Chapter 3

In the end, Wen Ci decided to take a cab and put her bike in the trunk.

She was too exhausted, her legs still trembling. If she had to pedal for another hour to get back, she wouldn’t be able to go to work tomorrow.

The taxi drove from the high-rise buildings to the narrow alleyways. Wen Ci didn’t let the driver go further in, as the neighbors were too familiar. Seeing her take the bike out of the trunk would surely spark a lot of questions.

Her prediction was correct. She had only pushed her bike a few steps when someone called out to her. Looking up, she saw it was none other than her mother.

Mrs. Wen had just finished taking out the trash and was chatting with a neighbor.

Seeing her, the neighbor smiled and said, “Wen Ci, you’re back! Oh my, you’ve lost weight. But you look even more beautiful.”

“Being a teacher, she’s always busy with the kids. How could she not lose weight?” Mrs. Wen replied with a smile, then turned to her. “Why are you back so late? I saved a bowl of soup for you; it’s in the pot. Go drink it quickly.”

Wen Ci greeted the neighbor with a smile, “Alright, I’ll go home now.”

A few steps away, she could still hear their conversation.

“You guys are impressive. The whole family is made up of teachers. Truly remarkable.”

“Oh, there’s nothing remarkable about that…”

When Wen Ci returned home, her father was sitting in the living room reading a book. Without looking up, he said, “You’re back?”

“Yes.”

“Drink the soup in the pot.” Wen Ci had just walked into the kitchen when her father spoke again. “The vice principal told me you did well in your public class today. Are you getting used to the school environment and the students’ progress?”

Wen Ci glanced at the oily soup, frowned slightly, but still picked it up. “I’m used to it.”

Mrs. Wen followed her into the house and, hearing their conversation, chimed in, “See, didn’t I tell you? The pressure and workload are less for elementary school teachers. If you hadn’t listened to us and gone for a middle school teacher’s position, you wouldn’t be able to have dinner with colleagues after work. You’d still be supervising evening study sessions… Why aren’t you drinking? Finish it. I specially made it for you. I didn’t go out all day to monitor the cooking. Finish it.”

Suppressing her nausea, Wen Ci downed the soup in one go and said, “I’m going to my room.”

After returning to her room, Wen Ci took another shower. She had a slight cleanliness obsession and had to shower before bed.

After washing up, her throat still felt greasy. Feeling uncomfortable, she drank a few sips of water to suppress the nausea.

Lying on her bed, she noticed a message on her phone.

[Zhou Wu: [Image]]

It was the bill from their dinner, 783.4 yuan.

Wen Ci immediately transferred 391.2 yuan to him, but Zhou Wu hadn’t accepted it yet, probably because he hadn’t seen it.

Wen Ci didn’t move, remaining in the chat with Zhou Wu.

It wasn’t that she was waiting for his reply; she was just too tired to do anything else on her phone.

Zhou Wu’s profile picture was a Samoyed, probably his dog, wearing sunglasses and sticking its tongue out, looking a bit silly.

Wen Ci scrolled up. There were very few messages between her and Zhou Wu. Although they had added each other as friends a long time ago, they only started chatting a year ago.

They had met less than ten times. Wen Ci had been busy with her new job, and Zhou Wu was often out of the country. Their conversations were so brief that it didn’t take long to scroll to the top.

The first time Wen Ci had initiated contact, and the second time she had also made the first move.

She remembered it was her first day interning at Jiang Middle School. During her lunch break, she sent Zhou Wu a WeChat message.

[Wen Ci: Hello, Zhou Wu, this is Wen Ci.]

[Zhou Wu: I know.]

[Wen Ci: Are you free this weekend? I’d like to meet you.]

[Zhou Wu: …]

Seeing the ellipsis, Wen Ci thought Zhou Wu might be rejecting her. She put away her phone, deciding to ask again if there was no reply by the end of lunch.

But Zhou Wu didn’t make her wait that long; he replied in ten minutes.

