503. Showing Off Love
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One evening, as students were busy in self-study, Zheng Qian made a long-awaited appearance in the classroom.
At Lin Nan’s school, self-study sessions were practically a nightly ritual, but since they didn’t take attendance, Lin Nan usually couldn’t be bothered to show up.
But tonight, Chen Yao was participating in a debate competition, so she decided to tag along.
“What’s so great about a debate competition?” Lin Nan mumbled. If she wasn’t stuck in her rental apartment with nothing to do, she wouldn’t have come.
Debates were something they held back in high school, where they’d throw out some vague question and let both sides argue it out. Most responses could be found online, and it was just a matter of who could spit out answers faster and louder.
Honestly, Lin Nan had zero interest; with that time, she could just ask a question on Zhihu, and the responses from newly landed experts would be way more entertaining than any debate.
Of course, she was talking about the low-level, playful debates; she had never seen the high-end ones.
Zheng Qian stood on the platform, scanning the classroom of about twenty students, his face darkening.
Half the class was missing from self-study!
Lin Nan stole a glance at Zheng Qian’s expression and covered her mouth to stifle a laugh at Chen Yao. “He used to know, right?”
“Probably,” Chen Yao chuckled. “He’s too busy in romance to care about this.”
The girl with the online nickname “Yao Yao” really piqued Chen Yao’s curiosity. The last time he helped Lin Nan ask for a leave, just mentioning the goddess sent Zheng Qian sprinting to approve the absence.
At the time, he hadn’t thought much of it, but later he speculated that Zheng Qian’s girlfriend might have some hidden mystery. Could she be a married woman? Was he getting cuckolded, hence his anxiety? Or was it a forbidden teacher-student relationship?
“Today our class is participating in a debate competition, so self-study is canceled. Let’s go have some fun,” Zheng Qian announced, his voice not loud but quite enough. As the handsomest counselor in the school, his mere presence silenced the class, leaving only a few bold girls daring to tease him.
“The venue is in Room 201 of Building G. Let’s all move together.”
Zheng Qian shot a glance at the girls in the front row still teasing him, and his face eased into a smirk as he joked, “This counselor is already taken. Sorry, ladies, but you’re out of luck.”
“Is the debate based on classes?” Lin Nan blurted out, just learning about it.
“Yeah.”
Chen Yao was dressed sharply in a white shirt and black casual pants, his strong physique making the outline of the shirt quite prominent. With his plain glasses, he looked rather dapper—though Lin Nan had never seen him in such a formal getup, and it felt a bit odd.
He had hastily borrowed the shirt from various dorms at noon, so it was a tad snug.
A group of students followed their counselor marching out of the self-study classroom, and Lin Nan glanced around, spotting three other classmates dressed somewhat formally.
“Xin Yi is participating too?”
Though most of the students were not familiar to her, she at least recognized a few. It seemed that those in the debate were typically the outgoing types who could talk a lot.
Lin Nan comfortably leaned against Chen Yao, wrapping her arms around his and playfully pinching the tight fabric of his shirt, feeling it slightly damp. “Aren’t you hot? You’re soaked!”
“Can’t help it,” Chen Yao sighed. “I sweat easily.”
“I remember the big classroom doesn’t even have fans,” Lin Nan turned her head, cheerfully moving closer to Big Dog.
Big Dog was always in for some fun. Skipping self-study, he had rushed from his dorm once he heard about the debate, sporting a little fan that looked like computer headphones. It was quite the sight.
“Big Dog~” Lin Nan called out sweetly.
Big Dog paused, a chill running down his spine. He turned cautiously towards Lin Nan. “Sister Nan, what do you want?”
She looked so beautiful, like a goddess descending from the heavens, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom, sweating at his temples as if faced with a demon.
“Let me see that fan,” she said, her smile bright. Without waiting for an answer, she reached for the portable fan hanging around his neck.
“Wait, I bought that for over a hundred bucks!”
Big Dog’s protests fell on deaf ears as Lin Nan yanked the fan away, her tone turning stern. “I just want to see it!”
Big Dog immediately crumbled. “What I meant was, this hundred-dollar fan works really well.”
“Pfft.” Lin Nan flicked her hair, giving Big Dog a playful hair-whip in the face before happily scampering over to Chen Yao with the fan.
“Look! Put it on!”
“You just bully Big Dog, huh?”
“He’s easygoing; it’s fine.” Lin Nan tossed a lock of hair that fell onto her shoulder, frowning as she handed the fan to Chen Yao, then pulled the hair tie from her own hair, shaking her head to let her shoulder-length hair fall freely.
For a girl, shoulder-length might not be that long, but Lin Nan had always thought of herself as one of the guys, and she was still getting used to such hair length.
Especially during summer, when the sun blazed, having hair on her neck was unbearable, and the strands tickling her made her itch, so she had to learn how to tie it up. Sadly, her tying skills were still in the beginner phase, often ending up messy.
“Can you tie it up for me again, especially around the neck? Just tie it back.” She handed the hair tie to Chen Yao, turning her back to him.
Since she couldn’t do it well herself, she figured her boyfriend could help.
Chen Yao stopped, looking at Lin Nan’s graceful back, helplessly reaching out to gather her hair into a ponytail.
“Don’t pull too tight; it’ll hurt. I heard tight hairstyles can lead to hair loss,” Lin Nan warned. “Make sure it’s high enough and not crooked.”
“Got it, got it. You really should learn this yourself.”
“I don’t have eyes on the back of my head…” Lin Nan mumbled, secretly just too lazy to deal with it herself.
Feeling the strands of hair being drawn together, the slight tug on her scalp made Lin Nan look ahead at the classmates already entering the classroom, urging, “Hurry up! They’re going in, and the good spots will be taken!”
Chen Yao cautiously arranged the sleek black hair in his hands, squinting as he slowly secured the ponytail with the hair tie.
“Want me to braid it too?”
“Absolutely not! It looks so outdated, and you wouldn’t even know how.”
Lin Nan was dissatisfied as she swept the stray hair behind her ear. “This bit too, tie it up; otherwise it looks weird hanging over my ear.”
As they stood in the hallway chatting, Zheng Qian suddenly reappeared at the classroom door, calling out, “Hey, no showing off love now, Chen Yao! The debate is about to start! You’re the last one!”
“Coming!”
