understand.

Sometimes, language could only convey so much, making mutual understanding incredibly difficult.

Without further comment, Lu Yao asked Zheng Siyao to activate her mind key so they could first delve into her childhood.

Zheng Siyao had grown up in a remote town, where her potential for superpowers had been recognized by a teacher in middle school, leading to a direct scholarship to the best university in the city.

She excelled, fully developing her abilities and landing a job at the research institute after graduation.

Whether in her rural school or later at university in the city, Zheng Siyao had always been a simple, hardworking, and humble young woman.

But once she joined the institute and received her first paycheck, she immediately spent it all on everything she had ever wanted but couldn’t previously afford.

The Superpower Research Institute offered staff dorms without rent, and the generous benefits meant she repeated this cycle nearly every month.

Despite numerous attempts to curb her spending, she found herself feeling helpless, wondering if the tutoring would actually solve her problem.

During registration, the updated Childhood Tutoring Form had included a new question about the participant’s goal. In the end, Zheng Siyao wrote, “I hope to correct my bad habit of impulsive spending.”

After finishing the initial overview, Lu Yao took out her own key to begin the formal session.

Zheng Siyao watched as the silver sphere on the table cracked open, and a blinding light flooded her vision, causing her eyes to ache. When she opened them again, her surroundings had completely changed.

Looking down at her now small and chubby hands, her mind grew hazy, and she slumped over her desk, falling into a deep sleep.

When she finally awoke, she rubbed her eyes, catching sight of a little black dragon perched on her desk.

Had her parents returned from work?

Turning toward the door, she listened carefully but heard nothing.

Glancing back at her desk, she froze in shock.

The little black dragon on her desk opened its eyes, blinked, and sat up, gazing at her intently.

Zheng Siyao asked, “Who are you?”

The little chubby dragon gave a slight flutter of its short wings. “I’m Alfred, your tutoring instructor.”

“But my family is poor; we can’t afford a tutor,” Zheng Siyao replied doubtfully.

Alfred stood up, waddling over to her and snapping his tiny black claws.

With a snap, a pink notebook, small enough to fit in her hand, and a silver pen appeared in her hands. “It doesn’t matter. From today, you have a task. Each month, use this wish pen to write down in your gift list notebook the thing you want most. At night, tear out the list and place it in your mother’s shoe.”

Though Zheng Siyao was already in elementary school and quite mature for her age, her curiosity overtook her skepticism.

What would happen if she wrote down what she wanted?

Perhaps out of this anticipation, she swallowed her questions and followed Alfred’s instructions.

“This is a long-term task,” Alfred continued. “It will last from today until your sixteenth birthday. Do your best to complete it.”

A sense of responsibility welled up within young Siyao.

Alfred left her with the wish pen and the gift list notebook before disappearing.

Sitting at her desk, Zheng Siyao tapped the pen on the pink notebook, contemplating what she truly wanted.

Before bed, she finally decided and wrote down the title of a book.

She waited until her parents were asleep, then snuck to the entryway and placed her wish list in her mother’s shoe.

The next morning, nothing happened.

But on the third morning, she opened her eyes to find a brand-new book on superpower basics lying on her pillow.

She sat up, eyes wide with excitement, and flipped through the pages, finding a sticky note tucked inside—a message from Alfred.

But she didn’t read it right away, instead eagerly paging through the book from cover to cover, only returning to the note once she’d satisfied her curiosity.

Alfred’s note reminded her that she needed to continue the task next month and to carefully consider what she truly wanted.

After that, Zheng Siyao’s life looked no different from before, except that each month she would receive the item she wrote down in her gift list notebook.

However, too excited after her first success, Zheng Siyao filled an entire page with requests in the second month. The next morning, she received nothing. Reflecting on this, she rewrote her most desired item, and the following day, she received her gift—a beautiful doll in a transparent box with a pretty ribbon, placed at her bedside.

As she grew older, Zheng Siyao began thoughtfully planning her wishes. She wrote down things ranging from essential items to fun things her classmates had that she also wanted—snacks, clothes, books, and even makeup.

The slip of paper placed in her mother’s shoe seemed to be part of a magical ritual, and by the third day, her wish would be fulfilled.

As she matured, Zheng Siyao gradually realized that the one granting her these gifts wasn’t Alfred.

It was most likely her mother who was making her wishes come true.

After all, she always put her wish list in her mother’s shoe, and her parents never seemed surprised by the new items that appeared in her room.

Slowly, she began to understand that her family wasn’t as poor as she had thought, easing some of her adolescent worries.

Later, when her superpower potential was discovered, she moved to the city to attend university and continued to receive gifts from home each month.

Alfred ensured her gift list was delivered back home each month, placing it in her mother’s shoe.

At sixteen, Zheng Siyao completed her studies and received an offer from the Sanhua Superpower Research Institute.

On her birthday, Alfred appeared holding a large, bright yellow gift box. “Siyao, congratulations! The gift list task is officially complete. This is the final gift—please open it after you wake up.”

Zheng Siyao, already prepared for this day, calmly accepted the gift box.

Her first childhood tutoring session was complete.

It seemed this tutoring experience had not significantly altered her life’s trajectory.

When Zheng Siyao awoke, her consciousness gradually merged with the memories from the session. On the desk lay the final yellow gift box from Alfred.

Holding her forehead, she stared at it in a daze.

During the tutoring, the steady stream of monthly gifts had gradually filled the emptiness in her heart, providing a sense of security and contentment.

“Lu Yao, is this really enough?” she asked in disbelief.

Lu Yao replied, “Every case is different. How effective the tutoring is will require periodic observation. But you seem to be in great spirits, so I think it should be fine.”

Zheng Siyao nodded, still feeling slightly light-headed.

She had to admit, the shop owner’s abilities were beyond imagination.

The experience had felt so real, echoing deeply within her consciousness, as if it had left an indelible mark on her soul, prompting her to relive it again and again.

Recalling the experience multiple times, a sense of warmth, fulfillment, and reassurance filled Zheng Siyao, and unconsciously, her spirit felt renewed.

Holding the yellow gift box, she stepped out of the tutoring room. Xiaomei was surprised. “It’s over already?”

Zheng Siyao nodded and then shook her head. “The session in the time gate was actually quite long, but time flows differently there than here.”

They had discussed this after returning the previous day.

“How do you feel?” Xiaomei asked.

Still slightly dazed, Zheng Siyao replied, “The experience was wonderful, but now that it’s over, it feels like Cinderella’s magic fading at midnight. I feel emptier than before the session.”

Curious, Xiaomei asked, “What’s in that box?”

Gaining a bit of spirit, Zheng Siyao replied, “I haven’t looked yet.”

Opening the box, she found eight or nine items inside, staring at them in surprise.

Xiaomei couldn’t decipher her complex expression, so she glanced into the box and frowned slightly. “What’s up with these things?”

Zheng Siyao picked up a small brown teddy bear from the corner of the box, puzzled, and looked at Meimei. “These were gifts I received during the session—the teddy bear, this backpack, this scarf, notebook, little boots… they’re all things I wrote on my gift list each year during my birthday month. I thought it was just a dream… but these items… they came back from that world…”

Ruffling her hair, she said, “Now I can’t tell if the childhood tutoring was fantasy or reality.”

Xiaomei, unfamiliar with the specifics of Zheng Siyao’s session, couldn’t fully understand her shock.

However, her own interest was rekindled, and she felt eager to start her session.

The test subject nearby murmured to himself, “This childhood tutoring seems even more fascinating than I imagined. Maybe I should sign up, too?”

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