The reason Ming Ying spotted him at a glance, besides the slight shadow left by that “strange teacher,” was mainly because this person’s looks were just not “average” in the slightest.
It rendered his face-blindness ineffective.
With his striking bone structure, outstanding physique, under the auditorium lights, even his suit seemed more impeccably tailored than the people beside him. But, looking from this distance, his hair color seemed not as light.
Tsk. Ming Ying recalled that night when this man had given him a zero score and how he’d even bet on him versus Thomas. He felt utterly speechless.
Heh, he thought, many students would definitely pick his class based on that face, and they’d be in for a world of trouble.
Good thing he wasn’t the type of student to judge by appearances.
But right now, although that strange professor still moved with a powerful stride, his expression wasn’t as stern as it had been that night.
Amidst the noisy chatter, Ming Ying watched him smile faintly, shake hands with an old professor beside him, and exchange a few words before they both took their seats in the front row. He seemed to hold a fairly high position and rank.
Ming Ying quietly sat back down too. He wondered, why would this professor come to their School of Architecture’s opening lecture? Wasn’t he from the Law School?
Damn. Could he really be an elective teacher in their college? Why hadn’t he seen him on his own course schedule? Could he be an undergraduate professor?
Right now, this possibility seemed more likely.
Ming Ying wanted to ask someone, but turning his head, he met Alan’s indifferent gaze. He swallowed his question.
He really missed Bruce!
Soon, the lecture began. The speaker was the Dean of the School of Architecture, a short bald old man.
The School of Architecture didn’t have much of many things, but it had an abundance of bald heads. Instinctively, Ming Ying reached up and ruffled his own hair.
The balding Dean spoke from the podium, sometimes impassioned, sometimes humorous. Clearly, though bald, this Dean was highly competent. Ming Ying’s undergraduate thesis had referenced this bald American’s work almost as much as Thomas’s.
Ming Ying chuckled along a few times, but after listening for a while, his heart wasn’t in it.
He secretly glanced at his phone. XI was still unread and unreplied.
How strange.
In all these days, this was the first time XI had gone so long without responding to his messages.
But this didn’t discourage Ming Ying. He started trying to find a topic.
Mingo: XI, so many professors in our college are bald. I’m really scared I’ll go bald too.
Mingo: [Puppy Cowering Sticker]
Still unread, no reply.
Ming Ying pursed his lips.
Mingo: Why aren’t you replying? Are you at a lecture too?
Mingo: [Puppy Peeking Sticker]
Mingo: [Puppy Peace Sign Sticker]
Mingo: [Puppy Crouching in Corner Sticker]
Just as he was about to bombard her with a few more stickers, a sudden burst of applause erupted around him. Ming Ying put his phone away and clapped along.
After the applause died down, he furtively tried to reach for his phone again, but seeing everyone around him listening so attentively, he felt uncharacteristically embarrassed.
That was Ming Ying for you; the thickness of his skin flexibly adjusted based on the people around him.
He adjusted his sitting posture, furrowing his brow, trying to concentrate on what the Dean was saying.
But while he could manage listening to a class, lectures were simply not his forte. After a few serious minutes, he started getting bored and fidgety.
So he yawned, letting his gaze wander around the auditorium—now at the suspended ceiling, now at the chair beneath him—drifting left and right until it suddenly landed on that strange professor…
The auditorium only held the new students of the School of Architecture, so there weren’t many people. Therefore, the distance between the first row and Ming Ying’s third row wasn’t particularly far.
Who knew, as Ming Ying boredly looked over, his eyes suddenly flew wide open—that strange professor was actually slightly turned in his seat, his gaze focused, seeming to scan the student seating behind him!
Holy crap.
Ming Ying quickly hunched forward, pressing his lower back down, trying to minimize the possibility of being “spotted.”
Although he wasn’t sure if the other person even remembered him, he still felt inexplicably guilty…
Damn it, what’s this foreigner looking around for instead of listening to the speech!
“What’s wrong with you?” Alan asked, either out of a sudden burst of kindness or concern for a sick man. Whatever the reason, he asked politely.
Ming Ying flashed him a smile. “Nothing. Nothing.”
Alan: “…”
Ming Ying maintained this strange hunched posture for a while, not daring to sit up straight. He pulled out his phone—there was a message.
