Loving You in Silence - Chapter 7

Jiang Zi let out a quiet sigh of relief and nodded.

“I’ll accept the apology gift then,” Meng Yihuai said.

Jiang Zi said “Okay.”

It was still early and the sports meet hadn’t started yet. Meng Yihuai checked the time on her phone. “I’m in charge of doing makeup for the placard bearers. Do you want to come along, Teacher Jiang?”

Placard bearer… Jiang Manjing seemed to be one.

However, Jiang Zi’s attention was elsewhere: “Do teachers have to handle the makeup too?”

“Because I was bored. The school hired professional makeup artists, but I heard they were short-handed, so I volunteered,” Meng Yihuai tilted her head. “Does Teacher Jiang not trust my makeup skills?”

“No.” Jiang Zi’s gaze couldn’t help but shift upward, briefly landing on Meng Yihuai’s face. During their few meetings, Meng Yihuai always wore light makeup—not heavy, yet she possessed a heart-stoppingly soul-capturing beauty. Today was no exception; she was likely naturally striking.

Politely, Jiang Zi didn’t linger and quickly looked away.

Meng Yihuai hummed. “So, is Teacher Jiang coming with me?”

Visualizing the scene. There would likely be many people, all of whom she didn’t know. Jiang Zi shook her head and declined. “I won’t go.”

“Alright then.” Meng Yihuai handed her the sun umbrella. “The sun is strong outside. Why don’t you wait in my office first?”

Jiang Zi: “Is anyone else in your office?”

“No.”

Jiang Zi breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay.”

After walking for a while with the umbrella and keys, following her memory, Jiang Zi suddenly paused. She glanced at the items in her hands nearly all of them belonged to Meng Yihuai. Brushing aside a momentary flash of unease, she entered the office and sat down.

She didn’t wander around; she simply sat quietly with her head down, looking at her phone.

At one point, there was a knock on the door. “Teacher Meng, are you in there?”

A man entered. By his appearance, he seemed to be a teacher as well. They stared at each other for a few seconds. The male teacher frowned. “And you are?”

“I am a student’s parent,” Jiang Zi said. “Teacher Meng told me to wait here.”

The male teacher looked as if he were hearing a tall tale. He laughed and double-checked: “You mean Teacher Meng Yihuai? She hates having people in her office the most, whether they’re parents or students.” Seeing her confused look, the teacher explained, “See these small instruments in her office? Every single one is extremely expensive. Someone once entered without permission and accidentally broke one. She threw a massive temper tantrum.”

Although Jiang Zi couldn’t currently imagine what Meng Yihuai looked like when angry, she immediately stood up and said, “Then I should probably wait outside the door.”

“No, no! If she authorized it herself, then please, stay and rest,” the male teacher said. “I have some business with her. Do you know where she is?”

“She’s doing makeup for the placard bearers.”

“Got it. Thank you!” He politely closed the door and left, seemingly not finding it odd at all to ask a parent about a fellow teacher’s whereabouts.

…

Jiang Zi stayed in the office for about fifteen minutes. With the previous warning in mind, she didn’t touch anything during that time, keeping her limbs very properly composed. She occasionally replied to some WeChat messages until Meng Yihuai returned.

Jiang Zi glanced at the time. “That was fast, Teacher Meng.”

Meng Yihuai arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t think I was going to do everyone’s makeup, did you?”

“I only did your kid’s makeup.” Seeing that Jiang Zi didn’t even have a glass of water by her side, Meng Yihuai frowned. She took a paper cup and filled it for her. “It’s so hot; aren’t you thirsty?”

She was a little thirsty. Jiang Zi took it and said a polite thank you, then spoke the truth: “I didn’t dare touch anything in your office for fear you’d be angry.”

Meng Yihuai hummed in response.

The school radio station was playing music for the sports meet opening ceremony. The drumbeats were loud and could be clearly heard in the office. Noticing the small camera hanging from Jiang Zi’s shoulder, Meng Yihuai waited for her to finish the water and asked, “Shall we go take a look now?”

Jiang Zi nodded.

