The feeling of this kiss was like… a body numbed with cold slowly immersed in warm water — at first no reaction at all, but gradually, after a while, a faint prickling sensation, a slow unfurling of feeling, gradually sensing the flow of blood and the warmth of the body, hearing the sound of a heartbeat clearly, thump, thump, thump.

That was Zhou Zheng’s heartbeat.

She pressed against his body, stretching lazily in his arms.

The test papers still weren’t finished grading; Zhou Zheng still had the pen between his fingers when Lin Shuang got up from his embrace: “I’ll go shower first.”

“Okay.” His voice too carried a faint, tingling huskiness.

She went to the bathroom for a cigarette, and caught an unintended glimpse of herself in the mirror — flushed and damp, an unmistakable air of restrained desire about her. She touched a finger to her lips and smiled at her own reflection.

When she came out of the shower, Zhou Zheng was focused on entering test scores into the computer; she sat on the bed applying a face mask and body lotion. The sounds of their breathing, the keyboard and the rustle of papers, the light tap of fingers against skin all wove together, carrying a proper yet suggestive feeling, unlike anything from before.

By the time Zhou Zheng finished up and tidied everything away, it really was late. The main light in the room was off; in the corner, a small diffuser with a night-light glowed softly, filling the whole room with a sweet, gentle fragrance.

Lin Shuang had waited so long that the earlier mood had long since passed; drowsy and languid, all she wanted was to nestle against his warm body and sleep.

Zhou Zheng came out in his pajamas, and the two of them lay quietly in bed. After a while, he stroked her silk-like long hair and leaned in close: “Shuangshuang.”

“Mm?” Lin Shuang kept her eyes closed, feigning sleep.

Zhou Zheng’s fingers stroked her hair again and again, his lips drawing close, brushing light, intermittent kisses against her earlobe, coaxing her tenderly, wordlessly.

Usually it was Lin Shuang who took the initiative to tease him first, and he would go along half-reluctantly, and things would naturally follow their course.

He hesitated, unable to get the words out.

Lin Shuang opened her eyes to peek at him, her fingertip tapping his chest: “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Zheng’s eyelids drooped; his pajama top was buttoned properly, only the topmost button loose, revealing a hint of collarbone, carrying a certain restrained quality. One hand traced down along her bare shoulder, coming to rest at the curve of her waist, his fingertips stroking lightly.

She caught his hand, raising an eyebrow: “What do you want?”

He didn’t answer, his expression reserved and proper, yet touched with a hint of bashfulness, leaning down to kiss her lips.

“If you’re asking for something, show a bit of sincerity.” She tugged at his collar, pulling back, smiling. “I’m about to go to sleep — say something for me to hear.”

Honestly, on this particular front, she was rather looking forward to Zhou Zheng putting on a different, more shameless face, saying something bold enough to make her blush and get her worked up.

“Say what?” he asked.

She was giving him a chance — anything that could please her in bed would do.

“I love you.”

“I’m not interested in that sappy stuff.” She teased him. “Say something else — seduce me a little.”

He pressed his lips together, thinking it over. “What do you want to hear — give me a range, an example?”

Lin Shuang explained, somewhat reservedly: “Keep the language passionate and bold, give it detailed, vivid description, mix in some exaggerated metaphors — I want it to get the blood racing.”

These days, information sources came in all shapes and forms, and Zhou Zheng had absorbed his fair share of unofficial education; his ears burned, and he mumbled vaguely: “What you want to hear — I can’t put it into words.”

Lin Shuang put on an air of indifference, her allure at its peak, breathtaking; his warm palm stroked her delicate brow, and he leaned in to whisper against her ear: “Shuangshuang… less talk, more action — maybe there’s a lot I can actually do.”

His words trailed off, suggestive: “Give me a chance — let me try this time?”

A man who’d lost his inexperience really was different — he was starting to learn a bit of strategy now, knowing just how to seize on her weak points.

“You rascal, no sense of romance.” The corner of her mouth curved up despite herself, and she stretched her body out languidly.

If Zhou Zheng wanted to try, then all she had to do was sit back and enjoy it — why not?

Lin Shuang felt like a blank sheet of paper, folded carefully and patiently in his hands, again and again, slowly and meticulously, until at last it became a little paper boat, drifting along with the current.

Even the strands of her hair seemed to carry a sweet fragrance; she closed her eyes and asked him breathlessly, “Is this how top students do it?”

“Hm?”

“Not enough to be naturally gifted — sneaking off to cram school too, then turning around all innocent, saying, oh, nothing much, just studied a little on the side.”

Zhou Zheng was made to laugh, and rubbed her sweat-damp hair.

“Did you really go to cram school on the side?”

He rubbed his nose. “A lot of theoretical knowledge can be applied by analogy, one thing leading to another — thinking it through and summarizing matters a lot too…”

Lin Shuang couldn’t help rolling her eyes, pulling the covers up to bury her head.

