Chapter 193 Extra 17
Normally she would go to the classroom a few minutes early to prepare. Today she met her former senior in the corridor and stopped to chat with her for a few minutes.
Seeing that class was about to start, the senior student said that they could have some tea together after class. She hurried to the classroom. At the door, a girl from the Cultural Heritage Department was sending a voice message.
"I'm not lying to you. You really missed out on not coming to class today! I'll secretly take some pictures and show them to you later!"
When the girl saw her coming, she immediately put away her phone and walked into the classroom embarrassedly.
She wondered which student had skipped class today. Was her class not attractive enough?
She straightened her collar and walked to the podium with the pace of a teacher. She calmly put the handouts away, raised her head, and gave all the students a gentle yet majestic glance.
Her eyes slowly swept from left to right, and after only covering a small part of the area, her gaze froze at the second to last row in the left rear, and she couldn't get past it. There sat a boy wearing a baseball cap, his head lowered, his fingers covering most of his face. Logically speaking, it's normal not to recognize him after he was dressed like that. The problem was that just looking at the head-to-shoulder ratio and the fingers covering his face, she suddenly understood those celebrity fans on the Internet. No matter how their idols dress up, they can spot it with just one detail. What's more, the person in disguise is her boyfriend!
The students noticed she was silent and looked up at her. The guy who had been covering his face with his fingers also raised his head slightly, glancing at her from between his fingers. Their eyes met, and she felt a tightness in her chest. It couldn't be anyone else but him.
He obviously knew that he was recognized, so he removed his fingers, generously revealing his handsome face, and smiled at her with a smile.
Qin Tian was in a dilemma, unable to issue an order for him to leave immediately. The only thing he could do was pretend he didn't know her and continue with her class. She forced herself to look away, not watching what he was doing.
Today's lecture focused on how to locate the correct sampling locations on submitted artifacts. To this end, she brought along a number of forgeries and samples of artifacts she had encountered, both genuine and fake. It was a highly interactive class.
Normally, she would confidently consult the students' independent opinions. Such practical opportunities were rare and always a favorite part of the class. But today, the troublemaker was sitting in the audience, making her feel less confident asking questions, fearing she might accidentally attract the unlucky person.
She took out the samples one by one and arranged them, then asked boldly, "Does anyone want to try to find the sampling points on these porcelains?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the students below sparsely raised their hands. Qin Tian looked around and saw Tong Zhongyuan, sitting in the last seat on the left, raising his hand with a smile.
She quickly looked away and called a student in the front row. After that student finished, she called a few more students to come up and then announced the next chapter.
Tong Zhongyuan knew that she would never point fingers at him, so he quietly put his hands down and continued to listen to the class. He propped his chin up, his eyes unable to leave her. She was very serious in her lectures, but her ending voice always unconsciously carried a charming upturn. When she talked about the wonderful parts, her face would emit a unique and familiar light; when her rhythm was interrupted by students, she would show a shy and ignorant look that made people pity her. When she turned around to write on the blackboard, the lines of her back were neat and graceful, and in his eyes there was something enchanting, and even the white hand holding the pen to write made him fantasize.
He should have come earlier. How could he not have thought that a group of male college students who were controlled by hormones would never let her go.
During the several interactions, she never once called on him. He wasn't anxious either; he probably knew her class pace, and she had prepared at home. At the end of the session, she always had to ask a question.
"Okay, do you have any questions for today's class?" She looked around the classroom and asked habitually.
She regretted it the moment she said it. Only one person raised his hand, Tong Zhongyuan.
She glanced at it quickly, pretended not to see it, and lowered her head to pack up the lesson plans.
"No problem, today's class is..."
"Teacher!" a female voice rang out, "There's something wrong with him..."
She was forced to look up and saw the girl sitting in the third row on the right, turning her head and pointing in Tong Zhongyuan's direction.
Qin Tian's inner villain cursed. Damn it, how could you, a person sitting in the third row, see the people in the back row raise their hands across the diagonal line?
"This...classmate," she racked her brains, "if you have any questions, we can discuss it privately after class."
Tong Zhongyuan laughed, his reaction quite quick. He was about to respond when another girl interrupted, "Teacher, he kept raising his hand, and you didn't call on him once. Maybe it's a very important question? We want to hear it too. Class isn't over yet."
