Jian You’s room at her teacher’s house was very girly.
The old couple had finally managed to convince Jian You to come home for the holidays, and they immediately set about decorating and designing the room. To show their sincerity, they did everything themselves. But since they had never raised a daughter, they relied entirely on stereotypes.
Everything was pink. The bed was a princess bed, with a canopy of the same color that draped from the ceiling to the floor. The bedsheets and duvet cover, full of girlish charm, were embroidered with hopping bunnies, cute and lively.
There was even a Barbie doll on the desk.
Before leading Yun Chu in, Jian You seriously stopped her outside the door. “Wait a minute.”
Yun Chu stood at attention.
Jian You: “…Promise me one thing.”
Yun Chu: “Please, go ahead, Teacher Jian.”
Jian You: “You’re not allowed to laugh when you go in.”
Yun Chu: “Okay!”
Jian You: “Swear it.”
Yun Chu raised three fingers to the heavens and swore, “I swear!”
Jian You nodded, then hesitated as she was about to push the door open. “What if you laugh?”
Yun Chu thought for a moment. “Then I won’t eat dinner tonight!”
Jian You frowned. “But you’ll be hungry.”
Yun Chu said, “Then I won’t speak for the whole night!”
Jian You: “…Won’t you suffocate?”
Yun Chu: “Do I talk a lot?”
Jian You: “More than just a lot.”
Yun Chu: “…”
She gave Jian You a gentle push. “Alright, I promise I won’t laugh. I really won’t.”
Jian You’s fingertips on the doorknob twitched. Amidst Yun Chu’s unconscious coquetry, she didn’t ask for any more promises and just pushed the door open. She saw Yun Chu’s mouth drop open in surprise. She said, expressionless, “Welcome to the princess’s room.”
Half a minute later, Yun Chu rushed into the room, squealing, “What a beautiful room!”
Jian You: “?”
Yun Chu asked, “Can I lie on the bed?”
Jian You: “…Be my guest.”
The words had barely left her mouth when Yun Chu threw herself onto the bed. Looking through the canopy at the star-shaped lights on the ceiling, she had a blissful expression on her face. “When I was little, I really wanted a room just like this, but my grandma refused to decorate it for me. She said it would be the greatest insult to her aesthetic sense.”
She turned her head to ask Jian You, who was still standing at the door, “How did Teacher Zhang agree to decorate a room like this?”
Jian You closed the door. “By compromising some of his aesthetic principles.”
“Teacher Zhang and Teacher Huang are so good to you.” Yun Chu rolled over and propped her chin on her hands, lying on her stomach. “I wish I could live here forever!”
For the last set of the magazine shoot, she had worn her own clothes. To look good on camera, she had worn a thin dress. Now, the golden light of the setting sun streamed in through the window, and she was bathed in that inch of light. It cast a filter over her slightly curled short hair, giving her a kind of sacred beauty.
Jian You looked away, glanced disdainfully at the pink desk and chair, and pulled the chair over to sit down. “They are indeed very good to me.”
For her, although this room didn’t match her aesthetic and she had to mentally prepare herself every time she came in, it was, like her own house in Qingyao Alley, her safe harbor, her place of comfort.
And the person on her bed, like an uninvited guest, had first barged into her safe harbor and was now lying in her place of comfort.
She was spoiling her.
The uninvited guest: “So I’ll be sleeping here tonight?”
Jian You: “…”
She turned around, picked up the Barbie doll from the desk, and initially didn’t want to answer Yun Chu. But Yun Chu was insistent, demanding an answer. She put the doll down and retorted, “You’re my girlfriend now. If you don’t sleep here, where will you sleep?”
Yun Chu: “…Oh.”
Jian You thought for a moment and added, “My pretend girlfriend.”
Yun Chu let out a hum.
There was still some time before dinner, and one of Zhang Chenyao’s students was visiting, saying he wanted to ask his teacher some questions. Zhang Chenyao wanted to introduce him to Jian You, so he called her downstairs to entertain him.
Jian You glanced at Yun Chu, who was wandering around the room admiring the various girly decorations, and hesitated. “I have a guest here too.”
Zhang Chenyao: A girlfriend isn’t a guest; she’s family.
Jian You: “…”
They’ve only met once, and she’s already family.