After her wedding, Miao Cai had tried several times to set up a meal with Lin Shuang, without success. Lin Shuang was unavailable every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and Miao Cai spent her weekends with her husband — the meal got put off for a whole month before they finally managed to meet up.

“Have you been to the beauty salon lately?”

“No, I only go once in a while.”

“You look great.” Miao Cai got straight to the point. “I’ve noticed you’ve been online less on games lately — is the relationship going really well?”

“Not bad.” Lin Shuang really had been glowing lately, radiant enough to catch anyone’s eye.

“You two see each other every day, and go out on dates on top of that every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday — what do you even do?”

“Nothing much, just the usual amount of time — eating out, hiking, playing ball, staying in to watch movies.”

Miao Cai suddenly smiled. “Want to bring him out sometime for us to meet? Or go out together, do a double date or something?”

“Nah.” Lin Shuang shook her head. “No need for that.”

“Shuangshuang, have you really never thought about settling down?” Miao Cai asked her. “Honestly, Teacher Zhou’s pretty good — well suited for marriage, for settling into a life together.”

Lin Shuang, eating, smiled faintly. “Wouldn’t marriage be too much trouble? What if I get sick of it right after the wedding — wouldn’t the cost of divorce be too high?”

Miao Cai sighed too. “There’s nothing wrong with thinking that way, but haven’t you ever had even a small flicker of a thought — telling yourself that actually, sticking with this person for the long run wouldn’t be so bad?”

“No, I’m a hedonist.” Lin Shuang answered earnestly. “Equal give and take — I enjoy him, he enjoys me, there’s no hidden contractual relationship underlying it.”

After that meal, Miao Cai invited her to go shopping together over the weekend, and Lin Shuang declined with a smile: “I’ve got a date this week.”

As she stayed over at Zhou Zheng’s more and more often, and started adding clothes to his closet, she took the opportunity to throw out a few of his old, worn-out clothes as well; with the weather warming, she went out with him to buy a few new pieces.

Zhou Zheng didn’t demand much of his personal quality of life — good enough was good enough for him. Lin Shuang came to realize his whole state of being was essentially “good enough will do” — his material needs were very low.

Generally speaking, people with low material needs either lacked an inner life, or pursued a purer, more refined inner life… Lin Shuang wasn’t much good at math, and found it hard to sum up just what drove Zhou Zheng’s needs.

“You really want to come shopping with me for clothes?” Zhou Zheng glanced at her. “I can just order a couple things online.”

“If you’ve got time to browse web pages, might as well go out and take a look.” Lin Shuang raised an eyebrow. “While I’m in the mood, I can go with you.”

“All right, then.” Zhou Zheng scratched his cheek, an oddly hard-to-describe look on his face.

In the end, Zhou Zheng took Lin Shuang to a plain, unassuming clothing supermarket. Looking at the rows of shelves inside, Lin Shuang frowned, almost imperceptibly.

This kind of no-frills clothing supermarket was common in small and mid-sized cities, focused on being sturdy and durable, carrying both men’s and women’s clothing without age distinction — from coats down to socks, covering every clothing need across all four seasons. Naturally, the styles and fashion sense left much to be desired.

“I come here occasionally.” Zhou Zheng pressed his lips together. “The clerks at those menswear boutiques outside are a bit much for me to handle — here no one bothers you…”

“Mm.” Lin Shuang didn’t say much more, pointing to a nearby chair, her voice flat. “Sit down, I’ll pick for you.”

She’d been involved with plenty of flashy, high-flying men before, men who were either aloof or red-hot in demand — put another way, picking men was a bit like unwrapping presents: some things were wrapped up so beautifully, and once you peeled away layer after layer of gorgeous wrapping paper, what you found at the core wasn’t even as nice as the paper itself.

She spent a long time going through the racks piece by piece, patiently sorting, and finally pulled out two decent-enough items, had Zhou Zheng try them on, and brought them to the counter to pay.

On the way back, Lin Shuang stayed quiet the whole time, head down, scrolling on her phone. Zhou Zheng, sensing her mood seemed a bit low, kept glancing over at her, looking again and again, his expression growing a little tense and anxious.

Lin Shuang kept scrolling on her phone the entire evening, even somewhat distracted in bed, absentmindedly stroking his shoulders, back, waist, legs. Zhou Zheng’s movements turned urgent and rushed; belatedly she came to and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Did I disappoint you?” He propped himself over her, hot sweat dripping onto her cheek. “You’d never been to a place like that before, had you?”

“Am I really that lacking…” He pressed against her, his eyes flushed, murmuring low. “I really don’t deserve you… do I? Shuangshuang.”

Her heart gave a small tremor; she pulled him close, murmuring softly against him: “If you really didn’t deserve me, then whose bed would I be lying in right now, whose arms would be around me?”

