Mistaken Canary Chapter 37 (Part 2)
Chapter 37.2
After the doctor rechecked her injury, he reassured them that there was nothing serious—just some rest and no intense physical activity for a few days.
Zhuo Shu and Ying Tongchen stood side by side, exchanging a glance, before simultaneously looking at Zhuo Zi, who was sitting on the bed.
Zhuo Zi cupped her face, her eyes gleaming as her gaze flickered back and forth between the two men.
In Ying Tongchen’s eyes, that was a youthful and radiant smile. But in Zhuo Shu’s view, that girl was up to something again.
"Mr. Zhuo, it's a pleasure to meet you," Ying Tongchen quickly regained his composure—since Zhuo Zi was watching from the side, he had to see the act through to the end.
He took the initiative to extend his hand. "I'm Ying Tongchen, Zhuo Zi's homeroom teacher. We've been in touch on WeChat."
"Likewise, likewise," Zhuo Shu replied with a polite smile, shaking his hand. "I’ve heard much about you, Mr. Ying. Truly impressive—young and accomplished, poised and dignified, with an air of striking elegance."
Ying Tongchen chuckled softly, playing along, "Mr. Zhuo, you’re too kind. It seems we’re both young talents."
Zhuo Shu took the opportunity to shake his hand with both hands, giving a smile, "Not at all, Mr. Ying. Your vast knowledge and your many students—truly admirable."
The two continued to exchange pleasantries, their words carefully measured. Finally, Ying Tongchen took a step back and spoke seriously, "Since Mr. Zhuo is here, perhaps we could have a word about Zhuo Zi’s academic progress."
"My thoughts exactly," Zhuo Shu agreed in a gentlemanly manner, turning to Zhuo Zi. "Stay here, I’ll go talk to the teacher for a moment and come right back."
Zhuo Zi picked up an orange from the side and threw it at him.
The two of them left the infirmary and walked to a small pavilion across from it. The teachers and students had all gone to the sports field to watch the event, so only an occasional person passed by.
Ying Tongchen sat down at the table. "I actually planned to clear this up with you last time. The truth is, I’m a teacher here. This is my main job." He paused, lowering his voice. "Not a small star you’re trying to support."
Zhuo Shu still found this hard to believe and, for a moment, didn’t know where things had gone wrong. But seeing Ying Tongchen’s determined expression, it didn’t seem like he was lying.
"Then why did you knock on my room that night?"
"I made a mistake. It was a misunderstanding." Ying Tongchen scratched his neck, looking away helplessly. "The person you were supposed to support was someone else. I was just going to help him..."
Zhuo Shu: "Help him to be supported by me?"
"No, I was just going to help him report it to the police," Ying Tongchen shot him a glance. "At the time, I didn’t know he was running away from being a canary, or I wouldn’t have gone to your door."
Zhuo Shu only then realized his close shave. He frowned slightly. "Then why didn’t you call the police?"
Good question. Ying Tongchen found himself momentarily at a loss for an answer.
Zhuo Shu seemed to have realized something, his eyes shifting. "Did you...?"
"What about you?" Ying Tongchen countered. "Why are you trying to support a small star?"
Zhuo Shu instinctively answered, "Huh? I was tricked. I actually just wanted to talk to him, tell him not to do this kind of thing—" He stopped abruptly.
Sure enough, the next moment, Ying Tongchen asked, "You were trying to stop him? Then why did you let me in?"
Good question! Zhuo Shu couldn't come up with an answer.
Awkward. Awkward is Cambridge tonight!*
(TLN: This is a parody of the famous poem ‘Saying Good-bye to Cambridge Again’, the original verse reads ‘Silent is Cambridge tonight!’ If you’ve read my translation of Chang’an Small Restaurant, I’ve explained it there. I will expand the explanation in footnote[1]~)
Beyond the wall of my yard, you can see two trees. One is called ‘awkward’, and the other is also called ‘awkward’.*
(TLN: This is yet another parody hehe. This one is from ‘Autumn Night’ by Lu Xun, the original line reads: "Beyond the wall of my backyard, you can see two trees. One is a jujube tree, and the other is also a jujube tree." More in footnote[2])
The awkward atmosphere hovered between the two of them.
One person looked at the sky, the other at the ground.
As they glanced around, their eyes accidentally met, and they hurriedly looked away.
Ying Tongchen absentmindedly rubbed the fabric of his pants, while Zhuo Shu nervously started tapping his leg.
The two of them spoke at the same time, "Then we..."
The two of them spoke at the same time, "You go first."
At this moment, the awkward atmosphere was cleft in twain.
Zheng Zhinan appeared from who knows where, running up behind Ying Tongchen and giving him a quick shoulder massage. "Finally found you! Warm up quickly, the next event is the long-distance run. The seeds of hope are planted on your shoulders."
Ying Tongchen immediately found an excuse to depart this scene of discomfiture. "Then I'll go to the competition first. Zhuo Zi is all yours."
"Okay." Zhuo Shu nodded, briefly taking a deep breath of fresh air.
"Hey, man, let's grab a meal sometime." Zheng Zhinan waved at Zhuo Shu, then draped his arm around Ying Tongchen’s shoulder, walking cheerfully towards the field.
