Chapter 6

After finishing her work report, the busy start of the semester was finally behind her.

On Tuesday afternoon, the two teachers, who hadn’t seen each other for a month, finally managed to meet.

The location was set at Dou Yiqing’s favorite Korean restaurant.

The moment Dou Yiqing saw Wen Ci, she took out her phone and pressed 110: “This won’t do, we’re calling the police.”

Wen Ci grabbed her hand. “What’s wrong with me?”

“You’re asking? Look at yourself!” Dou Yiqing pointed at her neck. “What’s going on? Did he hit you again? Was it pinching or choking? You two—wait a minute.”

Dou Yiqing suddenly realized something and was shocked. Her expression froze in disbelief. “You… you didn’t… do the S&M stuff, did you?”

“It’s not that! How could it be!” Wen Ci quickly covered her neck. “Didn’t I put a band-aid on it?”

“But it’s round! How could it cover the whole thing?” Dou Yiqing asked. “How did you get hurt?”

“It wasn’t a wound, it was a mosquito bite—”

Dou Yiqing, hearing this, lowered her head and almost called 110 again.

Wen Ci quickly defended Zhou Wu in a low voice in the crowded restaurant, speaking urgently, “He kissed me, yes, he kissed me, really. Actually, it’s already a lot better, in a couple of days, it’ll be completely gone.”

“…”

Dou Yiqing closed her eyes for a moment. Although she had known about this for half a year, she still couldn’t believe that Wen Ci, who had barely read any yellow books or romance novels in high school, would be involved in something like this.

Who is that guy???

Dou Yiqing couldn’t help but ask again. Wen Ci, sensing her intentions, preemptively responded, “When did you become nearsighted?”

Dou Yiqing, who had just gone out, was now wearing a pair of glasses that she hadn’t worn before.

Upon hearing this, Dou Yiqing pushed up the frames. “I’m not nearsighted. It’s just for decoration; it makes me look older.”

Dou Yiqing, 26 years old, was the youngest teacher and class advisor at Jiangcheng High School. In their profession, being too young made it hard to manage students, especially in high school. To increase her authority, Dou Yiqing wore oversized black T-shirts and wide-leg pants every day, and used a hair clip to tie her hair, dressing in the most mature way possible.

Wen Ci smiled. “How’s the class going recently?”

“…Don’t even mention it.” With the topic successfully changed, Dou Yiqing gritted her teeth and took a big bite of chicken wings. “I really wish I could die together with those idiots who scored 30 on the test!”

“Calm down,” Wen Ci smiled. “You said it yourself, grades don’t define a student.”

“Yeah, they don’t define everything. But those students aren’t just bad at their studies—they skip school, fight, do everything. Recently, one even came to my office to steal test papers…” Dou Yiqing sneered. “Do you remember Qin Yun?”

Wen Ci paused. “I remember.”

“He was already bad enough, right?” Dou Yiqing slammed the table. “The students in my class are even worse than him!”

Dou Yiqing had been the discipline monitor in high school. She once said that the name she wrote down the most in her life was Qin Yun’s.

Qin Yun had the most detentions in class and even got a small punishment for it. He didn’t respect her, and back in high school, whenever they met, they’d argue. Every time Wen Ci worried that Dou Yiqing might get hurt if they started fighting, Zhou Wu would come over and pull Qin Yun away.

Wen Ci asked, “Didn’t you want to quit your job before? What are your plans now?”

“I’ll stick it out until this class graduates. Even though a few of them are annoying, most of the students are good. I had planned to leave last semester, but somehow, the parents found out and wrote a joint letter asking me to stay.”

Dou Yiqing sighed. “Enough of this bothersome talk. Are you coming to the school anniversary this weekend?”

If it were a regular school anniversary, Dou Yiqing wouldn’t have bothered asking, but this year was Jiangcheng High’s 50th anniversary, and it was being celebrated in a grand way, with lots of activities, many leaders and distinguished alumni invited, and even fireworks and performances.

“Are you going?” Wen Ci asked.

“I was a little interested at first, but I saw in the group chat that Qin Yun and his friends are coming, which really ruins the mood.”