He gave off a pitiful, wounded air, and Lin Shuang took the initiative to comfort him: “You’re amazing — you teach so well, you cook so well, you handle everything so thoughtfully, and you’re incredible in bed too. I really like it.”

“I don’t care what you wear.” She kissed him, clingy and affectionate. “Zhou Zheng, you look good in anything — you look best in nothing at all…”

He kissed her urgently, his movements turning quick and fervent, swallowing her words between their lips and tongues.

A few days later, packages arrived at the apartment; Zhou Zheng watched her unpack piece after piece of men’s clothing, stunned: “All this — you bought all this for me?”

“A girlfriend’s duty — buying clothes for your own boyfriend.”

Lin Shuang smiled brightly and kissed him. “Don’t get too touched — I’m just borrowing flowers to offer the Buddha. It’s all your money anyway.”

“Thank you.” His expression showed real emotion, and he touched the new clothes in his hands.

Lin Shuang pinched his chin, teasing him playfully: “Remember this — the clothes I bought you, only I get to take off.”

The students in his class noticed that this semester, Teacher Zhou had quietly changed.

His temper had grown ever more mild, his smiles more frequent, and lately even his fashion sense had leveled up — fresh, like a little green bamboo shoot in spring.

“Has anyone noticed Teacher Zhou’s gotten cuter and cuter? Serious in class, adorably awkward solving problems, even his looks have gone up a few notches.”

“No doubt about it, Bro Zheng’s definitely in love.”

“Does anyone know who the teacher’s wife is?”

“Shh… I overheard the teachers gossiping, they said Bro Zheng’s girlfriend… is quite the formidable figure…”

“Who is it?”

“The boss lady from the milk tea shop outside — the pretty one people are always secretly photographing and posting about on the school forum.”

“No way, no way, no waaaay!” someone crowed like a rooster. “Is this for real?”

“The stunning boss lady and our model teacher Bro Zheng — is this pairing insane or what?!!!!”

The last one to find out about this was Lanting.

Elementary schools had a long winter break, and she’d spent her Spring Festival holiday accompanying an elder in her family to a coastal wellness retreat. By the time she got back, the new semester was already close at hand, and once she’d finished sorting out school matters, she thought of Lin Shuang’s milk tea shop and decided to go pay a visit.

Xie Xiaomeng strongly objected, trying repeatedly to stop her: “There are milk tea shops everywhere — why does it have to be that one?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Miss Lin too — stopping by to say hello would be nice.”

“Don’t think I don’t know what’s on your mind.” Xie Xiaomeng tried to talk her out of it. “Lanting, there’s really no need. You should keep some distance from Lin Shuang too — don’t get too close to her.”

“Why?” Lanting tilted her head to look at her friend. “Xiaomeng, you seem to… always have some hostility toward Lin Shuang.”

Xie Xiaomeng said seriously: “I don’t. I’m just being objective about it.”

“Then what exactly happened, to make you feel this way? I think Lin Shuang’s great — not just pretty, she’s funny to talk to, and her personality’s good too.”

Lanting brought it up several more times, and eventually Xie Xiaomeng couldn’t hide it any longer and finally leveled with her.

“Zhou Zheng and Lin Shuang are together.”

“What do you mean?” Lanting froze. “Together…”

“Exactly that — they’re together, dating.”

Lanting felt stunned, taken aback: “How could that be… it’s not possible…”

The pairing felt so mismatched, with not the slightest sign of it beforehand — just last year she and Lin Shuang had even talked about her history with Zhou Zheng, and at the time Lin Shuang’s attitude had been utterly indifferent, giving away nothing at all. The two of them were like a fish and a bird, having nothing to do with each other — and yet somehow they’d genuinely ended up crossing paths.

“Probably happened around the New Year. By the time school started back up, it was already all over the school — everyone knows, and they’ve both admitted it too.” Xie Xiaomeng studied Lanting’s expression and took her hand. “Zhou Zheng’s over there every single day — don’t be foolish and go over there anymore…”

“If it’s true, then we should congratulate them — that’s good news.” Lanting’s face carried a faint smile. “Really, that’s wonderful. I should say congratulations.”

“Stop thinking about Zhou Zheng. Let it go, sooner rather than later,” Xie Xiaomeng said flatly.

“Lanting, I know — you probably thought that… after he broke up with you, he never moved on to another relationship, because deep down he still held onto something, out of some sense of principle. So you kept holding onto him too… but now, look…”

Lanting’s eyes reddened; she bit her lip and forced a smile: “No, I just haven’t found the right person myself. It has nothing to do with him…”

Even so, Lanting never brought up the subject again, and sank into a rather long stretch of low spirits.

