In fact, Fang Ze started booking plane tickets as soon as he got his passport, after asking Chi Cheng, Shi Ling and Zhao Yongbin.
In the end, Zhao Yongbin went with his friend from Hong Kong. Chi Cheng had originally promised Lin Shan that he would go with her, and at that time he thought that all the girls in the dormitory would go together.
As a result, Lin Shan was traumatized by the drug king incident. Despite not having dated for over a year, she broke up with the drug king and told Chi Cheng last week that she had found true love again.
Chi Cheng felt a headache coming on, while Lin Shan chuckled and said that she had specifically gone to Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong to pray for peach blossoms.
Lin Shan said she brought her boyfriend along. After listening to Chi Cheng's description of the couples, it seemed that Fang Ze was paired up with one person, she was paired up with another, and Chi Cheng was left all alone.
Although it was convenient to rent a car, Chi Cheng's wattage was too high. After that incident, Chi Cheng vaguely explained to Lin Shan that he and She Jiaxin were not a couple, but the girlfriend he was originally going to bring broke up with him after less than three months.
Lin Shan laughed at him, saying he deserved it for trying to break her up with the Poison King.
That being said, Fang Ze booked the tickets first, leaving Chi Cheng and Lin Shan to figure out how to travel together.
Shi Ling has been busy meeting deadlines lately and hasn't been thinking about traveling.
She spent almost all her time in the library except for classes, doing both individual and group assignments. Fortunately, the group assignments were mostly discussed in the library.
The atmosphere in all the groups was good. Some of the girls in the groups even had private gatherings. Shi Ling treated everyone equally and handled things professionally. Because she always finished her part the fastest and most perfectly, no one made things difficult for her.
Everyone is still keeping their heads down and working hard to meet the deadline.
However, when it comes to group assignments, Chi Cheng had a misunderstanding that the day Xu Yiting smashed the door had caused too many chain reactions. That night was supposed to be the day the online registration system for the Entrepreneurship Planning course opened for group assignments. Chi Cheng had already arranged with Fang Ze, Zhao Yongbin, and the others to form groups of 5-6 people.
As a result, Chi Cheng was so angry that he completely forgot about the matter. Fang Ze, Zhao Yongbin, Tina, Coco, and a friend of Zhao Yongbin from Hong Kong all applied for a group.
Finally, the teacher said that those who were not in groups would be randomly assigned by him.
It seems that Shi Ling didn't team up with anyone, and the two of them were assigned to the same group. Besides the two of them, there was an Indian, an American, and a Frenchman.
This elective course has no exams; it's all about assignments. They have to create a complete business plan, including a poster and a budget that's all over the place.
This assignment was submitted after Christmas and more than a month later. The teacher was quite careless, only dividing the students into groups near the end of the semester, probably because she didn't want them to be idle during the holidays.
The Indians were the most enthusiastic; after the list was sent to their email addresses, they emailed each person individually, asking when they could meet.
After agreeing on a time, he booked the meeting room at the library.
The meeting room consists of individual transparent cubicles with glass doors, each equipped with a full range of projection equipment.
The atmosphere was quite pleasant when the group first met.
When Hook, an American, saw them, he was the first to extend his hand. Apart from the French woman and Shi Ling, the others were all men.
Chi Cheng lazily reached out and shook hands with Christine from France.
When he reached Shi Ling, he barely touched the edge of her hand, just the web of her thumb and the side of her hand.
The two naturally acted as if they were complete strangers.
Ajit, an Indian, asked them if they had looked at the startup requirements. "The teacher suggested that we choose one of the UN Goals to make a plan."
They found out and read them one by one.
Christine's eyes lit up when she heard "Gender Equality".
"How about we do this?"
After looking at it, they all agreed.
Compared to other initiatives that reject poverty and hunger, promote health, and encourage education, this one doesn't seem so dull.
