Chapter 31 Congratulations, Teacher Zhao Zhao, on finding love! ...

On the way back, Meng Yanxi didn't sleep anymore.

It was quite late, almost 10 p.m. The number of pedestrians on the road was gradually decreasing, but the traffic was still dense, with taillights streaking along the road. In the dimly lit carriage, occasional light shone in, briefly illuminating the man's handsome profile.

Meng Yanxi held her phone between her fingers, turning it casually as she chatted with her.

When did you get back?

"At the beginning of the year."

“I visited your school last semester, but I didn’t see you.”

Jin Zhao said, "I looked for a job for half a year after I came back, and I didn't get a job until the end of last semester."

Meng Yanxi: "Is it really this hard for overseas PhDs to find jobs?"

Jin Zhao wrinkled his nose: "Very curly."

These two words are truly heartfelt. Looking back on the six months of job hunting, it felt like drinking a bowl of bitter and strong Chinese medicine. I finally managed to swallow it, but I never wanted to taste it a second time.

A brief silence fell over the air. Meng Yanxi then asked, "Studying poetry?"

Jin Zhao paused for a moment, then followed his gaze to the three textbooks beside him and quickly said, "No, this is just an elective course, general education textbooks."

I guess not.

Jin Zhao, puzzled, asked, "Why?"

Meng Yanxi's Adam's apple bobbed, as if she wanted to say something, but she held back.

Jin Zhao suspected that he was about to say something malicious, but considering that they weren't very close, he forcibly held back.

But in the end, he didn't let her off the hook, casually asking, "Haven't you reflected on this problem yourself?"

Jin Zhao: "..."

I have reflected on it, of course I have.

Because she was self-aware, knowing that she was straightforward and unromantic, she knew that while she could take general education courses, it would be extremely difficult for her to actively delve into the deeper meanings and subtleties hidden in poetry. That's why she didn't study poetry.

But then again, it's one thing for her to reflect on her own actions, but being questioned by him like that isn't very hurtful, it's extremely insulting.

No wonder she's still single; she has such a beautiful face, it's a pity she has such a big mouth.

He had one hand resting on his long leg, his phone constantly waving and trying to get her attention. She was initially considering adding him on WeChat. Although she felt a little guilty, they were old classmates, and he had helped her; it wouldn't be too awkward for her to offer her contact information, would it?

But let's forget about it for now; she's afraid he'll poison her.

The air fell silent again. Meng Yanxi coughed lightly and asked, "What are you researching?"

Jin Zhao remained expressionless: "Steel."

Meng Yanxi: "..."

Whether he genuinely didn't understand or was pretending, after a three-second silence, he calmly retorted, "How the Steel Was Tempered?"

Jin Zhao was momentarily speechless, unsure whether he was taken aback by the cold or genuinely found it funny.

She honestly said, "I study Shakespeare."

Meng Yanxi chuckled: "Isn't this more like your job application form?"

Jin Zhao: "..."

Even a layman like Meng Yanxi knows to study Shakespeare's works, which shows that Shakespeare is indeed the most studied subject in academia, perhaps without exception.

They arrived at the school soon. Outside vehicles need to register in advance on the system to enter the campus. It was already past 10 p.m., and Jin Zhao didn't want to trouble Meng Yanxi any further, so she decided to get out of the car at the gate and walk in by herself.

The access control system recognized Meng Yanxi's license plate but automatically allowed him to pass, and Meng Yanxi's car drove straight into the campus.

Jin Zhao was shocked. Had even machines now developed to the point of currying favor with the powerful and wealthy?

Meng Yanxi explained, "Meng Zhuxi gets into trouble every now and then, so I come here often and have an annual pass."

Jin Zhao looked confused and asked, "Is there such a thing as an annual pass?"

Meng Yanxi thought for a moment and said, "That's roughly the idea."

Suiyi Normal University has a large campus; it takes more than half an hour to walk from the west gate to Jin Zhao's dormitory. Fortunately, although there is a separation between pedestrians and vehicles on campus, the restricted areas are mainly the teaching areas, and cars can drive directly to the teachers' dormitory building.

The dim streetlights illuminated the red-walled, gray-tiled dormitory buildings, reminiscent of old-fashioned designs by Soviet architects from the last century. The dormitories were built against the mountainside, the air thick with the scent of vegetation and moisture.

The university has several teacher dormitory complexes, both on and off campus. This is the smallest one, located on campus, and is mainly for younger teachers.

Meng Yanxi got out of the car and took her luggage out of the trunk.

Jin Zhao quickly followed, rushing to get it: "I can go up by myself."

Meng Yanxi took a step back, pulling on the handle of her suitcase, and nodded her chin behind her: "Let's go, it's not a matter of a few more steps."

The dormitories were arranged side by side, all facing the same direction, somewhat like a classroom layout, only smaller. Each door led to a balcony overlooking the courtyard. Jin Zhao's dormitory was on the first floor. It was actually her first time there, so she turned on her phone's flashlight and checked the room numbers one by one.

