The National Day holiday had just ended, and the temperature plunged. Wancheng seemed to have no autumn at all, going straight into winter.
The rain over the past few days had made the cold feel all the sharper.
Xu Tao tugged her coat tighter. She wore only a thin shirt underneath and was feeling chilly.
Her pretty, delicate face had gone slightly pale, and she looked a little nervous.
She sat beside a round Chinese-style table, not daring to look around too freely.
The Qin family’s home was enormous, classical, and steeped in history—a whole other world, unlike anything Xu Tao had ever known.
So this was how particular a home could be.
Not piles of gold and jade, but rules and propriety.
She had waited in the reception room for about seven or eight minutes. The housekeeper, dressed in traditional Chinese clothing, had politely asked her to take her time with her tea and explained that the Young Master had just woken from his nap and was getting dressed.
It had taken her two hours just to get here from school.
When she first arrived, she had thought it might be a national 5A-rated scenic area: mountains encircling the grounds, water winding through them, and beautiful scenery. The leaves had turned yellow, yet there were barely any fallen leaves on the ground.
Someone was constantly cleaning.
The main family’s courtyard-style villas were scattered throughout the grounds, with glimpses of carved corridors, painted pillars, and sweeping eaves.
The magnificent Chinese gardens would have made Xu Tao think she had traveled back in time to some prince’s mansion—if the servants walking about had not still been dressed in modern clothes.
Lost in thought, she reminded herself that this was a rare job opportunity with excellent pay. She had to cherish it.
Her family was not well off. There were tuition fees, living expenses, medicine costs, and she also needed to put aside some money for emergencies.
That was why the part-time job Professor Chen had recommended mattered so much to Xu Tao.
She was to teach Chinese to a little boy who had returned from abroad. Apparently, he had driven away quite a few private tutors, including more than a few masters of traditional Chinese studies.
In the end, they had no choice but to ask around for a younger, even-tempered teacher who might be able to play with the child.
Xu Tao had wondered: Why would a family like this hire her as a private tutor? She was only a first-year university student.
Just then, the housekeeper bowed and took his leave, asking her to enjoy her tea while she waited.
Xu Tao rose to see him out. Her gaze fell toward the doorway, where she happened to meet the eyes of a man arriving from outside.
The housekeeper bowed respectfully to him and called him Second Young Master.
Xu Tao’s gaze fell on the man without her meaning to, and instinctive admiration showed in her eyes.
People were drawn to beauty, men and women alike; Xu Tao was no exception.
Still, she only dared to steal a glance.
Even setting his looks aside, his bearing and those phoenix eyes were enough to make him unforgettable.
He was like a fierce, unrelenting winter wind. His eyes and brows held a cool, disdainful aloofness. Xu Tao couldn’t help thinking that if he wore ancient robes and blended into this imposing old mansion, he would look like some powerful noble who was not easy to deal with.
Her almond-shaped eyes widened slightly, but she quickly looked away again. She did not notice the man’s gaze pass over her several times.
There was surprise in his eyes, too, a sudden brightness. Beneath their calm, lake-like surface, it was as if a small stone had fallen in, sending ripples across the water.
The man’s expression shifted faintly. He asked no questions, and left with the housekeeper. Xu Tao sat back down to wait.
Fortunately, only a few minutes passed before someone came to escort her onward.
When she reached the living room, Xu Tao could tell they had specially set up another desk for the lessons. The room was spacious and bright, and it was convenient for someone to keep watch nearby.
After all, the little young master had been born into wealth and privilege. What if his tutor bullied him?
Xu Tao nodded politely. A boy of about five or six sat at the desk. He had black hair and an extraordinarily bright pair of deep-blue eyes.
He was mixed-race.
He stared at her, his pretty little face still flushed from waking up. His eyes darted about as if he were pondering something.
Xu Tao knew his name was Corey. She greeted him in English first. “Hello, Corey. Let me introduce myself. My name is Xu Tao, and I’m your Chinese teacher.”
She had grown up in Tongcheng, and spoke with a soft Wu-dialect lilt. Even her English sounded gentle and lilting, quite unlike what Corey was used to hearing in Wancheng.
The local accent in Wancheng was less gentle, often carrying a teasing tone, with more pronounced -r endings.
Corey was mixed-race, too, and everyone liked to tease him.
He didn’t like it.
Corey could speak Chinese.
“Your English isn’t very good. You don’t have to force yourself,” the little boy said, his face set in a stern expression and his mouth turned down.
Xu Tao blushed. It was true that her spoken English was only average. She had no trouble with exams, but she rarely had chances to converse in English. It was only after coming to Wancheng to study that she had improved a little.
