Lin Shuang’s “less important” help amounted to nothing more than running her mouth.

Asking her to genuinely pour her heart and effort into her boyfriend’s renovation, running out to the construction site to eat dust — absolutely not happening.

Her nightly pre-sleep entertainment became browsing through Zhou Zheng’s shopping cart and mercilessly mocking him for it.

“Your taste is terrible! Overrun with internet-famous style.”

“Who doesn’t get a smart toilet these days? Won’t even consider a dishwasher? Humanity’s evolved past the primitive era, why torture yourself.”

“Are you buying a palace? Why not just get a three-tier crystal chandelier while you’re at it, wash your eyes out?”

“Honestly… you might as well just buy a steel pole and do pole dancing in your own home.”

“Are you planning to play ping pong on this table? Eating and exercising, two birds with one stone? Real clever.”

Zhou Zheng took the phone back with a blank expression and deleted everything.

You couldn’t expect someone accustomed to plain simplicity to suddenly love an ostentatious style — a tea drinker installing a coffee machine at home — his aesthetic sense truly had its limits, needed someone to keep it in check.

As long as Lin Shuang wasn’t complaining, that basically counted as satisfaction, roughly speaking.

The continuous autumn rain started up again, the weather turning bad — none of this was particularly urgent anyway, so Zhou Zheng spent more time accompanying Lin Shuang.

A small city really didn’t have much in the way of entertainment — just a handful of night markets and malls in the city center, once or twice a month was about enough. Bars and nightclubs weren’t exciting enough either, got old after a few visits. In the past, young people liked gathering to play cards and mahjong, but after a crackdown on that scene, the past couple of years had seen a rise in jogging and fitness culture instead.

Lin Shuang’s milk tea shop had been doing consistently well business-wise, and she’d been considering taking over the storefront next door, expanding the shop’s floor space to accommodate social gatherings, maybe adding a dessert and snack menu on the side. But the shop’s main customer base was students from Beiquan High School — a fixed clientele with fixed spending power — and Lin Shuang was a bit hesitant.

Several other beverage shops around the school had different focuses. If she made this move, it would essentially mean a war of attrition among the shops, seeing who could outlast whom.

Lin Shuang tossed some figures at Zhou Zheng, smiling sweetly: “Teacher Zhou, help me calculate — if I put this investment in, is there any chance of turning a profit?”

Zhou Zheng glanced them over: “Fixed renovation and equipment procurement, fifty thousand; monthly rent, five thousand; add in staff wages and other costs… can you show me the shop’s beverage sales revenue and gross margin?”

Lin Shuang watched him work out the math on paper.

“Profitability might not be the issue, but you’d be encroaching on similar shops nearby — actually, the number and scale of milk tea shops around the school has maintained a delicate balance for a while now, assuming your new product’s competitiveness exceeds the competition,” Zhou Zheng said, laying out formulas on the page. “If any one of them closes down, fresh competition will immediately move in to fill the gap. Besides, the well-known chain milk tea brands have already fully penetrated small and mid-sized cities — the area around the school is also an important competitive market. You might be better off refining your own brand first and holding your current position.”

“Milk tea shops are everywhere these days — even the best ones generally have a lifespan of three to five years, and you need constant product innovation and operational freshness to keep going,” Zhou Zheng advised her. “If you’re profitable right now, why not strike while the iron’s hot and open a second branch using the same model — shared costs stay low, and your brand recognition goes up too. Earn now, and adjust your sales approach according to the market later.”

Lin Shuang listened to him rattle off a string of professional terms and raised an eyebrow: “Did you study economics or something?”

Zhou Zheng gave her a light, unbothered glance: “No, but math is the king of all subjects — it connects to a lot of different fields.”

The corner of his mouth curled upward; he couldn’t help but look a little pleased with himself.

Lin Shuang pinched his cheek — a math teacher, and here he was getting all proud of himself.

Opening another branch would just mean she’d be even busier. Her work was really just meant to pass the time in the first place — did she really want to become a full business owner now?

Lin Shuang hesitated a bit: “Let’s wait and see. We’ll talk again come spring next year.”

