Chapter 32 The students thought she and Meng Yanxi were going out for drinks...
English exams during my school days always seemed to be dominated by long reading comprehension sections. I still remember one such reading passage from high school.
The unlucky female protagonist had a series of misfortunes throughout the day. In order to end it all, she quickly went to bed. However, when she woke up the next morning, she found that she had fallen asleep too quickly and forgot to feed the cat. The hungry cat had destroyed her house.
The hotel was a typical budget hotel; the room was small and the air was damp. Jin Zhao hurriedly showered and went to sleep, fearing that something else bad might happen.
Lying in bed, she recalled that old reading comprehension passage and secretly felt relieved that she hadn't gotten a cat.
The unlucky day is finally over.
I woke up the next day only when I heard the sound of doors opening and closing in the nearby rooms. I reached for my phone on the bedside table; the time showed 8:30 a.m.
I have several unread WeChat messages, mostly from my aunt, asking how my blind date went yesterday. I guess she'd already heard the matchmaker's feedback, and, not giving up, she praised Li Jin's qualities again, subtly suggesting that you can't tell much from just one meeting, and that we could try being friends first and getting to know each other better.
Jin Zhao didn't want to refuse her aunt's kindness, but she really couldn't bring herself to agree, so she simply didn't reply.
The top message was from Meng Yanxi, a single message, timed 11:52 PM last night. He hadn't been gone long then; he was either still on his way or had just gotten home. At that time, to avoid any further awkwardness, she was probably taking a quick shower and hadn't checked her phone since.
Meng Yanxi's message remained unanswered all night.
Meng Yanxi: [You have a good relationship with your student?]
The hotel's blackout curtains were drawn, making the room dimly lit, like nighttime. Jin Zhao lay on the bed, holding her phone in both hands, her heart suddenly pounding.
She should be thankful that Meng Yanxi didn't directly ask her what the student meant by "be careful."
But he didn't even ask, so she doubted that he understood. After all, even she had grasped it, let alone Meng Yanxi.
He was cunning and shrewd even in his youth, and now he's grown into such a femme fatale, and so rich too. There must be many girls who like him. What kind of open and covert flirting hasn't he seen?
Damn it, he definitely understood!
Her students thought they had come to the hotel to check in.
Shame crept up from his toes to his scalp, and Jin Zhao collapsed into the blankets in despair.
...
The message was replied to an hour later.
Jin Zhao spent half an hour laboriously pulling himself out of bed, and another half hour washing up and getting ready, all the while racking his brains for a reply.
Although she didn't understand why the cunning Meng Yanxi wouldn't pretend not to understand, and insisted on asking on WeChat even though it was already over.
In the end, Jin Zhao replied in a standard, conventional way: [Sorry, I fell asleep last night and didn't see the message.]
She explained without any ulterior motives: "We're not that far apart in age. They used to call me 'sister,' which I felt sounded like a real estate agent, so I don't allow them to call me that."
Meng Yanxi returned to the Meng family's old house last night, and at this time, he is sitting in the dining room having breakfast.
Meng Huai and Meng Shixu were not in Suiyi. Meng Zhuxi was on holiday and slept in until late morning. When she saw him, she called out in a soft voice, "Brother."
Meng Zhuxi got into trouble last month, and Meng Yanxi paid a lot of money for her. She's been behaving very well lately. She sat down next to him and asked, "Did you come back to stay last night? Didn't you say you were busy lately and only had time on the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
Meng Yanxi remained silent, looking thoughtfully at his sister.
For some reason, Meng Zhuxi suddenly had a bad feeling, a chill running down her spine. She hadn't felt this way in a long time; the last time was when she was in elementary school, when Meng Yanxi, for some inexplicable reason, insisted on sending her to dance lessons.
The phone beside her rang twice in a row, and Meng Yanxi looked away.
He stared at the screen for a while without moving, lost in thought.
Jin Zhao quickly sent another message.
Zhao Zhao Mu Mu: [Sorry, they're used to being disrespectful and loud, please don't take it to heart.]
Meng Zhuxi, who was eating breakfast with his head down, suddenly heard his brother chuckle very softly. It was a breathy sound, with a hint of sarcasm.
Jin Zhao cautiously asked again, "Should I deduct 2 points from her participation score?"
After the last message was sent, a message immediately popped up at the top of the screen saying the other party was typing.
Meng Yanxi: [No need. You are a teacher, a role model; don't bring your emotions into your work.]
Wearing such a tall hat, Jin Zhao suddenly felt a pain in her neck and immediately felt ashamed. Although she had only said it casually, and she didn't even know the girl's name from last night, Meng Yanxi's noble character still highlighted her narrow-mindedness.
She immediately replied readily, "Yes, yes, I'm glad you don't mind."
Almost simultaneously, Meng Yanxi's message popped up in the chat box along with hers: "[You can give her 2 points.]"
Jin Zhao: [? 】
Meng Yanxi: [It shows you're a magnanimous person, a good example to teach by example.]
Jin Zhao: "..."
Meng Yanxi's level of thinking was too high; she didn't know how to reply.
Meng Yanxi ate breakfast, his eyes almost glued to his phone screen. This usually lazy person was actually typing away without a care in the world. Meng Zhuxi, noticing this, leaned over and asked shrewdly, "Brother, are you still going to your blind date tomorrow?"
Meng Yanxi turned off the screen. "What blind date?"
"You forgot? Dad arranged that for you."
Meng Yanxi's thick, dark eyebrows furrowed slightly: "You mean the Zhou family?"
"No, that was arranged by Grandpa, and that was the one before that." Meng Zhuxi always remembered these things very clearly, as if reciting a familiar story. "After that, it was the second daughter of the Lin family, but you said you had a girlfriend, so you didn't go on the blind date. Last month, Dad asked you to bring your girlfriend home to meet us, but you said you broke up with her. That's why he arranged for you to go to the Qiao family. Remember?"
