As they reached the teaching building, Cen Xi spotted one of her students.
"Gao Jun, come here for a moment."
"What is it, Teacher Cen?"
"Go to the classroom and tell Gu Zhijing to come to the office. Tell him... tell him his mother is here to bring him something." Cen Xi, remembering the last incident, decided to be clear about the purpose to avoid frightening Gu Zhijing.
Hearing the teacher's words, Gao Jun hesitated for a moment, glanced at Nian Suian a few times, then turned and ran towards the classroom.
"Slow down! Don't run so fast!" Cen Xi called out anxiously, then shook her head, amusing Nian Suian.
"Does Zhijing call you 'mom'?" Cen Xi suddenly asked curiously.
Nian Suian shook her head. "No, I'm only ten years older than him. Even if he felt comfortable calling me that, I'd feel awkward accepting it."
"Doesn't that bother you?"
"Bother me? You mean having such a grown-up son?" Nian Suian asked.
Cen Xi nodded sheepishly. In her experience, most people tended to resist being stepparents.
"Not at all. It's great to get a grown-up son without having to give birth. Besides, I don't like little kids," Nian Suian wrinkled her nose at this. "I also don't want the responsibility of being a mother. Zhijing is different. He's older, so I don't have to raise or teach him. I can just be his friend."
Cen Xi nodded thoughtfully at Nian Suian's words.
Meanwhile, Gao Jun sprinted towards the classroom with all his might. The enthusiastic boy, reaching the classroom door and still out of breath, called out to Gu Zhijing.
"Gu Zhijing, your mom... your mom..."
Hearing this abruptly, Gu Zhijing thought Gao Jun had lost his mind and was cursing at him as soon as he entered.
Without thinking, he retorted, "Your mom!"
Gao Jun felt exasperated, being cursed at for his good intentions. Finally catching his breath, he explained, "Your mom is here at school to see you. She brought something for you and is in the homeroom teacher's office!"
"Huh?" Gu Zhijing was also confused. His stepmom-sister hadn't mentioned coming to see him. Nevertheless, he got up and walked out. As he passed Gao Jun, he patted him and said, "Sorry, brother. I thought you were cursing at me."
"It's alright, no worries." Gao Jun waved it off. He was a kind-hearted and forgiving boy who didn't hold grudges.
As soon as Gu Zhijing left, several classmates gathered around.
"Gao Jun, which of Gu Zhijing's moms came to see him, his birth mom or stepmom?"
"It must be his stepmom. Didn't Gu Zhijing say his birth mom is abroad?"
The classmates started chattering among themselves.
"Gao Jun, I heard Gu Zhijing's stepmom is really beautiful. Is that true?"
Gao Jun sat down, took a sip of water before answering.
"I don't know if she's his birth mom or stepmom, but she's incredibly beautiful and young."
A classmate asked, "How young?"
Gao Jun recalled and answered, "As young as our Teacher Cen."
"Then it must be his stepmom. A birth mom couldn't be that young."
"Is Gu Zhijing's stepmom good to him?" This came from a curious classmate.
"Definitely not. My grandma says where there's a stepmom, there's a stepdad, and they'll have a baby to compete for the inheritance." This was from a conspiracy theorist classmate.
Qu Zizhou couldn't bear to listen anymore. He, along with Ming Yan and An Lu, were close to Gu Zhijing and had met Nian Suian before. They hadn't participated in the earlier gossip, but this last comment was too much.
"Don't spread rumors about things you don't know. Aunt Nian is very nice. And if you gossip about her like this behind his back, Zhijing will definitely beat you up if he finds out." Although Gu Zhijing hadn't explicitly said so, as his friends, they often heard him mentioning "little mom-sis" this and that, even more frequently than he mentioned his dad. They knew Gu Zhijing quite liked his stepmom, and he'd definitely lose his temper if he heard classmates talking like this.
The classmate who had just spoken still seemed unconvinced, his expression showing disbelief. However, not wanting to cause conflict among classmates, he kept quiet.
When Gu Zhijing strode into the office, Nian Suian was chatting happily with Cen Xi.
Cen Xi, facing the door, saw him first.
"Gu Zhijing, come in."
Hearing this, Nian Suian turned around. "Zhijing, come here."
"Why did you come? My classmate said you brought me something. Why didn't you message me on WeChat?" He asked not because he was unhappy about Nian Suian coming; in fact, he was quite pleased someone had come to see him at school.
Hearing Gu Zhijing mention WeChat, Nian Suian gave an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, I completely forgot about WeChat. I was buying clothes for you at the mall when I ran into your Teacher Cen, so I came along with her."
"Clothes? You bought clothes for me?" Gu Zhijing's voice revealed his excitement.
"Mm-hmm, but with your dad's money."
"That's how it should be anyway."
"Oh, and I bought this for you too, a small cake," Nian Suian pointed at the box on the table. "You can share it with your friends after class this afternoon. Teacher Cen said she could keep it in the teachers' lounge refrigerator for now, and you can pick it up after class."
Gu Zhijing stepped forward to look at the cake, seemingly wanting to take it and eat it right away.
"Eat it this afternoon, Gu Zhijing. Class is about to start," Cen Xi reminded him.
"Did you eat yours?" Gu Zhijing asked Nian Suian.
"I bought one for myself too. I'll eat it when I get home. You should go to class now. I'm leaving." With class about to start, Nian Suian was preparing to leave.
"I'll walk you out," Gu Zhijing said, ready to accompany Nian Suian.
"No need, just go to class," she said, then muttered under her breath, "Just like your dad."
Nian Suian's original plan was to buy things for herself in the afternoon, but she had eaten too much at lunch and felt drowsy while shopping. After buying two dresses, she didn't feel like shopping anymore, so she bought two sets of loungewear for each of the three of them. She thought to herself that she'd bring them home today, and tomorrow she could make Gu Junxing change out of his ugly clothes.
After finishing her shopping, Nian Suian first went upstairs to get the cakes, then to the storage area to retrieve the clothes she had bought, before calling a car to go home.
"Butler Su, come to the community entrance to pick me up." Taxis weren't allowed into the community, so Nian Suian got off at the entrance. With bags of various sizes scattered around her, she had to call for someone to come and help.
"Why are you here?"
Nian Suian hadn't expected Gu Junxing to come. Because he was going out, he had put on an even uglier jacket over his already unattractive loungewear, making Nian Suian's vision blur.
"I asked Butler Su to come help carry things. What use are you coming here?"
"I can carry things too. Butler Su is busy."
"You can carry things? How? What if your wound opens up?" Nian Suian glared at him. What use was someone who just had surgery, except to let the whole neighborhood see his ugly clothes?
Gu Junxing chuckled lightly. "The wound isn't sewn with paper. It won't open up that easily. It's been a week since the surgery. I'm already better."
As if to prove himself, he stepped forward to take all the bags on the ground.
Frightened, Nian Suian quickly stopped him and handed him the cake she was holding. "You take the cake. There are many ways to prove you're a man. You don't need to do this."
In the end, they compromised, each taking half of the items.
Halfway there, Nian Suian couldn't help but speak up: "I said Butler Su at home was busy and couldn't come, but aren't there other people? Don't tell me everyone's busy and they had to send a sick person." Because Gu Junxing didn't like having too many strangers in the house, the only live-in help were Butler Su and Nanny Zhang. But during the day, there were others who came to do laundry, clean, and so on. It was broad daylight; they could have called anyone to come.
"Ahem! I forgot about that."
"You'd better have!"