“Group chat?”

“Yeah, the QQ group we made in high school. Didn’t you see it?”

“…No, let me check.”

Wen Ci had been strictly supervised in high school, couldn’t access a computer, and didn’t have a phone. She even created a QQ account using Dou Yiqing’s phone.

Back then, someone had started a QQ group, and a classmate passed around a notebook, asking everyone to write down their QQ numbers so he could add them to the group.

When the notebook reached Wen Ci, she was about to explain but caught sight of Zhou Wu’s name.

Wen Ci still remembered that it was a hot afternoon. She was listening to the cicadas, spacing out for a while, and then turned to borrow Dou Yiqing’s phone.

After graduating from high school, the group chat gradually fell silent. After Mei Yin started working, she changed her phone and didn’t even bother reinstalling QQ.

After downloading the app, it prompted her to log in again, so she quickly glanced at Dou Yiqing, who was gobbling down food, and typed a string of pinyin letters into the password field.

The app confirmed the login was successful, and sure enough, there were 99+ messages in the group chat, with the latest messages from yesterday.

Although it was labeled as a class group, the active participants were still the usual people.

【Duan Wei: Who’s going to the Jiangcheng 50th Anniversary celebration? 】

【Classmate A: I am. By the way, how did you end up chatting in the QQ group?】

【Duan Wei: The WeChat group only has you guys in it. I’m asking if there are any other old classmates going.】

【Classmate B: I haven’t used this app in ages. It feels so unfamiliar… Where’s the class monitor? Is he coming with you?】

【Duan Wei: Who cares about him.】

【Classmate B: What’s going on? Did you two fight? Hahaha】

【Classmate C: They’re a married couple, right? They probably fought at the head of the bed but made up at the foot of the bed. Should we pick a spot to meet up? It’s on the weekend, and we can hang out afterward. Anyone planning something?】

【Qin Yun: Sure, I’ll arrange it. What do you think?】

Duan Wei sent a voice message with a playful, coquettish tone, scolding, “Qin Yun, what’s your deal? You don’t reply on WeChat? Is Zhou Wu coming or not? He’s ignoring me again—what’s with his cold attitude?!”

【Qin Yun: He’s swimming, didn’t check his phone. We’re together.】

【Qin Yun: Is this even a question? You asked, so of course, he’s going.】

【Duan Wei: Hmph.】

【Duan Wei: Then tell him to wear the school uniform with me.】

—–

While eating, Dou Yiqing became bored and leaned over to look at phone. When she saw Qin Yun’s profile picture, she clicked her tongue, and upon seeing Duan Wei’s profile, she muttered, “Doesn’t Wen Wen have incredible patience? He and Duan Wei have been married for a year, yet she’s still using a couple’s profile with Zhou Wu. I checked yesterday, Zhou Wu’s profile hasn’t changed either… Whatever, I never understood their circle. By the way, are you going?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Wen Ci logged out of the app and deleted it, smiling. “I’m too tired. I’d rather rest at home this weekend.”

“Same.” Dou Yiqing nodded. “Then I won’t go either.”

—-

On the day of Jiangcheng High School’s anniversary celebration, at 9 AM.

Wen Ci and Dou Yiqing were sitting in the school’s security room, inflating balloons.

“I can’t do it anymore, my hands are sore! Damn school! It’s one thing to take up my weekend, but now I have to do all this labor?!” Dou Yiqing flopped back against the wall, wailing.

This past Friday, both received notifications that the school was inviting all staff members to participate in the anniversary celebration. The notice also mentioned that any staff who wanted to contribute could sign up.

Although it was labeled as voluntary, the tasks were already assigned. Dou Yiqing had specifically “used connections” to get her and Wen Ci’s assigned to the same task—blowing up balloons and delivering them to various event locations.

Wen Ci patted her head. “You rest, I’ll handle it.”

Dou Yiqing looked at Wen Ci’s arms, which were even slimmer than hers. “Forget it, I’m worried you might get dizzy from the balloons instead of the class. Let’s just do it together.”

