LWDC Chapter 55

Chapter 55 – The Flower Girl

Chapter 55 – The Flower Girl

Chapter 55 – The Flower Girl

Over the weekend, Lin Shengjia went out to play with Luo Chenghong. He didn’t make a fuss about going to Shenzhen, so Ning Fei didn’t bother with him, not even asking what happened between him and Luo Chenghong.

On the contrary, a few days later, Luo Chenghong, while dropping Lin Shengjia off at school, asked if Ning Fei had inquired about what they did over the weekend.

Lin Shengjia replied, “He didn’t mention it at all.”

“Really?”

“Really. Uncle, why are you asking this?” Lin Shengjia wasn’t a real middle school student after all. His eyes darted around, catching a hint of something. “You’re paying so much attention to Teacher Ning, do you want to…”

Luo Chenghong raised an eyebrow, “Want to what with him?”

“Uh, want to be friends with him?” Lin Shengjia took into consideration the era, and even more so that his uncle would tell his adoptive parents, so he changed to a vague statement, “Didn’t you invite him to hang out before?”

“Adult matters are none of a child’s business.” Luo Chenghong scoffed. “Go be your good student, good boy.”

Lin Shengjia wanted to remind him that “Ning Fei is not the same as you,” but didn’t know how to say it, so he could only turn around and enter the school.

Before he even reached the teaching building, Lin Shengjia saw Ning Fei. Ning Fei had one hand in his pocket and was holding a book in the other, being stopped by Ji Xingzhe on the side of the road for a chat. Although he couldn’t hear what they were saying, he could tell that they were chatting and laughing, and seemed to be enjoying the conversation. Finally, Ji Xingzhe even handed something over. From a distance, Lin Shengjia squinted his eyes and stared for a long time, but still couldn’t make out what it was.

Not to mention him, Ning Fei himself, who was being handed the item, was initially puzzled as well, “What’s this? A letter?”

“It’s an invitation to my birthday party.” Ji Xingzhe smiled slightly. “I only dared to give it to you because you agreed to come, Teacher Ning. Otherwise, if I sent it to you and you didn’t come, I’d be embarrassed.”

“Making it so formal.” Ning Fei finally accepted the light blue envelope. “It’s not going to be a huge banquet, is it? I’m just a regular teacher, I hope I won’t make a fool of myself.”

“It won’t be. Next year’s coming-of-age birthday party will be more extravagant. This time it’s basically just my family and classmates. Besides, I’ve mentioned you to my family, and they’re all eager to meet you. The parent-teacher conference isn’t happening so soon, so I had to use my birthday as an excuse to invite you.” Ji Xingzhe’s tone was sincere. “Then it’s a deal, Teacher Ning. The address and time are on the invitation, you have to come!”

Ning Fei nodded in agreement, and Ji Xingzhe smiled before walking away.

Ning Fei lowered his head and flipped the envelope over, not opening it on the spot, but tucking it into his teaching materials. As soon as he closed the book, he heard a voice from behind, “What was he doing with you?”

Ning Fei turned around to meet Lin Shengjia’s gaze, “Nothing, just saying a few words. He noticed we’ve been getting close, and asked if I was tutoring you privately.”

“What did you say?”

“I said we live across the hall, it’s just on the way.” Ning Fei replied briefly. In fact, Ji Xingzhe hadn’t quite believed it at the time, probably because Ning Fei had a student abroad identity, and in theory, his economic level should be pretty good, while the place where Lin Shengjia’s family lived… was really quite ordinary.

Ning Fei fobbed it off with “just finding a place to stay temporarily.”

Lin Shengjia couldn’t know these details, but he had his own guess as to why Ji Xingzhe was acting this way, “He’s approaching people who are close to me again… it’s one of his common tactics. Ever since I switched to his class in the second year of high school, those who were originally familiar with me have gradually grown distant, and instead become friends with him.”

Ning Fei joked, “Are you jealous?”

