When the bell rang, the tense atmosphere in the classroom instantly dissolved.
Lin Yingzhou packed his things and walked towards the door.
Xu Huaichuan followed. “I’m starving. Where should we go for lunch?”
“Second floor of the Third Cafeteria.”
Xu Huaichuan stopped in his tracks. “Wait, are you actually going to see her?”
“It’s on the way.”
If he didn’t go, Shen Yusi would probably wait for him.
That would be rude.
“Huh?” Xu Huaichuan thought he had misheard. “But…”
In the past, when people blocked him to ask him out, he always refused.
Could it be that this girl spoke so fast and ran so fast that he didn’t have time to say no?
Xu Huaichuan didn’t say anything else. He just nodded. “Alright, second floor of the Third Cafeteria it is. I haven’t had their roast duck in a while.”
Lin Yingzhou gave him a light glance. “She didn’t invite you.”
“…”
Xu Huaichuan froze.
What?
What did he say?
What did he mean by that?
Damn.
He wasn’t planning on going anyway!
The second floor of the Third Cafeteria was the most expensive of all the university canteens. When you wanted a decent meal, this was your default choice.
A ‘grand’ expression of gratitude naturally required the most expensive restaurant.
Shen Yusi ordered and saved a good window seat. She opened her phone, looking at her chat with Z.
He had sent the cursive script teaching PDF the day before yesterday.
Shen Yusi had glanced at it and noticed a picture showed half of a hand.
Island: [This is so hard. I feel like I can’t learn it without hands-on instruction.]
Z’s reply was ruthless: [Study it from the pictures yourself.]
Shen Yusi couldn’t help but tease him: [What if I start drooling at the pictures?]
Z: [Wipe it yourself.]
What a cold, heartless man.
Shen Yusi pulled her thoughts back and checked the time. The class bell had just rung. If the professor didn’t hold them late, it would take about ten minutes to walk from the medical school.
She wasn’t foolish enough to wait forever. She planned to pack up the food and take it back to her roommates for dinner if Lin Yingzhou wasn’t there by 12:00.
It turned out Shen Yusi had underestimated the walking speed of a tall, long-legged man.
In just eight minutes after class, she saw Lin Yingzhou at the corner of the stairs.
Shen Yusi stood up and waved. “Over here!”
Lin Yingzhou walked over to her.
Shen Yusi leaned on the table, smiling. “Senior, I don’t know what you like, so I ordered whatever I like. I hope you don’t mind.”
“That’s fine.”
The meal was destined to be a quiet one. Shen Yusi was still humane enough not to confront him right away.
She was afraid that if she got too excited, she might accidentally spray rice into his bowl. That would be terribly undignified.
Or worse, what if Lin Yingzhou, upon being discovered, was so embarrassed he choked on his food?
How embarrassing. She couldn’t do that.
Outside the window, cicadas were tearing the air with their noise. Shen Yusi stirred the soup in her clay pot.
It was too hot, and she wasn’t very hungry. She just ate a few bites before she was full.
She put down her spoon, propped her chin on her hand, and watched the person opposite her with interest as he ate.
The midday sun cast a filter on Lin Yingzhou’s face.
He sat upright, his movements elegant and refined. The veins standing out on the back of his hand were very eye-catching.
The noisy chatter of the crowd seemed to be cut off by an invisible barrier around his table. He made the cafeteria food look like a feast.
Feeling her gaze, Lin Yingzhou glanced up but remained calm and composed.
When he was done, he put his chopsticks down, drank some water, and wiped his fingers with a tissue.
After doing all this, Lin Yingzhou leaned back in his chair, waiting for Shen Yusi to get to the point.
He knew why she had asked him here today.
Shen Yusi dropped the act of being starstruck. “I’ve seen your schedule. You don’t have class this afternoon. I don’t either. Do you want to talk?”
“You have my schedule?”
Shen Yusi tilted her head. Why was he focusing on that? “A lot of people have it. People can figure out where you have class, then wait for you on the road to ‘bump into’ you. You didn’t know that?”
“I knew. I just didn’t think you would.”
Shen Yusi wasn’t embarrassed at all. “Cut me some slack. It’s only human.”
“……”
Lin Yingzhou asked, “What do you want to talk about?”
Shen Yusi leaned in closer. “I have a few questions to ask you.”
“Go ahead.”
She blinked her big eyes. “What are the requirements for joining your Calligraphy Association?”
“You need to have one of your works accepted into a national exhibition hosted by the association.” Lin Yingzhou raised an eyebrow. “You want to join the CCA?”
Given Shen Yusi’s current level, it would be difficult, but it wasn’t a huge problem. With more practice, it would be fine.
Shen Yusi shook her head. She was only interested in the people in the CCA, not joining it herself.
“I want to ask you about someone.”
Lin Yingzhou’s lips tightened. “Who?”
Shen Yusi began her description. “This person should be a local from Yunchang. I’ve been learning calligraphy from him for almost a month.”
