"Yue laoshi!!"
A young woman named Yue Xuemei with jet black hair fluttering in a half-up hairstyle swivelled her head to the voices of students, triumphant expressions on their facial features. A tall male student bouncing a basketball cleared his throat, then pointed at the student-teacher in a declaring tone.
"I might have lost 22 times, but I'm still going to challenge you to another match!"
She sighed and folded her arms, pointing at the basketball in the latter's grasp. "Jin Xiulan xueshang, I might have won 22 times, but I'm still going to tell you this. Using sports equipment within the building is prohibited –– now that I've caught you, I'll have to confiscate it."
Furrowing his eyebrows, the male student pivoted to protect his precious basketball. "But Ma'am! You're not older than us by a large margin or anything, what's wrong with having some fun?"
"That's right," she tilted her head in a blank expression as if she was on the same page as the student. "You're no younger than me by a large margin, why not be a teeny bit mature and pass me the ball?"
"Go, Yue laoshi!! Teach those ruffians how to follow the school rules!" A female student with a bob hairstyle named Zhan Xiejie hissed from the corner of the hallway, even holding a lightstick as if she were a big fan. Hearing that, Xuemei lifted an eyebrow and glanced back at Xiulan who had a flustered look on his face, quite taken aback by the female student's support.
Xuemei thought: I see where this is going.
"Jin Xiulan xueshang, I know your secret," she merely stated, her head still tilted and carefree. "Of course, you guys are all youths enjoying the spring season. There's nothing wrong with a bit of romance and vinegar, am I right?"
She swore she heard a slight grunt before the male student tightened his grip on the basketball. Waiting for the right response, she chuckled lightly as he passed the ball down the hallway, stopping the ball from rolling with her shoe. "Smart choice. However, you need to put in a lot more effort and thought in order to snag the bag. Meet me in the English faculty at lunch –– we'll have a mentoring session."
"Y-Yes ma'am!"
"Secret? What secret?" Xiejie whispered as she stepped closer to Xuemei. "And you also said romance, right..? Is he perhaps...crushing on someone?"
Xuemei blinked in amusement. "Perhaps you're interested?"
"O-Oh, no! Who would be interested in knowing about that guy," the student stuttered, visible pink blossoming on her cheeks as she denied the student-teacher. "Anyhow, I better get going, I need to collect everyone's workbooks as the class president."
"Get going then."
Yue Xuemei was alone once again.
Only for a short moment, though.
A voice came crashing in as she walked along the field, one that belonged to an older teacher who was carrying a telephone and restlessly sprinting in exhaustion. Li Cheng, from the maths faculty, was definitely too flimsy and weak to run a marathon.
"Yue laoshi! There's a telephone call from your cousin asking you to help her with something."
"And so you bring an entire telephone with you just for that?"
Li Cheng frowned and passed her the telephone whilst muttering, "your cousin is scary when she's angry."
Xuemei pulled out the handset and brought the speaker to her ear. "Yes, Xuemei speaking."
[Are we no longer cousins!?]
"Hm? What is this suddenly? If you keep calling only to take and not give then there's not really a benefit in being your cousin."
[C'mon, this is a really big request. I'll give you some money for it too.]
"Your opinion on 'big' is like telling me to travel from Hongkong to Shanghai to catch a cockroach in your room."
[That was a year ago! Please?? There's a customer who wants to snag a limited edition item the moment I posted it for sale and I was finally able to respond to them. How do you think you would feel if you've waited for three days or so to realise that they won't sell the item to you? I couldn't say no after I regretted the decision of selling some of my hits –– but I have a business trip to attend to on the date of the sale.]
"That's a 'you' problem, is it not?"
[You're the only one I can rely on!]
Xuemei rolled her eyes and exhaled. "True. I'm the only one I can rely on as well."
[You can't just keep playing with words! I beg of you, I'll even give you a large sum for this request––!]
Xuemei removed her eyes from her sneakers to see a pleading expression on Li Cheng; perhaps it was because she was occupying the telephone for too long or whether it was because she was being too stubborn to help her cousin out. It was her own decision to block her cousin's Wechat and Tieba in the first place, so it was not something she could blame for every single time her cousin wanted to contact her.
She finally gave in.
"Fine. Give me the time and date. I'll just tell them to pick it up at the high school since I'm busy with preparing exam papers for the students."
[The withered tree has finally blossomed its flowers! Thank you for your help, the sun and the moon are witnesses of your great deeds! They're going to pick it up at around 2:15 pm on the 12th.]
Xuemei looked at the sky with a confused expression. The 12th would be in three days on a Friday, meaning that it would lie directly during her break time. Nodding and giving her goodbyes, the woman finally removed the handset from her ear and rested it on the switch hook. "Sorry to have you standing there awkwardly, Li laoshi. I'll get going now."
She certainly wished the 12th would not come so fast.
Yet it did.