Zhuo Shu watched their retreating figures, deep in thought.
He returned to the infirmary, where Zhuo Zi was looking at pictures in the class group chat. She suddenly pounded the bed and laughed. "Oh my god, ge, you're gonna make me die laughing! Look at this video of you!"
Zhuo Shu leaned in to take a look and saw himself running beside Ying Tongchen: "......"
Zhuo Zi laughed until she was out of breath, then asked, "Ge, you actually know Teacher Ying, right?"
"I don't know him." He only knew Ying the little celebrity, but Ying the homeroom teacher? This was his first time seeing him today.
"But I just feel like you two are really familiar with each other." Zhuo Zi studied his expression carefully, but his face remained stern, making it impossible to catch any clues.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up as she looked toward the door. "Mr. Ying, why are you back?"
The moment she spoke, Zhuo Shu instinctively reached up to fix his hair before gracefully and elegantly turning around—only to see that there was no one at the door.
"Ha! You two totally have something going on!" Zhuo Zi pointed at his face. "You were totally trying to act cool just now, weren’t you?"
"..." Zhuo Shu remained expressionless. "No, you're overthinking."
Zhuo Zi didn't care what he said—she was absolutely thrilled!
She had thought she was just casually shipping a niche CP, whether or not they had known each other. However, judging by his reaction, things were far beyond her expectations. This was a jackpot!
"Ge, my homeroom teacher is handsome, right?" Zhuo Zi grinned. "Be honest and answer with your conscience!"
Zhuo Shu's expression shifted slightly, but he pressed his lips together and stayed silent.
"Forget it. There's no way you'd like our homeroom teacher anyway." Zhuo Zi stared at him intently, her eyes curving into a sly smile. "I still remember a certain someone declaring in front of the whole family that even if it were the end of the world, he would never like our homeroom teacher."
Critical hit.
The little man in Zhuo Shu’s heart coughed up blood but stood back up with sheer willpower.
Zhuo Zi: "Not that it matters even if you do like him—our homeroom teacher might not like you back."
The little man in Zhuo Shu’s heart collapsed again but struggled to his feet.
"Because Mr. Ying is super hard to chase. Just from what I’ve seen, several female teachers have confessed to him and failed." Zhuo Zi gossiped enthusiastically. "And there are even more stories online. I heard that a couple of years ago, some guy transferred to our school just because he met Mr. Ying at an academic exchange. Heh, talk about being irresistible to both men and women."
Zhuo Shu completely crumpled—this time, he couldn’t get back up.
And now, the real question—
What exactly was his relationship with Ying Tongchen?!
Is the whole "sponsor-sponsee" out the window?
Did he still have a legitimate excuse to sleep with Ying Tongchen?!
What if Ying Tongchen started dating someone?
What would he do then?
His mind was in chaos as he stood by the window, staring at the scenery outside. Just then, a new announcement played over the school’s broadcast system—
"The next event will be the 3000-meter long-distance race for the teachers. All participating athletes, please proceed to the back area to collect your number tags..."
Zhuo Shu suddenly asked, "Do you want to stay and watch?"
"Huh? The race?" Zhuo Zi tilted her head and looked outside. "But the doctor said we can go home now."
Zhuo Shu: "You go on and on about how much you respect and admire your teacher, yet you’re not even staying to cheer him on? How heartless."
Zhuo Zi: "That’s not true! I do want to watch! But how am I supposed to get there? The sports committee rep, my designated errand boy, already ran off because you scared him away!"
"I’ll take you."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. You're my meimei, so wherever you want to go, I'll take you." Zhuo Shu crouched down in front of her considerately.
"Really?" Zhuo Zi obediently climbed onto his back. But as they stepped out of the infirmary, she blinked mischievously. "Well, in that case, your meimei wants to go home. Hurry up and take me back!"
Zhuo Shu picked up the pace towards the sports field. "Go home? What home? We're almost at the track. You're really leaving without taking one last look at your beloved teacher? How heartless."
Zhuo Zi giggled. "Ge, you’re acting real sus!"
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Footnotes:
[1] Awkward is Cambridge tonight! - This is a parody of the famous poem titled ‘Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again’ by Xu Zhimo. He was a Chinese romantic poet and writer of modern Chinese poetry who strove to loosen Chinese poetry from its traditional forms and to reshape it under the influences of Western poetry and the vernacular Chinese language.
Read the full poem here- http://www.china.org.cn/learning_english/2011-03/18/content_22169581.htm
[2] Beyond the wall of my yard, you can see two trees. One is called ‘awkward’, and the other is also called ‘awkward’ - this line is from ‘Autumn Night’ by Lu Xun(秋夜), a Chinese writer, literary critic, lecturer, and state servant. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. "Autumn Night" is the opening piece of Lu Xun’s (1881-1936) experimental prose collection, "Wild Grass and Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk". There’s a fairly new translation of this collection and I think it’s very well done; for those who want to purchase this collection, you can do so here - https://amzn.to/41PllkC
You can read the whole translation of ‘Autumn Night’ here - https://lithub.com/read-autumn-night-from-lu-xuns-experimental-prose-collection-wild-grass-and-morning-blossoms-gathered-at-dusk/