"Is that your old flame?"
After Darren Chen and the others were taken away in the police car, Yolanda Fang sidled up to Evan Lin, looking him up and down with a raised eyebrow.
"Not a chance. Did you pick out your shoes?" Evan Lin shook his head, glancing down at their feet.
Both wore the same canvas shoes—black and white, nothing fancy, but they looked decent enough.
"All set. Time to pay up—you get to play the rich guy this time." Yolanda Fang grinned.
Lynn Chen hesitated, then pulled out a small red envelope and handed it to Evan Lin.
"What are you doing?" Evan Lin was caught off guard by Lynn Chen's gesture.
"It's a red envelope for Aunt Joy, not for you—so you can't refuse," Lynn Chen said with a straight face.
Lynn Chen was clearly worried that Evan Lin might not have enough money to pay for the shoes. In her eyes, his mother Joy Zheng still lived a pretty frugal life. These shoes weren't expensive, but together they cost over three hundred yuan.
Three hundred yuan was nothing to Lynn Chen and Yolanda, but for Evan Lin, it might be a big deal.
"Thanks, but it's really not necessary," Evan Lin nodded politely.
Lynn Chen frowned at his response, clearly a bit annoyed. She felt Evan Lin was being stubborn and didn't know how to accept kindness.
"Fine, forget it!" Lynn Chen shot him a glare and took the envelope back.
"Not planning to buy anything else?" Evan Lin looked at their shoes again, thinking they seemed pretty low-quality.
"Nope, just something simple to wear," Yolanda Fang shook her head.
"Alright, let's check out then." Evan Lin said, taking the envelope to the cashier.
"What's that?"
Seeing the envelope in Evan Lin's hand, Yolanda and Lynn Chen both froze for a moment, surprised.
"Cash," Evan Lin replied simply. He asked for the total, pulled out a few bills from the stack, and handed them over.
"That much money? Where'd you get it?"
Not only did Yolanda and Lynn Chen stare wide-eyed at the fat envelope of cash in Evan Lin's hand—even the cashier was shocked.
It was the first time she'd ever seen someone wandering around with a whole stack of bills like that.
"Lottery winnings. I hit a couple million," Evan Lin lied offhandedly.
Yolanda Fang was having none of it: "Yeah right. What, you think you're some kind of lucky koi?"
Lynn Chen was a little stunned too, but didn't say anything more.
Once they left the store, Lynn Chen called Charles Chen to tell him she'd lost the car keys. Charles even asked about Harvey Xie and the Fire Elder, but after Lynn Chen explained three times that those two tried to steal his car, he finally got the message.
He was dumbfounded, cursing Medicine King Valley and calling them all scammers.
Charles Chen didn't really know much about Medicine King Valley. As a small-time manager, he rarely dealt with people at that level—he'd only heard they were supposed to be amazing.
Now, hearing those two tried to steal his car, Charles could only sigh about how the world was getting worse and people couldn't be trusted. After all, Harvey Xie was his friend's son, and he'd lent the car out as a favor—never expected something like this to happen.
Still, Charles said he was too busy with work lately. Luckily, Lynn Chen's mom, Lucy Lu, was planning to visit Whitewood today to catch up with Joy Zheng, so he'd have Lucy bring the spare keys.
After hanging up, Lynn Chen briefly explained the situation to Evan Lin. Then Yolanda Fang dragged Evan off to the internet café, and the three of them played until after four in the afternoon. Eventually, Yolanda lost interest—she didn't like the smoky vibe—and suggested they go for a walk instead.
"Hey, your mom's a teacher, right? Is she still busy during summer break?" Yolanda suddenly asked as they walked down the street, turning to Evan, curious.
"Yeah, she's tutoring students. Pretty busy, I guess," Evan replied, thinking to himself that after Joy Zheng finished class tonight, he'd take her to see the new villa at Mooncrest Manor.
He already had the keys, so there was no worry about Joy not believing him. What really bothered Evan was her tutoring job.
Joy Zheng was the type who wouldn't sit idle even if she had money. Besides, if she really lived alone in Whitewood County, her days after work would be pretty dull.
"Where does Aunt Joy tutor?" Lynn Chen asked, curious.
"South Cypress Gardens," Evan replied.
"Is it far from here?" Yolanda's face lit up with excitement.
"Not too far. Why?" Evan instinctively felt she was up to something.
"Let's go check it out! Lead the way—I’ve never seen Aunt Joy teach before," Yolanda said, pushing Evan from behind. Lynn Chen nodded too: "Me neither. My mom always says Aunt Joy prepares more than anyone else and her teaching style is totally different. I want to see for myself."
Hearing Yolanda and Lynn Chen so eager, Evan Lin simply led them toward South Cypress Gardens.
They arrived at the entrance to Flora Huang's building.
The cram-school classroom was set up in Flora Huang's basement, retrofitted with air-conditioning, ventilation, and rows of desks and chairs.
Evan led the way, while Yolanda and Lynn Chen peered inside, craning their necks to get a look.
Just as they reached the door—before Evan could push it open—he heard Flora Huang's yin-yang, passive-aggressive voice from inside.
"Joy, I mentioned adding another tutoring class before, right? You weren't sure, so now you don't have to think about it. I've invited Mr. Zhang to partner with me and expand the program. Our current class is too small, so I'm starting two more, but you know, one kid doesn't earn much, and splitting the money means even less for both of us. Mr. Zhang agreed to a seventy-thirty split in my favor, so... you get it, don't you?"
Inside the classroom, over thirty kids sat at their desks.
Joy Zheng had just finished a math lesson and was tidying up, thinking about what to cook for Evan, Lynn Chen, and Yolanda that evening, when the door swung open.
First in was Flora Huang, beaming, followed by a male teacher with glasses.
Joy recognized him—he was a math teacher at Whitewood Elementary, who'd gotten his credentials through connections and was never much good at teaching. He was just coasting through his job.
Joy had wondered why Mr. Zhang was there, but after hearing Flora's words, she was stunned.