Chapter 220: Coincidence
Early the next morning, Li Mu called Yu Fan.
After hearing that Xiao Jing had been safely sent home last night, she finally felt relieved.
Yawning, she got up and looked around at the others in the dorm.
Chen Li had drunk too much the night before, so she woke up early with a headache and was now packing her things and getting dressed up. The other two girls were still snoring in bed.
"What time is it?"
"Nine o'clock."
Chen Li looked up. Her face was pale and she seemed a little nervous, clearly worried about the blind date later.
"It’s okay. We’ll all go with you," Li Mu said to comfort her, getting out of bed. Then she asked curiously, "Aren’t you packing your stuff?"
"I’ll wait until winter break to go home," Chen Li said.
It seemed like she didn’t have a great time at home. Otherwise, she wouldn’t delay going back until winter.
"I’m going downstairs to buy breakfast. Want me to get you something?"
"Yeah, thanks."
It was the weekend, and even though it was already 9 a.m., the cafeteria still hadn’t sold out of breakfast.
Li Mu bought four breakfasts.
When she came back to the dorm, she found that Wang Ruoyan and Lin Yuanyuan had also woken up.
"Li Mu! Time to go!" Wang Ruoyan called out.
"So early?" Li Mu asked.
"Yeah! We have to get there first and check the place out," Wang Ruoyan said, eating a meat bun Li Mu had brought. "We can’t all just sit next to her during the blind date, right?"
"I’ll go with Chen Li to meet the guy," she continued planning, "and you two find seats nearby and secretly watch."
"Even if Chen Li really has to get married, we have to make sure she finds someone with good character!"
Li Mu felt like Wang Ruoyan was treating Chen Li’s worries like some kind of fun game.
She sighed and nodded. "I’ll go in with Chen Li. You stay out of it."
"Why me?!" Wang Ruoyan protested.
Because you have no sense of how to behave.
Li Mu looked at Chen Li and saw that she also nodded in agreement, so they just ignored Wang Ruoyan’s protests.
After hanging around the dorm a bit longer, they finally set off at about ten o'clock.
The blind date was arranged at a cafe in the center of town. Cafes weren’t very popular in their county, and Li Mu had already seen several of them go bankrupt in the past few years. But somehow, there were still people willing to open new ones.
They arrived a bit early, and the guy Chen Li was supposed to meet hadn’t shown up yet.
Li Mu and Chen Li sat at a table in the middle of the cafe, while Wang Ruoyan and Lin Yuanyuan sat at the table next to them.
After ordering a few cups of coffee, Li Mu leaned over and said softly to Chen Li, "Maybe you should send him a message."
"Okay," Chen Li said, opening WeChat. She spent a while looking for the guy’s contact and then sent him a reminder message.
She looked really nervous, and after sending the message, she kept glancing toward the door.
"I wonder what kind of person he is," Li Mu said, resting her chin in her hand.
"Like Ruoyan said, he’s probably some old guy in his thirties or forties..."
"Someone that age and still not married? Probably not very good-looking or easy to get along with. Maybe even divorced."
"But you never know," Li Mu said, trying to comfort her. "My neighbor is almost thirty and still single. He just loves to play around and that's why he refuses to get married, so who knows, the person you met might be that kind of guy too?"
Li Mu felt bad for Chen Li, but there wasn’t much she could do.
Suddenly, a familiar voice startled them.
"What are you all doing here?"
They turned around and saw Yang Ye, dressed sharply in a suit and tie, walking into the cafe.
"Teacher? What a coincidence!" Wang Ruoyan shouted, jumping up and running over to grab Yang Ye’s arm. "Come here, we just happened to have something to talk to you about!"
"I actually have something to do too," Yang Ye said.
"Listen to me first."
Yang Ye looked helplessly around the cafe, then let Wang Ruoyan pull him into a seat.
"Alright, go ahead," he said.
"Chen Li’s parents might not let her go to college anymore. We want you to visit her home and talk to them," Wang Ruoyan explained very simply.
Yang Ye was stunned for a moment, but then quickly nodded.
"Don’t worry. If it’s about my student’s education, I’ll definitely help," he promised.
"But I do have something I need to do right now," he sighed. "I’ll go visit them this afternoon or later. It would be best if Chen Li comes with me."
Chen Li nodded shyly.
Seeing that Yang Ye agreed, Wang Ruoyan didn’t bother him anymore and went back to her seat with Lin Yuanyuan.
Yang Ye also picked an empty table to sit at.
The cafe became quiet again. The four students whispered about Chen Li’s blind date, while Yang Ye sat there shaking his leg, looking very restless.
Slowly, the atmosphere started to feel strange.
The guy Chen Li was supposed to meet still hadn’t shown up, and for some reason, Yang Ye seemed to be getting more and more nervous too.
Li Mu glanced at Chen Li, then at Yang Ye, and finally broke the silence.
"Teacher, you’re here for...?"
"Oh, a blind date," Yang Ye said casually, complaining a little. "The girl said she was already here, but I’ve been waiting forever and haven’t seen her."
At that moment, all four students froze, then looked at each other.
Wang Ruoyan and Lin Yuanyuan quickly picked up their coffee and moved over to sit with Li Mu and Chen Li, whispering excitedly.
A moment later, Li Mu raised her head with a strange look on her face.
"Teacher..."
"Yeah?" Yang Ye answered.
"If I’m not wrong... your blind date... might be Chen Li," she said carefully.
"???"
Yang Ye just sat there, completely confused.
"Your name on WeChat... is it 'Autumn'?" Li Mu asked.
Yang Ye blinked and gave an awkward laugh.
"No way... Could it really be such a coincidence?"
He had already added Chen Li on WeChat a few weeks ago, but they had never actually chatted.
If they had talked even a little, maybe he would have realized that his blind date was actually his own student.
This was just...
"That’s amazing!" Wang Ruoyan jumped up in excitement, rushed over, and pulled Yang Ye to sit down at their table.
"Mr. Yang~ for the sake of helping a student go to college normally, how about you sacrifice a little and marry Chen Li?"
"Wait, hold on..." Yang Ye glanced at Chen Li and saw that she was blushing furiously, looking down at the table.
"But we’re teacher and student," he said helplessly.
"What teacher and student?!" Wang Ruoyan said. "After she finishes her exams, she’s not your student anymore!"
Li Mu also smiled. She had been taught by Yang Ye for nearly three years, and at least when it came to how he treated his students, he had always been a good person without any serious faults.
Besides, Chen Li already liked Yang Ye.
Li Mu stood up and waved to the others. "Let’s leave and give them some space to talk."
"Yes, yes! Xiao Li~ good luck!"
Wang Ruoyan encouraged Chen Li, patting her on the shoulder, then happily dragged Lin Yuanyuan out of the cafe.
Once the three huge "third wheels" were gone, Yang Ye rested his chin on one hand, looking straight at Chen Li, feeling a major headache coming on.
"You’re only eighteen... Why are you going on blind dates already?" he said, scratching his head. "Is there some special reason at home?"
"Yeah," Chen Li answered, so softly it sounded like a mosquito, her face so red it had spread to her ears and neck.
"There’s a big age gap between us..." Yang Ye started to say.
"The age gap isn't that big. I mean, you're still just 27. And... we’re already on a blind date..."
Chen Li said shyly, turning her head and not daring to look at him. She gathered her courage and added, "At your age, you're still going on blind dates. Why are you being so picky?"
“Isn't it a good thing... if you can get someone young?”
Yang Ye was taken aback for a moment, not expecting Chen Li to make such a bold statement.