My Psycho-Beautiful Professor Forced Me to Mark Her - Chapter 7

After the college entrance exam, Qi Si took 30,000 yuan from home, packed a large bag, took her newly acquired passport, and set off from Jinghai.

She traveled by foot and by hitchhiking, from the Taihang Mountains to the Qinling Mountains, through the Sichuan Basin, visiting ancient villages in Yunnan and Guizhou, crossing the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Roof of the World.

Finally, she exited China from Kunming and went to Southeast Asia before winter arrived.

She wandered aimlessly on city streets, earning some money with odd jobs. Then she realized she didn’t like cities.

By chance, she boarded a cargo ship bound for Africa and stayed at sea for over half a month, from North Africa to Eastern Europe, wandering all the way, far away from people and with no contact with her family.

 

At that time, Qi Si’s father, Qi Pan, had not been in a car accident. The man in his forties was at the peak of his career. Although the divorce from his ex-wife had taken away most of his assets, his new family was happy.

His eldest daughter with his ex-wife, Qi Si, was an excellent student who had just been accepted into A University’s medical school.

The second child, a stepdaughter, was a sweetheart who loved to help with chores at a young age. The third child, with his current wife, was in the babbling stage, a smart and lively little bundle of joy who made everyone happy.

 

It was also the year Qi Si got into college that Qi Pan, to make up for the three years of neglect in high school, took out a loan of 3 million yuan to buy a house in the suburbs of Jinghai City for a total price of 5 million yuan so that Qi Si could settle down in Jinghai in the future.

 

The following year, the house’s value dropped. Qi Pan’s mind wandered while he was driving, and by the time he came to his senses and turned the wheel, it was too late. The car crash was terrible. He was lucky to have survived, but the Qi family’s situation plummeted after that. This was also when Qi Si’s idealistic wandering life ended, and she started to work tirelessly for money day and night.

 

Having previously hiked thousands of kilometers with a 20-kilogram backpack and camped at an altitude of 6,000 meters, Qi Si was not afraid of this mountain with an altitude of a mere 1,800 meters. She borrowed equipment from the rescue station and entered the mountain. It only took her an hour and a half to find the two trapped students.

 

When the searchlight hit them, the two desperate students yelled at the top of their lungs. One of them had a broken leg, and the other was in no better condition, shivering from the cold.

 

This was on the shady side of the mountain, where there was little sunlight during the day. After sunset, the temperature dropped rapidly. The two students were only wearing T-shirts and shorts. Lacking outdoor experience, they had used their phone flashlights until their batteries died. They didn’t know how to call for help and had no way to keep warm. They were also out of water and food, and the one with the broken leg was already starting to lose consciousness from the cold.

 

If they had waited a few more hours, someone might have died.

 

Qi Si brought a thermal blanket for them and used a GPS walkie-talkie to pinpoint their location. Soon, people came to carry the two students down the mountain.

 

This incident changed many people’s opinions of Qi Si. Shen Yixuan even suggested to the counselor that Qi Si should be nominated for the city’s “Act of Courage” award.

 

When Qi Si heard about it, she asked her, “…How much is the prize money?”

 

Shen Yixuan: “There’s no prize money. You get a banner and honor. It can also add to your academic credits!”

 

Qi Si: “Then forget it.”

 

What was the use of empty honors without prize money? Besides, she would have to fill out forms and apply, which was a hassle.

 

She was so short on money that she wanted to sell her organs. MII told her that an Alpha’s gland was worth a lot, about 200,000 yuan on the black market. If she had 200,000 yuan in hand, Qi Si’s youngest sister could go to kindergarten, and her family could rent a slightly more spacious apartment instead of being squeezed into a 15-square-meter room.

 

Qi Si could also save some money to buy a laptop and continue her self-study in computer science. Maybe she could even finish her medical school courses at the same time.

 

She currently had 6,000 yuan in cash, 2,000 of which was from the fat man’s compensation. But she was in no hurry to buy a new phone. She had bought a broken watch from a second-hand website and wore it every day as she went back and forth between classrooms, the library, the bar, and her dorm.

