"What to do When the Pretty Woman I Kissed is My Best Friend's Professor" - Chapter 43

After her internship started, Yan He  had no spare time to go to the university. This was partly because she was new and undergoing training at her workplace, and partly because of her own high standards.

After the third time Yan He rejected his invitation to dinner, Li Xiuxi  finally called to interrogate her: “My sister! My dear sister! Why are you so busy?” Li Xiuxi’s voice sounded like a lament, as he accused Yan He of her recent atrocious behavior: “How many times have I asked you out! Don’t you even have time for a meal?”

Yan He, wearing her work badge, cupped the phone and walked to the stairwell before whispering: “It’s not that I don’t want to go; I genuinely don’t have time.”

“I understand.” Li Xiuxi’s voice suddenly dropped, carrying a hint of mockery upon closer listening: “You’ve been working overtime until eight or nine at night recently, haven’t you? Tsk, how could you have time to eat with me?”

Yan He froze: “How did you know I’m working overtime until eight or nine?” I clearly blocked everyone else when I posted on my Moments, didn’t I? A bad premonition suddenly arose in her heart—and sure enough, Li Xiuxi deliberately said: “Oh—I saw it on your Moments.”

Yan He widened her eyes, switched hands on the phone, and her right hand began nervously fiddling with the lanyard of her work badge: “Didn’t I block you? I remember posting it as—Visible only to Shen Jinrong (沈錦容), right?”

“You blocked me, you blocked me,” Li Xiuxi teased: “But you didn’t block my secondary account. Also, you didn’t select ‘Visible only to Shen Jinrong,’ did you? Did you select the one where you individually check off people to block?”

Yan He slapped her head in annoyance.

It’s over.

This is so embarrassing!

How could this be so awkward!

She hurriedly checked her phone, and only after confirming that no one except Li Xiuxi’s secondary account and Shen Jinrong could see it did she breathe a sigh of relief.

“Remember this for next time!” Li Xiuxi, overjoyed, intentionally messed with her: “You need to select—Visible only to XX, not the other option.”

Yan He stubbornly said: “I know!”

“I say, do you think—” Li Xiuxi couldn’t help laughing, roaring with laughter into the phone for half a minute before recovering: “I say, does Professor Shen know you’re working so hard? Has she come to see you?”

Yan He looked down at her shoes, feeling for the first time that she might have overdone it, and whispered: “She probably thinks I’m too busy, so she hasn’t come to look for me.”

Li Xiuxi laughed even louder.

Yan He was so embarrassed by his laughter that she became angry: “Stop laughing! Don’t laugh!”

“Alright, alright, I won’t laugh, I won’t laugh.” Li Xiuxi cleared his throat and started stating his purpose: “I really called you for something important! Serious business!”

“What is it?”

“It’s like this: do you want to come to the school sometime in late September? Like, to openly participate in an event?”

Yan He hesitated: “I don’t think I can, I—” “All the teachers in the school will be there, it’s an awards ceremony, and they need people to present flowers to the teachers.” Li Xiuxi was one of the heads of the school’s organization department: “If you come, I can arrange for you to present flowers to Professor Shen Jinrong.”

Yan He’s eyes lit up, but she still said: “Oh dear, is that appropriate?”

Li Xiuxi had already figured her out and deliberately said: “Are you coming or not? If you don’t come, I won’t arrange it for you. I’m interning too, and I don’t really want to get involved with school matters. Tsk, it’s pretty troublesome.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Yan He quickly said: “Listen! I have to go out on a location shoot soon, so I can’t talk anymore! I’ll treat you to dinner next time!”

Li Xiuxi looked at the abruptly hung-up phone and thought: Yan He is completely hooked. Next time? Yan He is so busy with her internship, who knows when ‘next time’ will be!

As soon as Yan He returned to the office and sat down, Sister Wang spotted her: “Hey! Little Yan! Old Lu and the others were looking for you just now! Hurry down! You’re going out on a location shoot!”

Yan He acknowledged her, took a sip of water, and rushed downstairs.

Early in September, whenever Shen Jinrong felt life was peaceful, something would always happen to shatter that peace. For her, life was full of ups and downs, and every period of calm suggested something bad was bound to happen afterward.

—Just like now, Shen Jinrong was standing downstairs at her grandmother’s apartment building and saw a woman sitting in the nearby pavilion.

She felt uneasy. Although subconsciously she knew she recognized the woman, she couldn’t immediately recall who she was upon seeing her from the back. It wasn’t until the woman turned around that she vaguely remembered: it was Wang Dingyun (王丁芸), her father’s mistress.

Having not seen her for six months, Shen Jinrong had almost forgotten about her, but this person always liked to show up and remind people of her existence.

However, Wang Dingyun didn’t like being called a mistress, claiming that after all these years, her father had only been with her.

Shen Jinrong smiled when she heard this excuse. The fact that Wang Dingyun had held her father’s attention so tightly was her own skill, but a mistress was a mistress, and that couldn’t be cleaned up.

Shen Jinrong didn’t know why she had come to see her grandmother. In her recollection, this was the second time Wang Dingyun had come to see her grandmother. The first time—she recalled what her grandmother had said to her then, about Wang Dingyun talking nonsense and wanting to have a baby.

A strong sense of unease made her walk forward quickly, wanting to figure out Wang Dingyun’s intention.

