On September 1st, the weather was still hot. All three grades of Beiquan High School, along with the attached middle school, started the new semester together, and Lin Shuang, in a burst of ambition, ran a “friends group-buy” promotion — from the moment the shop opened, business exploded unexpectedly, so busy they didn’t even have time to boil the pearl toppings.

Fu Min and Qi Xiong came early to see Qi Ling off for the start of school, and Qi Shan tagged along to join in the fun. The whole family went to Lin Shuang’s tea shop first.

“Sophomore year now?” Lin Shuang glanced at Qi Ling, then greeted her two younger brothers. “What do you two want to drink?”

“Sis, I want a strawberry sundae.” Qi Shan leaned in, peering around inside.

“Qi Ling, what about you?”

Qi Ling turned his face away and stood there without answering — teenage boys were awkward and stubborn like that, thoroughly annoying.

The shop was busy, and Lin Shuang had no time to attend to them properly; she casually made a couple of drinks and handed the bagged cups to Fu Min.

“Go ahead and get to work.” Fu Min asked her, “Once we get Qi Ling settled, let’s all grab lunch nearby together.”

“I’m not sure when I’ll free up — you all go ahead and eat.”

“We’ve all got to eat sometime — we’ll wait for you.”

By the time the school business was done, it was already fairly late. Qi Xiong took his two sons to the restaurant to order food while Fu Min stayed behind to help Lin Shuang at the tea shop. Over there, dishes were already being served, but Lin Shuang still couldn’t get away, so Qi Xiong ended up eating with the boys first, and Fu Min and Lin Shuang dragged their feet over until past two in the afternoon.

Lin Shuang picked at a couple bites out of obligation. Fu Min, seeing how exhausted she looked, frowned. “This is so hard on you — why don’t you hire another staff member, even part-time would help.”

“I’ll think about it later.”

Zhou Feng had made the cutoff score for Beiquan High School in the entrance exam and was brought in by his second uncle to register. The father and son called Zhou Zheng, who was too swamped with senior-year duties, so he snuck out at noon to help settle Zhou Feng into the dorm building, then found a nearby restaurant for lunch.

The two families happened to finish eating at the same time, and stepping out of the restaurant, Zhou Zheng happened to run into Lin Shuang.

“Teacher Zhou.” She nodded. “What a coincidence.”

Fu Min and Lin Shuang looked somewhat alike — both slender and tall. Zhou Zheng glanced over, and Lin Shuang spoke up: “My mother, my step-uncle, and my two younger brothers.”

Zhou Zheng understood this to be her mother and stepfather’s family and greeted them: “Hello, Auntie, Uncle.”

“My cousin and my second uncle.”

Lin Shuang, understanding, nodded perfunctorily and turned back to Fu Min: “I’ll head off first — you all go on home too.”

She hurried off toward the tea shop.

Fu Min stood on the street watching Lin Shuang’s retreating figure, until Qi Xiong patted her shoulder: “Let’s take Qi Ling back to school and head home ourselves too — we still need to take Qi Shan to register this afternoon.”

Zhou Zheng, looking over at Qi Ling, who stood beside them with his head bowed over his phone, asked with great gentleness, “Are you two here to help register your child too, Uncle, Auntie? What grade is he in?”

“Sophomore year.” Qi Xiong patted Qi Ling’s back. “And you are, Teacher…?”

Lin Shuang hadn’t bothered introducing him at all. Zhou Zheng smiled. “I’m Zhou Zheng, a teacher at Beiquan High School, I teach senior-year math.”

“Oh, oh, so you’re Teacher Zhou.” Qi Xiong hurriedly pulled Qi Ling forward. “Quick, say hello to the teacher.”

Qi Ling reluctantly put away his phone and straightened up. “Hello, Teacher Zhou.”

Zhou Zheng chatted with them for a bit, and before leaving, thought it over and left his phone number with Qi Xiong and Fu Min: “If you ever need any help in the future, Uncle, Auntie, feel free to reach me anytime.”

The more connections to teachers at a top school, the better — bound to come in handy sooner or later. Qi Xiong hurriedly saved the number: “Alright, alright, thank you so much, Teacher Zhou.”

Normally the tea shop closed whenever Lin Shuang felt like it, early or late, it didn’t matter. But once school started, the middle schoolers, finishing evening study at eight, would rush over and knock on the door for milk tea, catching Lin Shuang mid-turning-off-the-lights, poking their heads in: “Pretty lady, can I get an ice cream scoop?”

Lin Shuang had opened this tea shop mostly because she didn’t want to lie around at home rotting away, and a small part because she wanted to earn some money for herself. Now that the shop’s income had started turning a profit, she hadn’t expected to end up pushed into working herself to the bone.

