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Nine o’clock in the evening.
Nine Block Tavern.
A luxurious private room on the second floor.
An aroma of spicy and fresh food filled the air.
Three women were sitting around a (divided hot pot with two different broths, usually a spicy and a non-spicy one).
“Come, come, come, let’s celebrate the reunion of our Mingxian Conservatory sisters! Let’s have a toast!”
Liu Rong raised her glass.
She specially brought an electric stove to cook the hot pot.
Lin Yao also raised her glass, but hers was filled with orange juice.
Qin Ling was different. While the others raised wine glasses, she raised her thermos…
“Wait, wait,” Liu Rong said, putting down her glass. “Qin Ling, I know you’re on your period, but you really shouldn’t just drink from a thermos like that! Just drink juice like Lin Yao.”
Three people, two with wine glasses, one with a thermos – it looked a bit strange!
“Juice is cold,” Qin Ling replied.
“Miss Qin, do you really care about whether it’s cold or not? When you were in university, didn’t you eat spicy food and drink spicy drinks even when you were on your period? You even ate ice cream…” Liu Rong reminisced.
Qin Ling listened, silently opened the lid of her thermos, and took a small sip of the brown sugar ginger tea…
“That was before,” Qin Ling put the thermos on the table, “I’m older now.”
“So what’s in your thermos?” Lin Yao interjected. Qin Ling’s thermos had a vibe of a 40-50 year old man…
“Goji berries?” Liu Rong guessed.
“Brown sugar ginger tea.”
“What’s that?” Lin Yao curiously leaned over, “Brown sugar ginger tea? Did you make it, or did you buy it?”
“Bought it.” Qin Ling looked at the bubbling hot pot, picked up a piece of tripe, and swirled it in the mushroom broth.
Lin Yao was puzzled, “Lingling, why didn’t you ask me if you wanted brown sugar ginger tea? Didn’t I message you at noon?”
Qin Ling replied simply, “This one tastes better.”
“Better?” Lin Yao disagreed, taking another empty glass and handing it to Qin Ling, “Pour me some. I want to see how much better this store-bought one is.”
Qin Ling obliged and poured some.
Lin Yao picked up the glass and gulped it down. The slight ginger spiciness mixed with the sweetness of the sugar water…
This…
Lin Yao’s eyes widened.
It did seem to taste better than hers.
“Convinced?” Qin Ling said with a hint of pride.
“Where did you buy it?” Lin Yao curiously asked.
“Just…” Qin Ling thought for a moment, “I’ll send you the location later.”
“Alright, alright, you two…” Liu Rong called out, “Quickly raise your glasses. I’m going to take a picture to post on my Moments. Qin Ling, can’t you pour it into a wine glass?”
“Okay.” Qin Ling nodded, “Send me a copy of the photo.”
“… “
After taking a picture full of ritualistic feeling.
The three started eating hot pot while chatting about funny things that happened in university.
Liu Rong: “Lingling, do you remember when we were freshmen, a senior tried to pursue you? He set up candles to confess his feelings under the dorm building. You rejected him, but he wouldn’t leave, so you poured a basin of cold water on him without saying a word?”
Qin Ling: “Did that happen?”
Lin Yao: “Yes! I remember that! I remember that senior’s face turning green!”
Qin Ling: “I forgot.”
Liu Rong: “Oh yeah, and do you remember the first time the four of us went to a bar and were harassed by a group of punks? You kicked one of them three meters away?”
Qin Ling: “Did that happen?”
Lin Yao: “Yes!! I remember that too! Lingling, you were so cool back then!”
Qin Ling: “…I think I remember a little.”
“… “
After a moment, Qin Ling brought up a topic: “Speaking of which, I have a friend who’s having some problems…”
Hearing this, Lin Yao and Liu Rong exchanged glances.
It’s well known that “I have a friend” is usually code for “I,” the friend is just a smokescreen…
Liu Rong: “Tell us.”
Lin Yao: “Tell us.”
Qin Ling chose her words carefully, then said: “It’s like this, I met this friend overseas. He’s a guy…”
“Recently, he’s been giving private lessons and met a girl about ten years younger than him. At first, he just treated her like a child.”
