Lanjing University was a prestigious institution with a long and storied history.
It was autumn. The plane trees lining the boulevard stood tall and elegant, their straight trunks and broad leaves glowing gold in the sunlight. When the wind blew, fallen leaves would dance in the air. The scenery was beautiful.
In the early morning, students walked along this path, their feet stepping on the dappled light on the ground as they trickled toward their classrooms.
Chen Yuan was no exception.
There were three of them. Besides him were his roommates, Quan Yafeng, the "Boss" of their dorm, and Wei Zhen, the "Fourth."
But while they were laughing and chatting, Chen Yuan was fiddling with his phone off to the side, his nimble fingers tapping away at the screen.
A brilliant and blissful smile was on his face.
"Are you kidding me? You think I can't reach that? No bull, I shattered a backboard back in high school."
"Somehow, I don't believe you."
"I'll show you."
Men are just as childish no matter how old they get, their competitive spirit always running high.
On their way to the lecture hall, the two of them started arguing over a single leaf hanging in midair.
The Boss treated the wide path like a runway, making repeated, forceful jumps. But each time, he was just a tiny bit short of the leaf.
"Phew... Haven't practiced in a while, I'm a little rusty," he said, panting as he looked up at Wei Zhen. "But seriously, don't doubt me. I made the school team as a freshman. I was all about raw talent. If you don't believe me, ask Chen Yuan! We went to the same high school!"
"Really?" Wei Zhen turned to Chen Yuan. "Hey!"
"Huh? What's up?"
"Who are you chatting with? You're smiling from ear to ear, Third."
"No one."
Chen Yuan slipped his phone back into his pocket, but the smile on his face was still obvious.
Students came and went along the tree-lined path. Occasionally, a group of girls walking together would glance over, their gazes lingering on Chen Yuan for an especially long time.
Then they would start whispering among themselves.
There were four people in their dorm room. Among them, Chen Yuan had the quietest personality and was also the most popular with the girls.
He was tall, standing at 181 centimeters, with a slender build and handsome features. He wore an ordinary gray sweater over a plain white undershirt and a pair of cheap jeans, but on him, the outfit looked clean and bright.
"The Boss said he shattered a backboard in high school. Is that true?"
"I think something like that did happen," Chen Yuan said, recalling carefully. "But I remember the Boss was on the shot put team in high school."
"Hahahaha, don't tell me he shattered it with a shot put?"
"Just tell him if it shattered or not!" Quan Yafeng glared, angrily wrapping his arm around Wei Zhen's neck in a headlock.
The three of them walked into the classroom, laughing and talking.
Their second roommate had already saved them seats and had been waiting for a long time.
But as soon as he walked in, Chen Yuan was taken aback.
The huge lecture hall was so packed there wasn't even room to stand. The aisles were crammed with students, and the room was a cacophony of noise.
"Over here!" Liu Nan's shout reached his ears.
"Whoa, why are there so many people?"
"What'd I tell you about coming early? Everyone fights to get into Professor Jiangg's class. You'll get used to it."
Chen Yuan sat down, feeling rather surprised as he listened to Liu Nan's explanation.
In the past, his concept of this type of class could be summed up in one word: coast.
Coasting was considered good; there were plenty of students who just skipped class altogether.
As a freshman who had only been at university for a couple of months, this was Chen Yuan's first time attending a popular professor's class.
"You'll never regret coming to Professor Jiangg Ning's class. Every time, I wish the class would never end. That way I could just look at Professor Jiangg until the end of time, hehe~"
"That's disgusting..."
Watching Liu Nan's dreamy expression, Wei Zhen shivered.
However, a considerable number of boys in the classroom—and even girls!—thought the same way.
Lanjing University had a tradition. In previous years, there would be a beauty ranking on the school's online forum where students would upload photos and vote. For the past two years, it had been replaced by a more convenient mini-program.
Jiangg Ning had been teaching for two years and had won first place in the beauty ranking both times.
Add to that her personal elegance and intelligence, bolstered by the halo of her high academic qualifications.
She was undoubtedly the perfect, unattainable girl of their dreams in the hearts of many students.
Over time, her fame grew, and students flocked to her classes just to see her.
Hearing the buzzing discussions among the students, Chen Yuan couldn't help but become curious as well.
'Just how beautiful does she have to be to make students clamor for her like this... Could she be even better-looking than a celebrity?' Just as he was pondering this, chin in hand, a figure slipped into the classroom.
「...」
Nearly two hundred people were gathered in one classroom, their chatter loud enough to blow the roof off.
But after this figure entered, the classroom fell silent within seconds.
The chirping of a few sparrows perched on the low holly bushes outside the slightly ajar window could be heard clearly.
