Ji Mingyue woke up the moment Zhang Chenxi placed the book on the desk.
Her sleep was extremely light, and the slightest rustle would wake her up. This was also the main reason why she had moved out to live on her own.
Earlier, when Zhang Chenxi draped his jacket over her, she had curled up and shivered slightly—not because she was cold, but because she was nervous.
She had witnessed his entire display of hesitation and infatuation.
A boy whose skin wasn't particularly fair, standing at around 179.866 centimeters, wearing a white T-shirt and black trousers.
Beneath slightly tousled bangs were clear eyes. His features weren't striking, but he gave off a clean, refreshing vibe.
A boy who was so careful even just placing a jacket over someone, a boy who didn't even dare turn on his microphone when playing games with girls—he really was interesting.
Only... was he really Zhang Xizhao or not?
Ji Mingyue clearly remembered that Zhang Xizhao's IP address was in Jiangsu, but Zhang Xizhao himself had also said he was from Jinling, so an IP in Jiangsu didn't prove much.
"Surely it couldn't be such a coincidence? There are so many people named Zhang Xizhao across the country, right? No, wait, that's not a common name for people to pick, is it?
"Sigh, and I can't exactly just ask the junior point-blank if he has a Note account.
"If I'd known, I should have just made him sing the song yesterday to find out, hmph.
"But I really, really want to know." Ji Mingyue pouted.
***
It was almost noon by the time she left the library. Zhang Chenxi bought a meal to-go and headed back to the dorm.
As soon as he walked in, he saw Wang Jiuri and Sun Dong looking him up and down, shaking their legs while wearing malicious grins.
Zhang Chenxi felt his hair stand on end, but he forced himself to stay calm, putting on an indifferent expression as he walked toward his desk.
"Man, the sun outside is so white today."
Zhang Chenxi stammered out a cover story, completely unaware that he had panicked so badly he was making up nonsense.
"Yeah, not only is it white, but it's really long too. Nice and white, and long—am I right, dear brother Zhang Chenxi?"
Sun Dong sneered sarcastically as he walked toward his own desk.
Nice and white, and long?
Hearing those words, Zhang Chenxi's mind inexplicably flashed back to the senior in the library.
Even though she was wearing a long skirt, that brief glimpse of her lower calf, exposed by chance, was enough to reveal her near-perfect proportions.
The slender and straight lines of her legs looked like a work of art meticulously carved by the heavens.
"Yeah, definitely."
Zhang Chenxi nodded while grinning foolishly.
"Huh?" Sun Dong looked at Zhang Chenxi's soul-absent expression and gave the back of his head a light slap.
"What are you daydreaming about, kid? Did a trip to the library turn your brains to mush? Is there a succubus in the library or something?"
The mere thought of how Zhang Chenxi had framed him for blocking Wang Jiuri's tiles made Sun Dong angry all over again, and his tailbone still ached faintly from that sneak attack.
"Go on, go on. I'll buy you a cup of milk tea tonight, go play over there, kid."
Zhang Chenxi snapped back to reality and bribed Sun Dong away with a cup of milk tea.
***
"Let's go, Dog Xi, time for class."
After the noon break, the group prepared to head to the last class of the day: a review session for Signals and Systems.
"I'm not going. Answer the roll call for me, Godfather," Zhang Chenxi mumbled from his bed, burying his face.
It wasn't that he didn't want to go; it was just that he hadn't listened to a single lecture prior to this.
As for the book the senior had lent him, the problem-solving methods in her notes were very different from the textbook, so he would be much better off just studying her notes.
After saying goodbye to his roommates, Zhang Chenxi comfortably dozed off again.
Before long, however, a barrage of voice calls buzzed on his phone, yoking the soundly sleeping Zhang Chenxi back to wakefulness.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit! Who the hell is this? Can't a guy get some sleep around here?!"
Zhang Chenxi yelled at the top of his lungs. The sheer morning-after-wrath he felt right now could have resurrected ten Evil Sword Immortals.
"Dog Xi, the professor didn't come today, it's a substitute teacher instead. They're taking roll right now—I told them you went to the restroom, you better get your ass over here."
Sun Dong had only called to wake Zhang Chenxi up, and followed it with a text message.
Zhang Chenxi snapped fully awake. He couldn't afford to lose many points on the final exam anyway; if his attendance grade took a hit too, wouldn't his entire semester be ruined right here?
