Lend Me Your Shoulder - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A series of logical, coherent, and seemingly premeditated sentences flowed out of Xu Yeyu’s mouth so naturally that even she was a little impressed with herself.

What a move. What should have been a polite request turned into a multiple-choice question — a choice built entirely on the assumption that he had already agreed.

Lu Yanbai’s fingers rested lightly on his cuff, his eyelids half-lowered. He clearly didn’t understand how, just a breath ago, Xu Yeyu was merely asking if they could exchange contact information, and in the next second, she had turned the situation around and taken the initiative.

Seeing Lu Yanbai remain silent, Xu Yeyu worried he might be catching on — realizing that he hadn’t technically agreed to share any contact info at all…

So she pushed her phone forward slightly and repeated her question: “Should I scan your code, or will you scan mine?”

The man lifted his eyelids slightly, his expression composed, and reported a string of numbers.

“188xxxx6628.”

Xu Yeyu blinked and looked up at him blankly, locking eyes with those dark pupils for three seconds before it hit her.

He was giving her his number!

She quickly picked up her phone. “Is that your phone number or your WeChat ID?”

His tone was calm and unhurried. “Both.”

The journey to get his contact info had gone far more smoothly than Xu Yeyu had expected.

She typed the number into the search bar and hit the confirm button. Feeling quite pleased, she got ready to check out his profile photo and name.

But of course, happy moments never last long. In the very next second, Lu Yanbai casually loosened his cuff and asked in a soft, easy tone, “How much of the last assignment have you completed?”

“…”

Silent devastation.

Xu Yeyu licked her lips and replied, “I’ve done some of it…”

He raised his eyebrows. “Some?”

“Most of it,” she amended quickly. “I worked on it whenever I had free time. I didn’t finish the last bit because I was just too tired…”

“If you’re tired, just sleep,” he said. “No need to finish everything. I just don’t want you to go too long without practice and lose your touch.”

Xu Yeyu nodded and pulled out her workbook from her bag, flipping to the page. “There’s one page I haven’t done yet.”

He placed her workbook in front of him, found a copy of the answer key, and began marking her answers.

Seeing his hands empty, Xu Yeyu passed him a red pen from her pencil case.

A person who hadn’t used a pencil case in years — she had actually gone and bought one just for him. She even got markers, erasers, correction tape — all those things one only ever used in school.

Lu Yanbai accepted the pen, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. “You even have a red pen?”

He hadn’t noticed before — since they usually reviewed answers as they went, he didn’t realize she had a red pen just for this.

“I’ve got orange and mint green ones too,” she said, turning to rummage through her pencil case. “Want one?”

“No need,” he shook his head. “Just surprised you bought so many. It’s just tutoring — no need to take it so seriously.”

She responded without hesitation, every word sincere: “Because I want to see you grade my homework.”

…

As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew something was off.

She, Xu Yeyu — queen of romantic tension — had let her instincts run wild. Faced with her real-life male lead, her flirty banter had slipped out on autopilot.

The subtle, teasing remark — paired with the closeness and repressed tension of the confined space — made her cringe inwardly the moment she heard herself say it.

She blamed herself for not filtering such a suggestive line. Thank goodness she hadn’t gone further and said something like, “Because I want to see your beautiful fingers holding my pen.” If she had, her dream of ever graduating from L University would have gone up in flames.

Lu Yanbai quickly lowered his gaze, his eyes falling back to the answer key. Then, without hesitation—

He marked a big “X” next to her answer for question twelve.

Xu Yeyu: …

Trying to ease the awkwardness, she sucked in a breath.

Lu Yanbai assumed she had a question. “What is it?”

“Even the way you mark an ‘X’ looks good,” she said, leaning her head on her hand and smiling up at him with a fangirl’s expression.

Her eyes sparkled when she smiled — bright even when neutral, but curving into a captivating arc when happy. She had the kind of infectious smile that made it hard to look away.

The kind people always said: She has a really pretty smile.

Lu Yanbai raised an eyebrow slightly and marked a check on her next answer. Out of habit, he paused for a beat.

Xu Yeyu bit her lip — her neat, pearly white teeth almost blinding.

Still smiling, she drummed her fingers on the edge of the desk, teasing: “Your check marks look even better.”

Her smile was so vibrant and animated, and her absurd little jokes created a strong contrast to the image of a composed bestselling author. The mismatch made her all the more endearing.

Lu Yanbai didn’t know why — but she made him laugh. A faint breath of amusement slipped from his nose.

He chuckled softly and shook his head, just a little, as if amused and helpless.

Xu Yeyu thought, If this were a novel, the male lead would totally say something like: “You, huh…”

That kind of indulgent, affectionate scolding — like he couldn’t control her, yet couldn’t stop himself from spoiling her.

She imagined it for a moment and decided that was close enough. As far as she was concerned, Lu Professor had already said it.

Satisfied, she licked the corner of her lips and praised herself silently: Feeding myself like this — Xu Yeyu, you’re truly amazing.

Then his low, magnetic voice echoed through the office.

“You, huh…”

Xu Yeyu thought she was hallucinating. Her eyes widened as she looked at Lu Yanbai, fireworks going off in her head.

It took a good while for the imaginary fireworks to die down before she forced herself to calm down.

