She Is So Hard To Get - Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Hooking Up
The intense sunlight finally broke through the clouds, illuminating Huai’an City after days of gloom. It streamed through the window gap, casting a golden streak of light onto the black hair of the girl on the large white bed.
The landline phone on the bedside table rang incessantly, finally being picked up at the last moment.
A woman’s voice came through the receiver: “Hello, this is the hotel front desk, providing your wake-up service. It’s 9:00 AM, and your reserved breakfast will be delivered to your room in ten minutes. Is there anything else you require?”
Ming You, awakened, was confused. When had she asked for a wake-up call? When had she ordered breakfast??
“No!” She abruptly put down the receiver and flipped over to sit up.
She looked down; her clothes were perfectly intact. Her hair, which had been in a ponytail, was loose, and the hair tie, along with her ID card, was placed on the cabinet.
She scanned the room indifferently. She was the only one in the quiet room. Other than the extra hair tie and ID, nothing on the cabinets or tables had been moved. There was no sign of a second person having stayed there.
But she knew very well that last night wasn’t a dream, and she had not checked into this room alone.
She picked up the phone by her pillow. A whole night had passed, and there were still no new messages she wanted to see. For two whole years, the “seed of love” she had sown with high hopes and carefully nurtured had rotted in the soil before it could even sprout. It was all false joy, an empty gain.
…
At noon, Ming You, dressed in a new outfit, arrived alone at one of the city’s few five-star hotels.
It was the annual National Day Golden Week holiday, and there was a notably high number of weddings taking place. The hotel entrance was a scene of great cheer.
Two conspicuous wedding banquet signboards were placed outside the main entrance. Ming You instantly recognized the bride on the left one.
The woman in the photo was wearing a traditional Chinese red wedding dress. She and the groom, also in matching attire, were each holding one end of a red embroidered ball, smiling happily while gazing at each other.
She had always believed the woman’s kindness to her was special, but in reality, the woman had never explicitly reciprocated her feelings or promised her anything. All the emotional entanglement was her unilateral fantasy—it simply did not exist.
With heavy steps, she entered the hotel. The blessings of “Happy Wedding” and “May you be together for a hundred years” were incessant. But there was no joy on Ming You’s face; her expression was more suited for attending a funeral—the funeral of her youth.
She bypassed the beaming groom and his groomsmen, rounded the sign-in desk, and after asking a server, found one of the resting rooms.
With a soft creak, the two people inside turned their heads in response. Ming You stood by the door with a smile on her face, enjoying the bride’s obvious and inescapable panic.
The sight of the bride’s immaculate white wedding dress stung her eyes, and the bride’s expression stung her heart. Her red lips parted slightly: “Teacher He, long time no see.”
The woman she called “Teacher He” was one of the stars of today’s wedding: He Huan.
There was an older, slightly plump woman in a velvet qipao in the room, smiling and talking about something. He Huan pulled her arm and whispered a few words in her ear as she leaned over, and the woman then walked toward the door.
Passing Ming You, she paused to look her over and complimented: “What a nice young girl. Pretty and sensible, coming all the way back for your teacher’s wedding after all these years of college. Alright, you two talk for a bit, but don’t take too long, mind the time. Don’t miss the auspicious hour.”
Ming You ignored her.
Once the room was left with just her and He Huan, she walked closer, step by step.
“I only realized today that you’re so afraid of me. So afraid you didn’t dare be honest with me about dating and marriage, so afraid that you turn pale the moment you see me, and you even wished I had slept with someone else last night, right?”
Hearing Ming You use the words “slept with,” He Huan opened her mouth but had no defense.
She suppressed her panic and adopted her teacher’s demeanor: “I am not afraid of you. Although today is not the best time to talk, it’s reached this point, and I should make things clear to you. Ming You, you are an adult now. Whatever decisions you make, you must be responsible for your actions. Others have no right to interfere and certainly cannot bear responsibility for you. As for us, I don’t owe you anything, and I’m not afraid of you. If you hadn’t said those things just now, perhaps we could still be friends. But as it is, we cannot be friends. I just hope you will—”
“—hope I never bother you again, hope I never appear in front of you again, is that it?”
Ming You closed in on He Huan, swept the cosmetics off the table, pressed her right hand onto the tabletop, and used her left hand to hook He Huan’s chin, pressing her thumb to force the red lips slightly open.
“For the past few years, I gave you respect and followed the rules. But what about you? How many lies did you make up to deceive me? I actually believed you, thought you genuinely understood and cared about me, that you would wait for me… He Huan, seeing me like an idiot, obediently following your every word, gives you a great sense of accomplishment, doesn’t it?”
Ming You’s smile was scornful, and she grew bolder: “The wedding is about to start. Before you go on stage, don’t you want to taste something different from kissing a man?”
The accused woman’s mind went blank.
She forgot to resist.
Just as the girl said, she had always been respectful, never aggressive, and had never humiliated her so mercilessly with words.
The girl who was usually so docile only in front of her was out of control.
He Huan’s eyes full of disappointment, shame, and resentment only fueled the flames, burning away all of Ming You’s rationality. Just as she was about to go all the way, the retaliatory kiss was cut short by the sound of high heels approaching from afar.
With another soft creak, a woman’s voice came from the doorway: “Teacher He, there are twenty minutes left…”
The one who pushed open the door this time was the bridesmaid.
