Hearing that Yang Lei was so popular at school, Zhang Jingzhi felt a little proud, but also a little worried. She knew very well how crazy these girls were. Putting everything else aside, when she was a student herself, didn't she also have a great passion for handsome teachers? Especially Xiao Xiao, whose methods of flirting with handsome teachers were quite something!
Thinking of Xiao Xiao, Zhang Jingzhi subconsciously began to observe the girls around her, fearing that there really might be a troublemaker like Xiao Xiao. After scanning the room, she finally relaxed. Although there were quite a few pretty girls, none were as exceptional as Xiao Xiao. Zhang Jingzhi chuckled to herself, thinking that she had been a bit too nervous. Who was Xiao Xiao? She was a once-in-a-century prodigy! There couldn't possibly be that many!
The classroom fell silent again. Zhang Jingzhi looked up and saw Yang Lei enter with a book, casually toss it onto the podium, and calmly clip the microphone to his shirt collar. Only then did he look up and scan the room, clearly looking for someone…
Actually, the two came together, but in the teachers' lounge earlier, Zhang Jingzhi insisted on coming in first to find a seat, saying she didn't want to disturb his lecture. Yang Lei smiled and had no choice but to follow her arrangement, coming in a few minutes later.
Seeing Zhang Jingzhi mixed in with a group of young girls, Yang Lei couldn't help but smile and gently shake his head.
His smile was enough to make a huge difference; another wave of girls immediately fell for him.
Yang Lei's lecture was excellent, and with many fans who came specifically to support him, the classroom atmosphere was quite lively. Yang Lei on the podium was humorous, witty, and full of clever remarks, as if he had become a different person.
Zhang Jingzhi was confused and couldn't tell which one was the real Yang Lei.
After the lesson was halfway through, students started passing notes to Yang Lei, either expressing their questions about a particular point or offering their own opinions. Yang Lei would read the question on each note he received and then provide his own answer.
Another note was passed up. Yang Lei opened it and looked at it, but didn't read it immediately. Instead, a smile appeared on his face.
A student called out from below, "Teacher, please read it aloud! What's the question?"
Zhang Jingzhi was also curious. What exactly was the question? Had it stumped Yang Lei?
Yang Lei smiled, looked at the note again, and said with a smile, "This question has nothing to do with Western cultural history. This student seems to be very concerned about my personal life."
The students below also burst into laughter, and even more students pressed for answers to what the question was.
Yang Lei smiled, gestured for the students below to quiet down, and then generously read out the question on the note:
"Teacher, what kind of girl do you like? Could you describe her to us?"
The moment the question was asked, half of the girls below got nervous. Zhang Jingzhi was especially nervous. She wanted to look at Yang Lei, but then suddenly felt a little embarrassed and turned her head to talk to Fan Xiaojuan as if nothing was wrong.
Fan Xiaojuan had no interest in listening to her anymore, and quickly waved her hand, "Sister, let's talk about it later, let's hear how the handsome guy answers this question first!"
"How should I answer that question?" Yang Lei chuckled, his gaze sweeping over Zhang Jingzhi again. "I like girls with long hair..."
Fan Xiaojuan was nervously waiting for the handsome teacher's answer, but she deflated after hearing just the first sentence. She collapsed onto the table, her long hair making her even more exhausted! Fine! She didn't need to listen to the rest!
With her ear pressed against the desk, Fan Xiaojuan could vaguely hear movement inside. Puzzled, she reached inside the desk and touched something cool to the touch—a metal wire, like a small cage.
"What the hell? I wonder who left this here again!" Fan Xiaojuan muttered to herself as she pulled something out of the desk: a cage, that's right, a small metal cage, with a tiny white mouse inside, staring at Fan Xiaojuan with its round eyes.
Fan Xiaojuan felt the hairs on her body stand on end. She didn't even bother to scream. It felt so hot that without thinking, she just threw it to the person next to her.
Zhang Jingzhi was sitting right next to Fan Xiaojuan.
The cage landed on her lap, and coincidentally, the cage door was knocked open, and the little creature slipped out. It seemed to have been raised by humans since it was a kitten, because it wasn't afraid of people at all. It just sat on Zhang Jingzhi's lap and didn't run away!
