109: Love, marriage and the human heart

"Mm-hmm, okay."

After hanging up the phone, Song Shulu sat down at her vanity and began applying makeup, humming a song as she did so.

"What's up? You seem so happy," Ma Wanwan, her roommate, teased.

"I'm not happy."

"Not happy? Then why are you putting on makeup and humming a tune? Tell me, do you have a man on the side?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? What 'man on the side'? He's just a student."

"A student!? A student!! Shulu, it's not that kid from last time, is it?"

"Yes, it's him."

"Hehe, and you say your heart hasn't been moved. Do you really need to be this serious just to go out to dinner with a young boy?"

"What do you know? Even if he's a student, we should treat him with politeness."

"Yes, yes, yes, 'politeness.' It's best to wear a matching set of lingerie; that's the most polite way. Preferably purple, because as they say, purple is very charming~"

"You're impossible!"

The two of them messed around for a bit before finally stopping.

"When are you going to let me see what this boy looks like? I want to see how tasty this 'tender grass' is that can move the heart of a married woman like you."

"You call me married, but aren't you engaged too? Besides, you're always hanging around those athletic boys. I'm surprised your fiancé isn't worried about you."

"What can he do even if he isn't worried? We were introduced by a matchmaker. He's average-looking, average height, average wealth, and even average in bed. Everything about him is average. How can he compare to these vibrant male college students?"

"You can't say that. Boys are just boys, after all. They're immature..."

"Immature is good. Mature men like 18-year-olds; only immature men set their sights on us, who are approaching 30."

And both sides know what's going on. We're after their youth, and they're after our bodies. One side likes their energy, and the other side likes using that energy. As long as no one catches feelings, nobody loses out."

"Then you'd better be careful. Don't let your fiancé find out, or it'll be bad if he makes a scene at the school."

"Do you think he hasn't guessed? Do you think 'honest men' are really that honest?"

"I'm so beautiful, I have a great figure, and I teach dance at a university. Do you know what a dance teacher is in the eyes of those men? We're no different from the women in ancient brothels. In their eyes, who knows how wild we play."

"But even if they know we play wild, they'll still want to pay a high price to marry us. Why? It's just because we're beautiful. They think once we're married, we'll settle down and live a proper life."

Song Shulu fell silent. Her husband wasn't an 'honest man.' He was quite successful in his career, but he was rarely home. Sometimes, she even received calls from the police station. For the sake of her own reputation, she had been maintaining the appearance of a decent marriage to the outside world.

She thought back to when they first got married. Her husband had indeed loved her very, very much. But gradually, the pressure of work, the trivialities of life, and various family conflicts had worn that love away, and the passion they had then had also been mostly extinguished.

Now, all that remained was this superficial marriage. They didn't divorce because both sides wanted to save face.

"Wanwan, if you marry him like this, aren't you afraid he'll try to control you later?"

"He, control me? Haha, with his pathetic attitude, he just needs to obediently hand over his salary every month. If he tries to control me or interfere with my freedom, at worst, we'll just divorce."

"The divorce rate is so high these days, who's going to care about one more couple like us?"

It was unclear when it started, but society had become rather unfriendly to both men and women—or rather, it was unfriendly to those who weren't at the top. The men and women at the top enjoyed the gender dividends, while the people below could only slowly pick up their moral scraps, staring blankly at their own intact moral bottom lines.

"He's here, he's here! Is it that guy downstairs in the blue bmw?"

Ma Wanwan had been looking downstairs and noticed a blue bmw. A boy with a good-looking profile stepped out of the car.

"He looks pretty good! Shulu, if I were you, I'd put on that matching set of lingerie right now and devour him."

"Enough, stop talking nonsense," Song Shulu said as she grabbed a few items from the closet and went into the bathroom to change.

While she was changing, the bathroom door was suddenly pushed open. Ma Wanwan leaned against the doorframe, staring at the woman's body, and eventually burst out laughing.

"You little minx, I knew you were a closet flirt. You say you don't want to, but who is this matching purple set for?"

"I... I just picked it up at random."

"Right, right, right. 'At random,' 'at random.'"

Ma Wanwan laughed and closed the door again. It took Song Shulu a long time to calm down from the shock. She didn't know if her blushing was from the startle or because Ma Wanwan had hit the nail on the head.

But she felt that she shouldn't have those kinds of thoughts about Shen Qian. After all, she was married. Although her relationship with her husband wasn't great, no matter how bad it was, having an affair while married was immoral.

Her husband had already cheated goodness knows how many times, but he was a scumbag; she couldn't become like him.

Thinking of this, she reached for the clothes she had just taken off.

Downstairs, before Shen Qian could send a message to Song Shulu, another woman approached him.

"Hey handsome, waiting for someone?"

"Yes."

"Which department are you from? To think you'd actually ask a teacher out for dinner."

"Teacher, there are plenty of Counselors and students dating in this school. There's nothing wrong with me taking a respected teacher out for a meal, right?"

"Is it really just for a meal? You don't want to 'eat' anything else?" The woman's expression suddenly became gossipy.

"Teacher, do you know Teacher Song?"

"What a smart boy. You know, your Teacher Song put on a matching set of lingerie just for you."

Shen Qian was a bit appalled. How could this female teacher dare to say anything? This was out in public. Even though there weren't many people around, what if someone heard?

"Teacher, how should I address you?"

"Just call me Older Sister Ma."

"Older Sister Ma, you shouldn't tell me what Teacher Song is wearing. If I ever want to know, I'll naturally see for myself."

"But in public like this, you should also consider Teacher Song's reputation."

"'See for yourself,' tsk tsk. As expected of a handsome guy, so confident. I'm a dance teacher. Let's exchange contact info. Later, if there are any high-difficulty moves, I can teach you."

"This woman is something else!" Shen Qian thought to himself as he exchanged contact info with her. At that moment, Song Shulu also came down. Seeing Ma Wanwan next to Shen Qian, she immediately grew anxious and hurried her pace.

"Don't worry, I won't steal him from you. Go on, enjoy yourself."

She spoke very suggestively. Shen Qian didn't mind, but Song Shulu's face turned red.

"Wanwan, you didn't say anything weird, did you?"

In the car, Song Shulu asked cautiously.

"Nothing much. So her name is Ma Wanwan? I didn't even know her name until now. She really likes to joke around."