"What to do When the Pretty Woman I Kissed is My Best Friend's Professor" - Chapter 117

The next morning, Yan He woke up early and bought a few cups of coffee downstairs at the unit building, intending to bring some for her colleagues. She had placed her order and was sitting aside waiting when Sister Wang walked in.

Seeing Sister Wang, Yan He’s eyes lit up, and she quickly raised her hand to greet her: “Sister Wang! Over here!”

“Oh? Yan He is here?” Sister Wang walked over with a smile. Yan He hurriedly said, “Sister Wang, don’t order coffee, I bought several cups!”

Sister Wang chuckled: “Spending money as soon as you get back?” Knowing Yan He had gone away to clear her head, she smiled and asked, “Did Old Qin ask you to come today?”

“Yes, the Director asked me to come over today to meet with Teacher Yao.”

Yan He felt a little embarrassed; everyone else was working, but she had gone out to play before her external assignment.

Hearing this, Sister Wang was thoughtful: “Ah, I see…” She suddenly remembered that Old Qin had indeed mentioned an old colleague was coming yesterday, but she hadn’t thought of Yao Yao at the time: “That’s good. Old Yao has very rich work experience. You can learn a lot by following her.”

“I know!” Yan He took a sip of her coffee.

The two of them sat there chatting. Sister Wang looked at her and suddenly smiled: “Why do I feel like you’ve lost weight after strolling around? Your complexion doesn’t look great either.”

Yan He subconsciously touched her face. Her smile became forced: “Is that so? I don’t think so.”

“I feel like it is a bit.” Sister Wang patted her shoulder and said earnestly, “Young people, even if you want to lose weight, there must be a limit. Your health is more important.”

Yan He smiled: “I’m not trying to lose weight.” She was very satisfied with her figure, and her body fat had always remained stable.

Sister Wang blinked: “Is this what being young is like?”

They both laughed. Just then, Yan He’s coffee and Sister Wang’s breakfast were ready, so they walked side-by-side toward the unit building.

The old man at the entrance was surprised to see Yan He: “Oh? The little girl is here?”

Yan He gave an awkward smile: “I was on vacation for a while, Sir!”

After they walked past, Sister Wang whispered to Yan He, “Maybe the old man thought you quit since he hadn’t seen you for a while!”

Yan He rubbed her head, a little troubled: “Not likely, right?”

Having not been to the unit for a long time, Yan He suddenly felt a sense of having lived through a whole other age. She walked to her familiar workstation and found a thin layer of dust on it. This layer of dust was not as thick as she had imagined; it seemed to have been cleaned a few times.

“Your things are still where they were. You don’t have work today,” Sister Wang chuckled and went to eat her breakfast. Yan He distributed the coffee to the other colleagues. Afterwards, she saw Qin Liu arrive at the office right on time.

“Director!” Seeing that he hadn’t noticed her, Yan He quickly stood up to greet him.

Qin Liu was surprised to see Yan He, then slapped his forehead: “Ah, right! I forgot about you.” He glanced at the time and waved at Yan He: “Come, come, come! Come over here first!”

He looked around and asked, “Where’s Old Yao? Has she arrived?”

“Not yet,” Sister Wang answered.

“Then you come in first. I’ll give you some documents.” Qin Liu led Yan He into his office and pulled a stack of papers from the bottom of a pile of documents. Perhaps there was too much material on top; he clearly struggled to pull them out. Yan He quickly helped him stabilize the soon-to-topple wall of files, thinking how many documents the Director had.

Qin Liu sighed with relief: “Thanks.” He wiped some sweat: “Otherwise, picking them up would be another major project.”

He handed the documents to Yan He, motioned for her to sit on the sofa, and slowly began to explain: “The place you’re going this time is Sperato, and you’re going with Yao Yao. I should have told you about this before, right?”

Yan He nodded silently.

“Yao Yao hasn’t arrived yet. She always has a poor sense of time,” Qin Liu sighed, seemingly giving up hope that his old friend would arrive punctually: “However, her professional ability is excellent. You’ll learn a lot by working with her.”

Yan He’s eyes sparkled. Her body involuntarily leaned forward, revealing her excitement. She had heard of Yao Yao’s achievements a long time ago—or rather, who in journalism hadn’t heard her name?

“Aiya, you young people just love to idolize people.” Qin Liu shook his head: “Alright, alright, I feel she’s almost here. Why don’t you first—” Just as he finished speaking, there was a “knock, knock” at the door. Both of them turned to look. Qin Liu smiled: “See, here she comes.”

He called out: “Please come in!”

Immediately after, Yao Yao walked in.

Yan He hurriedly stood up.

She had short, neat hair and looked to be in her early forties, dressed in workwear, giving her a capable appearance. When she spoke, her voice was as frank and generous as her image, with a strong Beijing accent: “I say, Director Qin, I could hear you speaking ill of me from a long way away.”

Qin Liu straightened up and laughed: “I didn’t say anything bad, I just said you habitually arrive late.”

“You shouldn’t say that in front of a young person,” Yao Yao gave Yan He a hearty smile and extended her hand: “Hello, I’m Yao Yao. We’ll be working together for this period—oh, you’ll meet the cameraman tomorrow. They’re still doing reshoots in the Yunnan-Guizhou area today, but they’ll be back tomorrow.”

Yan He quickly nodded: “Hello, Teacher Yao, I’m Yan He, an intern. I—” She wanted to say that she really admired Yao Yao, but in front of Qin Liu, she felt too shy. After several moments of internal struggle, her cheeks flushed red.

