Chapter 119: I Only Want You
A diamond ring isn’t something that can withstand a lot of wear and tear. Although it’s hard, it will fall off after being worn for a long time, so Tong Yao put it back in the box and saved it in the depths of her drawer.
Of course, there was also the reason that she didn’t want to be seen by her colleagues and gossiped about by the students.
“Class begin.”
Tong Yao walked into the classroom. The familiar seat in the front row was empty, which made her very unaccustomed. Jiang Yiming, on the other hand, was convenient. He usually couldn’t fit everything on his desk, but now he was putting everything on Ruan Xi’s empty desk—although this little convenience was far from making up for the melancholy of his crush not being there.
Since Ruan Xi was not here, Yin Jiali became the temporary class representative. Someone in the class would always ask where Ruan Xi was. Labor Reform was so annoyed that he specially said during the evening self-study session that Ruan Xi had something to do at home, and only then did such questions become less frequent.
During the evening self-study session, Tong Yao was in a daze on the podium. Without the young girl sending flirtatious glances from below, life also seemed to have lost its flavor.
Could it be that I can’t live without that child anymore?
Such a thought was a little ridiculous. In this world, no one can’t live without anyone else. No one will be with you forever. Even your shadow will leave on a rainy day. Sometimes it’s feelings that separate people, sometimes it’s life and death, but no matter what, you can’t escape the fate of separation.
Tong Yao argued with herself in her heart, just to prove that she wasn’t a “tsundere who says she doesn’t care about a long-distance relationship but actually cares to death.”
The young girl had tasted the sweetness, and so had she. It was her first time in a relationship in two lifetimes. On the surface, she was reserved, but in fact, she was overjoyed that the young girl liked to cling to her.
After the evening self-study session, she took her bag and hurried downstairs, like an emperor after court who couldn’t wait to go to his bedchamber. The weather was gradually getting warmer, and her outfit had changed to a short-sleeved suit and a hip-hugging skirt. She got into the car parked at the school gate, stepped on the gas, and rushed to the hospital like the wind.
“Teacher Tong, you’re here again? Won’t this affect your work…”
When Tong Yao arrived, Gu Yiwen was just finishing a call outside the ward. Tong Yao quickly said that it wouldn’t affect her work, but she was worried that her frequent visits would make her aunt think that she had ulterior motives for her daughter… but her worries were unnecessary. Gu Yiwen just had a complicated expression and then said, “Little Xi is doing her homework inside.”
“Oh…” Tong Yao said in a small voice. “I’ll go tutor her.”
Gu Yiwen nodded. Indeed, she was most afraid of delaying her daughter’s studies. There was nothing more reliable than a teacher’s personal tutoring.
But she was also worried that her daughter and her teacher would only be concerned with their love affair.
In the midst of her conflict, Tong Yao entered the ward, greeted Ruan Chen on the hospital bed, and then gently pushed open the door of the cubicle.
The cubicle was not big or small. A long table was against the wall. The young girl had her back to her, writing furiously under a desk lamp. She didn’t seem to notice Tong Yao’s approach and thought it was her mother coming in to bring her fruit, so she was sullen and didn’t even look up.
Tong Yao lightened her steps and suddenly had the idea of playing a trick on her, such as scaring her or covering her eyes and asking her to guess who it was. But in the end, she just stopped behind the young girl. After finding that there was a chair next to the young girl, she suddenly sat on it with the speed of lightning and said a soft “hey.”
Ruan Xi was taken aback for a moment, turned her head, and saw Tong Yao propping up her cheek with one hand, blinking and smiling. Tong Yao at this moment was like the beautiful desk mate in many people’s youth stories, who made your heart flutter, but you couldn’t tell if it was friendship or love.
Don’t think about it. The one you’re thinking about is love.
“You’re not at school. How’s your self-study going?” Tong Yao asked.
“It’s okay,” the young girl answered warmly. “I’ve almost finished a lot of the lessons. The content at the end is not that difficult.”
