Everything before her settled into silence.
Ji Huaqing looked at the familiar home—or rather, Gu Yining’s residence. So familiar—even the furnishings hadn’t changed since before she’d left.
She felt dazed.
As if she’d fallen into a deep pit, muddled and befuddled. Hearing is believing; she’d been hoodwinked, listening to Gu Yining say:
Teacher Ji, welcome to 2024.
Ji Huaqing cleared the table and walked into her own room. Inside, she set aside her phone, checked the time, and lay down, fully stretched, on her own bed.
She was home.
The instant she closed her eyes, she seemed to hear someone calling her.
“Teacher Ji, time to get up. It’s New Year’s Day—I made dumplings. I made some too!”
“Huaqing… Huaqing…”
Ji Huaqing jolted awake, face pale. She sat up, looked at the door, and a string of memories flooded into her mind. She felt no strangeness toward this house.
Barefoot, she padded into the living room. The general layout of the house was engraved deep in her mind.
Kitchen, master bedroom, spare bedroom, balcony—none had changed.
The owner of this house had kept its layout in the past tense.
The Gu house was thoroughly modern, full of high-tech features—two-way glass, high-tech beds. But this place was exactly as it had looked fifteen years ago.
Her eyes stung. In the corner of her vision, on the table, lay a household registration booklet, placed there quietly.
Her and Gu Yining’s household registration booklet.
Ji Huaqing steadied herself. That booklet pulled her out of her memories, step by step, into 2024—into Gu Yining’s world.
She picked up the booklet and opened the first page. Her fingertip moved over the page, brushing across the characters “Gu Yining,” and she stared at them, transfixed.
A bar?
Was a bar a place for serious talk?
Ji Huaqing didn’t know. But when she’d gone tonight, it was full of romance, full of the feelings of a new world.
She thought a bar was no place to discuss serious matters.
Ji Huaqing turned a page and suddenly stopped. She took the booklet to her room, opened her phone, and accidentally tapped into Moments.
Cheng Qingtang had posted to Moments: under dim candlelight, she leaned against Gu Yining, the pose intimate.
Gu Yining wasn’t wearing the shirt she’d left in, but the deep-V red dress from the day before. So the night Gu Yining had come to pick her up, she’d been at a bar with Cheng Qingtang?
Ji Huaqing closed her eyes, trying to empty her mind, refusing to think about the photo. But the image of the woman in red from a few days ago surfaced in her mind.
That night, she had acknowledged Gu Yining’s beauty. She had shed her youthful greenness, revealing a mature, seductive side.
The Gu Yining of that night was breathtakingly beautiful.
Ji Huaqing gripped the booklet, opened her phone, and looked at Moments again. She knew Cheng Qingtang was provoking her.
She went back to the chat page, looking at the message Cheng Qingtang had sent her.
【Have you considered?】
She still didn’t reply. But she sent Zhou Hui a message asking, 【If your girlfriend went to a bar, what would you do?】
Zhou Hui seemed to be on her phone; she replied the instant it was sent: 【What girlfriend do you have?】
Ji Huaqing stared at the screen, unsure how to answer. It was like analyzing a reading comprehension question: how was she supposed to explain it to Zhou Hui?
While she hesitated, the other side replied again: 【Your Gu student went to a bar.】
Ji Huaqing: 【It’s not about her. If your girlfriend went to a bar, how would you deal with it?】
Zhou Hui: 【Grab a weapon and haul her back.】
Ji Huaqing felt she had no right to do that, so she changed the question: 【What if your student went to a bar?】
Zhou Hui: 【Call the homeroom teacher, fish her out together, and put it on her record.】
After all this, neither landed on the topic. Ji Huaqing was frustrated. How exactly was she supposed to analyze this problem?
Zhou Hui: 【If Gu Yining went to a bar, take your ID, drag her to a hotel, and teach her a lesson. Then she won’t dare again.】
Ji Huaqing pressed her lips together, not understanding what she meant.
Zhou Hui continued: 【Your Gu student has many pretty friends. She owns an influencer agency—you may not know what that means, but I can tell you this: her subordinates are all beauties.】
Ji Huaqing treated Zhou Hui as her good friend. In her cognition, those fifteen years didn’t exist; they were still friends who poured their hearts out over drinks.
She typed honestly: 【I don’t have an ID card. It hasn’t been reissued yet.】
Zhou Hui was silent for a long time—probably speechless.
Ji Huaqing sent her the photo.
Zhou Hui replied instantly: 【I know her. She’s been to the Gu house. Your niece calls her Auntie Little Cheng. Your niece likes her a lot. If you don’t like Gu Yining, then don’t get involved. If you like her, go bring her home. A single person can run wild at night, but once she has a girlfriend and she’s still at a bar at midnight, that’s her problem.】
Ji Huaqing was confused again. Zhou Hui launched another volley: 【No ID? Then bring the household registration booklet.】
Ji Huaqing: 【Can’t we just go home?】
Zhou Hui: 【Do you two have a home?】
Ji Huaqing was puzzled. Remembering what came before, she turned off her phone, picked up the household registration booklet, and left the house.
It was eleven at night. The lamps in the compound were dim and murky, like a long-ill patient with no strength.
Ji Huaqing walked out of the compound and stood under the streetlight, waiting for a taxi. The compound was a bit out of the way, and at this hour, almost no cabs passed.
After waiting ten minutes, Ji Huaqing called Song Mingyao.
“I can’t find a taxi. Are there any near the compound?”
“Where are you going?” Song Mingyao asked.
“Tell me, how do I get a taxi?”
“I’ll book one for you first. There’s a ride-hailing app—I’ll send it to you later.”
