As noon approached, Yu Bei naturally didn't wait for Chen Qingning to slowly copy out those twenty-five random checks. He came back with his cup, took a sip of cold-brewed tea: "Next time."
The girl below looked up: "Why?"
Yu Bei said: "Come find me when you've prepared the questions."
"Hey," her brows knitted together: "How can you be like this? You're the one who said start, and you're the one who suddenly ends it."
Chen Qingning picked up the paper in front of her, tapping it with her other hand: "I've already written three."
Yu Bei hadn't seen such standard elementary-school handwriting in a long time.
He almost instinctively looked at Chen Qingning's face again to confirm her age.
Standing her up at the last minute wasn't his wish, but he didn't want to delay his lunch and nap time. So he said: "I'll write them."
Chen Qingning put down the paper: "What do you mean?"
"I'll write the questions and find you." Yu Bei said: "Send me those two video links."
Chen Qingning's expression shifted effortlessly as she seized the opportunity to raise the stakes: "Why don't you just watch all twenty-five of my check-in videos?"
Yu Bei didn't haggle with her, just nodded.
Chen Qingning stuffed the paper back into her bag. When she looked up again, Yu Bei had already set down his mug and was tidying up the materials and laptop in front of him. She asked: "You have something to do now?"
"It's mealtime."
Just as he finished speaking, the morning dismissal bell rang. Yu Bei went to grab his navy-blue windbreaker from the hook behind the door, slipped it on, adjusting his collar as he did: "Remember to close the office door."
Chen Qingning stood up from behind the desk, the chair legs scraping against the floor: "You're not taking me to lunch?"
Yu Bei glanced back: "Aren't you eating with Qu Xiao?"
Chen Qingning decisively chose to sacrifice family ties, hurriedly grabbing her down jacket, untying her bundled hair, and clattering over with her bag: "Does it matter who I eat with?"
Yu Bei, as always, was oblivious to romance: "It's the same, isn't it? Any other dishes?"
Chen Qingning gathered her long hair at the back of her head: "You've got me as a side dish to go with your wine."
Yu Bei looked like he was about to smile but didn't, shaking his head almost imperceptibly as he stepped out the door.
"Yu Bei, you're baiting me." She kept up with his long, brisk strides: "Well, congratulations then — I'm way prettier than Baduanjin and the Diamond Sutra, and way smarter too. You'll just need to prepare a bigger tank for me, preferably bigger than your bed."
Yu Bei found it absurd.
And somewhat numbing.
In just a few short days, he seemed to have already grown accustomed to her lack of decorum. Qu Xiao was probably the same — otherwise, why would the woman who had been about to smile and greet them as she passed have stopped short, turned aside, and walked past as if she hadn't seen them?
Chen Qingning withdrew her hand that had been flapping behind her back to shoo her away, puzzled: "Hey? Wasn't that Qu Xiao just now? Why didn't she acknowledge me?"
Yu Bei: "Did you greet her?"
"Nope." She slipped into an odd Cantonese accent: "But I looked at her."
Yu Bei said nothing.
"It's all because you're too intimidating." Chen Qingning glanced sideways, measuring the corridor's width with her eyes: "You take up half the walkway by yourself."
Yu Bei: "You don't have to walk with me."
"How could that work? The fish follows its master." She made two popping sounds with her lips.
Yu Bei ordered the tomato-braised sole fillet at the counter, and the cafeteria auntie brought him a full bowl of white rice.
The girl beside him had an unfamiliar face; the auntie guessed she was a new teacher and, when serving her, heaped a whole bowlful with enthusiasm. But the girl extended her index finger and waved it, signaling her to scoop out half. The auntie complied, yet she still shook her head. The auntie kept reducing it until only a small mouthful remained at the bottom of the bowl — only then did she accept it with delight.
"You didn't even wait for me to walk with you!" As she sat down across from Yu Bei, Chen Qingning's soup bowl splashed out droplets of displeasure.
The culprit, playing the victim, complained: "Ew — this table is so dirty."
Yu Bei glanced at the soup stain on the table: "What about your patterned tissue?"
Chen Qingning paused, then couldn't help but laugh: "Teacher Yu pays so much attention to me — remembering details like that so clearly."
Yu Bei didn't look up, just continued eating.
Across from him, she was quiet for less than five seconds before a plaintive whine drifted out: "My instant noodles are all gone."
Yu Bei paused his chopsticks: "There's a small door behind the cafeteria. Go out and turn left, there's a supermarket."
Chen Qingning half-joked: "Walmart?"
