Back to Auntie’s School Days - Chapter 41

“Auntie Tan.”

As the two of them walked up to Tan Yanqing, Guan Xinting spoke first.

Tan Yanqing nodded in response, her gaze then shifting to Jian Hao. It was as if she were saying: Your classmate has greeted me, what about you?

But given the relationship between them, did they really need such formalities?

Jian Hao’s lips felt numb from the cold air. She tried to move them, but no sound came out. Since she remained silent, Tan Yanqing didn’t look away. Instead, she asked if Jian Hao was cold.

Jian Hao shook her head.

Seeing her body shivering slightly from the chill, Tan Yanqing said flatly, “Get in. The heater is on.”

In the past, whenever Jian Hao rode in Tan Yanqing’s car, she would always scramble for the passenger seat. Today, however—perhaps because Guan Xinting was there—she opened the rear door directly.

The three of them got into the car.

Tan Yanqing glanced at them through the rearview mirror. “What do you want to eat?”

Guan Xinting grinned. “Auntie Tan, are you treating us?”

“Mhm.”

Guan Xinting thought for a moment and said, “A new Northeast Chinese restaurant opened over on Laoyuan Road. Let’s go there!”

Tan Yanqing glanced back toward the right, catching Jian Hao’s eye. Since getting into the car, Jian Hao had taken out her phone and was staring at it, showing no intention of joining the conversation. Seeing this, Guan Xinting nudged Jian Hao with her elbow. “Babe, what do you think?”

Jian Hao: “Mhm, that’s fine.”

She still didn’t look up.

Tan Yanqing’s eyebrows arched slightly. She turned back, fastened her seatbelt, and drove toward the restaurant.

As she drove, Guan Xinting didn’t forget Jian You’s instructions: 1. Keep an eye on Jian Hao. 2. Try to make Jian Hao a bit happier. So, sitting in the back, Guan Xinting held her phone up to Jian Hao’s face whenever she saw something interesting.

“Babe, look at this~” “Babe, this bag is so cute, should we buy a matching pair?” “I’ll come over to your house tomorrow so we can do homework together, okay?” “…”

Jian Hao responded, but her gaze couldn’t help but drift toward the driver’s seat.

Sitting on the right side of the back seat, she could see Tan Yanqing’s profile. Tan Yanqing wasn’t wearing her glasses today, so from Jian Hao’s angle, she could see exactly half of her eyes. Beneath slightly prominent brow bones, her lashes flickered. Those habitually cold eyes held a shimmer of light as she focused intently on the road ahead, seemingly unaware of the intermittent, stolen glances.

Thinking this, Jian Hao lifted her head completely. Her gaze ahead looked like she was watching the road, but every few seconds, she would sneak a look at Tan Yanqing.

Half a month had passed, and Jian Hao still hadn’t quite recovered from the fact that “Auntie Tan” was “Tan Yanqing.” Specifically, she was reconciling the Tan Yanqing who said “let’s give it a try” with the Auntie Tan who watched her grow up and rejected her confession.

She was now 100% certain that the person Auntie Tan had been searching for all these years was her. To find her, Tan Yanqing had abandoned her original dreams, jumping from astronomy to the police academy—a leap across worlds. It felt like a fall from grace. She was the one who had led Tan Yanqing onto this path of no return. She had failed her.

How could she face Tan Yanqing now?

Tan Yanqing must hate her to death.

She must hate her for appearing out of nowhere, stirring her heart, and then vanishing; hate her for the years of silence and uncertainty; hate her because she couldn’t even find her to scold or hit her; hate her for leaving only a trace of a memory.

But did Tan Yanqing love her? Perhaps she had in those earlier years. But after waiting so long, it turned into hate—a tangled mess of love and hate that became an obsession. Love turned into the desire for an answer. She owed Tan Yanqing an answer. She should explain everything. But…

It had been half a month. She had never gone half a month without contacting Auntie Tan.

【Auntie, my bike is broken and I don’t want to squeeze onto the bus. It’s too late to be safe, can you pick me up after school today?】 【Auntie! Is work tiring lately? I’ve been studying so long my neck is killing me. My mom is taking me for a massage at her shop, do you want to come?~】 【My mom is so busy lately. Auntie, I remember you’re off today, can I come over to play?~】

She always found all sorts of reasons to “harass” Auntie Tan. She could connect Auntie Tan to any little thing in her life.

But since coming back, she would open Auntie Tan’s chat window, hesitate, and keep hesitating until today—never sending a single word.

Was this avoidance? Or did she simply not know how to face her?

After eating at the Northeast restaurant, Tan Yanqing dropped Guan Xinting off first.

After saying goodbye and watching Guan Xinting enter her apartment complex, Jian Hao immediately pulled her phone out of her school jacket pocket. Now that it was just her and Auntie Tan, she had to look busy with her phone so she wouldn’t have to talk. She still hadn’t summoned the courage to face her.

The phone screen dimmed automatically in the dark cabin, but it was still bright enough to light up Jian Hao’s small corner of the back seat. The cool white light hit her face, illuminating her features like a stage spotlight—her eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips—allowing an observer to see her clearly, as if watching a lead actor up close.

