Caught Fishing

Hearing Chen Dabao say this, Xu Qing fell silent.

How to put it? He respected the diversity of human nature, but he still didn't care much for someone like Chen Dabao.

"Xu Qing, you haven't been with a girl yet, have you? Want me to take you out sometime?" Seeing Xu Qing's silence, Chen Dabao guessed he might be inexperienced in these matters and egged him on.

Xu Qing came from the Xu Family; with that status, there wasn't a girl he couldn't have. As his roommate, Chen Dabao figured he might even be able to ride his coattails.

"No thanks, I'm not interested in that. You go ahead," Xu Qing refused.

His upbringing prevented him from engaging in such things.

Although he knew these things were common—wealthy young masters playing with women, changing partners every day—he was determined never to become like that.

"Alright then," Chen Dabao said, giving up when he saw Xu Qing's refusal, and went back to his bed to watch a movie.

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

"Hello there, classmate Xu Qing. I was in the middle of a game earlier and didn't notice you, my apologies," Zhao Quan said with a smile, extending his hand.

Xu Qing had no choice but to reach out and shake it. "Hello, classmate Zhao Quan."

However, while shaking hands, he noticed the other man give his hand a slight squeeze.

The other man's hand was larger, so it didn't seem like much, and he let go immediately without any sign of impropriety.

Xu Qing chatted with Zhao Quan for a few moments to get to know each other a little, then Zhao Quan went back to his gaming.

The next day, Xu Qing began military training.

Though called military training, it was actually just basic drills for military school students. For an average college student, the difficulty was moderate, though a month of it would certainly leave one tanned.

Usually, Xu Xin would call for Xu Qing whenever she went to eat.

Xu Qing had initially thought that since he had roommates now, he could make friends, eat with them, and hang out, but once he considered the behavioral patterns of those two, he gave up on the idea.

With no other choice, Xu Qing continued to stick with Xu Xin and the other girls.

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

During the training, Xu Qing had only seen his homeroom teacher, Qin Lin, a few times—she would drop by during drills to observe, and then chat with the students during breaks.

However, Xu Qing deliberately avoided her every time. Ever since that awkward meeting, he felt embarrassed whenever he saw Qin Lin.

Although Qin Lin didn't seem to mind and hadn't said anything, Xu Qing still felt quite self-conscious about it.

Even though Xu Qing felt it was pathetic for a grown man to be like this, he couldn't help it; that was just his personality.

If he had returned to his naive, oblivious self, he would have forgotten about it after a day, but he clearly couldn't go back to that.

Qin Lin had also noticed Xu Qing deliberately avoiding her, but she didn't call him out on it, choosing to act as if she didn't know.

Finally, the time came for the part of college Xu Qing liked best: lectures.

University courses could be self-studied, and the freedom was high; even if you didn't attend class, the professors wouldn't say anything, as long as you didn't fail the final exams.

Even failing wasn't a big deal; you could just take a make-up exam. There were plenty of ways around it.

Although Xu Qing could self-study, he was more accustomed to listening to the professor first. He would grasp the material quickly, and once he understood it, he could... well, slack off and zone out.

And so, as if he were back in high school, Xu Qing would start "fishing" (zoning out) mid-lecture.

During class, his homeroom teacher, Qin Lin, would also come by to check on the situation. In the first semester, she needed to get a detailed understanding of every student in her class.

After two weeks, Qin Lin had a grasp of the situation regarding the thirty-some students in the class.

For instance, she had a general idea of which students liked to skip class, which were diligent, and what their learning capabilities were.

"Rich kids," Qin Lin thought, sitting in her office and looking at the class roster.

Of the three boys in the class, besides Xu Qing, the other two—Chen Dabao and Zhao Quan—had absolutely no intention of studying.

They spent every day hitting on the girls in the class, and not just the girls in their own class; they even hit on girls from other classes and other departments.

The two boys had their minds entirely focused on that.

Qin Lin checked their family backgrounds; their parents ran companies, and they were definitely expected to inherit them later.

It wasn't just the two young masters, Chen Dabao and Zhao Quan; there were also wealthy girls in the class who were much the same, with no interest in studying, all looking for rich, handsome men to snag as husbands.

Most children from wealthy families were like this; it wasn't anything unusual.

Relatively speaking, the Xu siblings, Xu Xin and Xu Qing, were very different.

Xu Xin studied very diligently and didn't participate in any of that messy business, while Xu Qing... had strong learning ability, and once he finished learning, he would zone out, also avoiding any of that messy business.

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

That day, during class, the professor had finished explaining the new material. Xu Qing had understood and grasped it, then initiated the second phase: the zoning-out phase.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated. He took a look and saw a message from his homeroom teacher.

"Come to my office after class," Qin Lin wrote in a single sentence, and she also sent an image.

In the image, Xu Qing's "fishing" posture was perfectly clear.

Xu Qing panicked for a moment and looked toward the classroom door, but he didn't see Qin Lin. "It's over, she caught me."

"Why catch me now? She never did before," Xu Qing was completely confused; classes had been going on for nearly half a month.

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

After class, Xu Qing arrived at Qin Lin's office with a sense of trepidation.

"Teacher Qin," he said, casting a guilty glance at her.

Qin Lin looked up at him, a faint, mocking smile on her lips, "The Master Angler?"

"No... no way," Xu Qing stammered, blushing in embarrassment. This was the first time a teacher had ever teased him directly to his face.

Back in high school, none of his teachers had ever spoken to him like that.

"Come here," Qin Lin stood up, vacated her chair, and gestured for him to approach.

Xu Qing walked over obediently, looking from the chair to Qin Lin. She wants me to sit?

Qin Lin was over 1.8 meters tall, while Xu Qing was just over 1.7 meters. As one looked up and the other looked down, an inexplicable atmosphere settled between them.

"Mm," Qin Lin nodded.

Xu Qing had no choice but to sit down, only to hear Qin Lin say, "Help me enter this data into the spreadsheet."

On the desk lay a sheet of paper with some information written on it.

"I still have class," Xu Qing said.

"I know. The next period isn't a core course. Get started," Qin Lin said, leaving him no room to refuse.

With no other options, Xu Qing had no choice but to comply.