After settling things with Lin Zhiling, Lu Xuan drove back to Yan University, it was already afternoon.
As the car drove into the familiar campus, Lu Xuan felt a sense of unreality, as if a lifetime had passed, looking at the vibrant yet slightly naive faces around him.
A moment ago, he was the devil who manipulated the superstar empress in the vortex of power struggles and revenge; at this moment, he had transformed back into an ordinary Student at Yanjing University.
This shift in roles, far from making him uncomfortable, brought a strange sense of pleasure.
He liked this feeling, like a fierce tiger in sheep's clothing, mingling among real sheep, leisurely appreciating their innocence and ignorance.
In the afternoon, there was a public political lecture by Professor Wang, the renowned “Hypnosis Master” of the entire school. Lu Xuan was not in a hurry, so he casually strolled into the lecture hall and found an inconspicuous seat in the back row.
As expected, Professor Wang’s calm, chanting-like tone was comparable to the most potent sleeping pills. In less than ten minutes, a large portion of the classroom had dozed off, leaving only a few "study fanatics" in the front row still diligently taking notes.
Lu Xuan was idly twirling his pen, pondering whether to skip class or take a nap here, when a girl with a ponytail, blushing, cautiously approached him.
“Um… Student, you’re Lu Xuan, right?”
Lu Xuan looked up. He had a slight impression of this girl; she seemed to be the class's study representative, but he couldn't recall her name at the moment.
“That’s me, can I help you?” He offered what he considered a friendly smile.
The girl's face turned even redder under his gaze, and she stammered, “The… the counselor asked me to inform you to go to her office after class.”
“Counselor? Liu Hanyan?”
“Mm-hmm.” The girl nodded like a pecking chick.
Lu Xuan’s smile remained unchanged, and his tone was still gentle: “Did she say what it was about?”
“It seems… it seems to be about your truancy…” The girl finished, as if completing a difficult task, then added, “You… you be careful, Teacher Liu doesn’t seem to be in a very good mood today.”
With that, she scurried back to her seat as if fleeing, not daring to look back.
The curve of Lu Xuan's lips slowly became playful.
Liu Hanyan.
He had experienced the “fame” of his beautiful counselor on the first day of school.
A woman of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with a doctorate from overseas, yet as rigid as an old maid of fifty or sixty.
Her favorite thing to do was to nitpick over trivial matters and establish her ridiculous authority in front of Students.
He was just worried he didn't have time to deal with her, but she, on the other hand, had come to him on her own.
Fine, then he would make some precious time to “visit” this diligent Teacher Liu.
Lu Xuan walked unhurriedly along the tree-lined path leading to the office building, lightly tapping his finger on his phone screen to bring up the ID photo he had saved from the school's official website.
The woman in the photo wore black-rimmed glasses, her expression serious, and her meticulous professional suit gave her an unapproachable, rigid aura.
He put away his phone, quickened his pace, and arrived at Liu Hanyan's office door.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
“Come in.” A cool, slightly impatient voice came from inside the room.
Lu Xuan pushed the door open; Liu Hanyan was the only one in the office. She was bending her head, writing something on a document.
“Teacher Liu, I’m Lu Xuan, are you looking for me?” Lu Xuan, with a harmless smile, initiated the conversation.
Liu Hanyan then raised her head, her eyes behind her glasses scanning him like an X-ray, then she lowered her head again and spoke coldly.
“Hmm, I know.”
“Tell me, why didn’t you come to the morning class? I checked the records, and there was another specialized course you didn’t attend. Lu Xuan, you’ve been disappearing since the beginning of the semester. Do you want to be given a major demerit by the school, or do you want to be directly expelled?”
Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was as if laced with ice.
“Do you know where this is? This is Yan University! It’s not your backyard! How many people break their heads trying to get in every year, and you, on the other hand, treat this place as what?!”
She finished in one breath, seemingly waiting for Lu Xuan's explanation, or rather, waiting for his plea for mercy and repentance.
However, Lu Xuan said nothing.
He simply walked unhurriedly to her desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down very naturally, even straightening a pot of green radish on the corner of the desk.
The air in the office instantly solidified.
Liu Hanyan’s pen tip scratched a harsh mark on the paper.
She slowly raised her head, her brows furrowed tightly into a frown.
She had seen unruly Students, she had seen glib Students, but she had never seen a Student like Lu Xuan, who, facing her thunderous wrath, could be so… at ease!
His nonchalant demeanor made it seem as if he wasn't there to be reprimanded, but rather a leader inspecting work.
This feeling of being ignored challenged her proud authority like never before!
A surge of anger instantly rushed to her head.
“Slap!”
She slammed her hand on the desk, startling the pot of green radish that Lu Xuan had just straightened, making it tremble three times.
“Lu Xuan! Are you listening to me?!”
She stared intently at Lu Xuan, her eyes behind her glasses almost spitting fire, her voice rising with anger, carrying a hint of sharpness.
“Who told you to sit down? Stand up!”
