Chapter Twelve: The Truant Student

After finishing the tofu pudding, a lingering taste remained in his nose and mouth, a sensation both intoxicating and troublesome. What if it affected the impression he was about to make on the person he was going to meet? At his age, still single and not yet at the stage to give up on finding a partner, he recalled the yogurt Chen Yunjin had gifted him. On a whim, before leaving, Gu Yin stopped by a store and bought two bags of Jiaobao’s original-flavored green yogurt. Only after finishing them did he start driving.

Perhaps it was just an illusion, but entering autumn and winter, the sunlight seemed brighter and more piercing than in spring and summer. Or maybe it was the drop in temperature that made the warmth it gave feel more comforting.

No. 1 High School was the best high school in the small county town, without equal. In the past, children from nearby areas attending here were already the pride of their families. Unfortunately, a few years ago, rumors of the principal’s corruption and bribery surfaced, and parents were afraid to send their children here anymore. Gradually, the school declined.

By eight o’clock, most students had already arrived, so there was hardly anyone at the school gate. Even the breakfast vendors were packing up to go home.

The chilly autumn wind swept past a girl in a hoodie standing in the shadows, adding to the air of loneliness around her.

Next to her was a slightly overweight woman, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, mumbling to herself: “Who is this person? We agreed to meet at eight, and yet she got the time wrong…”

“Last night she even said… ‘dress up nicely,’ right?”

“Ridiculous!”

The hoodie-clad girl remained silent, her upper body wrapped tightly in the gray hoodie, her face buried in the shadow of the hood, as if sunlight could never reach her.

While the woman kept muttering, Gu Yin arrived in his recently accident-damaged BYD Qin. The overweight woman, already doubtful of his reliability, launched into a tirade at him.

“Are you even going to keep teaching driving?” Gu Yin sounded a little impatient.

“What’s your attitude?! Do you even know who you’re teaching? You…” The woman continued grumbling.

“Enough, Mengmeng.” The slender girl in the hoodie finally spoke, interrupting the woman, then opened the back door and got in.

Gu Yin glanced at her for a moment. The girl was tall, about 1.7 meters, and sitting in the cramped car space, her legs clad in slim jeans looked like two curved blades.

Despite the hoodie’s looseness, there was a slight rise at her chest, suggesting that if she wore fitted clothes, her figure would be stunning.

“What are you staring at?!” the woman named Mengmeng snapped again.

Gu Yin ignored her, casually pulling out the unfinished bag of Jiaobao yogurt from his pocket and tossing it to the girl.

“Sorry, I misread the time. Here, this is my apology.”

With that, he started driving away.

Under the wide hood, the girl stared blankly at the green fermented milk pouch, lost in thought. After a long while, she reached into her pocket with her delicate white hand, took it, and tucked it inside.

It’s worth mentioning that Gu Yin was live streaming at the time. When the camera on his chest caught sight of the girl, several viewers were puzzled:

“Why is she bundled up so tightly?”

“Is she autistic?”

“No idea, but she looks like she’s hiding something.”

“Hope she’s not ugly, haha…”

...

“I’ll take you to register first…”

The car felt a bit stuffy, so Gu Yin cracked open a window slightly and, glancing at the two behind him in the rearview mirror, asked:

“Are both of you signing up?”

“Just me,” the girl in the hoodie answered without turning her head, staring out the window.

Her voice was crisp and distinctive, quite pleasant—thousands of times better than the overweight woman’s.

Glancing a few more times in the mirror, Gu Yin couldn’t see her face clearly under the hood, nor tell if she had dressed up properly. He asked:

“Did you see the message I sent you last night?”

He meant the one about “dressing up nicely.”

“Yeah,” the girl nodded.

“So… did you put on makeup this morning?” Gu Yin pressed.

“…” She remained silent.

“Hey, Coach,” the overweight woman Mengmeng complained, “whether we wear makeup or not is our business. Who says you have to wear makeup to learn driving?”

What right does a driving instructor have to demand female students dress up?

Is it just to please your own eyes?

Gu Yin shrugged indifferently and didn’t argue further. Whether they wore makeup or not was their choice; after all, they’d be the ones regretting it later.

...

They drove in silence until they reached the driving school.

The driving school, called Chuanda Driving School, was well-known locally. It was located in a rather remote village and covered over a hundred acres. The area for practicing the second part of the driving test alone had seven or eight separate sections marked out.

Learning to drive required a good practice area for the second test—test three was less critical, mostly on regular roads. A cramped test area with three to four instructors’ students practicing together meant no efficiency at all.

Chuanda Driving School excelled in this regard. Although remote, the grounds were spacious and quiet, with few outsiders to disturb them. This was the reason the girl in the hoodie had chosen this place.

“Did you bring your ID?” Gu Yin asked as the car stopped inside the school. “I’ll take you to register.”

“Mm.”

The girl nodded, and the assistant handed over their IDs and registration fees to Gu Yin.

In the early morning, the school was lively with people and cars of all ages. Some practice fields were already in use.

Gu Yin took a cup of water from his thermos and then led the two to the registration desk.

It’s worth mentioning that as they registered, a young instructor in a dark blue uniform entered, carrying his own thermos.

Seeing Gu Yin accompanied by two women—the one in the hoodie with a decent figure—the young instructor glanced at them a few times and teased:

“Oh, Gu Yin, new students?”

“Yeah.”

Gu Yin nodded in acknowledgment.

The young instructor was Ma Jixiang, the nephew of the school principal and also an instructor here.

His reputation wasn’t great. Most of his students were young women. Recently, a male student even complained to the principal that Ma only let female students practice driving, while the male students barely got a turn.

He often had others teach his students for him…

Perhaps noticing Gu Yin had brought two female students, Ma’s eyes gleamed mischievously. After scrutinizing the girl in the hoodie a few times, he said to Gu Yin:

“You seem to have plenty of students already and can’t handle them all. Why not ask if these two want to train with me?”

Without waiting for a reply, he turned to the girl in the hoodie and said:

“Hey, beautiful, Coach Gu here doesn’t have the best reputation. I saw his car got into an accident when I arrived. You might not feel comfortable training with him, right?”

As he spoke, he leaned closer under her hood, as if trying to catch a glimpse of her face through the shadow.

In any case, it was hardly polite.

...