MTB - Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Are You a Little Scared of Her?
Tang Yuelou’s WeChat nickname was simple, just the character for “Tang.” Her profile picture was the blurry silhouette of a person’s back under a crescent moon, looking lonely and quiet. Yun Yang had asked out of curiosity before, and the person in the photo was Tang Yuelou herself.
Staring at the contact card, Yun Yang wavered between money and pride for only a second before opening her part-time job group chat with almost no hesitation.
But her original schedule had been disrupted, and it was the start of the new semester. Normally, people picked the jobs, but recently, the jobs were picking the people. Yun Yang spent several days glued to the group chat but couldn't find a single suitable position.
Then, she suffered from insomnia for three consecutive days.
“...So, I’m going to be broke again this month.” The cafeteria was bustling during the weekday lunch hour. Yun Yang sighed and yawned, pulling out a clean tissue to rub her eyes. She decided she would skip her elective later and go back to the dorm to catch up on sleep.
“Are you okay?” Guan Yan looked at her dark circles with some concern. “You were yawning and blinking the whole time in class this morning.”
“It’s probably just from lack of sleep. My eyes are so dry I can barely keep them open… Anyway, forget that. This morning, I was chatting with a senior from my project group about it. Guess what he said to me?”
“What?”
“He said, ‘A girl like you must have plenty of guys wanting to spend money on you, right? If not, I’ll take care of you.’” Yun Yang rubbed the alloy chopsticks in her hand. It was clear she was summoning every ounce of moral cultivation she had accumulated over twenty-one years to resist the urge to plunge them into that senior’s head.
Guan Yan choked on her soup. Knowing Yun Yang’s temper, she had a feeling this guy hadn’t gotten off easy. “And then? You didn’t get physical, did you?”
“Of course not. I’m always friendly and never resort to violence.” Yun Yang let out a dry laugh. “I just shot back at him, sent an email to the professor, and posted about it on my Moments, that’s all.”
What she had said at the time was, “Even if I were so desperate that I had to ask someone for money, he’d be in the category of idiots I’d exclude.” Thinking of the way he had turned beet red, speechless under the strange gazes of the surrounding students, and how he was now out of the group project and socially dead at school, Yun Yang felt a rare sense of satisfaction.
Guan Yan burst out laughing. “Well done.”
Z University’s admission standards could filter for academic ability, but not for moral character. The place was crawling with scumbags. While the academic atmosphere was generally good, there were plenty of trashy people who put on a respectable front. Having cultivated her defenses, Yun Yang had long since learned to treat all kinds of harassment like passing clouds—see enough of it, and it no longer surprises you.
“I saw a picture of that senior before. To be honest, he’s not bad-looking. I didn’t expect him to be such a piece of work… Tsk, tsk, you can’t judge a book by its cover.”
“I don’t see what’s so handsome about him. Not my type,” Yun Yang said, picking a piece of cilantro out of her shredded potatoes. She glanced back at the clock on the cafeteria wall. “I’m 24-karat gay, you know…”
Her words trailed off. Guan Yan looked up, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
Yun Yang’s expression was indescribable. “...Tang Yuelou.”
Enemies always cross paths.
Surprised, Guan Yan followed her gaze and indeed saw the person buying food at the counter.
Tang Yuelou was holding a bowl of soup and buying fried rice from the basic meals counter. The girl behind her was jostled and stumbled. Tang Yuelou reached out to steady her, catching the girl’s tray just as it was about to fall. The girl thanked her profusely. Tang Yuelou smiled and said something, and the girl blushed, scratching her head with a smile.
For some inexplicable reason, Yun Yang felt a deep sense of unease.
“No way. A professor is actually eating at the basic meals counter… Hey, Yangyang, you haven’t finished. Where are you going?”
Seeing her grab her things to leave, Guan Yan instinctively called out. Tang Yuelou looked over in their direction. Their eyes met, and Yun Yang’s first instinct was to turn and run. Then she realized something was off—hadn’t they already cleared the air? What did she have to feel guilty about?
So, she stiffened her neck, put her tray and backpack down, and sat back down in her chair, open and poised. “I’m not going anywhere. I was just tired of sitting, so I stood up to stretch. I’m going to keep eating.”
Guan Yan said, “...Stretching with your backpack on?”
Having witnessed the entire exchange, she sensed something “unusual” was afoot. She rubbed her chin and leaned in conspiratorially. “Yangyang, there’s something I’ve always been curious about.”
“Spit it out.”
“Are you,” she began, as if finding it hard to say, choosing her words carefully as she asked tentatively, “are you a little scared of Teacher Tang?”
The air fell into a subtle silence for a moment.
“Me, scared of her?” Yun Yang almost laughed in exasperation at the ridiculous statement, nearly slamming her hand on the table. “What do I have to be scared of her for? What could she possibly do to scare me?”
“Yangyang, don’t say any more…”
“It’s fine, there’s nothing that can’t be said. I just think she’s—”
“Think ‘she’s’ what?”
A voice, tinged with a smile, sounded from behind her. Yun Yang froze completely.
“May I sit here?” Tang Yuelou asked politely, pointing to the empty seat to Yun Yang’s right.
Before Guan Yan could react, Yun Yang swiftly grabbed her backpack from behind her and threw it onto the adjacent seat. “Sorry, Teacher Tang, this seat is taken.”
It turned out that when a person’s emotions were in disarray, their brain wasn’t much clearer. The smile on Tang Yuelou’s face didn’t fade as she turned and sat down on Yun Yang’s left.
Yun Yang: Crap, I was careless.
Guan Yan couldn’t bear to watch and turned her head away.
“Yun Yang, I don’t know why you’re so resistant to me.” Tang Yuelou spoke first, her tone sounding a little helpless. “But I don’t have any ill intentions. I just want to talk to you.”
Yun Yang adopted a posture that rejected all communication. “This is a public place. Please have some self-respect. I’m done eating, so I’ll be leaving.”
“I heard you’re looking for a part-time job recently?”
“Teacher Tang is certainly well-informed.”
“I told you, you don’t need to be so resistant to me.”
She showed no sign of displeasure, but her voice was cold, like ice cubes melting into coffee. Yun Yang turned her head away. “What does my job search have to do with you?”
“I have a small shop near the university that needs a clerk. It just involves simple tasks like working the register and assisting customers. It’s usually not busy, so you won’t have much to do. The salary is negotiable,” Tang Yuelou said slowly, stirring her coffee. “I was wondering if you might be interested?”
“Sorry, not at all,” Yun Yang said curtly.
“See, you’re sulking again.” Tang Yuelou gave a helpless, soft laugh. “I just want to help you. Why do you have to refuse?”
Yun Yang hated it most when she spoke in that tone, like a kind of condescending indulgence that always made people involuntarily follow her lead and reflect on whether they had truly done something wrong. Her ears burned, and she decided she didn't want to waste any more words. She grabbed her backpack, turned, and walked away. Guan Yan, caught in a dilemma, quietly said, “I’m sorry,” to Tang Yuelou before quickly getting up to follow her.
“In any case, I hope you’ll reconsider. It’s not like there’s any harm in it for you, is there?”
Yun Yang heard Tang Yuelou say from behind her.
“You can contact me anytime.”
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