The river was huge, nearly ten li in total length. Boats could go far, and visitors instinctively kept clear of one another. To slam directly into them like this was deliberate.
Ji Huaqing paled in fright. She wrenched the wheel, and at the very last second, they dodged.
The other boat—a yellow rubber duck—shot past, sending spray flying ten feet high and drawing stares from other tourists. It had nearly caused an accident; a collision would have been a real disaster.
Both boats came to a stop.
Gu Yining wore a cold smile. “Hello again.”
It was the girl whose friend request had been rejected earlier.
Ji Huaqing was angry. She tried to get up from Gu Yining’s lap, but the arm around her waist held her fast. Annoyed, she demanded, “What do you mean?”
“Teacher Ji, the girl looks like a fresh graduate. For a teacher to carry a grudge against a student—that’s not a good look.” Gu Yining smiled lightly. “Sit over there. Let me handle it. I’m not a teacher, so I can hold a grudge.”
Only then did she release Ji Huaqing, looking at the other girl. “Charging like that’s no fun. There are speedboats over there. Want to race?”
The girl was stunned, looking at the smile in Gu Yining’s eyes—bold, reckless, stunning.
Faced with such temptation, who wouldn’t be tempted? Ji Huaqing, on the same boat, felt the corners of her mouth lifting bit by bit before she pressed them down. She tried to stop her: “Don’t mess around. I’m not holding a grudge anymore. Ignore her. Don’t give her the satisfaction.”
“She needs a lesson.” Gu Yining insisted.
Ji Huaqing replied, “Teaching her a lesson is teaching her for free. Did she pay tuition?”
With that, she looked at the yellow duck boat. “What gives you the right to be so indignant?”
The girl flinched at her fierce, imposing manner. But the sexy, mature woman beside her laughed merrily.
“What right do you have to reject my request for her? I only asked to add her as a friend, and that’s not allowed?” Xiang Yunlai was also steaming with fury. “You look all soft and shrinking, but you’re nothing but green tea.”
Green tea?
Confusion surfaced on Ji Huaqing’s face. Gu Yining leaned in, and the wind stung her eyes. Ji Huaqing stared. Gu Yining bent down, revealing the pale skin at her chest.
Startled, Ji Huaqing quickly pulled her down to sit on her lap.
In that instant, Gu Yining was equally stunned. From close range, Xiang Yunlai jeered louder: “Sis, you’d better look closely. Your girlfriend is a total green tea—you’ll have endless cups of tea to drink.”
“Is that so? I do love green tea.” Gu Yining’s eyes curled, her fingertip brushing Ji Huaqing’s hand. “Teacher Ji, I remember you love green tea too?”
Gu Yining was full of tender affection; her emotions could no longer be suppressed. She watched Ji Huaqing unbridled, as if trying to make up for fifteen years of insufficiency.
Under that gaze, Ji Huaqing found it hard to hide her fondness, and the anger in her heart quietly dissolved.
She hung her head, unable to lift it. She saw the hand on hers—the skin fine and smooth—and her gaze traveled upward. She remembered what Miss Cheng had said…
The suicide.
Pretending it was an accident, Ji Huaqing took Gu Yining’s wrist and turned it over. There was the scar.
Her mind went blank. Ji Huaqing felt as if a stone were pressing on her chest, impossible to breathe around.
Gu Yining didn’t know what she was thinking. She looked her over freely, gazing without blinking, as if Ji Huaqing were a small whirlpool that had drawn her in for years.
At this distance, Gu Yining’s eyes were like the river’s surface, glimmering. The loose strands by her ears were gilded by the lanterns.
Her warm breath fell on Ji Huaqing’s face, leaving the skin there an unnatural red.
Watching them, Xiang Yunlai’s expression shifted. Seeing that her words had no effect, and thoroughly unimpressed by Gu Yining, she sailed off with her companion—but not before throwing back, “What a buzzkill.”
Ji Huaqing heard it and snapped awake. “You can get up now.”
“Teacher Ji, you drive. I’ll sit here a while—I like the passenger seat.” Gu Yining made no move to leave. In fact, she wanted Ji Huaqing to move herself.
Ji Huaqing’s eyelids twitched. She instinctively looked up at her. “If you won’t move, how am I supposed to switch?”
Meeting her gaze, Gu Yining stood up, gripping the railing. The wind blew, stirring her loose hair; lanterns blazed on the main street.
Ji Huaqing stood up as well. The two-seater was small; they were nearly pressed together. Gu Yining laughed softly, unconsciously reaching out to touch her soft hair.
“Teacher Ji, let me find you a job—take the Chinese teacher position at Zhou Hui’s school. How about it?”
The Ji Huaqing of now was like a startled rabbit, spooked by any slight stirring of wind or grass. That wasn’t her nature.
The former Ji Huaqing had been elegant yet decisive, bold and bright. She could chase down a thief or spend a whole night at an internet café.
She was the bright moon in a starless sky, shining on everything, dazzling.
Startled, Ji Huaqing looked up at her, confusion in her eyes. Looking at that smooth, gentle face, her lips moved. “Okay.”
“I love the Ji Huaqing of the school—able to talk back to the principal, able to bring a meter-ninety male student to heel.” Gu Yining’s expression was serious. “I like you, but I won’t bully you. So I’ll wait for you.”
She said “I’ll wait for you.” Ji Huaqing had nothing to say.
Gu Yining reached out, steadying her arm, guiding her into the driver’s seat. The space between them widened.
Ji Huaqing’s heart was thoroughly disordered. Gu Yining had learned to wait.
She looked at the night sky, the cool wind blowing in, leaving her at a loss.