Once outside, Meng Yihuai opened the umbrella and glanced at her. Jiang Zi understood and took two steps forward to walk side-by-side with her.

Since she wasn’t very familiar with Beixu’s layout, Jiang Zi followed Meng Yihuai closely. Within just a few dozen meters, they received many observant looks from the surrounding students. These students were almost all little fans of Meng Yihuai; their eyes were filled with admiration and intensity. Some of the bolder ones walked right up to Meng Yihuai, beaming as they complimented her on her beauty or her manicure.

Meng Yihuai seemed used to it. She didn’t have much of a reaction, maintaining her usual smiling demeanor. After greeting Meng Yihuai, those students would look at Jiang Zi with curiosity, but they quickly averted their eyes as if she were a walking glacier—one look was enough to send a chill through them.

Jiang Zi: “…” She didn’t really care.

Beixu’s athletic field was massive. Currently, all the classes were lining up on the track for the procession, passing by the rostrum one by one. Meng Yihuai led Jiang Zi to a row of seats at the back of a certain grandstand area. It was shaded from the sun and offered a good view of the entire field.

Meng Yihuai wiped the seat with a tissue and stood up. “Sit here first. I’m going to grab something.”

There was no one else around them, and they were several rows away from where the students sat. Jiang Zi blurted out, “Are you coming back?”

“I am. Just wait a moment for me.”

“Okay.”

In less than five minutes, Meng Yihuai returned with two bottles of mineral water. She handed one to Jiang Zi and sat down beside her.

Jiang Zi thanked her, thinking to herself: Teacher Meng is truly very considerate.

Meng Yihuai pointed. “Are you going to take photos of Jiang Manjing?”

Jiang Zi hummed. She glanced at the class formations on the track. The tenth graders were still slowly showing off their class spirit; there was still some time before Class 1 of the eleventh grade arrived. She took the camera off her shoulder and turned it on.

She rarely played with such gadgets. When she first bought the camera, she had spent a long time at home figuring it out until she understood the basic operations for photos and recording. Now, as she opened the viewfinder, she must have accidentally pressed a button, because it inexplicably switched to selfie mode.

Jiang Zi: “…”

She was thinking about how to adjust the settings back.

Suddenly, her peripheral vision dimmed. The faint, pleasant scent of roses wafted into her nose. Jiang Zi’s body stiffened imperceptibly for an instant. Through the square viewfinder, she saw Meng Yihuai leaning in, her cheek only a few millimeters away.

In the cool-toned filter, the two of them were leaning extremely close. A few seconds of silence followed.

Meng Yihuai arched an eyebrow. “Why isn’t Ms. Jiang taking the photo?”

Coming back to her senses, Jiang Zi pressed the shutter.

“Let me see,” Meng Yihuai said.

Jiang Zi handed her the camera. Meng Yihuai seemed to be an old hand with cameras; she skillfully pulled up the selfie they had just taken from the gallery. After admiring it for a moment, she smiled and said, “Ms. Jiang, you look really beautiful.”

“…” Jiang Zi had assumed she was admiring herself after looking for so long, but she hadn’t expected the compliment to be directed at her. She paused. “I’m quite average.”

“Ms. Jiang, you’re too modest.”

Jiang Zi’s lips curved slightly, taking it as mere politeness.

At this time, the tenth graders were trickling back to their seats in the stands, and the eleventh graders were about to make their appearance. Jiang Zi opened her mouth: “Ms. Meng, can you set the camera to take photos of others?”

After a quick adjustment, Meng Yihuai said, “Done.”

Jiang Zi took it back and aimed the lens at Jiang Manjing on the track, but she immediately ran into another problem: “How do I zoom in?”

Meng Yihuai adjusted it for her once more.

Jiang Manjing was holding the sign for Class 11-1, wearing a long, water-blue dress. She stood out remarkably amidst the swarming heads on the track.

Sitting in her seat, Meng Yihuai turned her head to watch Jiang Zi stand up and take photos with such earnest dedication. Her gaze flickered with emotion.

