Max

Emma slapped the young man's shoulder multiple times, making him groan in pain.

"Haoran! You pervert! I know now why class F students are dubbed the dumbest on the campus!" Emma glared as she crossed her arms at Haoran. She began telling him what she meant. "I need your help to find out who among your friends are rich and willing to pay for private tutors who can help them do their homework and get good test scores."

Emma had thought of an idea on how to make fast money when she saw Haoran in class F. Of course, no students would like to be in class F, the lowest class. Among them, there must be some who were quite wealthy and could afford expensive private tutors to help them get better grades.

Emma only needed to get ten students to tutor, and she would be able to pay the cost of the study trip to Paris. She would need to work really hard, but she didn't care.

"Oh..." The tall and handsome Haoran rubbed his shoulders and said, "Why do you need that much money?"

"I want to go to Paris," the girl answered curtly.

Haoran pondered for a moment before finally understanding what Emma had meant.

"The rich kids' study trip?" he asked again. "Why do you want to go to Paris? To shop around like them?"

"Can you help me or not?" Emma began to feel annoyed.

"Uhm... okay. It can be arranged. I'll help you find students to tutor." Haoran took out his cellphone and handed it to Emma. "Give me your email address and phone number."

Emma keyed in her contacts to Haoran's phone and made a call to her own phone. She needed his number too. "Please ask your friends as soon as possible. I need the money immediately."

"Okay." The guy brandished his cellphone and smiled broadly. "I'm your go-to guy because I am efficient. You will get students by the end of the day."

"Thank you." She nodded and turned around, planning to go back to her class. Haoran was left there grinning at his cellphone as if he had just won the lottery.

Emma hurried back to her class. She wanted to get more details about the study trip from Nadya.

When she passed by the crowd in front class F on the way to her own classroom, they cheered again. The girl just smiled thinly at them, ignoring their ruckus. She walked calmly toward her classroom.

"Nadya, I need information about this study trip." She immediately approached Nadya, who was working on something in her book.

The girl with glasses frowned in surprise. She had assumed that Emma wasn't interested after hearing about the costs. But now, it seemed the girl had changed her mind.

"Very well. You can tell our French teacher, Mrs. Delaval, to register. We have French lessons in two days."

"Do we have to pay the registration fee immediately?"

"No, you still have one month to make a full payment. The important thing is to register first and pay a deposit."

"I see." Emma nodded. She went back to her desk and sat down, deep in her thoughts. She must look for alternatives if she couldn't get enough students to make that much money from tutoring.

BEEP

Her phone vibrated, and when Emma checked, she saw a new SMS from an unknown number. It must be Haoran's. Did he already manage to get students for her to tutor? That was fast.

'Wow, he is indeed efficient,' Emma praised the guy inwardly. She read Haoran's SMS and studied its contents.

[I've found five students in class F for you. They are interested in becoming your tutoring students, but first, they want to see your teaching capabilities. You can prove yourself by teaching the first student. His name is Max. He's the worst student in class F. He's flunked two years in a row. Very stupid. The address is Lotus Garden, Villa No. 8. At 5 PM, he'll be waiting for you at his house. If you could teach him well, the others will follow suit.]

Emma frowned at the thought of having the dumbest kid from class F as her first student.

'Hmm... alright,' she thought. Since she's the one who offered the tutorial service to the class F students, and as someone who had yet to prove anything, she shouldn't be picky.

[Thank you.]

She texted the reply to Haoran and put her cellphone away. The Biology teacher had entered their classroom.

***

After Emma arrived at Grandma Lin's apartment, she only had half an hour to change clothes and have lunch. Following that, she immediately headed to Bukit Timah, where Max's house was located.

"You can get off here and walk 800 meters to that direction to reach this Lotus Garden," the bus driver said as he pulled over.

"Thank you," Emma said as she got off the bus and looked around. There was a road sign informing her of the direction to Lotus Garden. With long strides, she walked down that road.

'Ugh... this must be where rich people live,' Emma thought.

There were no buses passing near the area. The closest bus stop was almost a kilometer away. She didn't want to board a taxi because she wanted to save her allowance. So, she forced herself to walk.

"Villa number 8..." Emma reread the address on her cellphone and looked around.

She had arrived at the residential complex which looked somewhat intimidating. There were about 20 houses here—wait, no, not houses, but mansions and villas. All the properties in the Lotus Garden were massive and luxurious.

Inwardly, Emma felt happy because Haoran did find him a wealthy student. The parents certainly wouldn't mind paying at a high price if she could help Max improve his grades.

Emma found a friendly security guard and asked him for directions.

He responded, "Villa number 8 is located at the end of this road, you just have to keep walking,"

"Thank you, Sir." The girl bowed and proceeded to walk down the road pointed by the guard.

After walking for another hundred meters, she finally saw a white mansion that was arguably the largest and most luxurious in the vicinity. The gate was huge, and from behind the wall, she could see various tall trees, which indicated the courtyard had an expansive garden.

Emma rang the bell and waited.

"Welcome. Are you, Miss Emma?" A middle-aged woman opened the gate with a friendly smile on her face and invited the girl in. "Young master is waiting for you."

"Thank you." Emma followed the maid. They walked through a beautiful garden and skirted an Olympic-sized swimming pool before entering the villa through a side door to a comfortable sitting room.

"Please sit down. Young Master will come down soon."

Emma sat on an expensive-looking leather couch that felt so soft while observing her surroundings. This was the most luxurious residence she had ever seen in her life. Even the homes of wealthy people and celebrities in magazines couldn't compare to this villa.

She thought, 'It's too bad, such a wealthy family has a son so stupid that he repeated a year level twice.'

She placed several books out of her bag to the table in front of her and waited for her first student to arrive.

"Hey, Stardust! You came on time!"

Emma turned her head in surprise to find the owner of that familiar and annoying voice.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked the descending Haoran on the marble stairs. "Where is Max?"

The young man grinned and crossed his arms in front of his chest, feeling clever.

"I'm Max."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Emma was confused. "Your name is Haoran Lee."

"Haoran Maximillian Lee is my full name," he corrected. Haoran was satisfied to see Emma's confused face. "My father already gave up on me because I don't want to study and even failed my grade twice. But if you can tutor me, I'm sure I'll find the motivation to learn."

Emma didn't expect this at all.

She thought, 'Haoran is Max? He's the dumbest student in class 2F? Is this for real?'

The young man looked like a smart person, so Emma had been surprised to even find out that Haoran was in class 2F. Yet now, not only was he from class F, but he also failed to advance from his grade twice! How was this possible!

"Stop fooling around, Haoran," Emma grumbled as she picked up her books. "I don't have time for this."

"Do you want to go to Paris or not?" Haoran asked, smiling mischievously. "I can pay the tutoring fee for a year in advance. You will have enough money to go to Paris and shop or whatever."

Emma paused what she was doing and re-evaluated her situation. Although Haoran turned out to be this rich, he didn't look the part since he was so carefree and relaxed. Emma knew that rich brats were mostly arrogant and overbearing, but Haoran was far from that image.

She stared at him for a few seconds before finally deciding to accept his offer. "Okay..."