Chapter 86: Teacher Si, please, just let me have Section Chief Jiang!

No matter what Li Xuan said, she subconsciously wanted to do the opposite.

The more she was told to go east, the more she insisted on going west.

Li Xuan was dizzy with anger from her, staggering two steps before steadying herself against the head of the bed.

"Give birth to it? Are you not going to take the university entrance exam anymore?"

"Besides, if you give birth to the child when the time comes, how will you ever marry again?"

Shen Yuan looked at her with sarcasm, "Didn't you give birth to us and then ignore us for over a dozen years? Haven't we grown up just fine?"

"As for university, what difference does it make whether one goes or not? You went to university, but aren't you expelled from the school now?"

It is said that the most hurtful words often come from those closest to us.

Tears slid from the corners of her eyes, and Li Xuan was left speechless in the face of these words from her own daughter.

Si Rong had a good memory, so she passed the first subject exam very smoothly.

The second subject had to be practiced at the driving school.

She had only just arrived when she saw another man with a slender build walk to her side.

His voice sounded inexplicably familiar, "Are you also scheduled to practice driving with Coach Feng?"

Si Rong nodded, "Yes."

"What a coincidence, me too."

The man took the initiative to reach out his hand, "Hello, Shen Qinghe."

"Si Rong."

The man was not very talkative and fell quiet after the greeting.

Soon Coach Feng arrived; he was a middle-aged man with a round face and a beard, very amiable.

He had only scheduled Si Rong and Shen Qinghe for this car.

After teaching the basic techniques for reversing into a parking space, the coach lay down in the passenger seat, letting Si Rong and Shen Qinghe practice while he offered comments from time to time.

But whether it was because of a poor sense of direction or something else, Si Rong drove forward just fine, but always had problems when reversing.

Every time, she either ran over the line or simply couldn't get the car in at all.

In contrast, Shen Qinghe practiced quite well.

The man seemed to be about the same age as her and looked very scholarly.

When she reversed incorrectly once again, he spoke up to comfort her, "You just need to observe the rearview mirror well; this time was better than the last!"

"Thank you."

When Si Rong reversed again, she observed the rearview mirror while doing so; although it was still crooked, it was indeed better than before.

The coach in the passenger seat, not knowing what he had done the night before, had already fallen asleep and started snoring.

Only the two of them were left taking turns practicing.

It was like this for two consecutive days, and Si Rong slowly became familiar with Shen Qinghe.

She learned that he worked in foreign trade and had even collaborated with her eldest brother in the past.

When practice was about to end that day, Shen Qinghe invited her to go eat together.

"I know a very delicious buffet; the signature steak they feature tastes very good."

Shen Qinghe spoke in a measured, unhurried way that made one feel as if they were bathed in a spring breeze.

Buffets had only just started to emerge in Huaiyang this year, and there was a saying specifically used to describe them.

"Walk in holding the wall, walk out holding the wall."

Actually, Si Rong felt that going to a buffet didn't seem like something a scholarly man like Shen Qinghe would do.

"I'm sorry, I've already prepared a meal at home."

Si Rong politely declined.

She was already an engaged woman, and it wasn't appropriate to eat alone with another man.

"Buffet? What buffet?"

Coach Feng in the passenger seat woke up immediately upon hearing about going to eat.

Si Rong and Shen Qinghe:...

"Are you inviting me to eat at a buffet?"

The coach was thick-skinned and, upholding the principle of eating on others' dime to save his own, he always loved to sponge off meals.

"Yes, I would like to invite you and Si Rong to go to a buffet together." Shen Qinghe didn't mind.

"Then, shall we go now?"

Coach Feng seemed to suddenly remember his duties at this moment, "You both practiced quite well this morning, but practicing driving is like reading books; read a book a hundred times and its meaning will reveal itself—you must practice more!"

That way he could sponge off more meals.

In any case, these two looked like people with plenty of money.

Si Rong was about to decline again when she saw a familiar jeep pull into the open space of the driving school.

During this time, Jiang Cheng would come to pick her up whenever he was free from the military.