Ming You had already dropped her overbearing posture. Facing the door, she rested her hands on the table’s edge behind her, her back against the waist-high vanity. Her right leg was slightly bent, toe touching the floor, her expression relaxed.
He Huan’s back was to the door. She quickly picked up a powder puff and applied makeup in the mirror.
The items Ming You had swept onto the floor were mostly covered by the lift of He Huan’s wedding dress skirt.
After a quick, feigned touch-up around her eyes, He Huan put down the puff, turned to Yan Ningxi, and smiled slightly: “Teacher Yan, you’ve come at a good time. Let me introduce you. This is Ming You, a former student of ours from a few years ago. She’s currently in her junior year at Hengyuan Media University.”
Looking at the woman who had ruined her “good thing,” the surprise in Ming You’s eyes flashed and was gone.
The city of Huai’an, with its eight million people, was truly small.
And, what a coincidence.
“Hello, Teacher Yan!” Ming You composed herself, switched to a standing-at-attention pose, and gave Yan Ningxi a proper, respectful ninety-degree bow, full of sincerity, looking entirely like a good girl.
“Hello,” Yan Ningxi caught the girl’s ambiguous smile. Fortunately, she was always composed and self-possessed; no matter the inner turmoil, she remained outwardly impassive.
“I haven’t seen Teacher He in a while, so I made a special trip to catch up.” Ming You didn’t look at He Huan again. She walked naturally to Yan Ningxi’s side and stopped. She bent down and picked up a luxury lipstick, whose cap had fallen off, from the floor. She twisted out the bullet to examine it, then stared at Yan Ningxi’s lips and said, “Teacher Yan’s lipstick shade is much prettier.”
The beautiful woman in front of her didn’t have the typical universally admired oval face. There was a small mole of moderate color on her right cheek, level with her earlobe. Her peach-colored lips were neither thin nor full, with a delicate cupids bow on the center of her upper lip and a natural, slight upward curve at the corners of her mouth.
Her inky black hair was pinned up, with only two gently curled strands framing her face. The belted tulle dress that just grazed her knees and silver rhinestone high heels perfectly embodied a mature, elegant, and intellectual beauty.
Ming You tossed the lipstick into the trash can in a parabolic arc and, smiling, requested: “I’m done catching up with Teacher He. Could I trouble Teacher Yan to show me the way to the banquet hall?”
Yan Ningxi didn’t commit one way or the other.
Looking at the girl’s retreating back, He Huan sighed in relief: “The students are all seated in one area. Teacher Yan, you’re more familiar with the venue. Take her. It’s not far, just two or three minutes. It won’t cause a delay.”
Since He Huan had spoken, Yan Ningxi had no choice but to agree. She opened the door and said to the girl, “Follow me.”
The girl moved closer and said with a laugh: “That’s not what the pretty lady said last night.”
…
In the wedding banquet hall, Ming You and Yan Ningxi maintained a half-step distance between them, one on the left, one on the right. Servers bustled back and forth, pushing carts or carrying trays to serve the tables. A voice behind them called out, “Excuse us, coming through.”
Ming You seized the opportunity. She quickly stepped to the side and naturally put her hand on the woman’s waist, pulling her to the edge: “Careful.”
Caught off guard by the hand around her waist, Yan Ningxi lost her footing and even stepped on Ming You’s foot.
Ming You’s expression didn’t change, and she held her tighter.
Yan Ningxi was wearing a pale purple one-shoulder tulle dress with a matching scarf tied around her neck, which was originally meant to be worn as a sash at the waist. Ming You’s left hand was on her waist, and her right hand was on her bare right shoulder. Yan Ningxi didn’t need Ming You’s help; she could have avoided the cart herself.
After the server with the cart passed, Yan Ningxi said “Thank you.” Just as she moved to walk away, Ming You put her arm around her again with one hand: “Don’t move, the scarf is caught.”
Their bodies were pressed closer than they had been last night.
In a public place, tugging and pulling would easily draw onlookers and baseless speculation, so Yan Ningxi reluctantly complied for the moment.
The scarf being caught was a lie. Ming You played the act perfectly, then pretended to loop her fingers around one end of the scarf on the woman’s neck, gave a slight tug, and skillfully used one hand to tighten the knot: “All set.”
But the hand around Yan Ningxi’s waist didn’t loosen, and Ming You’s warm breath drew closer to Yan Ningxi’s ear: “It must have hurt last night, didn’t it? Isn’t the pretty lady going to bite back?”
Hearing this, Yan Ningxi’s body stiffened. Having been provoked again and again, she struggled to maintain her composure.
The girl’s words and actions were utterly frivolous, lacking the polite submission she displayed moments ago in the resting room, and showing no regard for her “teacher” status.
Feeling discomfort both physically and mentally, Yan Ningxi took two small steps away, her face hardening as she severely rebuked: “You’re a university student who’s had ten-plus years of schooling. Do I need to teach you the meaning of ‘respect your teacher’ again?”
“But I clearly bowed to you a moment ago, didn’t I?” The girl laughed dismissively. “Besides, I’m not a student at No. 3 High School anymore, and you’re not my teacher. Isn’t one ninety-degree bow enough to show ‘respect your teacher’? Furthermore, last night, it was the pretty lady who… made the first move and flirted with me. Hey, pretty lady, are you… going to pretend nothing happened just because you slept on it?”