The elevator beeped as it arrived at the 10th floor. The elevator doors opened, and Chai Qianning stepped out. She turned around somewhat absentmindedly and glanced back, only to find the elevator doors had already closed.
What did Sheng Muxi just say? Sheng Muxi was just explaining to her! He was actually explaining to her!
Chai Qianning scratched her head, still somewhat dazed.
He took her to meet his uncle and explained the blind date she went on last month. These were all Sheng Muxi's private matters, and she didn't need to tell her. But these were knots in her heart, and Sheng Muxi was like the one who untied the knot, helping her untie it.
Chai Qianning stood there, stunned.
Why do I feel like the other person can see right through my thoughts?
The phone in her hand vibrated. Chai Qianning swiped to open WeChat, and a message from Sheng Muxi stood out: "So, could you please stop avoiding me next time?"
Chapter 39 Confession
A few girls came out of the elevator next door, arm in arm, chatting and laughing as they walked down the corridor. Chai Qianning stepped aside to let them pass, and the motion-sensor light on the ceiling turned on.
White light slowly shone down from above, making Chai Qianning's skin appear even whiter. She fiddled with her phone case with her fingertips and slowly walked in one direction.
When she got to the door, she took out her key and hesitated to open it, only to find that the key just wouldn't fit. Looking down, she realized it wasn't the right key.
She changed the key, opened the door, went inside to change her shoes, and then slumped onto the sofa as if she had lost her weight. Her slippers were half-fallen off, and finally, with a sway, they fell to the ground with a thud.
Chai Qianning simply crossed her legs on the sofa, grabbed the little pig pillow next to her and hugged it to her chest. She opened WeChat on her phone and stared at the message that the other party had sent for a long time.
Although she had been using the back gate of the residential complex frequently to reduce the chances of running into Sheng Muxi, she hadn't been that obvious, had she? She had always assumed that he was unaware of it, but little did she know that he already knew perfectly well.
She leaned back onto the sofa, covering her face with a pig-shaped cushion. A few seconds later, feeling a little breathless, she half-turned over and looked thoughtfully at her phone lying on the sofa.
Last time she was drunk, she definitely said something! She absolutely, definitely confided something to Sheng Muxi, that's for sure!
Thinking of this, she bit her lip, picked up her phone from the sofa, and opened WeChat again.
About ten minutes have passed since Sheng Muxi sent the message, and she still hasn't replied. Will this make the other person think she's guilty?
Chai Qianning tapped the on-screen keyboard, her fingers hovering over the 26 keys for a moment as she pondered how to reply and how to phrase her words more effectively.
Finally, she typed the message, added an emoji, checked it again, and sent it: 【I wasn't hiding from you (laughs)】
Since the other party had seen through her thoughts, she no longer wanted to tell the truth.
If you try to cover it up, you'll only make it more obvious. So you'll try to cover it up to the very end.
Not long after, Sheng Muxi replied: {Really not? (laughs)}
Looking at the "smiling" emoji that followed the other person's message—the same one as her previous one—she hesitated for a moment before replying: 【Really!】
Sheng Muxi: [Okay, I believe you.]
Chai Qianning stared at her phone screen, her long, curled eyelashes fluttering, and quickly typed: 【Do you believe everything I say?】
Sheng Muxi: [Well, at least on the surface, we have to believe it.]
That's not necessarily true.
Chai Qianning: ...
Originally, Chai Qianning wanted to confirm with her whether she had spoken the truth when she was drunk last time, but after hesitating for a long time, she finally didn't send the message. After all, it was quite embarrassing to bring it up.
The short holiday is over, and the weather is finally starting to cool down.
Summer's last days fled in a night rain, leaving only shadows in the popsicles in the old-fashioned refrigerators of the old shops in the old town, and in the people who went out in short sleeves in the morning and stood on the platform with their arms crossed against the wind in the evening, waiting for the bus.
I put on a loose long-sleeved sweatshirt, smelled the aroma of roasted chestnuts wafting from the street, and saw the camphor trees with their red, yellow, and green hues, and the ground beneath the sycamore trees covered in golden yellow.
Chai Shuqing only brought a few thin long-sleeved shirts to school, and He Xiaoying asked Chai Qianning to bring her a few jackets and thicker long-sleeved shirts over the phone.
That day, Chai Qianning packed a bag of clothes and put it on the back seat of her car. When she arrived at the school gate, she heard the bell ringing at the teaching building. She timed it and sent a message to Chai Shuqing, then picked up the clothes and went into the guardhouse.
I waited in the guardhouse for almost ten minutes before I saw Chai Shuqing running over.
Seeing that the other person was still wearing a school uniform short-sleeved shirt, Chai Qianning pinched the sleeve on her arm and said reproachfully, "Why are you still wearing short sleeves? What if you catch a cold?"
"I'm not cold." Chai Shuqing picked up a bag of clothes.
"Look around your school, who's still wearing short sleeves?"
"Yes, I have."
The words had barely left his mouth.
Chai Qianning saw a group of high school boys, wearing short sleeves, rushing past the guardhouse.
Well, young people are generally more resistant to the cold.
She straightened Chai Shuqing's collar and instructed, "Don't follow their example. Put on long sleeves properly."
"I have my school uniform jacket in the classroom, so I can wear it if I get cold."
"Put on long sleeves inside too, do you hear me?"
Under Chai Qianning's multiple "threats," Chai Shuqing reluctantly agreed, but still had to bite the bullet.