Yang Lei, who was on the podium, was talking about how the girl he liked was sometimes like a cat. Zhang Jingzhi smiled shyly, thinking to herself, "When did I become like a cat?" Just as she was feeling embarrassed, she saw out of the corner of her eye that Fan Xiaojuan threw something in her direction. She looked down and met the little thing's big, watery eyes and slightly excited gaze.
Zhang Jingzhi's mind went blank for a few seconds before she suddenly realized what was happening. No longer caring about her ladylike image, she screamed "Ah!—" and sprang up from her seat, pushing herself up with both hands and leaping onto the table behind her.
In a lecture hall, the tables at the back are always a step higher than those in front. It has to be said that Zhang Jingzhi had quite the explosive power; she managed to sit on such a high table with one thud.
"A rat!" Zhang Jingzhi cried out. To be honest, she didn't have Fan Xiaojuan's composure. Fan Xiaojuan wasn't in such a sorry state as she was. Moreover, she didn't have Fan Xiaojuan's luck. At least when Fan Xiaojuan had her, there was a cage. But when it came to her, the cage rolled away, and all that was left was the rat.
The entire classroom was stunned, staring straight at Zhang Jingzhi. She had long hair, wore a simple pullover, jeans, and sneakers on her feet, which were also raised high. She was almost exactly as the handsome teacher had described her. Moreover, the handsome teacher had just said that he liked girls who were like cats, and now a "mouse" had been airdropped down on her!
Everyone was stunned, finding it unbelievable. What a coincidence! Even Yang Lei was dumbfounded, looking at the panicked Zhang Jingzhi, forgetting to go over and see what was wrong with her.
The little thing felt wronged too. It was clearly a Totoro, why did this stupid woman have to call it a mouse? Is there a mouse as cute as it? Really!
Zhang Jingzhi
This night was unforgettable for Zhang Jingzhi. First came Fan Xiaojuan's "calling for help incident," followed by her "rat incident," which finally made Zhang Jingzhi famous at H University three years after graduation. That very night, she topped the front page of H University's BBS, with the post reportedly receiving thousands of replies and a flood of replies exceeding two thousand. H University students began searching the entire campus for a girl named "Zhang Jingzhi," but unfortunately, no such person could be found. Later, according to insiders, this woman had already graduated three years prior.
Of course, Zhang Jingzhi was unaware of what happened afterward. Even if Fan Xiaojuan had ten times the courage, she wouldn't dare tell Zhang Jingzhi about these things. Chu Yang had vaguely heard some of it, but she wasn't interested in these matters.
Therefore, Zhang Jingzhi was not very clear about what happened after that night; she only knew that she no longer had the courage to go to class with Yang Lei.
After class, Zhang Jingzhi waited for Yang Lei at the school gate. Feeling a little embarrassed, she blushed and said "I'm sorry" to Yang Lei.
Yang Lei just smiled and asked, "What's there to be sorry about?"
Zhang Jingzhi was still blushing, but she was thinking about Yang Lei saying that she was like a cat. She used to read novels where women were described as cats, but she never thought that one day she would use that word to describe herself. In her twenties, this was the first time someone had said that she was like a cat.
Zhang Jingzhi opened her mouth several times before finally mustering the courage to ask in a low voice, "Do I look like a cat?"
"Huh?" Yang Lei was taken aback.
Zhang Jingzhi smiled shyly, lowered her head, and walked a few more steps along the roadside curb with her hands behind her back. She stopped and asked Yang Lei, "What do you think makes me look like a cat?"
Yang Lei looked somewhat dazed, as if his thoughts had been pulled far away by that question. It took him a long time to come back to his senses, and he simply smiled gently without answering.
Zhang Jingzhi secretly regretted asking the question, feeling it was too direct. Yang Lei was an introverted person; if the question had been asked of Wang Yuhan, he would have had a lot of glib talk waiting for her, but if asked of Yang Lei, he would naturally be too embarrassed to answer.
Zhang Jingzhi smiled, perhaps still embarrassed by the question from earlier. She deliberately left Yang Lei a few steps behind and walked forward alone on the curb with her hands behind her back, concentrating on maintaining her balance.
Yang Lei looked up at Zhang Jingzhi's tall figure swaying from side to side in front of him. His calm gaze seemed to pass through her body and go straight to the girl who used to love to jump around and was unpredictable. The girl who also loved to wear casual clothes, who could act coquettishly, who could be unreasonable, and who would wipe her tears and snot on his chest when she cried.
