Chapter 10 Teachings on Hurting Each Other

Suzuki Sonoko went on her first blind date on her fourteenth birthday and continued until she was seventeen and a half, dating a total of five people in three and a half years.

The first three lasted longer each time, basically two years and eight months in total. Apart from Ximen Sojiro and Jinguji Ren, her third partner was not actually the son of some wealthy family.

Her uncle worked diligently to find a live-in son-in-law for the family, and finally found a young man who had just entered the society during the civil service examination that year.

Suzuki Jirokichi's personality is actually not that good. He has been talking to himself and being self-centered since he was seventeen years old, and he is still like this when he is seventy years old. However, the young man surprisingly has a good impression on him. The uncle thinks that their family was really cheated twice before, so instead of taking the risk of such a son-in-law running away at any time, it is better to find a son-in-law with a clean background and train him himself.

But that was a civil service exam, and the young man went there just to get a job. He looked like a social elite with ambition and aspirations. The uncle thought about it for a long time, but still didn't dare to do something like publicly ask the handsome man whether he was interested in getting married.

He asked: [Child, are you interested in being a tutor?]

That night, Suzuki Sonoko saw her new math teacher.

——She doesn’t even have to take the high school entrance exam, so why does she need a math teacher?

——Even if she wants a math teacher, she has to be a math teacher who teaches high school courses. What does she want to learn from a teacher who does civil service exam questions every day?

So later that person switched to teaching Chinese language and literature.

Suzuki Sonoko personally feels that: that year could not be called a blind date at all, it was clearly just making up for the lessons!

But I have to say, it’s really fun to be a teacher and scold people.

Yes, she was also a teacher, responsible for teaching the handsome young man who was taking the civil service exam to speak several foreign languages.

"Mr. Munakata, could you please explain this to me?"

"I've agreed to practice listening for a certain amount of time, but the audio progress bar hasn't shown any progress. I'll just assume the machine is broken," Suzuki Sonoko said, standing at the table, pinching a corner of the puzzle with two fingers. "But how come you managed to complete such a large puzzle when you made no progress at all?"

“Putting a puzzle together is a process of reconstruction. As long as you find the pattern, it’s a very simple thing.”

"...I mainly wanted to criticize you for not studying hard, not to admire your puzzle-solving skills."

Munakata Reiji nodded calmly and said, "Is that so?"

"But this puzzle is quite cute," he said, looking at the puzzle that featured Suzuki Sonoko's four-year-old hand-drawn design. As if afraid she didn't understand, he added, "This is a compliment to you."

"I don't need any compliments, thank you." Sonoko raised her hands and shook out the puzzle pieces. "Make up for your listening practice tonight. I've prepared a new movie for you. Finish it over the weekend."

——His homework was to listen to and translate the original soundtracks of movies from various countries, and finally make subtitles and a timeline, so that when Yuanzi watched the movies herself, she wouldn't have to think about it.

Munekasa took the stack of boxes without a word, and just as nonchalantly took out a large package from behind his chair.

A pile of books was neatly stacked in a heavy, solid box. Reiji Munakata patted the box and told her expressionlessly, "This is your reading list for the next week."

Suzuki Sonoko: You've already brought the books, so what's the point of talking about a list? I can tear up a list of books, but I'm afraid I'll die from this pile of thick-covered books.

"Reading notes, movie reviews, related materials, and recent haiku practice, plus three-minute hard-pen calligraphy copybooks. Remember to finish them all. I'll check them next weekend."

The garden's working methods are varied and bizarre, which makes people feel tired invisibly, but Munakata Reiji's trump card is simple - as long as the quantitative change is maintained, qualitative change will occur sooner or later.

If one times is not enough, then double it. If two times is not enough, then ten times it.

Reisi Munakata arranged the next tasks in an orderly manner. Although his expression remained the same, Sonoko looked at his face...it was obvious that they wanted to hurt each other!

After hurting each other for more than half a year, they became more or less familiar with each other. At the beginning, Munekana was like a normal tutor, appearing two or three times a week, each time for two to three hours, helping Sonoko arrange a study plan and signing various parent notices.

But later on, this period of time became more casual and natural. Without having to take any exams, Suzuki Sonoko inexplicably became the top student in the grade for a period of time.

