Knock, knock, knock.
In a car by the roadside, Song Minggui sat in the driver's seat with his eyes closed, resting.
Zhang Zhidong was handling school matters on his phone.
Jiang Wenpei was watching a drama, looking up out the window from time to time to check on Song Yunshen.
Just then, someone knocked on the car window.
Song Minggui turned to look at the person outside the front passenger window and immediately rolled it down. "What are you doing here?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Song Wantang glanced at Zhang Zhidong in the passenger seat, looking a little disappointed. Then she spotted Jiang Wenpei in the back seat, and her eyes lit up. "Oh? Who's this young lady?"
"She's my colleague." One look at his older sister's expression told Song Minggui what she was thinking again, and his face darkened. "Teacher Jiang, the English teacher."
"Oh, hello, Teacher Jiang." Song Wantang greeted Jiang Wenpei warmly. "Our Guigui..."
"She has a boyfriend. Can you keep your mouth shut?" Song Minggui had finally had enough and interrupted her at once.
In the back seat, Jiang Wenpei blinked, then immediately perked up. She chuckled and said, "Actually, I have some single friends I could introduce to him, but Teacher Song said he didn't need that."
"You shut up too," Song Minggui snapped.
"She's your colleague. What kind of tone is that?" Song Wantang sternly scolded him. "Be polite to her. Don't think you can talk to people like that just because you're a few years older."
Song Minggui: "..."
"Ahem..." At that moment, Zhang Zhidong coughed and finally spoke up. "You just came out, so you must have seen Song Yunshen, right?"
"I did." Song Wantang nodded. She knew Zhang Zhidong from bringing things to Song Minggui at school before. "He's having a meal with a girl."
"Which girl?" Song Minggui asked.
"Why are you meddling so much?" Song Wantang shot him a sidelong glance. "Don't tell me you're secretly spying on your own nephew? You'd be better off worrying about being single first."
"Look at Shenshen. He's only in high school, and he's already got the sense to take a girl out on a dinner date."
"And you?"
Veins bulged on Song Minggui's forehead, but in the end, he swallowed his anger. "It's not as simple as you think."
"That's right, that's right." Jiang Wenpei hurriedly explained from the back seat, "We all suspect that Song Yunshen is very close to a girl in his class, but then we saw him bring another girl out to eat just now, so we're a little worried."
"Huh?" Song Wantang clearly hadn't expected that and froze for a moment. "There's another one?"
"Do you know the name of the girl inside?" Zhang Zhidong still only asked the crucial question.
"Xia Something-shu, I think." Song Wantang had a poor memory and couldn't remember it clearly.
"Xia Jinshu?" Zhang Zhidong frowned and asked again.
"Oh, yes, I think that's it." Song Wantang nodded. "I heard she even got a perfect score in English on her midterm."
"Oh! The top student in the second year?!" Jiang Wenpei immediately realized who it was, her face full of shock. "Whoa! The English paper for the second-year midterm was pretty difficult. I think she was the only one in the whole year to get a perfect score. How did Song Yunshen hook up with her?"
"Did you ask anything else?" Song Minggui frowned. "What exactly is their relationship?"
"Teacher and student," Song Wantang said.
"They're even role-playing?" Jiang Wenpei exclaimed in shock.
Zhang Zhidong: "..."
Song Minggui: "..."
"Ahem..." Song Wantang hadn't expected Teacher Jiang's thoughts to jump around so much, and immediately explained, "A tutor. Song Yunshen hired her to be his English tutor over summer break."
"Oh~ I see~" Hearing an answer that couldn't have been more ordinary, Jiang Wenpei found it utterly dull and immediately lost interest.
She'd thought Song Yunshen really was stepping on two boats at once.
But was this the version where he secretly worked hard over summer break and then amazed everyone?
Sigh... This is high school life in China. How could there be so many stories of youthful passion and hot blood?
At that point, Song Minggui had a question.
"Wasn't he looking for a university student?" Song Minggui asked. "How did he end up hiring a second-year high schooler? What kind of arrangement is that?"
"What does it matter?" Song Wantang said. "I think the girl's quite good, and her English grades are excellent. She's more than qualified to teach that boy."
"Is this about grades?" Song Minggui snapped. "It's not like you don't know. Our older brother... isn't he going on a trip over summer break? Those two will be alone in the house, a young man and a young woman. What if something happens?"
"You're thinking far too badly of your nephew," Song Wantang said, speechless. "Is Shenshen that kind of person?"
"Puberty hormones are at work. It's not something young people can control," Song Minggui argued.
"I don't care. It's settled," Song Wantang said. "Even if the two of them start dating early, I'll support them."
"If Dad hadn't stopped me from being with my deskmate back then, would I have had to go on blind dates later?"
"In the end, I got together with a good-for-nothing bastard and had to raise two daughters by myself."
"If I'd known it would turn out like that, I'd have been better off dating early!"
"Ahem, cough, cough..." Seeing how worked up she was, Song Minggui hurriedly tried to calm her down. "Let's not talk about that. My colleagues are still here."
"Anyway, stay out of this," Song Wantang scolded. "If you dare run your mouth, I'll go to your school and raise a fuss."
That girl was so pretty. Even if she really did become her niece-in-law, it wouldn't be a bad deal.
What era was this? Yet he kept going on and on about early dating.
So old-fashioned!
Song Wantang was determined to protect this tutor.
At that moment, Zhang Zhidong also spoke up.
"The tutoring is a private matter between the two students and their parents. Even as teachers, it wouldn't be right for us to interfere." Zhang Zhidong adjusted his glasses. "Let's leave it at that for now. At most, I'll let Xia Jinshu's homeroom teacher know."
"Exactly." Song Wantang nodded in satisfaction. "Teacher Zhang's words are much nicer to hear. You should learn from him."
In fact, if she were an ordinary student, Zhang Zhidong might have found a way to stop it.
But he was probably one of the few people at Ningjiang Middle School who knew that Xia Jinshu and Xia Yunuo were sisters, so he naturally understood how much this tutoring job could help their family.
Since that was the case, he would turn a blind eye.
Song Yunshen wasn't bad by nature, so nothing serious was likely to happen.
With that matter settled, ...
Song Wantang pulled open the back door and plopped down beside Jiang Wenpei.
"What are you doing?" Song Minggui looked at his older sister. "We're going back to school. Drive your own car."
"I can't be bothered." Song Wantang waved a hand. "I'm meeting some girlfriends for mahjong this afternoon. Give me a ride on your way. It's the place Guifang runs."
She was already in the car, so Song Minggui had no choice but to start it and drive toward the mahjong parlor.
But as soon as the car pulled away, Song Wantang eagerly asked Jiang Wenpei, "Hey, Teacher Jiang, what are your single friends like?"
"...Song Wantang! Ask one more question and get out of the car right now!!!"
Completely unaware that three teachers had been spying on him, Song Yunshen had just walked out the door with Xia Jinshu.
Looking at the car that had just driven away, he felt it was a little familiar.
"What are you looking at?" Xia Jinshu asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing." Song Yunshen shook his head. "Come on, come on. Once we've printed the contract, I'll take you to my place."
Bringing his future ex-girlfriend home was a little thrilling to think about.