“Baby, I’m heading off first~”
Su Shanshan waved energetically before turning and leaving, leaving only Pei Xingyan and Tang Xin standing there.
Tang Xin was the only girl Su Shanshan trusted to spend time with Pei Xingyan. Perhaps in her eyes, Tang Xin was like a close relative from Pei Xingyan’s hometown.
“Wow, you really became a rental boyfriend?!”
After the girl left, Tang Xin grabbed Pei Xingyan’s collar and shook him vigorously until his head spun.
“Don’t, don’t be so intense…” Pei Xingyan pleaded in broken sentences, “You’re gonna shake me to death soon…”
“No, no, no!!!” Tang Xin didn’t listen at all and started yelling, “Why did you actually agree to be a rental boyfriend?! She even called you ‘baby’!!!”
“Li-li-listen to me.” Pei Xingyan felt like he was about to throw up. He grabbed Tang Xin’s hand to stop her.
Luckily, Tang Xin wasn’t very strong, and he finally broke free.
He took several deep breaths to calm down before slowly saying, “I call it professionalism, okay? Besides, didn’t you tell me before that this was about providing emotional support? Why are you so surprised now?”
Tang Xin couldn’t find a word to retort. She choked up several times and muttered softly to herself, “I just didn’t expect her to get this close to you in such a short time… even linking arms…”
Pei Xingyan sneered coldly, sharply commenting, “Don’t act like you regret it. You probably didn’t feel this bad when you took Su Shanshan’s deposit, right?”
“No, I thought it would just be comforting her a bit… who knew I’d have to get you involved?”
“Hmph, if it were that simple, it’d be nice.” Pei Xingyan’s words were sharp, but inside he couldn’t help but laugh coldly.
Tang Xin had only seen the first layer of difficulty; she hadn’t even touched on the real problem yet.
But Pei Xingyan wasn’t planning to reveal everything, at least not until he came up with a real solution. For now, it was better to keep the secret.
“Now that you say that, I’ve lost all confidence for the next clients…” Tang Xin looked a bit discouraged and began self-reflecting, “I even arranged to meet one of them this afternoon. Now I don’t even dare to go…”
Pei Xingyan quietly sat aside, staring blankly at the sky.
He didn’t have much advice. Although the first two clients seemed to be messing around, with unclear obligations on his part, ambiguous criteria for completing the deal, and unsettled payments, he still put his heart into it.
For the sake of those girls, he did his best to meet their emotional needs.
Though the situation was gradually improving, neither Lin Xiaoyu nor Su Shanshan could be called simple clients anymore. Their emotions had become distorted and twisted.
He didn’t even know whether he should continue or if he could bear the consequences of going further.
But if he gave up now, what if their conditions worsened or deteriorated?
And the remaining payments—should he still collect them?
Pei Xingyan had no answers.
He scratched his head, deeply conflicted, then took a deep breath and muttered his thoughts aloud:
“Just have to take it one step at a time…”
After a long while, Pei Xingyan’s vacant state was interrupted by a woman’s voice.
“Hello, are you Tang Xin… right?”
The voice sounded slightly aged, somewhat familiar to Pei Xingyan.
“Y-yes, I’m Tang Xin. You’re not mistaken.” Tang Xin quickly stood up and offered the visitor a seat. “Please, have a seat.”
“Oh dear, I just got out of class and hurried over. Sorry to keep you waiting so long.”
“No, no, my time isn’t exactly precious…” Tang Xin scratched her head, looking awkward.
Pei Xingyan turned to look, curious who the client was that made Tang Xin so shy.
But when he saw who it was, he nearly lost his mind.
“T-Te-teacher?” He stammered, speechless.
This wasn’t like Shen Zhishu, a fake teacher—it was a real professor who had actually taught him. She was an associate professor. Pei Xingyan recalled her surname was Yang.
“Pei Xingyan?” Professor Yang looked surprised but called out his name directly. She asked, “You’re here because…?”
“Yes, yes, this is the psychology expert I mentioned to you.” Tang Xin shamelessly promoted him. “Looks like you know him too. Great, then this will be easy. Shall we get straight to the point?”
“What point?!” Pei Xingyan whispered urgently as he dragged Tang Xin aside, sternly questioning, “This is the client you told me about?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Do you realize she’s our teacher? The one who actually taught classes! She even remembers my name!”
“So what?”
“So what? How did I become a psychology expert?”
“You already are one~ Can a regular person talk down a girl who wants to commit suicide in just a few words?” Tang Xin said carelessly, patting his shoulder to encourage him, “Come on, just have some confidence. Leave the rest to me, okay?”
Pei Xingyan thought, yeah, right!
Even if he was a psychologist, could he really be his own teacher’s therapist? If that happened, he’d probably be the one needing help first.
But Tang Xin was already back at her seat, chatting in detail with Professor Yang.
Helpless, Pei Xingyan had no choice but to grit his teeth and follow along.
“Pei Xingyan, I didn’t expect you to have this ability,” Professor Yang said with admiration. “I heard from Tang Xin that you persuaded a suicidal classmate to come back?”
“Something like that.” Pei Xingyan nodded.
“That’s good.” Professor Yang nodded approvingly, then started discussing with Tang Xin, “Anyway, I’m throwing all my hopes on this. Since you’re so confident, let’s give it a try…”
Tang Xin put on her businesswoman act, wearing a flattering smile and beginning to negotiate terms, “Professor Yang, although you’re a teacher, our business rules can’t be changed. We need to fill out the contract first and receive the deposit…”
“All right, all right.” Professor Yang sighed helplessly, repeatedly exhaling.
“And we need to agree in advance on what counts as contract fulfillment.” Tang Xin added the important clause she had just learned.
“No problem. We do need to discuss that…”
“But…” Pei Xingyan timidly asked, “Could you let me know what the terms are? If the teacher’s problem is serious, maybe she should see a hospital…”
“You’ve got it wrong.” Professor Yang turned to him, looking listless as she slowly said,
“It’s not me who has a problem. It’s my daughter. She’s about to fall into the abyss.”