Lin Jianqing’s mental state was relatively normal during class the next day.
At least, he appeared normal on the surface. As for what was going on inside… well, that was hard to say.
After all, Shen Huaixue had shown him several entire rows of women’s clothing last night, and in a very natural tone, told him this was just the first batch.
“Just the first batch…”
Those three words dealt more mental damage to Lin Jianqing than the clothes themselves.
The morning class was Guan Ju’s. She stood at the podium, teaching character movement and picture emotions, her tone as gentle as always.
Lin Jianqing bowed his head and took notes, trying his best not to let his thoughts drift to those several clothing racks from yesterday.
But that was hard to do, especially when the teacher said, “Character posture can reflect the character’s psychological state.”
The first thing that popped into Lin Jianqing’s mind wasn’t the sample images on the slides, but his own mental state standing in front of that women’s clothing display last night.
Halfway through her lecture, Guan Ju’s gaze landed on him. “Lin Jianqing, what do you think of this picture?”
Lin Jianqing snapped back to attention and stood up. He glanced at the character sketch on the screen and organized his thoughts briefly.
“The center of gravity is shifted back, the shoulders are pulled in tight, and the hands aren’t fully extended, so it comes off as somewhat defensive. If the background has too much blank space, that sense of unease gets amplified.”
Guan Ju nodded. “Good, you can sit down.”
Lin Jianqing sat back down. After he finished speaking, he belatedly realized that this analysis sounded a bit like a description of himself.
Defensive, uneasy, too much blank space in the background.
Staring at the image on the slides, Lin Jianqing’s mind began to wander. If he replaced the background with Shen Huaixue’s living room and swapped all that blank space for three rows of women’s clothing, the painting’s defensiveness and unease would probably be perfect.
‘No, what am I even thinking?’ Lin Jianqing silently grumbled to himself.
After class, Guan Ju asked him to stay behind for a bit.
Lin Jianqing had kind of guessed it. Recently, Guan Ju had been paying noticeably more attention to him.
It wasn’t a bad thing, but he wasn’t sure how to respond.
Guan Ju was both a counselor and a teacher, so it was normal for her to care about her students. But Lin Jianqing’s current situation couldn’t exactly be explained with a simple “I’ve been a bit tired lately.”
He couldn’t just tell her honestly: ‘Teacher, I’ve been called over by a boss from Ling Qi recently to learn makeup, try on women’s clothes, pretend to be someone she likes, and also take her occasional mental elbow strikes.’
If he said that, Guan Ju probably wouldn’t call the police first. She’d likely pause for three seconds, then gently ask if he wanted to go to the school’s psychological counseling center.
“How’s the internship going? Are you adjusting?” Guan Ju handed him a new assignment sheet, her voice soft. “If there’s too much work at Ling Qi, you can tell me, and I’ll help communicate with the company.”
Lin Jianqing took the paper and shook his head. “It’s fine, the workload isn’t much.”
That was true. The actual work at Ling Qi wasn’t difficult at all. The hard part was Shen Huaixue.
Guan Ju looked at him, as if she wanted to say more.
Lin Jianqing had to add another sentence. “Teacher, I’m really okay. I’ve been doing much better than before, and my mother’s situation has stabilized too.”
That sentence was also true. His mother was indeed stable, and his life pressure had been quite forcefully suppressed by Shen Huaixue in a rather overbearing way.
It’s just that the cost was a bit abstract—his wallet was recovering, but his sanity was plummeting.
Guan Ju was silent for a moment, then nodded lightly. “That’s good. Don’t always bear things alone.”
Lin Jianqing hummed in acknowledgment. “Thank you, Teacher.”
With that, he left the classroom.
The hallway was crowded. A few students walked by carrying drawing boards.
Just as Lin Jianqing went downstairs, a junior student called out to him.
“Senior Lin!”
He turned around. It was Song Yao, a year below him in the Academy of Fine Arts. She was carrying a bag of art supplies and running a bit hurriedly, her bangs slightly messy.
