With enough staff at the tea shop now, Lin Shuang set up a rotating schedule for Nana and Kevin, freeing up a lunch break for herself so she no longer had to stay glued to the shop, and when she had time, she’d go out with Miao Cai.
Miao Cai had been busy preparing for her wedding lately — everything from wedding candy to the banquet to venue decorations, endless small details, thoroughly exhausting. She dragged Lin Shuang along to accompany her through dress fittings and makeup trials. Originally, Lin Shuang was going to be a bridesmaid, but Miao Cai had suddenly changed her mind, swapping in one of her own cousins instead.
“Sorry, Shuangshuang, I know I said I’d have you as a bridesmaid before.”
When Lin Shuang tried on that champagne-colored bridesmaid dress, the moment she stepped out, every eye in the room turned to her — her beauty was simply too devastating, and on Miao Cai’s most important day, she really didn’t want a bridesmaid stealing her thunder.
“It’s fine.” Lin Shuang wasn’t bothered either way.
“But it’s settled — I’ll toss the bouquet to you when the time comes.” Miao Cai hugged her. “Bring your boyfriend along too, I’ll arrange two seats for you.”
“No need.”
Miao Cai’s wedding was set for Chinese New Year — by then, she didn’t even know if she’d still have a boyfriend.
“That soldier of yours seems pretty solid — I think this one could work out,” Miao Cai declared. “It’s settled, then, two seats, bring your boyfriend.”
Once Miao Cai’s business was done, Lin Shuang headed back to the tea shop and happened to run into Zhang Fan outside the school; he’d brought students out for outdoor training and had come to buy a few cups of milk tea to bring back.
Thanks to the English department’s female teachers, Zhang Fan’s loyalty card at the tea shop had already climbed to gold-tier status, far outpacing everyone else’s spending. Lin Shuang had even set him up with a permanent 20% discount.
“Bringing milk tea for Teacher Xie again?”
“Bringing it for her office coworkers.”
Zhang Fan had persistently kept bringing Xie Xiaomeng milk tea — it wasn’t quite courting, more like staking a claim, leaving photos and impressions in her presence to make sure he stayed on her radar.
Xie Xiaomeng wasn’t difficult to get along with, but she was exceptionally hard to win over, and had kept things with Zhang Fan hovering at “more than friends, less than a couple” for a while now.
“Ever tried taking her out to dinner? Giving her gifts? Checking in on her morning, noon, and night?”
“Doesn’t work. She won’t accept it.”
Zhang Fan, rare for him, showed a hint of frustration: “There’s a saying at school — a female teacher’s dating floor is a male teacher, and a male teacher’s dating ceiling is a female teacher. I’m just a poor PE teacher, so it’s only natural she doesn’t think much of me.”
Female teachers had solid jobs and income, so their dating pool could stretch upward — meaning they could look down on male teachers in the same profession — while male teachers, limited by income and career prospects, generally had to look downward for their own dating pool.
Hearing Zhang Fan’s explanation, Lin Shuang nodded sympathetically. “So this ‘ceiling’ of yours, Teacher Zhang… really is a tough one.”
“Sigh, the union chair trying to matchmake us has already changed a few times over, and I’m still stuck exactly where I started.” Zhang Fan looked gloomy.
“Does your teachers’ union really get involved in teachers’ marriage prospects too?”
“Of course they do — being single is considered one of the causes of job instability, and union chairs love playing matchmaker.”
Zhang Fan leaned against the counter, sighing. “This year the education union’s even arranged a mixer, next week actually — some kind of evening event, social dancing and all. School leadership even set up a WeChat group, reminding all the young teachers to actively participate in the holiday spirit.”
Lin Shuang couldn’t help it — she burst into a fit of giggles. So it wasn’t just her aunt — this whole matchmaking thing was trending across every industry, and even the school couldn’t escape it.
“So you’ll have to go, then.” Lin Shuang laughed. “Oh right, and Teacher Zhou too.”
She laughed so brilliantly that Zhang Fan was happy to keep chatting. “If Teacher Xie goes, I’ll tag along too. Zhou Zheng’s not going though — he and his ex-girlfriend actually got together through one of these school union mixers. They dated for half a year before breaking up, and ever since, Zhou Zheng’s refused to go to these kinds of events.”
