CoP 26
by CherryIt was just a kiss on the cheek.
When he kissed, Sui Cannong felt great, acting with complete ease and without a second thought. But once he got home, he started punching the air like a madman.
It turned out that the usually quiet and aloof Teacher Ji would actually ask his dates seriously if he could hold their hands, and would blush all the way to his ears over a simple cheek kiss.
Sui Cannong felt a tickle in his heart at the thought.
There was always a unified midterm exam before the Christmas break, and a science fair before the midterm. For both students and teachers, November and December were two months of non-stop work.
But perhaps because of the romance, Sui Cannong felt his state was better than ever.
Ji Ling seemed to be doing well too— at least he rarely said things that made Sui Cannong’s heart race, like “There won’t be another chance in the future.”
The science fair was a mid-term assessment of the students’ work. They would showcase their research projects from the past month, and the school would invite parents to visit.
As usual, Sui Cannong was surrounded by a group of anxious parents.
Parent: “Teacher Sui, we’re aiming for these universities. We’ll need your help with the recommendation letters.”
Sui Cannong: “Of course, of course. I’ll do my best.”
Then the parent pulled out a huge file from his bag: “These are the awards he’s won over the past two years. I hope you can include them. His extracurricular activities are a bit weak, he only participated in basketball and debate. I hope you can help polish his application a bit. As for the predicted grades…”
Sui Cannong: “…”
After a couple of hours, Sui Cannong felt like he was about to suffocate. He found an excuse to go to the restroom and took a break, passing by Ji Ling’s students’ exhibition area.
Ji Ling stood calmly in front of a student’s project, negotiating with a parent.
Sui Cannong eavesdropped.
Ji Ling: “Predicted grades aren’t given without basis. I’ll base them on the average of daily quizzes and major exams. Of course, if the student’s performance is stable, there’s no need to worry about the predicted grades.”
Ji Ling: “I’ll do my best with the recommendation letters and include the awards, but university admissions officers have seen countless students. If the application is overly polished and doesn’t match the student’s actual abilities, it will show during the interview.”
Ji Ling: “Do you have any other questions?”
Parent: “…No, no.”
Straightforward and unrelenting, Sui Cannong admired Ji Ling’s honesty.
The sky had darkened, and it started to drizzle. Ji Ling saw off the last parent and quietly tidied up the materials on the table.
Sui Cannong quietly approached from behind and whispered in Ji Ling’s ear, “It’s raining.”
Ji Ling was clearly startled.
Their distance was close, but not suspiciously so. Sui Cannong’s warm breath on his ear made Ji Ling’s eyelashes flutter.
Ji Ling said, “The rain seems to be getting heavier.”
Sui Cannong asked, “Do you want me to take you home? Do you have an umbrella?”
Ji Ling was silent for a moment, then Sui Cannong heard him say, “No.”
Sui Cannong didn’t have one either. He was a bit worried, but fortunately, Cindy and Shirley, two young girls, were very generous. They gave Sui Cannong a tiny umbrella.
They waved at Sui Cannong, “Teacher Sui, remember to check out our project!”
Sui Cannong said, “I saw it earlier. It’s about bridge resonance, right? I remember the bridge in the picture was drawn by you. That’s impressive.”
Shirley said, “We drew many bridges. Which one do you think looks the best?”
Sui Cannong said, “They all look great.”
The two girls held hands and walked away happily.
Sui Cannong examined the tiny umbrella for a while. When he opened it, he found it was not only ridiculously small but also had two rabbit ears when opened.
Ji Ling finished tidying up and saw Sui Cannong standing at the door with the little rabbit umbrella, looking helpless.
The rain suddenly intensified.
Sui Cannong had parked his car outside the school. With the tiny umbrella, they were almost drenched by the time they got in the car.
Sui Cannong panted, “What strange rain…”
Ji Ling said, “You’re all wet.”
Sui Cannong looked at Ji Ling, “You too. It’s fine, I’ll drive a bit faster.”
Sui Cannong started the car and turned on the heater, sniffing.
Ji Ling was silent for a long time.
Then Ji Ling looked at Sui Cannong and suddenly said, “If we catch a cold, it would be irresponsible to both our health and the quality of our classes.”
“So the cost of catching a cold is high. I think we shouldn’t take that risk,” he said.
Sui Cannong felt he was starting to understand the pattern.
Whenever Ji Ling suddenly said something that seemed logically sound but was a bit abrupt, the key point would always be at the end.
Sure enough, Ji Ling pursed his lips and said, “So if you’re willing, you can come to my place, change your clothes, and then…”
Sui Cannong: “Then?”
Ji Ling fell silent, then lowered his head and said softly, “…and then we can have dinner together.”
Sui Cannong struggled to hold back his laughter, “Thank you so much.”
“Let’s go to my place,” Sui Cannong said, “It’s a bit closer.”
Ji Ling, who was usually composed, was now the one at a loss.
Ji Ling was also drenched, with half his body soaked. When they got home, Sui Cannong found a T-shirt and shorts and pointed to the bathroom, “You go first.”