Winter nights left nothing much to do — someone like Zhou Zheng had evening study duty at school, and stayed home reading and grading otherwise. With Lin Shuang settled into a stable relationship, her old habit of fishing for casual dates had vanished entirely; now it was either the beauty salon and the gym, or reading and watching movies together with Zhou Zheng.

When Miao Cai heard that she and Zhou Zheng had been cooped up at home reading, even going out together to browse bookstores, she laughed: “When did you get so domesticated? Has Teacher Zhou really rubbed off on you this much? Even browsing bookstores together now?”

Maybe it really was a gradual, unnoticed transformation — even her temperament had settled down. In the past, Lin Shuang had a bit of that dramatic, difficult edge to her, looking down at people with her chin raised, smoking cigarettes with her eyelids lowered, carrying that unmistakable air of a bad girl.

Now she smoked much less, just two or three cigarettes a day, and sometimes when she wanted a smoke and Zhou Zheng noticed, he’d have a throat lozenge in his pocket and pop one into her mouth instead, putting the cigarettes away again.

“Is there such a thing? Domesticated?” Lin Shuang didn’t think so. “Domesticated is a stretch. Not wanting to play around anymore, that’s true enough.”

In the past, when she came across a man who caught her interest, she could still flirt and tease half-heartedly — after all, better than nothing. Now, with Zhou Zheng, she went straight to the real thing, straight to bed — all that passion consumed through direct physical action instead.

She and Zhou Zheng couldn’t quite manage flirtation or ambiguity — he was too proper a man for that. A little casual teasing, and she’d see the light in Zhou Zheng’s eyes, like a fluffy little creature, entirely focused on her.

That feeling was truly dangerous — too clingy, too soft.

Like playing with a small child, teasing them with the promise of candy, only to have them hand over the entire candy box.

“Want to go out tonight?” Miao Cai invited her. “Zhao Feng’s on a business trip all this week — want to hit up a bar? Or go do a murder mystery game? My friend just got some new scripts in, calling people together for a group session.”

Miao Cai’s friend’s murder mystery shop — this new style of youth social gathering had just recently spread down from first- and second-tier cities to smaller ones, still something of a novelty. Beiquan city only had this one shop that was actually decent, run smartly by an owner who partnered with some local social groups, sessions running fairly full. Miao Cai had dragged Lin Shuang along a few times already.

Bars held no appeal — the people hitting on you there all had ulterior motives. Lin Shuang preferred this other option.

At this shop, she’d chatted with the owner a few times, even worked out a business deal — milk tea delivery discounts for game sessions. Young people’s gatherings always came with food and drink, and the daily delivery volume was fairly substantial, filling in the gap during school hours when the milk tea shop’s business slowed down.

Lin Shuang had brought Zhou Zheng along once too, and his experience there had been a rather peculiar one.

The people playing were mostly young, sometimes strangers thrown together — some couples, some single, all sorts of professions, and surprisingly good at conversation once gathered. Working through a script’s characters together, Lin Shuang turned out to be the most eye-catching person in the whole room.

Far too many eyes landed on her — completely different from any other setting — some gazes even brazenly sweeping right past Zhou Zheng, fixing firmly on Lin Shuang.

When she spoke with different people, her expression and tone stayed courteous, but her body language turned quite alluring, a hook in her eyes, a little hook scratching and scratching, stirring up the fine hairs on the skin — itchy when still, itchier still when it moved.

It was only then that Zhou Zheng suddenly noticed just how effortlessly Lin Shuang navigated this kind of social atmosphere.

She was, in fact, the mirror type of personality — like with Mr. Polo Shirt, she could let loose and play along just fine; with Zhang Fan, she could banter and crack jokes; when she ran into someone who liked to pontificate, she could rest her chin in her hand and put on an expression of rapt attention; and with Zhou Zheng, she could settle into an ordinary, grounded life just as easily.

How on earth did such a dazzling, exquisite beauty end up with a plain-looking, ordinary math teacher?

Every man in the room was baffled.

Had the beauty gone blind?

“What are you thinking about?” Lin Shuang nudged him on the way back.

“Nothing,” Zhou Zheng said, tucking her hand into his coat pocket, his voice warm. “Cold? Want me to get you a coffee to warm your hands? Or some cake?”

