To Covet (GL) - Chapter 14

Before the Sunday tutor arrived, Yu Hanyang and the others went out. By the time they came back, the class was already over.

I was hungry after class and wandered around. I didn’t see Shi Yunya and Yu Zhouwan. Just as I was wondering what the mother-daughter duo was secretly discussing, the door suddenly opened. Shi Yunya pulled Yu Zhouwan out and said, “Honey, I told you this one suits her. Our Wanwan has fair skin, and a black long dress gives her a certain elegance.”

“Why would a young girl wear a black dress for her birthday?” Yu Hanyang said without looking up. “The other one was better.”

“What century are you living in? Those shiny, sparkling dresses are so old-fashioned,” she said, pulling Yu Zhouwan’s hand and turning her around. She was extremely satisfied.

“At her age, looking elegant is what makes her beautiful.”

“Alright, alright, it’s not your birthday. Wanwan can wear whatever she wants.”

“I’m not just dressing her; I’m teaching her how to accessorize. This is a small banquet, after all.”

While her parents were discussing the details of the birthday party, Yu Zhouwan, who was being used as a clothes rack, finally had a moment to breathe. She took off her elbow-length gloves, undid her updo, wiped the lipstick off her mouth with a wet wipe, and collapsed onto the sofa, relieved.

“Wait, Wanwan, mommy hasn’t finished your makeup yet. Don’t be in such a hurry to wipe it off,” Shi Yunya almost stamped her foot. “Never mind. Let’s eat first. We can do it after dinner.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Wanwan has class tomorrow. You can fuss over all this stuff before her birthday.”

I observed Yu Zhouwan, who was sitting alone on the single sofa, completely zoned out. Shi Yunya dotingly stroked her beloved daughter’s long, flowing hair and kissed her on the cheek.

I ignored Yu Zhouwan’s gaze from across the dining table, went to the kitchen to get a metal spoon, and ladled myself a bowl of fish soup.

“It’s better to change the date,” Shi Yunya said, putting down her chopsticks. “If we do it on a Friday, what if Wanwan’s classmates and friends have something to do at school and can’t come? That wouldn’t be good.”

“Oh, Friday is the best day we can coordinate. If we move it earlier, who would be free on a weekday? They have to catch a flight back on Saturday at the latest,” Yu Hanyang said, unbothered. He just wanted a valid reason to host a banquet to gather some of his important “connections.” “Besides, if Wanwan wants to invite her friends, we can have another party on your actual birthday. You can do whatever you want, okay?”

Yu Zhouwan nodded in agreement. She didn’t even need to know who the guests were. All she had to do was be a pretty face.

“Only you would come up with something like this. Kids in their senior year would rather be locked in their rooms studying 24/7, and you’re pushing her to go out?”

“Aren’t you here to clean up my messes?” Yu Hanyang said with a smile. “Besides, our Wanwan already has good grades. What’s the point of focusing on grades all day? She needs to go out and see the world.”

“‘Seeing the world’ isn’t as simple as you hosting a banquet,” Shi Yunya didn’t care about his schemes. “Wanwan, don’t listen to your dad’s nonsense. If you don’t want to go, we won’t go. Come back and write your application letter. Mommy specifically reached out to an old classmate of mine. She’s a university associate professor now and got her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. If you don’t understand anything, ask that auntie. Got it?”

After she finished, she didn’t forget to give Yu Hanyang a glare, as if to show off that her resources were more valuable than his.

I put down my chopsticks and got ready to go back to my room. Yu Hanyang had been listening to Shi Yunya’s long list of things to pay attention to when writing a study abroad application for different regions and schools. It was only then that he remembered there was a fourth person at the table. “Oh, right, Keyi, you…”

“I’m not going. I have a test during evening study.” I answered him directly.

“By the way, Keyi, what do you plan to do for your birthday next year? Where do you want to go? Tell dad.”

I didn’t know if he was genuinely asking me about my birthday plans or just trying to find a similar topic to talk about.

“We can talk about it later,” I said. I didn’t turn to look at them. I took my water glass and went to my room.

On my desk was a magazine with writing resources, and inside was a hand-drawn, photocopied competition application form.

Xu Lanlan gave it to me during evening study. Apparently, the old man, our head teacher, was going to hold a competition mobilization meeting tomorrow. I’d been doing well in my science classes recently, so I would definitely be pulled into it.

Ever since I got it, my attention had been completely on the last line of small text:

“Competition training time: Every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday during evening study, ending at 10 p.m. Requires homeroom teacher’s signature.”

I was an impatient person, the kind of student the local teachers in Shucheng with accents would call “a butt on fire who can’t sit still.”

When I was in kindergarten, Yang Chun and Yu Hanyang took me to choose an instrument class. After the first piano lesson, the teacher wiped her sweat and said to Yang Chun, “You need to have a good talk with her. Learning an instrument requires not only interest but also the patience to sit still.”

Yu Hanyang scratched his scalp, put his hand on Yang Chun’s back, and chuckled. “How about we sign our daughter up for something else? Like swimming or Taekwondo. She’s a kid; she’s active. There’s nothing we can do about it…”

Now, I was still the same. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have skipped almost all of the evening study and weekend makeup classes for nearly two months. I was more than happy to get out of evening study. Of course, I was going.

After the afternoon class ended, I took advantage of the empty teaching building during dinner time, took a copy of the test questions for evening study from the office, and escaped with my backpack.

I took a taxi to the hotel. I walked past the doorman and the staff and peeked into the banquet hall. Everyone had already arrived.

It was not yet six o’clock. I took the elevator up to the twentieth floor and knocked on a door.

I had texted Yu Zhouwan in the afternoon to ask for the hotel room number.

She didn’t text me back until almost six. Ten minutes later, she typed out a line:

“You’re coming?”

“Didn’t you say you had evening study?” she asked, stepping back.

“I skipped it,” I said, walking straight in. I sat on a chair by the window. I did this kind of thing all the time anyway.

“Then the test…”

“You actually believed that?” I bounced my backpack and threw it on the floor. “It’s just a small test. I got a leave of absence.”

Yu Zhouwan had changed into her evening gown. She had finally chosen the black off-the-shoulder one. The white fluffy lace of the neckline extended to her back. To match the black elbow-length gloves she was wearing, she had tied a ribbon around her neck.

“Wait, don’t do that,” Yu Zhouwan said, her face turning serious as I picked at the bow on her ribbon with my index finger. “Not here.”

“I’m going downstairs soon,” she said, resting one hand on the glass table and looking at me with an evasive gaze. “Mom and Dad could come up and look for me at any time.”