Chapter 8 Shi Sheng and Chen Li woke up after 1 p.m.

When Shen Li woke up, it was past one o'clock in the afternoon. Shen Ci had already gone out. The air conditioner was set at a comfortable 26 degrees Celsius. In the dimly lit dormitory room, the eye-protection lamp was still on not far away, with a thermos and an umbrella under the lamp.

Shen Li stepped forward; there was a note under the thermos.

Shen Ci: The water inside is warm. Remember to take your medicine when you wake up. The sun is strong in the afternoon, so remember to use an umbrella.

It really is...

Shen Li felt a pang of tenderness in his heart, yet he couldn't help but sigh and rub his forehead in exasperation. Shen Ci was treating him like a three-year-old child.

After taking her medicine, Shen Li walked out of the dormitory building with an umbrella.

At 1:30 pm, the first class had already started. The huge campus was sparsely populated. Shen Li walked on the campus path, with lush camphor trees on both sides. The dappled sunlight swayed slightly on the asphalt road.

The sound of a bicycle bell came from behind, and Shen Li subconsciously moved a little closer to the side.

A figure swiftly passed by, hair blowing in the wind, revealing a boy's smooth forehead. Shen Li couldn't help but glance at that colorful head several times.

Before Shen Li could walk five meters, the boy frantically grabbed a few times with his right hand and came to an abrupt stop in front of her, startling Shen Li, who also quickly stopped.

There was a speed bump ahead, and because the boy was riding too fast, his phone was thrown out of his pocket.

The boy clicked his tongue, turned around and saw Chen Li. His eyes lit up, and he waved his hand, calling out, "Excuse me, excuse me, could you please help me pick this up? Thank you!"

Shen Li picked up the phone and handed it to the boy.

"Thanks! Which department are you from? I've never seen you before." The boy stared intently at Shen Li's face, as if he could see a flower bloom from it. Seeing Shen Li turn to leave, he quickly unlocked his phone, revealing a QR code. "It's fate that we met, let's add each other as friends~"

"No need, I'm not a student." Shen Li took two steps away, not wanting to talk to her.

"Add one more, I'm from the School of Finance, my name is Liang Shun, I'm a junior this year." The boy persisted, straddling his bicycle and slowly gliding alongside Shen Li.

Seeing that Shen Li didn't speak, he continued, "Where are you going? I can give you a ride."

Ten minutes later, Shen Li pointed to the textbooks in the car pocket and couldn't help but remind him, "Student, if you keep talking, you're going to fail this course."

"How did you know?" the boy asked in surprise. "Were you also ruthlessly raped by Granny Shi?"

Are you a senior?

Liang Shun continued babbling, "To be honest, you look familiar, like I've seen you somewhere before."

Shen Li remained silent.

Seeing this, Liang Shun scratched his hair and said, "Hey, don't look at me like that. Although I flirt with everyone I meet, I'm not lying to you this time. I really feel like you look familiar."

Seeing a fork in the road ahead, Shen Li decisively chose the other one and remarked, "Maybe I just have a generic face."

Liang Shun curled his lip: ...You're kidding me...

Shen Li didn't often walk this road, but with the mindset of "since I'm already here," she walked along the path for five minutes, passing through the greenery, and then saw several solemn brick-red buildings.

After passing the building, Shen Li saw a huge ancient-style clock embedded on the top of the building in the very center, and in front of the clock, a huge stone balance scale stood quietly in the center.

University A Law School

Shen Li looked back in surprise at the way he had come. He had been to the law school several times, but he always entered through the main gate and had never noticed that there was a small path behind the building.

Stepping into the central building, the department's slogan is engraved on the background wall of the spacious lobby.

"Wield the sword of law, uphold the scales of justice"①

On the left wall of the hall is information about the past deans of the law school, and a little further in, there are photos of outstanding graduates from previous years.

Shen Li spotted the familiar person in the familiar spot at a glance.

Twenty-two-year-old Jiang Huaichuan, full of vigor and high spirits, stood in front of the huge scales in a well-fitting suit, a slight smile on his lips, looking straight ahead, his clear black eyes full of passionate exuberance.

Shen Li stopped in front of him, tilted her head slightly, as if she had traveled through the years to face him.

