Chapter 34
The morning’s farce didn’t seem to affect the way the woman treated her.
Relieved, Jiang Lai also felt a little sour. So the woman really didn’t care about her; she really was just treating her like a junior.
“What are you spacing out for? I called you so many times just now and you didn’t even answer me.”
Gu Xizhou came running up from behind and hooked an arm around her shoulders.
Jiang Lai came back to herself. “Nothing.”
The girl had a piece of bread in her mouth, so her words came out a little muffled. “It feels like you’ve got a lot on your mind today.”
Jiang Lai gave a helpless smile and nudged her with her elbow. “The way you put it, would you actually enjoy going to work?”
“That depends on who I’m working with.”
As she spoke, she lifted her brows smugly and drew out her tone on purpose. “If my idol were on the same variety show as me, and she was that good to me, that gentle, I’d be happy going to work too.”
“You’ve made both the good and the bad points for me. What am I supposed to say?”
“Then don’t say anything. Just listen properly.”
Jiang Lai: “……”
The two of them chatted all the way to the meeting point, only to find the venue empty.
“Did we get here a little early?”
They looked at each other, then turned toward Director Zhang, who was hiding off to the side.
The man only gave them a reassuring look and said nothing else.
“Fine. Then let’s sit down and rest for a bit.”
Gu Xizhou was truly carefree; she plopped down on a nearby bench and looked completely at ease.
“Hey, wait.”
She straightened up, her expression more serious than Jiang Lai had ever seen it. “Jiang Lai, I just remembered something.”
“Mm? What is it?”
Jiang Lai didn’t even look up, busy tying the laces on her white sneakers.
“You and Senior Cheng……”
“Shh!”
Jiang Lai reacted instantly, clamping a hand over her mouth. The warning in her eyes was a little too obvious.
Gu Xizhou also realized she’d misspoken and obediently shut up. Fortunately, the others were far away and hadn’t heard them.
“Sorry. I’ll be more careful next time. I was just a little curious, I didn’t mean it……”
“It’s fine. I just don’t want my own business to disturb Aunt Cheng’s life……”
Gu Xizhou tried to comfort her. “It won’t. The fans are only shipping the chemistry between you two; they won’t drag it into your real lives.”
“I hope so.”
Before long, laughter drifted over to them. They looked toward the sound, and both of them were struck by the same flash of amazement.
Through the curtain of rain, several people walked toward them holding oil-paper umbrellas, all smiling as they moved with elegant grace.
Jiang Lai’s gaze seemed pinned there by a magnet. She didn’t blink, only stared fixedly at the figure in the middle, beneath the blue-green bamboo umbrella.
The woman wasn’t walking fast; in fact, she even lagged a little behind the others. And yet she carried an inexplicable allure that drew people in.
Little by little, Jiang Lai felt herself drifting.
“Hey, don’t you think so? Teacher Cheng is really beautiful. I never used to get this kind of cool, aloof beauty; I always thought women should be the kind with all the charm and elegance, like Teacher Xu. Only today did I realize Aunt Cheng is genuinely stunning!”
Gu Xizhou leaned close to her, excitement impossible to hide in her voice.
Jiang Lai nodded distractedly, her eyes never leaving the woman.
Only when the person under the umbrella came a little closer and noticed her gaze did the woman slightly lift it and look at her, her brows and eyes curved in a smile.
Jiang Lai suddenly snapped back to herself and hurriedly lowered her head. The tips of her ears burned hot.
“Jiang Lai, why is your face so red?”
Xu Zhiyi cried out in surprise, drawing everyone’s attention over.
Jiang Lai waved it off awkwardly. “N-nothing.”
But Xu Zhiyi had no intention of letting her off so easily. She reached out and pinched her earlobe, startling her into jerking far back.
“Nothing and you’re red like this? Jiang Lai, you’re lying. What are you thinking about in that head of yours?”
The people around them let out low laughs. Jiang Lai looked up and met the woman’s eyes; there was a flicker of amusement there, and she immediately understood that the woman had done it on purpose.
She stamped her foot, exasperated. “Senior, you did that on purpose!”
“All right, all right, I won’t say anything anymore. Is that okay?”
Xu Zhiyi laughed until tears came to her eyes. After she calmed down, she stepped closer again. “Jiang Lai, do I look good today?”
“You do.”
Without the slightest hesitation. She meant it sincerely.
“Then…… compared to someone else?”
The woman’s meaning was obvious.
Jiang Lai instinctively looked toward the woman not far away. She was talking to someone else with her head lowered; her profile looked especially soft in the misty rain, and there was a faint smile at the corner of her mouth.
It was like a feather lightly brushing the tip of her heart.
Seeing that she still wasn’t speaking, Xu Zhiyi curled her lips. Knowing she had once again made a fool of herself, she turned to leave.
“Wait.”
Jiang Lai gently grabbed her wrist, her tone sincere. “You look good too.”
“You’re just trying to make me happy again.”
“No. You really are very good.”
Seeing her earnest expression, the woman suddenly laughed. With an affectionate gesture, she tapped the tip of her nose. “A-Lai, look at you. What’s so bad about liking anyone else? You had to go and like that stiff, boring woman. Isn’t my face good-looking? Why can’t you like me instead?”
“But you don’t like me.”
“……She doesn’t like you either.”
The girl shook her head. “You two are different. Every move you make toward me is a little too enthusiastic, but Aunt Cheng only treats me like a junior.”
“Then why don’t you try it and see?”
