Chapter 8
When Yan Qing went to Shen's house for class on Monday, she clearly noticed that Cheng Jiaming was deliberately avoiding her gaze and dared not meet her eyes.
Yan Qing pinched his little ear: "What, are you afraid of me?"
Cheng Jiaming blushed with embarrassment: "Teacher, I... I didn't mean to, I was scared... scared of Aunt Gao."
Yan Qing smiled and said, "Aunt Gao cares about you so much, why are you afraid of her?"
Cheng Jiaming observed Yan Qing's expression and asked cautiously, "Teacher, you're not...you're not angry, are you?"
Yan Qing said, "The teacher isn't that petty."
Cheng Jiaming was still unsure: "Teacher, you won't... stop teaching me, will you?"
"You're just worrying unnecessarily," Yan Qing said.
Cheng Jiaming blinked, looking like a puppy that had made a mistake, and said pitifully, "I...I'm too stupid, I...I can't learn it."
"The teacher will teach you slowly, and you will definitely be able to learn. The important thing is not to be impatient."
Cheng Jiaming nodded and lowered his head to work on his workbook. He was still not proficient at the problems, and he had to erase his answers several times. Yan Qing didn't urge him, but patiently watched from the side.
Suddenly, the numbers at the tip of the pen blurred. Yan Qing turned Cheng Jiaming's small face and saw tears in his eyes.
"Why are you crying?" Yan Qing asked softly.
Cheng Jiaming sobbed softly, "Teacher, I...I'm so...lonely." He then lowered his eyes, tears streaming down his face.
Yan Qing hadn't expected Cheng Jiaming to use the word "loneliness." From a very young age, she had a profound understanding—loneliness was innate, permeating the entire body like capillaries. Everyone was lonely; she was, Huang Qian was, Qiao Yi was, even the selfish and mercenary Feng Xin and Meng Xianglan lived with loneliness in some unknown corner. But in this society's rules, loneliness was forbidden to be mentioned. For children, loneliness was considered forced sentimentality. For adults, loneliness was even more taboo, an outdated affectation, something no one dared to utter, no one dared to discuss. The last person who had openly spoken to her about loneliness had been gone for over a decade, leaving her with endless longing and regret. More than a decade later, when she heard the word "loneliness" so clearly again, memories buried deep within the past were stirred.
She patted Cheng Jiaming's head and said, "If you're feeling down, you can talk to your teacher."
Cheng Jiaming shook his head: "I...I can't say it. I'm...I'm bad with words."
Yan Qing felt a pang of sadness and opened her arms to tenderly embrace Cheng Jiaming. Nestled in Yan Qing's embrace, Cheng Jiaming cried even harder, as if trying to pour out all his unspeakable grievances into this gentle embrace. After a while, Cheng Jiaming gradually calmed down. Yan Qing cupped his tear-streaked face in her hands.
"I'll teach you a trick: try speaking by singing."
Cheng Jiaming asked, puzzled: "The way you sing?"
"Yes. When you want to say something, you silently think of a melody in your mind, pretend you are singing, and sing the sentence out."
Cheng Jiaming was a little tone-deaf and was initially embarrassed when he heard about the method, secretly trying it out on his own. After a few tries, he was both surprised and delighted: "It really works!"
The immense joy of overcoming his stutter filled him with ecstasy. He knew that from now on, whenever he spoke, a secret melody would protect him. This melody was a silent incantation, releasing his tongue, which had been clumsy for years, from its seal, making it soft and flexible. Although speaking this way would be slower and sound slightly different from normal speech, more like reciting a text, Cheng Jiaming was already very satisfied. He was so excited that he danced around, as if he had opened the door to a new world, and rattled off a long string of words:
"Thank you, Teacher Yan."
"Teacher Yan is the most beautiful."
"Old Shen is the most outrageous one!"
"Old Shen, you big idiot!"
Yan Qing laughed: "Why do you always talk badly about Lao Shen?"
The door rang. "Old Shen's back!" Cheng Jiaming was overjoyed, ready to surprise Shen Hanyang. But when he peeked through the crack in the door, his joy vanished.
"Disappointing!" he said.
When Yan Qing arrived in the living room, Secretary Gao and Wu Yanying were fiddling with a large pile of shopping bags.
Wu Yanying said in frustration, "The two boxes of bird's nest that Brother Hanyang gave me are gone. I can't find them no matter how hard I look."
Yan Qing remained silent.
Secretary Gao was too busy to look up, only saying, "I'll ask Aunt Chen later; maybe they put it away when they were cleaning the room." She didn't notice the other person in the living room; it was Wu Yanying who noticed Yan Qing first. She stared at Yan Qing's pants for a while, then said in a high-pitched voice, "What happened to your pants?"
Yan Qing looked down and saw a hole the size of a fingernail on her thigh. She then remembered that the last time she wore these pants to Xingren Temple, she had accidentally burned a hole in them with incense ash, and she had forgotten to repair it. Over time, the hole had widened considerably. She had been in a rush to leave today and hadn't noticed, wearing these tattered pants instead.
At this moment, Secretary Gao's gaze also fell on Yan Qing. She said, "Teacher Yan, wait a moment."
Secretary Gao gave Wu Yanying a wink, and the two went into the guest room together. Secretary Gao opened the wardrobe, quickly rummaged through it, and picked out two dresses, a short-sleeved shirt, and a small hat. She said to Wu Yanying, "Get me a decent-looking bag."
Wu Yanying retrieved a pink paper bag as instructed; it was the shopping bag Shen Hanyang had used when they went shopping for clothes at SKP earlier that day.