“This little girl kept annoying him and was disobedient. At first, she even talked bad about him behind his back.”
“My friend didn’t care much at first, but during the first lesson, the little girl bought him a bouquet of his favorite flowers, with a confession card.”
“My friend didn’t think much of it and threw the flowers away.”
“But then, my friend ran into this little girl at a bar, only she was drunk. He took her home, but she was quite childish… and annoying.”
“Then, for a while, my friend just fulfilled his duties as a teacher.”
“But recently, my friend has had some health problems, and this little girl has been coming to care for him, and he can’t get rid of her.”
“Do you think this little girl likes my friend?”
After Qin Ling finished speaking.
Lin Yao and Liu Rong fell into thought.
They initially thought Qin Ling was talking about herself, but it didn’t sound like it.
“I think this little girl definitely likes him,” Lin Yao answered decisively.
“That’s right, I think so too,” Liu Rong also gave her opinion, then asked, “So what does your friend think of this girl?”
“At first, he just treated her as a child, a student,” Qin Ling replied, “But recently, my friend found that this little girl… is quite warm… and she seems to have secretly learned a lot about my friend, knowing his favorite flowers, food, and tastes…”
Lin Yao: “Ooh… a teacher-student romance, it’s hard for me not to support this.”
Liu Rong: “I’ll ask a key question. What does your friend look like? And what does the little girl look like?”
“My friend is average-looking, the little girl… is quite pretty. She’s the school beauty,” Qin Ling replied.
“Tsk, so what’s your friend’s dilemma?” Liu Rong continued to ask.
Qin Ling: “It’s not really a dilemma, I just want to ask if this little girl likes my friend…”
Lin Yao: “Definitely likes him! Based on all the romance novels I’ve read, this little girl totally likes your friend!”
Liu Rong: “I think so too. Look, this little girl gave your friend flowers and knows his preferences. She must have secretly put in a lot of effort to find out about him!”
“Okay, let’s eat.”
“… “
After they had their fill.
Liu Rong remembered something important and said to Qin Ling, “Oh, right, Lingling, is there anything you can help with?”
“Tell me.”
“That guy who barged into our private room that night, you know, the one you said was your student.”
“What about him?” Qin Ling looked at Liu Rong.
“Nothing much, it’s just that I have a friend who’s a music director at an entertainment company. A couple of days ago, he showed me a video of your student singing at the welcome party…”
“Get to the point.” Qin Ling said.
“My friend wants to sign your student to the entertainment company. Do you think you can help connect them?”
“No.”
“Why?” Liu Rong asked in confusion.
“He needs to focus on his studies.” Qin Ling said seriously.
“… ” Liu Rong saw that Qin Ling wasn’t joking, “Why don’t you ask your student? My friend said he can offer your student a top-tier rookie contract. Your student has good looks, he said that within three years, he can definitely be packaged into a new generation of traffic star.”
“No!” Qin Ling repeated without hesitation.
“Okay, okay, I get it, you just don’t want your student to get into the entertainment industry, why are you so angry?” Liu Rong picked a toothpick to clean her teeth and joked, “But to be honest, your student is really good-looking. An eighteen-year-old boy, tsk tsk tsk, he must have a lot of energy. If I were a few years younger…”
Bang—
A dull thud.
A deep palm print appeared on the solid wood table.
Lin Yao immediately persuaded, “Lingling, don’t get angry. She was just kidding. A twenty-eight-year-old woman like her, how could she possibly date your student?”
Liu Rong immediately shut up, then stood up and looked at the palm print on the table, exclaiming, “No, Sister Qin, I was just joking. Don’t worry, I have absolutely no improper thoughts about your student!”
“Joking?”
Qin Ling felt like she had been abroad for too long and was out of touch with things back home.
She didn’t understand the meaning of (Tai Nai) that Jiang Yichen had said last time, either.
“It’s just casual talk,” Lin Yao explained.
“Still no.” Qin Ling said.
“Okay, Miss Qin.”