Reborn as a high school freshman with an awakened system, a fat boy transforms into a male god.

Lin Bei looked at her.

"My dad said he had a room reserved at Cuiping Garden. But last time I went there for dinner, she..." Su Wantang paused, "She put my bowl in the corner of the kitchen, not on the dining table."

Lin Bei gripped the chopsticks tightly.

"Later, my dad said, 'Let her come to the table to eat,' and she laughed and said, 'I thought she was going to go back to her room to eat.' That kind of laugh wasn't from embarrassment; it was... on purpose."

Lin Bei could picture that smile.

It wasn't a sneer, nor a sinister laugh; it was a fake smile, a "Oh dear, I made a mistake" kind of smile. The corners of her mouth turned up, her eyes crinkled, and her tone was gentle. But if you translated that smile into plain language, it probably meant: "I didn't know, I didn't do it on purpose, what can I do if your daughter doesn't talk to me?"

Green Tea Rating: Five stars.

"I ate that meal, took the bus back, a forty-minute ride. I thought about it the whole way, 'If I have to do this every day from now on, then I…'"

She didn't continue.

Lin Bei knew what she wanted to say.

"Su Wantang." Lin Bei put down his chopsticks and turned around to face her.

Su Wantang raised her head.

"If your mother's house is sold, what will the money be?"

Su Wantang was taken aback; clearly, she hadn't considered this question. In her mind, the house belonged to her father, and the money from its sale would also belong to him, having nothing to do with her.

"The money... my dad can keep it. He said the money from selling the house is to pay off the loan at Cuipingyuan."

Lin Bei's mind started racing. He recalled the heartfelt words he'd read outside apartment 502 yesterday. That woman, the woman in the red dress, her plan was to kick Su Yuan out in six months and take half of the inheritance.

The house was sold, the money went to Su Yuan, and then to that woman. Then she ran away, leaving Su Yuan with nothing.

Not just Su Yuan. Su Wantang also had nothing left.

"Does your dad know that woman was married before?" Lin Bei asked.

Su Wantang frowned: "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you know anything about her? What's her name? Where is she from? What did she do for a living before? How many times has she been divorced?"

Su Wantang was stunned. She had never thought about these questions before. In her world, that woman was her father's new wife, her stepmother who "didn't accept me," nothing more. As for where she came from, what she had been through, and what kind of person she was, she didn't know, and didn't want to know.

"I don't know," she said.

Lin Bei leaned back in his chair.

He didn't know whether he should tell Su Wantang what he had overheard yesterday. If he did, what could she do? Tell his father, "Your wife is a liar"? Su Yuan wouldn't believe him; he was completely infatuated with that woman and wouldn't listen to anyone.

If a sixteen-year-old daughter says, "Your wife is a liar," he will only think that his daughter is throwing a tantrum, being temperamental, and deliberately trying to ruin his new family.

On the contrary, it will have the opposite effect.

But if she doesn't tell, and that woman succeeds, Su Yuan will be swindled out of everything, and Su Wantang will have no way out.

"Su Wantang." Lin Bei turned to look at her. "You may not believe what I'm about to say, or you may think I'm talking nonsense. But every word I say is true."

Su Wantang looked at him without saying a word.

"Your dad's new wife, she's been married twice before. Each time she divorced after about a year. Each time she got a sum of money after the divorce."

Su Wantang's eyes slowly widened.

How did you know?

Lin Bei had already prepared this explanation.

"My mom ran into an aunt at the market. That aunt knows a distant relative of your dad's new wife. Some gossip spreads faster than the wind."

Lin Bei mentally gave himself an eight out of ten for his lying skills. Nine points for fluency, and one point deducted because the story flowed too smoothly, making it seem less like something he came up with on the spot. He needs to be more careful in the future; he should stumble occasionally to make it seem more believable.

The system scores the host's lying performance as 8.5/10. Bonus points: Excellent facial expression control; no guilty blinking. Deduction points: Too smooth; it seems pre-rehearsed. It is suggested that next time, a 0.5-second "recollection pause" and a slowed-down "let me see how I can tell you" pause be added for better effect.

Lin Bei: You even taught me how to lie?

The system isn't teaching the host to lie. It's teaching the host to "make lies sound more believable." These are two different areas of expertise.

Lin Bei: Is there a difference?

Yes. The former is a moral issue, the latter a technical one. The system only cares about technical issues. The host is responsible for handling the moral issues.

Lin Bei: I can't refute your logic.

Su Wantang stared at him for a few seconds.

"You mean...she did it for the money?"

"I'm just saying what I heard," Lin Bei said calmly. "As for whether it's true or not, we can try to find out. What's her name? What's her ID number? Your dad definitely knows that."

Su Wantang's fingers clenched the hem of her school uniform.

"There's one more thing," Lin Bei said. "Did your mother say anything about what would happen to this house before she passed away? Did she leave a will? Or, whose name is on the property deed?"

Su Wantang was stunned for a moment.

"It's probably my mom's name... I'm not sure."

"Then go check," Lin Bei said. "The property certificate is with your dad. Find a chance to take a look. If it's in your mom's name, then this house isn't solely under your dad's control."

Su Wantang's eyebrows twitched slightly, as if she was processing the information.

"Even if it's in your father's name," Lin Bei continued, "your mother used marital property when she bought this house. So, as their daughter, you also have a share."

Su Wantang looked up at him.

"How...how do you know all this?"

Lin Bei paused for a moment. He couldn't very well say that he had spent three years watching legal education videos in his previous life, could he? The titles of those videos were things like "Five Legal Facts You Must Know Before Divorce," "How to Divide a House After Parents' Death," and "Can Only Children Inherit Their Parents' Property?" Every time he saw one, he would swipe away, but he always couldn't help swiping back to watch it. After watching it, he would think, "What does this have to do with me?" But he had already memorized it.

"My mom was watching TV, on the legal channel, and I watched a few episodes with her," Lin Bei said. "Some things you just remember after listening to them."

Su Wantang didn't ask any more questions, and lowered her head to look at the lunchbox on the table.

After a long while, she softly said, "Thank you."

Lin Bei packed up his lunchbox and stood up.

"Will there be an English class at noon today?" he asked.

Su Wantang raised her head, glanced at him, and finally her lips twitched slightly.

"Go ahead and memorize yesterday's vocabulary words."

Lin Bei sat down again, opened his English textbook, and stammered through the ten words. He got three wrong, and Su Wantang corrected them one by one.

When she was teaching the fifth word, her phone vibrated.

She glanced down, her expression momentarily pausing.

Lin Bei didn't activate his mind-reading ability. He didn't want to pry into her mind every moment; that wasn't helping, it was spying. Besides, the mind-reading ability only had five days left to be effective, and he needed to gradually wean himself off this dependence.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Su Wantang turned her phone screen around to show him.

It was a text message sent to "Dad":

"Wantang, the contract for the house will be signed next week. Pack your things this week, and I'll come help you move this weekend. I've made all the arrangements at Cuiping Garden; you'll see when you get there."

Lin Bei stared at the text message for a moment, then looked up at Su Wantang.

"Do you want to move?" he asked.

Su Wantang shook her head.

"Then you won't move."

Su Wantang looked at him, "Can we really not move?"

"The house hasn't been sold yet, and the contract hasn't been signed," Lin Bei said. "Even if it's signed, it will still take some time from signing the contract to transferring the property. During this time, you should do what you need to do."

"What is it?"

"Investigate that woman," Lin Bei said. "Find out who she is and what she wants. Once your dad knows the truth, it's uncertain whether he'll still sell this house."