Later, Reiji Munakata had a permanent guest room at the Suzuki residence.

That evening, after dinner, Suzuki Sonoko was doing homework on the balcony with a collection of essays. Munakata Reiji also appeared nearby with a pair of headphones on. The two people who were being hurt could only get a little subtle comfort from each other's dull eyes.

When the sun had completely set, Sonoko finally threw the book away and changed the subject before Reisi Munakata could lecture her.

"Ask me why I chose to be a tutor in the Suzuki family?"

Seeing that his eyes had finally moved away from the book, Yuanzi turned around and poured him a cup of tea, pretending to be interested in having a chat.

Munakata Reiji gathered his thoughts and finally spoke, "In today's society, personal connections are also clearly structured channels for communication. When we first met, the person standing next to my uncle was the head of the interview department. From the relationship between the main and the subordinate, it was obvious that the head cared deeply about him. In this case, agreeing to my uncle's request would clearly help me leave a good impression on the interviewer."

"Hey, so scheming..."

"This has nothing to do with scheming." Munakata Reiji blinked in confusion. "I went there for an interview anyway. Why shouldn't I pay attention to the preferences of the person who controls my fate?"

"So you're going to waste the next six months just to make a good impression?"

“That’s just the first point.”

He pushed his glasses up. "My grades are undeniable, but the department I'll be assigned to after I'm hired depends entirely on my assignment. Personality and expertise do have an impact, but special skills are the key points managers focus on. My appearance, temperament, and personality both lean towards the cautious and old-fashioned. If assigned based on need, I'll likely end up in an institution like the archives, household registration office, historical archives, or even a property storage facility."

Munakata's tone remained as calm as ever. "Personally, I prefer administrative work that's exciting and has its ups and downs, like diplomacy or security field work."

"I thought what determined this was what major you studied in college?"

"Choosing a major is a three-way compromise," Munakata Reiji said, unfazed by the issues she raised. "Dreams, academic performance, and family expectations are all essential. Only after entering society can one truly achieve personal freedom."

"Oh," Sonoko yawned, understanding: "You don't like the major you chose, right?"

Munakata remained silent, his expression seeming to acquiesce. "My uncle once thoroughly explained to me the advantages of his younger generation. Language learning, especially learning to speak with a pure accent, requires proper guidance and a sufficient language environment. I don't have the time or energy to find four or five foreigners who can speak Japanese at once, and enrolling in a class simply won't achieve my desired learning goals."

Having said that, he looked down at Suzuki Sonoko.

Yuanzi nodded in understanding: "I am just a multi-functional language trainer?"

"I think it's a process of mutual improvement," Munakata said after a moment's thought. "You speak Italian without an accent at all."

"I don't speak English with an accent," one of Yuanzi's few strengths. "I've been going there since I was a kid, and I learned the language from the locals, word for word."

"Then there's the issue of sample observation."

Yuanzi didn't understand the meaning of this sentence.

Munakata explained slowly, "Society is made up of different classes, which integrate and differentiate with each other. Social sciences and humanities complement each other. As important components of society, families of all classes have relatively typical characteristics, but some models are numerous and easy to find, and the Suzuki family is one example."

He stood by the window and looked around. "The Suzuki family is the top part of the pyramid that is rarely accessible directly. I'm very curious."

Suzuki Sonoko frowned and pondered for a long time, her expression still subtle: "Are you studying these things... in preparation for world domination in the future?"

Munekasa glanced at her expressionlessly and cleared his throat: "As for the fourth point..."

"I know this, the salary, right?"

Suzuki Sonoko yawned again and thought to herself that beneath your calm exterior lies not only passion and childishness, but you're also a bit of a middle school student. Let's finish talking about this life quickly and go to bed. It's already very late.

“Salary does have some impact, but it’s outside the top 10.”

After saying this, Munakata Reiji looked at her silently for a while, picked up the tea bowl on the table, took a sip quietly, and said: "Fourthly, the tea you brew is delicious."

Yuanzi was almost sleepy at this moment, and said nonchalantly: "Are you kidding me? Of course my tea tastes good. Don't you even look at who my ex-ex-fiancé is?"

