Teacher Qin Chapter 15

Chapter 15: A Long-Buried Story

It was a story buried long ago. In a castle far, far away, there lived a couple that everyone envied. The man was the master of the castle, and the woman was his queen. They had a princess and a prince. When the princess was six years old, the queen fell gravely ill. The man searched for every doctor he could find, but none could cure her. Because of her chronic illness, the princess and the prince saw the queen less and less. However, the bond between the princess and the prince grew stronger. The prince relied on the princess; as the elder sister, she was like a mother to him, and she cared for him just as a mother would.

The princess remembered it was a rainy day when she and the prince were playing hide-and-seek. The prince ran up to her with a smile. He was two years younger than her and a bit shorter. He took her hand and said, Sister, let’s play hide-and-seek. You come find me, okay?

Okay. The princess’s eyes curved into crescents as she gently stroked the prince’s head.

The prince told her to close her eyes and count to a hundred. Only after she closed her eyes did the prince skip away with a laugh. His voice drifted back from a distance, Sister, no peeking! You have to count all the way to a hundred!

The princess’s lips curled into a smile. I won’t peek. You make sure to hide well.

The castle was vast. The prince ran for a long time, wanting to find the hardest place for the princess to find him. Eventually, he turned into the man’s bedroom—a room the man had strictly forbidden the princess and the prince from entering. However, the prince threw that rule to the back of his mind. He circled the room once before hiding inside the large wardrobe.

The wardrobe faced the grand bed. The prince waited quietly inside for the princess, his hands clenched tight and a smile on his face. He waited for so long that he was almost about to fall asleep when the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside. However, the person who entered was not the princess.

The man’s familiar voice reached the prince’s ears. Only then did the prince remember the man’s warning, and his small face broke out in a cold sweat from fear. Besides the man’s voice, the prince heard someone else—a woman, but it wasn’t the queen. The prince shrank further back into the wardrobe, filled with unease.

The sounds of the two people began with playful banter but slowly changed in nature. The prince didn’t understand what they were saying; he only heard the woman’s delicate, breathless gasps. Driven by curiosity, the prince pushed the wardrobe door open slightly. Peering through the crack, the scene that met his eyes left him frozen in place.

The prince didn’t know what the man was doing while mounted over the woman; he only knew that the man looked very happy, wearing an expression he had never shown in front of the queen. The woman was the first to notice the movement from the wardrobe. When her eyes met the prince’s, she let out a panicked scream and pulled the bedsheets over herself, hiding completely under the covers.

The man’s brow furrowed. He looked in the direction the woman was pointing and was momentarily startled. But quickly, the man regained his dignity. He got off the bed, put on his trousers, and walked over to the prince. He pulled the boy out of the wardrobe, his tone softening slightly. Why are you here? Didn’t Papa say you weren’t allowed in here?

It was a gentleness the prince had never seen before.

The prince looked up at the woman hidden under the covers on the bed, then quickly lowered his head, fidgeting with his fingers. I… I was playing hide-and-seek with Sister. The prince looked at the man, pointing toward the woman in confusion. Papa, who is she? What were you doing?

The man moved in front of the prince, blocking his view of the woman on the bed. Despite his tightly furrowed brows, he spoke with his most gentle and patient voice. He reached out to pat the prince’s head, his eyes flickering as he smiled. She’s just like your sister. Papa was playing hide-and-seek with her, too.

The prince wanted to ask more, but the man took his hand and led him out of the room.

Days passed in the castle, and the prince slowly forgot about the incident. When the princess was ten, the queen finally couldn’t hold on any longer. That night, the wind howled, carrying the rain with it. The prince carried a doll the queen had sewn and went to the princess’s room. He knocked on her door, but there was no response.

The prince pushed the door open and walked in, dropping the doll on the floor. The princess was physically and mentally exhausted from the queen’s passing and had stayed up for several nights; she didn’t wake up even after the prince shook her a few times. The prince sat by her bed. The dim light of the desk lamp illuminated her face as a few moths fluttered their wings nearby. The princess’s peaceful sleeping face still bore tear stains, and her brows were knit tight.

Sister. The prince leaned close to her, wanting to tell her not to cry, but he heard her mumbling in her sleep. Mama… The prince’s tears instantly welled up. He climbed onto the bed and lay down beside her, his small, soft hands wrapping around her waist. The familiar scent on the princess made him feel at ease.

The princess seemed trapped in a nightmare, murmuring continuously as her body trembled violently. The prince sat up and shook her. The image of the queen’s face in her final days flashed before his eyes—she had looked exactly like the princess did now. Sobbing, the prince shook her harder. Sister, Sister, don’t sleep anymore. Wake up. I’m scared. Wuwu… Sister, get up. Let’s play hide-and-seek…

The prince babbled incoherently as the scene from his childhood rushed into his mind. In his blurred memory, the woman beneath the man had been happy. He wanted the princess to be happy. The prince pulled back the princess’s blanket and approached her, mimicking the scene from his memory.

However, the prince only half-understood what he was doing and didn’t truly know how to proceed. Feeling the strange touch, the princess slowly opened her eyes from her nightmare. The scene before her left her in utter shock. She ran out of the room crying, leaving the prince kneeling on the bed, his head hanging low.