After a silent moment, Gu Yining reminded her it was time to turn back, or they’d go over time.
Ji Huaqing pulled herself together, changed direction, and headed for the dock, driving slowly, like an old man ambling without a care.
Gu Yining leaned back in the passenger seat, her long hair flowing, full of grace and charm.
The boat docked. Xiang Yunlai came over carrying two bottles of green tea and offered them to Gu Yining. “For you.”
Gu Yining looked at her like she was an idiot, took Ji Huaqing’s hand, and walked off.
“Green tea! Your favorite flavor!” Xiang Yunlai taunted at their backs.
Gu Yining strode away, holding Ji Huaqing’s hand. No provocation could shake her mood.
Ji Huaqing was different. Looking at the woman beside her, even her fingertips felt numb.
They were adults now. In fact, Gu Yining was older than her. On this point, Ji Huaqing felt like a child.
A child in constant need of protection.
Both adults understood each other’s feelings. Gu Yining knew; Ji Huaqing had also come out of her confusion.
Gu Yining was still waiting for her.
Fifteen years, and she was still waiting.
Getting into the car, Ji Huaqing felt dazed; the low temperature chilled her spine. She looked at Gu Yining, opened her mouth to speak, but dared not.
The words were at her lips, and she couldn’t ask.
The whole ride was silent. Gu Yining worked on her laptop and took calls, clearly busy.
While waiting at a red light, Song Mingyao asked, “Sister Gu, what do you want for dinner?”
At the bar, Gu Yining had drunk a bottle of wine, and Teacher Ji had drunk a bottle of Wangzai milk. They should have something good now.
Gu Yining tilted her head toward Ji Huaqing. “Teacher Ji, what do you want?”
“Cook at home.” Ji Huaqing thought for a moment, then boldly met her eyes, pressing her lips into a smile.
That smile made Gu Yining freeze instead, her fingers gripping her knees so hard the skin hurt. She forgot to breathe.
She seemed to have been thrown back fifteen years. A simple smile, with nothing more intended.
“Teacher Ji, you can smile now. Since we met again, you hadn’t even smiled once. Progress.”
“Just living.” Ji Huaqing said simply, “Like you. Living well.”
Gu Yining’s eyes blurred. What did that mean? “Like me, living well”?
She couldn’t figure it out. Slowly, the corner of her mouth curved. She picked up her phone. “I’ll buy some groceries.”
Watching her deft operation, Ji Huaqing leaned over, studying the screen carefully. Technology had advanced so far—you could buy fresh groceries without leaving home.
Her gaze gradually detached from the screen, drifting to Gu Yining’s slender fingers. Blue veins faintly showed on the back of her hand, unsettlingly pale.
For some reason, Miss Cheng’s words echoed in her mind: “She has severe mental illness—depression. Do you understand?”
Ji Huaqing turned to Song Mingyao. “Miss Song, can we exchange contact info?”
“Sure.” Song Mingyao nodded, looking at the gentle, delicate woman in the rearview mirror. “Teacher Ji, just call me Little Song. ‘Miss Song’ is too formal. We’ll be seeing each other often—unless I get fired by Sister Gu.”
“Do you like working for Sister Gu?” Ji Huaqing smiled.
“You like a high salary and an easy job, don’t you? Especially in summer—sometimes I take a month of paid leave. You know the feeling of money falling from the sky?” Song Mingyao said excitedly.
She had a low-maintenance boss. Every summer, the boss came to Hang City to hide away and rest, and Song Mingyao collected her salary for doing nothing.
Ji Huaqing asked, puzzled, “How high is this high salary?” The boat ride had cost over a hundred; she thought that was expensive.
The times were advancing. Had the currency inflated?
“Teacher Ji, are you trying to take my job?” Song Mingyao frowned. “Let me tell you—your WeChat is linked to my boss’s bank card. Spend as you like. Please don’t covet my rice bowl.”
Mention of that embarrassed Ji Huaqing. “Once I get my ID card, I’ll open my own account.”
“Even if you open an account, will the bank give you money?” Gu Yining’s gaze was intense now—no longer cold, but warm. “What use is an ID card? Does having a bank card equal having money?”
Ji Huaqing’s heart jolted in shame. Gu Yining suddenly slapped her own head. “I forgot something.”
She called the registration officer. “Hello, I’d like to ask where Ji Huaqing should go to get her ID card.”
“The local police station. They can all process it now.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Gu Yining hung up and said calmly, “Tomorrow we’ll get your ID card done. It’ll be fast—a few days. Take your ID to the bank and ask them if opening an account comes with a free gift.”
Song Mingyao up front laughed so hard she had to stop the car. She remembered an online meme, and Teacher Ji’s reaction was exactly the same.
Ji Huaqing was far more composed. She said seriously, “I can be your assistant. Everything Little Song can do, I can do.”
Song Mingyao stopped laughing. “Teacher Ji, how about I support you instead? Just don’t take my job.”
Wouldn’t being Mrs. Gu be better? Why come for my job?
Gu Yining paid no heed to Song Mingyao. Right now, to “support” Ji Huaqing would be to bully her.
Bully?
Gu Yining paused. The word “bully” circled her mind like a burst of fireworks.
Brilliant, blazing. Desire suddenly surged in her heart.
She was alive; liking someone came with desire. She couldn’t help glancing at the earnest, proper Ji Huaqing beside her.
Similarly, Ji Huaqing was secretly looking at her.
Their eyes met unexpectedly. The word “bully” was branded on Ji Huaqing’s forehead, sparking all sorts of wicked imaginings.
