Chapter 13

Wen Qingyan had quite a few classes scheduled for Friday, so Xu Jinghao sent her a WeChat message before third period that morning, saying she had made lunch especially for her and inviting her to eat together, then take a stroll around the sports field afterward.

Xu Jinghao was a few years younger than Wen Qingyan and an alumna of her high school. Ever since arriving at this school, she had taken the initiative to get closer to Wen Qingyan, advancing the friendship at just the right pace, and Wen Qingyan found her company genuinely comfortable.

At the very beginning, though, there had been some awkwardness.

Back then, Wen Qingyan had already been with Si Nanyu for years and was sensitive about same-sex relationships. Gay marriage hadn’t been legalized yet, so she had dodged the subject and never discussed it openly with Xu Jinghao. It wasn’t until she happened to run into Xu Jinghao kissing her girlfriend on a street corner that the two of them finally had it out in the open.

Xu Jinghao wasn’t tall, with a baby-doll face, an open and lively personality, and a very straightforward streak. Once everything was laid bare, she said to Wen Qingyan, “Sister Wen, the moment I first saw you, I knew you were one of us, hee hee~ That face of yours could slay any girl!”

“But based on my follow-up observation, we’re on the same team!”

Xu Jinghao said it lightly, breezily, even holding up her pinky as she did.

Wen Qingyan’s face flushed red and then went pale the moment she registered the words, and she stammered for a long while without getting a single sentence out.

Her personality wasn’t the easiest to approach, a bit cold, the kind of person who warmed up only slowly, but Xu Jinghao’s enthusiasm never gave Wen Qingyan any room to resist.

Over time, the two grew closer and closer, though Wen Qingyan rarely spoke about her relationship with Si Nanyu, right up until Si Nanyu arrived at the school.

Anyone not looking in that direction wouldn’t have thought twice. They would only have known that Si Nanyu was a student Wen Qingyan had once taught. But Xu Jinghao was bold and observant, and the interactions between Wen Qingyan and Si Nanyu didn’t escape her eyes. One or two glances were all she needed.

Wen Qingyan had met Xu Jinghao’s girlfriend, and they’d even shared the occasional meal together, so she felt there was no real need to hide anything. She told Xu Jinghao that she and Si Nanyu were married.

Back then, nothing was wrong between her and Si Nanyu yet, and in a way, Xu Jinghao had watched their relationship fall apart step by step.

When they reached a secluded corner of the sports field, Xu Jinghao stopped first and turned to ask, “So what are you planning to do now?”

“If you think she’s putting on an act, why not expose it?”

“I did. It didn’t work.”

The answer came out of Wen Qingyan on reflex before she’d even thought about it, then a trace of confusion flickered across her eyes. Her lips moved several times as if to say something, and in the end she only shook her head.

Seeing this, Xu Jinghao could only sigh helplessly. Then another question came to her. “Oh, right, the car Si Nanyu bought you six months ago. Have you driven it yet?” The thought had just popped into her head, so she asked.

To her surprise, the question left Wen Qingyan frozen. It took her a good while to even recall which car Xu Jinghao meant. She shook her head. “…I haven’t.”

A pause, then she added, “I don’t like the color…”

Figured.

Xu Jinghao said to herself. If these two didn’t have feelings for each other, then…

Their personalities were just too incompatible.

If you asked her, Wen Qingyan was a strange one. She looked like someone who didn’t care about anything, but underneath she was stubborn to the bone. She wouldn’t turn back until she’d run headfirst into a wall.

Si Nanyu was stranger still. Every time Xu Jinghao saw the two of them together, she could feel that in Si Nanyu’s clear, limpid eyes there was only Wen Qingyan, and the possessiveness ran deep.

Si Nanyu loved to play and make noise. Wen Qingyan loved quiet, and given the choice would rather be alone.

Wen Qingyan was restrained and careful. Si Nanyu had no sense of boundaries and went completely wild when she played.

So Xu Jinghao had summed it up like this: Wen Qingyan wanted an apple, and Si Nanyu wanted a banana.

Si Nanyu liked bananas. All Wen Qingyan could offer her was apples.

Sometimes Si Nanyu was too self-absorbed.

Even her love was presumptuous.

The two of them didn’t head back toward the office building until the lunch break was nearly over. Wen Qingyan walked the whole way with her eyes lowered, lost in some thought, while Xu Jinghao stayed quietly at her side.

She might be the rowdy type, but she knew how to keep still too. Otherwise she never could have been friends with Wen Qingyan.

She never intruded on her more than necessary.

“Hello, Teacher Xu! Hello, Teacher Wen!”

The two were almost at the office building when a student’s greeting rang out before they could go up. The voice drifted down from the second floor, where a tall girl with an easel slung over her shoulder was craning her neck to look down at them.

Xu Jinghao and Wen Qingyan both got a clear look at her. Wen Qingyan simply nodded, while Xu Jinghao broke into a bright, flowery smile in return.

She was the art teacher, after all. This was her own student.

Wen Qingyan…

After her nod, she said to Xu Jinghao, “I still have to stop by the Academic Affairs Office. I’ll head off first.”

