Chapter 7: The Public Bus is a Cradle of Ambiguity

  The American students were talented and easy-going, so the teaching process went smoothly from then on.

  No matter whether she really understood or pretended to, He Fei managed to memorize all the volumes and even had time to recite the forever-unforgettable vocabulary with Little Monk. Apart from English, she never reviewed other exams, yet scored over 100 points in the English exam in the college entrance examination, which indirectly reflected her innate talent in other subjects.

  Everyone is studying hard for the final exam, He Fei's carefree attitude seems like a sin, fortunately everyone knows her English level and has learned to adjust psychologically.

  Before you know it, another holiday is here, this time it's New Year's Day.

  He Fei's dormitory had several people from the same province, and as soon as it was a holiday, they all went home, leaving only her. It wasn't that He Fei's home was far away, but every year during the New Year's festival, it was always her mother's busiest time for business, so even if she went back, she would still be alone.

  Her family is in a small town in the south, where some traditional things are still preserved, such as singing opera for weddings and funerals.

  Huang Mei's mother was one of the top Huangmei opera singers in China when she was young. After getting married and having children, she quit the opera circle until her husband passed away. She then reorganized an opera troupe, as she said, for the sake of her children, to make a living.

  A certain TV station that has a large following once did an in-depth report on this, the gist of which was that as the authentic heir to the Certain school of singing, she had ended up drifting to the streets and selling her art, and at the end of the program they even seriously recorded some nostalgic people from Taiwan reminiscing about He Fei's legendary life as a famous performer.

  Through this program, Hawick finally figured out where her good voice came from, and nothing else really mattered. Anyway, Mom said that if her English was destined to be below average, then she would never graduate from college, and coming back to sing Huangmei Opera would also make her great-grandfather proud.

  If she passes this time, wouldn't it be a disservice to her own great-granduncle? He Fei poked at the vocabulary list with her pen, lost in thought.

  The phone on the table rang with a "ding", an incoming message interrupted her further thoughts. It was from Milu: "Where are you?"

  Can't help but say that Mi Lu is still very majestic as a teacher, and He Fei carefully replied: "Recite words at McDonald's in the city center."

  "You look like you're in a daze." The text message came back quickly, but the person appeared even faster. A gentle breeze blew by as Mi Lu sat down across from her. Today he was wearing a gray woolen coat with a diagonally striped scarf, looking more mature than his usual casual attire, but apparently his mood was also as gray as his clothes: "You've been sitting here all day?"

  He Fei subconsciously glanced out of the window and indeed it had already darkened: "Cough, winter sun sets really early."

  "Is this how you go shopping?"

  She immediately felt guilty and lowered her head. This morning, as usual, Milu asked her to go to the supplementary English class, but she claimed that she wanted to experience a new atmosphere in the New Year, so she went shopping in the city, only to be caught daydreaming here.

  "Once you leave the master's door, you don't want to see your master again?" Mi Lu was being overly inquisitive today.

  "Not that, it's just..." He Fei coughed unnaturally. She really didn't want to see him every day, not because she had forgotten his kindness, but... Just as she was thinking of how to put it, Mi Lu automatically moved the Coke in front of her and took a sip through the straw - wasn't this too intimate?

  "......" A thousand words and phrases, reduced to silence.

  Mi Lu was calm and collected, finishing his drink before looking up at her and asking, "Have you eaten yet?"

  "Always eating, never hungry."

  "Oh, then let's go back to school." Mi Lu stood up, and the waitress immediately came over to clear the table, occasionally stealing a glance at him, completely unaware that He Fei across from them hadn't finished eating yet.

  In such a situation, no one could sit still, and He Fei had to resign herself to packing up her things and following Mi Lu out the door. As a result, after walking for half a day, the two of them were still wandering around the pedestrian street, attracting countless wolf-like women.

  "He Fei couldn't help but speak up: 'Didn't we say we were going back? Or are you planning on buying something?'"

  "I want to go back, but I don't know where the bus stop is," Mi Lu put her hands into her pockets and then pulled out the inner lining of her jacket, "and I didn't bring any money."

