Jiang Fei had thought that once he suggested he would no longer be Xia Xiaozhi’s tutor, this girl would most likely throw a fit like her mother. He was already prepared to fight to the death, to stand his ground no matter what, resolute that he absolutely would not take this job again.
Unexpectedly, Xia Xiaozhi seemed to have already anticipated this. There were no pitiful, doe-eyed attempts at cuteness, nor any spoiled, stubborn clinging. She simply nodded her agreement.
Perhaps sensing Jiang Fei’s bewilderment, Xia Xiaozhi, who had originally been feeling a bit glum, temporarily set aside her own worries. With a grin, she said, “Actually, Uncle, you didn’t even need to bring it up. My mom already told me. She knows you’re a very busy man now, and definitely won’t have time to tutor me anymore in the future. So she plans not to hire you after this semester ends!”
Jiang Fei was surprised. “Your mom… she’s so considerate!”
Underneath her mushroom haircut with straight-cut bangs, Xia Xiaozhi’s eyes—which were already showing hints of a budding charm—glared at Jiang Fei. “Uncle, are you deliberately mocking my mom?”
If her mom could be called considerate, then there wouldn’t be a single person in the world who couldn’t see things from another’s perspective!
Jiang Fei coughed, somewhat awkwardly. “Well, although your mom sometimes… can indeed be a bit overbearing. But actually, your mom can be quite reasonable at times, not too unreasonable. So, Xiaozhi, you should listen to your mom more from now on.”
Xia Xiaozhi waved a hand dismissively. “Alright, alright, Uncle. My mom’s not even here, why are you still trying to butter her up? Don’t you think I, as her daughter for over a decade, know better than anyone whether she’s reasonable or not?”
Hearing this, Jiang Fei was left speechless.
This girl really had no tact. Here he was, mustering the courage to praise her mom against his better judgment, and she not only refused to accept the compliment but outright exposed him like that.
So, he was wrong for saying it, huh?
However, in Jiang Fei’s view, his words of praise weren’t completely off base; there was some truth to them.
Xia Xiaozhi’s mother was indeed a bit too overbearing, quick-witted and eloquent—capable of talking a square into a circle—and she also had a tendency to take advantage of small opportunities. But fundamentally, she wasn’t a bad person.
At the very least, she was far better than that shrewish woman who came to cause trouble at Su Nan and Jiang Fei’s clinic.
For example, nowadays, when people see many beggars praying on the streets, regardless of whether they are real or not, most instinctively assume they are frauds. Even those who pride themselves on being kindhearted often remain indifferent, unwilling to donate or give alms. But Jiang Fei once happened to see Xia Xiaozhi’s mother, returning home from grocery shopping, toss some money into the bowl of an old beggar.
It wasn’t much—just a handful of loose change, probably not exceeding ten yuan—but it was enough to speak volumes.
It was precisely because of that incidental event that when Xia Xiaozhi’s mother came to Jiang Fei and asked him to tutor Xia Xiaozhi, Jiang Fei agreed. Otherwise, if Xia Xiaozhi’s mother had truly been an unreasonable middle-aged woman, no matter how persuasively she talked, Jiang Fei would have firmly refused.
The three blossoming young beauties had no classes in the afternoon. They didn’t plan on leaving Jiang Fei’s office either; it seemed they intended to treat his place as a lounge, waiting for him to get off work. Then, just like the last few times, they would follow him home for a free meal.
Jiang Fei couldn’t be bothered to pay them any mind. Sitting in his chair, he once again called up the character attribute interface in his mind.
After his character level increased, he still had two unallocated attribute points!
If he added these two free attribute points to his basic stats, his physical constitution would undergo significant changes. However, he was currently conflicted about which basic attribute to upgrade.
“If the martial arts manual I drew today had been another style of boxing or palm technique, focusing on brute force, then I could have directly added both attribute points to Strength! But this Tai Chi Quan is different. It emphasizes using softness to overcome hardness, so it doesn’t place high demands on Strength. Adding points there would be superfluous,” Jiang Fei thought, frowning in contemplation.
As for the Agility attribute, Jiang Fei had already added a point last time. This time, he hadn’t even upgraded his lightness skill, “Threefold Cloud.” Adding more to Agility now would be excessive and would put the cart before the horse.
Since Jiang Fei temporarily wasn’t planning to add points to Agility or Strength, that left only two options.
Constitution and Spirit!
“Constitution is really useful; it relates to my stamina and defense. The higher my stamina, the longer I can last in a fight or competition. After practicing Tai Chi Quan, among the four basic attributes, only increasing Constitution would slightly enhance this set of techniques’ power… Moreover, increasing Constitution is beneficial in many other ways. It can significantly boost a man’s vigor and confidence,” Jiang Fei mused earnestly to himself.
Thinking this, Jiang Fei had already decided that he must allocate at least one of the two points to Constitution. As for the remaining point, after pondering for a while, Jiang Fei decided to add it to Spirit!
His current Spirit was sufficient for treating ordinary patients, but treating patients like Old General Ye Zhengnan was quite draining. His Spirit would need to be upgraded sooner or later anyway, so he might as well add the remaining point there now!
This way, before Jiang Fei’s medical skill reached level 8, as long as it was an illness he could cure, he definitely wouldn’t run into a situation where his energy was insufficient.
“Let’s do it! Constitution and Spirit it is!” Once Jiang Fei made his decision, he promptly used the two unallocated attribute points.
Thus, Jiang Fei’s character attributes changed completely and wouldn’t undergo major changes again until he reached level 3.
Character: Jiang Fei
Level: 2
Experience: 493/2000
Constitution: 2.4
Spirit: 3.5
Agility: 2.4
Strength: 1.6
Unallocated Points: 0
Martial Skills: Lightness Skill – Threefold Cloud, Level 1 (0/100); Incomplete Tai Chi Quan, Level 1 (0/200); Available Skill Points: 29.3
Secondary Professions: Weapon Smithing (Level 9), Plant Cultivation (Level 9), Culinary Arts (Level 9), Gardening (Level 9), Musical Arts (Level 9), Brewing (Level 9), Familiar Taming (Level 9), Medical Arts (Level 7 +9%)…
Jiang Fei looked at his character attributes with satisfaction and nodded.
If the three girls weren’t in the office, he probably wouldn’t have been able to hold back another gleeful laugh.
Now he could truly be called a bona fide minor superhero; all his physical stats could be considered top-tier among humans. Even his relatively weakest attribute, Strength, after two consecutive level-ups, had reached 1.6 times that of an average adult, placing him squarely in the ‘macho man’ category for ordinary people.
Jiang Fei suddenly felt a strong desire for some blind, foolish scoundrel to come pick a fight with him, just so he could test out his current superhuman body and have a good opportunity to show off.
He was really eager to see how powerful the incomplete Tai Chi Quan would be, even without internal energy, bolstered by his formidable physique…
“I really envy the protagonists in novels. They not only have a natural protagonist halo but also a natural hatred halo! No matter who they meet, people stupidly rush up wanting to trample them, only to end up delivering experience points on a silver platter, letting the protagonist show off and feel awesome… Why isn’t there anyone for me to have a good time with?” Jiang Fei thought to himself with a shameless grin.
