My Sister Is Acting Strange - Chapter 129
Because they would be leaving Jingdu tomorrow, Shen Yiqiu suggested they find a nice restaurant for dinner, as a way to celebrate Tang Huaijin’s award.
As they ate, Shen Yiqiu called the waiter over again and ordered a bottle of red wine. After the waiter poured for them, she delicately picked up her wine glass with slender fingers, her red lips parting slightly. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” Tang Huaijin smiled, lowered his glass, and tried to clink the rim of his glass against Teacher Shen’s, as a sign of respect.
By rights, even if Shen Yiqiu didn’t drink, she should at least know a bit about wine etiquette. But for some reason, she frowned slightly, lowered her glass rim as well, clinked it with his, and only then took a sip.
Shen Yiqiu was the type whose face flushed easily when drinking. After just one sip of red wine, her cheeks quickly turned rosy. Meeting Tang Huaijin’s gaze, her expression grew a bit unnatural, and she said softly, “What are you looking at?” Her tone was gentle, almost coquettish.
That soft tone, paired with her blushing, charming face, gave off a unique allure, making Tang Huaijin’s mouth go dry. He didn’t dare look any longer and obediently focused on his food.
Shen Yiqiu could actually hold her liquor pretty well. By the time they finished eating, the two of them had almost finished the bottle of red wine. When they paid and left, aside from her slightly flushed cheeks, Shen Yiqiu showed no signs of being drunk.
It wasn’t until they returned to the hotel, and Tang Huaijin watched Shen Yiqiu close her room door, that he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He just felt a restless heat inside, so he stripped off his clothes and went to the bathroom for a shower.
He was blow-drying his hair in just his boxers when the doorbell suddenly rang. Judging by the frequency, it sounded urgent. Tang Huaijin hurriedly wrapped a towel around his waist and rushed to open the door.
When he saw who it was, he instinctively closed the door a bit and hesitantly asked, “Shen-Teacher Shen, what’s wrong?”
Shen Yiqiu didn’t say anything. She just braced her hand on the doorframe and pushed gently. Tang Huaijin couldn’t really stop her from coming in, and seeing that she was fully dressed, he let her in.
After entering the room, Shen Yiqiu’s gaze fell on his bare upper body. Her pretty face flushed, but her tone was calm as she said, “Nice body.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay, I just finished showering.” Tang Huaijin gave an awkward laugh and asked, “It’s so late, is there something you need?”
“Mm.” Shen Yiqiu nodded lightly and said blandly, “There’s no hot water in my room. I’d like to borrow your bathroom for a shower.”
Uh… Tang Huaijin looked a bit embarrassed. “Maybe you should call someone to fix it. Isn’t this a bit inappropriate…”
“What’s inappropriate about it?” Shen Yiqiu snorted softly, ignored him, and walked straight into his bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Listening to the sound of running water from the bathroom, Tang Huaijin’s mind started to wander. His gaze unconsciously drifted to the frosted glass wall of the bathroom. Through the mist and the blurred glass, he could make out the hazy silhouette of a graceful figure.
A beautiful teacher, cold on the outside but passionate inside, coming to borrow your bathroom for a shower late at night-Tang Huaijin couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild.
The sound of water gradually stopped. Shen Yiqiu came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and sat down on the edge of Tang Huaijin’s bed, naturally toweling off her damp hair.
Because Shen Yiqiu had her back to him, Tang Huaijin couldn’t see her expression. But just looking at the small patch of smooth, fair skin and the elegant curve of her back exposed by the towel, he felt his face grow hot.
Shen Yiqiu silently dried her hair. Suddenly, she turned to glance at him, catching his slightly flustered gaze. The corners of her mouth curled up, and she asked softly, “What are you looking at?”
Tang Huaijin’s expression turned awkward. He stammered, “N-nothing…”
Fortunately, Shen Yiqiu didn’t seem to mind. She looked to be in a great mood, her eyes narrowing slightly. After rubbing her half-dry hair a few more times, she gently draped the towel aside, but made no move to leave.
Tang Huaijin licked his dry lips and said, “Teacher Shen, it’s getting late. I should get to sleep. Are you…?”
“Oh.” Shen Yiqiu nodded, but still sat there, her voice calm. “Then go ahead and sleep.”
Tang Huaijin felt a headache coming on. “Then you…?”
Shen Yiqiu blinked, a faint blush rising on her cheeks. She pursed her lips, slipped off her slippers, lifted the quilt, and was about to climb in.
Tang Huaijin was startled and quickly backed away, waving his hands. “Teacher Shen, I meant, shouldn’t you go back to your room?”
Shen Yiqiu didn’t respond. She lay down beside Tang Huaijin, covering her now-bright red face with the quilt. Her tone, unusually shy, said, “I-I spilled water on my bedsheet.”
Like hell… Tang Huaijin didn’t believe there could be so many coincidences in the world-no hot water, and now a wet bedsheet.