She looked at Lin Yingzhou, her eyes sharp, trying to pierce through his facade and find his panic.
Lin Yingzhou just nodded calmly. “And then?”
“His online name is Z.”
Shen Yusi’s fingertip brushed the lock button on her phone as she dialed Z’s number.
“I want to ask you, Senior, do you know this person?” She continued, her hand on the table almost touching Lin Yingzhou’s fingertips.
A buzzing sound was heard. Shen Yusi tapped the table, her voice cold. “Lin Yingzhou, your phone is ringing.”
Her voice was cool and crisp, like the chill of bayberry juice. It was the first time Shen Yusi had called his full name.
The bones of Lin Yingzhou’s wrist tightened almost imperceptibly.
The hunter’s final step in trapping its prey was the kill.
“Teacher Z—” Shen Yusi leaned in, the ends of her hair brushing against his pale knuckles. “Why aren’t you answering my call?”
In the suddenly shortened distance, her scent lingered around him.
That vibrant face was right in front of him, questioning him with a look of confusion.
The phone’s vibration crawled up his spine. Half of Lin Yingzhou’s body went numb.
He said, “You know.”
It was a statement.
He had suspected it since the day she came back and asked about his calligraphy works in the office.
Shen Yusi casually sat down next to him and began to list. “Last time I was in the dean’s office, I noticed you don’t like red either.”
“Not many people our age join the CCA or know Auntie Shu.”
“That painting in your profile picture. I thought it was a boat at first, but it’s a ‘zhou’, isn’t it? The ‘zhou’ in Lin Yingzhou.”
“Wouldn’t I be stupid not to figure it out?”
Shen Yusi asked, curiously, “Was it fun dealing with me under two identities?”
Lin Yingzhou didn’t answer. Instead, he asked the question he wanted to know more. “Are you angry?”
Shen Yusi paused and thought about it.
Angry?
Probably not.
She actually thought it was pretty fun.
It was just…
Shen Yusi glanced at Lin Yingzhou.
Although his face was expressionless, she could feel it.
He was nervous.
So, Lin Yingzhou was afraid she’d be angry if she found out the truth, and that was why he’d been hiding from her?
Ah.
That was kind of cute.
Thinking this, Shen Yusi felt a sudden urge to tease him. She pursed her lips, a flicker of sadness in her eyes. “Yeah, I’m angry. Furious. I ate two bowls less of rice just now. It’s all your fault for lying to me.”
Lin Yingzhou’s Adam’s apple moved. “I’m sorry. But lying wasn’t my intention.”
He hadn’t known Yu Shushu’s niece was her when he agreed. By the time he found out, it was too late to back out.
To keep the teaching going smoothly, he had to make Shen Yusi change that ridiculously red profile picture.
Lin Yingzhou hadn’t deliberately tried to hide his identity at first.
But after a few days of teaching, he found that aside from her obsession with red, there was nothing else about her he disliked.
In fact…
She was kind of interesting.
Then, one day, she suddenly said she liked the teacher from Class B.
If she found out that her calligraphy teacher was the person she had a crush on, things would get very messy.
Shen Yusi might use this connection to cling to him, and he wouldn’t be able to shake her off for a while.
The day he went to the bar to find her, he was prepared to be discovered.
But Shen Yusi was too busy being happy in Qi Yue’s arms to even know he was standing behind her.
And the next day, she didn’t even remember what had happened in the corridor.
When Tang Suhe warned him, he thought about confessing. But he didn’t know how to bring it up.
He always felt that if he said it, things would become very strange.
Every word Shen Yusi had said to Z, and every word Z had said to Shen Yusi, would take on a whole new meaning once the identities were revealed.
He didn’t know which identity he was supposed to use when interacting with Shen Yusi.
Or maybe, after confessing, he wouldn’t need to interact with her at all.
He could finally be rid of this troublesome duty.
Yes, he could easily use this to get rid of Shen Yusi.
But for some reason, he wasn’t willing for it to end that way.
He figured he could just drag it out for a little while longer.
He didn’t know what his goal or intention was in maintaining this relationship.
Editor-in-Chief Yu had invited both him and his grandfather to dinner.
His grandfather couldn’t make it because of a work trip. Lin Yingzhou could easily have gone in his place.
But he refused.
Lin Yingzhou realized his behavior was getting stranger and stranger, and the root of it all was the person sitting right in front of him, blinking her big eyes and looking at him with anticipation.
“And then? And then?” Shen Yusi didn’t know his internal struggle. She was eager to hear more.
Lin Yingzhou was puzzled. “And then what?”
“Shouldn’t you make it up to me?”
“……” Lin Yingzhou saw the crescent-shaped smile at the corner of her eyes, a look of cunning.
He was sure of it.
He had been played.
She wasn’t angry at all. She was happy.
Well, finding out that the person you liked had another identity was indeed something to be happy about.
But deception was still deception, and he should make up for it. “What do you want?”
Now in control, Shen Yusi’s gaze traced down from his brow bone, inch by inch, from his cold eyes to his pink lips.