“Jealous of what… how old am I! I’m not a real middle school student.” Lin Shengjia glared at him. “Don’t think he really wants to befriend you, he’s full of tricks!”

“Then I thank you for the reminder.” Ning Fei smiled, then changed the subject, “By the way, you… I mean, Lin Shengjia, his real birthday should be this weekend, right?”

“Is it? I don’t even remember, it’s not like I’m the one celebrating it anyway. I celebrate the day I was adopted.” Lin Shengjia replied, “As for that fake… the Ji family will probably throw a big party for him.”

“You celebrate the adoption day, he celebrates your birthday. And the day he was actually born, even if he’s heard of it before, he probably won’t remember it. Forgetting his own roots, a ‘cuckoo’…” Ning Fei scoffed, “Alright, go to your morning reading, don’t worry about him.”

Lin Shengjia felt that he didn’t take his reminder to heart, opened his mouth, but felt that if he said any more, he would definitely be ridiculed by him. So Lin Shengjia closed his mouth and turned to walk towards the teaching building.

— Forget it, he looks so cocky, like he has everything under control, why should I care if he gets tricked or not.

*

On the weekend, Ning Fei rode a second-hand motorcycle to Ji Xingzhe’s birthday party.

Ji Xingzhe’s house was a classic villa with a yard. There were many luxury cars parked inside and outside the yard, all black, with foreign brand logos. However, Ning Fei turned a blind eye to all of this, and even calmly parked and locked his old motorcycle in an empty space, carrying the gift and invitation towards the gate.

“Teacher Ning!”

A girl came up from behind to greet him. Ning Fei turned his head and saw that it was one of the students in his class, and also one of the buddies who hung out with Ji Xingzhe all day long, “Zhu Yueting, you’re here too.”

“Of course, it’s Xiao Zhe’s birthday, all of us childhood friends are definitely coming.” Zhu Yueting carried a bag, walking alongside him, smiling brightly. “Teacher Ning looks so handsome today too! Teacher, where’s your car?”

Ning Fei pointed directly.

Zhu Yueting followed his gesture and looked over, “That B-license plate car is Teacher Ning’s?”

Ning Fei: “Wrong, two wheels.”

Zhu Yueting: “Teacher is really joking.”

Ning Fei: “Not joking.”

Zhu Yueting still didn’t believe him. After all, even putting aside Ning Fei’s student abroad background, his appearance and clothing were still quite deceptive. The young girl had seen a lot since she was little, and believed she could still tell who was the real deal and who was a country bumpkin. Besides, their group of childhood friends had already discussed Ning Fei privately. Whether their impression of him was good or bad, at least they all acknowledged his personal conditions and background, and had never doubted them.

Ning Fei didn’t care what this little girl thought of him. As long as these kids hadn’t started actually bullying or attacking Lin Shengjia, he didn’t care. He calmly entered Ji’s villa, calmly scanned the lively crowd, and found Ji Xingzhe.

Ji Xingzhe also saw Ning Fei and took the initiative to greet him, “Teacher Ning, you’re here!”

“Xiao Zhe, you only see Teacher Ning, don’t you? I’m here too!” Zhu Yueting exclaimed exaggeratedly from the side, handing him the bag in her hand, “Here, the latest G-brand sunglasses, brought back from F country. Didn’t you say you wanted lighter-colored sunglasses last time? These are tea-colored, you’ll definitely like them.”

“Thank you, Tingting, I really wanted this color. The ones in China are too dark, they look too old-fashioned.” Ji Xingzhe said, looking at Ning Fei, “Teacher Ning, when you were studying abroad, what kind of sunglasses were popular among students there?”

Ning Fei: “They don’t wear sunglasses much.”

Ji Xingzhe: “…”

Although he was quite shrewd, he was still essentially a middle school student, and for a moment didn’t know how to respond to this seemingly joking, yet also seemingly sarcastic remark.

