Chapter 43: Outline
“Su Yu? Su Yu…”
An Zhi waved her not-so-long arm in front of Su Yu’s eyes, a hint of worry in her bright gaze. Su Yu had been spacing out ever since they left the cafeteria.
“Oh… it’s nothing.” Su Yu snapped back to reality and shook his head with a smile.
“Really nothing?”
“I’m fine, how could anything be wrong?”
“Then you should be paying attention in class. It’s only the first day of school.” An Zhi earnestly reminded Su Yu, then turned her head to look at the podium and listen to the lecture.
Beside her, Gu Chuan was playing on his phone with his head down. Lu Siyuan and Chu Feng were still listening, but Su Yu couldn’t focus. He had enlarged and shrunk that background picture countless times. He was certain that the picture was of his old elementary school, a very ordinary public school. He even remembered that there were four classes in his grade.
Qingchuan was far from his home, and it was such an ordinary elementary school. Yet, it had appeared in the woman’s moments, as a background picture. If it wasn’t meaningful… who would use such a boring photo as their background?
But the more he thought about it… the more clueless he became. Perhaps it was all just a coincidence, but he couldn’t convince himself.
Had the woman been at his elementary school? It wasn’t impossible that she had been a teacher. But Su Yu had no memory of her. He had almost forgotten all his elementary school teachers in his previous life, let alone now…
The woman was young… and beautiful. He searched his memory for a long time but couldn’t recall such a teacher from his elementary school.
Wait… could it be her?
Although the face in his memory was blurry, he vaguely remembered her beauty. But… it couldn’t possibly be the woman from the bar.
Because they were two completely different colors. The impression she had left in Su Yu’s mind was colored by sunlight, warm… like the winter sun. It was a pity that he had never seen her again after elementary school.
His thoughts were a tangled mess. The more he tried to sort them out, the more chaotic they became.
Su Yu frowned and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. Rebirth had brought him an unwarranted suspicion. He always couldn’t help but dwell on the past, even if he couldn’t find any answers in the end.
Stop thinking… it’s pointless. Su Yu frantically tried to convince himself, trying to empty his mind. He not only didn’t want to ask the woman for an explanation, but he even wanted to delete her as a friend, completely severing the connection.
“Ding-dong…”
The crisp dismissal bell rang, interrupting his thoughts with the noise from the classroom. He rubbed his temples, relieving the throbbing pain in his head.
“The next class is still in this classroom, right?” Gu Chuan scratched his hair, his tone casual. “What class is it? I don’t think I brought the book.”
“It’s mental health class. It seems to be a freshman psychological counseling session.” An Zhi eagerly replied.
“So it’s probably a very boring class. Are they going to tell us to study hard and make progress every day?”
An Zhi tilted her head in confusion. “Huh? Shouldn’t we study hard? And my roommates from other majors said the teacher for this class is a very beautiful big sister.”
“Uh…” Gu Chuan pouted, clearly not convinced that the “big sister” An Zhi mentioned could be that pretty.
But when the class bell rang, they all subconsciously glanced at the door, curious about what the “beautiful big sister” looked like.
…
The woman walked into the classroom just as the bell rang. The classroom fell silent for a moment, then erupted in chaos. Camera flashes flickered in the crowd. To be able to stir up such a commotion in a previously sleepy classroom, it was just as An Zhi had said: the female teacher for this psychology class was very beautiful, stunning at first glance.
It was a beauty that didn’t inspire desire, yet it was captivating, drawing one’s gaze.
The woman wore a perfectly fitting, off-white long dress, the hem with delicate lace extending to her ankles, revealing a sliver of fair, frost-like skin. She held a book in her arms and slowly walked to the front of the stage, turning sideways to face the classroom, a faint, gentle smile on her lips. It was like the warm sun after a winter day, shimmering with a translucent glow against the white snow.
“Hello everyone, I am your teacher for this class. I am also new to this school, just like you. I hope we can get along well here in the future.”
The woman’s voice was light and delicate, like a spring gurgling over stones, ethereal and quiet, or like a nun whispering prayers in your ear in a church, capable of soothing all violence and irritability.
She picked up a pen and wrote her name on the blackboard in elegant handwriting: Gu Zhi.
“My name is Gu Zhi, your future psychology teacher. You may be curious why this class is scheduled on the first day of school. Actually, it’s so that in the future, you can in your university studies and life…”
Gu Zhi smiled and began the class. Whenever someone raised a question, she would stop and answer it seriously, regardless of whether the question was boring or vulgar. Her earnest attitude made many people blush and retreat.
Although the teacher was beautiful and gentle, she probably wouldn’t have much to do with them. Listening to the lecture was less interesting than playing games on their phones. The initial shock of Gu Zhi’s appearance soon faded, but some were still in a daze, unable to recover.
An Zhi stared blankly at Gu Zhi’s ample chest, her mouth agape. She couldn’t understand why, even though they were both girls and Gu Zhi was so young, there was such a huge gap between them.
She tilted her head and looked at Su Yu and Gu Chuan, who were staring intently at Gu Zhi. Her big eyes were filled with envy for Gu Zhi and frustration with her own seemingly underdeveloped body.
When Su Yu came to his senses, Gu Zhi was writing on the blackboard with her back to him. He recognized this back, this voice, and this name, Gu Zhi.
If it weren’t for the deep impression she had made, how many people would remember their elementary school teachers? There weren’t many memories of elementary school left in Su Yu’s mind, but Gu Zhi was one of them.
In his previous life, Gu Zhi had taught a class at Su Yu’s elementary school, an interest class on health care. Su Yu remembered that when she wasn’t teaching, Gu Zhi would always be in the school’s infirmary.
She often held a book, the sunlight filtering through the lush green leaves outside the window, and she would sit in the shade of the green, so many years had passed, but she still hadn’t changed, especially her long, shoulder-length hair, gentle and elegant to the eye.
But in his previous life, Gu Zhi had left the school when Su Yu was in the sixth grade, and he had never seen her again. Even with the deep impression she had made, it was still lost in the river of time, her outline faded.
He hadn’t expected… Gu Zhi to be in Qingchuan. But as his memories returned, he still felt uneasy, because he had a faint feeling that Gu Zhi’s facial outline was very similar to the woman sitting in the shadows at the bar.
