Ch 256: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

At the entrance of the childhood tutoring center, two new benches have been added. Lu Yao and Budu sit at the entrance, with a few plump cats cuddled up between their feet and the benches. These cats are wild ones from the neighborhood, recently tamed by the staff who have been feeding them, and they often come around looking for food.

On sunny days like this, the cats enjoy lying around and soaking up the sun.

A chubby orange cat, as large as Erxin, lazily licks its paws while lying on Lu Yao’s lap.

Budu looks over enviously.

Even with a name now and no longer casually radiating cold air, he still seems inapproachable .

On such a cold winter day, apart from Erxin, very few cats are willing to come close to him.

Lu Yao reassures him that when summer comes, the cats will like him.

Budu doesn’t understand why but starts secretly wishing for summer to arrive quickly.

Bai Yi brings out some mulberries and greets Lu Yao at the entrance.

It has been a while since Sang Li first attended tutoring, and today she leaves looking pleased, seemingly satisfied with the results of her session.

Bai Yi is also happy, standing at the door and saying, “According to your suggestion, we adjusted the tutoring schedule to start from the time Sang Li was isolated. At the end, I read her the materials you had given me before, and after looking through them, Sang Li cried for a long time. But when she left, she said she was glad she came to the tutoring.”

Lu Yao nods, “It seems you are starting to understand the core of this job.”

Sang Li is a somewhat special student.

What she wants is not to correct the bullying incident from her school days but to gain the strength to break free from her predicament.

Throughout a person’s life, they will encounter countless physical, psychological, and spiritual challenges. The important thing is not how to avoid difficulties but how to overcome them.

Bai Yi revealed that she didn’t do much this time; she simply befriended Sang Li during her loneliest and most confused period as a transfer student and accompanied her until she graduated.

As the tutoring was coming to an end, four classmates apologized to Sang Li when they switched seats in class, awkwardly saying that after getting to know her, they realized she was not at all like the person they had heard about.

Bai Yi suspects that Lu Yao secretly adjusted the data, which is why such feedback occurred.

Lu Yao shakes her head, “I didn’t adjust anything.”

Sang Li’s predicament is different from Xu Xiaoxiao and Hu Jiao; it doesn’t require widespread data adjustments.

The situation she encountered during tutoring was likely predicted by Alfred based on the tutoring plan and the data from the time key, calculating the possible feedback that might occur at that time.

After the tutoring ended, the materials Sang Li received could be considered a consolation gift, providing updates about some of her former classmates.

Sometimes, viewing things from a further perspective allows one to see different aspects.

Zhuang Li failed the capability test for her preferred university and was assigned to a remote and obscure college. The person who often secretly threw Sang Li’s books and homework into the toilet acted too flamboyantly in college, offending some tough seniors and getting bullied privately, with no one to come to her aid. A former classmate who had secretly helped Sang Li was facing emotional troubles and was in a low emotional state.

People who possess the freedom to determine their own words and actions must also bear the consequences that come with them.

Some influences do not appear immediately.

Over a long life, the ups and downs are quite ordinary.

Sang Li’s middle school years were lonely and painful; she couldn’t make friends, didn’t have the troubles of romance, and spent almost all her time alone studying. This time investment paid off by helping her get into a school she liked and providing her with more opportunities for self-improvement, without encountering the interpersonal dilemmas she faced in middle school.

What was originally the most regrettable thing—the disappointment in humanity and interpersonal relationships left by the bullying incident—was compensated through childhood tutoring.

The time span of childhood tutoring can sometimes be long, and the impact it brings does not immediately cause a significant change in the students’ lives and perceptions; it only continuously provides hints in the following time, helping them slowly walk down the path they most deeply desire in their hearts.

Bai Yi briefly reports the situation to Lu Yao and prepares to head back to the office to write the work report while the emotions are still high.

After taking a few steps, she suddenly turns back and asks, “Shopkeeper, are the treatment times for 222 and 696 after work today?”

Lu Yao said, “Hmm, what’s wrong?”

Bai Yi also wanted to visit Sanhua City from sixty years ago.

Lu Yao politely declined.

In the past few days, Lu Yao and Budu had explored Sanhua City thoroughly, collecting many samples from sixty years ago, including tree branches and stones, tiles from old houses built sixty years ago, and antiques found in various shops. They had taken samples one by one to create keys.

Lu Yao had already gone through the area once in advance with Budu.

There were some strange things in Sanhua City sixty years ago, the reasons for which were temporarily unknown, and Lu Yao didn’t want to involve Bai Yi.

After listening to the explanation, Bai Yi accepted it and dropped the subject.

…

After leaving the childhood tutoring center, Sang Li went straight back to school.

When she got out of the car at the entrance, she felt a bit hungry and stopped by the snack street for something to eat.

As she stepped out, she saw a hair salon by the roadside. After hesitating for a few seconds, she walked in, suddenly in the mood for a new hairstyle.

The stylist began cutting her hair, and Sang Li couldn’t help but recall the information she had seen at the childhood tutoring center.

Xu Tian, someone she often encountered on her way to school before.

She was a bit chubby, loved to eat and laugh, and was the first to say that Sang Li was not at all like the rumors suggested.

It wasn’t during tutoring that Xu Tian actually told her this.

At that time, Sang Li viewed everything as hypocritical, and afterward, she no longer walked with her.

The material from the childhood tutoring center noted that Xu Tian had recently gone through a breakup.

Sang Li stared at the opened chat interface, hesitating for a while, before sending a message.

After sending it, she turned off her screen, preparing to put her phone away.

Ding—

A new message notification sounded.

She received a reply almost immediately.

Sang Li paused for a moment, as several messages followed from the other side.

With cheerful emoticons and stickers, Sang Li chuckled; it seemed Xu Tian wasn’t as downcast as described in the material.

