Online Romance with an Iceberg Professor Backfired - Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Failing the Course
Ji Pei swallowed hard after being called upon.
She stood up to face Jiang Xianhan and saw that the other woman had already written a few elegant characters in the Slender Gold style on the blackboard.
“Does a person have an afterlife after death?”
This was clearly the question Jiang Xianhan wanted her to answer.
“Yes.”
Ji Pei pondered for a moment, her hand clutching the bunny pen slightly curled, meeting Jiang Xianhan’s phoenix eyes on the lectern.
Jiang Xianhan’s voice held a hint of amusement: “Why?”
“A person’s value is not determined by life or death. After a person dies, the physical body will decay with time, but a person’s will and spirit will not disappear with the demise of the physical body.”
Ji Pei happened to be looking at this page in the textbook and combined the theory with her own observations.
Jiang Xianhan nodded with satisfaction and said to the teaching assistant beside her, “Bai Yin, add five points to this student’s participation grade.”
She looked directly into Ji Pei’s eyes and asked again, “What is your name?”
Ji Pei nervously licked her lips: “Ji Fan.”
“Alright, Student Ji Fan, please sit down.”
The moment Ji Pei sat down, she felt like the world instantly brightened. Her hands stopped shaking, her legs weren’t tired, and she had to purse her lips to keep from laughing out loud.
She noticed the students in the tables in front secretly playing on their phones. Remembering that she hadn’t responded to Winter Day all morning, she secretly took out her phone, squinting as she unlocked it.
The fifteen-minute lock was over. Ji Pei opened the Decibel app, found the chat interface with Winter Day, and discovered that the other person had sent her four or five messages.
Winter Day: “Very fair and very big. If the neckline was just a bit lower, it would be even more perfect”
Winter Day: “When will you film a video for me to watch”
Winter Day: “Why aren’t you replying to my messages”
Ji Pei saw that the most recent message was sent an hour ago.
Ji Pei’s face immediately flushed red. She propped up her phone and typed single-handedly.
I… am… in… class…
Talk… after… class…
After typing this, Ji Pei hit send.
“Ding-dong—”
A notification sound echoed in the quiet classroom. Ji Pei wondered which unlucky soul forgot to turn off their phone and if they would be caught and deducted points by Jiang Xianhan.
The crowd in the tiered classroom all turned their heads to watch the drama unfold. Ji Pei carefully put away her phone and also looked over in the direction of the others’ gazes.
Jiang Xianhan’s face was devoid of extra expression. Her teaching assistant, Bai Yin, gasped.
Jiang Xianhan stared at her own brightly lit phone screen, tapped open the pink app to look, and then, in front of everyone, expressionlessly opened the silent mode button.
“Continue with the lesson.”
Ji Pei hadn’t expected Jiang Xianhan to be so brazen. She was the one who set the rule that phones must be silent and not played with during class, yet she was the one now breaking the rule.
Winter Day did not reply to her message, but the message showed as “Read,” making Ji Pei feel annoyed.
Winter Day always replied instantly to her messages. Being “read” but not replied to had never happened before.
Could she be at work now, having read the message but forgotten to reply?
That was possible.
She moved her phone down a few more centimeters and her eyes widened when she saw the distance displayed.
0.01 kilometers?!
This meant that Winter Day was sitting right here in this classroom!
Could she be a student at A University too?
Ji Pei felt both nervous and excited. She began secretly observing the people around her, her gaze sweeping across the entire classroom.
She had asked Winter Day about her hairstyle before, and Winter Day said it was shoulder-length long hair.
Ji Pei looked around. There were many long-haired girls in the classroom, but they were all looking up, listening attentively to the lecture, and none were playing on their phones.
In contrast, the boys around her were either looking down, typing messages, or playing games.
Could this perfect girlfriend she found online actually be a man!
This possibility existed. Ji Pei’s heart immediately went cold.
Everything pointed to it. Winter Day had never initiated a voice call with her, so she had no idea if the person was male or female.
