Chapter 25
Gu Qingci drove directly and brought her back downstairs to her home.
Fu Jing held the seat belt in her hand, trying to throw a tantrum and act shamelessly. But before she could even decide what to do—
Gu Qingci had already unfastened her own seat belt, folded her arms, and glanced at her sideways. “If you’re planning to cry, make a scene, and throw a tantrum next, Sister will get out of the car and give the car to you.”
Fu Jing paused. “…Thank you, Sister. No need.”
She pressed her lips together, unfastened her seat belt, and held the car door handle, dawdling. “Then don’t forget. Tomorrow, you have to go eat with me.”
That reluctant expression on her face
made her look like a child in the youngest class on her first day of kindergarten, wanting to be independent and sensible, yet constantly turning back.
“All right.” Gu Qingci could not help laughing. She fastened her seat belt again and promised, “Once I’m done being busy, I’ll come pick you up early.”
Her tone carried a smile, with a few traces of unconscious indulgence.
The moon hid behind thick clouds.
Fu Jing’s eyes curved with a smile. She waved and immediately declared, “Sister, my dreams tonight will definitely be full of you.”
“…”
—
The next day was very leisurely.
Fu Jing hid in her office and enjoyed the air conditioning. She used her computer to search for articles she could reference, printed them all out, and placed them into a folder, preparing to finish reading them that afternoon.
Suddenly, she received a message from Tao Xian.
Tao Xian asked whether she was at school and if they could eat together.
Fu Jing looked at the sun outside the window, took an umbrella, and went to the school gate to pick up Tao Xian.
The school security guards generally did not stop people.
But Tao Xian really did not dress like a student at all. She wore sunglasses and a floral camisole set that exposed both waist and legs, and the sandals on her feet sparkled brightly.
She wound a lock of her own curly hair around her finger and waited for Fu Jing in boredom. From head to toe, four big words were written all over her: member of society.
Nine out of ten boys who passed by turned back to look at her.
Fu Jing had no choice but to go over and intimately take her arm. Meeting the security uncle’s suspicious gaze, she said with conviction, “This is my Sister.”
Then she quickly pulled Tao Xian inside.
“Sister Anjiu, what made you think of coming all this way to find me?” Fu Jing was still quite happy. “It just so happens I have nothing to do this afternoon. Where do you want to eat?”
Tao Xian was especially honest. “It wasn’t on purpose. The museum next door to you is actually closed today. I looked at the map and saw there wasn’t really anything good to eat nearby, so I came to find you along the way. I heard Songjiang University’s cafeteria is pretty good.”
Fu Jing: “…Fine. I’ll take you to the cafeteria.”
She looked at Tao Xian’s pretty outfit. “Are you going to the museum alone? Sister Anjiu, did someone stand you up?”
After a long silence,
Tao Xian furrowed her brows slightly. “Why don’t you guess the opposite possibility?”
While eating,
Tao Xian chatted with her for a few sentences and mentioned that her middle school had been a school for migrant workers’ children. It had no advantages, except that the food in the cafeteria was cheap and delicious, even tastier than the fly restaurants outside.
“Back then, as soon as class ended, everyone rushed to the cafeteria except Gu Qingci. She seemed like she didn’t care at all whether she was eating sweet-and-sour pork ribs or sweet-and-sour shredded potatoes. She was especially detached from ordinary life. Later, I found out that she…”
Tao Xian’s words stopped, and she quickly picked up a chopstickful of meat and stuffed it into her mouth.
Fu Jing twirled noodles with her fork and asked, “Why did you stop? So you and my Your Highness went to the same middle school? Were you classmates?”
Tao Xian gave a hum of agreement and quickly changed the subject. “Can I go sit in on a class with you later? Sister never went to college and wants to experience it.”
“No problem.” After Fu Jing agreed, she hesitated a little and said, “But I also don’t know what class will be taught later. I was only planning to randomly find a classroom and sit in on a big lecture.”
Tao Xian did not understand the exact meaning and did not care either. She waved her hand. “Any class is the same. If I asked you to find a class I could understand, wouldn’t that be making things difficult for you?”
“It’s not difficult. I can take you to Qin Zijin’s College of Humanities to sit in on a class. Although I don’t understand those literary things, Sister Anjiu definitely can.”
“…Forget it. I don’t want to truly end up unable to understand even Chinese.”
