Chapter 1: Reunion

Night.
Just past seven twenty, the YU office building was still bright with lights.
An hour past quitting time, Qi Yu finally grabbed her bag, hurried through the quiet office floor, and made straight for the elevators.
She watched the floor numbers climb one by one, then glanced at her phone. Her face stayed calm, but inner anxiety made her draw a deep breath.
Qi Yu had been at YU a little over a year. She almost never stayed late more than an hour—today a last-minute early-deadline PowerPoint had held her until now.
Past seven already, and the company was far from the school. Even if she left now, she would definitely miss eight o’clock.
It had been seven years since she last set foot in her old high school.
Thinking of that, Qi Yu began to regret—why on earth had she agreed to attend a parent-teacher conference for Qi Xuan?
Qi Xuan was her cousin, same surname.
More precisely, both she and Qi Xuan took their mothers’ family name.
Qi Xuan’s mother, Qi Wenping, was her aunt. Qi Yu had lived at her aunt’s home for a long stretch in childhood; in Qi Xuan’s first few years, it was Qi Yu who had kept her company.
Qi Yu remembered Qi Xuan as sweet and well-behaved when little. These last few years—maybe puberty—she had turned clever and mischievous, one little scheme after another.
Take this time.
Midterm grades for first year of high school came out; Qi Xuan’s ranking had dropped sharply, right as the parent meeting arrived. For two days Qi Xuan had wheedled and schemed to convince her to go in her mother’s place.
Qi Yu could not withstand plea after plea. Her heart softened, and she said yes.
Who knew luck would be this bad.
The meeting started at eight sharp. It was already past seven forty, and she was still stuck in traffic.
Cars packed the road—
not moving an inch.
Qi Yu had just urged the driver on when her phone rang again.
“Cousin, you should be at school by now?” On the other end, Qi Xuan’s voice was urgent.
Qi Yu looked at the traffic in front finally easing a little, a trace of amusement in her eyes. She teased on purpose: “Not yet. I had to work late tonight. I’ll definitely be late.”
“How about we let Aunt go instead?”
At the mention of Qi Wenping, Qi Xuan’s voice shot up. “No way!”
“Cousin, please, you already promised me…”
“And you know Mom—if she finds out how much I slipped, she’ll scold me to death!”
“Being a little late is fine, really! Our homeroom teacher is really nice, she won’t say anything. You just need to show up…”
Qi Yu laughed lightly. “You sure? She won’t keep me to ask why I don’t take your studies seriously?”
Qi Xuan: “She won’t! Absolutely not!”
“Homeroom teacher isn’t that naggy. She’s super gentle. She won’t say any of that weird stuff—you’ll see when you get there…”
The more Qi Xuan talked, the more excited she grew, chattering without stop.
Qi Yu had heard about this “homeroom teacher” more than once from her cousin.
Fresh out of school, young and pretty, gentle and patient, nice voice… Qi Xuan seemed to have endless praise.
She said the teacher must be every student’s dream, that their class drew envy and jealousy all day, that upperclassmen even came on purpose just to glimpse their homeroom teacher’s face.
Whenever “homeroom teacher” came up, Qi Xuan had words for days.
Qi Yu found it a bit over the top but did not interrupt. She quietly opened the 【Grade 10 Class 4】 parents’ group chat and scrolled up.
She glanced at the time, then tapped the group owner’s avatar—the homeroom teacher’s—and hesitated whether to message privately that she would be late.
“Qi Xuan.” Qi Yu suddenly spoke. “What’s your homeroom teacher’s surname?”
“Jiang.”
“What?”
Qi Yu’s gaze stalled sharply. She looked out the window at the intersection they were about to turn—past it was Nanliu No. 1 High.
“Zhang? Or Jiang?”
“Jiang! Ginger—Jiang! Teacher Jiang!”
.
“Teacher Jiang—”
Outside the Grade 10 Class 4 classroom at Nanliu No. 1 High, a woman with a bag over her shoulder strode in tall boots, voice arriving before she did.
Jiang Ya was still at the podium checking the sign-in sheet. She paused slightly at the sound and turned. The woman was already panting at her side, face full of apology:
“Sorry, Teacher Jiang, I’ve been so busy I lost track of time. Almost late.”
“It’s all right.” Jiang Ya smiled faintly. She noticed fine sweat on the other’s forehead, pulled a tissue and handed it over, then turned the sign-in sheet toward her. “Please sign in first. There are two copies—don’t miss one.”
“Yes, yes, thank you, Teacher.”
After she signed, a few more parents trickled in.
By eight o’clock, nearly all fifty seats were filled.
Jiang Ya scanned the room, beckoned the class president up, and pushed over a stack of report cards for her and the vice president to hand out.
When distribution finished, Jiang Ya checked the time again.
Eight oh three.
Without showing it, Jiang Ya watched the parents’ expressions, then looked back at the sign-in sheet. Her brow creased, barely perceptible.
Slender fingertip slid down name after name.
It stopped on the line for “Qi Xuan.”
Jiang Ya tapped lightly. A young face flashed through her mind.
After a brief hesitation she picked up her phone, about to message Qi Xuan’s parent—when hurried footsteps sounded in the corridor.
A figure swept past the window and stopped at the classroom door.
Every eye in the room turned that way without thinking.
Qi Yu had run the whole way up.
Even she found it strange—nearly ten years since graduation, yet coming back here, she still felt instinctive panic about being late.
Mid-run she almost hallucinated high school: sprinting up the stairs to the preparatory bell.
She had not run this hard in so long. Her throat tightened with a dry ache from panting.
If earlier in the car she had only been joking with Qi Xuan, now she truly regretted it.
This was probably one of the few openly embarrassing moments in her twenty-odd years of life.
Without lifting her head she could feel dozens of stares land on her at once.
One of them was especially clear, especially heavy.
Qi Yu steadied her breath. Her mind raced—how to apologize without it sounding absurd.
But the moment she looked up and met the person on the platform, both of them froze at once.
Qi Yu’s pupils contracted sharply. Her body seemed nailed in place, eyes wide, speechless.
In that instant every thought scattered.
The world seemed to still, leaving only the heavy beat of her heart in her chest, again and again reminding her—
This was not an illusion.
Qi Yu had never imagined she would see Jiang Ya again.
Not since the graduation-night seven years ago when she confessed and was rejected, not since she truly made up her mind to leave Jiang Ya’s world—
She had never imagined it since.