Teacher Tao had some recollection of Chen Hao because he was the best-looking guy in her class. She remembered from his profile that he seemed to be from some small county in Shancheng.
Are parents nowadays really this cautious? Did it have to be so ridiculous?
She probed further, "I actually know Yifei too. How about I give her a call and ask?"
With a student like this in her class, she needed to know as much as possible to handle things properly.
Chen Hao was somewhat exasperated. Asking for leave could turn into such a complicated ordeal. He took out his phone and said, "I'll make the call."
"Uncle, I'm on my way to pick you up. I'll be there in about ten minutes," the young girl said, answering Chen Hao's call while driving.
"Sister Yifei, I'm currently asking my teacher for leave regarding our movie. The teacher would like to understand the situation a bit better," Chen Hao said respectfully.
A movie? What movie?!
Though a bit bewildered, the young girl caught on that Uncle must have someone else right beside him; otherwise, this guy would never call her "Sister Yifei."
"Little Mouse, do you want me to come help you ask for leave?" Regardless of the reason, she decided to take advantage of the wording first.
"Teacher Tao is right here. Why don't you talk to her?" With that, Chen Hao handed the phone to Tao Enran.
Teacher Tao found herself in a tight spot. In truth, she wasn't all that familiar with the Fairy Sister. As catty as Jiang Yiyan was, she wasn't wrong—the young girl really hadn't spent much time at school during her student days. She only hung out with people from her own class; she really wasn't close with people from other classes or grades.
"Senior Sister Yifei, I am Tao Enran, Chen Hao's homeroom teacher. I heard from him that you all have a movie to shoot, and he needs to take a leave of absence for a while, so I wanted to find out more about the situation."
She deliberately called the young girl "Senior Sister" to subtly remind her that she, too, was an alumna of the academy.
"Ah, hello Teacher Tao! We are indeed preparing a movie, and I'll be at the school soon. Let's talk when I get there."
However, the young girl completely missed these subtle nuances. Hearing the title "homeroom teacher," she instinctively addressed her as Teacher in return.
If she saw Tao Enran in person, she might look familiar, but just hearing the name, she really didn't have much of an impression.
After hanging up the phone, Chen Hao thought for a moment and said, "Senior Sister is arriving soon, I'll go meet her."
He had expected the Fairy Sister to pick up on the cue for such a small matter, but she was a bit airheaded, so he still needed to brief her beforehand.
Chen Hao met the Fairy Sister at the academy entrance. The moment she stepped out of the car, she asked with great excitement, "A movie? What movie? Are you going to shoot a movie?"
"I actually need to take leave to go to Hong Kong to trade stocks, so I used shooting a movie as an excuse." Chen Hao still wanted to salvage his image a bit; he didn't want to seem like someone who changed his mind every single day, as that would be too unreliable.
"Ah, then once you've asked for leave, won't you be exposed if there's no movie?"
"We can just shoot a movie along the way. We can discuss the details later—just help me smooth things over with the leave for now."
Hearing that there was a movie to make, the young girl immediately patted her chest to show it was no problem.
But then she asked naively, "If the teacher asks about the plot of the movie later, what should I say?"
"Just say the script is still in the confidentiality stage, that it's a crime-themed commercial film, and that we need to shoot scenes in Hong Kong."
"Oh, oh!" The young girl nodded repeatedly. She was a big star now and worked on major projects, so indeed, she didn't need to explain too much to a teacher.
"Also, my teacher is from the Class of '03. She's a junior one year behind you. Don't call her Teacher; it makes you sound like total strangers, which is so awkward."
"Ah, a junior from the Class of '03 is already a teacher?" The young girl's focus was somewhat peculiar."Our teacher is Tao Enran. She said she knows you. Even if you don't know her, just pretend you do and call her Sister Tao. You're younger anyway."
"No way, I'll call her Enran. I'm a senior, why should I call her 'sister'?" The young girl loved to split hairs over forms of address.
"Suit yourself, as long as you don't follow my lead and call her 'teacher'." He was truly getting a headache dealing with a girl who was completely oblivious to subtext.
Walking and chatting like this, braving the gazes of Chen Hao's classmates, they strode openly through the campus and arrived at the teacher's office.
When the young girl saw Tao Enran, she recognized her—she just couldn't remember her name. But she wasn't completely clueless; she walked up affectionately and greeted her with a warm "Enran," acting as if they were old friends.
Tao Enran's acting was even better, as she affectionately called her "Xixi," and the two of them left Chen Hao aside and started chatting. In truth, now that Fairy Sister was here, Chen Hao's leave was naturally as good as approved; the specific movie didn't matter all that much anymore.
While the two of them were keeping the teacher busy in the office, Chen Hao's roommates were surrounded by their classmates, all trying to find out what kind of relationship Chen Hao had with Fairy Sister.
The young girl was the school's most iconic senior student, the wildly popular international Liu. Just now, the two of them had walked through the campus together, chatting and laughing without avoiding anyone.
The guys didn't know what to say either. What kind of relationship? They wanted to know, too!
"Senior Sister Yifei even came to pick him up for dinner last night, but Hao won't tell us what their relationship is. You'd better go ask him yourselves." Tao Yiran, the fourth in the dorm, had a quick tongue and quickly spilled the beans about Chen Hao and Liu Yifei's date.
"What do Hao's parents do? Do you guys know?" While the boys in the class were still envying Chen Hao, some of the shrewder girls were already inquiring about his family background."Haozi said his family runs a small diner, just an ordinary family. I think there's something fishy," Tao Yiran said, looking somewhat unsure.
The girls rolled their eyes in unison. Even an idiot could tell there was something fishy—could this possibly be an ordinary family?
Could he be the young master of some chain restaurant empire?
While everyone was buzzing with discussion about Chen Hao and his mysterious background, he had already taken a leave of absence and once again left the school campus as a pair with the Fairy Sister.
By this time, students from other grades had also finished classes, and the school grounds were getting crowded. There were even some who recognized the young girl and came up to greet her.
She responded with poised grace. Some of the closer acquaintances even stopped to chat for a bit, which naturally included introducing Chen Hao as a younger brother she had known for many years.
On the surface, Chen Hao responded with bashful shyness, while inwardly he was ranting like crazy.
A younger brother, huh? Just you wait, sooner or later I'll make you call me daddy.
The young girl was doing it entirely on purpose. She wasn't actually all that outgoing and enthusiastic. But taking advantage of Chen Hao in front of others and watching him forced to play the obedient little brother in public brought her endless delight.
Besides, this way she could stake her claim in advance, just in case this guy went around flirting recklessly in the academy.
Although the two of them were not in a romantic relationship, the young girl had long since regarded this uncle as food already in her bowl, and she had no intention of letting anyone else share a bite.
Yet she was clearly lacking in experience. Instead of achieving the desired effect, such behavior actually made it all the easier for Chen Hao to flirt.
Chen Hao, who should have remained utterly obscure, now saw his appeal skyrocket in the eyes of the female students precisely because of her.
As for staking a claim? Who cared about that?
Wouldn't poaching the Fairy Sister's man be a matter of immense pride?