——He is the leader of the Japanese tea ceremony world!

Every time she went there, she would drink tea. Not only would she drink it herself, but she would also make tea for the people in the Ximen family. After all, people are made through training.

etc.

Suzuki Sonoko suddenly sobered up a lot and blinked at the young man drinking tea. "I've only made tea twice, and I can actually make it into the top three?"

Munakata paused, holding his teacup. Instead of answering the question, he spoke of something else: "According to the prevailing view in today's society, while the emphasis in selecting a tutor is on expertise and ability, many other factors also play a decisive role."

"For example, the age, gender, and appearance of practitioners."

Yuanzi looked at him in confusion and blinked: What does this mean?

Munekata glanced at her briefly before avoiding her gaze and continued, "Teachers for junior high and high school girls are generally of the same sex, and the focus of their courses varies depending on their academic level."

And what about the Suzuki family?

Not to mention finding a handsome young man, that clearly shows that it is not "teach the child whatever he lacks" but "teach whatever you can", and there is no need to worry at all that your child will fall in love at a young age and develop a vague affection for the tutor.

After staying in this house for a long time, Reisi Munakata found that the atmosphere made him very comfortable, even to the point of being a little too comfortable.

Even if he occasionally realized that some of his actions towards the student were a little too intimate - such as patting her on the head, or speaking in a tone that exceeded the boundary between teacher and student - not only did the student herself not feel anything (students usually think about how to retaliate at this time), even the parents were used to it and were particularly calm.

"Even if it's unclear at first why Uncle Ling recruited me, anyone with a discerning eye will be able to see it after a while."

Yuanzi felt a subtle sense of embarrassment: How come this sounds like street trafficking...

Although her uncle said that this was a substitute candidate, but because he was indeed a tutor, Yuanzi still managed to get the first place thanks to his tutoring, right?

But she also read an aura similar to that of a storm brewing on the eve of a showdown, so she tried to suppress the heat on her face and scratched her ears, saying "Oh" in response.

"But as I said before, investigating this kind of thing is also a process of mutual understanding and compromise through observation."

Oh, Yuanzi sniffed, is this what it means, "Your uncle has been observing me, and I have been observing him back"?

"So," she continued, considering Munakata's usual way of speaking, "what are the results of your investigation?"

Reiji Munakata glanced at her for a long time, put the earphones back on his ears, and said unclearly: "I told you, you make delicious tea."

Then he went back to his room and went to sleep as if nothing had happened.

Suzuki Sonoko sat at the round table on the terrace until the moon reached its zenith, thinking that this was probably settled.

When she was seventeen, Munakata Reiji seemed to be unable to succeed in his field work and finally gave up his civil servant job with no hope of changing careers and participated in a cross-border exchange activity organized by Suzuki.

As soon as he got busy, Yuanzi instantly felt that she had hired legal workers and couldn't help but feel happy.

The air was filled with undisguised joy. Before boarding the plane, Munakata adjusted his coat and asked her with a frown, "Is my leaving Japan such a cause for joy for you?"

Yuanzi, who was perceptive, immediately shook her head, helped him put on the scarf, and then brushed off the non-existent dust on his shoulders. She encouraged him earnestly, "You have a heavy responsibility, so you must work hard!"

Munekasa frowned and studied her for a long time, but couldn't see what was wrong. When he was near the gate, he suddenly turned around, gently lifted his glasses with his left hand, slowly lowered his head, and kissed Sonoko's lips.

It seemed as if even the air was still along with her breathing.

Reisi Munakata put on his glasses as if nothing had happened, said "goodbye" calmly, and disappeared into the crowd dragging his suitcase.

The author has something to say: The Zong Xiang subtitle group will be offline in the next chapter.

But don't worry, every fiancé will not disappear so easily. Temporarily saying goodbye to the job does not mean that he will not come back. Other details of our relationship will also be written down, so there is no rush.

Yuanzi is not really stupid. Because she hasn't found a fiancé, she has been attending classes. Her IQ will increase a little, but her EQ will increase a little. However, she is born with a unique way of thinking, so she is still a bit of a fool.

Finally, as usual, please leave a message:-D

I found an extra line of meaningless words in the middle, change it...