"What to do When the Pretty Woman I Kissed is My Best Friend's Professor" - Chapter 11

The fourth time Yan He became distracted, she nearly poked the grilled meat on her tray into the charcoal below. The charcoal in the brazier had already turned silver-gray, faintly glowing with red fire, occasionally flaring up with a lick of flame as oil dripped down.

Li Xiuxia was devastated and reached out to Yan He, motioning for her to hand over the tongs. After receiving the tongs, Li Xiuxia flipped the meat on the tray and sighed, staring at the burnt spots: “Jie-jie (Elder Sister)! My mistake, my true mistake! Don’t take it out on my grilled meat! I’ll go make up the leave slip for Professor Shen next class.”

Yan He’s eyes were unfocused, staring into space. Li Xiuxia suspected her soul had been left behind with Shen Jinrong. She waved a hand in front of Yan He’s face: “Yan He? Yan He? Jie-jie?! Hey! Snap out of it!”

Yan He was startled by the “Hey” and looked back at Li Xiuxia with a bewildered expression: “Huh?”

Seeing her distracted state, Li Xiuxia’s expression was complex. She hesitated, but then, seeing Yan He’s face clearly flushed, she felt a little reluctant to press the issue. Afterward, she slowly said, “…Shen Jinrong, she is a professor in our college.”

Yan He nodded: “Yes, I know.” Speaking of Shen Jinrong, her attention focused a bit more, and the blush on her cheeks deepened, whether from the indoor heating, the grilling meat in front of her, or Shen Jinrong.

“She is a Professor, a full Professor,” Li Xiuxia emphasized.

Yan He was stunned. Meeting Li Xiuxia’s hesitant gaze, she repeated, “Yes, she is.”

“She has a Baidu Baike (Baidu Encyclopedia) entry, you…” Li Xiuxia said again.

Yan He grabbed her phone. She knew what Li Xiuxia was about to say, and a hint of panic appeared in her expression: “I’ll go look.”

Li Xiuxia stood up and pressed down on the hand reaching for the phone, her face slightly serious: “She is eight years older than you.”

Li Xiuxia’s words struck like a heavy hammer, causing Yan He’s face to pale slightly.

Yan He of course knew the age difference between herself and Shen Jinrong, but when the number was presented so bluntly, everything before seemed like self-deception. Age, what does age matter? Sometimes it matters nothing, yet sometimes it can extinguish every spark at the very beginning.

Age is like an admission ticket, Yan He thought. Maybe she had been filtered out from the start.

Although the blazing charcoal was right in front of her, Yan He felt cold all over. All the blood in her body seemed to rush to her brain. She could feel the veins throbbing on her forehead, and her cold palms felt clammy.

Li Xiuxia, seeing Yan He’s face turn white, dropped the subject and poured her a glass of water: “Yan He, have you thought this through?”

Have you thought this through?

[“You are my happiness, my ethereal love.”

“When you flashed past me, I had already fallen deeply in love with you.”

“That kind of fluttering love, mysterious and vague.”

…

“This is my destiny.”]

“Have you sorted out all your family matters?” Wen Yuan poured Shen Jinrong a cup of hot water.

Shen Jinrong’s complexion was haggard, her lips were pale, and the healthy color temporarily created by her lipstick had vanished without a trace. She wore a black turtleneck sweater, the black color further emphasizing her slender frame. Sitting on the sofa, she restlessly tugged at her collar with her right hand.

Shen Jinrong accepted the steaming glass mug Wen Yuan offered with both hands, watching the rising condensation cloud in front of her. The first puff of white steam quickly vanished above the cup, followed by successive waves of mist rising and finally completely dissipating.

Shen Jinrong’s mind was a mess; she didn’t want to think about anything, and the right side of her forehead throbbed with pain.

The forced composure she had maintained during the day had disappeared completely, leaving behind only a cold, fragile core.

She belatedly felt the warmth in her palms; the slightly hot sensation calmed her frantic heart somewhat. Shen Jinrong lowered her eyes, her voice low and hoarse: “Everything is sorted out.”

A long silence fell in the apartment.

“How is Grandma?” Wen Yuan broke the silence.

“She’s fine.” Shen Jinrong rubbed the cup with her fingertips and took a sip of hot water. The slightly scalding water had already become lukewarm, yet she could still feel the water warming her all the way from her tongue to her stomach.

She felt a little better.

“It’s getting late, you should go home soon.” Shen Jinrong glanced at the clock hanging in the living room and placed the cup down. The transparent glass cup touched the glass coffee table, making two clear sounds.

Wen Yuan nodded. As she picked up her bag and put on her coat, ready to leave, she was worried and turned to look back at Shen Jinrong: “You… get some rest early.”

Shen Jinrong offered her a smile.

Shen Jinrong’s smile was forced, unnaturally pulling at the muscles around her eyes, making her look even more fatigued. She was dressed all in black, and the apartment’s decor was primarily cool-toned. From a distance, only the glass cup on the table, emitting a faint bit of steam, seemed to possess any warmth.

Wen Yuan couldn’t bear to look anymore. She didn’t even dare to meet Shen Jinrong’s bloodshot eyes, simply saying, “Call me if you need anything,” before hurrying away.

Closing the door and standing outside, Wen Yuan couldn’t help but feel her eyes well up.

While waiting for their milk tea, Yan He remembered Li Xiuxia was supposed to see her advisor today and asked her: “Didn’t you say you were meeting your thesis advisor? How did it go?”

Li Xiuxia craned her neck to check the number on the milk tea shop’s large screen and answered casually: “Pretty good. I heard from a senior student that Teacher Zhang is really nice.”

Yan He nodded: “That’s good.”

“I ran into your student counselor today. Old Wang said your Journalism Department has also finished assigning advisors. Who did you get?” Li Xiuxia’s ex-girlfriend was from the Journalism Department, so she knew everything about it: “I heard there’s a teacher named Luo who’s not very responsible. I hope you weren’t assigned to him.”

Yan He thought about the group message she hadn’t checked today, pulled out her phone, and looked down for a long time. She found her name on the dense spreadsheet, scrolled over to see the advisor: “Tan Ning? Who is Tan Ning?”

Yan He thought hard but really couldn’t remember such a teacher in her department.

“Tan Ning? I haven’t heard of her either.” Li Xiuxia leaned over to look at the name, her brows furrowed: “I’ll ask around for you.”

“Wait! No, don’t—” Yan He knew she was definitely going to ask the ex-girlfriend from the Journalism Department. Li Xiuxia was truly impressive, managing to remain just ordinary friends with all her ex-partners. Before Yan He could stop her, the message had already been sent.

“Number 193! Milk tea is ready!”

Li Xiuxia jumped up: “I’ll go get it! I’ll go get it!”

Yan He looked down at the QR code for Teacher Tan Ning’s WeChat that her counselor had sent, hesitated, and decided to add the contact the next day during business hours.

Li Xiuxia came back, one hand carrying the milk tea and the other holding her phone, looking at a message. She had already found out about Tan Ning’s background: “I heard Teacher Tan Ning is really nice. Although she’s still an Instructor right now, it seems she’s about to be promoted to Associate Professor. She just returned from maternity leave and hadn’t been assigned work, otherwise she wouldn’t be an advisor for the graduation projects.”

Yan He looked at the QR code on her phone. The profile picture in the upper left corner for Tan Ning was a photo of a baby’s one-hundred-day celebration. The little one was grinning widely, a brilliant smile.