Pei Xingyan sat by the window in the second-to-last row, staring outside with utter boredom.
He still couldn’t understand why Teacher Shen, who was temporarily handling the duties of the class advisor, had to come to the classroom either before or after class to talk about things.
He was in a hurry to go eat!
But obviously, being in a hurry didn’t help at all. This time, the teacher clearly came with the determination to get her point across no matter what. Holding a long list of competition events, she earnestly urged the students to actively and enthusiastically participate in the sports meet.
Sports meet…
Pei Xingyan had absolutely no desire to be involved with something like that!
He didn’t want to exhaust himself on the field like a dog in this scorching heat. He didn’t consider himself athletically gifted, nor was he someone who liked to sweat it out. The kind of exercise he approved of was almost always the type that didn’t require standing under the sun outdoors.
“Hey, hey, Lao Pei—” Fan Jian, his neighbor, nudged him and whispered, “Do you think if you show off at the sports meet, you might get some kind of priority in choosing a mate?”
Pei Xingyan shifted his gaze from the window back to Fan Jian’s smug face and stared for a long moment without speaking.
After a while, he finally forced out, “No. Don’t even think about it. Impossible!”
“Why not?” Fan Jian couldn’t accept Pei Xingyan’s triple denial shattering his fantasy. He whispered back excitedly, “Don’t you think if you show off your athletic charm, there’ll definitely be girls who like you?”
“Not at all.” Pei Xingyan curled his lips. “Do you remember that popular saying from about ten years ago?”
“Hm?”
“If girls think you’re handsome, you can shovel glass balls and still look cool. But if they think you’re not, then even if you play golf, you look like you’re shoveling poop.” Pei Xingyan repeated an old internet forum joke from long ago.
“No way!” Fan Jian was annoyed and embarrassed, slapping the desk as he refuted Pei Xingyan’s words. “I think you’re just jealous that your bro is doing too well, so you’re purposely raining on my parade, right?”
“Lao Fan, I think you need to learn some advanced love theories instead of clinging to outdated animal instincts about the strong winning in mate selection.” Pei Xingyan spoke earnestly. “You have to know, dating is like fishing. You throw out whatever bait you use, that’s the kind of fish you catch. Showing off to win love is totally unreliable.”
Pei Xingyan really couldn’t bear to watch his roommate keep making mistakes on the path of pursuing love. He knew this guy was a good person, just a little obsessed with the idea that not having a girlfriend equals life failure.
Fan Jian paid no heed, covering his ears as he listed off the girls around Pei Xingyan, including a pure girl he just discovered yesterday that Pei had never met before. In the end, he pronounced with the authority of a judge that Pei Xingyan was a scumbag.
“Bullshit! When did I ever deceive any girl?” Pei Xingyan retorted unwillingly.
Their voices were a bit loud and their back-and-forth somewhat intense, eventually drawing the attention of the “BOSS” sitting in front.
Despite the heat, Shen Zhishu quietly approached them wearing a coat. Though she was in high heels, the sharp sound of her footsteps was clear and crisp.
Yet the two were still so engrossed in their verbal duel that it was only when Li Zhe beside Pei Xingyan signaled repeatedly that he finally turned his head and saw Shen Zhishu’s expression as cold and icy as a block of ice.
“You two seem pretty passionate, huh?” she said with a chilling smile. “Looks like you’ve already decided what events to sign up for?”
…
In the end, Pei Xingyan was the very last student allowed to leave the classroom. Of course, there was still one teacher left in the room.
He was being held back by Shen Zhishu.
She scolded them both with a cold face for a long time. Her fierce aura was so intimidating that even the students who didn’t want to participate quickly decided on their events in just a few seconds.
Fan Jian almost fainted under the pressure and immediately ran off holding his head after it was over. It wasn’t just him; all the students kept their distance from this teacher, afraid that if they entered her zone of influence, they’d be frozen solid.
But now—
“Just now, sister was a little too harsh. Sister apologizes to you, okay?”
Unlike her previous icy coldness, Shen Zhishu now wore an expression full of appeasement. Smiling apologetically, she sat right next to Pei Xingyan and whispered, “There were so many people earlier, I had to show some authority…”
Pei Xingyan suddenly remembered a famous line from the movie Hello Mr. Tree starring Wang Baoqiang — “There were too many people outside just now, my bad, I kneel to you.”
Of course, the latter half wasn’t in the original movie; it was just a popular online summary. But now, Shen Zhishu’s posture as if she wanted to kneel was completely genuine.
This wasn’t an exaggeration. Shen Zhishu had always wanted to see him smile a bit more, and now she really seemed ready to kneel and admit fault if he wasn’t happy.
Pei Xingyan didn’t dare let her do that. This wasn’t her office; people kept coming and going. If someone happened to catch a shot of it somewhere, he didn’t even want to imagine the consequences.
He forced a smile and explained, “I’m not angry. How could I be angry… I just… don’t want to sign up. It’s too exhausting.”
“Oh no, that won’t do.” Hearing that he wasn’t mad, her face immediately relaxed a lot. She grabbed Pei Xingyan’s hand and coaxed him gently, “You can’t think sister is deliberately giving you a hard time. There are benefits — special benefits just for you~”
Pei Xingyan narrowed his eyes suspiciously and looked at her.
Her eyes were long and slender, bright and a bit cunning, but now mostly filled with warmth. She looked at Pei Xingyan and said softly, “Insider info, the school leaders are focusing a lot on this year’s sports meet. It’s different from past years, and there are prizes~”
“Prizes?”
“Big cash prizes!” She raised a slender, knuckled finger and made a number sign, “Might be six figures.”
Pei Xingyan’s mouth dropped open in shock. He knew his school usually had more than enough funding for education, but he didn’t expect it to be spent on something like this.
“So? Tempted? Changed your mind?” Shen Zhishu smiled slyly. “Sister has picked out an easy and effortless event for you, and one that’s pretty likely to win first place~”
It was impossible not to be tempted!
That was money!
For money, Pei Xingyan might even be willing to stake his soul, let alone just participate in a sports meet.
He quickly grasped Shen Zhishu’s hand and showered her with sweet words, “Okay, okay, really thank you! You’re such a good sister to me~”
Laughter filled Shen Zhishu’s eyes. The icy hardness from moments ago had completely melted into tender warmth.
Those tender eyes kept watching the adorable boy in front of her, but beneath the surface was a dark, twisted cloud of something else.
It was the embodiment of desire.