“136, here.” Jin Zhao stopped in his tracks.

Meng Yanxi also stopped beside her at the same time.

"Go inside." He pushed the suitcase in front of her.

It was too late; it wasn't appropriate for him to follow her in. He put one hand in his pocket, twirled his phone with the other, and said, "Goodbye."

To avoid disturbing the teachers on the lower floors, the dormitory building was kept dark at night, with only a dim streetlamp at the entrance and the ever-burning incandescent light from the adjacent dormitory manager's office. Further in, the light diminished to almost nothing.

Meng Yanxi faced her, the dim moonlight behind him outlining his broad shoulders and narrow waist. His eyes were beautiful, dark, and deep.

Jin Zhao leaned against the door, his heart suddenly pounding wildly.

She gripped her phone tightly.

I tried several times to say what was in my throat, but I was still afraid to say it. And just thinking about what I was about to say made my heart feel like it was going to jump out of my chest.

He said that people from two different worlds will eventually separate.

Admittedly, she and Wu Nian are from two different worlds, but aren't she and him the same?

He was a chosen one, surrounded by admirers, and he could donate a hundred million yuan at a time; while she was just an ordinary person. She had worked her best for more than 20 years, but she was still just an ordinary teacher at an ordinary university, earning a monthly salary comparable to a verification code, and her research topic was Shakespeare, which even he knew had many volumes.

They are from two different worlds.

If we're going to part ways eventually, is it really necessary to go through the trouble of exchanging contact information?

She tried several times, opening her mouth, but in the end, she couldn't say anything.

Meng Yanxi, seemingly finding patience from nowhere, neither spoke nor left, simply standing before her, quietly watching her.

The silence was so awkward that every second felt longer. Finally, Jin Zhao couldn't take it anymore and, gritting his teeth, blurted out, "Can we add each other on WeChat?"

Fortunately, it's dark now, otherwise Meng Yanxi might have seen her perform the Red Temperature routine on the spot.

Even though it was dark, she didn't dare look at him. She stared down at the phone in his hand and blurted out her high-sounding excuse in one breath: "Thank you so much for today. Words are too pale, and I don't have much money, so if possible, I'd like to write you a thank-you letter."

This was the excuse she racked her brains to come up with on the way. During that absent-minded journey, she half-heartedly responded to his words while struggling to exert all her strength.

She didn't know what Meng Yanxi was thinking, but she herself felt that this excuse was absolutely flawless.

Admittedly, they were from two different worlds, but she wasn't harboring any unrealistic expectations. She simply wanted to write him a thank-you note. He had helped her so much today; didn't he deserve a thank-you note? Even she had received thank-you notes before, while she had only given her students some pointers on essay writing—the topic just happened to be on the CET-4 exam in June, and her students had passed.

If Meng Yanxi refuses, it's just a rejection of her thank-you letter, and the situation won't be awkward.

Meng Yanxi fell silent.

My thumb had already swiped the screen when I heard the first half of her sentence.

The phone's touchscreen was turned on and then turned off again.

“You shouldn’t have changed your research subjects.” After a long pause, Meng Yanxi said cryptically.

Jin Zhao couldn't have imagined this completely unrelated answer even if he thought about it a thousand times. He looked up in surprise and said, "Huh?"

Meng Yanxi quickly swiped her phone, tapped the WeChat QR code, and handed it out: "Adding me on WeChat is fine, but thank you letters aren't necessary. We don't have that kind of KPI."

With a "beep," Jin Zhao added Meng Yanxi's WeChat in a daze.

When I entered the room, my heart was still pounding, and my mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts about Meng Yanxi's reaction just now.

KPI, no, the sentence above, the research subject should not have been changed.

Has she changed her research subjects? Hasn't her research always been Shakespeare?

At this moment, she had completely forgotten that she had said in a fit of pique that she was researching steel.

Her heart was pounding. She reached out and fumbled for the light switch on the wall, unaware of the rustling sound coming from the floor in the quiet night.

Meng Yanxi left as soon as she entered, guarding the boundary without going into her room.

Italian-made handcrafted leather shoes made a steady yet slightly light sound as they stepped across the corridor floor tiles.

Holding the phone in my hand, a line of small gray text appeared on the WeChat interface: You have added Zhaozhao Mumu.

The long finger taps on the profile picture on the other side.

It's a photo of herself, probably taken while she was still in England. The background is a half-open medieval arched lattice door, with green vines faintly visible hanging down onto a stone balcony. Jin Zhao is comfortably nestled in a chair in the room, holding an old English book. Light filters through the door and sheer curtains, illuminating her fair and sweet face in a languid and gentle tone.

Meng Yanxi tapped the photo twice with her long finger, zooming in on her image again.

"Ah—" A scream suddenly came from behind.

Meng Yanxi's expression changed instantly, and she turned and ran back.