Young people, make the most of your youth.

——

When Shen Li arrived at the School of Finance, it was just after the first class had ended.

"Knock knock"

Shen Li knocked on the door twice, and a refined female voice came from behind the door.

"Enter."

Shen Li pushed open the door and went in.

"Teacher Shi, it's been a long time."

Shi Sheng is 62 years old this year. Her full head of white hair is tucked behind her ears. She wears a pair of reading glasses. When she heard the voice, she looked up in surprise and looked over.

Shen Li was led to sit on the sofa by her. Shi Sheng looked her up and down several times, and then suddenly said softly, "You've lost weight."

Upon hearing this, Shen Li felt a lump in her throat and could only hastily avoid Shi Shengsheng's worried eyes.

"Having trouble lately?" Shi Sheng sighed. She was one of the few people who knew about Shen Li's marital situation. "Has he been mistreating you?"

When Shen Li first enrolled, she was very thin, standing out as a frail figure in the crowd, as if she could fall apart with a gust of wind. Shi Sheng and Shen Li first met on the playground. Due to physical reasons, Shen Li did not participate in the enrollment military training like the other students, but instead served as a logistics support staff member, commonly known as "watching the water cups".

She and several colleagues were on their way to lunch when they passed the playground. Because they were close by, one of her colleagues suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, isn't that your college's freshman representative?"

Shi Sheng followed his colleague's gaze and looked over. The first thing Shi Sheng thought when he saw it was, "How can she be so thin?"

The young professor said, "I heard that he was always the top student in his grade in high school, and he was the national math Olympiad champion last year."

Upon hearing his colleague's words, Shi Sheng remembered that last year's math Olympiad paper was very difficult. Even at the University of A, a school full of geniuses, only one or two students could get a perfect score. The only perfect score paper in last year's competition came from an unknown high school in K City.

Another colleague glanced at it several times. "This face became famous as soon as we enrolled. The last person to go this crazy was Jiang Huaichuan from the law school, right? It's a pity though. I heard he's not in good health and might be having financial difficulties. He asked about part-time jobs on his first day of school."

Upon hearing this, Shi Sheng couldn't help but take another look.

On campus, not only students but even teachers would gossip about it. The matter passed quickly, and the next time I remembered it was during my sophomore year.

In his sophomore year, Shi Sheng was Shen Li's professor, and this was the first time Shi Sheng had ever met Shen Li in person, a student who was considered an excellent role model by his colleagues.

He is never late or leaves early, is focused in class, has excellent homework, gets full marks, and will quietly help turn on the projector. When sitting on the outermost side, he will also cover the corner of the table with his hand.

After class, you can see him working quietly in the library, the cafeteria, and even the coffee shops that his younger colleagues frequent.

Shi Sheng was in good health and had lived for over fifty years. He had minor illnesses but never suffered from any major ones, which meant that despite his advanced age, he paid almost no attention to his health. That year, Shi Sheng was immersed in his teaching career, teaching classes, supervising graduate students, and guiding graduation theses. He also encountered a rare and severe flu outbreak, which left him exhausted and he accidentally contracted the virus.

On this day, Shi Sheng felt his body was somewhat out of his control, but he thought it was just because of the changing seasons. He figured he only had one class today, and after that it would be the weekend, so he could rest for two days and let his guard down.

Having forced himself to finish the class, Shi Sheng sat in the classroom catching his breath. It was the last period on Friday, and as soon as the bell rang, the students scattered like pigeons released from their cages within a minute.

Shi Sheng felt dizzy and short of breath. She instinctively reached for her phone but realized she had left it in the office. Shi Sheng knew she was in trouble. Her legs felt weak and she couldn't walk. This classroom was on the top floor, so not many people would pass by.

"Professor Shi, do you need any help?"

Cold sweat trickled down his temples to his chin. Shi Sheng struggled to take off his glasses and was about to lie down for a while when a voice suddenly came from the side.

Shen Li returned at this time.

"Professor Shi?" Shen Li nudged Shi Sheng and immediately sensed something was wrong. She immediately dialed 120 for emergency medical assistance and the school clinic.

The school doctor arrived quickly and made a preliminary diagnosis of acute hypotension. After the ambulance arrived, Shen Li and the school doctor went to the hospital together.

