Chapter 15.1 - The Fragrance of that Tea (Part 4)
He doesn’t like talking.
She’s the same.
Suddenly, Zeng Li’s phone beeped, a message had arrived. She opened it and saw an unfamiliar number. The message contained only one line: “Is this Zeng Li? I’m Zhou Wen.”
She glanced at the message and nervously looked up at Ai Jingchu.
Ai Jingchu turned his gaze towards her.
Zeng Li said, “I’m going outside to make a call.” Then she walked outside, closed the door, and dialed the number back.
“Zhou Wen? This is Zeng Li.”
“It’s really you,” Zhou Wen said, “I secretly looked up the number you left in your profile, turns out I didn’t make a mistake.”
“I’ve been using this number for many years. I actually have something to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“When I went to pay, did Ai… Teacher say anything? Did he explain anything on my behalf?” Something seemed off about everyone.
“Ugh, don’t even mention it. After you left, did he even need to say anything to deal with us? He just gave us a look, and we knew what to do. Even when there’s nothing to do, we pretend to be busy so he doesn’t find something for us to do,” Zhou Wen replied. “Then when the head nurse saw him charging you a fee, she thought she might have misunderstood. Because students don’t usually pay when they get their teeth adjusted by Ai Teacher, and especially not his girlfriend. Later, the head nurse saw we didn’t react, lost her enthusiasm, and just said something else and left.”
“Is that all?”
“Yep.”
Zeng Li had originally thought Ai Jingchu was trying to shield her, probably to prevent her from making things worse, as it would be easier for him to explain alone.
“But Ai Teacher was really acting strangely today.”
“Why?”
“To reattach a bracket costs twenty yuan, which has always been the hospital’s rule, but Ai Teacher rarely lets us charge fees. The head nurse doesn’t know this as well as we do. Sometimes it’s too busy to remember, or sometimes Ai Teacher just feels too embarrassed to charge anyone. He never asks, and we don’t care because it’s not our responsibility. So we thought, for him to ask you to pay, either he has a grudge against you, or there’s something off about him,” Zhou Wen analyzed logically.
“Do you think that’s the reason?” Zhou Wen asked again.
“Yeah, why is that?” Zeng Li gave a vague response.
Zeng Li had thought about this when waiting for the elevator. At that time, Ai Jingchu hadn’t explained, probably to protect her face. If it was her denying the rumors first, she might feel embarrassed in front of her colleagues. So, today, in front of his colleagues and students, he had deliberately kept her out of the way. What else was there to say?
Or maybe—
He just didn’t care about such matters.
“Are you Ai Teacher’s girlfriend?” Zhou Wen asked again.
“I already told you, no.”
“I just have this feeling that Ai Teacher probably planned to get rid of you first, and then severely deal with us,” Zhou Wen said. “Anyway, I’m calling you to ask for help.”
“Help with what?” Zeng Li asked, puzzled.
“Say something nice for us in front of Ai Teacher. You don’t know how we’ll end up.”
“I already said, I…”
“Whether you are or not, we’re all doomed, seriously. If you’re not his girlfriend, we were bold enough to gossip in front of him and watch him get upset. He’ll definitely be unhappy. If you are the future Mrs. Teacher, I even covered for you by letting you go on a blind date. He probably wants to kill me already. Since you were so understanding of me at lunch, could you help us out too? Zeng Li!” Zhou Wen, usually cheerful and easygoing with everyone, was now begging, making Zeng Li feel that refusing wasn’t an option.