…

Before closing in the afternoon, a new customer arrived at the tutoring center.

A lady in her fifties walked in with her daughter, who was in her thirties.

Bai Yi and Xie Molin were wrapping up their work, while Lu Yao was responsible for welcoming the mother and daughter.

The lady sat down and immediately began to express her feelings. Her daughter, Zhou Yishan, was understanding and obedient from a young age, smart, eager to learn, and had strong abilities. When she graduated from university, her capability test score was only at the C level, but she managed to secure an offer from one of the top fifty large groups in the country based on her solid professional skills.

The lady had always been proud of her daughter, but years after graduation, Zhou Yishan still hadn’t found a boyfriend.

A year ago, Zhou Yishan had confessed to her mother that she didn’t plan to get married.

This left the lady very anxious, trying every possible way to persuade her, but Zhou Yishan was resolute, not wanting to date or settle down.

After a year of prolonged “combat,” the lady had almost given up hope when she happened to hear from an acquaintance about the childhood tutoring center and decided to bring her daughter to take a look.

While talking, the lady became very emotional, her eyebrows and eyes furrowing into a knot, almost to the point of tears.

Zhou Yishan sat beside her, appearing completely indifferent and lifeless.

Lu Yao took out two childhood testing forms and handed one to the lady and one to Zhou Yishan.

The lady looked surprised, “I have to fill one out too? I thought only the students had to.”

Lu Yao replied, “You seem to be quite well-informed, Auntie. We want you to fill one out as well to better understand Miss Zhou’s situation.”

After hearing this, the lady put down her pen, “It’s her who’s attending tutoring, not me. I won’t fill it out.”

Lu Yao didn’t insist, “Alright.”

Zhou Yishan filled out the form seriously and took almost half an hour to complete it.

By this time, it was already the tutoring center’s usual closing time. Lu Yao had an appointment, so she quickly skimmed through the important questions on the form and prepared to help Zhou Yishan retrieve her bone and create a time key.

The aunt had originally looked forward to it, but upon hearing that they were going to retrieve bones, her expression changed slightly, and then she immediately switched gears, pulling Zhou Yishan to leave.

Zhou Yishan, on the other hand, became interested in the tutoring, sitting still and even rolling up her sleeves, intending to ask Lu Yao to retrieve her bones, but was forcibly dragged away by her aunt.

Lu Yao felt a bit strange and couldn’t quite recall what was off.

Xie Molin stood at the door of her office, lightly tapping on the glass: “Shopkeeper, this side is ready.”

Lu Yao came back to her senses: “Okay, just a moment.”

Upon hearing that 222 and 696 were going to undergo treatment, 444, who was also very interested in the time-traveling journey, begged Lu Yao to take him along. Unable to resist, she agreed.

Thus, the group for this time-traveling trip was quite large, consisting of Lu Yao, Budu, Lin Xue, Xie Molin, and three test subjects.

Given the unknown situations learned from the previous trip and to prevent uncontrollable issues, Lu Yao distributed protective items before the time travel.

Lin Xue held up a silver ring and observed: “Is it enough to just wear this?”

Lu Yao explained: “Although it’s a disposable item, once you wear it, it will activate a protective barrier that instantly rebounds damage in case of danger, isolating toxic substances and unknown elements. It’s invisible to the naked eye, but it does exist.”

444 said, “You can’t tell it’s such a powerful item.”

222 added, “It’s better if you can’t tell; otherwise, it feels like wearing protective clothing while roaming around the research institute.”

696’s expression slightly darkened: “Don’t mention the research institute.”

With so many people to bring, Lu Yao took out Alfred’s main body, and the familiar silver light enveloped everyone.

As the silver light dissipated, no one was left in the tutoring room.

Lu Yao and Budu had investigated in advance, and they knew their landing coordinates were on a sparsely populated riverbank.

As the group opened their eyes, they found themselves surrounded by overgrown weeds, the river water flowing quietly, with a bleak sight all around. The area was so quiet that they could only hear the wind, with no trace of a bustling metropolis in sight.

“Is Sanhua City really this desolate sixty years ago?” Lin Xue found it hard to believe.

Lu Yao held Budu’s hand and chose a direction, leading them as she said, “Let’s head this way. If we walk for a while, we’ll see houses; there are still quite a few people in the city.”

A century can feel neither long nor short. While walking along the deserted riverbank, it didn’t feel very pronounced, but when they encountered an old boat docked by the river and spoke to the boatmen using a strange dialect, they finally felt the reality of their time travel.

As they walked along the riverbank, they encountered more boats and boatmen who made their homes on the water.

Those people looked at Lu Yao and her group with surprise, observing their polished attire, fair skin, and varied expressions.

Lin Xue felt uncomfortable being scrutinized so openly and quietly moved behind Lu Yao.

Strangely enough, despite being the only one in the group without abilities, she felt the safest near the shopkeeper.

The three test subjects behaved calmly. 696 noticed Lin Xue’s confusion and explained, “Test subjects have to have their daily excretions checked and recorded; we’ve gotten used to being looked at.”

Lin Xue: “…”

They encountered a bridge with a toll station.

To cross the bridge, one had to pay a copper coin for a crossing ticket.

Lu Yao was already prepared.

After purchasing the tickets, the group walked onto the river bridge.

Once they crossed the bridge, it felt like entering a city.

The number of pedestrians increased, and there were shops open for business.

Old-fashioned sedans, ox carts, and horse carts were on the road, creating a strikingly jarring and impactful scene for the time travelers.

444, in high spirits, looked around and showed a puzzled expression: “It seems like the pedestrians all have frowns on their faces. Is something wrong?”

696 nodded in agreement: “They look like the test subjects locked up in the research institute.”

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