Qin Xiangnuan earns her own money, so she’s quite generous, bringing pastries every day, and several students from families with economic hardships never go hungry. As a result, she has gained goodwill and has a good reputation in class. Moreover, she is a good student, most importantly, she’s obedient and sincere. She keeps a low profile on a regular day and is not one to show off.
In fact, Qin Xiangnuan is well aware of her family background. In the future, she has a Siheyuan and four shops, invisible assets, enabling her to live a worry-free life without doing anything. Yet, she is not satisfied with just that; she wants her life to be more splendid. That’s why she continues her education and strives for it.
Now in high school, the clothes she makes for herself are always simple and plain. She loves cleanliness, washing her hair often and changing her clothes frequently. Although she only has a few outfits to cycle through, it has to be said that such a student makes a comfortable impression on anyone.
Reserved but not restless, composed yet lively, she participates in school sports events, runs a few kilometers, even marathons. Winning or losing doesn’t matter, participation is what counts. She also joins the class choir; it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t sing well, since her voice blends into the crowd, no one can single it out.
This is the kind of person she is, unremarkable in appearance compared to other high school students, but she always exudes a quiet scholarly atmosphere that’s indiscernible, brilliance unshown, and sharpness hidden within.
Jian Zhiqing had mentioned finding her a new tutor, which she thought was just talk, but to her surprise, on Saturday, Su Baijin didn’t come, and she hasn’t seen Su Baijin for a while. Instead, the English teacher Jian Zhiqing found for her came on Sunday, a high school teacher who had quite a commute. Intellectuals usually have a certain air of superiority, but this teacher’s home situation was unusual. Both he and his wife were working, having just got married. However, due to some reason, his family did not think highly of his marriage, causing discord, so the couple moved out on their own. Now they had a child, and Teacher Wang’s wife had to quit her job to take care of the baby full time, leaving Teacher Wang single-handedly bearing the burden of living expenses—rent, utility bills, daily costs, and the needs of the child and supplements for the adults. It distressed this man terribly, and out of necessity, he secretly took on tutoring students. How Jian Zhiqing found him was a mystery.
Although she has yet to meet him, Qin Xiangnuan already has a good impression of this unseen Teacher Wang.
A man who can shoulder the livelihood of his family without a second thought, regardless of the hardships, always providing for his wife and child, represents to Qin Xiangnuan the very kind of affection she is seeking. She doesn’t ask for wealth, only hoping for the unity of sharing blessings and facing hardships together.
Thinking this, she couldn’t help but think of Jian Zhiqing’s face, believing that if one day Jian Zhiqing and his future partner faced difficulties, he, with his character, would be just like Teacher Wang, unwavering.
When the weekend came, Teacher Wang arrived, a thin and tall man with glasses framing his face, clearly an educated intellectual. He wasn’t much older, likely around the same age as Jian Zhiqing, perhaps twenty-one or twenty-two years old.