 

The news that she was short on money quickly spread. Not long after, Shen Yixuan came to her excitedly with a message: “Senior Mo Xiao asked me. She said their lab needs a research assistant and asked if you would be willing to help out. She can pay you 20 yuan an hour.”

 

During her time working at the bar, Qi Si’s schedule was a mess. She was listless every day and couldn’t get back to her dorm at a normal time at night. If the hourly wage wasn’t good, she would have wanted to change jobs a long time ago.

 

20 yuan an hour was a low wage in the capital city. And “research assistant” sounded glamorous, but who knew what the job actually entailed? With Qi Si’s skills, she probably wouldn’t be able to do more than wipe the lab windows.

 

Su Mo Xiao was just giving her a handout, a show for her fellow medical students to earn a reputation as a kindhearted and helpful person.

 

Qi Si: “I’ll consider it if the hourly wage is 100.”

 

Shen Yixuan grumbled but then excitedly told Qi Si, “The senior said yes! She’s so good to you!”

 

Qi Si was genuinely tempted.

 

What were the loves and hates of her youth? Money was more important.

 

Two hours a day, she could get 200 yuan. This job should be easier than working at the bar, right?

 

This way, she could free up more time to study and wouldn’t be scolded for skipping class every day.

 

On September 28th, Qi Si found the lab according to the address Shen Yixuan had given her. She pressed the doorbell at the entrance.

 

The intercom connected, and an impatient female voice said, “Who is it?”

 

Qi Si: “Hello, I’m here to apply for the research assistant position.”

 

Qi Si heard the woman yell out, “Who called for a research assistant? They’re here!”

 

She could hear people talking in hushed tones on the other end of the intercom. After a while, a male student came to the intercom and said, “Were you recommended by junior Mo Xiao?”

 

Qi Si: “Yes.”

 

“The door is open. Come on in.”

 

The electronic door opened automatically. Qi Si entered the lab building, walked up the dark stairs to the third floor, and dodged people in white coats who were rushing through the hallway with large basins of glassware. She found the room number and knocked on the open door.

 

A tall woman was looking at something under a microscope. She was facing away from Qi Si. The way she wore her white coat looked like a haute couture trench coat. The five-centimeter stiletto heels and black stockings made Qi Si’s eyes stay on her ankle for half a minute.

 

That side profile and hairstyle—

 

It looked like Su Mo Xiao.

 

Su Mo Xiao’s hair was this length, with slightly wavy ends. And she was also dressed in a mature style during the hike.

 

Qi Si’s heart ached fiercely for a moment. She couldn’t believe that after so long, she could still… be a little swayed?

 

This was so stupid. Qi Si mentally slapped herself, cleared her throat, and was about to speak when the other person finally looked up and turned to face her.

 

Qi Si saw a hint of surprise in her eyes. At that moment, Qi Si had some strange thoughts, but she quickly put them aside and said, “I’m here.”

 

The woman’s lips curved slightly into a sarcastic smile. She said coldly, “Get out.”

 

Qi Si: “?”

 

There was a sound of hurried footsteps in the hallway. A male voice with black-rimmed glasses ran over, then lowered his voice as he got closer. “Are you… are you the one who just rang the doorbell?”

 

Qi Si was stunned for a moment from being cursed at. She turned around and said to the guy with the black-rimmed glasses, “Yes, it’s me.”

 

The man with the glasses bowed, as if he was afraid of something. He motioned for her to come over and said in a small voice, “Oh, I knew it. You came to the wrong place. This is the south building. Come with me…”

 

Qi Si looked back at the woman who had just cursed at her. For some reason, she looked familiar. As Qi Si was still dazed, the man with the glasses pulled her away. His attitude was as if he was afraid that she would dirty the beautiful woman’s eyes.

 

When they were far away, the man with the glasses patted his chest. “That was so scary. Did she curse at you just now?”

 

Qi Si: “She told me to get out.”

 

“Oh, that’s not bad. She was pretty gentle. Be careful next time. Try to stay away from this professor. She’s famously terrifying at school. It’s a good thing she didn’t call security to kick you out. Are you in the same year as junior Mo Xiao?”

 

Qi Si: “I’m a year below her.”

 

“Oh, okay. So you’ve had all the basic lab classes, right? Have you had anatomy yet?”