[Zhou Wu: Where to meet?]

Wen Ci booked a hotel and sent him the room number.

After she had done this a couple of times, Zhou Wu finally couldn’t tolerate the hotel environments she chose and said he would handle the bookings from then on. So, their chat logs changed from Wen Ci sending room numbers to Zhou Wu sending them.

Occasionally, there were a few casual exchanges, mostly informing each other of their availability.

Scrolling to the latest message, Zhou Wu still hadn’t accepted the money. Wen Ci, lying on her side, habitually checked his WeChat Moments.

Zhou Wu’s Moments had no time restrictions and were fully open to friends. There weren’t many posts, at most two a year, but each update was rich—motorcycles, horseback riding, skiing, castle parties…

It was clear that, like in high school, Zhou Wu distinguished between work and hobbies and excelled at both.

Zhou Wu was tall and well-built, and all kinds of clothes suited him. He looked poised and proper in a suit, and youthful and energetic in a jersey. When he looked at the camera, he always had a smile on his face, sometimes mild, sometimes bold, but always handsome.

While watching, a notification popped up at the top of her phone.

【Director: @Everyone, the school anniversary is at the end of the month. Although our elementary division was established relatively late, we still need to celebrate. The school’s public account has posted a congratulatory article, please share it actively and comment a lot!】

Wen Ci exited Zhou Wu’s Moments and shared the school’s congratulatory article.

Wen Ci’s Moments were set to viewable for one year—originally it was three days, but her mother thought it looked impolite and asked her to change it. However, one year and three days didn’t make much difference to Wen Ci, as she rarely posted. For the past year, all her posts were shares, shares, shares.

It was completely different from Zhou Wu.

Her parents and a few colleagues had liked her post one by one. Wen Ci thought for a moment and also liked a few other colleagues’ shares.

Just as she was about to go to bed, her phone vibrated; Zhou Wu had accepted her payment.

A few seconds later, a notification from Moments lit up. Wen Ci opened it and froze.

Zhou Wu had liked her recently shared post.

—-

Friday afternoon, Wen Ci was writing lesson plans when a tube of ointment was placed on her desk.

Looking up, it was the homeroom teacher of one of her classes, Mr. Li, who said with concern, “Teacher Wen, did you get bitten by a poisonous mosquito? It’s been two days and hasn’t gone down. Try this ointment.”

Wen Ci instinctively rubbed her neck with the palm of her hand.

The hickey Zhou Wu left last time hadn’t faded, and even with concealer, it was hard to completely cover. After sweating at school, it became even more noticeable. When teachers asked, she could only say it was from a mosquito bite.

“Thank you,” Wen Ci replied, taking the ointment. “I’ll return it after I use it.”

“No worries. Just leave it on my desk when you’re done,” Mr. Li said, then hesitated before asking, “Teacher Wen, do you have time this afternoon?”

Wen Ci didn’t answer right away but asked, “What’s up?”

Mr. Li looked anxious. “It’s like this… With the flu going around, my son suddenly got a high fever at noon. My husband has already taken him to the hospital, but you know, he’s really young, only seven. Now he’s crying and not cooperating with the injection. But I can’t leave… Teacher Wen, would you be able to help?”

“Do you have any more classes?” Wen Ci hesitated. “I’m not great at substituting for Chinese classes…”

“No, no, no, there are no more classes this afternoon. I just need someone to take the students from our class to the gate at dismissal time so their parents can pick them up.”

The school required that students under fourth grade must be picked up by their parents.

Wen Ci understood. “Alright, go to the hospital quickly, I’ll take them to the gate.”

Her parents were out of town for an academic conference and weren’t rushing back home.

“Thank you so much, Teacher Wen. Next time I’ll treat you to a meal,” Mr. Li said, repeatedly thanking her, grabbing his bag to leave. Before he left, he added, “After you see them off, please send me a message so I’ll be at ease. Thank you again, Teacher Wen. The parents usually come quickly. The students will be picked up by 4:00, so it won’t take up too much of your time.”

