Meeting the Teacher

"What exactly are these Red Fingernails? Master Pu Hu said this little pouch could only be used for a while. Damn it, there's too much I don't know. Is Xie Wen the problem? Is it the house? Or is there something even more terrifying behind all this?" Zhang Chen pressed both Hands against his forehead, gritting his teeth tightly.

"Whatever. I'll start with Xie Wen. If there's something wrong with her, it'll be simpler—I'll just kill her." After thinking it through, Zhang Chen picked up his black gel pen, tore a sheet from his homework notebook, and began writing on it.

"Teacher Xie Wen,

Could you come to Shangyin Island on Linhe Street at seven-thirty tonight? I'd like to buy you a drink and ask you about the fingernails.

Student Zhang"

After writing it, Zhang Chen folded the paper and slipped it into his pocket. He stood and headed out of the classroom. However, a hand caught the corner of his shirt. Turning around, he saw Wang Yizhi smiling at him.

"I'm just going out for a moment. I'll be right back. It's fine."

Wang Yizhi looked worried. She did not know what had happened to Zhang Chen, but seeing him like this, she let go of his shirt.

Seeing how completely unaware Wang Yizhi was, Zhang Chen became even more determined. Even if it cost him his life, he could not let her get hurt.

When he reached the teachers' office, Lu Ba was walking out with an English textbook in hand, preparing to lead the class in morning reading.

Before the homeroom teacher could speak, Zhang Chen said first, "Hello, Teacher Lu. I'm going to the office to find Teacher Xie. I didn't have much homework last night, so I previewed quite a bit of chemistry. There are some things I don't understand that I want to ask her about."

Naturally, no teacher would stop a student over something related to studying. Even Lu Ba, strict as she was, was no exception. The homeroom teacher gave Zhang Chen an approving look and said, "The desire to learn is a good thing. Come back for morning reading once you're done asking your questions."

Zhang Chen nodded and opened the door. Xie Wen was sorting things on her desk, and all ten of her fingernails were still vividly red. No matter how pretty or sexy she was, Zhang Chen could not help feeling angry. As soon as he entered, he did not use his hand to close the door, yet it shut on its own.

Pretending to be composed, Zhang Chen walked up to Xie Wen. When she saw him, he placed the folded paper from his pocket onto her desk before she could say anything, then turned and left. Yet before Zhang Chen reached the door, it opened by itself. After he walked out, it automatically closed again.

Xie Wen saw the entire scene. Still shocked, she lowered her head to see what Zhang Chen had given her. To her surprise, the folded paper had already unfolded on its own. After reading the words on it, Xie Wen first showed a faintly excited, happy expression. Before long, however, she became anxious. Then she folded the paper again and put it into her handbag.

After returning to the classroom, Zhang Chen kept thinking over the matter, but he did not dare neglect his lessons either, because he still needed to ask Lu Ba for leave that evening. After roughly planning out the day, he began reading seriously.

The morning classes ended quickly. At noon, Wang Yizhi said Xie Wen would drive her out for lunch, so Zhang Chen could only let her go. After saying goodbye to Wang Yizhi, he rode his bicycle to the mahjong parlor his mother ran.

Mother Zhang had just opened the mahjong parlor at noon. After finishing the cleaning, she saw her son riding up to the storefront on his bicycle.

"Mom, I'm eating here at your place today. You've got a portion for me, right?" Zhang Chen said directly after getting off his bike.

"It's rare for you to come here. One more person won't make much difference." After saying that, Mother Zhang went into the kitchen of the mahjong parlor to cook. Although the family had become much better off because of the parlor, Mother Zhang had always been frugal. She cooked for herself and never ate at restaurants.

Zhang Chen followed his mother into the kitchen. After hesitating for a while, he said, "Mom, there's something I need to tell you."

"Oh? What is it?" Mother Zhang asked as she poured shredded potatoes into the Iron Pot and stir-fried them.

"Mom, can you give me a hundred yuan? I need it urgently. It's complicated, but I'll explain everything to you later," Zhang Chen said.

"Mm. I'll give it to you after we eat." Mother Zhang kept her eyes on the food in the pot, speaking as casually as ever.

Zhang Chen said nothing more. Having a mother who understood her son was a very happy thing. After lunch, he put the hundred yuan his mother had given him into his wallet and rode to school.

"Tonight, I'll have to get tough with her. I have to make her tell me something. If anything happens to Wang Yizhi, I'll devour her along with that house." Thinking of the red fingernail on Wang Yizhi's pinky made Zhang Chen furious. He did not notice that when he became angry just now, a trash can by the roadside had been uprooted and floated in the air for a long while before dropping back down. A nearby beggar saw this and was so frightened that he abandoned even the bowl in front of him for begging and ran far away.

Zhang Chen had gone to school after lunch. When he arrived at the classroom, it was only one in the afternoon, with an hour left before classes began at two. The classroom was empty, with no one there. Zhang Chen sat down, took out his phone, and called Wang Yizhi.

"Yizhi, are you eating at your sister's place?" Zhang Chen asked.

"No. We still ate out for lunch today. We're almost at school now," Wang Yizhi said.

"Okay. I'll meet you at the school gate in a bit," Zhang Chen said.

"Mm." There was a hint of happiness in Wang Yizhi's voice. Zhang Chen sighed, got up, and headed to the school gate.

Before long, a white Mercedes-Benz slowly pulled up. After Wang Yizhi got out, Zhang Chen saw that aside from her red pinky fingernail, there was no other unusual aura around her. Her complexion looked good as well, and he immediately relaxed. Then he turned his gaze to Xie Wen. Although she wore sunglasses, Zhang Chen knew she was looking at him. He gave her a faint smile, and Xie Wen returned it from inside the car.