What kind of magic did Yun Chu possess? She had only chatted with her teacher on the way here, and she had immediately won him over. He was practically eager for her to go get a marriage certificate with Yun Chu right away. Just before they reached the house, her teacher had held her back and, with great foresight, instructed her, “You have to hold on to her tight. Don’t let her run off with someone else.”
She thought to herself, how could she run? It’s not like I’ve caught her yet.
Jian You replied: Coming down now.
“One of Teacher’s students is downstairs. I have to go down for a bit.” Jian You stood up and looked around. “You, you rest here. The bathroom is over there. There are pajamas in the closet, but they’re all from my university days, nothing new. If you mind…”
She paused. “Even if you mind, there’s nothing new.”
Yun Chu: “…”
She laughed out loud. “I don’t mind.”
Jian You nodded thoughtfully. She opened the door, then remembered something else. “The disposable underwear is in my suitcase.”
Yun Chu’s face turned red. “…Oh.”
Her voice was small, as if she were shy. Jian You’s heart was gently struck again. Before she could start blushing too, she quickly pushed the door open and left, managing to maintain her composure as she went downstairs.
Huang Yalan, who had just come out of the kitchen, teased her, “Why is your face so red? What were you doing upstairs?”
Jian You straightened up. “I wasn’t doing anything.”
Huang Yalan: “Really?”
Jian You: “Yes!”
Huang Yalan: “I don’t believe you.”
Jian You: “…Teacher’s wife!”
Upstairs.
Yun Chu wandered around the room, liking it more and more. Although she was past the age of liking such a princess-like room, the thought of Jian You having spent so much time here, feeling both awkward and fond of it, was just adorable.
Awkward because it really didn’t suit her aesthetic.
Fond because she was truly being cherished and doted on.
The clothes in the closet must have been washed regularly. A fresh, slightly sweet scent drifted out. They were all from a long time ago, some bought by Jian You herself, others gifts from her teacher and his wife, all mixed together like a splash of paint, dazzling to the eye.
She looked at them one by one, feeling as if she were peeking into the inexperienced past of a Jian You she had never known.
She thought, the year Jian You started university, she was only in her first year of high school. The sun on the first day of school was so strong, making the asphalt road shine. The vendors at the school gate were hawking book covers. Full of anticipation for high school, she and Zhou Zhitao had run into the campus, and even the wind blowing was scorching hot.
On that same day, Jian You, already famous, had dragged her suitcase to the film academy alone.
What was she thinking then? What was her mood like? Was it anticipation or fear? Who was the first person to speak to her? And how did she, step by step, go from inexperienced to mature, to where she was today?
Yun Chu finally chose a black nightdress. It had a mature, feminine style, and the fabric was silky and soft to the touch. It was a bit old and looked like it had been worn often. It had Jian You’s scent on it. She tied her slightly curled short hair into a bun at the back of her head and quickly took a shower.
When she came out, Jian You was already back.
She was sitting at the desk with her back to her, flipping through a book, seemingly looking for something. The pages of the paper book turned one after another, making a soft rustling sound. Halfway through, she suddenly noticed the sound of the water had stopped. She paused, then turned her head. “Why didn’t you make a sound?”
The bathroom door was open. In the steam, the warm mist fogged up the frosted glass door before turning into droplets and falling down. Yun Chu’s face was damp. Her makeup was removed, revealing her red lips and white teeth, a clean and pure beauty.
“The scene was too beautiful; I couldn’t bear to disturb it.” Yun Chu wiped her face with a face towel and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed. She asked casually, “What are you looking for?”
“My old class notes.”
The student who had come to visit her teacher knew she was there too. He had come on behalf of the entire directing department, hoping to get her notes for a certain subject, and promised that if she ever needed anything, she could pick any student from the directing department to work for her, no pay required.
Upon hearing this, Yun Chu said, “Who is this really benefiting?”
After all, if one could intern on Jian You’s film set, there would be people willing to pay for the opportunity. It was a brilliant addition to a graduation resume.
Jian You hummed in agreement. “I’ll have them move bricks on the set when the time comes.”
Yun Chu: “We’ll never let them get away with free labor!”
Jian You glanced at her, and her gaze froze. Yun Chu had taken out her hair tie, and her damp hair was sweeping across her fair neck without a care, leaving faint trails of water like tiny beads of sweat, falling into an unknown place.
Yun Chu tucked the hair behind her ear and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Jian You said, “This nightdress-”
Yun Chu: “Hm?”
“I bought it at a street stall.” Jian You took out her notes and handed a travel-sized set of toner and lotion to Yun Chu. “Guess how much it cost?”
