Sitting back in the car and fastening her seatbelt, Hu Lai felt something was off.

Shen Zhengying must be teasing her.

It was like playing with a cat at someone else's house—using a stick to tease the cat to come and grab it, then moving it away just before the cat could catch it.

But she was like a cat herself, when agitated, she could scratch.

For instance, right now, she felt the urge to scratch Jiang Yuming's face.

How dare he break up with her?

How dare he say she was different from what he thought?

How dare he break up with her for some ordinary girl?

Wasn't she more beautiful, elegant, and smart than that girl?

Did he dare to find someone a hundred times better to cheat with?

Yesterday, Zhou Huaiyi said that Jiang Yuming was partly right, she didn't love him, and it wasn't certain she even liked him.

Hu Lai immediately retorted, "How can you love someone in just two months? It's not like Lin Daiyu saw Jia Baoyu. Even if it were, she'd only shed tears."

Zhou Huaiyi looked at her, "Loving someone isn't determined by how long you've known them."

Hu Lai, displeased, asked, "Are you saying it's my fault for being dumped?"

Zhou Huaiyi surrendered, "What I mean is, it was going to end sooner or later, it's not a bad thing to end it early."

At this moment, Hu Lai didn't feel like Zhou Huaiyi was cursing her. She was already an expert at breakups after just a few months. She didn't think Zhou Huaiyi was wrong. Just seeing that she only felt anger and no tears, she knew that the depth of her feelings was ultimately limited.

However, the son deceiving her and dumping her, and his mother refusing to add her on WeChat only made the rift between them grow larger.

After getting out of the car, she threw the car accessories Jiang Yuming gave her into the nearest trash can. Hu Lai felt her car was back to normal and casually checked her phone for messages.

A new contact, Wang Baobao, had sent her several messages.

Judging by the time, it must have been during a break, and all the messages were urging her to wake up.

Was this kid stupid? She would definitely have her phone on silent during class, how could she possibly hear her messages?

Wang Baobao: —"It's not that I didn't wake you up, Professor Shen said you were sleeping so peacefully, so she let you sleep a bit longer."

—Professor Shen was that considerate?

Wang Baobao: —"You actually slept through two classes, you must be the reincarnation of the God of Sleep."

Wang Baobao: —"I finally believe you're not a fan of Professor Shen anymore, she hates it when students fall asleep in her class."

Wang Baobao: —"The class bell didn't even wake you up, you're a warrior. May the Buddha bless you."

The warrior touched her face and chuckled. So what if she hated it? She didn't rely on Professor Shen's grades, and she wasn't under the school's jurisdiction. She was a modern-day class crasher, appearing and disappearing without a trace, so what could Professor Shen do to her?

Thinking for a moment, she replied: —"Waking up is just another day of being a salted fish. Professor Shen isn't as scary as you say, she's quite friendly."

The reply came almost instantly, as if it had grown out of the phone.

Wang Baobao: —"I'm a hater. Didn't she ask you to write about your sleep experiences? Didn't she ask you what dreams you had while sleeping? Didn't she ask you to write about the mechanisms of dreams?"

Thinking about Professor Shen's teasing, Hu Lai didn't find it strange at all, it was the kind of thing that person would do. She no longer thought Shen Zhengying was just old-fashioned, she found her both old-fashioned and bizarre.

However, Hu Lai proudly told Wang Baobao: —"None of that. Professor Shen kindly waited for me to wake up and even gave me an extra five minutes of sleep time at my strong request."

Wang Baobao sent a mind-blown emoji.

Wang Baobao: —"That can't be! Is Professor Shen also into looks?"

This was indirectly saying she was good-looking, it seemed the girl wasn't completely blind.

Wang Baobao: —"I always thought good-looking people wouldn't care much about others' appearances."

As a good-looking person, Hu Lai responsibly told her that good-looking people might not care much, but they do care.

However, Hu Lai was very curious. Shen Zhengying wore such big glasses, covering most of her face, and looked so old-fashioned that just looking at her made her dizzy. Was the little girl sure she could see what she looked like clearly?

