Baobei, Baobei

Sensational news! Lecturer Jiang made a public confession in class!

A few days later, when some female students met the female lead Xia Baobei by the stairway, they stopped her to ask about how she felt about the confession. They were all thrown aback when she said, “Did you think he was confessing to me?”

As the person who was envied by everyone in school now, Baobei was feeling wronged. Firstly, while Lecturer Jiang had blown things up, he never did anything further privately. Secondly, she was reprimanded by her homeroom teacher the next day.

Relationships in universities were common, and as long as no scandals broke out, teachers would normally not bother about them.

Baobei did not even cause a scandal.

However, the other party was a lecturer. Even though he was a guest lecturer, his role in school was that of an educator.

After all, a student-teacher relationship was still taboo.

Facing her homeroom teacher, Baobei felt nothing but injustice. However, in order to escape her predicament quickly, she chose to stay quiet. Even so, the consequence of her silence was that her homeroom teacher got carried away, and even brought her parents into the conversation. She said to Baobei, as an outstanding student, her parents would have high expectations of her. Hence, her education should be the priority at the moment, and once she had some achievements, she could pay it forward in society, and also live a good life, one that others would envy.

“If I truly desired an enviable lifestyle, then wouldn’t it be easier if I seduced Lecturer Jiang?” While it was true that students had to spend more than twenty years of their lives studying hard in order to achieve better job opportunities and reap greater financial rewards, Baobei was annoyed by the homeroom teacher’s antics. As an engineer of human souls [1], she could still be less noble, and more materialistic!

The teacher was speechless, unable to refute Baobei’s words. It was true, marrying someone like Jiang Moxiu was equivalent to a life of riches ahead!

“You …” The teacher sputtered. “Xia Baobei, if you are going to continue to be like this, then I can only speak to your parents.”

This was how Chinese teachers worked; they would bring out the parents if they were unable to communicate with their students. It was always useful to bring parents into such conversations; after all, children were indebted to their parents for bringing them up, how could they bear to upset their parents? The same could not be said for teachers, who had to earn their respect from their students.

“Don’t bother, my father is very busy. When I came to Beijing, he had already said that whatever happens in school is the teacher’s responsibility, and he said that teachers should not bother him”. The teacher was met with Baobei’s rebellious streak.

The Xia family was a family of educators, but they were not traditional in their teaching methods. The three Xia siblings had grown up in an environment of absolute freedom. Their parents trusted them, and they could make their own decisions from a young age, as they were taught to take responsibility for these decisions.

Baobei studied in a junior high school in the city, but her headstrong character resulted in many disciplinary issues. Once, Xia Wenjin was called to school by Baobei’s teacher. At that time, Baobei’s father patronised the teacher, but on the way home, had quickly summed up the experience for Baobei. He explained to Baobei that while she was not wrong being headstrong, there was still a need to be aware of others’ feelings. If she was overly headstrong, then she would just be rebellious. He also gave his critique of Baobei’s teacher: if he couldn’t even educate a teenager, why would he even think of teaching other adults?

Since that incident, Baobei continued her wilfulness, but moderated her tone and attitude towards teachers and seniors. As long as she could avoid it, she would never put herself in confrontational situations.

The atmosphere in the office became tense. Geniuses were mostly obnoxious people. Hence when the homeroom teacher first met Baobei, she felt that Baobei was unbelievably easygoing, and rejoiced that Baobei was her student. She would even praise Baobei in front of her colleagues. The homeroom teacher could not believe that the top arts student of the Z City would have such a sharp tongue. However, there was nothing else she could do, as homeroom teachers did not take lecture classes, and could not do anything to threaten Baobei’s grades.

Baobei was reprimanded for another half an hour before she could leave the office.

The moment she stepped out of the office, her temper flared.

What a coincidence! The male lead of the rumour was in a discussion with the dean of the law school at the walkway. Lecturer Jiang’s back was facing Baobei, hence she could not see his expression, but she felt that it was good news, as their stern-faced dean was smiling widely.

Having just been reprimanded, Baobei decided to lie low.

However, the superior dean actually noticed her first, his eyes full of affection towards her! Of course, Lecturer Jiang was led to turn his head around. The moment their eyes met, Baobei felt that she had been seckilled again.

He gestured for her to join them.

Baobei was of course unwilling, but the dean was there, and she could not do anything disrespectful. After all, she still had to care about the Xia family name. She walked over reluctantly.

The moment she got close, her small hand was held by Lecturer Jiang.

This is definitely flirting!

Baobei wanted to withdraw her hand, but Lecturer Jiang held on tightly. Instead, it was the dean who said in jest, “Student Baobei is feeling shy?”

Baobei was dying from embarrassment!

“This girl thinks that I’m too high profile”. Lecturer Jiang was an elegantly disguised beast in front of others, and Baobei truly wanted to expose his black-belliedness for the world to see.

“It’s sweet to be high-profile, but there are also benefits to being low profile. No matter what, it’s most important to be happy when you are dating!” To think that these words came from the dean who usually opposed high-profile relationships! If it wasn’t that the dean’s stamp of approval was required for graduation, Baobei would have asked if he was in the right mind.

All it took was a few minutes. While Baobei appeared unaffected, but internally, her mind was in a mess, as she thought about all the unruly things she wanted to do right now.

“Dean, don’t you think that a student-teacher relationship will create a bad influence?” Baobei struck where it hurt.

As expected, the dean’s smile froze.

“Baobei~, you’ve to analyse this in detail. Look at us, we’re doing well. I might as well tell you another piece of good news. From the next semester, I’ll truly be your teacher.” Lecturer Jiang was in a good mood.