Seeing Lanting like this, Xie Xiaomeng didn’t feel good about it either, and going back to school to see Zhou Zheng again, she genuinely felt a weight of resentment in her chest.

She’d always been proud and strong-willed, and had always felt Lanting was more than a match for Zhou Zheng — but in the end, it was Zhou Zheng who’d asked for the breakup, and it was Lanting who’d suffered ever since. And now, turning around, Zhou Zheng had gone and groveled his way into pursuing Lin Shuang — and of all people, Lanting genuinely liked Lin Shuang too.

Out of all of this, it was Lanting who’d been hurt the most.

That morning, Zhou Zheng had gone to school early for class, and Lin Shuang, having slept in, was leaving Zhou Zheng’s place for the milk tea shop when she happened to run into Xie Xiaomeng, who’d just finished class, near the school.

The two of them walked toward each other; they spotted one another from a distance, their expressions showing little change, exchanging a nod in greeting.

The two of them weren’t particularly close in private — this semester, Xie Xiaomeng hadn’t set foot in the milk tea shop even once, and their greeting carried a distinctly cool edge.

Xie Xiaomeng could more or less guess that Lin Shuang was coming from Zhou Zheng’s place, and felt a flicker of contempt deep down.

Having spent so long as a teacher, so used to moralizing, it was easy to start defining and judging things by one’s own standards, developing a kind of moral fastidiousness.

As they passed each other, Xie Xiaomeng stopped in her tracks and said flatly: “I heard you and Zhou Zheng are together.”

There’d been no form of address in the greeting, and Lin Shuang felt a flicker of displeasure deep down, but said with a smile: “Been together a while now — Teacher Xie’s quite well-informed.”

“Do you think you and Zhou Zheng will make it to the end?” Xie Xiaomeng asked her. “My guess is, there won’t be any real outcome for you two.”

Lin Shuang raised an eyebrow, stopping in her tracks, arms crossed: “What is Teacher Xie trying to say?”

Xie Xiaomeng looked her up and down: “Your clothes, your shoes — none of it’s cheap, is it. This bag — retails for fifty thousand at the counter.” She stated it flatly, as fact. “You know as well as I do — Zhou Zheng can’t afford to keep you.”

“So what if he can’t?” Lin Shuang said with a smile. “Who says two people absolutely have to make it to the end?”

“If it’s not going to last, then why hurt him this way?” Xie Xiaomeng’s tone stayed level. “I don’t understand — for someone like you, finding a man to eat, drink, and have fun with would be effortless. Why did it have to be Zhou Zheng? Have you ever considered that in the end, he’s the one who’ll get hurt?”

Lin Shuang gave a scoffing laugh: “Isn’t Teacher Xie being a bit too free with her opinions here? Do all teachers love to lecture people like this?”

Xie Xiaomeng nodded: “I know this isn’t right of me, meddling in other people’s business, unwelcome as it is. I just think a person should have some principles — if you’re destined never to end up together with someone, then you should never give them false hope and illusions to begin with.”

“And Teacher Xie stringing Zhang Fan along — isn’t that giving him false hope and illusions too?”

“That’s not what I intend.” Xie Xiaomeng’s expression darkened. “Things between us are complicated… he’s my friend. I turned down his feelings, but I can’t reject a friend.”

“Then I’d suggest Teacher Xie put Zhang Fan on the blacklist first, cut off his false hope and illusions, before coming to lecture others.” Lin Shuang’s expression stayed cheerfully mocking. “At the very least, get your own affairs sorted before managing other people’s.”

“Lanting’s been sick these past few days — I’m going to go check on her now.” Xie Xiaomeng lowered her eyes. “She and Zhou Zheng were each other’s first love… Lanting is genuinely so pure-hearted, she holds onto someone in her memory for a very long time. She likes you a great deal too, you know.”

“These past two years, she’s been quietly waiting for Zhou Zheng to come back to her — honestly, if Zhou Zheng had just tried a little harder, everything could have turned out differently. Lanting’s already done so much for him.” She let out a sigh. “There are things I can understand, but I’m still angry that Zhou Zheng never learned to cherish Lanting.”

Lin Shuang, furious, let out a mocking laugh: “Is Teacher Xie trying to guilt-trip me morally?”

“I’m not trying to guilt-trip you. If the two of you truly love each other with sincere hearts, then I wish you well, hope you become a devoted couple and see it through to a happy ending. But if you’re just playing around… then why bother — in the end you’ll walk away scot-free, and the two of them will be the ones left hurt.”

“We’re all adults here, and adults all have minds of their own — this is a decision both sides made together, no one deceived or coerced anyone, and everyone bears their own consequences.” Her tone turned cold. “I’d still suggest Teacher Xie manage her own affairs first.”

Having said her piece, Xie Xiaomeng turned and left, no point in further exchange.

Lin Shuang, thoroughly furious, spun on her heel and stormed off too.