Ten-Year Loyal Dog’s Road to Chasing Her Wife (GL) - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

That night, Qiao Wan tossed and turned for a long time. She only fell asleep after the entire dormitory had quieted down. In her dream, she saw that Qiao Mei had become very beautiful. On her wrist was still that single jadeite bracelet. Qiao Mei beamed at her and extended her left hand; under the reflection of the sunlight, the emerald-green jade bracelet glowed with a faint green hue, like a cat’s eye. It was exceptionally beautiful.

Just as beautiful as Qiao Mei herself.

Gentle and refined, as if she were a daughter from a prestigious family, never ignoring or neglecting anyone.

In the dream, she grasped Qiao Mei’s hand without a moment’s hesitation. That sense of familiarity was something Qiao Wan could feel even within the dream. Since when had she started to trust and rely on someone so much?

Qiao Wan frowned. It was too bizarre; she couldn’t figure it out at all. She shouldn’t be able to trust someone this much, even if that person was of the same gender, in the same class, or even her own desk-mate. Qiao Wan had now completely cut off contact with her desk-mate from junior high. She knew she was a very cold and detached person; though they might play well together normally, once they no longer saw each other and the connection was broken, it was truly over. Qiao Wan wouldn’t feel the slightest regret.

In her eyes, feelings were like mayflies that are born in the morning and die by dusk. People immersed in emotion might say “I like you” or “I love you” one second, and the next, they could heartlessly say “let’s not see each other anymore.”

What was the point of it all?

When Qiao Wan was twelve, her parents were still very much in love. Back then, her father told her mother that they hadn’t held a proper ceremony when they first married, so he wanted to hold it again as a form of compensation to her. Naturally, Qiao Wan attended that supplementary wedding. It was very luxurious, and every detail was exquisite.

Including the custom-made wedding dress her mother wore.

At that time, everyone in the family said: “Look at how happy your family is. Even after the man became wealthy, he didn’t abandon his ‘chaff wife’ (the wife who stayed through the hardships).” Qiao Wan was very happy then, too. She was dressed up like a flower fairy out of a fairy tale; everything she wore and carried was of the highest quality. She pinched the long train of her mother’s wedding dress, keeping a serious little face as she accompanied her mother across the equally long red carpet toward the altar adorned with angels and the Virgin Mary.

Qiao Wan still remembered the vows from back then for them, yet they were about to get divorced.

Men, they are all “pig trotters” (unreliable jerks).

While Qiao Wan was lost in these random thoughts, the scene in her dream froze on Qiao Mei’s hand, which was extended toward her with a smile, wearing a white lace-trimmed glove. If Qiao Wan had looked a few more times, it wouldn’t have been hard to recognize that even if it wasn’t a wedding glove, it was at least a glove for a formal gown.

Regardless of the outcome, it was something worth pondering.

Why was Qiao Mei wearing such clothes?

Was she getting married? To whom? Moreover, if she were going to get married, why would she appear before Qiao Wan and act as if she wanted to hold her hand?

Most importantly, Qiao Mei had become beautiful… Although in the dream, Qiao Mei’s face seemed to be covered by a layer of light gauze, making it impossible to see her features clearly, as soon as she saw that faint face, Qiao Wan could confirm that it was her desk-mate Qiao Mei and she had become beautiful.

Or rather, she had simply restored her original beauty.

“Oh! How rare!” Qiao Wan heard someone chuckle teasingly in her ear and opened her eyes dazed. She then heard the girl laugh; “Even the great School Beauty Qiao has times when she sleeps in?”

The Qiao family valued diligence. If her father knew she was sleeping in, he would surely scold her. Gradually, Qiao Wan also felt that sleeping in was a very shameful behavior. Blushing, she asked, “What time is it now?”

It was just that the weather was still quite hot, so a flushed face upon waking was understandable. Thus, the girl didn’t think much of it and said honestly: “It’s 6:30. The time for the school to play songs has long passed; they are playing the news now. If you don’t get up soon, you might not make it for breakfast.”

Qiao Wan was still a bit bleary-eyed from just waking up. She squinted to identify the person and found it was Qiu Liannan, who sat in front of her. This girl was quite nice and got along with everyone; even Qiao Wan, who was isolated and too proud to bow her head, could exchange a few words with her.

“I know you usually get up very early, so I’m calling you now. As for those people,” Qiu Liannan gestured with her chin toward the others in the dorm who were still fast asleep, “I’ll wait until it’s almost time to leave before waking them.”

“Thank you.” Qiao Wan nodded to her with polite detachment and prepared to flip over to get out of bed.

One dormitory had four bunk beds, housing eight people in total. Qiu Liannan was on a top bunk, and Qiao Wan was on a bottom bunk. As for who slept in the other three bunk beds, Qiao Wan had not yet identified them. When Qiao Wan went to sleep, they were often just returning to the dorm, and when Qiao Wan went out every morning, they were usually not yet awake. As for the little bit of rest time at noon, no one was willing to waste it on socializing.

This directly resulted in Qiao Wan not knowing the others despite having slept in this dormitory for nearly a week.