“Old Qin told me about you,” Yao Yao patted her shoulder: “The little Lei Feng who was quick to help, right?”

Yan He quickly said she dared not claim that title. Qin Liu also joined Yao Yao in teasing her. Yan He was naturally thin-skinned, and being teased by the two seniors, line after line, made her face turn completely red.

“Alright, I have a meeting to attend.” Qin Liu raised his hand to check the time and picked up his insulated mug: “I’ll lend you two my office to get acquainted, alright? Just leave directly when you’re done talking. Your tickets for tomorrow have been sent to your phones. Be safe!”

He put away his smile and said solemnly, “No matter what you encounter, you must remember that life is the most precious thing.” Before leaving, Qin Liu even shot a look at Yao Yao, meaning, don’t you dare bully the little girl from my department.

Yao Yao raised an eyebrow and smiled, refuting him, when have I ever bullied anyone?

Yan He obediently lowered her head to look at the documents, not noticing the clash between the two seniors.

Once Qin Liu left, Yao Yao also opened the second set of documents. She skimmed them quickly and said to Yan He, “It’s nothing, just a minor external assignment. Sperato is a small country; the local conditions and customs are all quite good, and everyone is very friendly. No need to be nervous.”

Yan He nodded: “I—I’m not nervous.” Although she said she wasn’t nervous, Yan He still felt a little uncertain. After all, it was her first time, and she lacked experience.

“You don’t need to worry about safety. We’re staying right next to the embassy; nothing will happen,” Yao Yao immediately recognized Yan He’s unease and smiled to reassure her.

The two chatted a few more sentences, and then Yao Yao stood up: “That’s it for today. Shall we meet at the airport tomorrow?” She shook her phone: “Let’s add each other on WeChat. I’ll create a group later to facilitate work.”

After everything was settled, she asked Yan He, “Where are you going? Can I give you a ride?”

It was still early. Yan He thought for a moment and asked, “It’s alright, I can go by myself.”

“Aiya, it’s not convenient to take a taxi right now. I’ll drive you.”

Five minutes later, Yan He stood blankly in front of Yao Yao’s G-Wagon. Fifteen minutes later, she stood at the entrance of her university, feeling dizzy—she had an appointment with Tan Ning at three in the afternoon, so why did she arrive at eleven in the morning? Yan He sighed and sent a WeChat message thanking the extremely enthusiastic senior.

—She should just find a place to sit until after two o’clock in the afternoon before heading over.

Yan He found a familiar milk tea shop. The owner smiled and asked her, “Long time no see.”

“Yes, I’m interning,” Yan He smiled and ordered a Black Tea Cheese Foam: “Less ice, less sugar, please!”

“I remember!”

She ate her lunch and rested her head on the milk tea shop table, feeling drowsy. Half-asleep, half-awake, she remembered having some kind of dream—it seemed to be related to Shen Jinrong, but anything more, Yan He couldn’t recall.

She was woken up by her low-to-high pitched alarm clock, and when she opened her eyes, she found it was already half-past two in the afternoon.

Sure enough—sleeping was the best way to pass the time.

Yan He greeted the owner and slowly walked towards the teaching building with her backpack. She had just missed the peak time for classes and could only faintly hear the sound of teachers lecturing.

Yan He walked into the restroom to wash her face. After confirming that her appearance was fine, she spent a long time tidying herself up in front of the mirror.

She was going to see Tan Ning, and she always had a feeling that—she couldn’t afford to lose.

She gave a helpless smile to her reflection in the mirror. What was there to lose or not lose? None of that seemed so important anymore.

One minute before three o’clock, Yan He walked up to the door of Tan Ning’s office and knocked.

“Please come in.”

Tan Ning’s voice rang out. Yan He pushed the door open and found that she was still the only person inside.

“Yan He is here!” Tan Ning motioned for her to sit down and smiled, asking, “Do you want some water?”

Yan He felt a little awkward. She quickly said, “No, no! Thank you, Teacher.”

She laughed at her own awkwardness in her heart—why be awkward? Tan Ning was completely open and honest, so why was she agonizing?

With this thought in mind, Yan He seriously reported on the progress of her thesis and some issues to her thesis advisor. Towards the end of their chat, Tan Ning was a little sentimental: “You’ve done very well. I feel that I, as your advisor, haven’t provided you with much assistance.”

Yan He said, “You are too kind.”

The two politely said their goodbyes. Yan He packed her laptop into her backpack, ready to leave. Before she left, she saw the book on Tan Ning’s desk, which was still Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams. A golden bookmark was clipped onto one of the pages, with its top slightly exposed.

She squinted her eyes and suddenly remembered where she had seen this bookmark before—at Shen Jinrong’s house.

She suddenly smiled and asked Tan Ning a sudden question: “Teacher, were you Professor Shen’s teacher before?”

Tan Ning was momentarily startled, seemingly having not expected her to ask that: “Yes, why do you ask?”

“Nothing,” Yan He smiled. Tan Ning couldn’t understand the emotion in her eyes, only hearing her words, which were clear yet slow: “I just always see you and Professor Shen together…”

“That’s right,” Tan Ning smiled, her eyes filled with memories of the past: “I am eight years older than your Professor Shen.”

Shen Jinrong was also eight years older than herself.

Eight years, another eight years.

Eight years and another eight years, the world became a small cycle, and history repeated itself.

Shen Jinrong met Tan Ning eight years ago. Yan He met Shen Jinrong eight years later.

Yan He smiled again.