Xu Zhilin looked at the girl bowing to him and finally sighed in exasperation.

He was now approaching thirty and had lived abroad for many years, so he wasn’t one to get flustered about intimate matters. Back then, he had worried that such a young girl might take these things seriously, so he had expressed to Jiang Ling his willingness to take responsibility. But Jiang Ling had told him that taking responsibility just because of that incident would be like a scam.

So he didn’t dwell on the matter further, though the girl’s figure and smile from that night would still occasionally flash through his mind.

Now Jiang Ling was avoiding him as if he were some kind of monster.

Xu Zhilin sighed and said he had something to attend to before leaving.

Warm water was sprayed down in the bathroom. After showering, Xu Zhilin put on his pajamas and came out to sit on the bed, picking up his phone. There was one message.

He had gone to that gathering today because a student had something to give him. Xu Zhilin happened to be nearby, so he went to pick it up. The message was a thank-you text from that student.

Xu Zhilin replied, “You’re welcome,” and tossed the phone back onto the bed.

After a moment, he suddenly remembered something and picked up his phone again, opening Jiang Ling’s Moments.

Her Moments clearly showed she was quite the chatterbox. She posted once a day, sometimes even several times a day. A glance revealed a large section of random, vibrant posts.

Xu Zhilin curled his lips slightly and scrolled to the bottom, then refreshed. The page jumped.

Suddenly, all the Moments disappeared.

Jiang Ling had hidden her Moments from him.

Fine then.

The next few days passed uneventfully. Between teaching and research projects, Xu Zhilin, as expected, received no contact from the young woman in his friend list.

After all, she had even hidden her Moments from him.

Over the years, Xu Zhilin had encountered many women who approached him, but most were straightforward in their confessions and pursuit. These childlike, roundabout thoughts were rare to come by.

This led Xu Zhilin to spend some time recalling his days teaching mathematics at No. 1 Middle School.

That girl who had sneaked into the changing room after him only to be caught red-handed, making up an excuse that no one would believe—that she was there to ask him about math problems.

Later at the sports meet, she carried a “cannon” camera and kept photographing him relentlessly. Xu Zhilin had noticed early on but pretended not to see.

Her math scores were among the lowest in class, yet she would sleep through lessons then bring her math test papers to his office to ask questions.

And later, the “parting gift” she gave him when they met at the subway station during winter break—an egg.

What kind of egg was it again?

Xu Zhilin pulled open a drawer and found the egg that had been there for who knows how long. The box was still unopened, with three words at the bottom—”Love Egg.”

“…”

He glanced at the instructions on the box. Water it daily, and eventually a toy duckling would hatch.

Xu Zhilin felt he was truly too idle. His index finger hooked a ceramic cup from the cabinet, dropped the egg into it, and poured in some water.

His next encounter with Jiang Ling was on an evening.

Xu Zhilin was driving home when his headlights swept across a familiar figure walking quickly along a road where the streetlights were broken. Behind her were two men smoking cigarettes, walking at varying paces, occasionally glancing toward the car. They were clearly following her.

Xu Zhilin frowned, stepped on the gas, rolled down the window, and stopped beside Jiang Ling. “Get in the car.”

Jiang Ling didn’t hesitate and quickly got in.

She had noticed people following her shortly after entering this road but hadn’t dared to look back or run. She could only secretly watch the shadows behind her while figuring out what to do.

Sitting in the car, she finally felt relieved. She looked back several times, too concerned to feel awkward, and asked, “Those three, three men were following me, right?”

Xu Zhilin didn’t rush to drive away. He locked the doors and windows. The three men lingered for a while, then walked away with cigarettes in their mouths.

Xu Zhilin shifted his gaze from the rearview mirror and glanced at Jiang Ling. “So you knew these people were following you.”

Jiang Ling looked at him without speaking.

Xu Zhilin sighed and said, “Don’t walk alone on roads like this at night anymore. Even two girls shouldn’t walk here. Also, this time it was me who asked you to get in the car, but if it’s a stranger, never get in.”

He turned the steering wheel to drive away while saying calmly, “What if I were working with those men? Now I’ve locked all the doors, how do you plan to escape?”

Jiang Ling blinked. “Huh?”

Xu Zhilin chuckled. “You can’t escape now.”

Jiang Ling raised her hand and gently hit his arm with her slender, fair hand. “Can you stop being so scary?”

From her response, it was clear she probably hadn’t paid much attention to his warnings. Xu Zhilin clicked his tongue and placed his hand on her head. “Did you remember what I said?”

Jiang Ling shrank her neck slightly from the pressure and froze in place.

The man’s palm was broad and dry. It rested on top of her head, gently rubbing once before withdrawing. Jiang Ling caught a faint scent from him.

No smell of cigarettes or alcohol—just a very clean scent.

Jiang Ling’s heart skipped a beat. She widened her eyes slightly in confusion, staring ahead.

Receiving no response, Xu Zhilin turned to look at her. The young girl sat rigidly upright, somewhat dazed. He curled his lips but didn’t mind.

Only when the car stopped in front of the apartment building did Jiang Ling recover from that head pat. Then, looking at the familiar building in front of her, she was stunned again.

She turned to look at him, pursed her lips, and asked, “How did you know I live here?”

