Rebirth to Save Myself

Chapter 143: Dinner with the Master

After familiarizing herself with the studio, Su Xia picked up her books and went to the cafeteria for lunch after putting them back in her dorm. It was the start of the semester, and the cafeteria was packed with freshmen, all wearing green camouflage uniforms. Su Xia sighed inwardly; it felt like her university military training days were just yesterday, and now she was already an old-timer.

"Hi, can we add each other on WeChat?" Two boys suddenly stood in front of her and asked.

Su Xia sized up the boy in front of her. He was clean-cut and wore a sports uniform, but there was no body odor. He seemed to be an undergraduate. So she said, "Sorry, I have a boyfriend."

"It's okay, I have the right to pursue you too. What year are you in?" the boy said nonchalantly after being rejected.

"Kenichi."

"Excuse me, senior," the boy said before pulling his companion away.

"Hahaha, that's hilarious. What's wrong with all the junior students these days? What's wrong with senior girls? Aren't mature women appealing?" Zhuang Qinglan said from the side.

"Senior sister, you're here too." Su Xia said as she and Zhuang Qinglan looked for a seat.

"I was going to call you, but these two beat me to it."

"It's okay." Su Xia and Zhuang Qinglan found a spot and sat down to eat together.

"By the way, junior sister, you still haven't told me if you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes, senior sister."

"Wow, you've resolved your single status so early. Are you in a long-distance relationship now? How did you meet? Were you in the same university?"

He's here now too. We met in high school, but we didn't go to the same university.

"So you stayed at his place last night?"

"um, yes."

"Oh dear, something's up. Although we..."

"Stop, senior sister. Empty your mind of those lewd thoughts and focus on your food."

"Alright, alright, I'll let you off the hook for today. I'll dig into your past another day. Let me tell you, there's no one I don't know about Old Lin, Senior Brother, Chen Ze, and the like."

"And what about your wife?"

"Then we'll have something to talk about. My teacher's wife and Lao Lin only have one son, named Lin Xuzhi. The two old folks grew up together as childhood sweethearts. Lao Lin married my teacher's wife right after graduating from university, and then they had their son. My teacher's wife worked for a little over a year, and now she's been staying at home. Lao Lin says that he can keep going out and about, while my teacher's wife can stay home and do what she likes."

"You said before that their son went abroad?"

"Yes, her son went abroad to study right after graduating from high school. They had agreed that he would come back to China after graduation, but he said he wanted to stay abroad right after graduation and even got a foreign girlfriend. I think he's just after a green card."

"Qinglan, there are some things you shouldn't say carelessly." Lin Qingmu carried the tray over to sit down next to the two of them, nodding to Su Xia in greeting.

"How could I say anything wrong? It's been years now, six years without him being home. He only calls occasionally, and even at his wedding, he didn't want Lao Lin and the others to attend, claiming it was because the journey was too far. If it's too far, he can't bring his wife back to China, so why does Lao Lin and the others have to come? Besides, they don't hold banquets here in China!"

"Alright, let's not get too involved in the teacher's affairs. We don't know the whole story, so let's not make any comments."

"Hmph, let me tell you, he's a hypocrite. You'd better watch out," Zhuang Qinglan said to Su Xia.

"Don't listen to her, she's just too righteous," Lin Qingmu said to Su Xia.

Su Xia nodded, not responding to the two of them. She thought to herself that her eldest brother wasn't angry at being called a hypocrite by her second senior sister; he was quite composed. Her second senior sister seemed to have a fiery personality and spoke her mind directly. Her third senior brother seemed quite introverted, probably a bit socially awkward.

After the three finished eating, Su Xia wanted to go back to her dormitory for a nap, so Lin Qingmu called Zhuang Qinglan away.

On the way, Zhuang Qinglan asked Lin Qingmu, "Is there anything going on at the studio?"

"You need to watch your mouth, I've reminded you so many times. Sometimes you're telling these things to your junior sister, but if someone with ulterior motives overhears, it'll put me in a difficult position. Have you forgotten how I helped you last year?" Lin Qingmu looked at Zhuang Qinglan with a serious expression.

"I know, I know. I was just thinking that since my junior sister is also one of our fellow disciples, it's not wrong for me to help her quickly get to know us." Zhuang Qinglan muttered softly.

"Alright, I'll handle things at the studio. You should go back to your dorm and rest."

"Thank you, senior brother."

Su Xia returned to her dorm, changed into a set of pajamas, and then lay on her bed to video chat with Lu Jingnian.