Previously, while giving Jiang Manjing private lessons, she had found out through subtle questioning that Jiang Manjing was just the daughter of Jiang Zi’s brother. The two had no prior interaction until a family tragedy occurred, at which point Jiang Manjing’s father asked Jiang Zi to look after her.

And yet now, seeing Jiang Zi’s serious expression while taking photos, it was as if she were raising Jiang Manjing as her own daughter.

“Ms. Jiang,” Meng Yihuai suddenly spoke.

Jiang Zi glanced at her. “What is it?”

“A little while ago, Jiang Manjing was trapped in a classroom while on cleaning duty and couldn’t get out. Did you know about that?” Meng Yihuai asked.

Jiang Zi frowned. “I didn’t.”

“I wasn’t there at the time. I heard the Dean talking about it later, and they used the incident to hold a safety-themed meeting for all classes,” Meng Yihuai crossed her legs, saying leisurely, “The teacher on duty that night was a physics teacher. I heard that Jiang Manjing had been targeted by that teacher before.”

Regarding the fact that the physics teacher didn’t like Jiang Manjing, the girl had complained to her slightly before. Jiang Zi’s brow furrowed.

“The physics teacher seems to have been dismissed, and Beixu is currently hiring a new one,” Meng Yihuai looked at her, curling her lips. “If I remember correctly, Ms. Jiang, you teach physics too, right? Have you considered working here? After all, it’s more reassuring to have the child under your own eye.”

This information was a lot to take in. Jiang Zi pondered for a moment. “But I’m currently a teacher at No. 1 High.”

“No. 1 High is great, but that night, if Qiao Zhao hadn’t come along, she might have been trapped in that classroom all night.”

Hearing this, Jiang Zi pursed her lips. “I’ll go back and think about it.”

“Alright,” Meng Yihuai took out her phone. “I’ll send you the recruitment info first so you can take a look?”

Jiang Zi nodded. “Okay, thank you.”

Meng Yihuai had lost count of how many times she had heard “thank you”; her ears were practically growing callouses. She wanted to say there was really no need to be so formal, but the words changed as they reached her lips: “If you really want to thank me, why don’t you answer a question for me?”

“Ask away,” Jiang Zi said.

Meng Yihuai smiled, her tone casual: “At No. 1 High, there shouldn’t be anyone you’re particularly loath to leave, right?”

Silence fell for a few seconds. The smile on Meng Yihuai’s lips began to fade bit by bit. Just as she thought Jiang Zi wouldn’t answer, Jiang Zi spoke plainly: “Not at the moment.”

“…”

“If there is in the future, I’ll tell you.”

“…”

Back home after work in the evening.

Meng Yihuai rested for a bit before going to the kitchen to make dinner. Before long, the sound of a passcode being entered came from the entryway, followed by Dai Ruyue’s loud voice: “I’m here to crash dinner!”

Meng Yihuai was debating whether to shred or cube the eggplant and didn’t reply. Dai Ruyue made herself at home, swapped into slippers, and sank into the soft sofa with a comfortable sigh.

She soon noticed several small gift items on the coffee table. “Huai, where did you scavenge all these from?”

“It was the sports meet today. A student won some small prizes and gave me one, and they just accumulated.”

“You’re quite popular with the students,” Dai Ruyue remarked. Then, she noticed a pretty doll peeking out of Meng Yihuai’s open bag. This charm wasn’t placed with the other little gifts. She picked it up to inspect it: “This one is quite cute. Was this from the sports meet too?”

Meng Yihuai looked back. “Put it down.”

Dai Ruyue: “?”

Meng Yihuai stepped out of the kitchen, leaning lazily against the doorframe. She arched an eyebrow. “Want to know who gave me that?”

Seeing her expression, Dai Ruyue had a bad feeling. “Not really.”

“Exactly, Ms. Jiang gave it to me,” Meng Yihuai said with a slow, drawling tone, ignoring her protest. “She spent three days and three nights crocheting it by hand.”

Dai Ruyue: “…”

Meng Yihuai: “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

“…”

“Can’t be helped. That’s just how important I am to her now.”