 

“No.”

 

“Ah, right. The first year just started. You haven’t had any classes yet. Okay, put on this coat. I’ll teach you what to do. Do you know how to raise mice?”

 

“I’ve raised hamsters.”

 

“Haha, it’s pretty much the same. You just need to feed them water and food regularly and clean up their cages. But the mice in our lab are high-end nude mice. They’re very expensive and delicate. You have to be especially patient when raising them. Everything that goes in and out must be disinfected. Are you going to be on campus during the National Day holiday?”

 

Qi Si: “…I guess so. What did Su Mo Xiao say?”

 

“Ah, didn’t she tell you clearly?” The man with the glasses adjusted his glasses, led her to a data room, picked up someone else’s white coat for her, and began to explain the details of the job.

 

Su Mo Xiao had told her it was for a “research assistant” position, but in reality, there were strict procedures for hiring a research assistant. With Qi Si’s abilities, she couldn’t possibly be qualified for a research assistant position.

 

Su Mo Xiao herself was only an undergraduate student. She was lucky to have been selected by Professor Lin and was placed in the lab to do research with a few Ph.D. and master’s students. When the senior students published papers, they could give her a second or third author credit. If she was capable enough to write her own paper, she could also get a first author credit, which would be enough for her to build her resume and prepare for her next step of applying to study abroad.

 

In the end, master’s and Ph.D. students were already being used as cheap labor, working hard in the lab and publishing papers, essentially being overworked. Undergraduate students had an even lower status, acting as free labor driven by the cheap labor force. They were tasked with washing glassware, raising mice, disposing of bio-waste, and taking out the trash.

 

Why would a goddess be willing to do these dirty and tiring tasks? She would push them off whenever she could, using money and her connections to deal with these master’s and Ph.D. students, but that wasn’t a long-term solution.

 

It just so happened that she heard Qi Si was desperately broke, so Su Mo Xiao introduced her to the lab in just a few words to do the dirty work.

 

The man with the glasses, Liu Peng, was a third-year master’s student and was about to face the crisis of graduation. He was so busy that he ate and slept in the lab. He had agreed with Su Mo Xiao to give her author credit on a paper, but this junior was a very busy person. Whenever it was a crucial time, she would say she was too busy to help.

 

And Liu Peng recently needed a lot of experimental data. Just washing the petri dishes would take him an hour or two. It was also the end of the month, with the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays coming up. When the students went home for the holidays, he wouldn’t be able to find anyone to help him.

 

The day before, he heard that his junior had paid to introduce a classmate to help him. Liu Peng was so touched he could cry. It was good to have money; with money, you didn’t have to be a slave.

 

Qi Si listened to his explanation and thought that this job was not easy at all.

 

Other tasks like washing petri dishes and cleaning were fine; anyone could do them. But raising the mice was more troublesome, especially that special batch of nude mice. The disinfection steps were too numerous, and it was easy to forget one and make a mistake.

 

“The mice have very poor resistance. They can easily get infected and die if they come into contact with external microorganisms. You have to be very careful. Review the disinfection steps before you go in to clean. These mice aren’t just mine. They belong to other senior students, too, and they’re related to everyone’s graduation. You have to be very careful.”

 

These words made Qi Si want to back out. “…Maybe I should just forget it. The responsibility is a bit too much…”

 

“Don’t! Junior, I’ll buy you KFC! It’s Thursday today. If you don’t help me, I really won’t be able to find anyone!”

 

Qi Si saw that he was quite pitiful. This twenty-five or twenty-six-year-old Beta man looked as haggard as a forty-year-old.

 

“Fine, I’ll give it a try. If it doesn’t work out, then forget it.”

 

Anyway, she wanted to earn more money to buy some good food for her sisters. She had memorized the complex steps just now, so there shouldn’t be any mistakes.

 

She worked as a lab assistant during the day and at the bar at night. It just so happened that Zhou Danqing also got her another job.

 

At the time, the boss had a table of friends playing poker. She was listening to these married people complain about how hard it was to tutor their kids. Zhou Danqing sneered and called Qi Si over.

 

“Xiao Qi, how’s your English?”