*

At 10:30 p.m., the No. 7 teachers' dormitory building was in an uproar.

Jin Zhao sat in the building manager's office, her face pale. Meng Yanxi stood beside her, looking very composed, always calm and collected, but Jin Zhao suspected that he was also frightened.

After all, he's afraid of even spiders, so he should be even more afraid of snakes than she is, right?

A snake got into the dormitory building.

The moment Jin Zhao turned on the light, he was caught off guard and came face to face with a brightly lit reptile on the ground, which startled him so much that he screamed.

Suiyi Normal University is located at the foot of a mountain, surrounded by green hills and clear waters. The campus is large and the ecology is so good that people like it, and animals like it even more. The dormitory manager immediately called the logistics and security personnel. The school's logistics staff are very experienced in this area, and they caught the snake in no time. Before leaving, they even held it up for Jin Zhao to see with a smile, saying, "It's okay, it's not poisonous."

Jin Zhao was caught off guard and startled again. He let out a soft cry and reflexively turned his head away.

Meng Yanxi was standing right next to her when her nose accidentally bumped into his abs.

It's so hard.

Jin Zhao's mind went blank for a moment. He subconsciously looked up, and the next second, he met the man's dark eyes, and blood rushed to his cheeks.

The dormitory group chat exploded with activity. A teacher posted photos in the group, saying that the issue had been resolved and everyone could rest assured.

It would have been better if it hadn't been posted. Once it was posted, people who didn't know anything about it were startled, and it exploded instantly.

Don't post the picture! Delete it now!

—I'm so scared! I just entered the school gate and I'm too scared to come back now! I think I'll just leave and spend the night at the hotel across from the school.

—I live in 135, right next door. Right now, the doors and windows are tightly shut, and I'm shivering under the covers.

—Teacher 135, why don't you get up and check under the bed first, hahaha!

--roll!

—I was planning to go home tomorrow, so I asked my husband to pick me up.

...

The building manager quickly responded – please rest assured, teachers, the report has been submitted, and the logistics department will arrange for the spraying of insect repellent powder tomorrow.

The discussion in the group quickly stopped.

The powder won't be applied until tomorrow, so Jin Zhao absolutely dared not stay in that room again tonight. Finally, she got into Meng Yanxi's car again, and Meng Yanxi gave her a ride to the hotel across from the school.

In the car, Jin Zhao noticed that Meng Yanxi was somewhat silent, and apologized, "I'm sorry, I scared you."

Meng Yanxi was silent for about three seconds, then turned to look at her: "Who told you I was scared?"

Jin Zhao is somewhat innocent.

The nearest hotel to the school was across from the south gate; it was a typical budget hotel with somewhat outdated facilities. Jin Zhao's ID was in her suitcase, and Meng Yanxi told her not to bother, and to use her own ID to check her in.

Jin Zhao followed beside him, and asked again, still not entirely convinced, "Are you really not scared?"

After all, the boys in their family all seem to be afraid of animals; one is afraid of birds, and the other is afraid of spiders.

Meng Yanxi gave her a cold glare.

For some reason, Jin Zhao suddenly laughed and quickly turned his head away.

"Teacher Zhao Zhao!" someone suddenly called out to her from the side.

The girl was tall and slender, with her hair in a ponytail, and walked out of the elevator hand in hand with a tall and thin boy.

That's why they're college students. If it were a middle school student, they'd be running away as fast as they could if they saw a teacher outside with their boyfriend in the middle of the night. But college students can greet their teachers openly and confidently.

Jin Zhao didn't really remember who the girl was. She had only been in the class for a month, and there were many students in the class, plus she was a little face-blind. But the girl's reaction clearly showed that she was one of her students, so she smiled and replied, "Hello everyone."

The girl approached with her boyfriend and said naturally to Jin Zhao, "My boyfriend came to see me during the National Day holiday. He just got off the high-speed train. Let's go get something to eat first."

Jin Zhao said, "Go ahead, be careful."

At this moment, Meng Yanxi finished checking in, took the room key from the front desk, and turned around. The girl's eyes met his face, and her eyes lit up immediately. She exclaimed "Wow!"

"Teacher, your boyfriend is so handsome!" The cheerful female college student didn't hold back her praise.

Jin Zhao was taken aback and hadn't reacted yet when the girl stared meaningfully at the room key in Meng Yanxi's hand, then suddenly winked at Jin Zhao and said, "Teacher Zhao Zhao, congratulations on finding a partner! You two should also be careful!"

By the time Jin Zhao realized that "be careful" meant to take precautions to avoid causing a fatality, the girl had already happily run away, holding her boyfriend's arm.

Jin Zhao: "..."

What a wonderful day full of exciting moments!

-----------------------

Author's note: Meng Yanxi: Finally added. It was worth the time I spent searching on my phone.

Six days a week, one day off. Tomorrow's another day off! See you on Thursday, the day after tomorrow! Mwah~