“That assignment you helped me with last time—the teacher said it’s much better now.”
Lin Jianqing thought for a moment before remembering. A few days ago, Song Yao had brought him a character draft to look over, and he’d casually pointed out a few structural issues.
Such things weren’t uncommon at school. Lin Jianqing didn’t talk much usually, but he had a personality that was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. If someone actually came to ask for help, he generally would.
Song Yao pulled a bottle of drink from her bag and shoved it into his hand without giving him a chance to refuse. “This is for you. I bought too many.”
Lin Jianqing wanted to refuse, but Song Yao shoved it into his hand and turned to run away, not even giving him a chance to speak.
He looked down at the drink in his hand and fell silent for a moment.
It wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just a bottle of water. A normal person would just see it as a junior thanking a senior.
But if it were Shen Huaixue… Lin Jianqing’s mind inexplicably conjured up Shen Huaixue’s half-smiling face.
If Shen Huaixue found out about this… then whatever came next wouldn’t be good.
Lin Jianqing suddenly felt his mental state was unhealthy. Why had he already started automatically simulating Shen Huaixue’s reaction? This was wrong…
Lin Jianqing felt that Shen Huaixue had already inflicted some kind of severe spiritual pollution on his daily life.
When he went to the company in the afternoon, things got even more absurd.
Senior Xu Tang distributed small cakes to everyone, saying they were from a newly opened shop nearby and tasted pretty good.
“Student Lin, you should try one too. Desserts can relieve stress.”
Lin Jianqing looked at the small cake, momentarily unsure how to respond.
Originally, he didn’t want to take it, but since it had been handed right to him, he didn’t seem to have a reason to refuse.
But speaking of stress… the biggest source of his stress right now was probably neither his studies nor his work. It was that if a certain someone saw him holding this little cake, they might say something very annoying.
But Senior Xu Tang meant well, and it would be rude to directly push back a gift given with good intentions.
Lin Jianqing finally accepted it. “Thank you, Senior.”
After saying that, he put the cake into his desk drawer.
His movements were natural, but his feelings were another story.
To be honest, the pressure was indeed quite high. Lin Jianqing couldn’t tell whether Shen Huaixue was actually monitoring him. Although he often told himself, ‘Shen Huaixue doesn’t like men,’ feeling her gaze made him inexplicably scared.
And he always felt like Shen Huaixue was watching him, or that she had left some kind of monitoring or GPS tracking program on his phone.
But after carefully checking, Lin Jianqing found none of that… Maybe it was a psychological issue?
Maybe. Originally, he thought his relationship with Shen Huaixue was purely an employment arrangement.
But even though Shen Huaixue was mean and often acted inhumanely, she did genuinely care about him in her own way.
The afternoon’s work was calm. Sister Zhang gave him few tasks, mostly just organizing documents and categorizing materials. As soon as Lin Jianqing sent out the last file, his phone on the desk vibrated.
‘Shen Huaixue: Come to my office.’
Lin Jianqing looked at those words, his heart utterly calm.
That calm had become a habit, making him sigh at how strong human adaptability really was.
In the past, seeing a message from Shen Huaixue always made him feel like disaster was imminent.
But now, he could stand up expressionlessly, without a trace of anxiety in his heart.
When he pushed open the door to the President’s Office, Shen Huaixue was sitting on the sofa.
She was dressed very formally today—a black fitted shirt with the cuffs slightly rolled up to her forearms, her long hair loosely pinned back with a clip.
She looked cold and clean. Judging by her appearance alone, she really did resemble that untouchable, unapproachable ice queen CEO.
Unfortunately, Lin Jianqing already knew her too well. She only looked cold on the outside; on the inside, she was both annoying and mean.
“Come over here.”
Shen Huaixue looked up at him, a playful smile curling at the corner of her mouth. That smile, in Lin Jianqing’s eyes, undoubtedly meant she had thought of another ‘game’ to torment him with.