“Of course.”

Beiquan High School staggered its evening study session end times; the middle school’s evening study let out at eight and eight-thirty, while the high school let out at nine, nine-thirty, and ten. It was that muggy, sweltering time of “autumn tiger” heat, and the nights carried a stuffy warmth too. She’d just sent off one wave of students when the next wave came pouring out of the school gate.

Lin Shuang’s expression by the end of a long day was truly indescribable.

The next day, she started hiring another clerk.

Most of the tea shop’s customers were girls, but plenty of boys came by too. Lin Shuang noticed someone holding up their phone to photograph her, and she smiled sweetly as she threatened them.

“Excuse me, taking photos without permission is a violation of portrait rights — that’s illegal, you know. I could call the police and have you arrested.”

The boy sheepishly lowered his phone, and Lin Shuang arched her fine brows. “If you want to look at me, you’re welcome to walk into the shop anytime, order a milk tea, sit down, and look openly and honestly.”

The boy blushed furiously.

Some girls also asked Lin Shuang about her lipstick shade and jewelry, admiring: “Boss, all your accessories look so nice — what brands are they?”

“But I think what you’re wearing looks even nicer.” Lin Shuang admired her in turn. “How about I trade you my accessories for what you’ve got on?”

“Huh? What I’ve got on?” The girl looked down at her plain school uniform. “I don’t have anything on me at all.”

“You have dazzling, radiant youth.” Lin Shuang winked. “Only people lacking their own light need accessories to shine.”

Aww, what kind of miraculous boss was this — so beautiful, and with such a sweet tongue too.

This tea shop had risen to become the top milk tea spot around Beiquan High School, leaving several nearby drink shops nearly deserted for a while.

Right after school started came Teacher’s Day, and the shops around the school started stocking up on cards, flowers, chocolate, and all sorts of little tokens of gratitude.

Lin Shuang followed the trend too, running a free size-upgrade promotion to match the occasion.

That day, Beiquan High School also held a teachers’ fun sports meet and a poetry recitation competition; even from the tea shop, Lin Shuang could hear the students’ shouts and screams coming from the sports field.

Zhang Fan, as one of the event’s organizers, slipped away to buy milk tea. Lin Shuang spotted him: “Bringing milk tea for Teacher Xie’s group again?”

Xie Xiaomeng and a few other young female teachers would come buy milk tea every few days; though Lin Shuang saw them often, Xie Xiaomeng wasn’t much for chatting with her. Zhang Fan, on the other hand, was the chatty type and loved rambling on about this and that with Lin Shuang.

As a PE teacher, he was generally more free than the subject teachers and was often sent on errands by the female teachers in the office; Zhang Fan had grown used to it. “They just finished the three-legged race, tug-of-war’s coming up next — said they needed a milk tea to power through.”

Lin Shuang heard fragmented sounds coming from a loudspeaker: “Why are they broadcasting a speech now?”

“Education bureau and city government officials came to inspect, brought along some condolence money, and the school leaders are reading a thank-you speech.”

“Not bad — students giving gifts, and officials coming to show their warmth too.”

Zhang Fan let out a chuckle. “Just this one day a year.”

“Whose voice is that?”

“Zhou Zheng, can’t you tell? He’s the young teacher representative — he’s usually the one who goes up to speak when needed.”

Lin Shuang shook her head.

Zhang Fan scratched at the stubble on his chin, listening to the man’s voice over the loudspeaker: “Zhou Zheng really does have some personal charm, you know — good-looking, and people like him.”

Lin Shuang lifted her eyelids to glance at him, handing over the milk tea. This guy, does he have some misunderstanding about what “personal charm” means?

Zhang Fan caught the look in her eyes. “You don’t believe me? Plenty of female teachers at school are happy to pair up with him for things, and quite a few female students have confessed to him too.” He gestured with his hands. “Just today, he got this many cards and chocolates.”

He was reasonably decent-looking, but Lin Shuang’s standards for men’s looks ran high, and Zhou Zheng still didn’t clear her bar.

She responded to Zhang Fan coolly, perfunctorily: “Oh.”

At six-thirty in the evening, the noise from the sports field faded, the evening study bell rang, and the tea shop emptied out in an instant. Lin Shuang scooped out half a cup of taro paste for dinner.

She kept her meals simple — breakfast was a glass of milk right after waking up, lunch was delivery from a nearby shop, and dinner was usually whatever leftover toppings the shop hadn’t sold.

A group of customers came into the shop — Zhou Zheng, Zhang Fan, and a few young male teachers.