Jian Hao played with her phone for a good while, swiping left and right and opening apps only to close them. She repeated this several times without feeling the car move. Auntie Tan was a very steady driver; she surely wouldn’t pay much attention to her while driving. Jian Hao hoped that once the car started, she could feel a bit less constrained. After all, the phone was boring, and it would be too obvious if she pulled out a textbook or homework in this dim light.

But the car remained stationary. If she didn’t look up and ask about this abnormality, it would look even more suspicious.

Coincidentally, the signal was weak, and a small circle spun on the screen as the interface refreshed, giving Jian Hao a reason to look away.

Jian Hao looked up.

Tan Yanqing was sitting facing forward. But their gazes met in the narrow rearview mirror.

“…”

Jian Hao’s gaze dropped to Tan Yanqing’s profile. “Why aren’t we moving?”

Tan Yanqing’s eyes naturally withdrew from the mirror. She turned her head slightly to look directly at Jian Hao. “Aren’t you going to sit up front?”

Ah?

Jian Hao bit her lip. “No, I’m too lazy to get out.”

“Mhm.”

Tan Yanqing responded, but she still didn’t start the car. She waited a few seconds and said, “I was out of town on a business trip. The day I came back was just to pack my bags. I only returned today.”

“…Oh, okay.” The circle on the phone was still spinning. Seeing this, Jian Hao turned off her data and restarted it. In the process, she had to continue talking to Tan Yanqing. “Have you been busy this whole time? You must be tired. How about I just take a taxi home? You should go back and rest early.”

As she spoke, she shifted her weight, turning to open the door.

“Heh.”

A soft chuckle came from the front. “Stay seated.”

Jian Hao froze. A few seconds later, the car moved, and she had to sit back properly. She looked down at her phone—the signal had returned—so she kept her head down, intending to keep scrolling. But even though her eyes were on the phone, her thoughts were entirely on Tan Yanqing.

“Did your mom say something to you?”

After a while, as the car cruised slowly, a sudden question reached Jian Hao’s ears. Spacing out, she didn’t catch the content at first and instinctively said, “What?”

She also instinctively lifted her gaze toward Tan Yanqing.

Tan Yanqing’s eyelids lifted slightly as she looked at her through the rearview mirror. “If she didn’t say anything, then is this your own idea?”

Jian Hao heard this clearly. However, she was still a bit in the dark, partially understanding but mostly confused by the meaning. Her lips moved as if to ask something, but Tan Yanqing was now fully focused on the road ahead. Jian Hao hesitated and didn’t ask immediately.

To an observer, that hesitation looked like being caught in a secret thought.

As Tan Yanqing concentrated on driving, Jian Hao stopped looking at her phone. She gripped it tightly and stared out the window. The sky had long since turned dark; the blue-purple night was heavy, and the streetlights on both sides looked like leftover light from the dusk—warm orange, carrying an ambiguity scented with tangerine.

As the car traveled, whether looking at the driver’s silhouette from the back or the passenger’s face from the mirror, the flickering shadows and the dim yellow light made everyone seem like a bank of mist.

A red light appeared ahead. The car slowed to a stop.

Jian Hao didn’t react immediately. Just as she was about to look at her phone, she accidentally looked up and saw Tan Yanqing looking at her again. This time, it wasn’t through the mirror; Tan Yanqing had turned her head slightly to look directly at her.

Perhaps it was the dim lighting, but Jian Hao saw a thin layer of a smile in those eyes that were usually so cool.

“So, are you feeling embarrassed because Auntie rejected you, or are you resenting Auntie and throwing a tantrum?”

This time, Jian Hao wasn’t on her phone or spacing out; her focus was unprecedented. Consequently, she heard every single word clearly. She heard them, and she understood them.

She paused. “…No, I’m not.”

“Not what?” Tan Yanqing’s voice was light and soft, with a hint of an enticing tone.

“Not angry with you.”

What right did she have to resent Tan Yanqing or be angry with her? The only person she resented and hated was herself. She was angry with herself.

“Oh.”

Tan Yanqing gave a non-committal response. She turned back to look at the traffic light, and seeing it hadn’t changed yet, her gaze returned to the rearview mirror.

Jian Hao was also looking at her. Their gazes met in the mirror once more.

“Then you’re just embarrassed in front of Auntie.”

A playful glint appeared in Tan Yanqing’s eyes. “Our little Jian Hao actually knows how to be embarrassed!”

The red light vanished, and the color transferred to Jian Hao’s face. Her face turned bright red instantly. She lowered her gaze and said in a tiny voice, ” I’m not embarrassed.”

She heard Tan Yanqing let out a laugh. “Is that so?”

“…Mhm.”

“If it’s neither of those—”

Tan Yanqing trailed off, drawing out the last word.

Jian Hao looked up, instinctively checking the rearview mirror. Tan Yanqing seemed to feel her gaze; her eyes crinkled slightly as she looked into the mirror. Her beautiful “peach blossom” eyes narrowed as she met Jian Hao’s eyes in the glass and asked:

“Then why are you so unwilling to pay any attention to me?”