The prince didn’t know why the princess started to hate him, but he could clearly feel the rift between them. As he grew older and began to understand such matters, he realized what he had done. Yet, by then, the prince no longer thought about returning to their original relationship.

The image of the man betraying the queen and the image of the queen holding his hand as she took her last breath constantly overlapped, flooding his mind. His feelings for the princess were no longer just reliance; he wanted her to stay by his side forever. The man’s true nature disgusted him; his world had long since become twisted, and the princess was all he had left.

However, the princess fled the castle when she was fifteen.

Qin Qing woke up with a start from the nightmare, feeling drenched in sweat. She put on an extra layer of clothing. After the National Day holiday, the weather was getting colder and colder. She shivered, closed the window, and went to the living room. After washing up, she took a glass of warmed milk and sat in the rocking chair on the balcony.

Stroking the armrest, Qin Qing curled herself into the chair. Her mind was filled with the image of Gu Yuwei’s expression as she sat in this chair gazing into the distance. Qin Qing smiled and shook her head, taking a sip of the milk. Suddenly, the phone in her pocket rang. She set the cup down; it was an unfamiliar number.

Hello? Qin Qing asked into the phone with confusion. Who is this? A voice replied from the other end. It was deep, but it made Qin Qing’s body freeze in place. Her chest heaved as her eyes filled with panic. The phone slipped from her hand and hit the floor. From the device, the steady beep of a disconnected line rang out.

Qin Qing fell ill. She had a full-blown fever. In the middle of the night, while she was burning up and drifting in and out of consciousness, she heard the doorbell. She dragged her exhausted body to the door. Only after confirming who it was through the peephole did she open it. Gu Yuwei stood at the door. Seeing the abnormal flush on Qin Qing’s face, she hurried forward to support her. Teacher Qin, do you have a fever?

Gu Yuwei could feel the heat radiating from her without even asking. She closed the door and helped Qin Qing into the bedroom. Qin Qing looked at her with a faint smile. Yes, it seems so. Yuwei, why are you here?

Gu Yuwei’s footsteps faltered at the question. Sun Songxin’s face flashed before her eyes again, making her feel nauseous. She pursed her lips and said nothing. After leaving the Sun family home, she had come straight to Qin Qing’s place. She didn’t care what happened to Sun Songxin; regardless, that kick hadn’t been light.

I… I don’t know either. Gu Yuwei helped Qin Qing onto the bed. I’ll go boil some water. She turned to leave.

But Qin Qing smiled and caught her hand. Gu Yuwei turned back in confusion to meet Qin Qing’s dazed eyes. The next moment, her face turned bright red at Qin Qing’s words. Did Yuwei come because she missed me? Qin Qing held onto her, looking as if she wouldn’t let go until she got an answer.

People who are sick often like to be difficult.

Gu Yuwei lowered her head, but Qin Qing pulled her a bit closer and asked again, Well? Is that it?

Yes. Gu Yuwei had no choice. She met Qin Qing’s persistent gaze and nodded before quickly looking away. Qin Qing’s lips curved weakly as she gave Gu Yuwei’s arm a little shake. Yuwei, I’m thirsty.

Gu Yuwei snapped back to her senses, settled Qin Qing in, and went to boil water. When she returned, she brought fever medication she had found in the first aid kit along with the warm water. Qin Qing swallowed the medicine in her hazy state. Gu Yuwei tucked her in and sat by the bedside.

She couldn’t get enough of the woman’s tranquil sleeping face. By the light of the desk lamp, Gu Yuwei traced the outlines of Qin Qing’s features in the air—from her brows to her eyes, from her nose to her lips. Every stroke sent ripples through Gu Yuwei’s heart. Her hand stopped just a fraction of an inch from Qin Qing’s lips. She withdrew her hand, and everything remained as if nothing had happened.

When Qin Qing woke up, it was already the next morning. Gu Yuwei had fallen asleep slumped over the edge of the bed. Looking at the crown of the girl’s head, Qin Qing’s face was full of tenderness. She reached out toward the girl’s hair but, worried about waking her, her hand hovered in mid-air for a long time.

Gu Yuwei was a light sleeper and soon sensed the change in Qin Qing’s breathing. She looked up and met Qin Qing’s eyes, offering a small smile as she reached out to check Qin Qing’s forehead. Teacher Qin, you’re awake. Why didn’t you call me? Gu Yuwei compared the temperature to her own. The fever is down. I’ll go make some porridge. You sleep a bit longer, and I’ll call you when it’s ready.

She moved to leave, but Qin Qing caught the hand that was withdrawing from her forehead. Gu Yuwei paused. Qin Qing said, Yuwei, thank you. Gu Yuwei’s lips curved upward as she left the room.

After that, Sun Songxin’s attitude toward Gu Yuwei did a complete 180-degree turn. He avoided her at home at all costs. Every time he thought of her, he instinctively reached down to cover his crotch. Gu Yuwei was naturally satisfied with this; she wanted nothing more than for Sun Songxin to stay as far away from her as possible.