A street stall?
This was beyond Yun Chu’s knowledge. She patted the toner haphazardly onto her face and thought for a moment before guessing, “Eighty?”
Jian You shook her head. “Fifteen.”
Yun Chu: “!”
She was shocked. “That cheap?”
“Mhm.” Jian You looked at the black rose pattern on the nightdress and said, “My mom took me to buy it after my college entrance exams. She’s very good at bargaining. In just a few words, she got the price down to fifteen.”
The stall owner clearly knew her mother. While packing it up, she said, “Alright, your daughter is so pretty, I’ll just give it to you as a gift. Finished with the college entrance exams? How did you do? Look how happy your mom is. You must have done well, right?”
At that time, the results weren’t out yet, but her estimated score was good, so she should have been safely admitted. So she nodded with a smile. “It was okay.”
The stall owner was happy too and gave her a pair of socks as a gift.
Even after so many years, she still remembered the weather on the small island where she grew up that day. The calm before a storm, the wind blowing long and steady down the street, the salty, humid smell in the air. The stall owner had looked up and said, “A typhoon is coming.”
Later, a typhoon really did come.
“Your mom is amazing!” Yun Chu’s voice broke her out of her memories. She came back to her senses and saw that Yun Chu had put the toner and lotion on the table. She asked with sparkling eyes, “So, do you know how to bargain?”
Jian You thought for a moment. “…I never learned.”
Yun Chu let out a disappointed “ah.” “How could you not learn such a great skill?”
Jian You suddenly changed the subject. “Don’t look at me when you sleep tonight.”
Yun Chu asked, “Not even if I pay?”
Jian You thought for a moment. “Two thousand five hundred a minute.”
Yun Chu protested, “How can you raise the price on the spot? Let me tell you, Teacher Jian, I actually wasn’t planning on looking at you, but then I thought, since you’ve named a price, it wouldn’t be right not to pay, since it’s not like I can’t afford it. But you can’t just raise the price like that, can you?”
Jian You’s expression didn’t change. “Three thousand.”
Yun Chu: “One thousand.”
Jian You: “Two thousand two hundred.”
Yun Chu: “One thousand five hundred.”
Downstairs, Huang Yalan called them for dinner. Jian You answered, then said to Yun Chu, “You seem to have mastered bargaining without any lessons.”
Yun Chu: “…”
To avoid unnecessary trouble, the visiting student took Jian You’s notes and left before Yun Chu came down. The young man pounded his chest with a single fist. “Senior, just say the word if you need anything.”
Jian You wasn’t shy. “Leave your contact info. I’ll have my assistant add you. I’ll look for you when my new drama starts filming.”
After the student left, Yun Chu came down. She hadn’t eaten much for lunch, and the smell of food immediately made her hungry. She went to the kitchen to help carry out the dishes. “It smells so good. I could eat two bowls of rice!”
Huang Yalan laughed. “If you can eat, then eat more. Look how skinny you are.”
“Also,” she took off her apron and sat down, asking Jian You, “when do you two plan to go public with your relationship? Do you still have to record that dating show? I read online that it’s not a one-on-one show, and you might have to date other people. What will you do then?”
The string of questions made Yun Chu dizzy, but Jian You was calm. “The contract for the variety show is signed, so we still have to record it. But it’s all scripted, so we don’t have to be too emotionally invested.”
Huang Yalan nodded. She usually preferred watching comedy shows and hadn’t seen many dating shows. “So they’re all scripted.”
“What variety show isn’t scripted these days?” Zhang Chenyao took off his glasses, put his tablet aside, and gave Yun Chu a kind smile. “Xiao Chu, Jian You has never been in a relationship. If she does anything wrong, please bear with her.”
Yun Chu poked at the rice in her bowl, glanced shyly at Jian You, and said in a small voice, “Teacher Jian is very good.”
Jian You also took a bite of rice.
And gave Yun Chu’s performance a ten out of ten. She was indeed a talented and spirited actress.
At first, Jian You had been worried that Yun Chu would feel uncomfortable in a strange place, but she soon discovered that her worries were unnecessary. Yun Chu clearly had a bit of a social butterfly in her. The conversation flowed freely. Zhang Chenyao, sipping his wine, slapped the table. “Did I really punish you by making you move equipment on set?”
Yun Chu laughed. “Yes, it was for a drama about educated youth going to the countryside.”