Ning Fei appreciated his embarrassment for two seconds, and finally “kindly” gave him a step down, “After all, I was mostly at school. There are more people wearing glasses at school than sunglasses.”

“Ah… right, that’s true.” Ji Xingzhe recovered. He looked at Ning Fei’s faint smile, as if the seconds of malice he had felt before were just an illusion. Ning Fei smiled and handed him the gift wrapped in colored paper and tied with a ribbon, “Happy birthday, Ji Xingzhe.”

“Thank you, Teacher!” Ji Xingzhe accepted the gift, looking back and forth at the packaging. “It’s quite heavy, I’ll definitely keep it carefully.”

Ning Fei asked, “Not going to open it and take a look?”

“Ah, is that a foreign custom? To be polite, you open the gift in front of the giver?” Ji Xingzhe immediately started unwrapping the gift on the nearby low cabinet. In no time, he peeled a brand new hardcover book out of the wrapping paper.

— This was the original “Pygmalion”, in English.

Ji Xingzhe seemed to be puzzled for a moment, but he quickly smiled, “An English book, looks like Teacher wants to test my English. I will definitely work hard to read it!”

Zhu Yueting, who also didn’t understand, “Wow, Teacher Ning even gives gifts in all English, this is a lot of pressure, huh, genius Xiao Zhe!”

Ning Fei: …Uncultured people.

“Pygmalion” tells the story of how a flower girl from the countryside becomes a fake noble lady by imitating the words and deeds of the upper class. Of course, Ning Fei deliberately chose this book, he just wanted to see what Ji Xingzhe’s expression would be when he found out. However, Ji Xingzhe talked about foreign countries all day long, and always claimed to be a genius, but he didn’t react to this reference at all. Teacher Ning deeply regretted it.

— Sometimes sarcastic remarks can’t be too roundabout, otherwise they’re just duds…

“What book are you guys messing around with?”

A male voice suddenly rang out not far from behind.

Low, magnetic, and most importantly, very familiar to Ning Fei!

“…!” Ning Fei suddenly turned his head, only to see a man in a suit walking down the stairs behind him. That muscular figure, those sharp eyebrows, who else could it be but Duan Yunhong?

Duan Yunhong came down the stairs and exchanged a glance with Ning Fei. Neither of them spoke.

“Uncle!” Ji Xingzhe immediately explained, “We’re not playing with the book, we’re looking at the birthday present Teacher Ning gave me!”

Duan Yunhong then looked at Ning Fei again, “Teacher Ning?”

“Yes, he is my new English teacher, Ning Fei.” Ji Xingzhe took the initiative to introduce, thinking he was being asked. “Teacher Ning studied abroad, his accent is very authentic, and his classes are great. I like him a lot, so I invited him to my birthday party!”

Duan Yunhong gave Ning Fei a deliberate once-over, “So, you’re Xiao Zhe’s private tutor?”

Ning Fei met the man’s gaze, raising an eyebrow slightly, and finally spoke, “No, I’m a teacher at the school.”

Ji Xingzhe smiled, “He’s a school teacher, but I was just about to invite Teacher to tutor me in my spare time.” As he spoke, he looked at Ning Fei. “Teacher Ning, would you mind tutoring me in English on the weekends?”

Ning Fei was very straightforward: “Not really.”

Ji Xingzhe: “Why? Don’t worry, Teacher, it won’t be using your private time for free, my family will pay the private tutor rate…”

“What kind of book did Teacher Ning give?” Duan Yunhong interrupted Ji Xingzhe’s entanglement, picked up the book in his hand, and glanced at the cover. “Oh, ‘Pygmalion’.”

The man immediately understood Ning Fei’s mischievous intention and smiled meaningfully. “It tells the story of how a poor flower girl becomes an imitation noble lady by imitating the words and deeds of the aristocracy.”

Ji Xingzhe: “…What?!”

——————–

“Pygmalion” is “My Fair Lady”, although it is a parallel universe… never mind!