Chapter 16: Deception

The episode of Ming You’s high-profile “surprise visit” turned Yan Ningxi into the object of eager questions from the office teachers that afternoon. After all, this year’s teacher team had taught Ming You’s class.

Ming You was more sensible than before, prettier than before, more poised than before. How had she performed at school? Had she won any awards? What were her work plans?

After the praises came a barrage of perennial gossip questions. Yan Ningxi smiled without a word, while He Huan answered most of them.

“Teacher Yan.” A female teacher sitting to Yan Ningxi’s right suddenly spoke up.

The person called turned to look.

That female teacher was nearly fifty, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and had transferred to No. 3 Middle School from another school two years earlier. She was a senior professional teacher serving as the head of the High School Division’s Chinese Language Teaching Research Group. She currently only taught the senior year three classes. Her qualifications and teaching achievements were well-known, and she held considerable prestige in the inter-school circles.

“Your sister—I mean Ming You—has she gotten a boyfriend yet?”

“…”

“Kids these days… university isn’t considered puppy love anymore. She’s already a junior; it’s totally normal for her to have a boyfriend.”

“This… I’m really not sure. Probably not.” Yan Ningxi replied politely.

“Hengyuan Media University is in Hengyuan, right? What a coincidence—my son is also studying in Hengyuan. He’s a senior this year, one year ahead of Ming You…”

Teacher Li chimed in. “Exactly! Teacher Yan might not know this, but Teacher Chen’s son was Huai’an City’s top scorer in the gaokao that year. All the top schools fought over him. He’s a kid with strong opinions—he picked his major over the school and didn’t go to a university in Jingping. The one he’s at is still a top-tier domestic institution. I heard he’s already been recommended for graduate school, right, Teacher Chen?”

“Mm, straight to PhD.” As a proud mother, her face lit up.

Teacher Li gave her a thumbs up. “Worthy of being Huai’an’s pride. A talented man and a beautiful woman, both studying far from home, same age group, plenty of common ground—they could totally get to know each other. What a great match; even just being friends would be nice.”

Teacher Chen didn’t beat around the bush. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. I wonder what Teacher Yan thinks?”

Was this a blind date setup?

Yan Ningxi froze, at a loss for words. As a “fake” cousin, what right did she have to make decisions?

Past twenty was precisely the age when men should marry and women wed. Urging marriage had always been an eternal topic.

Yan Ningxi herself had been teased more than once by colleagues from her grade group and the Chinese Language group about blind dates. Kindhearted teachers had even offered to introduce her to someone. She could handle it when it was about herself, but when it landed on Ming You through her, it was beyond her scope.

He Huan, who had been quietly grading homework across from her, came to her rescue. “Don’t make things difficult for Teacher Yan. As Teacher Li said, kids these days have their own ideas. Whether it’s studies, work, or romance, they don’t like elders arranging things for them—they need to be respected. Next time Ming You comes by, Teacher Chen, you can ask her opinion directly. With Teacher Yan right here, if it’s meant to be, they won’t get away.”

“Right, right, Teacher He makes a good point.” Teacher Li, trying to keep everyone happy, hurried to smooth things over. “Teacher Chen, I’ve been Ming You’s homeroom teacher for three years, so I know her pretty well. She’s got a strong personality and her own ideas…”

He was just about to launch into a speech when his phone rang.

“Hello, is this Teacher Li from No. 3 Middle School? A student surnamed Ming ordered afternoon tea for the teachers—it’s arrived at the school gate. There’s quite a lot, so we need you to let the gate guard know so we can bring it in.”

“Ming? Oh, okay.”

The delivery guy brought coffee, milk tea, and desserts—the drinks and sweets perfectly matched the number of teachers in the office.

“See? This kid even knows how to pull off a surprise now.” As the recipient and Ming You’s former homeroom teacher, this operation gave him some face too.

“Today’s treats and afternoon tea are quite lavish—we all got to bask in Teacher Yan’s glory. But I can see it now: Ming You’s a much better sister than she was a student. A girl changes for the better after eighteen; her future’s unlimited. Teacher Yan, remember to pass on our thanks. Tell her not to be so polite next time.”