Zhang Chenyao remembered. “I recall Jian You was on that set too, right?”
Jian You: “I was.”
“See, it’s all thanks to me,” Zhang Chenyao said. “You two met several years earlier than you would have. Why didn’t you talk on set back then? Otherwise, you might not have needed a dating show and could have just gotten married. Let’s have a drink.”
Zhang Chenyao had wine, Yun Chu had juice. The old and the young drank together congenially.
This congeniality led to them talking about Jian You. By the time Jian You wanted to stop them, it was too late. Zhang Chenyao was clearly drunk and couldn’t be stopped once he got going. “Jian You’s film, Code Name Twenty-One, the one that won the university student director award. I went to find her after watching it. She was only twenty at the time, right?”
“Just turned twenty,” Jian You said.
“She had a ponytail, wore a white dress, and looked very young. I asked her if she was willing to be my student. Guess what she said?”
“What did she say?” Yun Chu was curious.
Jian You put her hand to her forehead and shot a look at her teacher’s wife, only to find that her teacher’s wife seemed even more enthusiastic than Yun Chu, though she was more interested in Yun Chu’s reaction.
Jian You: “…”
“She asked me if she could make money. I said of course, more money than she was making as a ghostwriter for other people under a different name. She said, okay, I’m willing. Then I asked her, what if you couldn’t make money, would you still agree?”
“What did Teacher Jian say?” Yun Chu pressed.
The moment the words left her mouth, she felt a murderous gaze from across the table. A chill ran down her spine, but then she remembered that even with that murderous gaze, Jian You still had to let Zhang Chenyao finish. So she straightened her back and continued to be curious.
Jian You: “…”
Was this still the little actress who followed her around calling her Teacher Jian?
Zhang Chenyao took another sip of wine, looked at Jian You with satisfaction, and said, “She said, ‘I would still be willing. Because some things are more important than money.’ I knew then that this child had a great future ahead of her.”
Yun Chu looked at Jian You, her eyes seeming to sparkle.
Jian You really wanted to chug her drink too.
“She isn’t confined by the form of film. She has talent and can try any genre. She can be fantastical, and she can be down-to-earth. She is a real person, and she has desires. And only a real person can create what people want to see. She is truly a student of mine, Zhang Chenyao!”
Yun Chu deeply agreed. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Jian You was embarrassed. “Why are you talking about this?”
“I’m happy.” Zhang Chenyao raised his glass to Yun Chu. “Our Jian You became my student in her sophomore year. It’s been almost six years now. I’ve taught her everything I can, and she has surpassed me, becoming the best director. But there’s one thing I can’t teach her: how to be in a relationship.”
He pointed at Yun Chu. “You teach her. Teach her well. She’s so smart; she’ll definitely get a perfect score in every subject.”
Yun Chu stood up, clinked her glass with his, and nodded seriously. “Teacher Zhang, don’t worry! I will!”
She said it with such confidence.
As if she were really her girlfriend.
Jian You also took a sip of juice. The freshly squeezed orange juice had a bit of sugar in it, and the sweetness only spread between her lips and teeth after she swallowed. Jian You freed a hand to text Yun Chu: “Teacher gets a little tipsy and likes to talk nonsense. Don’t take it to heart.”
A moment later, Yun Chu replied: Got it. Teacher Jian, my acting is pretty good, right?
Jian You: Ten out of ten.
Yun Chu: The full score isn’t a hundred, is it?
Jian You: The full score is ten.
Yun Chu: [Surprised]
Jian You: Eat.
Yun Chu: Okay~
Yun Chu: [Cute puppy wagging tail.jpg]
Jian You’s hand itched for a moment. She wanted to pet Liuyue.
Before bed, Yun Chu received a series of frantic calls from Chen Jing. She was busy drying her underwear at the time and didn’t hear them. It was Jian You, who was lying in bed watching a movie after her shower, who reminded her, “Chen Jing is messaging you.”
Without thinking, Yun Chu asked, “What did she say?”
Jian You glanced at the constantly lighting-up screen and said, “She’s asking who you ran off with, where you’re messing around, and that you’d better not get into any other scandals while you’re in a CP with me.”
Yun Chu: “…”
She turned her head stiffly. “Teacher Jian, that’s not what she meant…”
“She’s not wrong,” Jian You pressed play again. “While you’re in a CP with me, it’s best not to get entangled with other people. Otherwise, it will make me look very cuckolded.”