As for the entry point, Christine also mentioned, "Why not develop an app that primarily protects women, such as strengthening sex education or protecting women who have been sexually harassed?"
After she finished speaking, the atmosphere became a little awkward among them. Hook, however, was open like an American and whistled.
Chi Cheng snapped his fingers. "OK."
Christine continued, "Because during this time, I heard that there are exhibitionists near the school."
When she first said the word "exhibitionism," she said it directly, but then she glanced at Chi Cheng and Shi Ling and said, "Sorry, I forgot about the English proficiency of Chinese people."
Chi Cheng raised an eyebrow but did not react.
She explained briefly, "A couple of days ago, some girls in our dormitory were harassed by him, so I think this app is quite necessary. One of my ideas is to include some repeat offenders in the city to remind women."
After hearing what she said, Ajit agreed.
After discussing the main market segments, the group concluded that China was the most suitable, as it would be much easier for two Chinese people to find Chinese user data within the group.
Moreover, the key point is that, based on some unknown source, these individuals unanimously believed that sex education in Mainland China was backward, and that many women, if sexually harassed, would choose to conceal it rather than report it to the police.
The original words were somewhat sarcastic, criticizing China for being backward and conservative, and seemingly suggesting that China still held feudalistic views about women.
Shi Ling was somewhat angry upon hearing this, but due to her personality, she generally did not want to clash with others.
They calmly explained that sex education was a compulsory course in their upbringing, and that choosing mainland China as their market was fine, but Chinese women were not what they imagined.
Hook shrugged. "Sorry to be blunt, but the traditional Chinese women I know are very similar: conservatively dressed, cold-hearted, and obviously not fun in bed."
Shi Linggang just said, "I disagree."
Having come this far, Shi Ling wanted to say a few words in rebuttal.
Hook waved her hand, signaling her not to rush.
"Of course, I didn't mean Miss Shi. In our country, women who are virgins after reaching adulthood are discriminated against. However, I've heard that the reason why Chinese women choose to remain silent when their virginity is violated is because women who are not virgins are discriminated against in China."
Hook changed the subject and smiled at Shi Ling, "Miss must be very respected in China."
It took Shi Ling a few seconds to understand what he was saying, and a blush crept onto her pale complexion.
It's not out of shame, but because I really felt that Hook's words were too sarcastic.
They portray Chinese women as feudal figures.
That's just how cultural differences are. Zhao Yongbin could see that Shi Ling was aloof in public but sexy in bed, while American culture often portrays sexy women as having fiery red lips, big breasts and wide hips, and being passionate.
Seeing Shi Ling's design, one would probably find it utterly boring, as it perfectly represents the traditional Chinese female image.
Shi Ling clasped her hands together, thinking about her words. It would be too foolish for her to directly refute that she was of course not a virgin, and she simply couldn't say such a thing in front of Chi Cheng.
Shi Ling said firmly, "But if I am violated, I will definitely choose to call the police or take other ways to protect myself, and I will never tolerate it."
Hook said "OK," but didn't seem to believe it much. He continued, "I don't mean anything by it, but I feel that all Chinese movies are about repressive sex education, and they promote the idea that Chinese women only engage in sexual activity after marriage."
The same old story kept repeating itself.
Shi Ling felt somewhat helpless. Without demonstrating her own experience, how could she easily persuade Hook to change his mind?
Shi Ling stared at Hook, finding it difficult to speak. In fact, Chinese women do indeed turn pale at the mention of sex.
Shi Ling turned her head and glanced at Chi Cheng, who was sitting diagonally opposite her.
He tilted his chair back slightly, placed his hands on the table, and fiddled with a pen, seemingly oblivious to the criticisms leveled at her and Chinese women.
Ajit stepped in as a peacemaker, saying that the topic was fine and there was no need for mutual attacks.
