Chapter 18

Shen Hanyang opened his WeChat chat with Yan Qing and pressed the voice call button.

The call was quickly connected, but a strange young girl answered the receiver.

"Hello, is this Yan Qing's phone number?"

The other party sneered: "President Shen, what are your instructions?"

"I'm looking for Yan Qing, is she there?"

"She's not available to answer the phone right now. Get to the point quickly."

Shen Hanyang cleared his throat: "I want to ask her why she hasn't come to class these past few days."

Gu Feimeng on the other end of the phone scoffed, "What a good actress... She usually clings to Qingqing like a turtle in a pond, but now she's playing innocent with me."

Faced with Gu Feimeng's sharp sarcasm, Shen Hanyang's reaction was extremely calm: "I really don't know."

"What, did your wicked wife, Gao, forget to report to you? I'm just baffled. What did Qingqing do to offend her? She's like a hen laying eggs, constantly coming up with a new trick to torment Qingqing. It's just a broken badge, what's wrong with it being worth ten thousand yuan? Is it worth more than a human life? She insisted that Qingqing deliver it to you in the pouring rain during a typhoon! If she didn't deliver it, she'd be accused of misappropriating valuables! Bah! Who cares about your junk! Typhoon weather is so dangerous! Qingqing fell and injured herself while delivering your junk, broke her phone, and is now in the hospital with a high fever and on an IV drip. I ask you, where is your face, you rich people? Have you sold it all for money?"

Shen Hanyang explained, "I was unaware of this situation, and I never asked her to give me any badges..."

"Enough already!" Gu Feimeng interrupted him. "Shamelessness is invincible! Do you really think you can disrespect people just because you have some money? What do you mean by misappropriating valuables? Let me tell you, I'm also going to demand compensation from you for Qingqing's medical expenses and the cost of the damaged phone! Shen Hanyang, be kind, don't push your luck! Otherwise, God will get you sooner or later!" After saying this long sentence, Gu Feimeng angrily hung up the phone.

Yan Qing returned with the clothes and happened to see Gu Feimeng put down her phone: "Someone was looking for me?"

Gu Feimeng said, "Oh, it's nothing. It was a scam call, and I got a scolding for it."

Gu Feimeng only stayed at home for less than three days before having several arguments with her parents, and unable to bear it any longer, she returned to school. Upon entering her dorm and seeing the cold medicine on Yan Qing's desk, she realized what had happened while Yan Qing was away.

At this moment, she was feeling exhilarated by her merciless scolding of Shen Hanyang, so she crossed her legs and happily ate the red oil wontons.

"What are your plans for today?" she asked Yan Qing.

As Yan Qing folded the dried clothes, she said, "I'm planning to go to the computer mall to take another look and pick out a monitor for Qiao Yi. I'll bring it back to Anchuan tomorrow."

Gu Feimeng said, "Please pass on a message to Qiao Yi: the male and female leads are progressing too slowly, and the sex scenes are too subtle. In this fast-paced era, don't be afraid to taint my pure heart; be as explicit as you can!"

Yan Qing smiled and shook her head.

In the afternoon, Yan Qing browsed the computer mall until almost closing time. After several rounds of bargaining, she finally managed to snag a 23-inch monitor for a little over 300 yuan. Although the specifications were a bit lacking, it was sufficient for running Office software and browsing ordinary web pages.

She had been shopping for too long, and her legs and feet were sore. The monitor was also quite heavy, and with the subway packed with people, she had been holding it in her hands the whole way, and her arms and hands were aching from being pulled so hard.

She got off the bus at the stop before L University, as it was closer to the university's east gate and the walk back to her dorm was shorter. Just as she entered the east gate, her phone rang. It was a voice message from Cheng Jiaming.

After hanging up the phone, Yan Qing didn't even have time to go back to her dormitory. Carrying the heavy computer screen, she rushed anxiously towards the main gate of L University.

Beside the imposing gateposts, Cheng Jiaming squatted against the wall with his knees drawn up, his schoolbag on the ground, his small figure looking lonely and pitiful.

Yan Qing, panting, asked, "Jiaming, why are you here all alone? Where are your parents?"

Cheng Jiaming looked up, his little face still streaked with tears.