“Is that so?” Lin Shuang perked up with gossip interest. “Teacher Zhou got dumped — must’ve been rough on him.”
Zhang Fan laughed, half amused. “Actually, it was Zhou Zheng who brought up the breakup. His ex-girlfriend — we all know her, she’s a friend of Xie Xiaomeng’s, Teacher Lan from Yucai Elementary. Pretty gentle-looking woman.”
Lin Shuang raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying he broke through his own ‘ceiling’?”
“Right, and because of it, Xie Xiaomeng still hasn’t quite made peace with Zhou Zheng to this day.” Zhang Fan scratched his chin. “None of us could figure it out — Teacher Lan’s got a Level 8 piano certification, sings and dances well, is gentle and considerate, and Zhou Zheng still dumped her.”
“Why, though?” Lin Shuang asked, surprised.
“Who knows.” Zhang Fan blinked. “Don’t let Zhou Zheng’s serious face fool you — he’s actually got a bit of a hidden streak. He’s into the long-legged, striking-looking type of girl — that delicate, clingy little-bird type Teacher Lan is just isn’t his thing.”
That wasn’t just idle talk either — Zhang Fan had shared a room with Zhou Zheng for two years, and sometimes when colleagues gathered and chatted about female celebrities and beauties, Zhou Zheng’s preferences always leaned toward that particular look — long legs, a good figure, graceful from behind, a charming smile.
Lin Shuang shook her head, smiling. “I thought Teacher Zhou was more the substance-over-looks type.”
Understandable — nine out of ten men were shallow and drawn to looks, and she herself valued looks too. But somehow, equating Zhou Zheng with “shallow and drawn to looks” left Lin Shuang with a faint, subtle sense of discomfort.
Once the gossip session was over, Zhang Fan waved goodbye and headed out with his milk tea.
Stepping out of the shop, he suddenly recalled what he’d just said and glanced back — huh, wasn’t the boss exactly the type Zhou Zheng liked?
Mulling it over further, Zhou Zheng really did seem a bit different lately…
Around lunchtime, Lin Shuang’s phone buzzed — a message from the “substance-over-looks” Teacher Zhou.
[Cafeteria for lunch today?]
Scrolling up the chat, the two of them had only ever exchanged a handful of repetitive lines, like coworkers whose whole relationship was built on lunch logistics.
[Cafeteria for lunch today?]
[Sure.]
[Cafeteria at noon?]
[No need this week, thanks.]
Lin Shuang, with no date planned with her new boyfriend today, thought it over and replied.
[Sure, thanks.]
A moment later, a reply came back.
[I have back-to-back classes this morning. I’ll bring it over a bit later.]
At noon, the tea shop had people constantly coming and going. The grayish-blue insulated lunch box had appeared on one side of the counter without anyone noticing; only when Nana was clearing the table during a lull did she spot it: “Boss, your lunch is here.”
The sides of the lunch box were still faintly warm. Lin Shuang glanced at the dishes — green, red, and yellow, the color combination looking pretty appetizing.
Zhou Zheng didn’t bring lunches over that often, actually — she could count the times on one hand — but Lin Shuang had already noticed the cafeteria chef’s skills were inconsistent, the flavor never quite steady.
The education union’s mixer was scheduled for Friday evening. Lin Shuang overheard several young female teachers chatting away in the tea shop, discussing makeup and outfits, planning to buy suitable clothes and shoes ahead of time.
Xie Xiaomeng refused to go, but Zhang Fan had been ordered by school leadership to attend without exception — as the school’s cultural and sports affairs officer, and given his lively personality, he was exactly the type meant to keep the party going. Lin Shuang asked him, “What about Teacher Zhou, then? Would the school really let him off the hook? He’s the young teacher representative, after all.”
“He volunteered to cover another teacher’s evening study session, staying at school to make his ‘contribution.'” Zhang Fan had, for once, ditched his athletic wear, slicked his hair back, and put on a white dress shirt, muttering to Lin Shuang, “If we’re talking about pulling clever moves, Zhou Zheng’s the slickest of us all — gets to earn a favor and get what he actually wants, all in one go.”