Chen Yuan stared at the woman walking unhurriedly to the lectern, a flash of astonishment in his eyes.
"Wow, she's so beautiful..." a female student was so captivated that she completely forgot where she was and exclaimed out loud.
A low ripple of laughter spread through the room. Standing at the lectern, Jiangg Ning looked at the student and smiled.
"Thank you. You're very beautiful too."
Jiangg Ning wore a brown trench coat. For convenience while lecturing, her long hair was held up with a claw clip. Her plain white top had a cutout at the collarbone, where a pearl-like ornament hung. Her neck was as graceful as a swan's, her cheeks so fair they seemed to reflect the light. Her eyes, nose, and cherry-like lips looked as if they had been sketched by a master artist, each feature perfectly placed.
Sunlight from the window spilled onto the lectern, making the lustrous earring on her ear glitter.
"Class, today we'll be discussing the Introduction to Huaxia Culture." Jiangg Ning began her lecture. Many students propped their chins in their hands, staring intently at her face, not hearing a single word she was saying.
They only thought she was beautiful and her voice was pleasant.
Chen Yuan was also staring, dumbstruck. Liu Nan, beside him, even pulled Wei Zhen over and whispered, "Third didn't want to come before. Look at him now, he's totally mesmerized by Professor Jiangg!"
However, his roommates had no idea.
Chen Yuan wasn't stunned because Jiangg Ning was so beautiful.
It was because of that earring.
Six months ago, after finishing the painful and lengthy exam preparations for his third year of high school and finally escaping from test papers and mock exams, Chen Yuan, like most students, had spent the entire summer vacation playing to his heart's content.
Aside from visiting his family's rural hometown and traveling, he spent the rest of his time gaming.
During that time, he met a girl who was terrible at games but loved to play.
The two of them added each other as friends after a match.
At first, they just hurled insults at each other. Finding typing not satisfying enough, Chen Yuan, in a fit of anger, pulled the girl into a match lobby and turned on his mic to confront her:
"Why didn't you use your ultimate in that teamfight?"
Maybe his tone was too aggressive, or maybe the girl realized her mistake.
She surprisingly didn't blame Chen Yuan, but instead fell silent for a moment before starting to apologize.
This incident was the start of their friendship. They began suffering through duo queue together, and later, they exchanged contact information and would chat all night.
Her name was: Yaoyao.
Not only was she incredibly cute, but she also had a quirky personality and was especially good at cheering people up.
She would take the initiative to learn the games Chen Yuan played so she could play with him. She would also share all sorts of interesting things from her life and funny short videos she saw. Knowing he liked music, she recorded songs and sent them to him. She even learned to use a cutesy voice to make Chen Yuan laugh.
"Because I~ just turned eighteen~"
The ambiguous phase before a relationship begins is often the most intoxicating. Without a doubt, they were both hooked.
They quickly started an online relationship.
This was also why Chen Yuan often spent his nights in the dorm, clutching his phone and wriggling around like a maggot.
A couple of days ago, Yaoyao had told Chen Yuan she bought a particularly beautiful earring and sent him a photo, though her face wasn't in it.
But now, in the lecture hall.
Chen Yuan stared at the lectern.
Jiangg Ning was calmly explaining, "The theory of the ideal personality in traditional Huaxia philosophy has a very important characteristic, which is the transformation of the subjective world..."
She casually raised the pen in her hand. "The focus of our attention is not on the cognition and effect of the external world, but on the internal. Just like this pen, the pursuit of the ink within is far more important than its external form."
As Jiangg Ning moved about the stage, the swaying earring made Chen Yuan absolutely certain.
He opened his phone, looking down at the screen and then up at her, observing countless times.
They were identical...
'Could such a coincidence exist in the world?' Chen Yuan didn't believe it for a second. 'How could Lanjing University, the very place I happened to get into, be where my online girlfriend taught?'
Jiangg Ning was so elegant and poised; she didn't match Yaoyao's personality at all.
'They probably just happened to buy the same earring.'
While Chen Yuan was lost in thought, Jiangg Ning suddenly walked down from the stage, continuing her lecture as she headed straight for his seat.
The CLICK-CLACK of her high heels sounded particularly pleasant in the quiet classroom.
"Excuse me, could I borrow your book for a moment..." Jiangg Ning held out her hand. Chen Yuan immediately understood what she meant and passed his book to her.
"Let's turn to page 31 and look at the theory of ideal personality—"
Before she could finish her sentence, Jiangg Ning's voice suddenly cut off. Her gaze was fixed on his hand.
He was wearing a ring.
And the reason for Jiangg Ning's astonishment was that she had an identical ring on her own hand.
Both of their gazes were locked on each other's hands.
Without the sound of the lecture, the classroom fell into a deathly silence.