Fishing and Getting Caught

Hearing Chen Dabao say that, Xu Qing fell silent.

How should he put it? He respected human diversity, but he still didn't care much for people like Chen Dabao.

"Xu Qing, don't tell me you've never been with a girl before. Want me to take you out sometime?" Seeing Xu Qing fall quiet, Chen Dabao guessed he might not know much about this sort of thing and tried to egg him on.

Xu Qing was from the Xu Family. With that status, he could have any kind of girl he wanted. As his roommate, Chen Dabao might even get to enjoy some of the benefits.

"No thanks. I'm not interested in that. Go by yourself," Xu Qing refused.

His good upbringing made it impossible for him to do something like that.

Although he knew this sort of thing happened all the time, and rich young masters went through different women every day, he would never become someone like that.

"All right." Since Xu Qing had refused, Chen Dabao had no choice but to drop it. He went back to his bed and continued watching his movie.

A while later, his other roommate, Zhao Quan, finished a game too.

"Hey, Xu Qing. I was playing a game just now and didn't notice you. Sorry about that." Zhao Quan smiled and held out his hand.

Xu Qing could only reach out and shake it. "Hello, Zhao Quan."

But as they shook hands, he felt the other man give his hand a light squeeze.

The other man's hand was a little bigger, so it didn't seem like anything unusual. Besides, he had let go almost immediately, so there was nothing improper about it.

Xu Qing chatted with Zhao Quan for a few minutes, getting to know him a little, and then Zhao Quan went back to his game.

The next day, Xu Qing began military training.

It was called military training, but it was really just basic training at a military academy. The difficulty was moderate for ordinary university students, though a month of it was bound to leave them tanned.

Usually, whenever Xu Xin went to eat, she invited Xu Qing along.

Xu Qing had thought that now he had roommates, he could make friends and go eat and have fun with them. But after thinking about how those two behaved, he gave up on the idea.

There was nothing he could do. Xu Qing could only keep hanging out with Xu Xin and the other girls.

In the blink of an eye, the month of military training was over, and classes officially began.

During training, Xu Qing had only seen his homeroom teacher, Qin Lin, a few times. She would stop by to watch them train, then talk and chat with the students during breaks.

But Xu Qing deliberately avoided her each time. Ever since their awkward encounter, he felt embarrassed whenever he saw Qin Lin.

Qin Lin didn't seem to mind and had never said anything, but Xu Qing still couldn't help feeling self-conscious.

Although Xu Qing felt that acting this way as a grown man made him seem rather pathetic, there was nothing he could do. That was simply his personality.

If he had been as clueless as he used to be, he would have forgotten about it after a day. But there was no way he could go back to being that way now.

Qin Lin had also noticed that Xu Qing was deliberately avoiding her, but she didn't call him out. She pretended not to know.

At last, Xu Qing's favorite part—classes—arrived.

University courses could be studied independently, and there was plenty of freedom. Even if students skipped class, the teachers wouldn't say anything. As long as they passed their final assessments, that was all that mattered.

And even if they failed, it wasn't a big deal. They could just take a makeup exam. There were plenty of ways around it.

Xu Qing could study on his own too, but he was more used to listening to the teacher first. Once the teacher explained things, he understood them quickly. Then, after he understood everything, he could... well, zone out and slack off.

And so, just like back in high school, Xu Qing would start dozing off in class after a while.

Qin Lin, the homeroom teacher, also came to check on the class from time to time. During the first semester, she needed to get to know each of her students in detail.

After two weeks, Qin Lin had gotten a general sense of the thirty-odd students in her class.

She knew which students liked skipping class, which ones took their studies seriously, and roughly how capable each student was.

"Rich young masters." Qin Lin sat in her office, looking at the class roster.

There were three boys in the class. Apart from Xu Qing, the other two, Chen Dabao and Zhao Quan, had no interest in studying at all.

The two of them spent every day chatting up the girls in their class. They even hit on girls from other classes and other departments.

Both of them had their minds entirely on that sort of thing.

Qin Lin looked into their family backgrounds. Their parents owned companies, and the boys would certainly inherit them someday.

It wasn't just the two rich young masters, Chen Dabao and Zhao Quan. There were also wealthy girls in the class. Like the two of them, they had no interest in studying and spent their time looking for handsome, rich men to marry.

It wasn't unusual. Most children from wealthy families were like that.

By comparison, Xu Xin and Xu Qing, the brother and sister from the Xu Family, were quite different.

Xu Xin took her studies seriously and had nothing to do with all that nonsense. Xu Qing... had a remarkable ability to learn. Once he had finished studying, he would zone out, and he didn't get involved in any of that nonsense either.

"Xu Qing..." Qin Lin looked at his photo on the computer screen, her gaze deep and thoughtful.

One day in class, the teacher had finished explaining the new material. Xu Qing had understood it all, so he moved on to the second stage: zoning out.

But suddenly, his phone vibrated. He glanced at it and saw a message from his homeroom teacher.

"Come to my office after class." That was all Qin Lin wrote. She had also sent a picture.

The picture showed Xu Qing zoning out in class, clear as day.

Xu Qing's heart jumped. He looked toward the classroom door, but Qin Lin was nowhere to be seen. "Crap, she caught me."

"Why did she only catch me now? She never did before." Xu Qing was completely baffled. He had been in class for almost half a month.

Unable to figure it out, Xu Qing stopped trying. He would go see his homeroom teacher after class. Hopefully, he wouldn't get scolded.

After class, Xu Qing made his way to Qin Lin's office, his heart uneasy.

"Teacher Qin." He glanced at her guiltily.

Qin Lin looked up at him, her smile ambiguous. "Master of zoning out?"

"N-no..." Xu Qing blushed with embarrassment. This was the first time a teacher had teased him to his face.

Back in high school, none of his teachers had ever said anything like that.

"Come here." Qin Lin stood up and gave up her seat, gesturing for him to come over.

Xu Qing obediently walked over. He looked at the seat, then at Qin Lin. She wanted him to sit?

Qin Lin was over six feet tall, while Xu Qing was only a little over five foot seven. One had to look up and the other down, creating a strangely charged atmosphere.

"Mm." Qin Lin nodded.

Xu Qing had no choice but to sit down. Then Qin Lin said, "Help me enter this information into the form."

A sheet of paper with some information on it lay on the desk.

"I have another class," Xu Qing said.

"I know. The next class isn't a major course. Get started." Qin Lin didn't give him a chance to refuse.

Xu Qing had no choice. He obediently did as she asked.