Seeing Tang Huaijin’s expression, Shen Yiqiu picked up her phone from the nightstand, found a photo, and showed it to him. It was a picture of her bedsheet, a large area soaked through. Judging by the look of it, it really was unfit for sleeping.
Tang Huaijin hesitated for a long while before asking, “Then… doesn’t the hotel have any other rooms?”
“No, I checked before I came…” Shen Yiqiu cut herself off, realizing her slip, and quickly corrected, “I mean, the organizers booked the hotel based on the number of contestants. All the rooms have been taken for a long time.”
“…So you’re going to sleep here with me?” After asking, and seeing her nod, Tang Huaijin sighed complicatedly and said, “Teacher Shen… do you know… you’re my teacher?”
“Starting today, I’m not anymore.” Shen Yiqiu seemed to have prepared for this, and pulled out another photo from her album to show him-a resignation letter.
Seeing his stunned expression, Shen Yiqiu said with some pride, “Before I came, I’d already handed in my resignation, so we’re no longer teacher and student.”
“So, don’t call me Teacher Shen anymore.” Shen Yiqiu bit her lip, a hint of allure in her eyes, and whispered, “But… if you want to, you actually can.”
Tang Huaijin was dazed for a long while before he gradually came to his senses. He didn’t dare look at her coldly beautiful, seductive phoenix eyes, and asked in confusion, “Why…”
Shen Yiqiu’s eyes were misty like autumn water, and she softly said, “Do you believe in destiny?”
“Destiny?” Tang Huaijin shook his head and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Let me tell you a story.” Shen Yiqiu propped herself up on the bed, took a pillow to lean against, and lay side by side with Tang Huaijin, softly recounting, “Once, in Jingdu, there were two most famous calligraphy families-one was the Shen Family, the other the Xu Family. Both were renowned for their running script.”
“Scholars have always looked down on each other since ancient times, so the Shen Family and Xu Family were always competing. The emperor of the previous dynasty even bestowed a plaque to both families, setting a wager for the younger generation of Shen and Xu to compete for the plaque through calligraphy.”
“This is the Shen-Xu rivalry that almost everyone in Jingdu’s calligraphy circles knows about. Unlike the Xu Family, the Shen Family’s lineage wasn’t prosperous, usually only one heir per generation, but in running script competitions, they always managed to outshine the Xu Family.”
“Over twenty years ago, the Shen Family produced a famous prodigal son. He refused the wife his father found for him and married a sickly woman he loved.”
“He made his choice, and Old Mr. Shen didn’t blame him. But the woman’s health was poor, and doctors said pregnancy would be risky. Yet for the sake of the Shen Family’s legacy, she still bore him a child.”
“But when the child was born, they found out it was a girl. Old Mr. Shen, thinking of the family’s inheritance, forced him to have another child with someone else. But the son was stubborn, had a huge fight with his father, and in a fit of anger, took his wife and daughter away from Jingdu and settled in Jizhou City.”
“Logically, there have been female calligraphy masters, so he never gave up on training his daughter. But the little girl was unlucky-she had a strange illness from childhood, couldn’t have contact with men, not even her own father.”
“This meant she couldn’t learn the Shen Family’s script from her father. Even though he found many female masters to teach her, she only managed to achieve something in regular script, but was clueless about the Shen Family’s running script.”
“Four years ago, Old Mr. Shen passed away. He brought his wife and daughter back to Jingdu, held a funeral for his father, and inherited everything of the Shen Family.
A year later, the younger generation of the Xu Family challenged the Shen Family again. The grown-up girl should have competed, but her father knew her running script wasn’t up to par, so he competed against the Xu Family in her place.”
“After giving birth to her daughter, the woman’s health worsened day by day. While her husband was preparing for the competition, she passed away.”
Shen Yiqiu choked up, her tone turning sorrowful: “The man loved his wife deeply. They’d been together for over twenty years, never quarreled or fought. Her death hit him so hard that he performed terribly in the competition and lost to a young man twenty years his junior.”
“After this string of blows, watching the plaque symbolizing the Shen Family’s honor being carried away by the Xu Family, the man finally broke down. He chose to escape, left all his assets to his daughter, and committed suicide, leaving this world.”
“Mother gone, father gone, and the senior uncles who came to pay respects all left afterward. The vast Shen Family was left with only the lonely girl, silently watching the myriad lights on the street.”
By this point, Shen Yiqiu was sobbing uncontrollably, covering her face, her shoulders shaking, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Only then did Tang Huaijin understand why Shen Yiqiu rarely smiled, why there was always a faint sadness between her brows. He hesitated for a moment, then gently held her hand as if to comfort her, and asked, “So… that girl is you?”
Shen Yiqiu gripped his hand in return, calmed herself a little, wiped away her tears, and softly said, “Yes. After that, I left Jingdu and returned to Jizhou City where I grew up. With the help of my senior uncle, I found a teaching job.”
“I thought that maybe my life would just go on like that, but…” Shen Yiqiu paused, held his hand, looked into his eyes, her gaze lighting up, and murmured, “I met you.”