By the time they finished blowing up the balloons, it was lunchtime. The only considerate thing the school did today was offering free meals in the cafeteria for staff with ID cards.

—–

After lunch, when they returned, they found a board had been added to their “temporary office.”

When the activity coordinator saw them, he pointed to the board on the floor and smiled, saying, “Thank you both for your hard work. You might have to inflate a few more balloons. Once you finish this display board for the outstanding graduates, just take it to the entrance and hang it up. It needs to be done by 2 PM, before the school opens for visitors… After that, there won’t be any more work. I heard you both were alumni of Jiangcheng High. You can take some time to explore the campus in the afternoon.”

The school had suggested that alumni be split into morning, afternoon, and evening time slots, with Wen Ci’s year assigned to the afternoon.

After finishing the balloons, Dou Yiqing stood up and went to prop up the board leaning against the wall. “Come on, let’s admire these outstanding graduates.”

Wen Ci helped hold the other side, and together, they turned the board around.

When Wen Ci saw it, she paused for a moment.

Most of the outstanding graduates only had their names listed, with only a few having their photos printed.

The first name listed was Zhou Wu.

—-

In the photo, Zhou Wu was wearing the school uniform, and his hair was cut very short—Wen Ci remembered it was during the time when the school strictly enforced grooming standards, and their former class advisor, Mr. Yu, personally took him to get his hair cut.

This hairstyle would have been disastrous on anyone else, but Zhou Wu was the exception.

With the hair gone, all focus was on his face. The photo showed him looking at the camera with a slightly raised chin, his sharp, handsome features clearly visible. He seemed to be in a bad mood when the photo was taken, as his gaze carried impatience and defiance, radiating rebellious youth.

The description below was brief: graduated from a prestigious U.S. university, currently employed at Jiangcheng Group.

“Employed? He’s a prince! But I guess the school couldn’t really write that.” Dou Yiqing looked at the third line and chuckled, “I knew Duan Wei would be there.”

Duan Wei’s description was relatively ordinary compared to other outstanding graduates. Her college wasn’t even mentioned, just the line “Outstanding designer.” But she was beautiful, and whenever there was a school event, she was always the first to be asked to join the ceremonial team.

Dou Yiqing looked at Duan Wei’s photo and nodded in understanding. “Well, she’s so pretty. If I were in charge, I’d put her up there too.”

“Yeah,” Wen Ci replied with a faint smile. She stood up and adjusted the board. “Shall we move it over now?”

—-

At the entrance of Jiangcheng High School.

“Can you hang it up?” Two security guards were holding the bottom of the board, shouting worriedly, “If not, you two can come down first, and we’ll hang it up. You two young girls shouldn’t fall.”

Amid the security guards’ shouting, the two of them had already hung the board.

Exhausted, they didn’t rush to come down, sitting on the A-frame ladder to rest.

“It’s hung up,” Dou Yiqing shouted down, “It’s fine, this is nothing. I compare wall climbing with my students every day, don’t worry. We just need you to help with our fragile Teacher Wen.”

Wen Ci rubbed her sore arm and laughed upon hearing this, “What? The homework I carry is much heavier than this on a regular basis!”

Dou Yiqing replied, “Right, that’s true. Every time we collect homework in our class, it feels like half the class is missing.”

Wen Ci laughed even more.

“Stop laughing, look at you,” Dou Yiqing said with a laugh, “Your face is covered in dust.”

There was some dust behind the board, likely from her face rubbing against it after she moved it.

“Where?” Wen Ci didn’t mind, casually wiped her face, and asked with a smile, “Is it clean now?”

“Wen Ci?”

A familiar voice came from behind. Wen Ci froze, sat on the ladder, and turned her head. She saw a group of high school classmates.

About ten of them, scattered around, were the ones who had popped up in the QQ group earlier. They all wore Jiangcheng school uniforms, as if they had planned it.

The one who called her was Qin Yun, standing in the middle of the group.

There was only one woman among them. Her gaze passed over Wen Ci and looked at the recently hung graduate achievement board, then she smiled and turned to grab the arm of the man behind her. “Zhou Wu, look, both you and I are on it.”