Chapter 400

"Otherwise, by the month after next, I'm afraid it will be very tight again."

Natsume Chikage took out his wallet and handed it to his sister:

"I still have about 22,000 yen now."

Xia Mu Liuli took the wallet in surprise, took out all the money, sat at the small table and counted it carefully twice, finding that it was really so.

She raised her little face, bewildered:

"According to Liuli's previous calculation, brother, after you paid the rent, you should only have about 5,000 yen left."

"How come there is so much more now?"

Natsume Chikage smiled and explained, touching his sister's head:

"Your brother has found a new part-time job recently."

Xia Mu Liuli didn't know where she associated it with, like a bolt from the blue, her little face turned white:

"Brother—! You are so popular with those girls recently, don't, don't tell me you went to do those... work of selling your body?!"

Natsume Chikage was made to not know whether to laugh or cry by her wild imagination, flicking her forehead lightly with his finger:

"What are you thinking! This is a proper part-time job."

"Your brother has recently found a job teaching others to play shogi."

Xia Mu Liuli covered her forehead in surprise, her eyes opened round:

"Brother, you teach others to play shogi?"

"But didn't you say... you haven't played many games, and you aren't very powerful?"

Natsume Chikage coughed twice and explained:

"Didn't I get an old chess manual from Aunt Meixue before? Your brother has been reading it seriously, and I have learned quite a few things."

"Then... I happened to win against a little girl about ten years old, and that little girl's grandfather felt that my playing was quite interesting, so he asked me to be his granddaughter's shogi tutor."

Xia Mu Liuli tilted her head and thought for a while, recalling that her brother had indeed won a few games against herself before.

And although she was rusty, she had indeed won against her father who had studied shogi for many years before.

After such a layer-by-layer "nesting doll", her brother seemed, perhaps, maybe... indeed had some strength?

Plus this time it was just teaching a little girl, thinking the difficulty wouldn't be too high.

With her brother's degree, perhaps he could really be competent.

Xia Mu Liuli asked curiously:

"Brother, how long have you been doing this part-time job?"

Natsume Chikage smiled:

"Today was the first time."

Xia Mu Liuli blinked her eyes:

"No wonder brother, you came back later than usual today."

"But... what is the hourly wage?"

Natsume Chikage extended five fingers:

"5,000 yen."

Xia Mu Liuli suddenly widened her eyes, her voice raised unconsciously:

"5... 5,000 yen per hour?!"

"Is it so high?"

Natsume Chikage also felt that this remuneration was indeed quite good, smiling:

"Yes."

"That little girl's family seems quite wealthy."

"I only need to guide for about two hours each time, which calculates to 10,000 yen once."

"However, this time the little girl was fascinated by playing, and the duration was an hour longer. Calculating it, I earned 15,000 yen in three hours today, which was still very good."

Xia Mu Liuli didn't expect at all that teaching people to play shogi could be so profitable, her eyes shining:

"Brother, Liuli's strength, maybe even a little bit more powerful than you, brother!"

"If it's like this, can Liuli also go to teach others to play shogi to earn money?"

Natsume Chikage didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and had to take out the universal reason to "bluff":

"You are still too young. This kind of tutor work, no matter what, has to wait until after sixteen."

Xia Mu Liuli muttered dissatisfiedly in a low voice:

"How come many things have to wait until sixteen..."

Natsume Chikage hurriedly changed the subject and added an explanation:

"And this job is not available every day, it purely depends on whether the other party has needs, I don't know if it can happen once or twice a month."

"So don't treat it as a stable source of income. After all, she is a child, and her interest in shogi might just be a three-minute heat."

Xia Mu Liuli thought for a while, felt it made sense, and nodded:

"That's true..."

Subsequently.

A smile bloomed on her face again, which was the joy from the bottom of her heart for the family's situation possibly improving:

"No matter what, brother, you can have one more part-time job, and our monthly income can have one more point of guarantee."

"The pressure on life feels like it's not so big all of a sudden."

"No—Liuli, I have to recalculate, if we can have one or two thousand yen more each month, how should our expenses be adjusted and optimized!"

Looking at his sister who was immediately lying on the small table, taking out a small notebook and pencil to start writing and drawing seriously, Natsume Chikage was silent for a long time, a warm current and sense of responsibility surging in his heart.

He thought to himself, two days later is the third round of the shogi competition.

If he can win that time, he can get a prize of 40,000 yen.

With that money, this month he can really completely get rid of this kind of tight state of being worried.

By then, he can calmly tell his sister about participating in the competition, and she doesn't need to be like now, wishing to break every yen into two halves to calculate carefully.

"By the way, Liuli," Natsume Chikage remembered another thing, "Didn't you say before that you wanted to have a good catch-up with Xiyuanji Qilai?"

Xia Mu Liuli immediately raised her head, her face full of happiness:

"Hmm! Don't tell me... she agreed?"

Natsume Chikage nodded:

"Hmm, she said she is free to come over on Saturday."

Xia Mu Liuli planned happily:

"Specifically what time on Saturday?"

"If she comes at noon or in the evening, Liuli will prepare some cuisine in advance to entertain people."

Natsume Chikage shook his head:

"I didn't ask this in detail."

"I'll ask her when I return to school tomorrow."

"However... besides her, the other two members of our Collection Force might also come over together that day."

Xia Mu Liuli was stunned:

"Eh? Why?"

Natsume Chikage smiled somewhat awkwardly:

"Because your brother usually has many miscellaneous things, and I skipped several department activities... so Classmate Xuecun Lingyin heard that Xiyuanji was coming to my house, so she suggested holding this week's department activity at my house by the way."

"In the name of... letting me 'properly complete' the department's literary publication writing work even at home."

Xia Mu Liuli covered her mouth and laughed lightly, her eyes carrying understanding and a trace of teasing:

"So that's how it is..."

"However, if you think about it carefully, this is also quite good."

"Speaking of which, Liuli and brother haven't enjoyed a purely leisurely weekend at home together for a long time."

"Since brother is resting on Saturday, and they are also coming over together, it's lively, and Liuli feels it's really quite good."

Upon hearing this, Natsume Chikage also thought seriously.

Indeed, running around for a living, they haven't enjoyed a purely leisurely weekend with his sister for a long time.

Looking at it this way, this accidentally promoted gathering might really be a good thing.

"If you think it's no problem, I'll send them a message to confirm later."