"That's how it is. I feel like the eldest brother doesn't really like the second sister's behavior."

“It’s really not good to talk about teachers in private. Even though you said the teacher has a good temper, it would be bad if someone with ulterior motives overheard and complained about it.”

"Yes, but my senior sister said that my teacher's wife is a very nice person, gentle and kind, like a lady from a well-to-do family."

"Then you're going out for dinner tonight. I'll go to the supermarket by myself first. Send me any food you want to eat, and I'll buy it together."

"Hmm, I want to eat spicy strips."

"Okay, buy it."

"I also want to eat jelly."

"Okay, I'll buy it."

"I still want to eat cake, but my birthday has already passed."

"Cakes aren't just for birthdays. If you want one, we can buy a small one. What flavor would you like?"

"Oreo."

"Okay. What else would you like to eat? I'll buy it for you."

"That's all." Su Xia said, then yawned.

"Go take a nap, I need to get ready for work."

"How was your day at work?" Su Xia felt like she could barely form a complete sentence, but she still managed to ask.

"Let's talk again tonight, okay? Go to sleep now," Lu Jingnian patiently comforted Su Xia, his gentle voice helping her close her eyes and fall asleep.

Lu Jingnian looked at Su Xia's sleeping face and smiled helplessly before hanging up the phone. He looked up at his secretary and said, "You can arrange a meeting now."

"Okay," the male secretary replied, turning to make the arrangements. This deputy manager was the son of the headquarters owner, so everyone knew he was there for experience. The secretary thought to himself: "It seems the deputy manager and his girlfriend have a great relationship. I need to tell my female colleagues to stop having these unfounded fantasies."

Su Xia slept until after 3 a.m. before waking up. She checked her phone and saw a message from Lu Jingnian:

Heading Towards Summer: Sleep well, I'm off to work.

Coffee to keep me going: Just woke up, feels so good~

Su Xia replied to the message with a smile, got up, stretched, changed her clothes, and prepared to go to the fruit shop outside the school to buy some fruit to take over later. She also wanted to bring a silk scarf for her teacher's wife, which she had bought during a previous trip. It was a gentle blue, tie-dyed, and suitable as a gift for women of all ages.

Around 4:30, Su Xia carried several kinds of fruit and gift boxes and went to Zhuang Qinglan's address, knocking on the door.

"You're here." A gentle female voice rang out, and the door opened shortly after. Looking inside, she was a bit older, but a very energetic auntie. Upon seeing Su Xia, the auntie exclaimed with delight, "You must be Su Xia! Come in!"

"Hello, Madam Professor, I'm Su Xia. Have my senior brothers and sisters arrived yet?" Su Xia walked in and changed her shoes at the shoe cabinet. She handed over her fruit and said, "This is some fruit I bought. I didn't know what you and the professor liked, so I just bought some."

"Since you're already here, don't be so polite. Your senior brothers and sisters haven't arrived yet; they said they're on their way." The master's wife took the fruit and led Su Xia to the living room, asking her to sit down.

Su Xia observed that it was just his teacher's wife alone, and the stove in the kitchen was still on, so she said, "Let me help you cook."

"Oh dear, how can I let you be like this on your first visit? You go first, I'll wash these fruits." The teacher's wife insisted that Su Xia sit on the sofa and went into the kitchen.

A moment later, the sound of a key turning came from the doorway. Su Xia quickly got up and looked towards the door.

"Junior sister, you're here even earlier than us!" Zhuang Qinglan waved and called out when she saw Su Xia, standing behind Professor Lin.

"You're back too! Dinner's almost ready." The teacher's wife came out with some washed fruit and greeted the four of them happily.

"Thank you, Master's wife!" Zhuang Qinglan shouted.

"Thank you, Madam." Lin Qingmu and Chen Ze also spoke up.

"Old Lin, come help me carry the dishes. Qingmu and Xiaoze, help serve the rice. Xiaoqing and Suxia, just sit at the table and wait." The teacher's wife greeted everyone with a smile, assigning tasks directly.

"Teacher's wife, just call me Xia Xia," Su Xia quickly said.

"Okay, Xia, you and Qing can go sit down."

"it is good."

Before long, the table was filled with delicious food. The teacher's wife was a typical southerner, and on the table were seven dishes: stewed pork tripe with rock olives, steamed cucumber fish, braised pork ribs, stir-fried vegetables with pork cracklings, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, boiled shrimp, and stir-fried pork with dried bean curd. They all looked rather light and not very spicy.

"Wow, Madam is really generous today!" Zhuang Qinglan looked at the table full of delicious food and immediately gave a thumbs up.