In the afternoon, Chai Qianning went to Tongwan Alley and gave the things He Xiaoying had asked her to pass on to Aunt Jiang's family.
As Chai Qianning walked out of the alley, her shoes rustled as she stepped on the path covered with fallen leaves.
Across the street, stacks of things were drying in the sun. Sheng Muxi walked out from the corner of the wall, where vines were growing everywhere, and bumped right into Chai Qianning.
Chai Qianning greeted her with a smile: "Teacher Sheng, do you have relatives living here? This is the second time I've met you here."
“We’re not exactly relatives, but we’re almost like family.” Sheng Muxi walked alongside her. “My former teacher lives here.”
"Teacher? High school teacher?"
"No, a primary school teacher."
"You've had such a good relationship with your elementary school teacher for over ten years, haven't you? You visit her often?"
"Pretty much. When I was in elementary school, I often stayed at this teacher's house."
Just as Chai Qianning was about to ask why, she suddenly remembered what Sheng Muxi had told her in the elevator: her biological father had passed away a long time ago, and her mother and stepfather didn't take care of her much, so she immediately understood.
"Xiao Liu".
A woman with graying hair turned out from the corner where Sheng Muxi had just come out, walked to Sheng Muxi's side, and handed her a warm package: "These are homemade pies, all packaged up. I forgot to give them to you earlier."
Sheng Muxi took it and introduced it to Chai Qianning: "This is the elementary school teacher I just told you about, Ni Chujing, Teacher Ni."
The woman was getting on in years, but her back remained straight. She wore small-rimmed glasses, and wrinkles etched at the corners of her eyes. Yet, glimpses of her youthful beauty still lingered in her features, and she possessed a gentle grace honed by the passage of time.
Chai Qianning nodded and smiled at her: "Hello, Teacher Ni, I'm Xiao Liu's friend."
When Sheng Muxi first heard Chai Qianning call her by this nickname, a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes.
"Hello, please don't call me teacher anymore, I'm not a teacher anymore," Ni Chujing said with a gentle smile.
“You were Xiao Liu’s teacher, so it’s only right that I call you teacher,” Chai Qianning said.
The three of them stood under the sycamore tree and chatted for a while.
Ni Chujing has a very easy personality and she gets along with Chai Qianning like family in just a few minutes.
Ni Chujing had a good impression of Chai Qianning and even said she would go upstairs and get her another pie.
Sheng Muxi said, "Teacher Ni, I have some here. We can each have half. The pies you made are too big; one is enough."
Ni Chujing then gave up, kindly telling them they could come and visit her more often before leaving.
Walking on the thick layer of fallen leaves, Sheng Muxi opened the paper bag, tore the pie in half, wrapped one half in a tissue and held it by the bottom, then gave the half with the paper bag to Chai Qianning.
The pie was still warm, and it smelled delicious when I ate it.
Chai Qianning called her by her nickname, "Xiao Liu".
Sheng Muxi nudged her shoulder.
She smiled and turned to look at Sheng Muxi: "Teacher Sheng, your nickname sounds so good. Shall I call you that from now on?"
Sheng Muxi felt it sounded a bit strange coming from her, and muttered, "Maybe you shouldn't call me by my nickname anymore."
"Okay, Xiao Liu."
".."
Chai Qianning called her "Teacher Sheng" again with a grin, then happily took a bite of the pie, seemingly forgetting the embarrassing incident from a while ago.
A few days later, taking advantage of the weekend, Chai Qianning invited Sheng Muxi out for a meal.
The location is on the second floor of a food stall.
The two ordered some barbecue. Chai Qianning asked the waiter to replace all the beer on the table with coconut juice, and since she hadn't eaten dinner, she also ordered fried rice noodles.
Sheng Muxi glanced at the beer being taken away by the waiter, then looked thoughtfully at Chai Qianning: "Are you going to quit drinking?"
"Drinking alcohol is bad for your health."
Actually, it was because of the last time she got drunk that Chai Qianning was still traumatized.
"Never touches a drop of alcohol, is that all there is to health?"
Chai Qianning raised her eyebrows smugly: "Of course."
Sheng Muxi pondered for a moment, as if he had understood something.
They really were health-conscious; Chai Qianning then ordered a small pot of pork tripe and ginseng chicken soup, and the two of them ate until they were stuffed.
Halfway through their meal, a man at the table two tables away from them, having drunk too much, fell off his chair and onto the floor. His face flushed, he blurted out his true feelings about his first love, how many regrets he had. His friends teased him and sighed with emotion. After paying the bill, they pulled the drunk man out of the food stall.
Chai Qianning withdrew her gaze from outside and asked casually, "Teacher Sheng, when I was drunk last time, I didn't tell the truth?"
Upon hearing this, Sheng Muxi was visibly taken aback. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, lowered her head, took a sip of the chicken soup in her bowl, and slowly uttered, "I said a little bit."
Chai Qianning rested her elbow on the table and quietly asked her, "What did you say?"
Sheng Muxi looked up and met Chai Qianning's smiling gaze. She looked away slightly and her eyes fell on a woman at the next table who had brought her child to eat barbecue. Then she lowered her eyelashes and noticed out of the corner of her eye that the woman was waiting expectantly for her answer.
She hesitated for a few seconds, but still said, "You said...you like me."
A child's crying came from the next table, but the noise from the other people in the store drowned out their conversation.
Sheng Muxi's voice was soft and gentle, but Chai Qianning still managed to catch those few words: You said you like me.
It turns out that, without her knowledge, she had already confessed her feelings to Sheng Muxi.