Ji Ling stared at Sui Cannong’s soaked clothes and shook his head, “You go first.”
“You go first, I’ll just change clothes,” Sui Cannong found an excuse, “I’ll log into my game while I’m at it. I need some resources, and the refresh time is coming up.”
Ji Ling stared at Sui Cannong’s face for a moment.
Then Sui Cannong saw Ji Ling lower his head, take out his phone, log into the game, and place it in Sui Cannong’s hand.
“The resources in my inventory and world are all yours,” Ji Ling said, “You can take whatever you need.”
Sui Cannong: “But—”
Ji Ling said, “I’m going to take a shower.”
Ji Ling took the clothes and went into the bathroom. Sui Cannong stared at the closed door for a moment, then sighed.
The past few days had been so comfortable that Sui Cannong almost forgot his original intentions.
He hadn’t done any talk therapy in days. He decided to give Ji Ling a proper psychological boost once he finished his shower.
Sui Cannong held Ji Ling’s phone, hesitated for a moment, and finally didn’t touch anything, just set up an auto-play dungeon.
As Sui Cannong was considering whether to order some hot porridge, Ji Ling’s phone suddenly rang.
It wasn’t a phone call, but a notification sound, like an alarm.
Sui Cannong was startled and looked at the screen. It was a notification from an app called “PlanMaster,” a daily planning app. The screen showed—
【You have four plans left to check off today】:
- Water the lemon plant.
- It might rain today, remember to bring an umbrella.
- Prepare for the Y10 & Y11 unit tests, make them a bit easier this time.
- Ask if he’s willing to try kissing (don’t ask directly, do some groundwork, speak slowly, don’t be nervous, if he’s too tired today, don’t bring it up).
Sui Cannong stared at the last item for a long time. Just imagining Ji Ling’s serious and cautious expression while typing the notes made him chuckle.
But it seemed that making plans wasn’t very useful. Even though he wrote to remember to bring an umbrella, they still got caught in a heavy rain.
Sui Cannong laughed and took a deep breath, deciding not to pry into Ji Ling’s privacy.
But just as he was about to close the notification and return to the game, another box popped up on the screen.
Sui Cannong froze.
【Reminder: Your long-term plan “Did you take a brave step today?” has not been checked off for five days. Would you like to restart your plan?】
Before Sui Cannong could react, the bathroom door opened.
Sui Cannong instinctively closed the notification, looked up, and saw Ji Ling walking out of the bathroom.
Ji Ling’s gaze fell on the phone in Sui Cannong’s hand.
Sui Cannong hesitated for a moment and said, “Your phone had a daily planning app notification that kept ringing. I couldn’t turn it off right away.”
He saw Ji Ling’s eyes widen slightly.
Ji Ling’s hair was still wet, and he ran a few steps to retrieve his phone. Sui Cannong noticed his expression was clearly flustered.
Sui Cannong suddenly realized that the “Did you take a brave step today?” plan he had seen must have been…
Sui Cannong’s heart sank.
He remained silent for a moment, then forced a light laugh, “Don’t worry, I was just running a dungeon. I didn’t touch anything, just accidentally saw your daily plan.”
Ji Ling had a habit of setting plans and had been using this app for a long time. The notification sound was set to remind him to check off his tasks.
Sui Cannong’s expression didn’t show any signs of being off, and Ji Ling realized he probably hadn’t seen the other plans.
After a while, Ji Ling shook his head, “It’s fine.”
He lowered his head and checked off all the tasks for the day, and the phone beeped, “All your tasks for today have been checked off.”
Ji Ling felt a bit awkward, turned off the sound, and put the phone away, sitting next to Sui Cannong.
When he looked up, he saw Sui Cannong staring at him.
“Why can you check off tasks that aren’t completed?” Sui Cannong said, “You’re fooling yourself, Teacher Ji.”
Ji Ling was taken aback.
Sui Cannong recalled, “Do some groundwork, don’t ask directly…”
Ji Ling’s eyes widened.
Sui Cannong: “Speak slowly, don’t be nervous…”
Ji Ling, embarrassed and flustered, said, “Stop it.”
Sui Cannong knew when to stop and laughed, waving his hand, “Okay, okay.”
But Sui Cannong’s heart was still tight. He paused and asked casually, “Besides the daily plan, what other features does this app have? What other plans do you make—”
Sui Cannong didn’t finish his sentence.
Because Ji Ling suddenly kissed him.
Ji Ling’s body pressed slightly on Sui Cannong’s thighs. He kissed a bit awkwardly, first tentatively touching Sui Cannong’s lips, then pausing before gently and innocently covering them again.
Perhaps because he had just taken a shower, Ji Ling’s body was warm, and his hair was damp. Sui Cannong felt his breathing become hot and heavy.
After a while, Ji Ling panted and lifted his head, pulling back a bit but still touching noses. Sui Cannong saw Ji Ling lower his eyes, his eyelashes trembling.
He heard Ji Ling say softly, “Check off successfully.”