“Teacher Yan…” He threw himself into her arms and cried.

Yan Qing gently stroked his back: "Who upset Jiaming?"

Cheng Jiaming sobbed, "Wu Yanying was eavesdropping on my recording of the puppy. Old Shen even sided with her! I'm never talking to them again!" As he spoke, tears welled up again, and he couldn't stop. He went from trying to control his sobs to bursting into loud crying, soaking a large part of Yan Qing's clothes.

After crying for a while, Cheng Jiaming picked up his schoolbag and said resolutely, "Teacher, I'm not going home. I want to live with you and Xiangxiang from now on!"

Yan Qing was both amused and exasperated: "It's so dangerous for someone to run out alone so late at night. Your dad must be worried sick. Call home first to let them know you're safe."

"No."

"obedient."

I'm annoyed by them!

Yan Qing pretended to put on a stern face: "Aren't you going to listen to me?"

Cheng Jiaming pouted: "My phone just ran out of battery, you can see for yourself."

Yan Qing glanced at the time; it was almost eight o'clock. She said, "I'll take you home."

The car dropped Yan Qing and Cheng Jiaming off at the gate of Tan Chen Mansion. Yan Qing watched Cheng Jiaming run into the residential area before she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After returning from the computer mall and accompanying Cheng Jiaming through another ordeal, she was utterly exhausted. On the way there, she had unusually taken a ride-hailing service for Cheng Jiaming, but she couldn't afford to be so extravagant on the return trip.

She dragged her weary body toward the subway station, the canvas bag on her shoulder and the monitor in her hand seeming to have gained even more weight.

After walking for about ten minutes, she vaguely noticed a black sedan slowly approaching from the roadside not far away. This car had been following her for some time. She glanced at it warily; the windows were completely black, and she couldn't see what was inside. She quickened her pace.

The sudden ringing of her cell phone startled her.

A deep, magnetic male voice came from across the way: "Get in the car."

Yan Qing glanced at her phone screen again to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

She watched in surprise as the black sedan stopped beside her, and the person who got out of the driver's seat was indeed Shen Hanyang.

Before Yan Qing could recover from her surprise, Shen Hanyang had already walked around the front of the car and opened the passenger door.

He looked at her from a distance across the non-motorized vehicle lane, but his voice came through the receiver very close: "Come on up. There are some important things I want to talk to you about regarding Jiaming."

Neither Tan Chen Mansion nor L University are located in a particularly central location, and at this point, there are hardly any cars or buses for quite some distance.

Shen Hanyang gripped the steering wheel, and the car was completely silent. This silence made Yan Qing somewhat impatient; she wanted to ask Shen Hanyang what he wanted to discuss. Turning her head, she saw the lights and shadows outside the car alternately tracing his face, making his features even clearer in the shifting light and shadow.

This could probably be considered the face of a man that countless women dream of. Yan Qing thought absentmindedly.

In that one second of hesitation, Shen Hanyang glanced at her out of the corner of his eye: "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Yan Qing was taken aback, straightened up, and looked straight ahead, but forgot what she wanted to say.

The silence continued until the car came to a stop. Not far outside the window, the outline of L University's main gate, made of milky white marble, was visible in the night.

"Thank you for bringing me back." Yan Qing tried to open the door to get out of the car, but the door wouldn't budge. She turned to look at Shen Hanyang, who was leaning back in his seat, one elbow propped against the window, the other hand on the steering wheel—a very fair, slender, and powerful male hand.

"Teacher Yan, do you think I'm a difficult person to deal with or get along with, whether it's towards you or Jiaming?"

Yan Qing tensed up, wondering what he was up to. "That's not true," she said.

"Jiaming said, 'You understand him better and care about him more than I do.'"

"He's still young and has a sensitive personality, so his parents need to put in a lot of effort..."

“I’ve put a lot of effort into him.” Shen Hanyang’s tone returned to its usual aloofness. “Although I’m usually busy and don’t spend much time with him, I arrange everything perfectly, no matter how small, as long as it involves him. There’s a housekeeper to take care of his daily life, a driver to pick him up and drop him off, and a one-on-one tutor to oversee his studies. As for music, art, and sports, I’ve spent a lot of money on all of them, investing in everything that’s necessary. And for any other minor details that I might not have thought of, Secretary Gao takes care of them for me.”