Zhang Chenxi sprinted toward the classroom while grumbling all the way.
"I mean, you're just a substitute teacher, couldn't you just coast through it? Why do you gotta be so conscientious and take roll?"
After a frantic dash, he finally reached the classroom.
Zhang Chenxi swallowed down his bellyful of complaints, forced a professional, fake smile onto his face, and pushed open the classroom door.
To his utter shock, the person greeting his eyes was none other than the senior who had lent him her book?!
Ji Mingyue turned toward the sound as well, and saw—it was him?!
Both of them instantly averted their eyes.
Zhang Chenxi looked away because he wanted to sneak into the classroom unnoticed.
Ji Mingyue looked away because she was afraid her surprise would betray the fact that she had actually seen him before.
Seeing that Ji Mingyue wasn't looking at him anymore, Zhang Chenxi assumed she was tacitly allowing him in, and walked toward his roommates.
"So the substitute teacher the senior mentioned happened to be for our class! If I'd known, I should have gotten acquainted with her this morning," Zhang Chenxi thought to himself.
Suddenly, a cold, detached voice interrupted his train of thought.
"This student, I don't believe I gave you permission to enter. You need to tell me why you're late for class."
Zhang Chenxi broke out in a cold sweat. "If the senior had seen me this morning, she definitely wouldn't be giving me a hard time. I'm so dead."
That was his internal complaint, but his body remained utterly honest. Zhang Chenxi turned around and looked apologetically at Ji Mingyue:
"I-I'm sorry, Senior... oh no, Professor. My stomach was acting up and the restroom took a little longer, I'm terribly sorry."
Watching Zhang Chenxi's flustered, absent-minded appearance, Ji Mingyue was already bursting with joy on the inside, but her face remained entirely expressionless, like a cold machine.
"Understood. While it's 1atingly excusable, please try to avoid this kind of situation in the future."
Zhang Chenxi finally let out a sigh of relief and walked to his seat, but up on the podium, Ji Mingyue's mind had drifted off.
Because just moments ago, while toying with Zhang Chenxi, she had scanned the class roster and failed to find the name Zhang Xizhao that she was looking for.
A look of disappointment crossed Ji Mingyue's face. *Sigh... he isn't him.*
She realized that "Zhang Xizhao" might just be a fake name the junior had used to fool the Genie Girl.
Her good mood from the past two days vanished in an instant, and Ji Mingyue transformed into a cold-faced judge as she lectured on the review problems.
Yet, having completely lost her focus, Ji Mingyue's voice grew colder and colder, as if trying to freeze the entire classroom solid.
The students gradually felt a vague, oppressive weight settling over the room, silently staring at the PPT without daring to utter a peep.
Why was such a gorgeous beauty of a teacher so impossibly unapproachable?
Suddenly, a small, strange squeak came from a corner, though it sounded exceptionally clear in the heavy silence.
Zhang Chenxi hadn't noticed Ji Mingyue's progressive chilling or the suffocating atmosphere in the room at all.
Because he had just hit a high-roll all-in for a 3-star Pigeon.
With his mouth split in a grin stretching almost to his ears, Zhang Chenxi was jolted back to reality by a violent slap from Wang Jiuri.
He suddenly felt a wave of icy aura radiating from the podium.
The more Ji Mingyue thought about it, the angrier she got. *You're not him? Then all the effort I put into dressing up this morning was for nothing, and my happiness for the past two days went down the drain!*
The more she thought, the madder she got; the madder she got, the more aggrieved she felt; and the more aggrieved she felt, the more she wanted to fixate on it.
Staring straight at the junior who had borrowed her book—and her supposed "boyfriend"—Ji Mingyue put on a tight, humorless smile and said:
"This student, please come up and solve this problem on the board."
Zhang Chenxi's smile froze on his face. He slowly walked up to the podium, and just as he raised his chalk, a demonic whisper brushed against his ear.
"This student, what is your name? Write down the answer to this problem, and the teacher will give you extra credit."
Zhang Chenxi felt like crying without tears; he could barely hold the chalk in his hand anymore.
"I... I'm Zhang Chenxi."
Ji Mingyue nodded and leaned a fraction closer to him.
"Oh, Zhang Chenxi. You're doing quite well, aren't you?"