The villain in Qin Tian's heart was already roaring! You two aren't paying attention in class, just caring about whether others raise their hands. What important questions could he have? He could have come up to the stage and lectured you.
"You..." Qin Tian finally looked in his direction, trying to warn him with his eyes to be more sensible and not ask questions that would embarrass her. "Go ahead and ask."
Tong Zhongyuan took off his baseball cap and, under everyone's expectant gaze, said calmly with a smile, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
With a "wow", the whole audience burst into laughter and stomping of feet.
Qin Tian stood on the podium, warm sweetness filled the air of the classroom, and teasing smiling faces shone brightly in the late summer sunshine shining through the window.
She lowered her head and touched her hair, a shy smile on her face that she couldn't see. The students looked at her, then at Tong Zhongyuan, and the booing and laughter became louder.
"Yes." She raised her head and answered firmly.
"Ah..." The boys below made regretful noises.
"Teacher, didn't you say last time that you didn't have a boyfriend?" a voice rang out.
Qin Tian smiled and said, "Now I have it."
"Teacher, what does your boyfriend look like?"
"What kind of job do you do..."
The students chattered incessantly, while the instigator remained calm and composed. Amidst the lively discussion, Qin Tian remained silent, a smile on his face as he neatly organized his lecture notes.
"Okay, that's all for today's class. See you next week."
The students sighed mournfully and scattered, gathering their things to leave. As two girls passed the podium, gossip circulated.
"He's not from our school, is he? If there was such a person... he would have been famous long ago. How could he not have heard of it..."
"I came here for Teacher Qin..."
"...That's perfect. Now I'm injured..."
"Shh...he's coming."
Qin Tian focused his attention on the lesson plan, his eyes fixed on his nose, his nose focused on his heart, and he resolutely refused to look up. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the familiar yet annoying person approaching, but he didn't come over. Instead, he leaned back in the center seat of the first row, staring at her intently.
The students passing by looked at them curiously and left whispering to each other.
Qin Tian was embarrassed. This was even more suspicious than him coming here directly. She no longer had the heart to fiddle with the teaching plans. She grabbed them and walked straight to the door. Sure enough, he followed her out slowly.
She hurried all the way to a deserted place before stopping. When she turned around, he was two meters away. Seeing her stop, he walked up to her and put his arm around her waist as if nothing had happened.
"Would you like to have afternoon tea first? And eat out tonight?"
Qin Tian was speechless. It was meaningless to ask him why he came to school.
"You, won't come again?"
"That's not necessarily true," he said, raising the mole at the corner of his eye. "I'm fine anyway, so it's good to come and study."
"Small-minded..." Qin Tian turned his face away and muttered softly.
But he heard it and held her waist tighter.
"Well, I'm narrow-minded, so you have to bear with me."
"Qin Tian."
A familiar voice sounded not far away. It was the senior student I met before class.
Tong Zhongyuan's hand on her waist loosened slightly, but he didn't let go. It was too late to push him away now, and it would only make her look more obvious.
"Who is this?" The senior student looked at Tong Zhongyuan.
"My boyfriend, Tong Zhongyuan."
The senior student heard the name sound familiar, thought for a second and said in surprise: "Is it the one who recently restored Yuan blue and white porcelain? I remember that's the name."
"Hello, I'm Tong Zhongyuan." Tong Zhongyuan stretched out his hand.
The senior student looked at the two of them with delight and said with emotion, "So, Qin Tian, you have a boyfriend? I originally invited you to have tea today because I wanted to introduce my junior brother to you. Why didn't you tell me that you have a boyfriend?"
"It just started not long ago." Qin Tian said shyly.
Tong Zhongyuan also looked at Qin Tian. Honestly, he wasn't a sociable person, so he'd never considered getting to know his girlfriend's friends. He didn't care about being accepted by her friends. Today, his perspective had changed a bit. He knew Qin Tian wasn't deliberately hiding him; after all, they'd only been dating for a little over a month. But in the eyes of her friends, she was still single and a valuable asset waiting to be introduced, which made him feel subtly uncomfortable.
Their relationship was short, but it was different from that of a typical couple. This reminded him of the words he'd been thinking about lately: "no name, no status." For him, having navigated the turbulent two years of traveling back and forth between places, the mere word "boyfriend" wasn't enough to constitute a legitimate relationship.
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