"Sam's Club." Yu Bei replied coolly, watching as the girl picked through her stainless steel tray. The egg-fried chives that the auntie had packed in so firmly were quickly reduced to a messy nest.
She let out several giggles.
She picked up a small piece of scrambled egg and put it in her mouth, mumbling: "I'm naturally terrible with directions. I don't know the little Sam's Club Teacher Yu mentioned. Could you take me for a stroll after we eat?"
Yu Bei lowered his head and sent Qu Xiao a WeChat message, telling her to take the child home.
"I got the WeChat message, so I can't exactly pretend I didn't see it, right?" Qu Xiao accompanied Chen Qingning as she wandered between the shelves. After a long while, not a single item had made it into the shopping basket. She explained as she reminded the graceful figure ahead of her: "Are you sure you don't want to grab some instant noodles or pastries? I noticed you barely touched your lunch."
"With Yu Bei being such an appetite killer, how could I eat?" Chen Qingning clenched her fingers: "I've thrown everything I've got at him!"
Qu Xiao was confused: "Did you fall in love with Teacher Yu at first sight?"
She was rather puzzled.
In her established understanding, Chen Qingning should have been the type who remained untouched by any leaf, the kind who could drive all men to the rooftop collectively. Why would she be so fixated on a Yu Bei?
Admittedly, their school was in a remote location with a shortage of teachers, and Teacher Yu was striking in appearance—could be called a handsome man—but she didn't believe that someone with Chen Qingning's external attributes would lack for stunning companions.
Chen Qingning looked back at him with utterly incredulous eyes: "You're so old-fashioned. Do you have to love someone to chase them?"
Qu Xiao was puzzled: "If you don't like him, why bother doing all this useless work?"
Chen Qingning's answer was infuriatingly smug: "Because there's nothing in this world that requires my effort."
Her way of living wasn't about necessity—only about willingness.
That evening, Chen Qingning received another video call from her mother. She was in the middle of applying a face mask, speaking slowly and expressionlessly, when she caught a glimpse of a sleeve flashing past behind the leather sofa. The mask shifted halfway across her face as she pointed at the screen and demanded, "That's Chen Yu'en, isn't it?"
Shen Minhua's smile turned slightly bitter as she covered for him: "Is there?"
Chen Qingning said, "Then the house must be haunted! Mom, you're hiding another man!"
"What nonsense are you talking about!" An orange-peel-skinned old face shoved close to the phone screen.
Hmph, Chen Qingning scoffed, deliberately forcing a bored smile: "Oh, it's just my dad, that ugly guy."
Chen Yu'en leaned in: "Let me see—has our little Ningbao lost weight?"
Chen Qingning immediately sucked in her cheeks: "Skin and bones now."
Chen Yu'en sat up straight and asked, "Are you adjusting well?"
"Could I be?" Chen Qingning always reported the bad news first, never the good. Her eyes rolled thoughtfully for a moment before she asked her father, "The teacher assigned to me—did you arrange that?"
"Principal Lin arranged it."
"Oh."
Chen Yu'en grew suspicious: "Is the person no good?"
That handsome-but-annoying face flashed through Chen Qingning's mind: "A wonderful person."
Chen Yu'en relaxed.
The dorm had no underfloor heating. Stepping out of the bathroom after a shower, the sharp temperature contrast made Chen Qingning sneeze twice in a row.
Ever since gaining a new roommate, Qu Xiao had never worn both earbuds at once again. She turned her head and asked, "Are you catching a cold?"
"No." Chen Qingning was filing her toenails—big toe, second toe—methodically, and didn't pay attention to the two dings from her laptop.
Yu Bei wasn't the only one who'd gone numb; Qu Xiao had also become accustomed to playing messenger. Sipping her bedtime milk and reading web novels, she called out to Chen Qingning: "Check WeChat. Teacher Yu is looking for you."
"Huh?" Chen Qingning paused her "sawing" hand, blew on it, picked up an alcohol wipe to clean it, and only then opened WeChat.
Yu Bei: Got a minute?
Yu Bei: Video call.
Her chest gave a little thump. What was this—both abrupt and oddly smooth? Chen Qingning was baffled as she slowly typed, channeling her inner ancient-poetry girl: What business do you have?
Yu Bei: Spot check.
Chen Qingning gritted her teeth: Is this a spot check? This is a surprise inspection.
Yu Bei quoted his first message: ?
Chen Qingning spouted nonsense: I'm in the shower.
The chat box went silent for a moment. Yu Bei: You're busy.
Chen Qingning collapsed laughing at her desk. Once she finally recovered, she immediately sent a video call back.
The other end clearly hesitated for a moment before picking up.
