Eight o'clock.
By now the rain had stopped and the clouds had cleared and the crescent moon was hanging in the night sky. There was a cool wind that slowly moved through the branches, shaking the yellowed leaves slightly. In Xinjiang, unlike the big cities, you can still see the stars when you look up at the sky.
In Lin Yuan's bedroom.
At this time they had already finished going through the test, and Ning Qing was slowly explaining the homework he needed to complete.
"We only have lessons three times a week, so you also need to make the most of the time you have in between. This is the vocabulary I want you to memorise, don't worry if you can't do all of it."
She handed him a small stack of paper then explained.
"There are some reading comprehension questions here I prepared before, try to answer it as well as you can. I'll prepare better ones next time, okay?"
Lin Yuan just nodded as he carefully put them away.
She glanced at him and then slowly got up, and placed her tote bag over her shoulder.
"Well, I should get going."
Hearing this Lin Yuan also quickly stood up and followed her out of the room and down the stairs. Walking past the kitchen he felt a little embarrassed.
I should've asked her if she wanted a drink or something.
"I already had coffee with your sister before you came." She explained while putting on her shoes by the door.
"What…oh okay."
Can this woman read minds?
Lin Yuan was standing by the door looking out at the dark night when he turned toward Ning Qing.
"How are you getting home?"
"Oh my neighbourhood is quite close, I can get there in fifteen minutes if I walk." Then she added, "Don't worry about me. Good night. Make sure you do the homework by our next lesson."
She smiled at him for a brief moment, then got up and turned to leave.
Lin Yuan didn't say anything and just watched her leaving figure for a moment and then gently closed the door.
The house fell into silence.
…
…
…
Ning Qing was walking briskly through the sidewalk holding her tote bag. The streets were quiet and occasionally cars would go by. It wasn't very late but this neighbourhood was far from the city centre, so it was not unusual to not see many people, especially on a week day. The moon was shining brightly unobscured by the clouds and there was a chilly wind that ruffled her bangs.
Feeling her cold skin, she rubbed her hands together.
I should start dressing more warmly, it's nearing the end of autumn soon.
Just as she was in her own thoughts she heard loud panting behind her and the sound of someone running. Turning around in confusion she was stunned to see Lin Yuan stumbling to stop just behind her.
He was breathing hard and his face was bright red. He had to take a few seconds to catch his breath before speaking.
"Hey."
Huh? That's it?
"What are you doing here? Did I forget something at your house?" Ning Qing had gotten out her initial surprise.
"No, no. I'm here to walk with you - no, I mean I'll walk you to your house."
"Oh, thank you for your concern." With a polite smile she said the same habitual words, "But it's fine you know, I usually walk home by myself."
This time Lin Yuan just looked at her silently for a few seconds with a serious face, and then insisted again.
"My sister would get mad at me if I didn't make sure you got home safe."
Ning Qing looked at his pale skin that was a little red and his clear innocent eyes and swallowed the words she was about to say.
Well it shouldn't be a problem.
She was about to reply when Lin Yuan continued.
"Anyway my sister told me to come. She said she messaged you?"
Ning Qing glanced at him and then took out her phone to look through her messages and sure enough there was a message sent a minute ago.
[Sorry Qingqing, I was too busy today, I wasn't thinking. It'll be too late when you finish lessons, especially since it's getting darker earlier, so just let my stinky brother drop you off from now on, okay?]
She wanted to say that she usually finished even later when she was still teaching at the cram school but she finally just replied in confirmation.
"Then I should say thank you…" Turning up to look at his thin figure that seemed exhausted after only running for a few minutes, she joked with a sly smile, "...though maybe I should be the one getting you home safe."
Hearing this Lin Yuan was about to get angry but the slight ringing in his ear made him focus on catching his breath. He glanced at her smiling eyes and could only mutter inaudibly between loud gasps.
"Did you say something?"
"No, no, I just said your welcome."
"Hahaha…" Ning Qing couldn't help but laugh out loud. This boy seemed a little more silly than she'd thought.
Lin Yuan felt a little red return to his face, so after a few more deep breaths, he quickly waved his hands and started walking forward again.
"Well, let's go."
Ning Qing looked at his stiff figure and jogged slightly to catch up with him. After walking in silence for a while Ning Qing couldn't help but speak up.
"By the way you haven't called me by my name yet, are you still being polite? You can just call me Sister Qing you know, I don't mind -"
"You haven't either."
"Huh?" Ning Qing glanced at the figure walking next to her with his eyes staring ahead.
"You haven't called me by name either."
"Oh."
Then there were no more words.
Lin Yuan was walking slightly behind Ning Qing, so he could look at her without turning his head. She was wearing a cardigan over her shoulders but it was slightly thin. But he couldn't offer her a jacket anyway since he'd forgotten to take his school jacket when he rushed out.
Well it's not like I wanted to either way…
She was walking to his left, facing the road, so walking behind her he was shielded from the cold night wind.
By the way shouldn't the guy be the one walking on that side?
"Hey, do you want to try another English question? There will be a punishment for getting it wrong though."
"What?" Lin Yuan hadn't expected that question so he was a little dazed after being shaken from his wandering thoughts.
[The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world.]
"Well it wasn't originally in English but it works either way. Do you know what it means?"
Lin Yuan tried to remember the phrase, she spoke slowly and enunciated the words carefully, but it didn't seem to make sense when he put it together. Actually he was also surprised that she didn't seem to have an accent, she sounded like a foreigner.
Ning Qing, seeing him thinking for a while, didn't urge him and just kept walking.
"I understand a little bit but I also don't at the same time - I know all the words but it sounds strange, is it a metaphor?"
"Well not too bad."
She repeated the lines again, this time in Chinese, and explained, "The bird is the human being and the egg shell is all the things that constrain you, keep you stagnant. It means that to grow you must break through the emotions that bind you, whether that's anger, laziness, ego…" she glanced at him and continued "...or fear, or guilt, or sorrow."
"Well that's just my interpretation, but you might get questions like this in the exam so you have to pay special attention."
"Oh…" Lin Yuan looked thoughtful, he felt like there was something strange about her words. After a while he shook himself out of his reverie, leaving behind thoughts that shouldn't have been there in the first place.
"What's the punishment then?"
"Hmmm…I'll tell you when we have our next lesson." She said meaningfully before turning into a small road.
Lin Yuan looked around the ancient courtyard houses that surrounded each side of the road and was surprised. Places like this should be very expensive.
So why was she working as a tutor? And she was working at a cram school before while studying…
It was only a short walk before they reached a medium size courtyard house with a stone gateway and ornate walls. It looked a little old from the outside but it was well maintained.
"Thanks for walking me all the way here." Ning Qing turned to face him, paused, and said slowly.
"Goodnight, Lin Yuan."
Lin Yuan looked at her beautiful face that was lit up softly by the moonlight and replied naturally.
"Goodnight…-"
He deliberately trailed off, smiling deeply with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Then waving his hand he jogged back up the path.
Looking back at his retreating figure Ning Qing stood by the gate and laughed.
He really is quite silly.