Now, they had entered the final stage of the textbook. For subjects like English, the teachers had already started to prepare for the first round of review. Ruan Xi’s self-study pressure was not great.
“You still have to master polar coordinates and inequalities. If you learn them well, you’ll have more choices in the college entrance exam,” Tong Yao pinched the young girl’s cheek. “Don’t be afraid to trouble me, you know?”
“Mhm,” Ruan Xi said softly, her gaze on Tong Yao’s lips.
Tong Yao was clueless at first, but she soon understood Ruan Xi’s intention, and her face turned red. Speaking of which, since she had accepted the young girl’s ring, the two of them should have been closer, but because of Ruan Chen’s illness, kissing had been replaced by day and night snuggling. Now that Ruan Chen’s condition was stable, and Gu Yiwen and Jiang Wu were one supportive and one tacitly agreeing, it seemed that nothing could stop them from being together anymore.
Ruan Xi slowly moved closer. Tong Yao wanted to shrink back, but she trembled and stopped in her seat, shyly closing her eyes.
This was a temptation that would make you sink once you tried it. Once you had the first time, there was bound to be a next time.
Their lips and teeth met.
She closed her eyes, her eyelids still twitching, as if she wanted to open them but was too embarrassed. Her deliciousness was tasted to the fullest. Her mango-sweet tongue was sucked. She finally slowly learned to respond, to seize the other’s equally beautiful territory, and then gradually lost herself.
In a daze, the sound of something falling to the ground startled her. She quickly retreated and turned to look at the source of the sound.
Behind her was a sofa.
And on the sofa, Ruan Xiaobei was staring with wide eyes, his phone on the floor, a crack on the screen.
Ruan Xi and Tong Yao’s relationship, the parents knew, but they had hidden it from Ruan Xiaobei, so as not to shock his perception.
“Sis, you…” Ruan Xiaobei stammered.
For so many days, he had been affectionately calling Tong Yao “Sister Tong.” He felt that this teacher was beautiful, kind, and rich, but he had never thought that she would have a relationship with his own sister that went beyond that of a teacher and a student.
He remembered last year, his sister had said, “I’m being kept.” He had once thought it was a joke, but he hadn’t expected…
He had once thought that if his sister were really being kept one day, he would definitely beat up that evil man. But now…
He couldn’t do it.
His sister seemed to be in a mutual love with the other person. How could he, a younger brother, object? If he really made a move, he was afraid he would be beaten to death by his sister first. What made him even more terrified was, could it be that his mother knew, and in order to treat his father’s illness, she had betrothed his sister?
Tong Yao at this moment just wanted to crawl into a hole—she had actually not noticed that someone was lying on the sofa behind her. As soon as she entered the door, her eyes were full of the young girl.
And Ruan Ruan? Ruan Ruan must have known her brother was there, right? But she didn’t tell her. What’s worse… she even tricked her into a kiss.
She looked at the young girl. The young girl had an innocent and pure look on her face, which made her cry out that she had been deceived.
“I’m leaving,” she stood up, biting her lip in shame and anger, her face flushed red.
“Teacher Tong,” the young girl reached out and grabbed her, then glanced at Ruan Xiaobei.
It was as if the siblings had connected on a private voice channel.
Ruan Xiaobei understood and quickly said, “I’m leaving.”
Then, he ran away at full speed.
Tong Yao’s face turned even redder—it was as if they were about to do something illicit!
The room was finally just the two of them.
Tong Yao was awkward, not speaking. Ruan Xi smiled, revealing shallow dimples, and said, “Is Teacher Tong embarrassed to kiss in front of others?”
Tong Yao froze.
She was the kind of person whose skin was thinner than anyone else’s but liked to put on a brave front. Faced with this kind of question, of course, she would answer, “No.”
“Then why is Teacher Tong being awkward?”
“…I’m not.”
“You clearly are,” Ruan Xi corrected seriously.
Tong Yao was mortified. “I said I’m not, so I’m not.”
“Oh,” the young girl was lost in thought. Then, she tilted her head and suggested, “Then, shall we continue?”