Seeing her own grinning row of little white teeth on the screen, looking slightly arrogant, Chen Qingning pressed her lips together, forced the corners of her mouth up, and waved at the stern-faced man.
He didn't acknowledge her friendliness. Head lowered, flipping through something, he stated his purpose directly: "I don't have much time tomorrow, so let's finish this tonight."
He looked up—and saw the girl's upper face suddenly enlarged on screen. She'd apparently just showered; her hair was several shades darker from the dampness, creating a stark contrast with her skin. Water trails wound down her smooth forehead as she studied him seriously while rubbing them away.
"What is it?" Her eyes had removed the contact lenses, revealing their natural color—clear and dark.
She started tidying her fine baby hairs again.
Yu Bei was certain she was using the video interface as a mirror. He picked up his pen and tapped the desk twice to snap her back to attention, not playing along: "The weather is very nice today."
"Testing me right away?" The girl who loved to admire herself at every opportunity finally shrank back, looking horrified.
"Can you do it?" he asked calmly. "If not, we move on."
Chen Qingning was speechless: "That fast?! I didn't even hear the question clearly."
"The weather is very nice today." Yu Bei slowed his speech, looking straight at her through the screen.
"Let me think—wait a second—" Chen Qingning focused, tossing aside the crumpled tissue she'd used to wipe her face, rolling up her sleeves.
Her slender right hand spread out before her, bobbing up and down like lightly weighing an invisible balloon, then pointed to the sky with her index finger, made a circling motion, and finally pinched three fingers to her nose as if sniffing, before switching to a fixed thumb to indicate "good."
"Wrong," he said.
Chen Qingning frowned, questioning his judgment: "Wrong?"
Yu Bei said, "You didn't sign 'very.'"
Chen Qingning sulked: "The weather is nice today, the weather is very nice today—what's the difference?"
Yu Bei lowered his eyes, pressed on his phone, pulled up one of the videos from their chat history, and held it up to face her.
Chen Qingning saw herself in the small screen.
With a voice that could pinch eight hundred pairs of slippers, she gestured meticulously, "The weather is very nice today."
Yu Bei waited for the ten-plus-second video—utterly devoid of shame—to finish playing: "The original words were exactly that."
"Fine, fine, I get it!" Chen Qingning said irritably, pulling her pajama sleeves up higher, dragging her chair forward to sit up straight, and starting the sign language again—
The outcome was exactly the same—she got stuck on that "very" again.
Yu Bei watched her with an expressionless face.
Chen Qingning suddenly feigned surprise, pointing at the logo on his chest: "Your undershirt is Nike?"
"Keep practicing." Yu Bei hung up the video call.
Chen Qingning's flash of inspiration had no effect whatsoever. Glancing at the darkened screen, she leaned back against her chair woodenly, running her fingers through her damp hair. After a moment of stubborn resistance, she sent Yu Bei a WeChat message.
Ning: Didn't you say "move on"? Why did you hang up so abruptly?
Ice-clear-jade-pure-big-chest-few-words: I said move on if you can't get it, not move on if you get it wrong.
Now picky and talkative: Reviewing on the spot and still not getting it right—you're simply not familiar enough.
Chen Qingning defended herself: That "very" is so tiny, how could I even see it clearly?
Yu Bei: Less talking.
Yu Bei: More practicing.
Chen Qingning: I'll talk if I want to.
She sent a sticker of some creature squawking furiously, looking like it was cursing up a storm.
Yu Bei, unsurprisingly, turned into a missing person.
Chen Qingning tapped her phone twice on the desk to vent her frustration, startling Qu Xiao, who had been immersed in a weepy romance novel. She asked, "Is your phone broken?"
Chen Qingning scratched her head twice, then stomped off huffily to blow-dry her hair.
Returning fresh and dry, Chen Qingning regained her composure. She picked up her phone, ready to scroll through Douyin, when unexpectedly a new WeChat notification popped up.
She lowered her eyes and tapped it open, then immediately burst out laughing.
Qu Xiao thought a duck had gotten into the dorm.
Yu Bei had sent a video breaking down the movement—also "the weather is very nice today." That "very," he demonstrated twice in a row, filmed in landscape mode, only his upper body in frame.
Chen Qingning followed along twice.
Because he was left-handed, the selfie angle was a perfect mirror image—she didn't need to flip left and right in her head.
The duck turned into a wild donkey.
Qu Xiao put on the other earbud, blocking out the midnight zoo.
Chen Qingning grinned from ear to ear, typing with great enthusiasm.
Ning: Teacher Yu, you're sooo nice~
Ning: Can you record another one, shirtless version?