The first night after being dumped, Hu Lai slept quite well. There was no deep sorrow, no tears, not even a single dream. Waking up the next day and looking at herself in the mirror, Hu Lai couldn't help but sigh: —This is a new era with a new vibe—truly a beautiful woman who stands out from the crowd.
Pouting at her reflection, she suddenly made a serious face and lifted her chin.
—To hell with the trendy elder sister look.
—I can be both elegant and cute, one is as good as two.
She still couldn't swallow that resentment.
She pulled up yesterday's group chat history, how did that "son's debt repaid by the mother" thing work again?
Applying makeup to look like a guy, adding her on WeChat privately, offering comfort and care to let the old mother regain a sense of youthfulness.
Was she implying she should cut her hair short?
Hu Lai touched her soft curls, reluctant to change. Although one must sacrifice something to catch a wolf, it wasn't necessary to lose something precious for the sake of a wolf.
This point could be discussed later, especially since she couldn't add Jiang Yuming's mother on WeChat given their current relationship.
Jiang Yuming hailed from a family of educators. His mother, Shen Zhengying, was a professor at H University's Psychology Department, teaching both undergraduate and graduate students. As for the specific subject, Jiang Yuming never mentioned it. His father taught Organizational Behavior at another university and was said to have a good relationship with companies, often giving lectures and earning a substantial income.
It was quite puzzling that, despite both parents being psychology professors and having divorced early, they still had a child who wholeheartedly pursued this field. Hu Lai found it rather amazing.
Perhaps it was due to good parenting.
Even the son could boast with a well-crafted narrative, while it was clear he was just making things up, turning it into a complaint about her being two-faced.
—Very well, couldn't get any better than this.
She was curious to see what Jiang Yuming's real mother looked like.
Hu Lai went online straight to H University's Psychology Department website. Typically, there would be a section called Faculty Team, and she found the name Shen Zhengying in the S column.
Shen Zhengying, Associate Professor and Graduate Supervisor, followed by her school email address.
She clicked on her personal homepage.
—Holy crap.
In the space of a two-inch photo on the right side of the homepage was a low-resolution, blurred image of a person's face. The face was mostly obscured by large black-framed glasses, making it hard to see the skin color. The lips were tightly pressed together, showing no hint of a smile, leaving only the hair, neck, and a section of a gray shirt visible.
This is just too outdated.
Hu Lai quickly opened the personal pages of other professors, browsing through each one.
Fortunately, each person's homepage featured a different style, each with its own rustic charm, while the only unifying feature was the low-resolution, blurry images. The teachers she interacted with the most during training looked quite normal, fashionable when they needed to be, and flamboyant at times, while the official website gave off an old-school vibe from the '80s.
Next time she saw Liu, the deputy director in charge of connecting with Kunlun Technology, she would tease him a bit. After all, it's a prestigious university, how can the official website look so rundown?
She guessed the deputy director would reply, "Professors don't rely on looks, they rely on their abilities to make a living."
Just by looking at the homepage, it was hard to tell what Shen Zhengying's abilities were. The sections on her personal resume and research achievements were brief and straightforward. If Hu Lai wanted to know more, it was as simple as searching for her papers online. But she wasn't trying to recruit Jiang Yuming's mother to Kunlun Technology, so her research papers had no relevance.
Currently, Shen Zhengying was teaching two courses: "Psychological Health Education for Primary and Secondary School Students" and "Group Psychological Counseling." The former seemed quite boring at first glance, while the latter depended on how engaging the instructor was.
Hu Lai studied psychology in her undergraduate degree, with limited overlap between her studies and her current job responsibilities, despite her job title being "Psychological Assessment Analyst."
Her undergraduate studies focused more on the basics, primarily in the field of measurement, while her current work leaned more toward consultation and analysis. While psychological assessment tools were effective, their utility decreased for those familiar with the system.
If she were just given a depression scale to measure depression levels, she could easily manipulate the results to show depression if she wanted, or not show it if she didn't. Therefore, if more refined operations and more accurate assessment results were needed, a person would need to conduct the assessments.
Having been at the company for a while, sometimes Hu Lai felt that eventually all positions would be replaced by artificial intelligence. In the British drama "Humans," AI had already taken over the role of psychological counseling.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed.
"Ding ding ding ding," a series of messages flooded in.
Hu Lai snapped out of her thoughts and saw a string of "Lailai lailai" on the screen, giving her a headache.
Hu Yue: Lailai lailai, are you up?
Hu Yue: Lailai lailai, are you awake?
Hu Yue: Lailai lailai, are you coming home for lunch?
Hu Yue: Lailai lailai, are you coming home this week?
All the messages came from one person, her dear old father: Mr. Hu Yue.
As for "Lailai," it was Hu Lai's nickname.
Mr. Hu Yue, in his late thirties, doted on his daughter Hu Lai and set his mind on giving her a good name. At that time, for some unknown reason, he became fixated on the character "Lan" and considered naming her Lan from "Huizhi Lanxin (wise and beautiful heart)" or Lan from "Ji Xiaolan." However, Mr. Hu Yue, being an old Shanghainese, didn't have standard Mandarin pronunciation, carrying a strong Shanghai accent. In Shanghai dialect, "Lan" sounds similar to "Lai." During the household registration, due to a series of unfortunate coincidences, Hu Lan became Hu Lai.
This almost led to a fight between Hu Lai's mother, Ms. Wang Fangyuan, and Mr. Hu.
Although "Hu Lai" was not a pleasant name, it was certainly better than calling her "Hu Lan." What kind of young girl would be named "Hu Lan"?
Mr. Hu Yue stuck to his mistake, and the more he used the name, the more it rolled off the tongue. He decided to call his daughter by the nickname "Lailai," Hu Lailai, Hu Lailai.
