Chapter 20: Getting Caught Sleeping in Class by the Teacher
Xie Lin looked at her covering her face and curling up in a ball, and chuckled softly, the vibration of his chest carrying a magnetic quality.
His large, well-defined hand roughly stroked Lin Mianmian's soft hair.
Then he walked to the sofa, pulled up a thin blanket, and gently tossed it onto her, his tone a mix of roguishness and casual reassurance: "What are you thinking about? Your little head is full of nonsense."
He walked straight to his bedroom, and as he passed her, he lightly flicked her forehead with his fingertip. "The guest room is ready. You can sleep in that one. I have no interest in taking advantage of someone in distress; it would make me look tasteless."
Lin Mianmian was stunned for a moment, then slowly removed her hands from her face, only to see his tall and straight figure disappear into the doorway of the room.
The faint scent of cedar lingered in the air, mixed with the crispness of tobacco, which inexplicably relieved her, yet also left her with a vague sense of loss.
I slept without any dreams.
The next morning, the morning light streamed in through the gaps in the curtains.
The weather is so nice today; the sunlight feels warm on me.
When Lin Mianmian came out after washing up, she saw Xie Lin leaning against the entrance waiting for her. He was wearing a simple white T-shirt and black pants, which made his broad shoulders and narrow waist look perfect. His youthful energy and hormones were intertwined just right.
“Let’s go,” he tossed a warm sandwich to me, his tone as natural as that of an old friend. “If you dawdle any longer, you’ll be late for your 8 a.m. English class.”
Lin Mianmian took the sandwich, her fingertips touching his palm, which burned her so much that she quickly pulled her hand back.
Upon arriving at the school, Xie Lin parked the Maybach, and the two of them got out and walked one after the other on the campus path. Sunlight fell on their shoulders, and a tacit understanding arose between them.
People were coming and going on campus, and Xie Lin's figure attracted the attention of many girls. Lin Mianmian subconsciously quickened her pace, trying to distance herself from him, but her wrist was gently grasped by him.
"Why are you running?" He leaned closer, his voice low and teasing. "Afraid others will find out you stayed with me last night?"
Xie Lin gripped her wrist with a firm but not too strong grip, pulling her slightly further into the crowd. As he uttered his teasing remark, their shadows swayed on the ground, intertwining like threads, and they soon turned into the teaching building.
"I'll come find you in a bit." Xie Lin dropped her off at the classroom and left, not knowing where he was going.
I had trouble sleeping in my new bed last night, and I tossed and turned until late into the night before finally managing to doze off.
Sitting in my seat right now, my head is nodding off, just like a little chick taking a nap.
The professor's voice came through a layer of cotton on the podium. The professor spoke for a long time. She rested her chin on her hand, her vision gradually blurred, and even the English words on the textbook began to spin.
"Lin Mianmian, can you analyze the solution strategy for this cloze test?"
Caught off guard by being called out, Lin Mianmian jumped up in shock, her mind going completely blank.
Oh no! She was just asleep, what am I supposed to answer? Lin Mianmian felt like crying.
She looked down at her textbook, where all the familiar letters had turned into incomprehensible gibberish. Her cheeks flushed, and she was so embarrassed that her fingertips trembled.
A few low, suppressed laughs came from around her, and she really wanted to find a place to disappear into.
Just then, a lazy voice with a smile gently fell on her ear: "Baby, don't panic, first find the conjunction, use 'however' for the transition."
Lin Mianmian froze and abruptly turned her head.
Xie Lin had somehow taken up the empty seat next to her. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a cat pattern on it, and his hat was off, revealing his full forehead and neat silver hair.
Sunlight fell on his high, straight nose, outlining a nonchalant handsomeness.
He rested his elbows on the edge of the table, leaning slightly towards her. His peach blossom eyes curved into crescents, filled with a playful yet subtle indulgence.
Her fingertips tapped casually on the table, the rhythm neither fast nor slow, yet carrying a reassuring power. Before Lin Mianmian could react, the professor frowned and urged, "Where's your thought process?"