"This is Coach Feng, and this is my fellow student Shen Qinghe," Si Rong introduced them, "This is my fiancé, Jiang Cheng."

"I've heard much about you."

Shen Qinghe shook hands with Jiang Cheng in a perfunctory manner.

Coach Feng immediately began to flatter them, "Si Rong, your fiancé is truly a man of talent! When are you getting married? I must go drink to your wedding then!"

He calculated in his heart that if he could get close to an officer, he would have some connections in the future.

"February 16th, Zuiyun Pavilion, you are welcome to come."

Jiang Cheng's gaze fell upon Shen Qinghe; he felt as though he had seen this man somewhere before.

But for a moment, he could not recall where.

It was not until he started the car and drove Si Rong away from the driving school that he remembered.

"That Shen Qinghe, he also went to the military's Mask Dance last time."

Intuition told Jiang Cheng that he had a favorable impression of Si Rong.

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that he signed up for the same driving school as Si Rong, and was even with the same instructor and in the same car?

"I remember now, too," Si Rong recalled his eyes; it was Shen Qinghe who had provided the accompaniment when she was dancing back then, "but he said he was a businessman; how could he have appeared at a military dance?"

"He likely has an immediate family member in the military."

Attending the dance as a visiting family member would be plausible enough.

"What do you want to eat for lunch?" Jiang Cheng asked her.

At home, Wang Ma was stewing chicken soup; it was something she had brought back from her hometown while on leave.

"Let's go to my place and have chicken soup!"

All the way back to Zhangshu Street, Zhang Cuilan, who was squatting at the entrance of the Rongzi Dance Studio, spat on the ground the moment she saw Jiang Cheng and Si Rong walking upstairs side by side.

These city misses nowadays are truly shameless, bringing a man home before they are even married.

And they even pretend to be so high and mighty.

Learning from Nainai that the Jiang Family had given Si Rong a ten-thousand-yuan betrothal gift, she was practically dying of jealousy!

That ten thousand yuan would be enough to raise her son back in her hometown.

Nainai had given her an idea: since she couldn't get to Jiang Cheng, she should strike at Si Rong instead.

As long as Si Rong was unwilling, this marriage would fall through all the same.

By then, Jiang Cheng and the betrothal gift would both be hers.

Zhang Cuilan patiently squatted at the entrance of the dance studio, waiting for an opportunity.

The chicken stewed with mushrooms that Wang Ma made was simply superb, filling an entire iron pot.

Si Rong felt that the three of them wouldn't be able to finish it, so she called Ming Zi over as well.

Holding the telephone receiver, Si Rong wondered how she herself was doing in that other space-time.

But she could not make a call over there and could only wait.

The chicken stewed with mushrooms was fresh and savory, and the steamed flower rolls on top were soaked through with chicken broth; it was so delicious it made one want to swallow their own tongue.

After the meal, Jiang Cheng returned to the military.

Ming Zi had nothing to do at her company in the afternoon, so she simply took a nap with Si Rong and went to the dance studio.

Just as they arrived at the entrance of the dance studio, they discovered that the doorway was almost surrounded by people.

Ming Zi pulled Si Rong through the crowd and saw the female lead of this spectacle.

"Who are you? What are you making a scene here for?"

Ming Zi did not recognize this woman, but just by looking at Zhang Cuilan's rolling eyeballs, she knew she was no good.

She was wearing a jacket with frog buttons, the top one hanging loose and limp.

It reminded her of that widow, Zheng Ping.

As soon as Zhang Cuilan saw Si Rong, she immediately ran over and knelt before her.

"Teacher Si, I beg you, don't take Division Commander Jiang away from me. You are a teacher with money and power at home, unlike me who has nothing. If I lose Division Commander Jiang, we orphans and widows will have no way to survive!"

The crowd watched this melodramatic scene and began to whisper.

"What does that mean? Teacher Si stole her man?"

"She's crying so pitifully; why would Teacher Si steal a rural woman's man?"

"You can't judge a book by its cover; some people look elegant on the surface but might be a slut behind closed doors! Besides, Teacher Si is divorced; who knows how much she craves a man? It wouldn't be surprising if she stole him," a man leered.