She stood up, and Tong Yao was still sitting there in a daze. The next moment, the young girl put her legs together and sat sideways on her lap. In an instant, Tong Yao’s whole body became hot. The fiery fire was as if it was going to burn her to ashes, and only the girl in front of her was a cool spring.
“Teacher Tong…”
Like a dream, Ruan Xi finished, leaned forward, and kissed those delicate lips.
And Tong Yao, completely fallen, she tilted her head up slightly, let go of her reserve, and wrapped her arms around the young girl’s waist, immersing herself in this wonderful dream.
**
Recuperating was a long process.
The family needed income. Although it was a drop in the bucket compared to the treatment fees, and although she had a wealthy son-in-law (daughter-in-law) to back her up, Gu Yiwen still chose to go back to Xiangnan to work.
Ruan Chen could be discharged in a while, but he would have to come back for chemotherapy every now and then in the future. Before he was discharged, the two children were in charge of taking care of him. Tong Yao had originally wanted to hire a nurse for Ruan Chen, but Gu Yiwen had refused no matter what.
What her own family could do, Gu Yiwen didn’t want to owe any more.
Time flies. As June arrived, the weather became hot.
Because of the college entrance examination, the other grades had a four-day holiday. Ruan Chen was discharged at this time, his condition stable. On the day of his discharge, he returned to Xiangnan. Ruan Xi returned to the long-unseen campus. The school was full of warning lines, but it was still familiar.
“The college entrance examination…” The young girl stood on the balcony, staring out the window in a daze. “They must be very nervous.”
“Think about yourself. 365 days until the college entrance examination,” Tong Yao said, folding the dried clothes, teasingly.
“Hmph,” the young girl pouted.
In the distance, the bell for the start of the exam rang. It seemed to have a soul-stirring power, and even her breathing stopped for a moment.
“It’s not bad to experience the atmosphere of the college entrance examination in advance,” Tong Yao said.
The young girl suddenly asked, “Was Teacher Tong nervous for the college entrance examination?”
“Me?”
Tong Yao stopped folding her clothes. “I wasn’t.”
At that time, she just wanted to maintain her first place. She wanted to do something she couldn’t do in her previous life, to carve the impression of being outstanding and perfect in everyone’s heart. But even with such pressure, she was not nervous.
Because it wouldn’t matter if she failed.
But for Ruan Xi, this was the first and biggest springboard in her life. There was no such thing as repeating a year. She didn’t want to make Teacher Tong wait another year.
She had to succeed.
Just hearing the bell, she was already so nervous she could barely breathe. The college entrance examination was the way for children from poor families to change their destiny. What she felt was the tension that children like her felt more strongly than others.
She probably understood a sentence: poverty is a disease. Poverty makes people anxious, nervous, uneasy, and hesitant. Poverty should be the first of the seven deadly sins.
In the afternoon, the first day of the exam was over, and the school became lively. The expectant parents were waiting at the school gate. The students who came out were either in high spirits or dejected. Ruan Xi, who was on her way to the cafeteria, noticed a senior who was crying his heart out, and their parents could only force a smile. No matter how anxious and sad they were in their hearts, they could only comfort their children.
“Not doing well on the exam doesn’t mean anything,” Tong Yao noticed the young girl’s gaze and interjected. “Don’t feel any pressure. This is not the only path to success.”
But the college entrance examination was indeed the widest path on the surface. The other paths were either hidden very deep or needed others to help open them up.
“But what if I can’t walk on any of them?” Ruan Xi pursed her lips. She valued the college entrance examination, so much so that she was a little paranoid, as if she had suddenly walked into a dead end. “If I have nothing in the future…”
“Do you have anything now?” Tong Yao smiled. “I still fell for you, this little one.”
The young girl was stunned.
“I only want you, you know? A healthy, happy Ruan Ruan.”
She smiled at the young girl, her eyes curving into a crescent moon.
“Can you give me that?”
—I can!
Ruan Xi shouted in her heart.
As long as Teacher Tong wanted it, everything she had was Teacher Tong’s.
