Holding His Hand for Five Minutes During Her Father's Open Lecture

The classroom was packed, with every one of its several hundred seats taken.

Professor Lu's classes at the School of Life Sciences and his reputation as a teacher were famous at Peking University.

His undergraduates' assessment of him was: "If you can't understand Professor Lu's lectures, that's your problem, not his."

His "General Biology" was a star course at the School of Life Sciences. Every time course registration opened, all the spots were snapped up within three minutes. It wasn't just students from the School of Life Sciences who signed up; students from chemical engineering, medicine, and even economics and management came to sit in.

He could take something you didn't understand at all and explain it so you understood half of it, allowing students from every department to get the point.

The class bell rang, and a man who looked to be only in his early thirties walked over at an unhurried pace. He wore a dark blue shirt with the sleeves casually rolled up to his forearms, exposing his wheat-colored wrists. Thin metal-framed glasses sat on the bridge of his nose, and his handsome, mature features carried the steady charm unique to an older man.

Hushed murmurs began to ripple through the audience.

"I only found out today that the girl who forcibly kissed Shao, the campus heartthrob, on the basketball court yesterday is actually Professor Lu's daughter!"

"You've got to be kidding. Professor Lu is meticulous in his conduct and rigorous in his scholarship. How could he have raised a daughter who acts so out of line?"

"Are you still on a 2G network? Not only is Lu Xiaoxiao Professor Lu's daughter, but Professor Wen from our Chinese department is her mother."

"No way?! Professor Wen is such a gentle, intellectual beauty. I always thought she was single. When did she get a daughter this grown up?"

"Help, confirmed: you're a cave dweller. Lu Jiayan, Peking University's campus heartthrob two years ago, is Lu Xiaoxiao's own brother!"

The group chatted enthusiastically, and many pairs of eyes landed on an inconspicuous seat in the corner of the classroom.

Lu Xiaoxiao, the subject of her classmates' stares, felt as guilty as could be.

She was terrified that her father, lecturing at the front of the room, would spot her sitting side by side with a boy. She instinctively lowered her head, wishing she could bury her face in her textbook and hide herself completely.

Beside her, Shao Enci lazily propped up his chin with one hand and glanced sideways, quietly watching her awkward attempt to cover her ears while stealing a bell.

Bright sunlight spilled over the girl's dark hair, gilding her whole figure in a hazy, ethereal glow. His clear black-and-white eyes lingered on her for a few seconds, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly without his noticing. Lowering his voice, he teased, "Are you usually this scared of your dad?"

Lu Xiaoxiao didn't even raise her eyes. Staring fixedly at the textbook on her desk, she gave him a perfunctory answer. "I'm not scared of him. I'm scared my dad will beat you up."

"Hm?" Shao Enci paused, not understanding what she meant.

"You'll find out in a moment."

Lu Xiaoxiao offered no further explanation and silently called to the system in her heart. 037, how much time is left on the countdown for task four?

037's notification sounded: [Xiaoxiao, there are currently 8 minutes and 26 seconds left on the countdown.]

"Okay," Lu Xiaoxiao replied mildly.

Meanwhile, Shao Enci lounged listlessly against the back of his chair, his gaze sweeping casually over the biology PowerPoint loading on the projector. But his thoughts drifted uncontrollably back to his youthful high school days.

They had sat side by side in class like this back then, too.

In those days, Lu Xiaoxiao had always been attentive and serious, either diligently copying down notes or burying herself in practice problems. Her gaze had never lingered on him for half a second longer than necessary.

He alone had always been distracted.

He pretended to listen but spent the whole class lost in thought, all his attention fixed on the girl. To him, it didn't matter at all whether he picked up anything from a lesson. Sneaking a few more glances at her was the most meaningful part of class.

It was even more so during evening study sessions.

To give her the DM Coconut Gummies she loved most without raising suspicion, he would buy a pile of snacks every time and share them with everyone around him. Only after everyone had received something would he slip the special few coconut gummies he had saved just for her into her hand.

The boy had been too shy to show his affection openly, so he could only pretend to be disdainful and say awkwardly, "I didn't drug them. Go ahead and eat."

Back then, Lu Xiaoxiao had never been one to spare him with her words, but she would naturally accept the coconut gummies, unwrap them, and pop them into her mouth. Humming a little tune, she would say, "For the candy's sake, I'll insult you a little less today."

The beautiful memories came to an abrupt end.

A bitter smile curved Shao Enci's lips. His fingertips instinctively slipped into his pocket and pulled out a DM Coconut Gummy of the same brand as the ones from back then.

