When the Side Character Gets a System and Travels through Difference Worlds-Chapter 46: Math Competition Book

"It’s the Qian family from Team 3 in Poling. You wouldn’t know them anyway." Tan Deming fanned himself. "Cotton clothes are still the most comfortable. This heat is killing me."

"I’ll go ask him again today if he has any other books. Since they’re just going to sell them to the scrap yard anyway, they might as well sell them to me. It’ll save them the trouble of hauling them over there." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"If they’re useless, I’ll just use them as kindling in the kitchen."

Tan You smiled. "Wouldn’t that be a waste? If we really can’t use them, just sell them to the scrap yard. Help me find more books—after all, you can read."

Tan Deming smiled too. "Alright. Go on inside and study. Turn on the electric fan if you need to. Don’t worry about what your grandma says."

Tan You replied, "No need. I can handle this heat."

After watching Tan Deming drive off on his small three-wheeler, Tan You was lost in thought for a moment before looking down at her textbook again. ’From now on, I will establish my reputation as a top student. No one will be able to knock me from the number one spot!’

Seeing that no one was around Tan You, the Beauty System finally piped up. "Host, aren’t you going to do the mission? You’ve been mulling over the second one for three days now."

’I knew it,’ Tan You thought. ’This little system can’t show up without spouting some crap. It only ever says a few words before nagging me to do missions. Sure, I’ve gotten some benefits out of it, but when you compare, isn’t the system the one profiting more?’

’I work myself to the bone to earn a few Energy Points, and they all end up being spent on the system. But I can’t bring myself to just quit. I’m still coveting those miraculous eye drops from the Advanced-level Mission World.’

"What’s the rush? I’ll do it tonight." Tan You waved her hand, clearly unwilling to do the mission right now. ’I can’t just run off every time this little system nags me. It would make me look like a total pushover.’

Having gotten a definite answer, the Beauty System stopped pestering her. After it disappeared, Tan You once again buried herself in her studies. She was gradually starting to take an interest in learning; the more she studied, the more interesting she found it.

At that moment, Tan You selectively forgot the pain of burning the midnight oil in the past.

Figuring her grandma would be waking up from her afternoon nap soon, Tan You pulled a basket out of the well. Inside was a jar of mung bean soup. The soup had been kept hanging in the well, so it was refreshingly cool to drink. It felt as if a single bowl could chase away the entire day’s sweltering heat.

The Tan family was very poor. Tan You herself was extremely nearsighted, as were her father and grandfather. Because of this, the family’s burden fell on the shoulders of her grandma and Cheng Wenhui. This was why their home lacked many basic amenities that almost every other family had, such as a washing machine, refrigerator, microwave, and so on. The Tan family had none of these.

It was no exaggeration to say they were dirt poor. ’Should I try to find a way to make some money?’ Tan You had wondered recently. But after thinking it over and over, she really couldn’t come up with a solution.

First, there was the age restriction. By her actual age, she was fourteen at the absolute most. She would have to wait until she was sixteen to get an ID card, and that one fact alone blocked off most of her options.

She knew a thing or two about investing, but she was underage. Plus, she had no capital to begin with.

She had also considered submitting her writing for publication, but after some thought, she hesitated. Tan You’s school essays had always been very good, but writing essays and writing professionally were two completely different things. She didn’t think she had that kind of talent.

Of course, if an opportunity arose later, she could give it a shot. Whether it got accepted or not was a separate issue. Thinking about failure before even starting wasn’t Tan You’s style.

As for making clothes to sell, Tan You didn’t think she had what it took to make a living that way. She could guarantee that the moment she started making money from sewing clothes at home, she would immediately face the wrath of her mother, Cheng Wenhui.

In her mother’s eyes, Tan You shouldn’t be doing anything besides studying. Everything else was an unworthy distraction. For the sake of a more peaceful life, Tan You decided not to step on that particular landmine.

It was fine if life was a little bleak for now. If she wanted to improve her family’s situation, she would have to wait until she was at least sixteen. For now, she would just be a quiet, good student. That way, everyone would be happy.

She would just work hard on the missions for the next two years and try to upgrade this little system to the advanced level. Tan You had calculated it: upgrading to the advanced-level system required six hundred Energy Points.

In a Basic-level Mission World, if she could get an S-level reward for every mission, she would receive 10 Energy Points each time. That meant she would only need to complete 10 missions to upgrade to the intermediate-level system.

As for how many Energy Points an intermediate-level mission would grant, Tan You didn’t know. ’But the reward should at least double, right?’ she thought. ’Otherwise, it wouldn’t justify the five-fold increase in Energy Points required to upgrade.’

By that calculation, as long as she completed enough missions, gathering 600 Energy Points wasn’t impossible. Mulling this over didn’t stop her from doing her exercises; a series of fluid formulas flowed from her pen.

Looking back at these formulas now, Tan You only found them familiar. ’I should probably choose the science track again when it’s time to decide,’ she thought. ’After all, it’s easier to find a job with a science background.’

Around four o’clock, Tan Deming finally returned. The old man came back fully loaded; the cargo bed of his three-wheeler was filled with yet more books. Besides various exercise books, there was also a stack of magazines.

Magazines like *Story Forest*, *Reader’s Digest*, and *Sprout*, among others. Additionally, there were many newspapers, mostly the city’s local paper.

Tan You picked up one of each magazine, her eyes fixed only on the submission information on the last page. As for the actual content, she would have to study it more closely later. Tan Deming didn’t say anything. ’Weren’t books brought back to be read, after all?’

"When I went over today, Old Qian even asked me where I bought these clothes." Tan Deming looked quite pleased with himself as he said this, his old face wrinkling into a huge grin.

Tan You looked up. "You didn’t tell him it was me, did you?"

Tan Deming replied, "Of course not. I told him I paid someone to alter it for me, just a small fee for the work."

Tan You smiled. "Good, as long as you didn’t mention me. There’s no need for everyone to know about something like this."

Tan Deming feigned displeasure. "I’m not the type to show off. Besides, you’re a student. Getting a reputation for being good at making clothes isn’t necessarily a good thing. We need to focus on your studies."

Tan You knew her grandpa was a sensible man, so she didn’t say anything more. She just helped Tan Deming sort the books he had brought back, putting the ones she already had to one side and the new ones to another.

As she got to the bottom of the pile, Tan You found a math competition book. After reading the first two pages, her interest was gradually piqued. She hadn’t thought about competing, but since she had already learned all the high school material, she needed to find something to entertain herself.

Setting the book aside, Tan You rummaged around some more, but it was the only math competition book. She wasn’t disappointed. It was free, after all, and she probably wouldn’t even be able to finish it over the summer vacation.

For her high school science studies, she could use the brute-force method of plowing through endless practice problems. But that wouldn’t work for math competitions, which were a true test of mathematical logic. Relying on practice problems alone probably wouldn’t be enough.

But Tan You wasn’t planning on pursuing the math competition route anyway. She just wanted to find a little something to liven up her life.