Yan Ningxi had been singled out multiple times and couldn’t keep dodging. “Okay, I’ll pass on Teacher Li’s words for sure. But she didn’t do it out of mere politeness—she sincerely wanted to thank all the teachers for their guidance.”

To keep Teacher Chen from overthinking, Yan Ningxi personally delivered some coffee and desserts to her desk. “Teacher Chen, next time there’s a chance, I’ll definitely bring her over to pay her respects.”

“Sorry about that, Teacher Yan. I just saw how talented, pretty, and likable Ming You is, so I went on a bit.”

Back at her seat, Yan Ningxi sent a message to Ming You: 【Teacher Li asked me to pass this on: the afternoon tea arrived safely. Thanks for your thoughtfulness.】

As for the matchmaking and making friends bit, she didn’t mention it in the message. She could only let things take their natural course.

At that moment, Ming You was at the boxing gym.

No one knew she had been practicing boxing for nearly five years. In the past, she had stuck to hitting sandbags, mainly to vent her emotions. Today was the first time she asked her coach for a real spar.

“Ming You, are you sure you’ve thought this through? You really want to spar with me? Real fighting’s not like hitting a bag—even with protective gear, there’s still a risk of injury. And can you handle my punches?” The male coach raised his right fist and demonstrated a hook to remind her. “If you really want to do real sparring, I can start by teaching you defense, dodging, and counterattacks today.”

“Coach, let’s just go for it.”

The afternoon tea delivery to the office had been preordered that morning. Otherwise, given her state of mind, Teacher Li wouldn’t have had any surprises.

…

Yan Ningxi didn’t have evening self-study duty that day. When she returned to the apartment in the evening, she saw the girl who hadn’t replied to her message squatting at the door again—this time in a new outfit.

“Sister Yan.”

Perhaps from waiting too long, her legs had gone numb from squatting, and on top of the massive energy drain from boxing, the girl swayed noticeably when she stood up. Fortunately, she immediately grabbed the wall to steady herself.

Sparring in the heat of the moment was nothing short of reckless. She was definitely no match for him, but it had sobered her up.

Thanks to the coach going easy—guessing she needed to vent some frustration or grievance—he focused on teaching her counter techniques, controlled his power in punches, and didn’t leave her unable to get up. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had the strength to come find Yan Ningxi.

Yan Ningxi said nothing. Her gaze lingered on the girl for only two or three seconds, but after opening the door to go inside, she left it ajar for her.

Ming You leaned against the wall, rubbing her legs to ease the numbness, and stood at the entrance holding fresh flowers. “The flowers from vacation are about to wilt. I came to replace them. Can I come in?”

The person inside took a bottle of mineral water from the fridge and drank it. If she didn’t cool herself down, she probably wouldn’t be able to talk to Ming You properly. At this point, she couldn’t keep turning a blind eye to the girl’s words and actions anymore. If she let the antics continue, it would inevitably affect her work—and even her life.

“If it’s inconvenient, I can just leave the flowers here and…”

“Come in.”

Yan Ningxi sat expressionlessly on the sofa and watched as the girl trimmed the branches, arranged the flowers, added water. She even dragged over a stool to replace the broken ceiling light in the entranceway with a new one.

That light had been out for a while. With two lights spaced just a meter and a half apart, she had simply let it slide and forgotten about it.

The two exchanged no words.

The girl carried the trash bag to the door, then paused and turned back. “Sister Yan, what happened at noon was my fault. Impersonating your cousin without permission was rude and overstepping. I’ve reflected deeply on it.”

“And?”

“And?” The girl thought for a moment. “And wasting food is shameful.”

“Ming You, does lying make you happy?”

Faced with Yan Ningxi’s question, the girl was speechless. She didn’t try to quibble or lash out rashly.

Just before closing the door, she still said, “Goodbye, Sister Yan.”

…

The room, now brighter than before, fell quiet. Yan Ningxi stared into space at the entranceway, still trying to gauge the sincerity of the girl’s apology, when she received a message from her.