Actually, Yang Lei knew very well that Zhang Jingzhi was not like a cat, but for some reason, when he was describing his beloved's appearance, even though he was looking at Zhang Jingzhi, he said that she was like a cat.
Why can't he forget? Is the hurt not deep enough? Or was the betrayal not thorough enough? He doesn't know.
Zhang Jingzhi couldn't hear him, so she turned around and looked at him. She saw that he had fallen behind and was staring at her blankly, so she chuckled and asked, "What's wrong?"
Yang Lei shook his head. "It's nothing." He gave Zhang Jingzhi a faint smile and quickly took a few steps to catch up.
Whether it was from the cold or from being scared by that "mouse" the night before, Zhang Jingzhi started sneezing the next day; she had caught a cold again. When she got to the office, with a runny nose and watery eyes, she inevitably received a few sarcastic remarks from Xiao Wang, who asked if she had been so focused on looking beautiful during her date that she had caught a chill.
Zhang Jingzhi and Xiao Wang were quite close, so they weren't very polite with each other. Seeing that he had been making sarcastic remarks lately, she wiped away her tears, snorted, and asked irritably, "Did your girlfriend dump you again? Why are you so resentful towards your female comrades? What did I do to you? I'm already in this state, and instead of showing sympathy, you're making sarcastic remarks to dampen the enthusiasm of my comrade for dating. Don't you have any comradeship? Are you happy that I can't get married?"
Xiao Wang was speechless, glaring angrily at Zhang Jingzhi without saying a word.
Zhang Jingzhi glared back, wanting to bare her teeth in a show of defiance, but tears were about to fall again, making her lack of presence, so she gave up.
After a while, Xiao Wang's anger subsided first. Seeing Zhang Jingzhi's discomfort, he couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Did you take your medicine?"
Zhang Jingzhi covered her nose with a tissue and shook her head. She had been in a hurry when she left in the morning, and her symptoms weren't this severe then, so she hadn't paid much attention to them.
Xiao Wang sighed, unable to bear seeing her in such a pitiful state: "Alright, for the sake of our revolutionary friendship, I'll go buy you some medicine at noon!"
"Thank you, thank you so much! With your kind intentions, I'm sure I'll have a romantic encounter when I go out at noon!"
Xiao Wang gave a wry smile, looking somewhat awkward, and said, "A romantic encounter? Sister, please spare me!"
As Bai Gu Jing emerged from Wang Yu Han's office, she swayed past Zhang Jing Zhi, glancing at her out of the corner of her eye and slightly frowning. Zhang Jing Zhi, feeling somewhat resigned, thought to herself, "I've been working despite being sick, so you can't deduct my bonus just because I sneezed a few times!"
Unexpectedly, after a moment, the White Bone Demon returned, grabbed a box of cold capsules, threw it on Zhang Jingzhi's desk, and said coldly, "Take your medicine now!"
Zhang Jingzhi looked at the medicine on the table, then looked up at the White Bone Demon. For the first time, she didn't find her appearance so unpleasant. Just as she was about to feel a little touched, she heard the White Bone Demon continue, "With tears and snot all over your face, what kind of appearance is this! It's ruining the image of our department!"
Zhang Jingzhi wanted to get angry, but she forced herself to hold back. She forced a smile and didn't say a word, thinking to herself, "I knew you weren't that kind!"
The White Bone Demon didn't say anything more. Before leaving, she glanced at Wang Yuhan's office again. Just then, Wang Yuhan was also looking in this direction. The White Bone Demon gave him a charming smile, and Wang Yuhan also twitched the corners of his mouth and returned a smile.
Zhang Jingzhi felt a chill run down her spine as she watched the two of them exchanging glances. In her mind, she cursed them with every word imaginable: a pair of adulterers! In broad daylight, under the open sky, in front of everyone, they dared to flirt like that in public! They had absolutely no morals!
Wang Yuhan shifted his gaze from Bai Gu Jing, ignoring Zhang Jing Zhi, and went back to reading the documents in his hand. Bai Gu Jing also lost her smile, gave Zhang Jing Zhi a cold look, and then swayed back to her office.
Hearing Zhang Jingzhi clenching her teeth so hard they were grinding together, Xiao Wang asked worriedly, "Beautiful lady? Are you alright?"
