Lend Me Your Shoulder - Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Borrowing Three Times
Entering Lu Yanbai’s office, Xu Yeyu still couldn’t shake off her emotional turmoil.
The feeling was like hitting your head at one spot, and then the second time you walk into the same place, forgetting the previous pain, you unexpectedly bang your head there again—completely unprepared.
…Headache.
Lu Yanbai lifted his eyelids to glance at her, then placed the lesson plan on the desk and said, “Sit wherever you want.”
Xu Yeyu tugged at the soft flesh of her cheek and forced a smile, “Okay.”
The moment she sat down, her heart was bleeding.
In that situation, besides obediently following him into the office, she had no other choice.
Was she supposed to smile and say, “No, professor, I’m not here for special treatment. I just happened to wander by and accidentally ran into you”?
Lu Yanbai might well have blacklisted her from the entire L city.
Lu Yanbai turned around to close the door. As the door shut, his voice—slightly hoarse yet warm—filled the room.
“Did you bring the book?”
Xu Yeyu barely had time to drown in the high-quality tone before snapping back to reality.
She wasn’t here for class; how could she possibly have brought the book?
Moreover, she didn’t even know the name of the professional textbook.
She swallowed hard, her fingers brushing her skirt’s hem, “No, I didn’t.”
Seeing her mood, Lu Yanbai’s voice remained calm and soothing.
“Don’t worry. I forgot to tell you yesterday.”
He pushed his book across the table to her: “You can read mine first.”
Opening Lu Yanbai’s book, the handwriting inside was neat, strong, and firm—horizontal lines level, vertical lines straight, curves gentle—just like him: warm and upright.
Even the creases along the spine looked beautifully done, like a well-done eye-lift surgery.
Facing his serious lesson preparation, Xu Yeyu suddenly felt a little guilty.
“Pr-professor.”
Lu Yanbai, who was tidying papers with his head down, replied, “Hmm?”
The nasal intonation of his tone made Xu Yeyu’s heart flutter.
She blinked her long lashes: “Well, I’m just curious—what would have happened if I wasn’t here when you randomly picked me?”
His finger paused; after thinking for a moment, his voice turned cold: “You’d be marked absent, lose attendance points, and once I submit the list, I’ll notify you to handle it.”
Since he rarely randomly picked students to answer questions, and the chance was very low, it was unlikely to be just one absence.
Although many students audited classes, that didn’t mean mandatory students could skip class.
Xu Yeyu asked: “The list has been submitted?”
Apparently, no matter whether she told the truth or not, someone had to bear this nightmare.
She turned her head and saw a list he was about to submit—Name: Xu Yeyu, Teacher: Lu Yanbai, Student ID: 1607151012.
This attendance check used student IDs; he compiled basic info from students and submitted it, only needing name, student ID, and teacher.
Since Xu Yeyu wouldn’t lie about her name or ID, he directly wrote down the info she gave, saving the trouble of checking the roster or the academic system.
The inspectors probably just went through the motions and didn’t even find out she wasn’t actually a student there.
Lu Yanbai, having too many students and not remembering faces, didn’t suspect anyone could pull off such a mix-up, so he didn’t verify.
Yeyu wanted to cry.
She held her forehead, sighing, “What terrible luck I have.”
Her puffed cheeks made her look like a little hamster curled up under the desk.
“Don’t think too negatively. Random checks aren’t that hard,” Lu Yanbai comforted her, “You don’t need to be an expert, just grasp the basics. After all, the point of these checks is to see if everyone understands enough during class.”
Xu Yeyu pressed her lips together, eyes glossy with unshed tears: “I’m not doing well in this course. I’m afraid of wasting your time.”
Not just doing poorly—she hadn’t learned the subject at all. Lu Yanbai could randomly pick a student in class and teach faster than she could keep up.
He walked behind her and handed over a mechanical pencil: “Circle the chapters you’re unfamiliar with. I’ll help you focus on those.”
Xu Yeyu was speechless for a long moment.
Then, she timidly, hesitantly, and shakily pointed to Chapter 5, Section 3.
That was the part he taught last night.
“Only unfamiliar with this section?” He raised his brow a little. “That’s not much. One hour should be enough…”
Xu Yeyu shook her head firmly and interrupted, “No.”
Lu Yanbai’s relaxed brow furrowed again: “Then what?”
“Except for this section, I’m not familiar with all the others,” Xu Yeyu closed her eyes and braved the truth.
“…”
The air instantly froze.
Xu Yeyu raised the corner of her brow slightly and turned to Lu Yanbai cautiously: “Are you so mad that you’re speechless?”
She didn’t mean to offend; she was a top student in school, had published a few well-selling books, and was quite famous for her language skills.
Though she had decent learning ability, she hadn’t really touched this subject before, so she didn’t know its difficulty.
Normally, she wouldn’t take on such a tricky subject, but since it started because of her, she didn’t want to let others take the blame. Plus, being in the same room as Lu Yanbai, with temptation all around… she felt conflicted.