They were all dressed uniformly, white T-shirts printed with the Beiquan High School emblem, black athletic pants and sneakers — apparently, after the teachers’ activity, they’d agreed to come hang out together.

Lin Shuang leaned on her high stool, eating, legs crossed, her lashes thick, her almond eyes lowered slightly, glancing sideways at the group with a lazy, careless posture. When she noticed people coming in, she turned around, and the next moment her expression was bright with a smile, radiant and sweet.

The men all ordered tea drinks; Zhou Zheng wasn’t picky about what he drank. Sometimes when he came to the shop, Lin Shuang would mix up new drinks herself and have him serve as a test taster.

Today she gave him the warm hot cocoa drink set to launch for the coming autumn-winter season.

The cocoa flavor was rich and mellow, thick on the tongue in a way that didn’t quite melt away. Catching the chocolate scent, Zhang Fan asked, “Hey, Zhou Zheng, didn’t you already have enough chocolate in the office today? Why order a chocolate drink now too?”

Zhou Zheng didn’t like chocolate; all the chocolate he’d received that day had gone into the classroom snack corner. Yet in the end, he still couldn’t escape chocolate’s grasp. His brow furrowed slightly as he took a sip, and after a long pause, said just two words: “It’s good.”

He drank it slowly, staying the latest of the group. Finally, he asked Lin Shuang for a cup of hot water and diluted the cocoa powder settled at the bottom, drinking it down slowly.

Nana had already clocked out; only the two of them remained in the shop. Lin Shuang, sanitizing equipment and washing out the sink one piece at a time, asked without turning around, “Was it good?”

His throat felt sticky. “Not that good… kind of… a bit too rich, maybe.”

Lin Shuang put her hands on her hips and glanced back at him, her eyes carrying a hint of boldness under the lights, yet also bright and sparkling, her expression unconvinced, certain: “That’s because you already had too much chocolate today.”

When she spoke and dragged out the last syllable, her tone turned soft and sweet, with a hint of coquettish charm.

His eyes caught only the dancing light and warm yellow glow; holding his cup, he couldn’t help a hint of a smile rising, and lowered his head: “Maybe so.”

Lin Shuang, carrying the mug she’d finished her taro paste from, went to slot it into the sanitizing cabinet, and heard Zhou Zheng ask, “Are you going to eat dinner tonight?”

He’d noticed several times before that at dinnertime she’d always eat something random, rarely a proper meal.

The sanitizing cabinet had a one-minute timer; Lin Shuang crossed her arms, staring at the countdown numbers. “Not eating.”

“Irregular meals can easily lead to stomach problems.”

“Mm.” She replied.

“Food from outside isn’t always the cleanest — the school cafeteria’s hygiene is decent, actually. You could apply for outside-visitor dining privileges…”

“Never mind, I ate at that cafeteria back in school — I know that spread of dishes already.” Lin Shuang’s face showed nothing but distaste.

“The teacher’s cafeteria is pretty good, though.”

Lin Shuang shrugged. “No need, thanks.”

He thought it over. “Let’s do an even exchange, then. A meal box at the teacher’s cafeteria costs seven yuan. I’ll come by every day at noon for a lemon black tea, and bring you a lunch.”

The lemon black tea happened to cost exactly seven yuan.

The sanitizing cabinet dinged. Lin Shuang turned to look at him, smiling. “Zhou Zheng, what are you trying to pull here?”

Zhou Zheng, composed and calm, lied without so much as a blush: “I’m a member of the school’s meal committee, and also a school staff member — I get double meal tickets every day, which means eating is free for me anyway, which also means I can technically get a free milk tea every day.”

“And what if I just want to make money off you for that milk tea?” Lin Shuang lifted her chin, looking down at him haughtily.

He spoke solemnly, like giving a lecture: “Well, according to the mathematical principle of equivalent exchange and economic principles of exchange value, the two of us are both making an infinite-loss trade in exchange value… assuming the cost of a milk tea versus the cafeteria’s economic benefit is…”

Lin Shuang didn’t understand a word of it, but found this nonsense somehow convincing.

“Are you bullying me for not being good at school?” She wrinkled her nose, though a smile lingered at the corner of her mouth. “You really do love playing teacher, don’t you, Teacher Zhou?”

“I’m just explaining the actual situation. If you think it through carefully, a lot of things in life can be run through existing formulas to find a better solution.”

No wonder the old saying warned people to stay away from scholars.

Lin Shuang decided this was all trivial nonsense anyway.

“Fine then, one milk tea a day for one lunch.” She shifted her stance, pulling the mug out of the sanitizing cabinet. “Pure exchange of benefits — I reserve the right to call it off anytime.”

“Deal.”

His heart skipped two beats.