From the bottom of his heart, Pei Xingyan truly believed that Su Shanshan was a sensible and well-behaved girl. She hadn’t deliberately caused him any trouble out of her own feelings.
But who could have predicted Shen Zhishu’s reaction would be so intense? Although she didn’t say anything, her eyes had already betrayed her agitation. Pei Xingyan had no doubt that if he couldn’t come up with a proper explanation, he would witness something truly terrifying.
“Tch,”
Sighing at his ill-fated luck, Pei Xingyan pushed open the door to Shen Zhishu’s office.
In an instant, he masked himself behind a smiling face and sweetly called out “Teacher” as he stepped inside.
Shen Zhishu sat curled up in her office chair with a blank expression. She was dressed very formally today—perhaps for some important matter—but her demeanor did not match the crispness of her suit. Instead, her face was filled with sorrow.
Hearing Pei Xingyan’s voice, she glanced over calmly, then suddenly sniffled, looking somewhat aggrieved.
Pei Xingyan thought to himself, “You’re already feeling wronged, and I haven’t even had time to get upset yet—I rushed all the way here from class without even eating.”
He casually pulled over a stool and sat down quite close to her.
But he didn’t speak first; he just looked at her.
Shen Zhishu returned his gaze and furtively glanced at him several times before finally breaking the silence:
“You have pretty good taste.”
“?” Pei Xingyan hadn’t expected her to blurt out something like that so quickly, and he couldn’t help but laugh. But seeing the cold look in her eyes, he quickly composed himself.
“What’s her name?”
“Who?”
“Playing dumb isn’t a useful skill. Do you have several girlfriends or what?” Shen Zhishu’s voice was low but sharp and pressing.
Pei Xingyan thought it was hard to say; even he wasn’t sure if Ye Ziwei considered herself a girlfriend now…
He hesitated slightly, and Shen Zhishu grew anxious. She sprang up from her chair, straightened her back, and dragged her chair closer to him.
“You’re not seriously dating several girls at once, are you?” Her disbelief made her eyebrows shoot up like stakes.
“No, that’s not it,” Pei Xingyan shook his head, feeling guilty as he added, “Definitely not.”
“So the one I ran into today was…?” Shen Zhishu’s tone rose several octaves, as if she wanted to devour Pei Xingyan.
“N-no, not really.” Pei Xingyan quickly shook his head again.
Shen Zhishu gripped the armrests of his chair tightly, blocking the only way he could get up.
The fresh, pleasant scent that surrounded her enveloped him, locking him inside her circle.
Pei Xingyan couldn’t help but glance her over.
She was dressed formally, wearing a white blouse beneath a women’s blazer—not tight, but the curves were clear. Though he knew he shouldn’t be thinking this way, he could tell she had a nice figure.
Her lower half was covered by straight-cut black trousers, concealing everything until the ankles, where her skin peeked out.
She wore pointed high heels with thin heels. Such shoes weren’t really suitable for an academic setting, but on her feet, they conveyed only elegance and professionalism, without a hint of frivolity.
Pei Xingyan glanced quickly, intending to stop, but was drawn to the barely visible edge of her stockings beneath the pant leg.
She wore ankle-length stockings that ended just past her ankles—reminding him of women from the last century. That was a fashion trend back then, which nowadays seemed a bit old-fashioned.
He stared a moment longer, and Shen Zhishu noticed his gaze. Following it downward, she saw exactly where he was looking.
Her calf twitched nervously, and she quickly tucked her foot under the chair.
Looking at her face, there was an indescribable flush.
Pei Xingyan didn’t believe she’d be shy about something so trivial, but her expression and demeanor said everything.
Now he was truly confused.
Though from an ethical standpoint, they could not have any relationship, she was indeed several years older than him—several whole years—an unbridgeable gap at this age.
Could she really have some special feelings for him?
Just as Pei Xingyan was about to say something, the sound of the office door opening interrupted him.
Two girls entered one after the other, carrying a laptop. Seeing the scene in the office, both immediately looked awkward.
They stopped halfway, eyeing both Pei Xingyan and Shen Zhishu, unsure whether to come forward or stay back.
The air was unbearably tense.
Pei Xingyan felt his face flush; he could almost imagine what forbidden thoughts these two girls must be having.
“What is it?” Shen Zhishu was the first to react, her voice cold enough to freeze someone solid.
“Teacher… the review comments came back, and we have some questions we want to ask…” one of the girls spoke shakily, though her eyes kept darting to Pei Xingyan.
“Alright…” Shen Zhishu bowed her head to gather herself, then moved back to her desk.
Pei Xingyan wisely stepped aside. It was a serious matter for graduate students to consult their advisor, especially if they’d received a response from a journal.
“You sit down first, we’ll talk later.” Shen Zhishu reminded him coldly, as if she was announcing the reprieve of a condemned prisoner’s sentence.
Yet soon, Pei Xingyan realized that Shen Zhishu’s voice wasn’t truly cold when speaking to him.
Compared to how she spoke to her graduate students, her tone with him was almost doting.
“Your review article… tsk, don’t you think it sounds like you copied it from Baidu Baike? Not good…”
“The setup of the positive control group is unreasonable. That’s not how it was described in your earlier phase reports.”
“And there are grammar mistakes throughout. If it’s too much, why don’t you hire a translator?”
…
Shen Zhishu’s voice wasn’t loud—scholars never tore each other apart harshly—but her tone was icy enough to freeze the room.
The two girls lowered their heads, trembling and afraid even to breathe.
Only then did Pei Xingyan realize she wasn’t angry with him; at most, she was “disappointed,” even bordering on a kind of indulgent care.
If she had really questioned him with that kind of tone, he didn’t know if he would have panicked enough to fall off his chair.
“Summarize it yourself first, and we’ll discuss it in detail at the group meeting next week.”
Shen Zhishu delivered her final verdict calmly and steadily, dealing with her student strictly based on facts.
But despite that, the two girls looked horrified as they bit their lips and left in a rush.
Pei Xingyan silently decided that he had no intention of pursuing graduate studies. Though he never planned to, such a scene was far too intimidating.
Suddenly, a thought struck him: If Lin Xiaoyu’s supervisor was Shen Zhishu, would she have chosen to retake the year before adulthood?
The clicking of high heels echoed again, pulling him out of his daydream.
As he looked up, he found Shen Zhishu’s delicate face filling his entire field of vision.
She squatted in front of him, her eyes just a few centimeters from his, gazing deeply as if she wanted to peer straight into his heart.