Meng Yanxi: "...If only you had this kind of memory when you were studying."
Underachievers are always incredibly shameless in this regard, and Meng Zhuxi, unfazed, continued with a grin, "You haven't gotten a new girlfriend yet, have you? Are you still going tomorrow?"
Meng Yanxi ignored her.
Meng Zhuxi shook her head, looking distressed, and said, "Brother, you change girlfriends way too fast. Can't you think about me for once?"
Meng Yanxi asked curiously, "What's it to you?"
Meng Zhuxi said matter-of-factly, "Of course it's my business! We're siblings, blood relatives. If my brother changes girlfriends every month, people will think I'm a womanizer too. How am I supposed to find a boyfriend in the future? People who don't know me will think I'm looking for a gigolo."
Meng Yanxi: "You can say you were adopted."
Meng Zhuxi: "..."
Having accepted a bribe, Meng Zhuxi, who had made a mistake just last month, decided to temporarily refrain from arguing with him and silently swallow her anger.
Meng Yanxi then casually asked, "When will your course selection system close?"
Meng Zhuxi didn't react for a moment, and blurted out, "Before the holiday ends, what's wrong?"
Meng Yanxi turned to look at her: "That's perfect, go back and select it from 'English and American Poetry'."
For a couple of seconds, Meng Zhuxi genuinely doubted whether she had misheard, staring blankly at her brother.
After a long pause, he asked again, still unwilling to give up: "What did you choose?"
Meng Yanxi enunciated each word clearly: "Elective course, English and American poetry."
Meng Zhuxi was shocked. She leaned close to her brother and waved her hand, asking incredulously, "Brother, have you been possessed? Do I look like someone who would study poetry? Besides, I'm already a senior. What kind of sister takes elective courses in her senior year?!"
Meng Yanxi said expressionlessly, "Mistakes must be punished. Every time you cause trouble in the future, you will have to earn two more credits."
"Didn't you say I was right?!" Meng Zhuxi went crazy, her voice rising, "We were right downstairs in the Third Teaching Building, and you told me that feeding small animals was a good thing, and that I could feed them whenever I wanted!"
Meng Yanxi said calmly, "I was so angry with you that I was being sarcastic. Didn't you realize I was being sarcastic?"
Meng Zhuxi finally lost her temper and jumped up: "Get out of here, Meng Yanxi! You're so rich, how could a little bit of money make you lose your mind?"
The tycoon sat regally in his chair, lifting his eyelids to glance at her: "I just have a lot of money, I'm not stupid."
Meng Zhuxi: "..."
She thought, Meng Yanxi's dog-like personality is such a waste of his beautiful face. Being too dog-like can really ruin the most beautiful face in the world.
Coincidentally, Luo Heng was thinking the same thing at that moment. Luckily, the two of them were unaware of each other's intentions and could only curse Meng Yanxi in their hearts, otherwise they might have joined forces to assassinate the capitalist.
Last month, the high school class committee suggested holding a class reunion during the National Day holiday and asked Luo Heng to ask Meng Yanxi if she would attend. Although Luo Heng knew that Meng Yanxi never attended these gatherings, she still dutifully asked.
Meng Yanxi indeed did not go.
If Meng Yanxi doesn't go, Lu Jingyue definitely won't go either. If the two of them don't go, Luo Heng doesn't really want to go either. Si Tian is currently training in the emergency department and is busy like a spinning top every day. She could go or not go anyway. If they don't go, Si Tian won't go either.
With several key figures absent, the class reunion became pointless and eventually fizzled out.
Then, at 2 a.m. last night, that bastard Meng Yanxi suddenly called him and asked, "Where is the class reunion being held? Send me the address."
Attorney Luo was about to explode: "Brother, look at the time! Besides, you clearly said you weren't going, and there wasn't even a group event, so where did this class reunion come from?"
Meng Yanxi was silent for a moment, then said, "Then you form a group now."
Luo Heng slammed down the phone.
Although they all cursed Meng Yanxi to her face for being inhuman, the Crown Prince seemed to have an innate sense of authority, exerting a significant influence on these people. Just like how Meng Zhuxi beat up her brother but still quietly enrolled in the elective course, Luo Heng took a nap and woke up the next day to enthusiastically organizing the class reunion.
There was no prior notice about the National Day holiday, and many classmates went out to play. In the end, including Meng Yanxi, there were at most eight or nine people who could come.
Luo Heng loves lively gatherings, and he felt that this number of people was too few, but Meng Yanxi was quite satisfied: "That's enough."
*
The school's logistics department arranged disinfection the next day. Moreover, considering that the No. 7 teachers' apartment was old and damp, and that some young teachers could not stay there for long and had to rent houses off-campus, the school quickly introduced a subsidy program during the holiday to provide a certain subsidy to teachers who rent houses off-campus every month.
After a slight hesitation, Jin Zhao immediately decided to look for a suitable house nearby. She already had psychological trauma; poverty had forced her to go back to the dormitory. Now the school was providing subsidies, although only a partial one, it at least eased her pressure.
She spent the next two days looking at houses and added several real estate agents on WeChat. One day, while chatting with an agent, a message suddenly popped up above her chat window.
Meng Yanxi: [Class reunion on the 5th, want to come together?]
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Author's Note: The adult Meng Yanxi is actually quite proactive and decisive. He was initially angry that Jin Zhao left without saying goodbye, but ever since Jin Zhao added him on WeChat, he's unilaterally assumed it was a reconciliation. So now he's trying to speed things up, haha! In the next two or three chapters (may vary), they'll probably finally confess their feelings!
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