Could the “girlfriend” she had been dating for two months be a man pretending to be a scammer?
The thought was chilling. Ji Pei’s whole heart sank. She bit her lower lip, seemingly deep in thought.
Then, she typed single-handedly on her keyboard. After deleting and revising, she sent a message.
Ji Feng: “Dear, we’ve been together for so long. I really want to hear your voice.”
Ji Pei shoved her phone back into the desk after sending the message. Even though Jiang Xianhan’s voice had the power to pierce eardrums, Ji Pei couldn’t hear a single word now.
There was a long silence from the other end of the phone. Jiang Xianhan stood at the lectern, watching her own phone screen light up and then turn dark, a slight curve on her lips.
Still no reply. Ji Pei stared at the character illustration in her textbook with a look of despair, then picked up her pen and drew a Captain Barbosa-style beard on his face.
I knew it! I’ve been fooled. The person hadn’t sent a voice message because they were probably figuring out which voice changer to use to trick her.
Ji Pei’s heart was ashes. Sadness and anger filled her rationale. She took her phone out onto the desk and typed on the chat interface with Winter Day.
After five minutes of typing, Ji Pei hadn’t even managed to type a complete sentence. With a deathly pale face, she was about to send the drafted message, “We are not suitable,” when a shadow loomed over her head.
Inside the classroom, everyone turned their heads, their gazes converging on Ji Pei. Some were gloating, and others were secretly regretting for her.
Jiang Xianhan’s expression was mild, her tone allowing no argument: “Hand over your phone.”
Ji Pei hadn’t had time to close the page when Jiang Xianhan snatched the phone from her hand. She lowered her head and pursed her lips, failing to notice that the professor glanced at her phone screen.
Jiang Xianhan turned and said to the teaching assistant, “Bai Yin, deduct the participation points I just added to her grade.”
Ji Pei: “…”
She actually deducted them just like that!
Ji Pei listened to this class with unprecedented seriousness. Her phone had been confiscated.
Ji Pei couldn’t understand why. She was in university, and it was just an elective, yet Jiang Xianhan had confiscated her phone in front of the entire class.
Fortunately, her identity right now is Ji Fan.
The moment the class bell rang, Jiang Xianhan turned off the projector and left the classroom, refusing to use even a single extra second of class time.
The surrounding students were packing their bags. A few who knew each other were already discussing what to eat for dinner.
“A braised chicken rice place opened on the second floor of the East Cafeteria. It’s especially delicious!”
“Let’s go, let’s go! Good thing the professor doesn’t hold us over. Hurry and save a spot!”
The thought of braised chicken rice made Ji Pei’s stomach rumble. She planned to check out the East Cafeteria for some good food later.
Ji Pei remembered that her phone was still with Jiang Xianhan. She was about to stand up and go to the office to find Jiang Xianhan when she saw the teaching assistant named Bai Yin walking toward her from the lectern.
Bai Yin was carrying her laptop and delivered a blow right to Ji Pei’s head: “Student Ji Fan, Professor Jiang said to come to her office after class.”
Ji Pei: “…”
Seeing Ji Pei’s gloomy expression, Bai Yin couldn’t help but offer comfort: “Student Ji Fan, Professor Jiang is actually a really nice person. Playing on your phone isn’t a huge deal. That’s just how her rules are.”
Ji Pei nodded, following behind Bai Yin: “Thank you, Assistant Bai.”
Ji Pei’s greatest fear in life was being alone with a teacher, especially a female professor like Jiang Xianhan, who exuded an intimidating presence.
She nervously twirled the cuffs of her sleeves, following Bai Yin into Jiang Xianhan’s office.
Jiang Xianhan was sitting at the desk by the window. A stack of thick books blocked the lower half of her face, leaving only a pair of lowered phoenix eyes visible.
Hearing the movement, she slowly looked up, her gaze locking with Ji Pei’s.
Bai Yin leaned close to Ji Pei’s ear, quietly whispering “Good luck,” placed the laptop in front of Jiang Xianhan, and quickly dashed away.