 

Qi Si looked at the group of people and said humbly, “It’s okay. I got a 147 on the college entrance exam.”

 

Zhou Danqing: “Pfft.”

 

“The total score is 150, right?”

 

A woman in her thirties put down her cards, took the cigarette out of her mouth, and said, “Are you a student?”

 

Qi Si nodded. Zhou Danqing proudly introduced her, “Xiao Qi is a top student at A University’s medical school. She’s not the same as you underachievers.”

 

Several pairs of eyes sized her up. After a moment of appreciation, the woman who was smoking said, “Don’t work here. Zhou Danqing pays too little. Come to my house to tutor my son. How about 300 yuan an hour?”

 

Qi Si: “!”

 

300 yuan an hour?! Did she hear that right?!

 

Control herself. Control herself. The boss is right next to her. She can’t show her excitement.

 

Qi Si calmly lifted her eyelids and looked at Zhou Danqing, who was sipping from a wine glass.

 

That one look was enough to satisfy Zhou Danqing. Based on her understanding of Qi Si, this little Alpha was not only capable but also very loyal and reliable.

 

That night, she had sent her to take Lin Ye home, and sure enough, this little Alpha had not failed her trust. She was very restrained and calm in the face of an Omega in heat.

 

Afterward, Lin Ye had even asked about her. With her personality, she wouldn’t have shown any interest in a young Alpha.

 

Sure enough, she heard Qi Si say, “The boss is short on staff here, and it’s a holiday soon, so I can’t leave.”

 

“Don’t worry about her. There are plenty of people who would jump at the chance to do her job for 5,000 yuan. You’re a student from a prestigious school. How can you be compared to those who are just wasting their lives away? Let me offer a little more. I’ll pay you 350 yuan. You come over for two hours every day, and I’ll pay you 700. How does that sound?”

 

Qi Si: “…”

 

Zhou Danqing: “You’re a famous rich woman in Jinbei District. Your husband’s assets are in the hundreds of billions. Is this all you’re willing to pay?”

 

“What hundreds of billions? Who told you that nonsense? 500 an hour, Xiao Qi. You come to my house tomorrow.” The rich woman finally made a decision.

 

Qi Si looked at Zhou Danqing, who said, “Go ahead. She’s the one who’s lucky to have you tutor her son.”

 

“Thank you, boss. Then I…”

 

“You don’t have to come in to work tomorrow. I’ll settle your wages in a bit. You can come and hang out with me when you have time.”

 

Qi Si was still a little dazed. She got the address and phone number from the rich woman and went back to the bar to work.

 

Most of her life had been spent in school, where she received all kinds of guidance. She was disciplined and studied hard, yet she was constantly being lied to, used, mocked, bullied online, and excluded. From high school to college, she had been subjected to all kinds of malice—

 

But ironically, most of the kindness she had encountered came from society.

 

During her time as a backpacker, she would always run into all kinds of kind people who gave her rides, nomadic herders who let her stay the night on the plateau, travelers who shared water with her while hiking in the desert, and the cargo ship driver who let her on board… as well as people like Zhou Danqing.

 

If it weren’t for these people healing her, she might never have figured out why she was being ostracized. She would have thought it was because she was too outstanding that she was targeted, so she would have tried to be mediocre, walking with her back hunched over, avoiding people’s eyes, escaping crowds, and living her life in fear.

 

After getting her wages, Qi Si bought mooncakes and a cake and went back home.

 

To be precise, this place couldn’t be called Qi Si’s home at all. Since she started boarding in high school, she hadn’t had much contact with her family. Besides receiving her regular allowance from her family and occasionally staying for a short time during winter and summer breaks, she was not even close with this family.

 

The old neighborhood she used to live in still held some childhood memories. After it was sold, they rented a cheap apartment, which was filled with young people who couldn’t afford to settle down in the big city. She had to wait for more than ten minutes for the elevator at the entrance.

 

The room number was 1538. Just this number alone showed how densely populated this apartment building was.

 

Qi Si knocked on the door. Jiang Mingzhu was standing by the sink behind the door, washing socks. She opened the door instantly, making room for Qi Si to stand. She smiled at Qi Si, holding a pair of children’s socks, the lines under her eyes showing her tiredness. She turned to the girls and said, “Your sister is here to see you!”