Like Qiao Wan, Qiu Liannan woke up very early, but she never went out early like Qiao Wan did. She preferred to take a small stool and sit on the balcony, looking through the second-floor railings to watch the students on duty come to sweep the grounds, waiting for the others to wake up before heading to the classroom together.

When Qiao Wan finished washing up, changed into her outing clothes, and came out of the bathroom, Qiu Liannan was also moving her stool to sit on the balcony. Her two round eyes kept drifting toward Qiao Wan. Feeling uncomfortable under the gaze, Qiao Wan had no choice but to find something to say: “Are you going to the classroom with me?”

“This little dress of yours is so pretty. Where did you buy it… alright, I know, at a boutique counter, right? I can’t afford it, so I won’t insult myself,” Qiu Liannan said slowly with her hands propping up her cheeks. “I really envy you people who have dresses to wear and can look so good in them.”

Today, Qiao Wan was wearing an embroidered white dress. Blue-purple butterflies were scattered across the pure white hem. The hem was the most ornate part of the entire dress; the rest was extremely simple, with only a silk bow at the waist. Following the other girl’s gaze, Qiao Wan glanced at herself and said with a smile, “Since there are no school uniforms yet, you can wear them too.”

“You’re going so early, is it to have Qiao Mei help you with Physics?”

Qiao Wan was stunned and asked back, “What? Is Qiao Mei very good at Physics?”

Speaking of which, Qiu Liannan was originally from the First Middle School’s junior high section, the same junior high as Qiao Mei. If it came to understanding her, former classmates should know Qiao Mei better, right?

“It’s not that she’s just good at Physics; she’s great at all the sciences. Like Physics, Biology, Chemistry anyway, back in junior high, the teachers for those three subjects happened to be Qiao Mei’s teachers too. They spent all day telling us how amazing Qiao Mei from Class 29 was and told us to learn from her; it really drew a lot of ‘aggro’ (hatred). But luckily, her Math and English were both mediocre; otherwise, there’d really be no way for the rest of us to live.” Qiu Liannan touched her own face and continued to chuckle, “It’s only because there hasn’t been an exam yet that these people dare to mock Qiao Mei’s face so flagrantly. Once we come back from military training and have the exams, they’ll have to kneel down and call her ‘Daddy.’ A top student is a top student; even now, I can still feel the fear of being dominated by her back then.”

Qiao Wan didn’t speak. She could see that Qiao Mei’s grades were likely the excellent kind, but according to the school’s strict classification, why would the excellent Qiao Mei be assigned to Class 11 to “associate with their kind”? Had the school made a mistake, resulting in Qiao Mei being assigned here?

All the way to the classroom, Qiao Wan was thinking about this question. When passing the office, Qiao Wan conveniently placed the gift she had bought on the teacher’s desk. It was still too early, and only one teacher was sitting in the office. Qiao Wan didn’t know him, but he knew Qiao Wan: “Qiao Wan? Is that the name?”

Qiao Wan: “????”

Qiao Wan: “Hello, Teacher.” She remembered clearly that this teacher had never taught her.

“Indeed, you are a very good-looking girl.” That teacher was male, roughly forty-odd years old, with a beer belly and nicotine-stained teeth. For some reason, Qiao Wan felt the way he looked at her was a bit strange, like a hunter looking at a piece of prey he was interested in. “Your Physics teacher said your Physics isn’t very good. Coincidentally, I am also a Physics teacher. How about you come to me if you have any questions you don’t understand in the future?”

Qiao Wan wished for nothing more than to stay as far away from him as possible. Her intuition told her this person was very dangerous, so she took a step back and said politely and formally, “Thank you for your kindness, Teacher. My Physics foundation is indeed not very good, and I don’t know many very simple problems. In your eyes, these questions might be quite low-level, so I won’t bother you. I’ll just ask my desk-mate.”

“Hey! Look at what you’re saying!” The male teacher waved his hand grandly. “Questions aren’t divided into high or low levels. Having a beautiful and studious girl like you come to ask questions is a very good thing. A desk-mate is also a student; can they really know more than a teacher? Feel free to ask; my Physics is very good.”

Qiao Wan frowned. What was with this person? Was he being excessively enthusiastic?

Teachers generally like diligent and studious students, and it wasn’t strange for them to know Qiao Wan if she came to the office occasionally to ask questions. It also wasn’t strange for a student to ask a teacher who didn’t teach their class, and teachers would usually answer. But it was absolutely never this enthusiastic. For most simple problems, teachers would rather students figure it out themselves or ask classmates who knew the answer this was a way to train self-study skills and promote social interaction among students.

But he seemed to be acting out of goodwill, so it was hard to rebuff him. Just as Qiao Wan was feeling stuck, a loud “Reporting!” came from the doorway, startling both people inside. Qiao Wan looked toward the door and found Qiao Mei standing there holding a bouquet of flowers, winking at her, while her words were directed at the Physics teacher: “May I come in?”

In her arms was a bouquet of individually wrapped short-stem sunflowers.