Wait… did he really say that?

“You follow the plan I gave you,” Lu Yanbai repeated, seeing her distracted. “If you stick with it, passing the exam won’t be a problem.”

…

So, she had misheard.

Xu Yeyu lowered her head in disappointment and nodded. “Got it.”

Back home, Xu Yeyu finally got to complete the task she hadn’t earlier — she sent a friend request to the WeChat ID she had searched for.

Xiang Wei saw her curled up on the sofa, giggling. “What are you laughing at?”

Xu Yeyu blinked. “I got Professor Lu’s WeChat and phone number.”

“Ooh, not bad,” Xiang Wei teased. “Did he accept the friend request?”

Xu Yeyu froze. “…Not yet.”

“…”

“You pure-hearted little college girl — are you sure you didn’t just get tricked?” Xiang Wei frowned. “Maybe that’s just his standard response when people ask for his contact info — gives them a number but never adds them.”

“You have zero experience in this area. The only experience you might have is being pursued — how would you know what someone like Lu Yanbai, a total pro, would do?”

“Why is he a pro?” Xu Yeyu groaned from the sofa.

“You dummy,” Xiang Wei said. “Female students naturally develop crushes on handsome male professors. And he’s ridiculously attractive — probably swats away confessions like flies. He’s definitely got a system for dealing with that.”

Xu Yeyu didn’t like where this was going. “Why do you assume he’d reject me?”

“Well, look at how he—”

Before Xiang Wei could finish, Xu Yeyu’s phone buzzed.

It was a notification — Lu Yanbai had accepted her request.

She shook her head, lifted her phone to her eyes, her lashes fluttering like stardust.

“He added me—!” she sang, dragging out the last syllable in triumph.

Xiang Wei rolled her eyes. “I should record this for your fans — seeing the oh-so-successful Xu the Novelist acting like a teenage girl in love.”

Still grinning, Xu Yeyu tapped into his Moments (WeChat’s social feed) — but something felt off.

“Why is there only one post?”

“…Did he block you from seeing the rest?”

“No way.” She scrolled down.

The single post read:
“Considering students will be participating in the school night run on Friday, homework can be submitted by Sunday afternoon.”

Xu Yeyu read the post, then slowly turned pale. “Wait. Don’t tell me I added his teacher work account?!”

Xiang Wei: “Very likely. These days, lots of teachers have separate work accounts to keep their private lives separate — especially someone like him who probably gets asked for his number all the time.”

Xu Yeyu tossed her phone onto the table and hugged a pillow, dazed. “No wonder he gave it so easily. Liar! Men are all liars!”

Xiang Wei opened her mouth to speak — but before she could say anything, Xu Yeyu sat up again.

She patted her cheeks. “No. I have to persevere. This tiny little obstacle is nothing. Is Professor Lu only worth these few classes of effort?”

Xiang Wei: “…”

Revved up, Xu Yeyu picked up her phone again and declared her new goal:

“One day, Lu Yanbai will beg me to add his personal account.”

Xiang Wei nodded with mock solemnity. “Sure. If you pull that off, I’ll hand-chop open a hundred durians to celebrate.”

Saturday flew by, and Sunday arrived. Xu Yeyu had already added “go to the office” to her weekly routine. When the time came, she was already dressed and ready.

In that day’s session, Xu Yeyu channeled her frustration into productivity — laser-focused and unusually serious.

Even after class ended, her mind was still full of the lesson content.

As she parted ways with Lu Yanbai at the campus gate, Xu Yeyu took a detour around the lake. Suddenly, she heard a whistle from behind.

She turned and saw a group of flashy-looking street thugs. The blond one in the center whistled again when she looked back.

She was wearing a high-waisted skirt and an oversized light purple tee tucked in — elongating her figure and showing off her fair skin and slender legs.

Purple was a hard color to pull off, but she wore it well — enough to draw attention.

She quickly faced forward, ignoring them.

Then a breeze blew past. She heard them making sleazy comments behind her, hoping the wind would lift her skirt higher.

Even though her skirt had built-in shorts, Xu Yeyu knew the situation wasn’t good.

Who would’ve thought — right next to a university — there’d be guys bold enough to harass someone in broad daylight?

She quickened her pace, but they kept up — only a few steps behind.

She wasn’t familiar with this area, and they’d already left the busy part of campus. Worst of all — she had no male friends around.

They were a whole group. She had no clever way to shake them off — her only choice was to find someone.

She walked faster, circling the lake, and finally saw a familiar figure in the parking lot.

Thank God — he hadn’t left yet.

Lu Yanbai had just finished a phone call. As he lowered his phone, he felt someone grab his sleeve.

He raised his arm slightly and instinctively looked down.

Xu Yeyu clutched his sleeve tightly, standing very close. Her tone was soft and intimate, like a girl sweetly teasing: “When are you going to take me grocery shopping?”

Lu Yanbai’s fingers twitched. His furrowed brow seemed to ask: What are you doing?

Xu Yeyu lowered her voice, hesitant and pleading, more fearful than coy: “I think a group of thugs was following me. I… I feel a little scared walking alone. Could you pretend we’re walking together?”

“I promise — I’ll let go once we’re out of sight.”