Afterwards, the doctor said that it was fortunate that the patient was brought in in time. Given the patient's age of over 50, if no one had discovered him, it would most likely have resulted in an irreversible outcome.

Shen Li breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. He sat on a bench outside the ward to rest. After a while, Shi Sheng's family arrived, and Shen Li quietly left.

Later, after Shi Sheng was discharged from the hospital, he left Shen Li behind after one of his classes.

She asked, "Would it be convenient for you to come to my office?"

Shi Sheng walked beside Shen Li with the textbook in his hand. Her voice was less serious than it was in class, carrying a hint of kindness: "Do you have a part-time job tonight?"

Shen Li shook her head: "No."

“Hmm.” Shi Sheng continued, “You must have been terrified that day, right? When I woke up, I vaguely remembered someone calling me from the side, but I couldn’t see clearly by then. Later, I asked my husband, and he said that when he came over, there was no one else besides the school doctor. He asked the school doctor, and the school doctor also said he didn’t recognize him.”

"I had a feeling it must have been a student from that class, so I took the liberty of checking the surveillance footage. I'm sorry."

Shen Li shook her head: "It's alright."

Upon hearing this, Shi Sheng's eyes crinkled into fine lines: "You have an ability to make people feel comfortable. To be honest, when I saw it was you, I had a feeling of 'I knew it!' You're very observant. You must have noticed something was wrong, so you came back to check, right?"

Shen Li: "You used to do what you did today: turn off the projector first, and then start organizing the computer, but you didn't that day."

Shi Sheng pushed open the office door and said, "Hahaha, because back then I could hardly tell east from west."

Shi Shengchao pointed to the sofa: "Sit."

Then she took out a gift box from the cabinet behind her desk, decorated with pretty cartoon designs and tied with a light blue bow.

Shi Sheng sat down next to Shen Li with the gift box in his hand. "This is a thank-you gift."

Shen Li was taken aback and instinctively wanted to decline.

Shi Sheng quickly interrupted, "Don't rush to refuse. It's nothing expensive, just two books inside. Trust me, you'll definitely like it. Oh, by the way, my granddaughter did the packaging. She knew I wanted to give you a gift, and she insisted on wrapping it herself, hahaha, don't mind."

“I really like it.” Shen Li stood up and solemnly accepted the gift. “Thank you, Professor Shi.”

Seeing that Shen Li accepted the invitation, Shi Sheng was very happy. She continued, "My husband wanted to invite you to lunch. My son and daughter-in-law also wanted to come, but I was afraid you would feel uncomfortable, so I stopped them. Shen Li, how about we have lunch together?"

Seeing the joy and anticipation in Shi Sheng's eyes, Shen Li couldn't help but think of the old director of the orphanage in K City.

The old dean was the same way. He was always happy to go back, but he would always stubbornly complain about how troublesome and time-consuming it was to travel back and forth. Little did he know that the expectation in his eyes could not be hidden.

Later, until his internship, Shi Sheng was the professional course teacher for Class 1 of Finance. After learning that Shen Li was an orphan, Shi Sheng would even find excuses to invite Shen Li home for dinner every now and then. After a while, Shen Li felt embarrassed, so the couple came up with an idea to have Shen Li help tutor their granddaughter after each meal.

In her senior year of college, Shi Sheng learned that Shen Li had gotten married and that his wife was someone else. The nearly 60-year-old woman started browsing the campus forum and looking at posts from a few years ago, just to learn more about Shen Li's other half.

Later, seeing that Shen Li was getting thinner and thinner, Shi Sheng became extremely worried. Under her persistent questioning, Shen Li calmly said:

Her husband didn't love her; their marriage was merely a political alliance, based on mutual benefit.

But Shen Li loved him as much as parched, barren land cannot live without rain. He was like a beneficiary who used despicable means to seize the bright moon in his heart.

That day, Shi Sheng remained silent for a long time until Shen Li got up to leave. She suddenly came to her senses, took Shen Li's hand, and gently patted it twice, her voice choked with emotion and reluctance: "If you have any difficulties in the future, come to your teacher anytime. Your teacher is here."

A note from the author:

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Citation:

①Excerpt from the Oath of Admission to China University of Political Science and Law