Side CP Extra
Teacher Bai, don’t be scared.
It wasn’t just today or yesterday that Bai Mao realized Hua Luo was slow on the uptake. She still remembered when they were chatting online back in the day; she had secretly hinted that she had social anxiety1 and didn’t really like meeting people. But Hua Luo, being naturally friendly and dense, didn’t notice at all. She even sent her a plan to meet up—though, of course, it was just for a meal.
However, given her personality, forget a meal, she couldn’t even manage a simple meeting. So, she had shamefully fled.
Thinking about it carefully, Hua Luo’s denseness was truly ten years like one day2, like right now, for instance.
Bai Mao turned her head to look at her. At first, her kindness toward Hua Luo was probably partly to pay a debt. She felt a sense of guilt for having made Hua Luo sad in the past. So that time she saw Hua Luo arguing with Yu Wen, she couldn’t resist helping her. From there, they became familiar, and she slowly came to understand what kind of person she was.
Of course, they had also talked about that apprentice of hers whom she had never met. Bai Mao had even hinted that it was someone familiar, stopping just short of telling her directly, “It’s someone we know.” Hua Luo remained completely oblivious.
Later, she discovered that this dense personality of Hua Luo’s was actually exceptionally comfortable to be around. She wasn’t overly sensitive, so you didn’t have to overthink the other person’s feelings with every word you said. You didn’t have to be restrained in conversation. Hua Luo was very frank and direct. If she liked something, she said so; if she disliked something, she didn’t hide it. When they first met, she hated Tang Yingxia and Yu Wen, and would even curse them a couple of times when she thought of them during their voice chats, which was truly amusing.
Now when they were on calls, she mentioned others less. More often, she would tell her how to raise a cat, covering every single detail, just like when she wrote her novels—incredibly earnest.
And incredibly cute.
Bai Mao collected her thoughts, realizing she was staring at Hua Luo more and more often. It was probably because she was too cute. Cute things always attract attention.
Hua Luo swayed her head as she walked. “Teacher Bai, you’re not angry anymore, are you?”
Bai Mao glanced at her. “I’m not angry.”
Hua Luo smiled. “Good that you’re not angry. How about I treat you to lunch?”
Didn’t we just finish breakfast? Why is she already thinking about lunch? Bai Mao said, “Let’s eat at home.”
“Then I…” can’t cook. Then she remembered that Bai Mao could cook, and she had never tried her food, so she changed her tune. “Then will Teacher Bai cook? I can be your assistant!”
Bai Mao smiled. “Sure.”
Hua Luo turned her head to the side, then forward, then to the side again. Bai Mao was puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
Hua Luo said, “Teacher Bai, you look really pretty when you smile.”
Bai Mao didn’t say anything.
Hua Luo thought back to when she first met Bai Mao. She had thought she was a cold-faced tiger3, just like Jin Shuilan. But after getting to know her, she realized their personalities were nothing alike. Jin Shuilan was quite a black-bellied4 person. Especially after finding out everything she had done to Lu Zhenqiu, even someone as dense as her could see through Jin Shuilan’s schemes. But Bai Mao was different.
She used a cold expression to disguise herself, but she was actually very kind-hearted and a real softie. She just spoke too little.
Hua Luo talked all the way home. After entering the house, she took a picture of the kitten and sent it to the group chat.
【Everyone’s up, right? Look at this cat, isn’t it cute?】
The photo showed a kitten pawing at a door, its paw stretched forward as it stood up slightly.
Xiao Yu: 【Yo, you made it to Teacher Bai’s place?】
Hua Luo: 【I’m here, I’m here! Oh my god, let me tell you, it’s my absolute dream house! The layout is just incredible, exactly like what I’ve dreamed of!】
Xiao Yu: 【What’s it like?】
Hua Luo: 【Let me ask her if I can take a picture for you.】
Hua Luo then turned her head and asked Bai Mao, who said, “Do as you please.”
Hua Luo was delighted. She took pictures of the glass room and the bookshelf.