“Okay!” Xu Jinghao waved with a grin, watching her walk away before heading upstairs.

Xu Jinghao taught art, and she also taught senior year, and she shared an office with Si Nanyu, so she’d been in contact with her these past few days.

The woman seemed somewhat dazed, and spoke to her far more politely than before.

None of that resentment that used to show in her eyes.

The whole person had gone soft.

Even more so right now. Standing not far from her student was none other than Si Nanyu, neck stretched long, gazing after the spot where Wen Qingyan had disappeared with a pleading, pitiful look.

When Si Nanyu noticed her, her eyes darted away for an instant, and she ducked straight back into the office.

A moment later, Si Nanyu emerged again with her textbooks in her arms and headed down the stairs by another route to teach her class.

She had a heavy schedule today, one class in the morning and two in the afternoon. This was the last one, and once it ended she could start getting ready to leave.

A full week of classes had made her smooth and confident now. Music appreciation still took up half the lesson, and during that stretch Si Nanyu checked her phone three or four times.

As if waiting for something. In the end, when nothing came, she finally turned her attention back to the class.

Barely two seconds after dismissal, there was a knock at the door, and a voice called from outside, “May I come in?”

“Come in,” Si Nanyu said softly, trying not to disturb the other students.

After a week of teaching, she’d come to understand quite a bit. The students of Classes Seven and Eight all had elective majors, and every so often they would go consult with their specialty teachers.

So she’d already guessed that the person knocking was probably the student who’d just been talking with Teacher Xu.

The student who had looked so familiar to her yesterday.

And when that person walked in, Si Nanyu went completely blank.

She was one hundred sixty-nine centimeters tall, not short by any means, but because she wasn’t used to looking too mature, she wore her hair in a low ponytail and had no makeup on.

It made her look much younger, yet the student before her looked like the version of herself she’d always wanted to be.

Even their faces were similar.

Her first time teaching Class Eight, she couldn’t match all the names to faces yet, so she hadn’t called anyone out.

She simply told the girl to return to her seat.

The girl was very polite and still offered an explanation, “I went to ask Teacher Xu a question just now, so I was late. I’m sorry.”

Si Nanyu gave a light nod. As they passed each other, she couldn’t help stealing another glance. Half a head taller than her, and such a lovely face!

Just far too familiar…

The lesson went on, but Si Nanyu was clearly absent-minded, her gaze drifting toward that girl again and again.

It wasn’t until the final bell that she lowered her head and trudged back to the office.

She was still turning over why the girl looked so familiar when, the moment she sat down, her phone chimed.

An unread message in Wen Qingyan’s chat.

“Xu Jinghao asked me first.”

Simple and direct. The heart that had been hanging in Si Nanyu’s chest finally settled.

The tip of her nose stung a little, and the grievance inside her melted away.

So… Wen Qingyan had seen her after all.

Si Nanyu felt that, being someone with only eighteen years of memories, she perhaps… had no standing to care so much about everything Wen Qingyan did.

But she couldn’t shake the ache of it anyway.

No matter how you looked at it, she was the one who had known Wen Qingyan first. Wen Qingyan, Wen Qingyan…

Si Nanyu couldn’t make sense of any of it, but the delight that this one little WeChat message brought her was written all over her face.

Yang Miao stared at her, bewildered. “Nanyu, what’s the matter with you? Did something good happen?”

Si Nanyu gave an awkward smile and said flatly, “N-nothing.” Then she lowered her head and started tidying her things.

Almost time to leave. She would get to see Wen Qingyan soon!

“Sister, Teacher Wen asked me to tell you, she’s working late…”

Si Nanyu hadn’t even climbed down from her cloud of joy when the girl before her delivered the message straight to her face, pulling a sliver of her attention away.

Two pieces of information. One: Teacher Wen is working late.

Two: …she just called me “Sister.”

She called me… Sister????

Si Nanyu shot to her feet and asked, very uncertainly, the girl half a head taller than her, “Did you just call me ‘Sister’?”

The girl…

It was none other than the one who’d been late to Class Eight. She’d worn a seen-it-all expression at first, but at Si Nanyu’s reaction and question, even her faint smile froze in place.

The moment turned awkward.

She said quietly, “Teacher Si, it was Teacher Wen who asked me to pass that along.”

“You weren’t replying to her messages, and I happened to be coming to the office, so…”

Exceedingly polite and courteous.

But that wasn’t what Si Nanyu was focused on. No, well, that too. She lowered her head and replied to Wen Qingyan’s message, then squinted hard, staring at this pair of eyes that resembled her own, trying to work out who this was.

One long look, and her vision swam. She actually began to see it. Through gritted teeth, she forced out, “Si… Jiamu?”

“Yes, Teacher Si. I’m Si Jiamu.” Si Jiamu answered with the same courtesy, though she found it a little strange too.

But Si Nanyu couldn’t spare a single thought for her feelings. Her whole mind was consumed by discomfort.

After all, in her memory, Si Jiamu hadn’t even come up to her chest, and now…

Ten years of time crashed over her all over again.

So now… she was supposedly close with her stepmother’s daughter???

Close enough… that Wen Qingyan needed her to relay a message???