The moment Xu Mey placed the phone against her ear an alluring but lazy voice rang out, "Dear student, I heard you were at the hospital last night." It wasn’t a question and Xu Mey knew it very well.

  "If you know that then you must know why I was there, Sensei," A smile was lingering on her lips curling them upwards.

  "I know about the allergy and I also know you went to Xu Residence yesterday. So, I don’t have to think much to figure out anything else. What I want to know is how are you?" The voice transmitting from the other side felt like feathers tickling her ears. She still couldn’t figure out how a person like her Sensei had such an amazing voice.

  Whether it was the voice texture or the manner of speech, it was so poised, lazy and delicate yet made one feel cold shivers running up their spine.

  Xu Mey sighed as weariness was overcoming her. "I’m fine…… Just tired."

  "Tired? When did I accept such a weak disciple like you?" The words were spoken with irritation but Xu Mey could hear the underlying concern. Her Sensei was indirectly asking for the reason of her tiredness.

  Xu Mey chuckled. "Sensei?"

  "Mm……"

  "I had a nightmare last night."

  She heard some shuffling at the other end. "It’s been almost over a year. What triggered it?"

  Xu Mey recounted the discussion with Ye Jie without hiding anything. Then she depicted the entire nightmare with perfect details. After that, she had to narrate the story of today’s events with her mother-in-law.

  "’I won’t be caged!’" The voice at the other end repeated her words. "We like to cage the beautiful birds because ugly ones are not worth much. And we love to cage our ugly sides while flaunting our beauty. Such a weird world we live in."

  "Why do you care about his mother? Why does it matter whether she likes you or not?" After a silence came a curt voice.

  "Sensei, she’s my husband’s mother after all. I have to impress her." She took a pause to think, "Earlier, she seemed nice to me. I don’t know what changed suddenly." That was bothering her all this time. For a girl who never had the love of a mother, she really wanted a good relationship with her mother-in-law. But now, it seemed impossible.

  "My dearest disciple, how can you be so gullible even after everything you went through? Don’t even dare to forget, even a rose has thorns much less a human." Came the reply. "I taught you before, this world is two-faced. Beauty and ugliness are only said to not co-exist. But in reality, we all live with beauty and ugliness hiding within ourselves."

  "But I only saw beauty in you," Xu Mey said.

  She heard a hearty laugh from the other side making her shake her head. "Are you sure, you’re my first disciple? How can you be so credulous? I have beauty? Why didn’t I get the notice?" Xu Mey rolled her eyes at the mocking tone. "My dear dear dear disciple, don’t always fall for the deceitful roses. Trust this Lord, a cactus that shows it’s ugliness is a lot better than a rose which displays its beauty."

  "I can’t possibly call you an ugly person. Sensei, you saved me."

  "Oh no, my dearest…… I didn’t save you…… I just showed you a way to save yourself…… As I said back then if the darkness is within you than look for a small light outside. Every day, find that light to show you a way out of that darkness." The calm, languid voice spoke.

  She remembered those words clearly. She also remembered what she asked after hearing that, "Sensei, do you look for light as well?"

  The reply was, "Nope…… I don’t need a light to show me my way. I’ve befriended the darkness. Now, this darkness shows the world to me."

  Coming back to the present, Xu Mey said, "Ye Jie asked me who taught me how to cook?" There was amusement in her voice.

  "Did you tell him that you learned it to bribe this Lord and in the end, this Lord was the one who had to teach you as well. Ironically, the person who wanted the bribe had to first teach you how to give that bribe, Wow!" Xu Mey chuckled at this. She had to pester her Sensei to help her with something and being the biggest foodie on the planet, that person said, "Give me a bribe first."

  Xu Mey had to learn how to cook but in the end, she made her sensei teach her how to cook as well. That was the reason, she didn’t like cooking for others. She learned it for her Sensei, so she believed only that person should get to eat her food.

  "Hehe…… Sensei…… I still learned, didn’t I?"

  "Yes, you did……" There was silence for a minute. "Did you say that your husband was about to argue with his mother for you but you stopped him?"

  "Yeah…… Why are asking that again?" She scowled.

  "Because I think that’s where your answer lies."

  "Huh?"

  "Use your brain, my foolish disciple." Xu Mey pouted at the choice of words. "Lose the frown and that adorable pout." Xu Mey opened her mouth to ask but the reply came before that, "Did you forget? I know you better than you know yourself." Xu Mey had to nod in agreement at this. "Now, what I think is that your mother-in-law was fine until you were an unimportant person. But today, she saw how Ye Jie wanted to defend you in front of her. So, she became hostile towards you."

  "That seems unlikely……" Xu Mey was doubtful.

  "You don’t believe this Lord? Humph! Think yourself, he had an argument with his mother for his ex and suddenly his ex broke up with him and even left the country without telling him. Now, he was going to argue because of you, so she became rude and uncaring towards him. Doesn’t it seem fishy?" After a pause, "It’s clear your mother-in-law has some authority issues. She wants to keep Ye Jie as her obedient son and whoever enters his life should also be like him."

  Before she could say anything in reply, the call was disconnected. ’Sensei is throwing tantrums now. I was just a tiny bit doubtful but really Sensei can’t handle it when someone doesn’t show trust.’ She thought to herself.