Teacher Zhou
Wu Meilai met Zhou Qianling again two days later in the morning. She had gone to the market early to buy food, and as she was leaving with a large bag of vermicelli noodles, she bumped into a passerby.
"I'm sorry." She said subconsciously, and hurriedly picked up the tomato that the other person had dropped. She was stunned for a moment when she turned around and handed it over.
Zhou Qianling was wearing a mask, and there was a hint of surprise in his eyes, but he quickly returned to indifference.
"Thanks."
The market was not deserted in the morning. Several aunts walked between the two of them, chatting and laughing. When they left, the slender figure disappeared.
Wu Meilai was stunned for a while, holding the tomato left in her hand.
Wipe it and take a bite.
She had a cold and must not want to infect herself.
Wu Meilai has never been good at taking the initiative. She continued selling noodles in the snack street as usual. The only thing that could be considered proactive was probably moving the stall to the street entrance, for which she even had a few arguments with the owner of the original stall.
But she never saw Zhou Qianling come to the snack street again.
Perhaps even God couldn't stand it. A month later, due to road maintenance, Zhou Qianling's way home was blocked and he had to take a detour through the snack street.
When she first saw Zhou Qianling, Wu Meilai's eyes lit up slightly and she tugged at her clothes to say hello.
As soon as he opened his mouth, Zhou Qianling quickened his pace and hurried away.
Wu Meilai closed her mouth and thought that Zhou Qianling must have something urgent to do.
But every day that followed, Zhou Qianling never even glanced at her.
Wu Meilai also observed her life. Sometimes she was alone, sometimes surrounded by a few students, and sometimes accompanied by a smiling woman wearing glasses.
If she hadn't retained her memory, Wu Meilai would have thought that she and Zhou Qianling were strangers.
"Two bowls of mutton noodles."
Wu Mei came back to her senses and shifted her gaze from Zhou Qianling back to the stall.
It was the woman wearing glasses. She turned around, pulled Zhou Qianling over, and said, "This noodle here tastes very good."
Wu Meilai lowered her head to season the food and did not hear Zhou Qianling's voice.
The woman had a good temper and chatted with Wu Mei about family matters.
"The boss is from Qianzhou?"
"Um."
"It's quite far from Yanzhou. By the way, Qianling, isn't your hometown Qianzhou?"
"Um."
…
The math teacher scratched his head and looked up at the sky.
Is it going to rain? Why is it so cold?
After taking the powder and turning around, the math teacher asked, "Do you know each other? The boss seemed to be staring at you in a daze just now?"
"I don't know him."
Wu Meilai paused while wiping the table, and looked up at the two of them.
Two close figures flashed between the pedestrians.
It felt like a small blade was cutting across my heart.
…
In the evening, Zhou Qianling prepares lessons under the lamp.
She has been reading this page for half an hour.
I stood up and walked to the refrigerator. After drinking a glass of ice water, the stuffiness in my chest was slightly relieved.
His eyes glanced at the dining table and stopped.
The packaged powder was not opened, and even the knot of the plastic bag was not untied.
Zhou Qianling leaned against the refrigerator and recalled the conversation in the evening.
She must have heard it.
Will it be sad?
Even if they know each other, others will not directly associate you with being gay.
But she still subconsciously denied it.
She became timid, even more cowardly than Wu Meilai.
When passing the intersection, her heart beat faster. She didn't dare to look at Wu Meilai for too long, but she enjoyed the possibility that her gaze would fall on her.
——
After finishing evening self-study, Zhou Qianling stepped into the street again.
Today was no different from any other day. Students were crying around the food stalls like hungry chicks. Out of the corner of my eye, the mutton noodle stall was still very popular.
When he stepped in front of the second stall, Zhou Qianling seemed to hear a voice called "Teacher Zhou".
I paused and looked back, but there was no familiar person behind me.
"Teacher Zhou."
The sound was louder and clearly came from the right rear.
Looking at the noodle stall, Wu Meilai was staring at him.
"Please wait a moment."
Zhou Qianling swallowed, and the chest tightness from last night came back again.
Without asking why or what was going on, she walked to the side of the stall expressionlessly and waited, as if she was just another diner in line.
The rice noodles were consumed very quickly and were sold out before 11 o'clock.
Wu Meilai wiped it a few times casually, then pushed the cart away, with Zhou Qianling following closely behind.
When they reached a quiet section of the road, Wu Meilai started chatting: "I came to Yanzhou for someone."
Zhou Qianling's heart trembled and his fingertips became numb.
"I pushed her away before, but when she really left, I thought about her often."
"Yeah." Zhou Qianling felt warm in his heart.
Wu Meilai continued: "So I came to her city, wanting to tell her..."
Wu Meilai stopped and looked at Zhou Qianling seriously, "I like her."
The evening breeze blew across my face, and the bushes made a slight rustling sound.
Wu Meilai looked at the person opposite her, opened her lips hesitantly, and then closed them again.
She didn't respond.
Wu Meilai lowered her eyes sadly. "After coming to Yanzhou, I found that she was different from what I knew. So, I wondered if she had never taken me seriously at all."
"Maybe they think I'm a foolish country woman and deliberately seduce me, sleep with me, and use me as a pastime in the countryside." Wu Meilai's voice gradually rose, but was deliberately suppressed by her.
She admitted that most of the accusation was spoken in anger in order to force Zhou Qianling to refute and defend himself.
However, apart from a dry "no", the other party did not say another word.
…
The wheels rolled away until they disappeared into the night.
Zhou Qianling lowered her head, holding a scarf in her hand, the one she had put on Wu Mei last year.
She watched as Wu Meilai's expression turned into disbelief, and then she calmly took the wrapped scarf out of the cart.
"I've been forgetting to return this scarf to you."
After saying this, she curled her lower lip briefly and pushed the cart away.
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