The woman leaned closer, her fingers brushing through the loose strands of hair behind Jiang Lai’s ear in a deliberately intimate motion. “I know far more than she does; I’m much more interested than Cheng Shuyang, and in some respects I’m very good at cooperating with you.”
Jiang Lai stumbled back a step. The warmth of the woman’s fingertips still lingered behind her ear. “Teacher Xu, don’t do that next time. I don’t like it.”
Though the woman not far away was talking to others, her gaze kept drifting back, unable to stop following the two of them as they spoke.
“Look at Zhiyi, teasing Jiang Lai again.”
Director Zhang smiled and pointed in their direction, clearly amused.
“Mm.”
The woman bit her lip, answering absently.
On the other side, after hearing Jiang Lai’s answer, Xu Zhiyi rolled her eyes at her. “Forget it. That was exactly the answer I expected; I shouldn’t have joked with you. Saves someone the trouble of coming to pick a fight with me later.”
The woman turned and left, leaving the girl standing alone in place.
“What were you talking about with her?”
Cheng Shuyang somehow had already come to stand beside her.
“Nothing. Just chatting with Teacher Xu.”
Jiang Lai withdrew her gaze, her smile fading a little.
A bit of jealousy rose in her heart. “Seems like you’ve gotten a lot closer to Zhiyi lately.”
“It’s all right. Teacher Xu is very nice; she’s also pretty interesting to talk to, completely different from the way people talk about her outside.”
“Is that so? So in your heart, she’s that good……”
The woman didn’t know how to answer, and for a moment she fell silent.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
She raised a hand to straighten the collar that the wind had wrinkled on the girl’s clothes. Then, suddenly, the girl’s cool fingertips caught her hand back, the grip light but unmistakably firm.
“You’re very beautiful today; more beautiful than everyone else.”
The woman sighed and pulled her hand away. “You sure know how to talk.”
“It’s true. You’re even more beautiful than the person in the painting.”
The girl’s eyes shone brightly, as if stars had fallen into them.
The woman’s fingertips paused all at once. Something seemed to strike her heart, soft and trembling; the next second, it spread through her like a cloud opening inside her chest.
“So slick……”
Her tone sounded half like a complaint, half like surrender.
It made Jiang Lai itch with restlessness. What was she supposed to do? She seemed to like Aunt Cheng even more now……
The rain still fell beneath the corridor, tapping on the oil-paper umbrellas with a steady drip, just like the beating of the others’ hearts.
While listening to the man announce the rules of the competition, she carefully tugged at the woman’s sleeve.
“What is it?”
The woman rarely played along, lowering her voice to ask her.
“Can I be on the same team as you?”
Before the woman could answer, her small movement had already been noticed by the man. Director Zhang looked helpless. “A-Lai, how many times have I told you? If you have something to say, just say it out loud. Why are you whispering to Teacher Cheng again?”
Jiang Lai’s hand jerked loose in fright, and she withdrew it sulkily, hanging her head. She couldn’t help muttering in protest, “I just want to be on a team with Aunt Cheng……”
“That’s not up to you.”
Director Zhang tapped her forehead with the script, exasperated. “Follow the rules. If you want to be with Xiaoya, you’ll have to leave it to fate.”
“Fine. I was only saying it.”
Like a deflated balloon, she sneaked a glance at the woman. The woman didn’t help her either; she only lifted a brow, a smile rippling at the corner of her mouth, her eyes unable to hide their tenderness.
After the man went to find the others, Jiang Lai pouted in indignation and muttered under her breath, “Everyone else forms little cliques too; why does he only call me out……”
Gu Xizhou beside her laughed without mercy. “Who told you to make little moves right under his nose? How was it, getting scolded? Serves you right.”
Her lips twisted; pretending to feel wronged, she leaned against the woman’s side. “Aunt Cheng, look at Xizhou bullying me.”
“Mm?!”
Gu Xizhou pointed at her in shock. “Jiang Lai, that’s against the rules; you’re calling in reinforcements!”
The woman was lowering her head to fiddle with the buttons on her clothes, and Jiang Lai’s sudden movement bumped into her, making her sway slightly. A bit of weight settled onto her shoulder.
When their gazes met, the woman seemed to read the words “help me” in Jiang Lai’s eyes, looking at her pitifully.
“What’s wrong?”
With a trace of amusement in her voice, the woman gently pushed at Jiang Lai’s forehead. “You’re bullying Xizhou again, aren’t you?”
“Aunt Cheng, why would you say that about me……”
She shrank back behind the woman. “She was the one who started it.”
Gu Xizhou hurriedly waved her hands, accusing her, “Teacher Cheng, don’t listen to her nonsense. I didn’t bully her at all.”
“All right.”
The woman pulled Jiang Lai out from behind her, the smile in her eyes deepening. “Then I’ll say it back for you, okay?”
“Hey, Aunt Cheng, that’s not fair.”
Jiang Lai smiled like a little fox that had just stolen fish. “Why doesn’t that count? If you’re so capable, go find someone else to help you.”
Gu Xizhou was left speechless for a long while and could only jab her arm in resentment. “You two are ganging up on me.”
Watching the two of them bicker like grade-schoolers, the woman helplessly separated them and handed Jiang Lai a box of candies. “All right, stop fooling around. Otherwise Director Zhang is going to start nagging at you again.”
“Got it.”
Jiang Lai accepted the candy and made a face at Gu Xizhou.
Gu Xizhou stood to the side, shaking her head nonstop as she muttered, “This isn’t an aunt at all; this is practically finding herself a backer!”
Author’s Note: