My System Forces Me to Live off Women-Chapter 84 - 82: In Class
The plane landed at two-thirty, and they reached the school just after three.
The two got off the bus and entered the school gate, carrying big bags into the campus. Zhao Qingge found it a bit strange that Li Peifeng was still following him: "Do you have a class later?"
Li Peifeng gestured to the large bag in his hand: "These are gifts I brought for you, I’ll help you put them in the car."
"No need."
"It’s necessary."
Zhao Qingge glanced again at the big bag, then looked at Li Peifeng: "Are all of these for me?"
"All of them!"
"None for anyone else?"
Li Peifeng shook his head firmly: "None!"
Zhao Qingge’s lips slightly curved upwards, but quickly returned to normal.
In reality, Li Peifeng bought a lot of gifts, but couldn’t carry the ones for others due to the weight limit on airplane luggage. So when he was in Wuzhen, he was buying and mailing things simultaneously. He mailed his parents’ directly back home, Wu Wenyue and Xu Manning’s directly to their apartment, the two junior apprentices’ back to school, leaving only Zhao Qingge’s gift to carry by hand.
Is his mind sinister?
No, no, no, Li Peifeng didn’t want to play tricks; it just happened by chance.
"Put it in the car."
When they reached the car, Zhao Qingge opened the trunk, Li Peifeng placed the stuff down, said goodbye, and was about to leave when the other person’s words stopped him.
"I’ve read your ’Analysis of the Pulse of Female-oriented Online Literature’, you can submit it."
"Oh, thank you."
"Clack~"
Zhao Qingge closed the car door: "No trouble, remember to recommend an editor named Duan Cong, the chances of acceptance should not be small."
Li Peifeng nodded, looked at Zhao Qingge’s expression, and hesitantly asked: "Do you think I should still pursue this Ph.D.?"
"You’re asking me?"
Zhao Qingge lowered his eyes: "Why are you asking me about your own affairs?"
Wife, look at you, what kind of attitude is that?
Li Peifeng was very dissatisfied; his question wasn’t merely about pursuing a Ph.D.
Is the Ph.D. important to both of them? Not really!
Not having the teacher-student relationship is important to both of them!
Yet Zhao Qingge played dumb, throwing the issue back at him.
Unyielding, Li Peifeng insisted: "I meant to ask for your advice; do you think getting this Ph.D. will help me in my career?"
Zhao Qingge pondered and then replied earnestly: "If you want to find a job, it definitely helps, but if you want to be a full-time writer, it won’t help much; it might even delay your writing."
Li Peifeng suddenly understood and then asked: "Will getting this Ph.D. help me in choosing a partner?"
"Regarding a partner, it probably won’t."
Zhao Qingge considered: "No one strictly requires a partner to be a Ph.D. holder; pursuing it might actually imbalance your relations and studies."
Still not clear, not explicit enough!
Li Peifeng steeled his heart and intensified his tone: "Then if I don’t go for this Ph.D., would it make a professor from a certain School of Arts and Sciences become my wife?"
"..."
Zhao Qingge looked at him deeply, with a complex and subtle expression, said nothing, and turned away.
What does that mean?
Li Peifeng didn’t quite understand, frowned, and stood thinking for a while.
He couldn’t figure it out.
He simply took out his phone to check the time, and a schedule app popped up.
Recalling Zhao Qingge asking if he had a class, Li Peifeng remembered something... he really had a class! And it had already started!
...
Even though there were few classes in the second year of the master’s program, it didn’t mean there were none. Having been on a business trip for a week, Li Peifeng had informed all the teachers and asked for leave. But for some classes, even if you’ve taken leave, having more than five absences in a semester means retaking the class the next semester.
It’s like a turtle’s butt—rules.
Now that he was back from the trip, Li Peifeng didn’t want to skip class without reason; he felt he should fulfill his responsibilities as a student.
Second Teaching Building, Room 206. Inside, about twenty-plus students sat sparsely, mostly listening quietly and taking notes, with a very few fiddling with their phones in private.
On the podium stood male teacher Xiong Miaohai, in his forties, broad and stout, slightly balding, continuing to lecture in a booming voice.
"In young literature, there used to be an important theme, which was the struggle between man and the surrounding environment, man building the surrounding environment..."
Li Peifeng quietly pushed the door open, bending over to apologize.
Xiong Miaohai nodded at him in acknowledgment, briefly revealing his sparsely-haired forehead.
Without exchanging words, Li Peifeng consciously sat in the corner.
"Research on Contemporary Novels of Dong"
Li Peifeng’s grades in this specialized course were quite good. Or rather, he didn’t have poor grades in any course, ranking among the top in all subjects.
He felt that the main reason he did well was because of his parents’ guidance. Both his parents were university teachers, and they instilled a very important concept in him from an early age.
Listen carefully, as it’s the greatest respect to the teacher on stage and to the knowledge itself.