“Sure.”

The two of them curled up together in a bean bag chair eating snacks, she passed him the leftover coffee, scooped a spoonful of cake into her mouth, the strawberry bits in the cream cool and sweet, holding it in her mouth as she gave him a coy smile.

Zhou Zheng took a sip of the warm coffee, holding it in his mouth without swallowing right away.

He sat there leisurely, legs propped up, eyes lowered as he scrolled his phone, expression perfectly proper, but his posture unmistakably enticing.

Lin Shuang couldn’t hold back, leaning over to kiss him.

She tasted the bitterness of the coffee, he tasted the sweetness of the strawberry, two flavors passing between their lips and tongues.

A crackling current ran through her body — maybe the static of winter, maybe her body trembling.

Lin Shuang thought tonight’s Zhou Zheng was unusually energetic and… wild.

Thoroughly satisfying her fantasies.

That was a kind of talent in its own right.

She lay in his arms afterward, catching her breath, damp with sweat, and heard his hoarse voice murmur close to her ear: “Did you like it?”

Lin Shuang held back a laugh, pinching his chin, tilting it up: “You were strange today, weren’t you trying to provoke me on purpose?”

The foreplay had, uncharacteristically, taken on an air of restraint, and once she’d been hooked, he’d flipped the script and pounced on her fiercely.

Zhou Zheng figured she at least liked his body.

“Shuangshuang, could you help me buy a few pieces of clothing?” he asked hesitantly.

“What kind of clothing?”

“The kind you like, that looks good.”

Lin Shuang had indeed bought him clothes once before, cleaning out most of his closet — that time it had all been spring and summer wear, simple, durable pieces. His winter wardrobe was thin, just two or three sets, hoodies and knit sweaters, all ordinary casual wear.

She figured a teacher didn’t need to dress too handsomely — comfortable and presentable was enough. Dressing too sharply would distract the students; at least back when she was in high school, there’d been a physics teacher in her class, tall, handsome, with great taste in clothes, and even though her physics grades were terrible, she’d loved that class the most and remembered that teacher fondly long after graduating.

“Where’s my compensation.” Lin Shuang held out her hand, eyes sparkling. “My rate as a stylist is quite expensive, you know.”

Zhou Zheng thought about it, went to a drawer, took out a small box, and pulled out a necklace to give her.

A certain brand’s entry-level bestseller, not too expensive, roughly a couple thousand yuan or so, but Beiquan didn’t carry the brand — only available at counters in first- and second-tier cities.

“A female teacher in the English department office wore one, and all the other female teachers said it was really pretty. I happened to see it and asked about the brand, then had a friend buy one for me in Linjiang city.”

“When was this? Why didn’t you give it to me then?”

“It happened to be right around our last breakup…” Zhou Zheng said vaguely. “So it just sat there afterward ever since.”

For a straightforward, unromantic man, this counted as being pretty thoughtful.

Lin Shuang clutched the jewelry box in her hand, smiling faintly: “Deal.”

True to her word, Lin Shuang picked out several sets of winter clothing for Zhou Zheng — a windbreaker, a coat, a jacket, a down coat, leather shoes, and ankle boots.

She’d always felt he dressed too lightly for winter — even though he seemed to give off plenty of body heat, it looked cold just watching him. At the very least, he should dress warmer going out.

A man’s looks relied more on temperament and taste in clothing to elevate them. Lin Shuang preferred a mature style, though she held back somewhat with Zhou Zheng, aware not to put too polished, elite an image on a high school teacher — she chose understated pieces throughout.

When Zhou Zheng came out having changed clothes, she still couldn’t help letting out a whistle.

He really did have that clean-cut look about him — like a tree without any stray branches, growing straight upward, casting a patch of shade at its crown. Sure enough, once dressed in formal wear, he looked tall, straight, and handsome, carrying a kind of vibrant, refined charm.

Had he already been upgraded all the way to “handsome and refined”?

While Lin Shuang slept in her own room, Zhou Zheng went back to his late-night grind of working overtime.

At least when walking together side by side, one ought to measure up to the person beside them.