Chapter 18: Gao Ming Comes to Check on Her Again
While Ye Dong was wondering about it, people in the comments had already started asking the same thing.
“She really teaches at No. 19 Middle School. She’s a real teacher.”
“Same here. My niece studies at No. 19. I saw her myself when picking her up.”
Whenever someone confirms something, others will doubt it. In this age of information, fake news is everywhere, so a few witnesses did not seem very convincing.
“The people above must be hired commenters, right?”
“Need proof.”
“+1 for proof.”
Ye Dong liked watching drama, so he also joined the crowd and stirred things up. Very quickly, the video’s views rose fast. More and more people came to watch, and the comments even started turning into moral attacks.
“Internet celebrity pretending to be a teacher,”
“There is no place for dirty social media culture in pure schools,”
Before the truth was even confirmed, those self-righteous keyboard warriors had already started attacking her one after another.
Maybe the woman in the video still did not know what was happening, or maybe she was already overwhelmed by the sudden accusations. The person who uploaded the video was completely fine though, and even earned money because of the huge traffic.
Soon enough, proof appeared.
A newly made account posted a picture of a teacher qualification certificate.
Some curious people checked the certificate number, and it turned out to be real.
“Wow, it’s true!”
“Where are the haters now?”
More and more proof followed. Photos with students, photos from classes, meetings, and even pictures taken during school inspections all appeared one after another.
It was like a nonstop bombing attack that completely destroyed all those insulting comments. The once noisy comment section suddenly became quiet.
Even Ye Dong, who had only been stirring up trouble for fun, stopped talking.
A person full of knowledge naturally has elegance. That saying really was true. She really was a talented and beautiful teacher.
Meanwhile, another person had appeared in Cheng Fei’s little shop.
Holding her phone with a frown, Zheng Qi shouted loudly between Cheng Fei and Bai Xi,
“All those idiots ran away! Weren’t they going to argue with me online? Come on then!”
Cheng Fei was startled by her shouting, while Bai Xi could not help smiling a little. Deep inside, she felt warm.
A few days ago, the two had argued like enemies. Whenever they fought, it looked like they wanted to peck each other to death like angry chickens. But now, they had suddenly become teammates in the same trench, and Zheng Qi looked even more excited than Bai Xi herself.
Could this be the famous “Only I can bully her” kind of feeling?
No wonder people always said, “A woman’s heart is deeper than the sea.” Women’s thoughts were far too complicated. How could six simple words explain them? Cheng Fei felt that even six giant books would not be enough to fully explain it.
Beep beep.
Two sharp car horns broke the mood.
Cheng Fei looked over.
It was him again.
Great. Time to start acting again.
Cheng Fei looked tired. Zheng Qi looked excited. Bai Xi stayed calm, though there was still a little worry in her expression.
After getting out of the car, Gao Ming looked at the three completely different expressions. The cold look on his face disappeared, replaced by a gentle smile.
“You’ve worked hard all day. Time to go home.”
Gao Ming really had unfair natural advantages. It was already annoying enough that he looked handsome, but even his voice sounded amazing. Using that deep and gentle voice to greet someone warmly like this, whether Cheng Fei found it disgusting or not, Zheng Qi’s heart was already shaking.
If he were not her best friend’s man, and if she did not already have a boyfriend, she might even chase after him herself.
“Hehe.”
Cheng Fei forced out a smile, trying not to make it look too stiff.
She thought that if an ignored guy suddenly greeted her like this every day, it would actually feel nice… but sadly, it was all fake. If he truly cared, that would have been different.
“Let me introduce them. This is Bai Xi, and this is Zheng Qi. We became friends in college.” Cheng Fei paused before forcing herself to continue, “This is Gao Ming… my husband.”
After seeing how much Bai Xi cared about her, Cheng Fei agreed that hiding things had probably been the right choice by the original owner of this body. Still… those two words completely went against her instincts. Saying them felt like her heart was bleeding tears.
The two women nodded politely.
Bai Xi looked slightly unwilling, but for Cheng Fei’s sake, she still smiled.
“So these are your close friends from school.”
Gao Ming already knew Cheng Fei had two close friends, so he was mentally prepared. Even so, seeing them in person still made him instinctively cautious.
On the surface, he calmly smiled back and introduced himself.
“Gao Ming. Nice to meet you both.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
“My marriage with Feifei may have happened a little suddenly,” Gao Ming said calmly, “but please don’t worry. She is the person I want more than anyone else in this life.”
Heh, now he’s openly declaring it in front of everyone.
Seeing the look Gao Ming gave her, Cheng Fei’s heart trembled again.
“In my opinion, past experiences are not important, but I can’t expect everyone else to think the same way. For example, my parents…” Gao Ming said calmly. “So please keep this secret for us.”
“Okay, no problem,” Zheng Qi quickly agreed without hesitation.
Bai Xi was more careful and steady. Even while agreeing, she still added,
“Mm. As long as you keep treating Feifei well.”
“I will.”
