"I'm wiped. Sub me out, sub me out!"
Chen Yuan rolled up his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face and walked, panting, to the side of the basketball court to sit down. He grabbed a bottle of water and chugged several mouthfuls. The other guys on the court were just as exhausted.
Even in the dead of winter, with steam rising from their heads in the cold air, they kept on playing basketball.
The grim chill of the winter day couldn't extinguish their passion for the game. As evening approached, they had been playing for two hours, yet not a single person had suggested calling it a day.
Wei Zhen, who had been resting for a while, waved his hand, refusing to go back on the court.
"Get someone else. I haven't recovered yet."
After he spoke, a tall guy next to him took off his jacket and took Chen Yuan's place.
After returning from off-campus, Chen Yuan looked gloomy. He didn't know how to tell his roommates he was moving out... They were all so happy together, and it would feel wrong without any one of them. He faintly felt like he was betraying them.
"By the way, you didn't reply to Senior Sister Liu Tingyue's message, did you?"
"I forgot."
"She came asking me about it, wondering what you were so busy with that you didn't even have time to text back. Have you thought about joining the Arts Department?"
"I've thought about it. I'll join the Arts Department. Find something to do."
Chen Yuan's answer made Wei Zhen's eyes widen in astonishment.
"You actually agreed? I thought you didn't want to go."
"I didn't want to, but my mom called and asked if I'd joined the student union. Parents always think that joining the student union in college is a good way to develop yourself. I had no choice but to agree."
Chen Yuan recalled his mom's incessant, earnest nagging. He rubbed his cheeks vigorously. 'A mother has absolute power over her son.'
This power wasn't born of fear.
Rather, Chen Yuan worried that if he resisted too much, his mom would become insecure and start whimpering, "You don't listen to Mommy at all anymore." That was much harder for him to bear than a harsh scolding.
Pulling his phone from his jacket, Chen Yuan opened Green Bubble and typed a polite reply to Senior Sister Liu.
Just as he was about to slip it back into his pocket, his phone BUZZED again.
A message from Jiangg Yao arrived:
"Chen! I've picked out the clothes for you. When can you try them on? If they don't fit, we can go exchange them."
"That was fast?" he replied.
"Of course. To me, anything involving you is the most important thing. Aren't you touched? Huh?"
"Okay, I'll be free in a bit."
"Aren't you touched?"
"Come to the university. We'll find a place to sit down."
"Hey, Chen Yuan, are you deliberately ignoring what I said? I asked you a question! You're pretending you didn't see it."
"Ask me when we meet."
Closing his phone screen, Chen Yuan's lips curved into a smile. It felt like he was back in the sweet days of their online relationship.
He threw on his jacket, said a quick word to his roommates, and headed straight off campus.
Besides the clothes, he was also thinking about finding time tonight to visit the house his biological father was renting to see how far it was from the university.
...
Chen Yuan left the university and ran for nearly a whole street, until his legs were sore.
He felt like meeting "Teacher Jiangg Ning" was like a clandestine rendezvous between spies. Not only did the location have to be secret, but he also had to do his best to avoid any Landa University students.
Finally, at a corner on University Street, he glanced left and right. The window of a nearby car rolled down.
Inside, Jiangg Yao waved, telling him to hurry up and get in.
Chen Yuan was a little stunned. After he got into the passenger seat, he not only felt like he was in a spy rendezvous, but also like an "eighteen-year-old college student being kept by a beautiful older woman."
"Why the surprised look?"
A student shouldn't be too forward with a teacher, but an ex-boyfriend could be with an ex-girlfriend. Jiangg Yao's happy expression convinced Chen Yuan that she was in her private persona, so he stopped being so reserved.
"The last time we broke up, you said you worked really hard to get everything you have now. I thought you were poor."
"Working hard doesn't necessarily mean you're poor. Actually, I'm a rich woman."
"I can see that."
"Do you like rich women?"
Jiangg Yao blinked. She was dressed in a very commanding, mature style today, which had earned her undisguised praise from Wan. Now, sitting in the driver's seat, with just a touch of makeup, she was indescribably beautiful.
Thigh-high boots paired with a short skirt deliberately revealed a sliver of fair skin on her thighs.
Her top was form-fitting, accentuating her soft, full figure.
She leaned toward Chen Yuan, and the faint fragrance from her body made him wrinkle his nose slightly.
At twenty-six, Jiangg Yao exuded an absolute maturity as a woman, yet her personality was like a young girl's. It was truly captivating.
"I don't."
"I don't believe you. You definitely glanced at my legs just now."
"All guys look. That doesn't mean I like you. I look at pretty female classmates, too. I look when I'm scrolling through short videos. Does one look mean I like them? That makes no sense."
"Why are you getting so defensive?"
Seeing Chen Yuan explain himself so seriously, Jiangg Yao burst out laughing. The smile added another layer of charm to her. She reached out, gave his leg a little push, and said softly, "You can look all you want, Chen. I dressed like this specifically for you."
"Mind your status," Chen Yuan said, pushing her hand away.
"You can do more than just look, you know. If you get back together with me, you can touch them too. Just think, my legs are so pretty, so smooth... they must feel amazing..."
"Teacher, don't be like this."
"Like what? I'm not doing anything," Jiangg Yao said, grabbing Chen Yuan's hand and biting her lip as she stared at him. "Tell me. What am I doing?"
"Teacher Jiangg Ning—please mind your status!"
The moment he said that.
Jiangg Yao clearly froze. The smile on her face stiffened, and her expression quickly turned cold. She pursed her lips in annoyance and let go of Chen Yuan's hand.
"Boring! Here are your clothes!"
With that, she tossed a beautifully wrapped bag at him.
Chen Yuan opened it and saw there wasn't just one item. There was a slightly thicker jacket, a sweater, and a pair of pants made of a very comfortable-feeling fabric.
"You really went and bought them?"
"Yeah, I shopped for two hours. For who, I wonder. Maybe I've got water on the brain," Jiangg Yao said sarcastically.
"Thank you, Teacher."
"Call me 'Teacher' again, and I'll punish you with homework," Jiangg Yao said, her eyes narrowing. Her smile didn't reach her eyes, sending a chill down one's spine. "If you don't finish it, I'll whip you with a cane and drip wax on you while you're tied up."
As she spoke, she slowly started the engine. Chen Yuan clutched the bag fearfully. "Where are you taking me?"
"To find a place to eat, of course. I'm exhausted from the afternoon, and I'm so hungry my stomach's caving in."
"Okay, that works. After we eat, come with me somewhere."
"Where?"
"I rented a place. I'm planning to move out of the dorms."
"Move out..." Jiangg Yao turned her head, her eyes sparkling. "Then it'll be so much more convenient for me to find you in the future!"
She instantly brightened up, the dejected mood from before completely gone.
'Maybe after I told him last time that we could date in secret, he felt it was inconvenient at the university, so he specifically rented a place to create a space for us to be alone,' Jiangg Yao thought.
'Honestly...'
'So Chen says one thing but means another. He clearly wants to be alone with me but just won't say it.'
The more she thought about it, the happier she became. The corners of her eyes crinkled, and her lips kept curving into a beautiful smile.
"And you didn't even discuss it with me... Where did you rent it?"
"I forgot the address. I'll check it in a bit."
"It has to be a place I'm satisfied with. If not, we can change it. I have money! I'm super rich!" Jiangg Yao puffed out her chest, her tone sincere. She whispered, "At least, I have no problem supporting you."
"Wait... why do *you* have to be satisfied with it?"
For a moment, Chen Yuan's mind couldn't quite process that.