Wang Baobao: —"Not really, but! She has a son who is quite good-looking. If the son looks like her, she must be good-looking too! It's just that those glasses are too quirky, I suspect they're like Conan's, with a built-in glare effect."

Both of them chuckled at their phones for a while and agreed to chat next time they were in class. Only then did Hu Lai focus on driving home.

Regardless of whether she would attend the next class or not, she had to get her homework done first.

How to approach/pursue/seduce/attract divorced, older women with children, the nationally renowned service provider Bai Niao Club might have the answer. Rumor has it that they have reopened at a new location. However, Hu Lai didn't know any professionals in that field. After scrolling through her contacts, she found a few friends who liked to play around and could ask for advice, but she wasn't close enough with them to ask directly, and asking them casually might not yield the ideal answer.

Hu Lai found herself in quite a dilemma.

At twenty-five, she had never pursued anyone, neither men nor women.

Her dating pattern was very simple: if someone showed interest in her and confessed, and she didn't like the person, she would immediately reject them without any room for negotiation. If she found someone appealing and enjoyed their company, she would date them for a while, but it would usually end within two months, and the longest was no more than six months.

The reasons for her breakups were quite ridiculous:

The first breakup was because they watched Inception together, and the guy kept saying how mind-bending the movie was, insisting on explaining it to her.

Talking in a movie theater is already very inconsiderate, but he kept trying to explain anyway.

—Mind-bending my foot. Mind-bending? Only a sparrow with its brain capacity would find anything mind-bending.

They didn't even finish watching the movie before the relationship ended. The breakup was quite dramatic. She repeatedly asked the guy to be quiet, but he didn't listen. A girl in the front row complained, and he even cursed at her.

Unable to tolerate it, Hu Lai poured a glass of cola over the boy's head without a word, followed by a bucket of popcorn. Afraid of retaliation, she ran off immediately after her heroic act, and as she reached the door, she surprisingly heard applause.

Later, when she mentioned it to her friends, they advised her not to act impulsively in the future and to leave some leeway for future encounters.

Thinking about how the boy bad-mouthed her on social media for a nearly a month, even longer than they were together, Hu Lai decided that in future breakups, she would try to avoid physical confrontations if possible.

Her second breakup was equally ridiculous. They went on a date to an art exhibition, and although he clearly knew nothing about art, he rambled on trying to educate her. Not wanting to be like other girls who just giggled along, she frowned and countered a few of his points, which made the other person unhappy. Although he apologized afterward, he subtly blamed her for not giving him face.

Sorry, but not only did she not want to give him face, she didn't want to give him any leeway either.

The third was an older man who was good at opening doors and had a charming demeanor. However, Hu Lai soon realized that all his charm was concentrated on his door-opening skills. He was supposedly a military enthusiast who loved to brag about war. In his eyes, the Chinese military should dominate the world and even conquer the universe, and he was also homophobic.

Breakup after breakup, they all ended in breakup.

In summary, she didn't want to act dumb or listen to someone bragging.

Dating was supposed to be about having fun together, not about listening to some idiot ramble on about politics, social issues, economics, or cultural history. If she wanted to understand those things, she would read books and study herself.

Later, Zhou Huaiyi asked her, "If you don't have any physical contact with anyone, don't have any spiritual connection with them, and are reluctant to even chat with them—what do you do when you're in a relationship?"

"Watching movies, visiting exhibitions, dining out, and occasionally shopping. Later on, I found that going to the movies and exhibitions with men was not as enjoyable as going alone. So, our dates boiled down to just having meals."

"What about traveling?"

"When traveling with men, they automatically assume you want to sleep with them, which I'm not interested in. Besides, traveling is just about eating, drinking, and staying in hotels—there's no fun in that."

Zhou Huaiyi nearly laughed her head off. It was during one of those late-night talks after working overtime that their friendship deepened.

At that moment, Hu Lai was a bit unhappy, "What's so funny? I don't ask people to buy things for me, and I don't like taking advantage of others when dining out. It's usually split evenly. Where can they find such a good romantic partner?"

After a long while, she met a younger guy during training, a graduate student still in school. She thought he wouldn't be too sleazy, but he not only broke up with her but also cheated on her.