His gaze returned to the girl's delicate profile.

As if sensing it, Lu Xiaoxiao, who had been lost in thought, suddenly turned and looked straight into his deep, warm black eyes.

The moment their eyes met, time seemed to stand still. The surrounding chatter and the professor's lecture at the front of the room faded away, and the entire world blurred out of focus. Only the boy before her remained, etched clearly in her eyes.

Lu Xiaoxiao's long lashes trembled. Her gaze moved from his black eyes to his thin lips, and she bit her soft lip and swallowed unconsciously.

She had kissed him there for five seconds on the basketball court yesterday afternoon.

Damn it.

Lu Xiaoxiao immediately closed her eyes and jerked her head away, forcing herself to calm down.

Get a grip, Lu Xiaoxiao. You're here to complete a life-extension task, not to pine after a boy.

Shao Enci withdrew his wandering gaze, his breathing quickening, and quietly slipped the DM Coconut Gummy from his palm into Lu Xiaoxiao's.

The sudden sensation in her palm brought Lu Xiaoxiao back to her senses.

She looked down at the coconut gummy in her hand and froze for a second. Then she looked up at the boy beside her, amusement in her eyes as she teased, "A top genius trained by Tianji Class, secretly eating in class?"

Shao Enci raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone playful. "Didn't I feed you plenty of times in high school?"

His words made Lu Xiaoxiao pause.

Just then, 037's notification sounded again, urgent and insistent: [Xiaoxiao! Nineteen seconds left on the hand-holding task countdown! Don't hesitate anymore!]

There was no time to think. Lu Xiaoxiao immediately transferred the coconut gummy to her left hand.

She took a deep breath, then reached her right hand through the dim shadows beneath the desks without hesitation and grasped Shao Enci's left hand with precision.

Her five slender, soft fingers slid between his long ones and clasped them tightly, leaving no gaps. Then she swiftly pulled their joined hands under the desk and hid them.

The entire sequence flowed smoothly and took only two seconds. Shao Enci went rigid as if struck by lightning, frozen in place with his head still turned to the side.

A flicker of astonishment crossed his eyes.

Just as when she had forcibly kissed him on the basketball court yesterday, he still didn't resist in the slightest. He merely let her take control, stiffly allowing his heart to race wildly.

Lu Xiaoxiao's chest rose and fell slightly, her breathing unconsciously quickening as a thin layer of sweat formed on her palm.

She repeatedly hypnotized herself in her heart: It's just holding hands. We even kissed yesterday, so a little hand-holding is nothing.

But her gaze kept darting uncontrollably toward the front of the room, and she was freaking out inside.

The man at the lectern was her own father, and his gaze could sweep over this corner at any moment. If they were discovered, she would die of social embarrassment on the spot.

What kind of hellish system task is this, deliberately making things difficult for me in such a high-risk setting!

By now, Shao Enci had completely lost any inclination to listen to the lecture. His dark eyes remained fixed on the girl, his gaze so hot it seemed capable of boring straight through her.

He asked tentatively, "Lu Xiaoxiao, what do you mean by this?"

Lu Xiaoxiao felt the temperature of her face rising rapidly. She made a shushing gesture at him with her other hand. Though she was in a complete panic inside, she put on a calm front. "Don't get distracted while my dad is teaching."

A faint, helpless sigh escaped from deep in the boy's throat.

Instead of letting go, he moved his fingertips and adjusted the angle, clasping her fingers even more tightly. Their ten fingers intertwined, intimately entwined. A lovely smile playing at the corners of his eyes, he said unhurriedly, "Then does your dad know you're secretly holding a boy's hand in his class?"

More and more cold sweat gathered in Lu Xiaoxiao's palm.

She knew what Shao Enci was like. He was arrogant and stubborn, and if he didn't get the answer he wanted, he would never give up easily.

With no other choice, she casually came up with an excuse. "I've never held hands with anyone of the opposite sex before. I was just curious and wanted to try it with you."

"Try what?"

At her answer, Shao Enci's whole body tensed and his heartbeat suddenly quickened. He lowered his eyes to their tightly clasped hands beneath the desk. Far from settling, the jumbled thoughts in his heart gave rise to even more fleeting notions.

Lu Xiaoxiao, tell me you didn't kiss me and hold my hand because you were playing a game with someone else.

Tell me you don't hate me at all, that you actually like me too, and want to date me. Is that right?

But he could only keep those words bottled up inside. He didn't dare ask her.

Lu Xiaoxiao blinked her big eyes and spouted nonsense. "To see if sparks would fly between us."

At that answer, Shao Enci completely lost his composure.