 

“Sister!” Three-year-old Qi Yue was playing with building blocks. She turned her head and ran over happily. “Sister! Sister! This is for sister!”

 

Qi Si took the triangular block from her hand. “Thank you. I bought you guys a cake. Share it.”

 

The second child shyly hid behind Jiang Mingzhu. Her eyes lit up when she heard “cake.” Qi Si patted her head. “Xiao Shu has grown taller. Come and cut the cake.”

 

Jiang Shu, wearing clothes that didn’t fit her well, nodded obediently.

 

Jiang Mingzhu hung the socks inside the room, moved the cardboard boxes on the floor, washed and dried her hands, and said with an embarrassed smile, “You didn’t have to buy a cake. It’s not anyone’s birthday…”

 

Little Qi Yue stared at the cake, bouncing excitedly. “Birthday in July.”

 

Qi Si laughed. She held the cake in one hand and Qi Yue in the other, stepped over the obstacles, and came to the small table.

 

The entire family was squeezed into this tiny room of about ten square meters, with no room to put their feet down, not to mention a person who was completely paralyzed, lying on the bed.

 

Qi Si couldn’t bear to look at him, but after seeing so many hairless mice recently, her tolerance had naturally increased.

 

—Old Qi was looking at her with his eyes open and a smile on his face. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, and his lips trembled, but he couldn’t speak.

 

Jiang Mingzhu had cleaned him up very well, better than Qi Si had imagined. She saw that Jiang Mingzhu had a pile of cardboard boxes in the room, and she felt conflicted. She didn’t know what to say.

 

“How’s Dad been lately?” Qi Si asked Jiang Mingzhu, holding a slice of cake.

 

Jiang Mingzhu smiled, her lips forming a thin line. “He’s good. He’s mainly worried about your situation at school. Are you still working part-time at the bar?”

 

“No. I’m tutoring now. The income is pretty good.” As she spoke, she took out a wad of cash she had saved up and gave it to Jiang Mingzhu.

 

Jiang Mingzhu tried to refuse. Qi Si gave the money to Jiang Shu and said, “Take your mom to buy a new outfit for the holiday. Buy a school bag for your sister for kindergarten. How about that?”

 

Jiang Shu took the thick stack of bills and nodded.

 

Jiang Mingzhu sighed and took out a box from the table drawer. Qi Si saw the Apple logo at a glance: “?”

 

Jiang Mingzhu: “Your mom bought it for you. It was sent here first. You’ll definitely need it for school. Come try it.”

 

The box was opened, and inside was a brand-new silver MacBook. Qi Si’s eyes lit up.

 

“She… she’s not… she doesn’t care about us, does she?”

 

Thinking of the woman she hadn’t seen in years, Qi Si didn’t know what to say.

 

When they got divorced, that woman cried her heart out, instigating Qi Si to distance herself from her family and constantly filling her head with hatred: hatred for her father, her stepmother, and her sister.

 

Later, she married a rich man and didn’t even want to deal with Qi Si. When she heard her ex-husband was in a car accident, she quickly called to congratulate him.

 

Qi Si was full of doubt. Jiang Mingzhu gestured with her eyes toward the bed, and Qi Si immediately understood.

 

Her dad had swallowed his pride and begged that woman for her.

 

When they got divorced, Qi Pan was young and hot-headed. He would rather leave with nothing than admit he was wrong to his ex-wife. They would fight to the death over their messy marriage, and it was common for them to drag Qi Si to court—

 

After the sudden disaster, the man was lying in bed, unable to move, with only his mouth to speak. He finally came to his senses and realized that the only person he had wronged all these years was Qi Si.

 

Qi Si felt uncomfortable in the small apartment. She was a little dazed as she rode her bike outside.

 

Without her phone for navigation, Qi Si got lost on the street for a long time. She made a few turns and went into a dark alley.

 

The scent of an Omega made her stop. She turned her head and saw a woman being forced into a dead end by several Alphas.

 

The moment their eyes met, Qi Si remembered—this pheromone scent was the same as Zhou Danqing’s female Omega friend!

 

It was her!