Just thinking about it made her furious.

Throughout that whole week, whenever she had some free time, Hu Lai delved into the world of PUA techniques and strategies for pursuing straight individuals online. Every time she felt impatient and wanted to give up, a little green light from Jiang Yuming would spark her fighting spirit.

On Saturday evening, she still attended that class.

After having a good dinner at her parents' house, she hurried out. Before class, to refresh herself, she specifically drank a cup of strong black coffee and prepared some mint balm and nasal spray.

This time, Wang Baobao saved her a seat in the front row, right in front of the podium, where she could see Shen Zhengying as soon as she looked up.

As soon as the time came, Shen Zhengying appeared leisurely.

She wore the same navy blue long shirt and linen pants, wrinkled as usual, with her braid loosely tied. Several strands of hair were scattered outside, looking messy.

She inserted her USB drive to present the PPT, speaking in her usual monotonous tone.

Her face was still hard to see clearly, but it looked quite gentle and refined under the frame of the mirror. The most distinct feature was her chin, not the kind Hu Lai feared that could cut someone's throat if it accidentally rested on their shoulder.

Instead, it was round, smooth, with fairly delicate skin.

Hu Lai... Hu Lai fell asleep looking at her chin.

This time, she managed to hold on for an extra five minutes.

Shen Zhengying watched as she stared at her neck one second, and the next her eyes gradually lost focus and she fell asleep again, almost laughing out loud like the other students.

However, she secretly noted down the time Hu Lai fell asleep on her phone.

After class, when everyone had left, Shen Zhengying didn't need to ask. She took out her secret weapon—a squawking rubber chicken—to wake her up.

Rubbing her eyes, Hu Lai realized the tragedy of falling asleep again. She blurted out, "Damn it, Wang Baobao, you little rascal, you didn't wake me up."

What answered her was Shen Zhengying's cool voice. 

"It's not yet dawn, the rooster hasn't crowed, how could Wang Baobao wake you up?"

Hu Lai's face suddenly flushed red. A week had passed, how could she still remember that?

"Now that you're awake, pack up quickly, don't delay the janitor from getting off work."

Hu Lai hastily gathered her things, and after Shen Zhengying checked that the windows were closed, she turned off the last light in the classroom.

"Let's go." she said.

It was just two words, but Hu Lai heard a hint of a different tone, completely unlike the rigid tone she used during lectures.

"You speak very normally now. Why do you read in class like a mechanical voice reading a book? It's so hypnotic, you know."

Shen Zhengying glanced at her, "It hypnotizes you, yet you still come. Are you really here to treat your insomnia?"

"No, I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it." Hu Lai's skin wasn't thick enough for that, and she explained to herself, "I don't usually fall asleep during big meetings either. I even drank coffee before class."

She had encountered a real weirdo

Shen Zhengying's lips curved slightly. "Since you're awake, go home early and stay safe."

Today, she deliberately took a different route than last week. Hu Lai didn't mind and followed alongside, her imagination running wild as she asked, "Professor Shen, you're not a CV, are you?"

Shen Zhengying halted in her steps. She knew what CV (character voice ) meant—it referred to voice acting, not a resume like most people would understand. Could her hypnotic voice actually be used for that?

"Are you worried that people might recognize your voice from romantic scenes as a professor, so you decided to change your tone of voice?"

It had been a long time since Shen Zhengying encountered such a quirky student, and she felt a bit speechless.

"Student, why are you following me? I can't help you with your problem."

"No, no, no, Professor Shen, you can help me with my problem." Hu Lai waved her phone, "Let's add each other on WeChat. Professor Shen, please, just add me. It won't be a loss."

She waved her phone, and the screen lit up, displaying several messages from Wang Baobao.

Wang Baobao: —"How did you fall asleep again?"

Wang Baobao: —"Oh my gosh, Professor Shen is laughing."

Wang Baobao: —"Sister, I tried, but Teacher Shen told me not to wake you."

Wang Baobao: —"Sister, I just saw Professor Shen's lenses flash, giving me a Conan vibe. I feel like... you're in trouble."

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