Back to Auntie’s School Days - Chapter 37

Thud!

“Ugh—”

Headache. Nausea.

Jian Hao pressed her hand to her forehead, rubbing the spot that had just hit the floor. Her sleepy eyes struggled to open; catching a glimpse of something resembling a coffee table, she promptly closed them again.

She lay on the floor for a bit longer until the drowsiness subsided, then used the sofa and the coffee table to pull herself up into a sitting position.

The first thing she looked at was the clock on the wall.

10:20

She was late for school!

She scrambled to her feet, but getting up too fast sent her head spinning, and she fell back onto the sofa with a heavy thud.

Dizziness followed. It felt like eight hundred mosquitoes were buzzing in front of her eyes.

…I’m never sneakily drinking again!

Cradling her head, Jian Hao kept her eyes shut and tentatively called out, “Tan Yanqing?”

She waited for a couple of breaths, but there was no response.

Thinking about it, it made sense—Tan Yanqing must have gone to school. But did Tan Yanqing try to wake her up? Surely she didn’t just sleep through it? Would Tan Yanqing think she was a total glutton for sleep? Or, being as considerate as she was, did she just let her sleep when she saw how out of it she was?

That was actually pretty nice; she’d successfully skipped a whole morning of classes. And since Tan Yanqing was the one covering for her, she didn’t have to worry about getting in trouble.

But then again, is Tan Yanqing considerate?

Jian Hao opened her eyes, glanced at the coffee table in front of her, and finally let her gaze fall on the sofa beneath her.

If she were considerate, why was she sleeping on the sofa? Why didn’t Tan Yanqing carry her to the bed? And why didn’t she at least cover her with a blanket in this cold? She’d only fallen off the sofa because she had been shivering in her sleep and rolled over trying to find a cover.

Tan Yanqing wasn’t thoughtful at all! She was definitely going to complain when the girl got home. How could she not give her a blanket? She had zero awareness of how to treat the person she liked!

The person she liked…

Hehe. Jian Hao’s memories of last night were a blurry mess, but she hadn’t forgotten that she had confessed to Tan Yanqing. She had said she only liked her. And Tan Yanqing had said she liked her back. She also remembered saying she wanted to kiss her, though she’d forgotten if they actually did.

Anyway—since she’d confessed while drunk, she couldn’t go back to being a cowardly wimp. Who cared if she was betraying “Auntie Tan”? Who cared if she was destined to be that “scumbag” girl? She couldn’t control it. They’d kissed, she’d confessed—if she didn’t stay with Tan Yanqing now, then she’d truly be a scumbag.

That wouldn’t do. The Jian family were upright people; they didn’t raise scumbags. Even if she didn’t have Jian blood in her veins, she had the Jian soul!

She was going to be with Tan Yanqing!

After they’d been together for a while, she’d tell Tan Yanqing about the time travel. If she went back, she went back; if she didn’t, she’d just stay with her. She knew all the trends after 2008—was she really supposed to be afraid of not making money? Besides, what if she’d traveled to a parallel world? This world already had a “Jian Hao,” so it didn’t need her. She’d just live as Jian Lai, get her ID sorted at the police station, make some money, marry Tan Yanqing, and raise some cats and dogs…

Yes! That’s it! When Tan Yanqing came home at noon, she’d ask her to be her girlfriend!

…Wait? Something felt slightly off. She hadn’t even officially asked her out yet, and she was already planning the wedding and kids. What if Tan Yanqing rejected her?

Hah!

Tan Yanqing wouldn’t reject her, right? They’d kissed! Tan Yanqing wasn’t the type to do “scumbag” things… right?

But even if she still insisted on waiting until graduation, Jian Hao would wait! In this life, she only wanted Tan Yanqing.

Gosh, she missed her already… She wanted a hug. She hadn’t really hugged her properly yet. She wanted to smell her scent. So much!

Jian Hao lingered on the sofa for a while, intending to head to the bedroom for a nap and wait for Tan Yanqing to come home for lunch.

She stood up. She shuffled for her slippers… wait… no slippers. Where were they? Did Tan Yanqing put them away? She was too lazy to look. But she was definitely giving Tan Yanqing a “one-star review”—forgetting the blanket was one thing, but hiding her slippers too?

Barefoot, she walked across the rug, rounded the green sofa, passed a tangerine tree, and walked by the fish tank—Wait, did Little Moonlight get fat?

Little Moonlight was the moonfish Jian Hao had given to Auntie Tan. There were other little fish in the tank, all named by Jian Hao based on their species: Little Peacock, Little Mary, and so on.

Normally, Jian Hao would have stopped to see who had gained or lost weight, but she was so exhausted that she just yawned and lazily passed the tank. She could look after her nap.

One step.

Two steps.

Thr—

There was no third step.

Jian Hao stopped dead.

She froze for three seconds, her squinting eyes slowly widening. Like a lagging machine, she stiffly turned her head, staring in shock at the fish tank—the tangerine tree in the pot—and the green sofa.

The tangerine tree was something she’d grown from seeds she’d planted as a child. And the sofa… Tan Yanqing’s sofa in the past was brown. The green one… belonged to Auntie Tan.

Jian Hao had chosen that sofa herself. She’d said Auntie Tan’s house was too cold and needed some green for “vitality.” She’d ended up hating the color herself for a long time, and Auntie Tan had to be the one to comfort her about it.

So… SO?!

Jian Hao’s heart hammered; she was breathing so hard her nose felt useless. Her mouth hung open, and her already dizzy head spun even faster.

She walked over to the clock. Beneath it was a wood-colored cabinet with the police department’s annual calendar standing on top. Auntie Tan had a habit of checking the calendar, so the year and month were always visible.

Jian Hao picked it up.

October 2025

She wasn’t sure of the exact day.

But if this wasn’t a trick Tan Yanqing was playing on her, and if she wasn’t still drunk and dreaming, then… she had traveled back.

Was this her original timeline, or another parallel world?

The calendar began to tremble. An earthquake? No—Jian Hao’s hands were shaking uncontrollably; her heart was experiencing a magnitude-9 earthquake.

And it wasn’t just an earthquake.

A mudslide, a storm, thick fog, a typhoon, a tsunami…

Her spirit was enduring an unprecedented disaster.

She was here… then where did the 2008 version of her go? Did she vanish into thin air? What would happen to Tan Yanqing?

Lost in these thoughts, she didn’t hear the jingle of keys at the door behind her.

Until—

“Jian Hao.”

The voice, like cool mint liqueur, snapped her out of her trance.

The calendar slipped from her hands and hit the floor with a loud clatter!

She whipped her head around and saw the figure standing in the light and shadow of the entryway. Her lips trembled as she called out:

“Auntie… Tan.”