Zhang Chen turned around and led Wang Yizhi through the school gate. Then he asked softly, "Did anything happen last night?"

"Hm? No. After I got off the phone with you, I slept until morning. By the way, Zhang Chen, what happened this morning? You said you'd tell me," Wang Yizhi said. She did not understand why Zhang Chen was asking this, then suddenly remembered what had happened that morning.

"Yizhi, I'll tell you tonight. Trust me, okay?" Zhang Chen said as he took Wang Yizhi's little hand.

A blush immediately spread across Wang Yizhi's face. She nodded and followed Zhang Chen back to the classroom. Seeing Wang Yizhi leaning against him, Zhang Chen became even more determined to protect her.

"Yizhi, rest in the classroom for a while. I'm going to the office and will be right back." Zhang Chen patted Wang Yizhi's little head as she lay on the desk, then left.

The homeroom teacher, Lu Ba, was used to staying in the office for a noon nap. After Zhang Chen knocked on the office door and heard Lu Ba say, "Come in," he entered.

"Teacher Lu, I want to take leave tonight to go to the hospital. I don't know what's been going on lately, but my cervical spine has been bothering me. It hurts whenever I sit too long." As he spoke, Zhang Chen rubbed the back of his neck.

"No. Bring your parents here and have them confirm that they're taking you," Lu Ba said without giving him any leeway.

"Teacher Lu, my parents are busy running the mahjong parlor. I already told them about it. How about this? If I don't make it into the top ten in the class this semester, then after evening self-study every day, I won't go home. I'll keep studying until ten o'clock. How about that?" Zhang Chen had no choice but to use his grades as leverage.

"Mm. Then bring me the hospital record tomorrow. If you don't have one, prepare to have your parents called in." Lu Ba actually let Zhang Chen off the hook.

"Thank you, Teacher Lu. I'm going back to the classroom to study." After saying that, Zhang Chen left the office.

"Everything is ready. Now it depends on whether Xie Wen comes tonight. Whether there's something wrong with her or not, I have to get to the bottom of this tonight." Zhang Chen gritted his teeth and returned to the classroom.

When Wang Yizhi saw Zhang Chen come back, she smiled faintly. Somehow, the relationship between the two of them had become subtly different.

"Yizhi, what are you smiling about? Let me tell you something. You don't need to worry," Zhang Chen said.

"You say it first." Wang Yizhi looked at Zhang Chen as if he were hiding something from her again, and she puffed out her cheeks unhappily.

"You fool, I won't be attending evening self-study tonight. But when it ends, I'll come pick you up. Don't worry. I'll explain everything to you then." Zhang Chen rubbed Yizhi's head as he spoke.

"Then once you've settled all this, you're not allowed to hide anything from me anymore, okay?" Wang Yizhi said.

"Okay, I promise." After Zhang Chen said that, the two happily began talking about other things. Even Zhang Chen seemed to have forgotten about Wang Yizhi's little fingernail.

"Ring, ring, ring~~~~~~" The dismissal bell rang. After packing his things, Zhang Chen slung his backpack over his shoulder and rode home alone on his bicycle. Home was as comfortable as ever. Looking at the dining table, Zhang Chen could not help recalling the summer vacation, when every afternoon he and Wang Yizhi would sit there together. Wang Yizhi had patiently taught him everything he did not understand. Even when he could not figure something out no matter what, she would only smile and call him stupid.

Zhang Chen shook his head, driving away the memories. He put down his backpack, took a shower, dried and styled his hair, then changed into a black short-sleeved shirt and black pants. Looking at himself in the mirror, aside from his oval glasses being somewhat bothersome, he looked like a handsome young man standing one meter eighty tall. After putting on his shoes, he went out. He grabbed a quick dinner downstairs, mounted his bicycle, and headed toward Shangyin Island on Linhe Street.

Shangyin Island was simply a coffee shop beside the Jinxi River. Zhang Chen had never been there before and did not know whether a hundred yuan would be enough. It was only a small county town, so no matter how expensive it was, it should be about enough. The reason Zhang Chen had chosen this place was because Er Wa had once told him that it was full of private rooms for two, with doors that could be locked. As long as things inside did not get too loud, no one would interfere.

When he arrived at Shangyin Island, its elegant Western-style tea restaurant decor and lavish, delicate furnishings looked especially luxurious in the dusk. It was Zhang Chen's first time in a place like this. He had only seen men in soap operas inviting girls to places like this at night to drink tea and chat.

Zhang Chen checked his phone. It was only 6:40, still fifty minutes before the agreed time. He forced himself to walk inside.

The servers on both sides immediately came over and said, "Hello, sir. Have you reserved a seat, or are you just arriving?"

Zhang Chen calmly replied, "I just arrived."

"Then please come this way, sir. There are still two private rooms available. You may choose one." After leading Zhang Chen into the main hall, one of the servers pointed at the two rooms by the river.

"I'll take this one, Ziyun Pavilion." Zhang Chen saw that the two rooms were about the same, so he picked one at random.

"Okay, sir. Please pay a one-hundred-yuan deposit at the front desk, and I'll take you in." The server smiled.

Luckily, it's a hundred and not fifty. Otherwise, I'd be utterly embarrassed. Zhang Chen handed over his only hundred-yuan bill and followed the server into the room.

"Bring me a cup of plain tea first. When my friend arrives at seven-thirty, we'll order something else," Zhang Chen said.

"Okay, sir. If you need anything, press the button on the table and I'll come over." The server left after saying that.

"I've spent so much tonight. I have to get this matter cleared up." Zhang Chen stared at the slowly flowing river outside the window, his fists clenched tightly.