The weather turned bad that day — a light autumn rain drizzled down in the afternoon, and the temperature dropped without anyone noticing. That evening, Lin Shuang had a date — Guo Yuan brought a group of his buddies to show support at her tea shop. A dozen or so young men filed into the tea shop one by one, half of them soldiers from the armed forces department, half government employees, every single one of them radiating presence.
Lin Shuang, greeted by wave after wave of “sister-in-law,” beamed with a smile as if she really were some glorious military spouse, red flower pinned proudly to her chest. Guo Yuan, arm around her, went around introducing her to everyone, exactly like greeting guests at a wedding banquet.
Men generally weren’t fond of sweet drinks, so Lin Shuang dug out some tea bags and brewed two buckets of tea, then went to the small supermarket next door to buy several big bags of beer-nuts peanuts, treating it like an informal tea party. She served as the tea attendant, leaning against the counter with a smile, listening to the men chatter away.
The room was packed full, the atmosphere thoroughly imposing. The men’s conversation drifted from military affairs to global political unrest, the war in Iraq and the situation in Afghanistan, then moved on to reshuffles in the city committee and the statistics bureau’s new figures for the year. The more they talked, the livelier they got. A customer who came by to buy milk tea paused at the door, took one look at the scene inside without even stepping in, and turned around to flee.
Lin Shuang had brewed tea several times already, and when the first person lit up a cigarette, the corner of her mouth twitched, her expression darkening just barely.
She smoked too, but that didn’t mean she didn’t mind other people smoking indoors.
Outside, a fine drizzle fell steadily, mist beading on the glass windows and slowly gathering into winding streaks of water, refracting the streetlight’s glow, the street scene outside distorted and blurry. She turned her head and quietly zoned out.
The shop door suddenly creaked open with force, a gust of cold air rushing in as someone shoved the door hard, standing squarely in the doorway, brows furrowed, gaze sweeping heavily over the crowd.
Every eye in the shop turned toward him.
Lin Shuang, sitting in the corner of the counter, was a bit farther away, but she could still make out the faint mist of rain clinging to his short hair. He wore a slightly worn khaki stand-collar jacket, its silhouette sharp and well-defined, a white T-shirt underneath, black work trousers with crisp, straight creases, and plain lace-up canvas shoes on his feet.
His sense of style seemed to keep improving — every outfit better than that blue shirt from the blind date. That’s what Lin Shuang thought to herself.
She got up from her seat and walked toward him.
Zhou Zheng’s gaze settled on her, and he seemed to let out a breath of relief, taking a step back as if about to turn and leave.
“Teacher Zhou.” Lin Shuang quickened her steps, reached back and shut the tea shop door behind her, sealing the whole room’s worth of smoke inside, and stood with Zhou Zheng under the eaves.
“Is everything alright…?” His tone carried some hesitation as he gestured slightly toward the inside. “I was passing by, saw a lot of men sitting in there… thought something might be wrong.”
“It’s fine, they’re all friends, just came by to hang out at the shop.” Her gaze was soft as she smiled at him. “Thanks for checking, though.”
Zhou Zheng lowered his head, a little embarrassed. “That’s good, then.”
“Zhang Fan told me the education bureau has an event tonight, and yet Teacher Zhou’s still lurking around school — a bit too dedicated to the job, isn’t it?”
“I have evening study tonight, can’t get away.”
“Aren’t you going to go?” She looked at him with a smile. “You should check it out — you might meet some new people.”
“Not going.” He answered her, his gaze fixed on the misty drizzle before them.
“Actually… all those things people put out in the open, all the conditions people can list out loud, they’re really just there to make up for the regret of ‘this isn’t the right person.'” She gazed too at the rain falling in front of her, cool and quiet, landing silently against her skin. “The person who’s really right for you never bothers counting those things. It’s a bit hard, sure, but I think… if you keep trying, you’ll run into them eventually.”
He tilted his head to glance at her, then turned his gaze back, settling on the dark shadowed trees in the distance, the brightly lit school, its rows of glowing little windows.
“I already know — that’s not somewhere I’ll find that person.”
He turned to leave. “The rain’s getting heavier. Go back inside, don’t get soaked.”