Xiao Yu was amazed: 【It really is beautiful.】
Hua Luo: 【Right? Right? The design is so clever, I absolutely love it!】
Hua Luo: 【Let me tell you a secret, she even has one of those massage bathtubs. Said she bought it with Teacher Jin.】
The last emoji was a tilde, her thoughts already drifting.
Xiao Yu: 【You like it?】
Hua Luo: 【I love it!】
Xiao Yu: 【Go for it and win Teacher Bai over. Then everything will be yours!】
Hua Luo: 【…】
Hua Luo: 【As if she would ever be interested in me.】
Bai Mao watched her smiling as she typed on her phone and asked curiously, “What are you chatting about?”
“Oh, it’s Xiao Yu.” Hua Luo said, “I was telling her your house is amazing and that I love it. She told me to pursue you.”
Bai Mao suddenly choked. She coughed, a faint blush on her cheeks. Before she could speak, Hua Luo added, “She was simply indulging in whimsical thoughts that opened the heavens5. How could you possibly be interested in me, Teacher Bai? Right!”
It was that “right” again.
Why couldn’t I be!
Bai Mao subconsciously wanted to retort, but just as the words reached her lips, Hua Luo leaned in. “What’s wrong with you?”
A face suddenly magnified. Bai Mao held her breath, staring at her. When Hua Luo smiled, there was a faint dimple by her mouth, only visible up close. Bai Mao stared at her little dimple. “Teacher Bai?”
“Hm?”
Bai Mao snapped back to reality.
Hua Luo stood before her, holding the kitten. “Did I scare you?”
Bai Mao was confused. “What scared me?”
“What I just said.” Hua Luo said, “Don’t worry, Teacher Bai, you will always be an inviolable goddess in my heart! I wouldn’t dare have any improper thoughts!”
After saying that, she added considerately, “Don’t be scared.”
Bai Mao: …
She kind of wished she was.
Having comforted Bai Mao, Hua Luo went off to play with the little kitten, leaving only her back in view. Bai Mao looked at the reflection in the glass room and sighed softly. She sat down at the desk and opened the outline she needed to revise.
No matter how she tried, she couldn’t focus or make any changes. She simply got up and went to the kitchen.
Her kitchen was quite large. Because she didn’t go out, she would periodically stock up on frozen foods. She had two freezers and a large refrigerator. The top shelf of the fridge was filled with drinks and all kinds of milk, while the bottom shelf held fresh ingredients. Groceries were bought every two days via delivery, brought right to her door. Unless she was throwing out the trash, she never went outside.
The sound of Hua Luo’s laughter and movement occasionally drifted in from the living room. Bai Mao looked up. In the beginning, she wasn’t used to it. She was different from Jin Shuilan; her relationship with her family was average. Especially after her mother passed away two years ago, she hadn’t been back home. Her father had initially tried to manage her, but after a few arguments, he gave up on her completely.
Now, she was only relatively close with Jin Shuilan and Ji Zibo. Once, when Jin Shuilan joked about a will, she had actually considered what to put in hers. She figured she would probably donate all her belongings to the Red Cross6 or to impoverished regions. After all, with her personality, she never expected to find a partner and live a normal life.
Ji Zibo had said, “Thinking about this so early? Maybe you’ll meet someone you love enough to die and come back to life for7 in the future?”
Jin Shuilan had laughed at her. “Even if she were madly in love, she wouldn’t be able to say it.”
She really knew her well!
The moment she realized she had some ambiguous feelings for the single-minded Hua Luo, things had spiraled out of control. She had never stayed up late on a call with someone before, but when Hua Luo said she was stuck on a plot point, she stayed up with her to brainstorm. She was a person with an extreme sense of boundaries, keeping things very clear—friends were friends, and there was a line. But Hua Luo had recklessly shattered her boundaries, and by the time she realized it, their friendship seemed to have already transformed.
And Jin Shuilan had been right.
She couldn’t say it.
Every time she wanted to bring up the topic, Hua Luo would always blurt out something strange, and with the interruption, she still hadn’t managed to say it.