Unexpectedly, Christine stepped forward, saying, "No offense intended. I agree with Hook's view. The Chinese market is vast, and we need to change the attitude of Chinese women who remain silent when facing sexual harassment. Moreover, apps can start by teaching very basic sex education, filling the gap in this area in mainland China. Miss Shi, I'd like to know roughly what level sex education is at in mainland China?"
Shi Ling gave a brief explanation.
Christine was somewhat surprised. "I knew it was weak, but I didn't expect it to be this bad. If they don't even teach how to use the condom, how will we be able to use it in real-world situations?"
Hook and Christine chuckled together, the sarcasm in their voices unmistakable.
Christine changed the subject, "I wanted to ask Miss Shi, do you change positions when you're in bed with men? Do you need our app to teach you that?"
Shi Ling was furious inside, but she maintained a cold and indifferent expression. However, the fire in her eyes and the slight flush on her face betrayed her true state.
Chi Cheng glanced at Christine and smiled. "Why don't you ask me what my opinion is of Chinese women in bed? I think I'll be much more objective."
While listening to him speak, Shi Ling's mind was still buzzing. She rarely got angry, but today she had been driven to this state by their few words.
It is indeed an area where she is extremely bad at talking; she finds it hard not to say things related to sex, and she rarely argues with others.
Chi Cheng hadn't said a word in her defense before, but this time, after hearing Christine's questions, which probably touched on details of the bedroom, his inherent male pride kicked in, and he came to her rescue.
Chi Cheng put down his pen. "In my impression, Chinese women have a kind of contrasting sexiness in bed, not what you imagine."
Chi Cheng is the kind of person who can't say anything, but when he throws out all sorts of technical jargon, the others burst into laughter.
Looking at his appearance, Shi Ling could tell that he had indeed watched too much Masters of Sex, just as he had said.
She didn't know how to say many of these words in English.
Moreover, his spoken English is much more fluent than Shi Ling's; he speaks clearly and explains things logically.
At the end, Chi Cheng smiled and pushed his phone to the group, "Actually, China also has its own websites for learning about sex."
Shi Ling glanced at it out of the corner of her eye; it was probably one of those websites circulating among the boys that mentioned the opening of casinos in Macau.
Hook clicked his tongue, "It's no worse than Pronhub."
Everyone was laughing, and the atmosphere finally eased.
Christine nodded. "Then let's go back and do some more research on market segmentation."
Chi Cheng shrugged. "Of course, but I'm always happy to share."
Hook smiled slightly this time and patted him on the shoulder. “It seems that Chinese men are not traditional. I remember watching movies where Chinese emperors used to have many wives. They were more philandering than us.”
Chi Cheng smiled noncommittally.
The heated argument has passed. The group roughly divided up the tasks and agreed to meet at the same time next week to summarize the work done that week.
When assigning tasks, it was discovered that only Shi Ling and Chi Cheng had studied accounting, while the others had studied more theoretical and brainstorming-oriented subjects like business management or marketing.
So she left the budget and cash flow to them to calculate. Fortunately, it's not time for the final summary yet, so she and Chi Cheng can still do their own thing.
Shi Ling left the Meeting Room and went back to studying.
Recently, her group assignments have been due for compilation, and she's been studying later and later every day. The library is always brightly lit all night, and she used to go back at nine o'clock, but this week she's been gradually putting it off until after ten o'clock.
The night before the next meeting for the entrepreneurship planning course, Shi Ling stayed up until 11 p.m. before packing up and heading back to her dorm.
It's snowed these past few days, a mix of rain and snow, making the roads increasingly cold and deserted.
Shi Ling felt a bit short of breath and had a headache from studying. She walked quite a distance after leaving the library before she gradually recovered.
The path back to the dormitory was exceptionally quiet. After 11 p.m., the streetlights were motion-activated, turning off every other streetlight, with only a few on.
The trees on both sides were dark and ominous. British trees are usually very tall, but they looked rather eerie at night.
As Shi Ling walked, she felt something was wrong and realized that she might have left her mouse in the library.
So I stopped and searched through my bag.