As the saying goes, a name reflects the greatest hopes and blessings of parents for their children. Under her parents' indulgence, Hu Lai gradually grew into her name. Therefore, she could not stand being deceived and dumped by Jiang Yuming.
After experiencing being laughed at and having nicknames thrown at her because of her name, Hu Lai gradually got used to it.
It was fortunate that she wasn't named Hu Lan. Otherwise, she'd either be compared to Liu Hulan or Hu Lancheng, neither of which was good. The former was a great and glorious martyr, but died young, and the latter's life wasn't respectable, and his posthumous reputation wasn't glorious, with a terrible public image.
In comparison, being Hu Lai was a much better and freer choice.
Hu Lai was consumed with thoughts on how to approach Jiang Yuming's mother, how to win her over. Glancing at her father's message, she furrowed her brow and replied, —"I won't be coming home this week, I have things to do."
She hadn't told her father the truth: that her daughter had been dumped!!!
If he found out, he would probably get someone to beat up Jiang Yuming and then introduce Hu Lai to seventeen or eighteen potential suitors.
Hu Yue: —"What could be more important than coming home to see your beloved dad and mom?!"
Getting all sentimental at his age, Hu Lai rolled her eyes. —"It's a small matter, but it's urgent. Go sweet-talk mom, hurry up, okay?"
Hu Yue responded with a crying emoji and transferred two thousand yuan, with a note: —"Even if you're busy, make sure to eat something good."
Hu Lai gladly accepted and replied, — "There's no one like Dad in the world, a child with a dad is like a treasure."
Hu Yue: —"Yeah, you only say Dad is good when he gives you money."
Hu Lai: —"Otherwise, it must mean Mom is the best. You dare say your wife isn't good?"
Hu Yue: —"Shivering.gif. Come back next week to eat mitten crabs."
After bantering with her dear father for a while and ordering a takeout from Wan Dao Japanese Cuisine, Hu Lai began to browse through her WeChat friends. She remembered a girl from the Psychology Department who had tried to get close to her, asking about internal recruitment at Kunlun Technology. The girl was quite open and friendly, and they ended up adding each other on WeChat.
—Just in case.
While waiting for her takeout to arrive, the girl replied. She didn't have Shen Zhengying's class, but after asking her roommates and checking the schedule, she found out there was a class "Psychological Health Education for Primary and Secondary School Students" that evening.
The girl sent her the schedule and classroom information without asking why she wanted to sit in, kindly advising her, "Professor Shen's classes can be quite hypnotic."
Well, she wasn't attending the class to learn, she was there to observe and assess a person.
What should she wear? She certainly couldn't really cut her hair.
Zhou Huaiyi had explained to Hu Lai that being a lesbian didn't mean that one had to be masculine and the other feminine, like in heterosexual relationships. The terms "top" and "bottom" only refer to who takes the initiative, being too strict about these roles and engaging in binary oppositions was pointless. Therefore, there was no need to dress deliberately like a man.
After thinking it over, Hu Lai decided to present herself in a more student-like manner, tying up her loose hair, wearing a T-shirt, sweatpants, and sneakers, carrying a canvas tote bag, and applied with just a touch of light lip gloss. With a change of outfit, the sharpness in her features softened, making her appear more gentle and younger than her actual age.
With everything prepared, and having confirmed that Jiang Yuming's major didn't require attending Shen Zhengying's class, Hu Lai finally felt at ease to head to H University and begin her journey of revenge.
Upon entering the classroom, several students were already seated in groups, and when they noticed Hu Lai standing by the door, looking around, they all cast curious glances her way.
As Hu Lai settled into a corner seat that was convenient for observation, a girl with short hair approached her with a smile.
"Hello, this is 'Psychological Health Education for Primary and Secondary School Students' class, are you sure you're in the right classroom?"
"Is the professor Shen Zhengying?"
"Yes, it's Professor Shen's class."
Hu Lai took out her pencil case and notebook from her tote bag and arranged them, saying, "Then I'm in the right place."
"Are you a fan of Professor Shen too?" The short-haired girl smiled even more, as if to say, "Ah, finally, someone with similar tastes and interests."
Hu Lai shook her head. "I'm just passing by. Are you a fan of Professor Shen?"
Usually, fans tend to know more about their favorite teacher's style.
"Yes, I'm her anti-fan." The short-haired girl answered bluntly, eliciting scattered laughter from around the room.
". . ."
"Seriously, don't you think Professor Shen has a very unique aura?"
"What kind of aura?"
Before the short-haired girl could respond, someone nearby called her back, "Wang Baobao, come back and sit down, class is about to start."
Wang Baobao turned back and quickly said to Hu Lai, "My WeChat ID is wangbaobao, spelled in pinyin. Add me, add me, and we can chat on WeChat." After saying that, she hurried back to her seat.
Hu Lai thought: Classmate, I seriously suspect you're trying to trick me into adding you on WeChat. But, Wang Baobao, Hu Lailai, considering our names match so well, I'll add you.
Just as she sent the friend request, someone entered the classroom as the bell signaling the start of the class rang.
Wearing a navy blue linen shirt and black linen pants, with long hair tied back, the person's signature large black-framed glasses covered most of her face. After taking a brief look at the students in the classroom, she sat down behind the podium, plugged in her USB drive, opened the PowerPoint, and started the lecture.
Her voice was calm and steady, with no fluctuations, just like her PowerPoint presentation.
Is this how Jiang Yuming's "elder sister" figure appeared in his mind? A serious teaching director? She must have practiced for a thousand years to reach this level.
Hu Lai felt a chill down her spine, thinking, —"Damn it, isn't this a pitfall? The son is frivolous, the mother is serious, a real fortress of difficulty."
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