Lu Yanbai shook his head: “No, I’m thinking about a plan.”
She still felt weak and nervously twisted her skirt: “Thank you for your hard work.”
After a moment, his voice came from behind: “If you’re ready, we can start.”
Xu Yeyu asked, “Have you thought of a solution?”
He dragged a chair and sat beside her: “Let’s try a lesson first to see how much you can absorb, then decide the teaching method.”
Listening to the lesson, Xu Yeyu struggled whether to tell the truth.
After two short “lessons,” she finally organized her thoughts and prepared to try persuading him—hoping to be honest without making the student with ID 1012 suffer, and still continue learning from him.
“Professor, I want to tell you something…”
Before she could finish, a phone rang.
Lu Yanbai leaned forward: “Wait a moment, I need to take this call.”
He didn’t mind her overhearing, which suggested it wasn’t a girlfriend—this realization brought a little sweetness amid the bitterness.
The voice on the phone sounded urgent, and Xu Yeyu only caught snippets of hurried instructions.
“Go quickly,” “If you’re late, it might be too late,” “You must arrive early to prevent a repeat of the disaster from two days ago”…
Xu Yeyu thought: What kind of important national affairs is this guy always busy with?
After he agreed and hung up, he looked at her: “What were you about to say?”
Xu Yeyu touched her neck: “If you’re still busy, I can tell you next time.”
Her situation wasn’t something explained in a few minutes, and she didn’t want to waste his time. Plus, the call seemed quite urgent.
Lu Yanbai nodded, closing the book: “Okay, then next time. If you want, you can take the book home to read.”
Of course, fearing she might damage such a delicate book, she didn’t take it home.
Outside the office, as she was leaving, Lu Yanbai specifically reminded her: “My office is 4302. Don’t get the door wrong next time.”
Xu Yeyu pinched herself but smiled politely: “Got it.”
On the way back, she ran into Xiang Wei at the fruit shop.
Xu Yeyu told her about going to find materials but being taken to the office by Lu Yanbai.
Xiang Wei couldn’t help but laugh: “So, how did it go today?”
“Just so-so. He taught me two professional lessons,” Xu Yeyu smiled faintly, “Although it was painful to listen, he was so close that I could hear his breathing.”
Xiang Wei tossed an apple in her hand: “You’re such a loser.”
Seeing Xiang Wei picking apples again, Xu Yeyu raised her chin: “You really like apples?”
“Don’t say it. Yesterday you ate half my apple, and I wasn’t satisfied.”
Since Xiang Wei often wiped out Xu Yeyu’s snacks, their jokes were friendly.
“You buy pretty good apples,” Xu Yeyu praised her.
Xiang Wei looked proud: “Yesterday’s were tasty, today’s will be even better.”
“How do you usually choose? Share some tips.”
Xiang Wei thought for a few minutes: “No secret—usually I buy the ones that look the best.”
“…”
Really?
This time Xu Yeyu paid. On the way back, Xiang Wei suddenly asked: “Did you tell the professor your situation?”
“I was going to test the waters, but his family was calling him. I decided to try next time.”
Xiang Wei smiled and leaned in: “Anything else going on?”
“Besides that? What else?”
“Romantic progress,” Xiang Wei curled her lips, “You said he’s good-looking. It’s the first time since we were kids that I heard you compliment a guy like that.”
“It’s not like buying apples—you can’t just see one good-looking one and immediately get him,” Xu Yeyu shrugged, “Lu Yanbai isn’t that easy to conquer.”
“Then…”
Xu Yeyu nodded: “But I’ve always had the courage and perseverance to climb peaks.”
“…Please just shut up.”
The next day, Xu Yeyu finally remembered where she hit her head and arrived at Lu Yanbai’s office on time.
The door was half-open, but no one was inside. He had probably stepped out.
Xu Yeyu entered and sat on the sofa, preparing what she wanted to say.
Just as she finished preparing, Lu Yanbai came in carrying something.
Looking closely, it was a row of Yakult bottles.
Did he like Yakult that much?
He casually put them on the table, then took out an outline he had prepared from the drawer and pushed it over: “These are today’s key points. Read them first.”
Xu Yeyu nodded.
The Yakult bottles lay across the middle of the table, blocking Lu Yanbai from pushing the outline fully.
Without much thought, he pushed the Yakult to the corner to avoid blocking their communication.
He truly had no other thoughts and didn’t care if Xu Yeyu did something with it—purely for convenience during class.
But Xu Yeyu, having witnessed these bottles leave her twice, and being a novelist who liked to overthink…
She couldn’t hold back and half-teasingly, half-probing, asked:
“Professor, am I really that kind of person in your heart?”
Lu Yanbai paused: “What do you mean?”
She lifted her eyelids, licked the corner of her lips, testing the waters with faint sparkle in her eyes.
“Then why are you always afraid I’ll steal your Yakult?”