That Girl Who Skipped Class — You're In Big Trouble! - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The dining table was set with three pizzas, steam wafting off them. The tomato and egg soup, stir-fried greens, and hot and sour shredded potatoes that Xiao Xuan made were placed nearby. During the process, both Zhang Xiaoxiao and An Qianyang had tried to help, but she shooed them away, finding them in the way. She was now coming out of the kitchen, carrying several empty bowls.

Song Yingming sat on one side, pinching the half-full red wine glass with two fingers. An Qianyang and Zhang Xiaoxiao sat opposite her, side by side, both with their heads lowered. Xiao Xuan paused and glanced at the dining table. The atmosphere in the room was a bit strange; it certainly didn’t look like a cheerful gathering.

“Alright, you two, I skipped a very important class to have this gathering. Is this how you treat me?” Xiao Xuan sat down next to Song Yingming and picked up her wine glass. “Let’s have a toast first.”

The four extended their glasses, gently clinking them in the air.

An Qianyang put down her glass and scooped a bowl of soup. Zhang Xiaoxiao grabbed a slice of pizza in front of her and stuffed it into her mouth, filling the dining table with the sounds of swallowing food. Xiao Xuan put down her chopsticks and scooped a bowl of soup for Song Yingming, placing it in front of her: “Do you still remember when we were in Australia? You taught me how to make this dish. You said it tastes better if you peel the tomatoes before cooking them.”

Song Yingming smiled when she heard this: “Yes, we were dependent on each other, as they say. I cooked, and you washed the dishes, in that shabby house, with that incredibly strange landlord. Once we argued with him and broke some of his cheap furniture. He even threatened to sue us afterward.” Song Yingming paused to sip her soup: “Why didn’t we end up together back then?”

“It’s because someone else snatched you away first and ran off so fast. Ten oxen couldn’t pull her back.” Xiao Xuan glanced at Zhang Xiaoxiao, who was busy with a mouthful of pizza across the table. Zhang Xiaoxiao awkwardly coughed.

This was the first time An Qianyang had heard Xiao Xuan talk about her past in Australia. Knowing she couldn’t interject, she lowered her head and drank the soup in her bowl, deliberately suppressing the sound of her swallowing, afraid to miss any important words. After listening, she couldn’t help but feel immense respect for Zhang Xiaoxiao. That person actually dared, at her age and with not-so-fluent English, to save all her money for plane tickets and travel to Australia every two or three months. Chasing love across a thousand miles. However, the more she heard, the more she felt lost and regretful. She hadn’t had the chance to participate in Xiao Xuan’s life before she met her—not sharing her frustrations, her joys, or witnessing her growth. When she first met Xiao Xuan, Teacher Xiao was already the star lecturer at A University, the elegant, thoughtful goddess that all the students and faculty admired at that wine table.

“Zhang Xiaoxiao, why were you so good before, and now you’re so awful?” Song Yingming’s eyes reddened as she bit into the pizza. Zhang Xiaoxiao’s usual flippant attitude was gone. She sat silently by the dining table.

A heavy silence descended upon the table.

An Qianyang spoke up: “Teacher Xiao, didn’t you just say you worked at the Pullman Hotel? Do you know Cheng Fei? The one I painted last time, my dad’s colleague.”

Xiao Xuan put down the pizza she was biting, clearly startled: “Not really. Why do you bring him up?” An Qianyang noticed Song Yingming also sat up, her body noticeably tense.

“I was just asking casually. He has a younger sister named Eileen. I hung out with her last time I went to Australia. She’s around your age and also worked at the Pullman Hotel before. Did you two work together?”

Xiao Xuan leaned forward, her eyes unusually severe: “Yangyang, what are you trying to do? Did you go behind my back and ask others about me?”

An Qianyang was chilled to the core by Xiao Xuan’s sharp perception. Her demeanor softened: “Yes, but listen to me…”

“I really don’t like people investigating me like that,” Xiao Xuan interrupted her. “The past is the past, but having someone investigate me behind my back—that behavior is extremely impolite and annoying.”

An Qianyang was stunned. This was Xiao Xuan, the person who was so elegant and polite even when rejecting her confession. Immediately, a feeling of wronged anger surged up her throat: “You know I didn’t mean it like that. I just wanted to understand you better. I had no ill intentions.”

“What I want is not the kind of understanding you think it is.”

Could it be Eileen? Xiao Xuan changed completely as soon as she heard that name. Is that woman a past that you can neither touch nor mention? An Qianyang’s voice was already full of jealousy: “The reason you don’t want to be understood is because you have some unspeakable secret from before?”

There was no discernible emotion left in Xiao Xuan’s eyes: “An Qianyang, please don’t maliciously speculate about me.”

It’s over. An Qianyang heard the sound of her heart breaking: “Teacher Xiao, I tried. You told me last time to understand you more, and I did. I have never put this much effort or shed this many tears for one person, yet you wrap yourself up so tightly and think the worst of everyone else. I don’t understand anymore. It feels like no matter how hard I try, I can’t get close to your heart.”

Xiao Xuan leaned back. She looked so beautiful, yet so cold: “You are not strong at all. You tried a little bit with a wrong method, failed, and now you’re crying in front of me.”

Zhang Xiaoxiao, who was on the side, finally couldn’t sit still. She quickly jumped in to mediate: “Ahem, the feng shui is terrible today. This gathering is a mess. How about we all go home and cool off first, and talk properly another day?”

An Qianyang stood up abruptly and walked to the door. Not giving up, she turned back: “Teacher Xiao, is your kindness to me the kindness of a teacher to a student? Or the kindness of a lover to a lover?”

“I have a responsibility to be kind to you.”

“I see. Goodbye.”

The door closed.

The three people left in the room sat motionless at the dining table.

Zhang Xiaoxiao picked up a bowl, stood up, and yelled toward the ceiling: “Oh my goodness, we’ve really been haunted today!”