“I guessed,” Xu Zhilin said flatly. “I saw you at the pharmacy on the next street last time. Most students live in this apartment complex, so it wasn’t hard to guess.”

“Oh.” Jiang Ling nodded and opened the door to get out.

Just as she was about to turn around and say goodbye to Xu Zhilin, she saw him getting out of the car too. She paused, “Teacher Xu, do you also live here?”

“I’ll walk you up,” Xu Zhilin said, then smiled again. “I’m not your teacher anymore, so you don’t need to call me that. Otherwise, I feel I’m not respecting my role as a teacher.”

“…”

Jiang Ling understood what he meant by “not respecting my role as a teacher” and secretly rolled her eyes.

The apartment complex was much safer than the street from earlier. The streetlights were bright, and there were many people coming and going. Xu Zhilin accompanied Jiang Ling upstairs.

When they reached her door, he stopped. “Go on in. I’ll be leaving.”

“Okay, so Xu…” She paused, tilted her head, “If I don’t call you Teacher Xu, what should I call you?”

“Just call me by my name.”

Jiang Ling silently repeated his name in her heart, opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She dropped her eyes and patted her cheeks. “I can’t say it.”

Xu Zhilin smiled. “Then call me whatever you like.”

So Jiang Ling waved at him. “Goodbye, Professor Xu.”

Now she had changed to the professor. Xu Zhilin made a sound of acknowledgment and turned to leave as soon as she opened the door.

As Jiang Ling entered the apartment, she bumped into He Nan, who was walking out of her room with a face mask on. Those fox-like eyes immediately narrowed, sweeping over Jiang Ling suggestively. “Sister, that handsome guy just now looked kind of familiar?”

Jiang Ling gave her a thumbs-up. “You could even see his face clearly from here?”

“No, just a guess,” He Nan smiled at her. “So it was the same guy from before? What’s going on with you two? A repeat customer?”

Jiang Ling immediately threw a pillow at her. “Repeat your head!!”

He Nan laughed as she caught the pillow.

Jiang Ling started having dreams about Xu Zhilin.

She hadn’t dreamed much in recent years—at least when she woke up and opened her eyes, she had no memory of the previous night’s dreams. But now she had dream content again.

Jiang Ling felt she had fallen again.

She spent some time finishing her homework, then asked one of the friends she’d met at the previous gathering. This friend was an undergraduate at the university where Xu Zhilin taught, and through a friend of a friend, she helped Jiang Ling get Xu Zhilin’s class schedule.

Today he had a class at 2 PM, ending at 4 PM. Jiang Ling figured this would be the perfect time to find him and perhaps have dinner together.

When Jiang Ling arrived, it was only 3 PM.

She stood outside the door for a while, then, hugging her bag, secretly bent over and snuck in through the back door of the classroom, staying hunched over until she reached an empty seat.

In the past, she never would have imagined that one day she would voluntarily attend a mathematics department lecture.

Jiang Ling stayed slightly hunched, raised her hand to fix her hair, before looking up at Xu Zhilin, standing on the podium.

The evening sun shone through the windows. He stood in front of the blackboard, drawing diagrams with chalk. After not seeing him for a few days, his hair seemed to have been cut, with his temples trimmed neatly, making his features even clearer and elegant.

Her heart rate quickened, and she covered her face.

She turned her head to look around. Surprisingly, many people had come to this class. The first two rows were packed, all with female students.

Jiang Ling recalled her undergraduate days when female students in the School of Science were rare creatures.

But she quickly discovered the reason. From her perspective in the last row, she could see several female students with cameras secretly taking photos of Xu Zhilin.

Damn.

Jiang Ling frowned and rolled her eyes.

She took out her phone, opened the camera, zoomed in, and took a couple of photos of Xu Zhilin, then chose one to set as her screen wallpaper.

Jiang Ling rested her chin on her palm and watched for a while, satisfied.

As the sun gradually set, the daylight became increasingly scorching on her eyelids. Jiang Ling drowsily frowned, raised her hand, and with a “pat” slapped it over her eyes.

She paused in her movement, waking up.

She had fallen asleep—true to form for a math class…

Jiang Ling had slept while hunched over, making her neck sore. She let out a long sigh, straightened up, and immediately her pupils constricted. She was nearly startled out of her chair.

“Ah!” she cried out.

Xu Zhilin was standing by the desk, his gaze calmly resting on her.

Class was already over. A few students who had stayed behind to study were also startled by Jiang Ling’s voice and turned to look.

Xu Zhilin showed no reaction. He stood lazily with his hands in his pockets and raised an eyebrow at her. “Here to attend a math class?”

Jiang Ling hugged her bag and looked left and right. She made an “um” sound, still not fully awake, and nodded.

Xu Zhilin laughed lazily. “And fell asleep again.”

“…” Jiang Ling came to her senses. She stood up and hurriedly said, “I didn’t come for the math class. I came to invite you to dinner.”

“Did you need something from me?” Xu Zhilin asked.

“It’s not anything specific, just…”

Just as Jiang Ling was speaking, her phone screen lit up. Chris had sent her a message.

At the same time, the photo of Xu Zhilin that Jiang Ling had taken an hour ago appeared on the screen.

“……………………”

Jiang Ling gave up.

She simply steeled herself, looked directly at him, then stood on tiptoe and whispered close to his ear: “I just wanted to ask if your offer to take responsibility for me still stands?”