—
After walking for a while, they still arrived at the teaching building of the College of Science.
They went straight to the floor with the large classrooms on the second floor.
Very experienced, Fu Jing pushed open a door. Seeing that there were already a few scattered students sitting in the classroom and that the air conditioning was on, it meant there would be a class in this room later.
So she brought Tao Xian in.
Tao Xian chose a seat at the very edge of the last row.
Afterward, many students came in one after another. Strangely, almost everyone chose seats in the front rows. Only those who arrived later and saw the front filled would choose to sit in the back.
Fu Jing focused on reading her paper, occasionally using a pen to underline a few things and make simple marks.
Beside her, Tao Xian used her phone to take selfies.
The preparatory bell rang.
As if remembering something, Fu Jing reached into her bag and took out a few pieces of candy, placing them on Tao Xian’s desk. “You can eat them if you get bored later.”
Her tone sounded as if she were coaxing a child.
Tao Xian stared at the colorful gummies in front of her, the corner of her lips twitching. “Won’t your teacher get angry?”
Fu Jing said with certainty, “We’re so far from the podium. We won’t be seen.”
After saying that, she continued lowering her head to read the paper.
Beside her, Tao Xian was silent for a few seconds before suddenly saying softly, “A woman holding a pointer carries her own light, no matter how ordinary she is… Sometimes, I’m honestly really envious of them.”
Fu Jing sensed that her tone was a little downcast and bleak.
She could not help lifting her eyes to look at the podium. “Sister Anjiu, you need to have some confidence…”
Her gaze landed on the podium. The woman standing there was organizing her handouts, her brows and eyes lowered. Her long black hair was casually coiled behind her head, revealing a fair and slender neck. With a plain short-sleeved shirt and light blue jeans, she looked more like a student substitute-teaching for a professor than a professor herself.
If not for how dignified her bearing was.
Standing there, her cool appearance was very capable of suppressing others.
It also made people unable to look away.
Fu Jing blurted out in a daze, “How is she ordinary?! This is Professor Tong Mingyue, the goddess of our entire College of Science!”
After a few seconds, Tao Xian said faintly, “I didn’t mean she was ordinary.”
“…”
Fu Jing also reacted and laughed awkwardly. “What I mean is, Professor Tong Mingyue isn’t an ordinary teacher. Sister Anjiu, don’t belittle yourself.”
After she finished speaking, she even casually took back the candy on the desk.
She muttered softly, “Eating candy in class is a little impolite. Better eat it after class.”
Tao Xian: “…”
Tong Mingyue finished organizing the handouts and, before the class bell rang, asked two students in the front row to help pass them out.
They passed the sheets along the seats one after another.
Very soon, they reached the back.
Tao Xian’s outfit and aura made it obvious at a glance that she was a member of society sitting in on the class.
The classmate’s outstretched hand paused. Because she was not sure whether there were enough handouts, she hesitated over whether to give Tao Xian one and turned her head to ask, “Teacher…”
Tao Xian froze slightly and waved her hand, just about to say it was not necessary.
Over there, Tong Mingyue had already nodded lightly. Beneath her rimless glasses, her pitch-black eyes were calm as water. Her face was fair, and sunlight fell across half of it, giving her a faint, gentle air.
So the student placed the handout on Tao Xian’s desk, hopped down two steps, and quickly sat back down.
“…”
Tao Xian suddenly raised a hand and pressed it to her chest, turning her head to say to Fu Jing, “Is your teacher single? She kind of electrified me just now.”
“I don’t know.” Fu Jing wrinkled her face and whispered back, “But maybe forget it. She looks extremely, extremely straight.”
Tao Xian rubbed her chin, seeming thoughtful. “Is that so?”
After thinking for a moment, she added, “Forget it anyway. I never want to get involved with another teacher again.”
Then let the teacher get involved with you?
Fu Jing really wanted to ask that, but considering they were in class, she still lowered her head and continued reading her paper.
After a while, her phone vibrated.
Fu Jing secretly took it out under the desk and looked. It was from her own teacher.
Jiang Jianhua: [You blocked Guo Zikai?]
Jiang Jianhua: [He has a paper and wants you to be responsible for the calculation part. He came and told me about it. I think it’s quite good. You two can cooperate.]
Fu Jing: [I don’t want to!]