The dean of the law school was a devious man. He was initially disdainful when he heard about the rumours between Jiang Moxiu and a female student in his faculty. However, when he heard that Jiang Moxiu intended to start a class in the law school, he changed his tune. The leadership at the Business School was probably in tears. They had spent so much effort trying to get him to lecture at the business school, and he had even refused to take two more classes each week. Yet, he volunteered to open a new class at the law school! When they learned of the reason later, they lamented their loss. This law school student was truly a genius!

The walkway where they stood was a busy one. Almost everyone who passed them had seen that Baobei and Lecturer Jiang were holding hands there for close to ten minutes. The time where Lecturer Jiang said his goodbye to the dean was also coincidentally the time where most of the students had ended classes, hence the human traffic was even heavier.

Lecturer Jiang was too high profile!

“There are so many more beasts in the world today, but the price of meat has not gone down!” Baobei gritted her teeth as she was dragged away by Lecturer Jiang.

“Does Baobei feel like having some meat now? Sure, I’ll bring you for a meal now.” He took the opportunity to bring her to the car park. This was definitely a combination of a masked attempt at parading them and kidnapping her.

“If you dare to pull your hand away now, I’ll kiss you right here”, threatened Lecturer Jiang, the moment he felt Baobei tugging her hand away.

This was an utterly shameless man!

Baobei was truly a mentally strong girl. She soon got used to being paraded around, and started considering other issues as they made their way from the law school to the business school.

Undoubtedly, Lecturer Jiang was a busy man and the owner of a large business. Hence, she had rejected Xia Tian’s words when he said that Lecturer Jiang chose to teach because he wanted to be close to her. However, if she put together his actions today as well as his words in class a few days back, Baobei could no longer disagree with Xia Tian’s words.

“Don’t tell me you are really here at the law school for me”. Baobei squinted her eyes. She was raising a possibility, but she had already reached a conclusion in her heart. It was also a mechanism of self-protection. She was certain that if he gave a definitive answer, she would truly lose this battle with him.

In truth, women could seldom resist men’s schemes. When love began, everything else in life became immaterial. The start of the relationship was always beautiful, and women could easily be conquered, until reality came into the picture. Many relationships were lost to reality, but there was no denying the presence of love. Women would disregard all consequences when they fell in love, because they would always naively think that love could overcome all odds. But at the end, reality would always tell them “no”.

Ideals were romantic, but reality was just wretched.

Lecturer Jiang stopped in his tracks. He looked suspiciously at Baobei, and put on a dazzling smile.

“Baobei~”

She was furious. “Don’t you dare …”

“You’re finally starting to see the light”.

Baobei was stunned, and speechless for a moment. Slowly, realisation dawned on her, and then, a blush appeared on her cheeks.

How adorable!

Lecturer Jiang was no gentleman. He didn’t care if they were in the crowded university grounds; he simply pulled Baobei into his arms.

“What are you doing! I’m not your girlfriend, why are you hugging me?” She asked anxiously. He might be shameless, but she still wanted her dignity.

“It’s a matter of time”. Lecturer Jiang was in a very, very good mood.

It was only after twenty minutes when Lecturer Jiang’s car left the school that Baobei finally heaved a sigh of relief.

“Jiang Moxiu!”

“Yes?”

“Do you truly want to spend your life with me?” This child was using vague words to hide her shyness.

“Xia Baobei, spend your life with me please”. He said seriously as he continued driving. As he said those words, he even grabbed Baobei’s hands.

This time, Baobei did not pull away.

It was only when they had arrived at the lunch venue that Baobei put her foot down and made a decision.

Two silly people, their fingers intertwined, their palms perspiring. They were both nervous, but Lecturer Jiang still held on to her hand tightly.

“Sure, but I have some expectations for you. You have to be presentable when outside, yet domesticated at home; able to craft love poems, yet sing the song of the northern wolf; able to afford a BMW, yet also afford an apartment; able to overpower young thugs, yet also outwit cunning businessmen; able to wash diapers, yet also able to scrub the walls; able to fix computers, yet also able to move the fridge; able to withstand temptation, yet also able to coax the mother-in-law; most importantly, you have to be loyal to your wife! If you are able to do all these, then I’ll be yours.” Baobei’s cheeks were burning as she said all these, but it was Baobei’s character to speak her mind. Baobei was also falling in love with Lecturer Jiang; naturally, she hoped that this relationship could last. Moreover, Baobei had just put her photographic memory to good use - this set of criteria for a modern man was something that she had come across previously. She did not expect herself to cite it today.

Lecturer Jiang frowned. “Can I be yours instead?”

“If that’s the case, then the deal’s off!” She was furious again.

This young lady couldn’t be teased; she would only throw up a fuss if she was!

“No, no, no! I’ll do all that! I swear to Grandfather Mao [2], I’ll be able to do all that! Baobei, be mine!” He quickly hugged her again. One might think that he was teasing Baobei so that he could take advantage of her after.

Baobei was in his arms, suddenly feeling serious. The moment a person accepted a relationship, the person would start having hopes of the future, and also place the hopes of her future in the hands of the other party.

“You’ve got to treat me well!” Her voice trembled.

“I’ll treat you well for life, only you”. Lecturer Jiang said gently, as his heart melted as well.

In the past, Baobei had always doubted Lecturer Jiang’s sincerity towards her, because in her mind, a relationship had to be as romantic as what she saw in idol dramas. However, it was simply a case where he loved you, but did not love you in the way you wanted.

In the vast world, it was not easy to find someone whom you loved, and loved you in return. Do not waste his relationship, do not waste the best moments of the relationship by silently loving each other without expressing it.

[1] 人类灵魂的工程师 - engineer or human souls, or simply referred to as, teachers. :)

[2] 毛爷爷 (Grandfather Mao) - likely referring to Mao Zedong.