  “？”

  Mi Lu lowered his head, and the wind lifted up the hem of his long gown, plaid scarf, and soft hair: "I want to ask you for money to take a bus."

  "What's wrong with you?!" Suddenly, everything turned into a mess of awkwardness.

  Mi Lu calmly stuffed the inside pocket, elegantly like a gentleman putting a half-opened rose into the princess's hand, then raised his head and smiled: "Just now got off the car too hastily, didn't take the bag, and sent the driver back, fortunately met you."

  Despite being penniless and without a decent outfit, she still exuded elegance and refinement. A beauty indeed stands out from the ordinary. He Fei's hand trembled as she pointed in a direction: "The car is over there, let's go."

  "Good."

  "But you'd better be mentally prepared, the school bus is always very scary." He Fei's words were quite prophetic, unfortunately at that time, Mi Mei didn't understand, otherwise he would have thought of a more elegant way to achieve his goal.

  Their school is located in the university town, 40 minutes drive from the city center. Tens of thousands of students come and go, relying on a limited number of bus routes to connect, so even with buses arriving every five minutes, squeezing onto the bus is an art form.

  Mǐ Lù normally sees his classmates getting off the bus at the school gate, a small car with people pouring out like dumplings. Today he's among them and realizes that eating pork and watching pigs run are two different things. The person inside is not even considered a dumpling, but just a dumpling wrapper. His back is squeezed against the door, his grid scarf only half hanging on his neck, his bangs stuck to his eyes, making it impossible for him to see around, he only knows that the one being squeezed into his arms is He Fei.

  He Fei easily pulled her backpack to her chest, looked up and saw Mi Lu's appearance, couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh. Fortunately, this suburban bus didn't turn on the lights to save money, otherwise the beautiful woman image would be ruined. She raised her hand to tidy up Mi Lu's hair, then moved her arm as much as possible to help him pull his scarf tight. Seeing Mi Lu's embarrassed face, she lowered her head and laughed secretly again.

  Mi Lu saw her laughing non-stop, and added to the discomfort of the unfamiliar environment, he slightly annoyed: "Don't laugh anymore."

  "Pfft——" He Fei couldn't even suppress her voice this time.

  "Don't make me laugh." Mi Lu thought of raising his hand to poke her forehead, but the limited space made his hand get stuck on He Fei's waist. The two people's posture immediately became more ambiguous, if earlier they were just two simple dumpling wrappers stuck together, now Mi Lu was still a dumpling wrapper, while He Fei had become the dumpling filling.

  He Fei subconsciously shrunk her waist, then froze her smile, and the two people stood still. The lights outside the window flickered in and out, making everything unclear, with only the sound of breathing that made the air carbonated.

  "I'll take a look at the bag," He Fei smiled slightly, grabbed the bag and started rummaging through it, slowly turning around with difficulty, finally facing away from Mi Lu, taking out her phone, "Let me check my phone, what time is it now... almost 7 o'clock..."

  "You," Mi Lu pulled out his hand and patted her head, "silly."

  "You're just—" Heidi was about to turn around and protest again.

  The little boy next to him was shaking because he couldn't grab the handrail, and finally couldn't help but say: "I'm saying, you two don't have to keep moving around, do you know it's very crowded?"

  "Ah, sorry!" He Fei apologized with a guilty conscience.

  Mi Lu stretched out his hand and pulled her into his arms, making room for half of the armrest: "Is this okay?"

  The other party grasped the armrest and happily said thank you.

  He Fei was forced into Mi Rou's arms and couldn't be happy about it, nor did she dare to move around, so she could only softly shout in his ear: "Let go quickly!"

  Mi Lu let go of He Fei's wrist, pulled up the hood of her down jacket to cover her bright red face, and then put his hand back around her waist: "It's okay now, no one saw."

  Whether you can see it or not is not the point, okay?!

  What's the point of this, handsome American? What are you trying to get at with this sneak attack?!

  Ah, no, this isn't it either, He Fei is confused: The key point is, what exactly is the key point?!