At least she had managed to speak up without getting flustered.
Xu Tao knew there was no need to treat him as if he were some child who couldn’t understand anything. She just had to speak to him as an equal.
“Corey’s Chinese isn’t very good either, so we’ll make up for each other’s weaknesses. I’m sure I’ll improve quickly. I wonder how long it’ll take you to learn.”
“I’ll learn quickly too!” Corey folded his arms, looking fierce. The reason he hadn’t studied before was that all the teachers who came were boring.
They only knew how to coax him like a little kid.
This Xu Tao seemed pretty good.
The housekeeper let out a quiet breath of relief. In just one month, they had gone through eight or nine teachers. Some had been too intimidated by the Qin family’s status to actually teach, flattering and placating the boy instead. Others were too eager to form connections with the family and had tried to use the Young Master as a stepping stone.
For once, the student who had come today seemed to have hit it off with the little young master.
The housekeeper thought well of her, too. Though she was a little reserved, she wasn’t timid. You could tell a lot from someone’s eyes, and hers were clear and pure. A person like that was unlikely to be of bad character.
What was more, she was an exceptionally pretty young woman who gave people a comfortable feeling.
“Please go ahead, Teacher Xu,” the housekeeper said, bowing slightly. “I’ll have someone bring over some tea and snacks. If you need anything, just let me know.”
Xu Tao thanked him and sat in the chair beside Corey. She didn’t hurry to begin the lesson. Instead, she asked curiously, “Did you draw this?”
“Mm.”
He was a rather aloof child. Xu Tao’s eyes curved into a smile. “You drew it quite well. Is that your mom and dad?”
The light in Corey’s eyes dimmed. “I don’t have a mom. She’s dead.”
“…” Xu Tao hadn’t known. She pressed her lips together and fell silent for a moment.
“Don’t give me that nonsense about my mom going to heaven,” Corey said in fluent English, making his contempt plain. “Dead means dead. There’s no need to make up stories to placate me.”
Xu Tao nodded solemnly. “I agree with you. When my mother died back when I was little, people kept lying to me, too. It made them hard to like.”
“We can handle the truth, can’t we?”
Corey’s Chinese was clearly quite good. He understood everything Xu Tao said. A trace of confusion crossed his beautiful eyes. “You don’t have a mom either?”
Xu Tao’s parents had both died in a car accident when she was three. Her grandmother had raised her alone, and she had long since lost every memory of her parents.
Childhood memories faded away as you grew up.
“There’s a line of Chinese poetry that says, ‘We are fellow wayfarers in misfortune,’” Xu Tao said. She wrote it in graceful semi-cursive script, a style that did not quite match her own gentle, charming manner. “It suits the two of us.”
Corey looked at the line of poetry. He couldn’t read it or understand it, but he wanted to learn.
Xu Tao’s lips curved slightly. She began teaching him from the very basics. Since he could already speak Chinese, that made things much easier.
By the time the housekeeper returned with someone carrying tea and snacks, forty minutes had passed.
After a full lesson, Xu Tao was a little thirsty. She thanked them before picking up her cup and drinking the tea. The tea left her mouth refreshed; even though she knew nothing about tea, she could tell it was excellent.
“You didn’t try to teach me how to drink tea. I like you even more now,” Corey said in English, openly expressing his affection.
The housekeeper smiled and explained, “The previous teacher was very fond of the tea ceremony, but our little young master was too young to understand, and things became a little unpleasant between them.”
A five-year-old who had just returned from England wasn’t going to appreciate obscure, lofty talk. No wonder he hadn’t liked it.
Xu Tao felt a little embarrassed. It wasn’t that she hadn’t taught him; she simply knew nothing about tea. She’d been thirsty, so she drank it. That was just what ordinary people did.
Corey showed his affection for someone by sharing. His favorite thing here was the pastries made by the cook. When he bit into one, sweet, fresh fruit jam oozed out.
He noticed that none of his favorite pastries had been set before Xu Tao, so he picked one up to give her. But the pastry skin was probably a little too thin that day. Corey squeezed just a bit too hard, and it split. Jam dripped down his little hand.
It fell onto Xu Tao’s chest. Her white shirt was stained in an instant, and soon the mess had spread to other parts of her clothes.
Xu Tao’s eyes widened slightly, and she let out a small gasp.
The housekeeper hurried over. He had worried that Xu Tao might accidentally get jam on herself when trying this kind of pastry for the first time, which was why he hadn’t prepared any for her. He hadn’t expected the Young Master to offer one to her himself.
“I’m terribly sorry, Teacher Xu. Please go to the restroom and clean up. I’ll have someone bring you a change of clothes.”