Gao Ming looked at Cheng Fei. Even though he believed his mental strength was much stronger than most people’s, this was the first time he showed hesitation while speaking. His eyes unconsciously shifted toward the potted plant behind Cheng Fei, but for the sake of his final goal, he still forced himself to continue.
How strong was this man’s mentality? He could say lies so sincerely that Cheng Fei felt completely outmatched.
Cheng Fei shivered slightly again, and her annoyance returned.
Now that he was here, Bai Xi and Zheng Qi still did not know the truth about the fake marriage, nor the deeper secret behind it. Since Gao Ming had control over her weakness, she had no choice but to cooperate. But once they started acting like a loving couple deeply in love, what normal person would stay there awkwardly as a giant third wheel? Of course her friends would leave.
At the same time, Cheng Fei knew reality was cruel. Even if she got a little closer to beautiful women, at most she could only enjoy looking. What else could she do? It was like losing her teeth, she could smell the food but could not eat it.
Still! Smelling it was better than nothing.
If she could keep them around for one more minute, then it was worth it, even if pretending to be loving with Gao Ming made her feel sick inside.
“When we finish cleaning up later, let’s go home. I want to show them our new house.”
“I’d be happy to,” Gao Ming replied.
He took off his jacket and placed it over the chair, then gently held Cheng Fei’s shoulders. She shivered again.
“You’ve worked hard all day. Let me clean up instead.”
After saying that, he walked toward the back.
Zheng Qi hugged Bai Xi’s arm, turned around, winked and waved at Cheng Fei, but before Cheng Fei could stop them, the two had already escaped outside.
Their hurried footsteps reached Gao Ming’s ears. Without even looking, he already knew they had run away to avoid being third wheels.
As a normal man, how could he not understand Cheng Fei’s real reason for trying to keep them there?
“So your plan failed. How do you feel now?”
“Annoyed!”
Today, Gao Ming had come again. Cheng Fei was unhappy inside, and she could not even fake a smile.
“Is this really necessary? With your current identity, even if you openly looked at them, what meaning would it have?”
“Are you done being annoying?!”
Cheng Fei shot him a sideways glare, turned half her body away, and leaned against the soft seat while looking out the window.
To stop her from thinking up another disgusting prank, Gao Ming wisely stayed quiet.
After a while, Cheng Fei could not hold back her thoughts anymore.
“So why did you come today? Don’t tell me you’re worried I’ll cheat on you?”
“With your personality? Is that even possible?”
“......”
“The wedding dress you picked last night arrived today.”
Cheng Fei turned to look at him, not understanding what he meant.
“It’s just a wedding dress. Is it really that valuable? They had to fly it back here?”
“Well, something unfortunate happened,” Gao Ming sighed.
Cheng Fei became even more confused.
“The old one got lipstick on it because of an employee. A dress worth over two hundred thousand yuan was ruined instantly.”
Two… hundred thousand?!
Did rich people only choose the most expensive things instead of the most suitable ones? Was clothing made by famous designers automatically considered high-class?
A few layers of cloth put together into a dress could cost that much? Cheng Fei felt pain in her liver just hearing the price. She truly could not understand rich people’s values.
“So tonight we need to…”
“No. We’ll just go home like usual. I only mentioned it casually.”
Cheng Fei swallowed hard.
Then why bring up something completely unrelated? If nothing important was happening, why travel so far just to ruin her good mood? Was he one of those people who enjoyed making others unhappy for fun?
Capitalists really were heartless monsters.
The car became quiet again. Besides the occasional noise outside the window, only their breathing could be heard.
Grrr~ rumble rumble.
A stomach growled loudly, breaking the silence.
It was the call of instinct. A deep desire for good food.
Cheng Fei turned to look at the source of the sound. Seeing Gao Ming’s face turn red, pale, and awkward all at once, she slightly pressed her lips together.
“Ahem… okay, I’m a little hungry,” Gao Ming admitted honestly.
Oh.
She had thought he suddenly went crazy for some reason.
So this guy had really driven nearly thirty kilometers across half the city, all the way from the East District to the South District, just to pick her up for food.
Nice. Very satisfying.
It was basically another compliment toward her cooking skills.
Still, that did not make up for scaring away the two girls.
Anyway, she had to cook no matter what. Cooking for one person or two people was not much different, just a little more food. Besides, he had already paid the meal fee.
She, Cheng Fei, was an upright man.
A gentleman loves money, but earns it honestly. Otherwise, what difference was there between that and being a bandit? As for dishonest things… well, those should only be done when nobody noticed.
Since he ruined her fun today, he should suffer a little too.
Cheng Fei turned toward Gao Ming. Her beautiful face bloomed with a flower-like smile.
That smile carried many meanings.
Gao Ming focused on driving through traffic and could not figure out what it meant, but instinctively, he felt a little danger hidden inside it.
“Can you eat spicy food?”
“I’m okay with it.”
Gao Ming unconsciously licked one of his sensitive teeth and nodded nervously.