Yun Chu: “…”
How unjust! Who had she gotten entangled with? She had only gone to a bar for a drink with Jiang Yu, and she had Zhou Zhitao hiding at her house. But with heaven and earth as her witness, she was completely innocent!
Jian You: “She’s calling you.”
This time, Yun Chu didn’t dare let Jian You answer. She trotted over, putting on her down jacket as she answered the call and closed the balcony door. On the other end, Chen Jing had already exploded. “Where are you? Why aren’t you answering your phone or replying to messages? Xiao An told me you suddenly decided to stay and ski and even made her go back to the hotel by herself, threatening to fire her if she didn’t. Is that true?”
“Uh,” Yun Chu zipped up her jacket. “Yes, that’s what happened.”
“Well, aren’t you something? Acting like a big shot before you’re even famous?”
“No, let me explain!”
“Go on, make something up.”
“I ran into Teacher Jian at the ski resort!”
“…”
“Why are you so quiet?”
“I’m thinking about how the fate between you and Jian You is just unbelievable. Did you put a tracker on her so you could run into her?”
“What are you talking about! I went to the ski resort first, okay? And I was there for work!”
“And then? Who did Jian You go with?”
“With her teacher and his wife!”
“Holy crap.”
“Don’t swear.”
“I’ll be damned!”
“…”
“Don’t tell me you’re at Zhang Chenyao’s house right now!”
“Mhm, I am.”
“I %…@*¥jhgipp!” Chen Jing was too excited to speak coherently. “Yun Chu, I really wasn’t wrong about you! You even made it into Zhang Chenyao’s house! Crap, crap, crap!”
“Calm down.”
Chen Jing calmed down for a moment and asked, “By the way, what are you doing now?”
“Getting ready for bed with Teacher Jian.”
“!”
“?”
“I’m not interrupting you two, am I?”
“…We’re just sleeping! Closing our eyes! Sleeping!” Yun Chu got agitated and inadvertently swallowed a mouthful of cold air, coughing a couple of times. She stomped her foot. “I’m not talking to you anymore. It’s too cold outside.”
Chen Jing also knew her place. “Alright, you go get some rest.”
“By the way,” Yun Chu paused her hand on the balcony door. A layer of mist had formed on the glass, making Jian You in the room look like a flower in the fog, possessing a hazy beauty. Yun Chu said, “Isn’t it almost Christmas? The live broadcast is at the recording location, right? It’s close to here anyway, and I don’t have anything to do in Yunzhou, so I thought I’d just go early.”
Chen Jing thought for a moment. “That works. I’ll let the director know.” She added a reminder, “I can’t make it for the live broadcast, so be careful what you say.”
“Got it.” Yun Chu hung up, pushed open the balcony door, and in an instant, shut the biting wind outside again.
The wind that had slipped through blew the canopy curtains.
Jian You looked up. “Finished with the call?”
Yun Chu: “Mhm…”
Jian You: “Let’s sleep.”
With that, she closed her tablet, placed it on the bedside table, and lay down. A moment later, she heard Yun Chu’s footsteps approaching, light and soft. Then, the bed beside her dipped.
The covers were lifted.
Jian You stiffened for a moment. “The spare blankets are all in Teacher’s room. It’s not convenient to get them.”
After all, they were a couple. Sleeping under two separate blankets would be a bit strange.
Yun Chu also let out a stiff “ah” and lay down beside her. She turned off the glass chandelier, leaving only a dim red table lamp on. The night suddenly became very quiet. Yun Chu looked at the ceiling, feeling like she was in a dream.
She had unexpectedly stumbled into Jian You’s youth, learning about her past. Even if it was just a small corner, she treasured it.
She turned on her side, looking at Jian You in the dim light.
Jian You’s breathing had become steady, as if she were asleep. Yun Chu said softly, “Teacher Jian, the day you took me home, I kissed you, right?”
The sound of breathing was right by her ear, slow and long.
She licked her lips and mustered her courage. “…You can kiss me back.”
Jian You still didn’t say anything.
She must be asleep. Yun Chu couldn’t help but feel disappointed. She sighed inwardly and closed her eyes as well. After all, she had woken up early and worked for half the day. Drowsiness washed over her, and her consciousness began to fade.
Just as she was about to fall into a deep sleep, she felt something brush against her forehead.
Like a butterfly lightly touching her fingertips on a spring day years ago.
It tickled.
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