Chapter 5: Lin Zhengmo, You're a Closet Flirt.
[She just sneered out of nowhere! Creepy!]
After sending this, AhAhAh stopped replying because Jian Yue put her phone away. They sat in the dark for a while, perfectly silent.
Jian Yue realized Lin Zhengmo was a total clam—all "kiss me, kiss me" over text, but 高冷 (aloof) in person.
"Um," Jian Yue couldn't stand it, rubbing her knees. "Feeling better, Ms. Lin?"
"Much better."
"Looks like they're done over there." Jian Yue pointed to Zhao Ming. "How about we call it a day?"
"Great." Lin Zhengmo stood. "Could you tell Teacher Zhao I'm leaving?"
"You're going already?"
Lin Zhengmo looked at her as if to say: What else would I stay for?
Jian Yue got the hint. "Stay safe."
Lin Zhengmo planned to slip out through the side gate—classic move for someone who loved vanishing from crowds, hence her nickname "Little Ostrich." She was already itching to leave.
Jian Yue sighed. "Go on."
"Thanks." Lin Zhengmo bolted.
Jian Yue's gaze clung to her like wax, following until she turned the corner. Even then, she stayed put, heart gone with her.
No one could understand—your passionate lover stands before you, but you can't hug or kiss them. The barrier was torture, emotions and reason clashing again:
Emotion: Confess now.
Reason: Wait a bit.
Seconds later, her phone lit up—Lin Zhengmo's voice call. Jian Yue found a corner, sat, and answered.
"I'm off work! You?" Lin Zhengmo sounded cheerful.
"Me too." Jian Yue lowered her voice, subtly different from her usual tone.
"Finally escaped!!"
Jian Yue felt a twinge. Did Lin Zhengmo really dislike her that much in real life?
"Happy to get away from your boss?"
"Not really." Lin Zhengmo said calmly, "Just embarrassed by my slow running. Everyone had to take care of me."
Jian Yue felt slightly soothed.
"Is she a bad person?" Jian Yue pressed.
"Who?" Lin Zhengmo answered herself, "My boss? No, not bad. I just don't know her." She added, "But she's rushing to settle down, so Ms. Zhang stopped setting me up."
Jian Yue almost choked. What lies was Zhao Ming spreading?!
Lin Zhengmo: "Hope she finds someone soon."
Jian Yue wanted to cry. So in Lin Zhengmo's eyes, she was a "cold boss who looks like everyone owes her a million but is desperate to marry a man."
" How was your day?" Lin Zhengmo changed the topic, uninterested in Jian Yue.
"Like a rollercoaster. Work and colleagues..."
"Ah..." Lin Zhengmo hadn't expected AhAhAh to care about colleagues. "It's okay, my liking is enough."
Jian Yue held the phone, half-joking, half-serious: "Then love me forever."
Voice messages were magic—technology conveyed emotions perfectly through a tiny speaker. Lin Zhengmo's ears warmed.
"Okay, I will."
The night sky turned deep blue, crickets chirped in the flowerbeds, wind ruffling Lin Zhengmo's bangs. Sometimes she wondered how she'd fallen for a stranger.
"I will too," AhAhAh whispered.
Lin Zhengmo smiled. "I bought a calendar today, put it on my desk."
"For what?"
"To count down to our meeting. If it's the end of June, only fifty days left."
She said "only," showing how long she'd waited.
Jian Yue hesitated: "What if you're disappointed when we meet?"
"Why would I be?" Lin Zhengmo thought AhAhAh overworried. "About looks? I'm not shallow."
"Other things."
"Like?"
"My job."
"I don't mind."
Lin Zhengmo didn't know AhAhAh's job—they avoided the topic. But they'd met in a civil service exam group, so Lin Zhengmo guessed AhAhAh was a teacher too. She understood—teachers had to hide their sexuality. Work was work, life was life.
But she didn't understand Jian Yue's real fear.
"Why quiet?" Lin Zhengmo noticed AhAhAh's silence on this topic.
"Nothing, you're right." Jian Yue changed the subject. "I bought you a foot bath tub, at the gate. Remember to pick it up."
She'd bought it because Lin Zhengmo mentioned cold feet—another detail AhAhAh remembered.
Lin Zhengmo warmed. "Hurry up and meet me. I want to buy you so many things."
Lin Zhengmo's apartment, bought by her family, was the nicest near school. Her family was middle-class: mom a nurse, dad a professor, only child.
To her parents, she was the perfect daughter—quiet since childhood, so they sent her to piano lessons, which she took to grade 10. When asked if she loved piano:
"Not really into notes," she'd say, disappointing others. No lie—she'd played to satisfy their vanity.
Her life was a persona. Subtext: You're beautiful, obedient, well-behaved—if you have a - worthy (show-off) skill...
What a perfect girl!
This lie lasted 28 years. Now she still played the role. Parents called three times a week, introducing "excellent" men—ambitious, educated, wealthy.
No one knew she'd been uninterested in men since senior one.
"Will you come out?" AhAhAh asked on a call.
"Not planning to," Lin Zhengmo said bluntly.
"Oh." AhAhAh's voice fell. "Forever?"
"Probably." She was clear: "I don't want to compromise or fight. It's easier to say I haven't found the right one."
AhAhAh interrupted: "What about your partner?"
Lin Zhengmo frowned. "That's for later."
She loved deeply, but coming out scared her.
Jian Yue admired Lin Zhengmo's honesty, but it worried her. Love bred fantasies—she wanted Lin Zhengmo's approval, but couldn't ask for promises when she hadn't truly entered her life.
"Don't worry," Lin Zhengmo soothed. "My parents aren't pushing too hard."
As they talked, PaoPao wandered over, rubbing against Lin Zhengmo's arm.
"PaoPao," she cooed, stroking the cat.
"Show me PaoPao," AhAhAh said.
Lin Zhengmo remembered last night's photo—AhAhAh's "casual" yet provocative shot.
"Sure." She smiled slyly. "Remember what I said last night?"
Before Jian Yue could recall, Lin Zhengmo said: "You have to send your photo before seeing PaoPao."
"Oh right." Jian Yue played innocent. "What do you want to see?"
"Your body," Lin Zhengmo said bluntly.
"Body? Like..." Jian Yue's ears reddened.
"Yesterday's photo was nice." Lin Zhengmo didn't blink. "It'd be better without the tank top."
"Just underwear?" Jian Yue blushed to her neck, burning all over. How had Lin Zhengmo asked such a bold question so calmly?
Lin Zhengmo, you're a closet flirt!