Meanwhile, by the time Guan Ju scrolled to that same-city video, it was already nearly 1 AM.
She hadn’t planned on staying up this late. She had classes the next day, and there was a pile of messy forms to sign over at the college.
Under normal circumstances, she should have already showered and been getting ready for bed by now.
Unfortunately, “normal circumstances” were, more often than not, just something meant to be broken. A little after 10 PM, her family had called again.
Back and forth, it was the same old words: she wasn’t getting any younger, her job was stable, was there anyone suitable around her, so-and-so’s son in Linzhou City was pretty good, or so-and-so’s son wasn’t out of the question either—anyway, meeting once wouldn’t cost her a piece of flesh.
The matchmaking talk made Guan Ju’s head ache.
She leaned against the sofa, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. At first she could still manage a couple of “mm-hm”s. Later, she simply set the phone farther away and let the voice on the other end drift through the air on its own.
‘Marriage pressure.’
‘Marriage pressure.’
‘Still fcking marriage pressure.’*
There weren’t many clans in Linzhou City, and the Guan Family barely counted as one of them.
They weren’t at the level of the Shen Family, which sat 800 meters away from ordinary people, but they weren’t exactly a completely ordinary teacher’s family either.
Guan Ju being able to come to Linzhou University as a counselor and a teacher was half her own willingness, and half her family’s feeling that this position was stable, respectable, and unlikely to cause trouble.
As for whether she herself was willing to get married, no one cared much. At least her family didn’t care that much.
After hanging up, Guan Ju stared at the ceiling for a long while. In the end, she picked up her phone and casually opened the short video app.
She didn’t really want to watch anything. She just didn’t want to sleep.
She also didn’t want to keep listening to that pile of “you should think about yourself too” voices in her head.
The same-city feed scrolled quickly. The first few videos were about food, restaurant reviews, night markets, and clips from tonight’s Linzhou City superpower competition.
Guan Ju had been busy with college affairs during the day and hadn’t gone to the scene, but events like superpower competitions easily made it onto the same-city feed anyway, so she didn’t find it strange.
Until a title popped up.
“Linzhou City Superpower Competition: Good-Looking Passerby Compilation”
Guan Ju’s finger paused. The title was pretty ordinary, even a bit cheesy.
But when people were bored, their patience for cheesy things tended to improve. She tapped in.
The first few images in the video were normal scene captures: there were contestants, beautifully dressed girls in the audience, and a few guys who you could tell at a glance were deliberately posing for the camera.
Guan Ju felt a little like laughing. Young people these days, really—they could go watch a superpower competition and turn themselves into a promo video along the way.
She was about to swipe away, but when the video flipped to the fourth image, Shen Huaixue appeared in the frame.
Guan Ju’s fingertip froze. Of course she knew Shen Huaixue.
There probably weren’t many people at Linzhou University who didn’t know Shen Huaixue at all. The boss of Lingqi Network, a member of the Shen Family. She rarely appeared on campus, but whenever she did, it was hard not to notice her.
In the video, Shen Huaixue sat in the VIP seating, her posture very natural, a young girl linked to her arm.
To be precise, a girl so beautiful she was excessive. Small face, fair skin, slightly red earlobes, seeming to lower her head and avoid the camera.
At first, Guan Ju only thought the person looked familiar. She dragged the video back a bit and stopped on that image again.
The more she looked, the more something felt off. She slowly sat up straight.
‘Why does this person look so much like Lin Jianqing?’
It wasn’t just ordinarily similar. It was the kind of similar where at first glance you saw a pretty girl, but upon closer look, you could recognize a familiar feeling from the eyebrows, eyes, and the lines of the side profile.
Guan Ju knew Lin Jianqing all too well. On the one hand, Lin Jianqing’s grades really were good, and his visual aesthetics and modeling skills were more solid than many students at the same level.
On the other hand, his family situation was rather special. She had helped him get in contact with an internship before, and she knew about the pressure on his mother and sister.
Of course, there was one more thing. Lin Jianqing really was too beautiful. This “beautiful” wasn’t an exaggeration.
He normally wore plain men’s clothing and didn’t even style his hair carefully, yet he already carried a clean, androgynous quality.
Guan Ju had occasionally thought before that if this kid had been born into a slightly more ordinary family, he might have had a much easier life.
But this person in the video…
Guan Ju zoomed in on the screenshot. The image quality wasn’t particularly clear, but she could still make out the outline of that face.
She then looked at Shen Huaixue’s hand resting on the other person’s arm.
‘Shen Huaixue, Lin Jianqing…’
‘Is this women’s clothing?’
Putting these words together, Guan Ju felt things starting to get strange.
She didn’t jump to conclusions right away. After all, it wasn’t like there were no lookalikes in the world. Lin Jianqing had a younger sister.
Although she wasn’t old, if the sister looked like him, that wouldn’t be entirely impossible to explain.
But the problem was—if it really was Lin Jianqing’s sister, why would she be sitting together with Shen Huaixue?
And sitting in the VIP seating, being linked so intimately by Shen Huaixue?
Guan Ju stared at the screen for a few seconds and suddenly found it a bit interesting. She had been irritated by the marriage pressure, but now she actually perked up considerably.
‘If that really is Lin Jianqing…’
The moment this thought popped into Guan Ju’s head, she felt she might be a bit unlike a teacher.
But there was no helping it. She really was curious.
For a boy like Lin Jianqing, naturally beautiful and carrying a slightly androgynous quality—if he really wore women’s clothing, what would he look like?
The person in the video had already given the answer.
‘Definitely very beautiful.’
Guan Ju leaned back into the sofa and slowly watched the video once more. She didn’t like it, didn’t comment. She just saved it.
After saving it, she stared at the screen in silence for two seconds. Even more unlike a teacher now.
‘Forget it.’
‘Save it first. Deal with it tomorrow.’
The next morning, when Lin Jianqing came to class, Guan Ju could tell at first glance that he hadn’t rested well.
He sat in the back of the classroom, his hair slightly messier than usual, a faint tiredness under his eyes.
When others lowered their heads to look at the course materials, he lowered his head too, but he was clearly distracted. The pen in his hand spun twice and nearly fell off the desk.
Guan Ju stood at the podium and saw this, but she didn’t call him out right away.
She only finished the lecture, assigned the small homework due next week, and when the people in the classroom started packing up their things, she spoke up to stop him.
“Lin Jianqing, stay for a moment.”
Lin Jianqing’s movements clearly paused. He looked up, and there was a flash of wariness in his eyes.
Guan Ju saw Lin Jianqing’s reaction. To her, this reaction only made things more interesting.
When most of the others in the classroom had left, Lin Jianqing walked over with his bag.
“Teacher Guan, is something the matter?”
He said it very calmly. At least, he tried very hard to act calm.
Guan Ju looked at him like this and didn’t mention the video first. She just asked, “Didn’t you rest well last night?”
Lin Jianqing’s heart tightened.
‘Here it comes. Again.’
He nearly had a stress reaction just from hearing the word “yesterday.”
‘Can we please not bring up what happened yesterday anymore?’
“It’s fine.” Lin Jianqing tried his best to keep his voice normal. “There was something at the company yesterday. I got back late.”
“Lingqi?”
“Mm.”
Lin Jianqing nodded very naturally. He had already practiced this excuse in the dorm once. Although the effect was mediocre, it was better than making one up on the spot.
Guan Ju let out a light laugh.
“Lingqi’s been that busy lately? You look like someone wore you out all night.”