Even if the teacher isn’t good at lectures, you can still read the book by yourself, understand it on your own. But you should never do anything else in class, as class time is for studying.
With this concept, Li Peifeng mostly didn’t slack off during class.
But today, probably because he came in a rush and didn’t bring his book, he couldn’t quite focus on what the teacher was saying.
"A person, this young ’me,’ in the process of retreating or turning inward..."
Li Peifeng rarely drifted off like this, recalling the scenes of kissing Zhao Qingge on the bus to the airport in Wuzhen. And in the parking lot, the complex look in Zhao Qingge’s eyes after he asked that question, the unease!
Ultimately, it’s the immense pressure of reality.
Even if Li Peifeng didn’t pursue a doctorate, and after getting his master’s, were to be with Zhao Qingge, date, marry... even so, there are still many difficulties that can’t be overcome just because they say so.
All feelings shatter in the face of reality.
Not to mention Li Peifeng’s family.
Zhao Qingge’s family would surely be the first to disagree. Her parents are both university leaders at Yandu University and Yandu University of Finance and Economics. Up two generations, they’re also educators. Although Li Peifeng doesn’t know what Old Zhao’s grandparents did, he estimates their status wouldn’t be low. And now Zhao Qingge fell in love with a student?
It’s a disgrace to the family, a stain on dignity, a shame to be an educator, how could you have such thoughts...
The pressure from relatives and friends follows one after another.
Next is the school. Even if he graduates, once people find out they’re together, such a sensational piece of news would be spread by those with an agenda, and Beihua Normal University of Arts and Sciences’ students and teachers will surely gossip.
The biggest lie is saying their love began after graduation. No one will believe it. Everyone will think they had feelings while still in school.
Maybe in other schools it’s not a big deal, since one party has graduated, crossing that line. But Beihua Normal University is a teacher-training school. To prevent a bad influence and stop other students from imitating, Zhao Qingge might very well have to leave her teaching position, at the very least transfer to another school...
At that moment, Li Peifeng suddenly understood the look in her eyes in the parking lot;
"So, if I don’t go for this doctorate, will a professor from a certain university’s School of Arts and Sciences become my wife?"
"Do you think if I became your wife, I would still have the face to continue being a professor at Beihua Normal University of Arts and Sciences?"
"Peifeng!"
As Li Peifeng was lost in troubled thoughts, the boy behind him, dark and skinny, with glasses and a face somewhat resembling Shen Teng, poked him quietly: "The teacher is calling you."
Just then, Xiong Miaohai looked over, and alerted, Li Peifeng automatically stood up.
"Alright, then let Peifeng answer."
Xiong Miaohai nodded with satisfaction: "I really like the way you pretend to be serious but just stood up to put on a show!"
"Hahaha~"
The class of over twenty people burst into laughter due to this remark...
"?" Li Peifeng widened his eyes, looking at Shen Liao behind him, gritting his teeth: "Are you looking for trouble? Daring to mess with me?!"
"Hehehe~" Shen Liao laughed the hardest, leaning back: "I was wrong, Brother Feng, but I’ll dare again next time!"
"You little..."
"No more chatting, answer the question!"
Xiong Miaohai tapped the lectern with his finger, then pointed to the text displayed on the screen behind him.
It was Lu Xun’s short story "Hometown", from which the famous passage, "Young Run Tu," is a selected excerpt from this story.
The section displayed, however, was the part not included in the textbook, the reunion between ’me’ and Run Tu after many years;
I was very excited then, but didn’t know what to say, so I just said: "Ah! Brother Run Tu, — you came?" I had so much to say, words like a torrent, about the horned chicken, the jumping fish, the shells, the badgers, ... but somehow felt blocked, as if it was all stuck in my head and couldn’t be let out.
He stood there, his face showing joy and sorrow; moving his lips but not making a sound. His demeanor finally became respectful, and he clearly called out: "Master!..."
I seemed to shiver a bit; I realized between us had grown a lamentable thick barrier. I couldn’t speak either.
"It’s just the last sentence! I seemed to shiver a bit..."
Xiong Miaohai circled the sentence with a pencil in the air: "Tell me, what does ’I’ in the text feel? What does this lamentable thick barrier mean?"
Is that it?
Li Peifeng breathed a sigh of relief, taking it in slowly, he suddenly felt a bit empathetic. Isn’t his and Zhao Qingge’s relationship another version of ’Run Tu and the master’?
In a dream calling someone "wife," but waking up politely calling: "Supervisor!"
"Can you explain it? If not, you’ll lose three points."
Xiong Miaohai scared people, and Li Peifeng felt even gloomier, with a sigh: "Ah, how unpredictable is life, like large intestines wrapping small intestines!" 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"What does the lamentable thick barrier mean?"
"It’s like there’s crap in the small intestines, wiping it out I fear breaking the paper."