Frowning, Ming Ying lit up the screen, and saw that familiar campus avatar pop out.
Ah, XI had replied!
Ming Ying’s lips curved upwards. Though his posture was inconvenient, he hastily swiped open the notification bar.
XI: Listen to Steve’s spch
Pfft.
Ming Ying facepalmed.
Hey? Wait, how did she know I’m listening to Dean Steve’s speech?!
This was unscientific, right? There was only one possibility then!
—XI was here too!
Ming Ying felt a surge of excitement. She was actually in the same college, the same major! What kind of fate was this…
At this moment, his excitement about XI completely overwhelmed his unease about the strange professor. Gritting his teeth, he sat up straight.
Thankfully, that strange professor had already withdrawn his scanning gaze.
Thus, Ming Ying’s own scan began.
He subtly turned his head, trying to spot a long-haired girl among a sea of multicolored hair.
The School of Architecture already had few female students, so logically, it should have been very obvious, but he couldn’t find one…
Ah! There was a long-haired person!
Ming Ying spotted someone with long hair in the crowd and got incredibly excited, only to squint again and see it was a guy with long hair.
Damn.
His excitement, like a rapidly inflating balloon, burst with a pop.
Ming Ying gave up and withdrew his gaze.
Up on stage, Steve said something that drew continuous laughter from the crowd.
Ming Ying chose to lower his head and focus on messaging XI.
Mingo: XI, you’re here too!
Mingo: [Puppy Spinning Sticker]
Mingo: This lecture is so boring! How can you actually keep listening to it?!
Mingo: I didn’t see you.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes—messages read!
Ming Ying watched his phone, waiting for a reply. Yet, one minute, two minutes, three minutes passed… nothing.
Ming Ying looked at his phone and inhaled deeply.
Could she really be listening to the speech?
He looked around again; truly, no one was on their phone. Ming Ying supposed she might indeed be a good student who listened attentively.
But over these past few days, Ming Ying, clearly spoiled by XI’s replies, had become somewhat “emboldened by favor.”
The wicked idea Mark had planted in him was starting to sprout now. What Mark said was right: seduction means doing something out of line. Otherwise, it was just playing house!
So, Ming Ying pursed his lips, exited the chat interface with XI, and navigated to his photo album with his fingertip, scrolling continuously until he found that hidden, supposedly “coquettish” mirror selfie.
Ming Ying, his personality now evolved to a more wicked version, added the photo to the chat box with XI.
He thought to himself, let you ignore me.
But the kind-natured Ming Ying inside his head protested: Dude, we’re in the middle of a lecture right now!
In the next second, the evil Ming Ying slapped down the good Ming Ying.
What do you know?! That’s exactly the point!
Send!
Mingo: [Image]
Mingo: Teacher~ Stop listening~ Look at me~
Pfft-hahahaha…
Ming Ying desperately wanted to laugh after sending it, but right now, Steve on stage seemed to be sharing some inspirational story, and the people around him had serious expressions. So, he could only hold in his laughter.
After sending the message, the stifled-laugh Ming Ying flipped his phone over, trapping it against his knee, and mentally counted down: one minute, two minutes, three minutes…
Hm? Why was there no vibrating reply yet?
Ming Ying flipped his phone back over, only to see two small blue checkmarks already lit up on the screen!
!
She’d read it!
Although it was just “read” and nothing else was sent, in that instant, Ming Ying’s heart, like a balloon, began to inflate anew.
Thankfully, Steve’s speech had finally reached the inspirational segment, and the surrounding thunderous applause masked his wildly beating heartbeat.
Sometimes, seeing a message read without a reply was the real torment. Because a reply, at the very least, lets you gauge the other person’s attitude and what they’re thinking. But silence leaves you with no clue where to start.
However, once you cross that line, there’s always a second time.
Having crossed that threshold, seeing that XI still hadn’t replied, Ming Ying decided he might as well go all out. He lowered his head, opened his camera, slightly raised his hand, and snapped a few photos of his own legs clad in dress pants.
Then, send.
Mingo: [Image]
Mingo: [Image]
Mingo: [Image]
Mingo: Teacher~ I just can’t listen anymore~ [Shy]
Ming Ying (Evil Version), outwardly expressionless but inwardly laughing maniacally, sent the messages.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes…
Buzz.
!!!
Ming Ying immediately flipped his phone over.
XI: Come out