"It's just some home-cooked food, Xia, please don't mind," the teacher's wife said with a smile as she handed the two meals to them.

"How could that be? I'm from the South too. The dishes my teacher's wife makes are all my favorites," Su Xia said, taking the food.

"Don't be shy, my junior brother said Xia is a good kid." Professor Lin followed behind and pulled his wife to sit down.

"Dinner's ready, dinner's ready." Zhuang Qinglan smiled and spoke directly.

"Let's eat," Professor Lin said.

At the dinner table, everyone was eating when the teacher's wife asked, "Is Xia from this province?"

Su Xia quickly put down her chopsticks and replied, "Yes, Madam."

"Oh, so are your parents in this province too?" The teacher's wife also became curious and quickly asked.

"Yes, they're all in the provincial capital," Su Xia replied with a smile and a nod.

"That's great, it's close by." The teacher's wife said with a sigh, as if she had remembered something.

"Yes."

Professor Lin saw through his wife's thoughts, so he added insult to injury, saying, "Xia chose this school because she wants to be closer to her parents."

The teacher's wife didn't care about her husband's sarcasm and said directly to Su Xia, "What a filial child."

"You're joking, Madam. My parents often say I'm always running around and never home." Su Xia quickly tried to make amends, remembering what Zhuang Qinglan had said about Madam's child being abroad and refusing to come back.

"That's fine too, just like me. My parents only see me during winter and summer vacations, because our home is too far away," Zhuang Qinglan chimed in to ease the tension.

“Yes, how many students don’t study away from home?” Lin Qingmu chimed in.

"Speaking of which, Senior Brother is from the capital, so why did you come to Xiamen? And Senior Sister, you came all this way, is it because you like the southern climate?"

"Come on, your senior brother is like a prince from Beijing. He didn't want to accept his family's arrangements, so he ran off to the south. Old Lin was his undergraduate professor, and now he's naturally pursuing his doctorate under Old Lin's guidance." Zhuang Qinglan completely disregarded Lin Qingmu's feelings and blurted everything out.

"Your senior sister is an only child from Northeast China, the youngest in her family. She didn't even look at her major in the college entrance exam, she just applied to Xiamen University. Every time she left home, her whole family was reluctant to let her go. She had excellent grades in her undergraduate studies and was directly recommended for postgraduate studies." Lin Qingmu didn't hold back with Zhuang Qinglan, seeing that she had revealed all her secrets, so she also told her about her.

"You, if you dare, talk about Chen Ze!" Zhuang Qinglan angrily pointed at Chen Ze, who was eating silently to the side.

“My junior brother is from this province, just like you. He used to study at a university in the provincial capital. Later, he applied to graduate school here. He and your senior sister were in the same year, but your senior sister is older than him, so Chen Ze is the third oldest. Now that you're here, Chen Ze is no longer the youngest.” Lin Qingmu ignored Chen Ze's resentful look and said it directly.

"Your turn." Zhuang Qinglan looked at Su Xia.

"Huh?" Su Xia was a little confused. Wasn't she talking about Chen Ze? Why was she suddenly being mentioned? It felt like she was the one being gossiped about.

"Yes, it's your turn, junior sister. Your senior sister and I have finished speaking." At this moment, Lin Qingmu stood on the same side as Zhuang Qinglan, looking directly at Su Xia.

"I... I went to Hunan University for my undergraduate studies. My professor originally planned to recommend me for postgraduate studies, but my parents thought it was too far away, and I also wanted to try taking the postgraduate entrance exam myself. So I applied to Xiamen University, and my professor wrote me a letter of recommendation." Su Xia didn't hesitate any longer and simply explained the situation.

"Hmm, that's a bit little. Are you an only child?" Zhuang Qinglan asked.

"No, I also have an older sister. She lives in the provincial capital with my parents and just started working." Su Xia shook her head and explained her family situation.

"Then why doesn't your sister take the postgraduate entrance exam?" Lin Qingmu asked curiously.

“She doesn’t have that idea. Our family respects our children’s ideas and hasn’t forced her to take the postgraduate entrance exam.” Su Xia briefly explained her family’s situation, explaining that Chen Yuan had no intention of taking the postgraduate entrance exam.

"How old is your sister?" Zhuang Qinglan continued to ask.

"One year older than me."

"Alright, alright, Xia just arrived. Take your time to understand things, no rush. Let's eat, or the food will get cold." Seeing that the teacher's wife was about to continue the conversation, she quickly stopped her.