—-

At 6:00 PM.

The high school students next door were almost done leaving. Wen Ci was still standing at the school gate, holding the last student from her class.

【Class 5 Teacher Li: The parent finally answered the phone. They were on a plane earlier and have sent someone to pick up the child, but for some reason, they haven’t arrived yet. I’ve urged them. Sorry, sorry, Teacher Wen, could you wait a bit longer? 🙏🙏】

Wen Ci held the little girl’s hand and replied, saying she understood, then looked down and asked, “Are you hungry? How about I take you to buy something to eat?”

When Zhou Wu arrived, Wen Ci was crouching at the school gate, wiping the crumbs off the little girl’s mouth. Wen Ci had her hair in two braids today, which were now a bit messy, hanging loosely on either side of her face.

Zhou Wu watched for a while before speaking.

“Teacher, let me take her,” Zhou Wu said, not knowing the little girl’s name. “She.”

Hearing the familiar voice, Wen Ci was stunned and looked up.

Before Wen Ci could react, the little girl had already run over and grabbed Zhou Wu’s shirt.

Zhou Wu was dressed casually today in a black t-shirt and loose pants. His bare arms were muscular, looking fresh like a college student.

When the little girl grabbed his shirt, Zhou Wu was also stunned for a moment.

Wen Ci snapped back to her senses and called out the little girl’s name, asking, “Which parent is this, your uncle?”

She then explained to Zhou Wu, “We need to register.”

“I don’t know,” the little girl answered crisply, “I don’t know him.”

Wen Ci was confused.

Zhou Wu looked down, smiling as he said, “Then why are you holding onto me?”

The little girl hugged Zhou Wu’s leg and exaggerated, “You’re so handsome! You must be a star! Can you sign my name?”

Wen Ci: “…”

“Sign my ass! Stand still!” Someone came running from a distance, pulling the little girl off Zhou Wu’s leg.

Zhou Wu pointed at the person, explaining lazily, “Her uncle.”

“Sorry, Teacher Wen. I forgot I had to pick up this little brat. I got delayed because someone bumped my car,” the man said, apologizing. He then changed the subject, “Teacher Wen, do you remember me? We were classmates, high school classmates.”

Wen Ci nodded, “Qin Yun.”

“See!” Qin Yun nudged the man beside him, “I told you she’d remember me.”

Zhou Wu didn’t say anything but scoffed and looked away.

Wen Ci was a little confused. “Before? When? Have they discussed me?”

“Really sorry, Wen Ci. You must have been waiting with her for about two hours, and it’s already dark,” Qin Yun said. “Here’s the deal: it’s dinner time, so let me treat you to a meal as an apology.”

Wen Ci quickly said, “No need. I didn’t wait long. The parents came a bit late today.”

“Others left at 4:00!” The little girl hit Qin Yun’s leg with her fists, “You made Teacher Wen stand for two hours!”

Wen Ci: “……”

Qin Yun grabbed his niece’s fist: “If I don’t invite you to this meal, my sister will really hit me. Please, Teacher Wen, we’re still old classmates.”

“I… my family is still waiting for me to go home for dinner,” Wen Ci stammered.

Qin Yun: “When can you not have a meal at home? It’s perfect, I was planning to go eat at a private restaurant with Zhou Wu, it’s a friend’s place. Normally, people have to wait two months to get a table. You absolutely have to come with us!”

Wen Ci never knew how to refuse such offers.

She looked to Zhou Wu for help.

Zhou Wu had his hands in his pockets, watching the scene for a while. This seemed to be the first time he saw Wen Ci lie, and honestly, it wasn’t very good. It was so awkward that it was easy to see through.

Seeing her look at him, Zhou Wu asked, “Where’s the bike?”

Wen Ci: “?”

Ten minutes later, Wen Ci watched helplessly as Zhou Wu picked up her bicycle and put it in the trunk of Qin Yun’s car.