The night wind was warm and dry. The streetlights were bright all the way down, casting long shadows in their yellow light.
In less than five minutes, a taxi pulled up. The window rolled down, and the driver asked for the last four digits of her phone number.
After confirming, Ji Huaqing got in. “Ten Li of Jianghuai.”
The driver was a middle-aged woman. Hearing the destination, she kindly warned, “Going to Ten Li of Jianghuai at this hour—meeting someone?”
Ji Huaqing was very honest: “Looking for someone.”
The driver laughed, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. “Looking for a girlfriend?”
“Looking for… my student.” Ji Huaqing was nervous. She lowered her head, clutching the booklet; its edges bit into her palm.
“A student, huh.” The driver sighed. “How old is this student? Still in school, and already running to bars? That does need reining in. But you’re young too—going to a bar this late isn’t great either. Better call her parents to deal with it. It’s nighttime; you shouldn’t be managing this. Parents should come grab her.”
Ji Huaqing smiled faintly, turned to look out the window, and recalled the old days—also going out at midnight to grab someone.
Back then, it was the internet café.
Students loved to spend all night at the café, gaming without sleep. Gu Yining’s father had died, her mother went to prison. Her grandmother wanted to take her back to the countryside, leaving the house to her second uncle—turning her from a pampered little princess into a child with no father, no mother.
For a time, she’d given up on herself, picking up every bad habit of a delinquent student. Ji Huaqing had once seen Gu Yining perform on stage at school—a solo classical dance, extremely beautiful, with a supple waist and strong technique.
After her mother went to prison, her classical dancing stopped.
A pity.
Ji Huaqing pulled out of her memories and asked how to pay.
She’d left in a hurry, without cash.
The driver handed her a payment code. Ji Huaqing studied it like an old man staring at a smartphone. In the end, she photographed it and sent it to Zhou Hui.
Ji Huaqing: 【What do I do?】
Zhou Hui: 【Where did you come back from? You can’t even pay? You go to grab her yourself, and still want me to pay your cab fare—am I your chump?】
Ji Huaqing felt inexplicably embarrassed. After fumbling for a while, her phone rang again.
Still Zhou Hui: 【How much?】
Ji Huaqing asked the driver. The driver glanced at the meter and said, “To Ten Li of Jianghuai, fifteen kilometers. Pay when we get there; I can’t say exactly.”
Ji Huaqing replied. Zhou Hui sent her a speechless sticker.
The main street was off-limits to cars, so the driver stopped. It was already midnight.
Ji Huaqing gave the figure, and Zhou Hui replied: 【Paid.】
She looked at the driver helplessly. “So… it’s paid?”
The driver nodded. “Received. Thanks. Want me to wait? It could be dangerous alone.”
“No need.” Ji Huaqing smiled her thanks, opened the door, and hurried out.
The main street still had many people. Vendors were still out, various foods fragrant in the air.
Ji Huaqing got out, then returned the fare to Zhou Hui as a red envelope.
Zhou Hui replied with a speechless sticker: 【I suspect you slept for fifteen years and, besides breathing, don’t know how to do anything. Can’t pay? Can’t scan a code?】
Ji Huaqing: 【Where do I scan? Let me ask Gu Yining to teach me later.】
Zhou Hui mercilessly mocked her: 【You’re her teacher. You’re asking her to teach you? Who’s the teacher here?】
Ji Huaqing pretended not to see it, resolutely turned off the screen, and strode toward Ten Li of Jianghuai.
She was stopped at the gate. Not knowing how to get in, she paced at the entrance for a while, then had to call Zhou Hui again.
Zhou Hui sent her a string of digits. After verification, she could enter.
Ji Huaqing caught the detail: 【You’re a regular here too?】
This time, Zhou Hui didn’t reply.
Clearly, there was something fishy.
Ji Huaqing entered Ten Li of Jianghuai and found their old booth. The people were gone. She asked a server, who pointed to the private rooms.
They’d gone to a private room.
Ji Huaqing walked over, checking room by room. Suddenly she caught a glimpse of a shadow passing. Startled, she didn’t hesitate to dial Gu Yining’s number.
Through the door, she heard the ringtone.
She knocked decisively.
She chose to ignore Cheng Qingtang’s reminder, asking Gu Yining, “Gu Yining, going to the hotel?”
“I said, going to the hotel? I don’t have an ID card—but I have a household registration booklet. A brand-new one.”
The cliché approach blew toward Gu Yining.
It was the oldest, most tired line in the book—and still, Gu Yining laughed. Her eyes curved, her long lashes fluttering, flecks of light like peach blossoms under a March sky in her gaze.
Cheng Qingtang looked as if she’d heard the funniest joke. As she was about to speak, Gu Yining shoved her out and pulled Ji Huaqing inside.
Bang. The door slammed shut.
Gu Yining reached out. Click. She locked it.
Cheng Qingtang knocked from outside, calling out three or four times. Gu Yining paid no attention.
The light in the private room was too intimate, shrouding the two of them. Ji Huaqing hid the hand holding the household registration booklet behind her back and forced a casual air as she admired the room.
Ten Li of Jianghuai’s private rooms leaned toward Chinese classical style—magnificent, with classical beauty wherever you looked.
Gu Yining looked at her freely. The restrained woman was clearly losing her composure, her expression subtle: “Do you know what you just said?”
She looked at Ji Huaqing as if she were looking at a child. Ji Huaqing felt uncomfortable all over.
Ji Huaqing was on the verge of losing control, her heart in her throat. Quickly, she met Gu Yining’s eyes, and the heat surged up, dyeing her eyes.
The light couldn’t hide her emotions. She didn’t know how to explain. After thirty seconds of thinking, she answered: “Zhou Hui said so.”