There were no other professors in the office, only Ji Pei and Jiang Xianhan, a situation that was generally more terrifying.
“Professor Jiang, hello. I’m here to retrieve my phone. Did you have anything else you wanted to see me about?”
The pot of jasmine tea Jiang Xianhan had placed on the windowsill was brewed. She motioned for Ji Pei to sit down and took out two ice-cracked celadon cups, pouring two servings.
The clear, beautiful tea slowly poured from the spout, emitting a gentle steam.
Ji Pei watched the elegant scene, almost getting lost in thought.
“Student Ji Fan, where are you right now?”
The sudden exposure almost made Ji Pei drop the porcelain cup in her hand. This movement, however, looked to others like she had been scalded by the hot tea.
“Ji Fan… she is currently…”
Jiang Xianhan stared intently into Ji Pei’s eyes. The teardrop mole at the corner of her eye seemed to sparkle, nearly drawing Ji Pei in.
“Currently? Where?”
“Professor Jiang, I actually have a reason for doing this.”
Jiang Xianhan watched Ji Pei’s slightly curled eyelashes. Her ink-painting-like narrow eyes slightly narrowed, making Ji Pei guiltily lower her head again.
“Tell me your reason.”
Ji Pei’s brain worked rapidly. She bit her lower lip, then looked up and met Jiang Xianhan’s gaze.
“Actually, my sister… she was hit by a car this afternoon…”
Jiang Xianhan rarely pursed her lips: “A truck or a car?”
“A bicycle…”
Ji Pei mumbled quietly, “If it was a truck, she would still have the life to go to…”
Jiang Xianhan followed up, “Go where?”
“Go to the hospital for a check-up, of course.”
Ji Pei felt unsure of herself and quickly concocted another lie: “She’s quite afraid of death, you see, so… she went to the hospital by herself. She should be home by now.”
“When you go back, tell her she doesn’t need to attend this course anymore. She’ll retake it next year. Tell her to keep the textbook safe and not lose it.”
Ji Pei closed her eyes, silently mourning for Ji Fan for two seconds, then selflessly sacrificed her sister: “Yes, I told her from the start that this wasn’t right, but who knew…”
Those phoenix eyes, drawn like an ink painting, curved slightly. Jiang Xianhan listened to Ji Pei’s rambling, her long, fair fingers slowly tracing the smooth teacup.
“What is your name?”
“Ji Pei.”
“Ji Pei.”
Jiang Xianhan spoke the name slowly, tasting the words on her tongue: “A good name.”
“How old are you?”
Ji Pei answered truthfully: “Twenty-two.”
Jiang Xianhan raised an eyebrow slightly: “Twenty-two? Still in your senior year?”
Ji Pei replied, “I graduated from university nearly a year ago.”
Ji Pei’s gaze fell on the cup of jasmine tea in Jiang Xianhan’s hand. She wasn’t sure if she was looking at the cup or the professor’s fingers.
“Then, Professor Jiang, could you please return my phone?”
Jiang Xianhan opened a light green small box beside her, took out the phone, and handed it to Ji Pei, saying matter-of-factly, “Your phone was flashing constantly just now. Take a look and see who was sending you messages.”
Jiang Xianhan’s fingertips gently brushed Ji Pei’s fingers. Her eyes held a faint smile.
“Don’t keep her waiting too long.”
Ji Pei was about to turn and leave, but Jiang Xianhan called out to her again.
“Add my WeChat. If Student Ji Fan has any academic issues in the future, I can inform you in advance.”
When Ji Pei was in university, Ji Fan was in high school. Ji Pei had played the role of a parent, joining many parent and study groups.
She didn’t think much of it, opened her WeChat QR code, and let Jiang Xianhan scan it.
After successfully adding each other on WeChat, Ji Pei politely nodded and left the office.
Jiang Xianhan stared at the profile picture featuring two cats and one dog, and set Ji Pei as a pinned contact for chat.