Fu Jing furrowed her brows and stared at those few lines. She subconsciously felt a kind of disgust toward the name “Guo Zikai.” Toward this kind of person who made her uncomfortable, she had always avoided as far away as possible.
Jiang Jianhua: [Talk to him face-to-face first before deciding whether you want to or not.]
Fu Jing: [I don’t want to, unless cooperating with him can let me win the Nobel Prize in Math Paper.]
She typed one character wrong.
Fu Jing quickly corrected herself: [The Nobel Prize in Mathematics!]
Jiang Jianhua: […]
Jiang Jianhua: [It’s more realistic to let me win a □□ first. You’re still in the club office, right? I told him to go find you.]
Fu Jing immediately felt stifled with anger and said she was currently sitting in on Professor Tong Mingyue’s class and had no free time.
Jiang Jianhua said he could let Guo Zikai wait until she finished class.
Fu Jing had a rare sense of closeness and dependence toward Jiang Jianhua.
She could not help angrily typing complaints, saying he did not care about his student’s thoughts at all, that he could not compare to Professor Tong Mingyue from the neighboring chemistry department, who had countless works, beauty, and a kind heart…
Tong Mingyue would never make a graduate student teach classes for her…
Jiang Jianhua: [Fu Jing, stop trying to avoid communicating and interacting with other people as much as possible. Do you think professors like us go all day without meeting people we dislike? If you stay this willful, how will you independently lead projects in the future? Or are you planning to take your doctoral degree home and become a full-time rich second generation? If that really is your plan, I can tell Guo Zikai not to come find you.]
This long paragraph was already close to a reprimand.
Fu Jing’s fire went out, and she held back her frustration. Very soon, she calmed down.
She reflected inwardly and realized Jiang Jianhua’s words were actually very reasonable.
So she slowly typed: [Okay, I understand. Thank you for your teaching, Teacher.]
“Why are you pouting?” Tao Xian asked softly.
Fu Jing felt wronged. “I got scolded.”
She picked up her pencil. Only in a physical paper could she recover a sense of calm and sort out her thoughts.
When class ended,
Tao Xian asked again, “What happened just now?”
Fu Jing was no longer aggrieved. She seriously told Tao Xian what had happened, starting from how annoying Guo Zikai was. Now he had come to find her to cooperate on a paper, which would very obviously bring her many, many new troubles.
Tao Xian quickly understood and nodded. “I agree with your teacher. Even if you hate that boy and want to refuse him, you should say it to his face. If you always rely on others to avoid things, how will you stand on your own in the future? Also, if that boy’s academic ability is decent, I suggest you separate personal and professional matters.”
After being told this by her, Fu Jing wanted to whimper again. She understood the reasoning, but hearing it made her unhappy. “If it were Qin Zijin… she would help me grab that person by the collar and yell at him to stay away from me in the future.”
Tao Xian burst out laughing. “No wonder you like that little girl so much.”
She stood up with her bag. “But she can’t protect you for a lifetime.”
Fu Jing obediently nodded and sighed. “I understand. I’m going to see how good his paper idea is, and then reject him with the mature attitude of an adult.”
Her phone vibrated. She took it out and looked at the message.
Princess Qingci: [Class is over, right? I’m waiting for you at the school gate.]
“My class is over!” Fu Jing, who had just adjusted her mindset, instantly exploded with anger again and cursed Guo Zikai to death. She quickly replied to Gu Qingci, [But Sister, wait for me in the car for five minutes. I still have to go meet someone annoying.]
Princess Qingci: [Someone annoying? Then why bother with him?]
These words were like waking Fu Jing up.
She turned and searched through the class group chat, found the contact list, and sent a polite refusal text to Guo Zikai’s phone number.
Then she happily went to the school gate.
After saying goodbye to Tao Xian,
Fu Jing very soon saw Gu Qingci’s car and was just about to walk over.
A figure blocked her path. “Fu Jing, you can’t even speak to me face-to-face?”
Fu Jing: “…”
She stared at Guo Zikai, her brows furrowing so hard her eyes narrowed. “Is that necessary?”
Not far away, the car door opened.
Gu Qingci wore a dark blue blouse, the flowing silk glinting under the sunlight. Her long hair fell loose, making her skin appear even fairer. She slowly walked over, a faint smile on her face.
“Xingxing, come to Sister.”
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