Xie Lin raised an eyebrow and took over the conversation directly, his voice clear and bright, with a touch of roguish arrogance: "Professor, let me add something. The core of this cloze test is contextual reasoning. Besides conjunctions of transition, you also need to pay attention to consistency in person reference. In the third paragraph, 'her' refers to the person mentioned earlier..."
He spoke fluently and logically, so clearly that even the professor couldn't help but nod in approval. Sunlight streamed through the window, falling on his straight profile, and his Adam's apple bobbed gently as he spoke, prompting a girl in the back row to secretly take out her phone to take a picture.
Lin Mianmian listened in a daze, and only after Xie Lin finished speaking did she realize that her palms, which were gripping the textbook, were covered in sweat.
The professor gestured for her to sit down. As soon as she sat down, she heard Xie Lin chuckle softly, his warm breath brushing against her earlobe: "Didn't sleep well last night? Silly girl, why didn't you wake me if you're not used to sleeping in a new bed?"
He reached out, his fingertips calloused, and gently ruffled her messy hair.
His tone was flirtatious yet genuinely caring: "Next time you're this sleepy, I'll stand up and answer the questions for you, and by the way, tell the whole class that we're living together."
Lin Mianmian's face turned red again, and she raised her hand to slap his hand away.
The bell had just rung, and Lin Mianmian hadn't even recovered from Xie Lin's teasing remark when her phone vibrated.
It was a message from the male head of the Student Union's Practice Department, in an imperious tone: "Come to the activity room immediately and rewrite ten copies of last week's activity plan by hand. They must be submitted by 2 PM, not a single word can be missing."
Lin Mianmian frowned. Wasn't the proposal from last week finished? Why does it have to be handwritten again now, and with such a tight deadline? She was holding her phone and was about to get up when Xie Lin pressed her wrist down.
"Who is it?" He glanced at the screen, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly.
"Minister," Lin Mianmian said, pulling her hand away with a hint of helplessness in her voice, "I need to go to the activity room."
Xie Lin didn't say anything, but lazily followed behind her, his steps unhurried.
Lin Mianmian was completely unaware.
In the activity room, the male minister was sitting on a chair with his legs crossed, playing on his phone. Next to him stood a girl dressed in a flamboyant but plain style, who was his girlfriend and a member of the department.
Upon seeing Lin Mianmian enter, the male minister didn't even look up, slamming a stack of documents onto the table, scattering papers all over the floor.
"Are you blind? Didn't you see the paper on the ground? Pick it up." His tone was contemptuous, with an air of officialdom. "Also, the proposal said to have ten handwritten copies; I don't want the printed ones."
Ten copies by hand? Lin Mianmian frowned, her fingers clenching until they turned white: "Minister, there's simply no time to handwrite ten copies. Time is too tight, and we were told before that printed copies would suffice."
Lin Mianmian stubbornly produced her group chat history on her phone as proof.
"The past is the past, the present is the present." The male minister didn't even look at her, his eyes full of sarcasm. "What? You're making excuses when we ask you to do some work? If you don't want to do it, you can leave the department."
His girlfriend immediately chimed in, her voice sickeningly sweet, but her eyes held a sharp edge: "Mianmian, the minister is only doing this for your own good, to give you more experience. Look how responsible the minister is, how much he worries about the ministry. You, on the other hand, are so insensible."
As she spoke, she affectionately took the male minister's arm, her eyes full of pride.
Looking at the hypocritical couple in front of her, Lin Mianmian felt a wave of nausea wash over her.
But in order to get extra points and use the scholarship money for her grandmother, she endured it. She squatted down and picked up the scattered papers one by one, her fingertips being cut by the rough edges of the paper and bleeding, but she didn't even notice.
Several department members around her pretended not to see anything, keeping their heads down and busy with their own work; no one dared to speak up for her. The pretentious male department head looked at Lin Mianmian's humble demeanor, a wicked smile curling at the corner of his mouth. Clearly, he enjoyed the thrill of manipulating people.
Feelings of resentment and grievance surged up like a tide, making Lin Mianmian feel suffocated in her chest and her eyes uncontrollably burn.
She bit her lower lip hard to stop the tears from falling, her anger burning ever brighter, but she could only force herself to endure it.
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