Hua Luo turned her head and saw Bai Mao standing in the kitchen, not doing anything, just spacing out. Curious, she walked over and called out, “Teacher Bai!”
Bai Mao looked up and met Hua Luo’s eyes for two seconds. Hua Luo asked, “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing.” Bai Mao asked her, “What do you want to eat for lunch?”
As she spoke, she walked to the freezer, which was comparable to one in a supermarket. It was filled with frozen foods, arranged neatly on four shelves. Hua Luo knew she had another freezer filled with popsicles and ice cream. Even the kitchen was the kitchen of her dreams. She was a lost cause.
Hua Luo said, “What can Teacher Bai make?”
Bai Mao smiled. “With the ingredients here, I can make anything.”
When she had nothing to do, she loved to mess around in the kitchen, so she knew how to cook quite a few dishes. Hua Luo said, “How about roasted chicken?”
Bai Mao nodded. “Okay.”
She took out a frozen chicken and placed it on the counter to thaw. She said to Hua Luo, “Someone will be delivering groceries later, can you get it for me?”
Hua Luo accepted without hesitation. “OK! No problem!”
She then stood in front of Bai Mao. “Is there anything else you need me to do, Teacher Bai?”
Her face broke into a wide smile, the little dimple becoming obvious. Bai Mao couldn’t help but look a second longer before saying, “That’s all.”
Hua Luo nodded and obediently took two steps back. The little kitten wobbled over to her and was picked up. The two of them, one person and one cat, watched the busy figure in the kitchen.
Bai Mao would occasionally glance back and see Hua Luo’s hands pause for a moment before she slowly resumed her work.
The vegetables arrived at ten-thirty. Hua Luo opened the door and even chatted a bit with the delivery guy. Bai Mao could hear her voice from the kitchen.
She really could talk to anyone. A personality like that should make it easy to find a partner, yet she found it difficult. Hua Luo had told her, “Actually, I’ve met some pretty compatible people on blind dates.”
She had asked, “Then why did you stop contacting them?”
Hua Luo had said, “I don’t know. We’d be chatting, and then it would just stop.”
She: …
Before she could think more on it, Hua Luo walked into the kitchen with the vegetables. “Let me help you prepare the vegetables.”
Bai Mao nodded. “Then you…”
Before she could finish, Hua Luo’s phone rang. She said, “I have to take this call!”
It was from her mother.
As Hua Luo listened, her brow furrowed. “When? This afternoon? Five-thirty? Where? A company executive again?”
She had a miserable look on her face.
It was rare for her to show such an expression; usually, she was all smiles. Bai Mao watched her for a moment longer, hearing her say, “Alright, I know. I just have to be there before five, right? I know, I know, I’ll wear something nice.”
Wear something nice? Before five, a restaurant, a company executive.
Bai Mao’s busy movements slowed. Hua Luo hung up the phone, placed it on the table, and grumbled unhappily, “She’s setting me up with people every day.”
“Your mother?” Bai Mao asked. Hua Luo said, “Yeah. Another company executive. You have no idea, the last one was so cold I didn’t even dare say more than a few words.”
There are times you don’t dare to speak?
Bai Mao’s expression darkened slightly. She lowered her head and continued her work. As Hua Luo prepared the vegetables, she heard Bai Mao call her name after she finished speaking. “Hua Luo.”
Hua Luo looked up at Bai Mao. Perhaps because she stayed home every day, Bai Mao’s skin was a shade lighter than the average person’s. She looked slightly different today, wearing light makeup that subtly defined the corners of her bright, clear eyes. Bai Mao wasn’t the type to be stunning at first glance, but she was easy on the eyes. The more you looked, the more comfortable and beautiful she became. As expected of her goddess, simply gorgeous!
Hua Luo stared for several seconds before snapping back. “What is it, Teacher Bai?”
Bai Mao lowered her head to hide her unnatural expression, her voice a little muffled. She said, “How about… I go with you this afternoon?”
The author has something to say:
Hua Luo: Strange, I sent a message to the group chat after eight, why didn’t Qiuqiu reply to me?
Lu Zhenqiu: …
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