The night breeze blew gently; this was the period when the Autumn Tiger (late-summer heat) was making its comeback. It was early evening, and many elderly residents of the community were walking or exercising downstairs after dinner, yet no one noticed them.

As Shen Jinrong walked toward Wang Dingyun, she thought she needed to tell the security guard at the gate next time not to let strangers in again.

“Oh my! Jinrong!” Wang Dingyun only realized Shen Jinrong was standing behind her when she got there. Although she was startled, she composed herself and said with a smile, so as not to put Shen Jinrong on guard: “You startled me.”

“Then you should leave quickly.” Shen Jinrong’s expression was stern. She couldn’t be bothered to engage in meaningless politeness with Wang Dingyun and turned to walk away: “If you have business, see a lawyer. If you bother my grandmother and me again, I will consider applying to the court for a restraining order or reporting you to the police.”

Wang Dingyun quickly stepped in front of her, forcing a smile: “Jinrong, this is our own family business, there’s no need—” “Our own? Who is our own with you?” Shen Jinrong narrowed her eyes, gritting her teeth as she spoke each word: “Try calling me that one more time?”

The way she narrowed her eyes resembled her father too closely, and the sense of oppression was immediate. Wang Dingyun pursed her lips and fell silent.

Shen Jinrong had heard many people call her that: her grandmother, Tan Ning (譚寧) and her mother, and also… Yan He. Thinking of Yan He, her heart suddenly softened. Why would the young one call me that back then?

She couldn’t remember for a moment, but when she thought of Yan He, those two words had a magical power to soothe her, allowing her to quickly calm down.

“Tell me everything you have to say at once. I don’t want you to come back later claiming you have something else to discuss with us.” Shen Jinrong took a step back, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Wang Dingyun. She wasn’t wearing her glasses today, so her vision was a little blurry when looking at people, but this didn’t affect her silent intimidation of Wang Dingyun.

“Didn’t your father always want a son?” Wang Dingyun said anxiously: “Now he can have one, I—” Shen Jinrong interrupted her expressionlessly: “Wait a moment. The man is dead. Who are you going to have a child with?” Speaking of this, a smile appeared on her otherwise emotionless face: “You wouldn’t be trying to tell me that eight months after his death, you suddenly found out you were pregnant?”

Wang Dingyun was momentarily choked. Her eyes flickered, as if unsure whether she should reveal her final trump card to the person in front of her. She rarely saw Shen Jinrong and knew her relationship with her father was very poor, but—before she could finish her sentence, she heard Shen Jinrong slowly say: “I think he would really like this hat.”

Wang Dingyun was speechless for a moment. She stared at Shen Jinrong and asked: “Can you represent your grandmother’s thoughts? The elderly lady surely wants a grandson, right?”

“A grandson? The era of preferring sons over daughters is long over. Perhaps you are too old to change your outdated views.” Shen Jinrong raised an eyebrow at her, seemingly finding her statement odd: “I think my grandmother and I are both not fond of green hats.” She lifted the corner of her lips into a smile: “Will you leave on your own, or shall I have security ‘escort’ you out?”

She deliberately emphasized the word “escort,” which now sounded like a threat. Wang Dingyun gritted her teeth, grabbed her bag, and turned to leave.

Shen Jinrong only felt relieved after watching her walk out the main gate. She walked to the entrance and spoke to the young guard on duty: “That woman just now is not a good person. Please don’t let her in again in the future.”

The guard was taken aback, recalled the appearance of the woman, and nodded.

“I just said it, why did you take so long to come up?” Grandma Shen (沈奶奶) opened the door for her, with a hint of complaint in her tone. She chatted away: “Hurry, hurry! Didn’t you say you were going to cook? The vegetables are all sliced and waiting for the chef to take over!”

Shen Jinrong acknowledged her, rolled up her sleeves, and went to wash her hands. She put on an apron and walked into the kitchen, finding that her grandmother had already prepared everything for her.

Shen Jinrong turned on the heat. As she was heating the wok and oil, she didn’t turn her head, but spoke to Grandma Shen in a casual, indifferent tone: “I ran into Wang Dingyun downstairs just now.”

“Who?” Grandma Shen hadn’t clearly heard Shen Jinrong’s words. Her voice, mixed with the sound of the range hood and the gas, sounded a bit muffled. Grandma Shen asked again: “Who did you run into?”

Shen Jinrong pursed her lips, then said: “Wang Dingyun.”

Grandma Shen frowned, her face instantly falling: “Why did she come? How did she get in?”

Shen Jinrong stared at the flame, turning up the heat: “I don’t know, but I’ve spoken to the guard at the gate and asked them not to let her in again.”

Grandma Shen slowly nodded: “You did the right thing.” She sighed, then asked in a calm tone: “So, the inheritance, have you settled it?”

Shen Jinrong: “I left half of it for you, and the other half I donated.”

Grandma Shen smiled helplessly. She sighed and said: “That’s fine, too.”

Then, Shen Jinrong added the vegetables and started tossing the wok. Grandma Shen stood behind her, as if nothing had happened, and the two only talked about small, everyday matters.

Sitting at the dinner table, the grandmother and granddaughter were eating when Shen Jinrong suddenly spoke: “I have something I want to tell you.”

Grandma Shen continued eating without raising her head: “Tell me.”

Shen Jinrong pursed her lips and slowly said: “Grandma, I… I have someone I like.”

“I think I am also capable of loving someone.”