【Ming You: What if living is already the most unhappy thing for me?】

【Ming You: But liking you is currently the happiest thing for me.】

She read the messages word for word twice over but didn’t reply to a single one. Instead, she sent the girl the photo of their selfie from earlier that day. As she scrolled back through their chat history from the past couple of days, her eyes fixed on one photo.

It was a picture Ming You had sent of some pills. Every shot showed the meds cradled in her palm—except one in the upper right corner that caught the edge of a bedside lamp. Yan Ningxi went in and out of hotel rooms often enough that she wasn’t photographic with the furnishings, but she could recognize the details if she looked closely.

She searched online for that hotel and, with a heavy heart, dialed the front desk.

“Hello, this is…”

“I’m a friend of a guest—surname Yan. I’d like to ask if Ming You in room 503 hasn’t checked out yet?”

“503? Oh, you’re Miss Yan! I just checked the registration: your friend checked in on September 30th and is still with us today.”

Yan Ningxi’s heart sank even deeper. The staff’s words confirmed her suspicions—Ming You hadn’t gone back to school or attended classes at all these past few days.

She had deceived others—and her too.

To dispel the staff’s doubts, she asked, “Is there any outstanding room fee?”

“Oh, you’re worried about that? Let me check… Please hold. The info shows Miss Ming paid five thousand upfront on her first day. Don’t worry—we’ll refund the difference or whatever when she checks out.”

“Good, thank you.” Before hanging up, she added, “Please don’t mention my call to her.”

“Understood.”

The flower arrangement on the glass cabinet added a splash of vivid color to the stuffy room.

Sunflowers and balloon flowers had been replaced with pink-purple hyacinths and blue forget-me-nots. The hues were no longer so vibrant, mirroring her mood—and Ming You’s.

The sun set in the west, and night fell.

Yan Ningxi sat there for hours. She calmed her mind and thought about many things—about herself, and about Ming You.

Teaching and nurturing were every teacher’s duty. With forty or fifty students per class and two classes per grade, that was over a hundred students. Yan Ningxi felt the weight of that responsibility deeply.

She had applied to normal university to fulfill her mother’s wish. Along the way, she couldn’t say she was passionately in love with the profession, but she had always been diligent, held her post steadfastly, fulfilled her duties, and never slacked.

Society generally viewed teachers through rose-tinted glasses. In her two years of teaching, she had received immense goodwill from the world.

Friendly colleagues, respectful students, orderly work, stable income that was decent enough. Gradually, she cast aside stray thoughts and devoted herself fully to the noble cause of education.

Perhaps she was lucky, but in the first class she taught, there were no “hopeless cases” like other teachers described. From classroom lectures to after-class help, from on-campus to off-campus, from academic tutoring to psychological counseling—everything went too smoothly.

This led complacent her to build high walls around her increasingly colorless world.

Within those walls pooled a stagnant pond no one cared about. In the pond swam a single plain, unremarkable fish, passing time in its limited space. Even occasional ripples left it unperturbed.

But not long ago, a bird with dazzling plumage perched on the wall.

She had thought it merely stopped to preen its feathers and rest before flying off. She never imagined it would target the fish for the hunt, eyeing it predatorily.

Each unexpected assault sent ripples across the once-still surface, one after another, lingering endlessly.

Ming You was that “aggressive” bird. And she, the pond fish, had nowhere left to hide.

And yet… she was supposed to be the teacher.

Even so…

It wasn’t until 8:30 p.m. that an unfamiliar number called.

“Hello, is this Miss Yan?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Hello, Miss Yan. This is the convenience store by the community gate. Do you have a sister named Ming You?”

“What happened to her?”

“Oh, she left something at the store and asked us to pass it on to you. She said she went to find you but you weren’t home, and she couldn’t reach you. Are you home now? Can you come pick it up?”

Several seconds passed in silence before the voice on the other end called out questioningly, “Miss Yan?” Only then did Yan Ningxi respond. “I’m here. I’ll go get it right now.”