Secretary Gao packed three pieces of clothing and a hat into the bag and said to Wu Yanying, "These are for her."
Wu Yanying hesitated, "But these have all been worn for two summers..." She saw her own French-style dress among them and said hesitantly, "Summer dresses are washed so often that they've faded a bit. And this short-sleeved shirt, the neckline is deformed..."
Secretary Gao tapped her forehead with her index finger: "You know it's deformed and faded, yet you still wear it. You know that once you arrive, President Shen will definitely take you to a high-end shopping mall to buy you new clothes. Even if he doesn't buy them for you, I will. What's the point of keeping these tattered clothes?"
Wu Yanying playfully shook Secretary Gao's arm: "Actually, I haven't liked these clothes for a long time, but I don't want Brother Hanyang to think I'm wasting them."
Secretary Gao touched her cheek: "That's more like it. The little girl finally has some sense. So, these few unwanted items are perfect for her."
Wu Yanying hesitated for a moment: "Is this appropriate...?"
Secretary Gao rolled her eyes at her: "What's wrong with it? It's a bit old, but it's all from good brands that President Chen bought for you. How could she afford to wear these normally? Besides, this little hat was just bought this year, it's still very new!"
Yan Qing waited in the living room for about ten minutes before the door to the guest bedroom finally opened. Secretary Gao handed her a pink shopping bag: "Little Yan—I'm older than you, so I'll call you Little Yan. Here, take these clothes. They're all designer brands; Xiao Wu has only worn them a few times, so don't be put off!"
"No need, no need," Yan Qing quickly waved her hand, "I have enough clothes, so please keep these for Little Wu."
Secretary Gao kept stuffing the items into her arms, saying, "Take them, they're all high-end brands. You'll see when you get back." Although Secretary Gao had a smile on his face, there was always a hint of impropriety in that smile.
Seeing that Yan Qing refused to accept it, she pursed her lips, suddenly transforming into a caring older sister, and said earnestly, "Girls should have a love for beauty. I've seen you several times, and you always wear the same few clothes over and over, and you don't even change your pants when they're worn out. Such a pretty young lady should learn to dress herself up. Do you have a boyfriend yet?"
Yan Qing smiled but didn't say anything.
Secretary Gao said, "You are at the prime of your youth, and you should dress more appropriately when you're dating. You're too plain right now! These clothes were all bought by President Shen. Each piece cost several thousand yuan, they're not cheap! I think you and Xiao Wu are about the same size, so they'll suit you perfectly."
Yan Qing glanced at Wu Yanying beside her. Wu Yanying was a head shorter than her and had a smaller frame, making her a very petite girl. Yan Qing, on the other hand, was tall and slender, so it was hard to say that the two were "about the same size."
When Yan Qing looked over, Wu Yanying looked away shyly.
The usually meticulous and methodical Secretary Gao was surprisingly quick-witted at this moment, as if the bag contained some dangerous waste. Before Yan Qing could react, the paper bag was stuffed into her arms.
Yan Qing could only smile helplessly and say, "Then thank you."
"Okay, okay, don't be so polite with me. I see you always go out without makeup, I'll bring you some cosmetics next time."
Yan Qing smiled faintly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Shen Hanyang was on the phone in the pavilion in the garden downstairs when he saw a figure walking towards him, so he retreated onto the cobblestone path next to him.
He saw Yan Qing place a large shopping bag on the stone bench; it was the same shopping bag he had bought at SKP earlier that day. Then, she made a WeChat video call to someone.
Shen Hanyang heard her say, "Working for rich people is so lucrative. They're very generous; not only do they pay me high salaries, but they also often give me gifts. Look at this," she pointed the camera at the shopping bag next to her, "these are the clothes they gave me today, brand new, and they must have cost over ten thousand yuan!"
Yan Qing was wearing headphones, so Shen Hanyang couldn't hear what she was saying. He only heard Yan Qing's tone suddenly soften as she said, "I've basically saved up all the money for the surgery. You don't need to worry about anything. Just focus on recovering, have regular checkups, and follow the doctor's instructions regarding medication and treatment." He didn't hear her say anything more, but then Yan Qing's voice grew louder and louder, her tone becoming firm as she spoke into the video: "Money isn't something you should worry about! Pay me back when you make money from your novel! Qiao Yi, cheer up, I'm still waiting for you to take me to Disneyland!"
After hanging up the video call, Yan Qing, who had been so assertive just moments before, suddenly seemed to deflate, slumping against a stone pillar. Shen Hanyang saw her bury her face in her arms, her shoulders trembling slightly.
"Crying?" he thought to himself, just about to step forward to ask when Yan Qing suddenly stood up, looking anxious. She touched her wrist and muttered to herself, "Where did it go? It was just here a moment ago."
She began searching around, but after a while she found nothing, she ran along the path deeper into the garden.
Shen Hanyang walked over and picked up the pink paper bag that was temporarily unattended, rummaging through it. Several girls' dresses and short-sleeved shirts were limply and carelessly folded together. He also vaguely remembered a women's baseball cap.
Yan Qing finally found her bracelet in an inconspicuous spot beside the cobblestone path. She quickly picked it up, carefully wiped it in her palm, and then gently put it in her bag. Only then did she remember that the bag of clothes was still in the pavilion, so she went back to retrieve it. But when she returned to the pavilion, it was empty; the bag was nowhere to be found. Yan Qing stood there for a moment, then gave up. She took out her recovered bracelet, kissed it tenderly, and a relieved smile appeared on her face.
Watching Yan Qing's figure disappear around the corner of the road, which was covered in flower shadows, Shen Hanyang appeared from the side, then turned around and threw the pink shopping bag in his hand into the trash can.
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