Over the next few days Yao Shen tries to make things right with Bi Jialu.
"I thought laoshi was calling to inform me that another of his relatives died under mysterious circumstances," she says, as soon as she picks up the phone. "Just so laoshi knows most people only have two pairs of grandparents."
Yao Shen makes his excuses and apologies over the course of a few more calls, and eventually she relents and stops giving him the cold shoulder.
She also gives him a warning. "Maybe laoshi should continue to stay out of social media. There's been a lot of speculation online lately. It's not only laoshi who's been missing appointments. Xin laoshi is also been absent from the public eye the last couple of months, so netizens have come up with all kinds of theories."
Yao Shen can imagine, and is happy to stay away from all that.