"It's nothing!" Zhang Jingzhi said resentfully, breaking off two capsules and stuffing them into her mouth. She mumbled, "This medicine was given to me by the White Bone Demon. If anything happens to me later, remember to vouch for me!"
After saying that, he gulped down a mouthful of water like a martyr going to his death, and then tilted his head back to swallow the medicine!
The medicine wasn't poison, and it actually worked quite well. Before noon, her cold symptoms had indeed lessened. The only downside was that she felt drowsy. Zhang Jingzhi wondered, was this really cold medicine? Why was it more effective than sleeping pills?
"Damn it, she's really up to no good!" Zhang Jingzhi muttered to herself, completely seeing through the White Bone Demon's sinister intentions. She deliberately tricked her into taking medicine, and then, while she was asleep, she would jump out with a wicked grin, seize her weakness, and punish her for her lack of bonus! That's right! That must be it. She absolutely couldn't let her evil scheme succeed! Zhang Jingzhi was determined not to sleep!
Even as she said this, Zhang Jingzhi still nodded involuntarily. Each time her head was pulled back by her neck, she would regain consciousness for a second or two, then quickly sit up straight, straighten her neck, her eyelids would start to feel heavy again, and then she would nod again, repeating this process...
Xiao Wang couldn't stand it anymore and said softly, "Miss, you should take a day off and go home! Don't stay up too late, or you'll strain your neck again!"
Zhang Jingzhi looked up at Xiao Wang across from her, her eyes somewhat hazy, and it took her a while to focus her gaze on him.
"Go back, I'll take leave too, I'll take you home!" Xiao Wang said, looking at Zhang Jingzhi with concern.
Several seconds passed before Zhang Jingzhi's brain processed his words. She forced her heavy eyelids open and said firmly, "Absolutely not! I absolutely will not take leave today! I will not let the White Bone Demon succeed in her evil scheme!" After saying this, she cautiously looked around, then leaned closer to Xiao Wang and whispered, "If I happen to collapse and can't hold on any longer, don't say I fell asleep. Just insist I fainted! Do you understand?"
Fainting and falling asleep are two completely different things!
Xiao Wang looked at Zhang Jingzhi with a mix of amusement and exasperation. What kind of time is this to be having such thoughts!
As Wang Yuhan was reviewing client information, Bai Jie suddenly called, smiling, and asked, "Senior, how are things? Are you feeling the pinch?"
He turned and glanced at Zhang Jingzhi's disheveled appearance outside, his brows furrowing slightly. He asked, "What kind of cold medicine did you give her?"
Bai Jie scoffed, "No matter what kind of cold medicine it is, it makes you sleepy! See, you're still worried about her, aren't you? How about I give her another day off so she can go home and rest?"
Wang Yuhan remained silent, his gaze seemingly drifting unintentionally over Zhang Jingzhi.
Bai Jie laughed again, "Senior brother, are you really determined to set me up for an office romance? That's a huge taboo! Besides, she already has a boyfriend. You'd better be careful not to lose both her and your money!"
Zhang Jingzhi
Wang Yuhan asked calmly, "Why all this nonsense?"
Contrary to her usual strong-woman demeanor, Bai Jie covered her mouth and chuckled on the other end of the phone.
"Why are you playing inside when you're so close? Why don't you come and say what you have to say?" Wang Yuhan asked.
"Go back to the past? Senior brother, don't think I can't see through your sinister intentions. Aren't you just trying to push me out as a shield? I already have bad interpersonal relationships enough. Senior brother, how can you bear to watch me get pricked like a hedgehog by them?"
Wang Yuhan chuckled softly, "I was honest with you from the very beginning."
"Senior brother, let's not beat around the bush. Do you need me to lend you another hand?"
"What are the conditions?" Wang Yuhan asked.
"Hehe, senior brother, look at how formal you are. Aren't you my senior brother? Why are you talking about conditions? How vulgar!" Bai Jie chuckled.
"It's precisely because I'm your senior brother that I know you wouldn't do a losing deal. Go ahead and tell me."
Bai Jie paused for a moment before whispering, "I heard that the boss values you highly and has already made arrangements for your position. You're just here temporarily, isn't that right?"
Wang Yuhan remained noncommittal, but still asked calmly, "And then?"
"And then? Then someone has to sit in your seat now, right?"