"So you're quite good at taking care of children," Yan Qing said, offering timely praise.

“It wasn’t really that difficult.” A nonchalant smile appeared on Shen Hanyang’s lips. “Raising a child is like project management: setting goals, providing resources, controlling progress, checking quality—every step is under my control. I don’t understand, what am I, as a father, doing wrong that makes my child dissatisfied with me? Even you—” Shen Hanyang turned his head, and Yan Qing felt two piercing gazes fixed on her cheeks, “You also think I’ve failed in my duty, don’t you?”

Yan Qingxin was puzzled and hesitated before saying, "You don't need to worry about my thoughts. The main thing is the child, how to get along with him..."

Shen Hanyang curled the corners of his lips: "When it comes to getting along with children, I'm indeed no match for Teacher Yan. I heard that Jiaming's painting received your encouragement, and he was overjoyed. Actually, I don't object to him having his own hobbies; I even hired a painting teacher for him, but we can't waste too much time on that. His academic subjects, especially math, are still a mess, which is why I invited you here. I don't know if I've made myself clear?" He was always like this, his tone flat, seemingly without any blame, yet conveying an invisible pressure at just the right moment.

Shen Hanyang precisely reached into Cheng Jiaming's summer math homework book from the back seat of the car, opened the first page, and found that not even a name was written on it. He placed this conspicuous blank page under Yan Qing's eyes and calmly reminded her, "Summer vacation is almost over, and Jiaming's math homework is still blank." After flipping through a few more pages, they were filled with various doodles drawn by Cheng Jiaming.

"His mind is not on math at all; he's treating his workbook like scratch paper."

Yan Qing remained silent. Shen Hanyang threw the workbook back onto the back seat, took a deep breath, and straightened his body, instantly becoming half a head taller than Yan Qing.

"I hired you to tutor him in math. I don't want him to bring me math tests with scores in the twenties when he's in third grade. You're a math teacher, not an art teacher. Unimportant hobbies should be kept to a minimum, okay?"

Yan Qing looked up and met his dark, deep eyes.

“You’re right.” She nodded in agreement.

A satisfied smile finally appeared on Shen Hanyang's face: "I didn't mean to blame you. It's good that we talked it out. My requirements remain the same: to speed up the learning process as much as possible."

Yan Qing slung the bag from her canvas bag over her shoulder and picked up the monitor from the ground: "You can clarify these details with his subsequent math teacher. Um, may I get off the bus now?"

Shen Hanyang's smile vanished, and he frowned slightly as he stared at Yan Qing in the passenger seat, trying to understand what she meant.

But... she really seemed to be in a hurry to get off the bus?

"Teacher Yan, there might have been a problem in our communication. I didn't know you had already resigned."

Yan Qing already had one hand on the car door. Hearing him say that, she turned around and emphasized seriously, "It's not resignation, it's being fired. So, I shouldn't need to pay any breach of contract fees, right?"

Shen Hanyang was taken aback, but quickly regained his composure: "I am the one who signed the contract with you. No one has the right to make decisions for me without my knowledge. Teacher Yan, go back and look at the contract. My name is signed after 'Party A'."

Speaking of contracts, Yan Qing remembered that Gu Feimeng had accidentally knocked over her lunchbox while eating spicy wontons during the day. She pulled a stack of papers from the pile of scrap paper to help clean it up, only to realize afterward that what she was holding was her tutoring contract with the Shen family. Then, thinking that she'd already been dismissed anyway, she simply crumpled it up and threw it in the trash.

"Then I'll go back and check," Yan Qing said guiltily.

Shen Hanyang nodded slightly before unlocking the car door.

After getting out of the car, Yan Qing turned around and leaned against the window, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry, Mr. Chen, I suddenly remembered that the contract is lost. Anyway, I was indeed fired, but according to the terms, I'm not the one who breached the contract. You should abide by the terms, right?"

After saying that, he nodded apologetically again, then turned and went into the school.

Shen Hanyang watched her retreating figure, which was decisive and resolute. He swallowed hard and silently choked back a sigh of relief.