Chapter 31 “girlfriend” has a fight with the teacher 😰

She stepped out, crossing the threshold, and upon seeing Pei Xingyan not far away, her face lit up with a beaming smile as she rushed towards him.

But a woman, whose face was as grim as if she’d been robbed, abruptly blocked her path.

“Who are you?” the woman demanded curtly, positioning herself to shield Pei Xingyan behind her, thereby severing Su Shanshan’s path to her beloved.

Su Shanshan had no desire to engage with this sudden interloper. She turned, intending to bypass her, only to find her path blocked once more from the other direction.

It was then that she realized the woman before her was clearly looking for trouble.

Raising her head, Su Shanshan retorted, as if launching a counterattack, “And who might *you* be?”

“Teacher! This is our Teacher Shen!” Pei Xingyan whispered to her, his tone both urgent and wary.

Su Shanshan’s eyes instantly sharpened. Though her instincts screamed that the woman before her was utterly detestable, she certainly didn’t want to cause Pei Xingyan any trouble.

She quickly offered a slight bow, greeting her in her sweetest possible tone, “Hello, Teacher~”

“Dispense with it. I’m hardly your teacher,” Shen Zhishu said, offering no warmth whatsoever. Her words were so acerbic they scarcely befitted an educator. Her fingers tapped incessantly on her own shoulder, a clear sign of her agitation.

She would turn her head to glance at Pei Xingyan, then pivot back to scrutinize the brightly dressed girl, letting out a sharp “Tsk”—her displeasure evident to all.

Shen Zhishu then turned back to interrogate Pei Xingyan, asking coldly, “What is your relationship with her?”

Having remained silent for what felt like an eternity, Pei Xingyan resignedly braced himself. He shrugged, intending to simply brush off the question.

However, Su Shanshan spoke first. She bowed deeply before Shen Zhishu, apologizing, “Teacher, I’m so sorry. It was I who pestered him relentlessly to bring me to class; it’s not his fault.”

Her demeanor was humble and polite as she apologized for her supposed transgression.

While she might appear somewhat unhinged when it came to matters of the heart, her eccentricity was confined solely to her romantic pursuits. At all other times, she was an exemplary student, and an exemplary student, of course, had to clearly explain the situation, refusing to implicate an innocent person in her own missteps.

Yet, Shen Zhishu remained unmoved. She shook her head, repeating her earlier question, “I wasn’t asking you, nor was I asking why you’re here. I’m asking *him*. What is *his* relationship with you?”

Su Shanshan raised her eyes, her expression utterly self-assured. She moved to Pei Xingyan’s side, linking her arm through his and pulling it into her embrace as if to flaunt him. “We’re a couple, of course! Don’t we look quite well-matched?”

“Are you?” Shen Zhishu suddenly bared her teeth in a chilling smile. She then turned her gaze to Pei Xingyan, asking, enunciating each syllable distinctly, “Are. You. A. Cou. Ple?”

Pei Xingyan felt as if the sheer killing intent was on the verge of solidifying!

‘Why did she have to make such a face over something like this?! Anyone unaware of the situation would think she’d caught someone cheating…’

Unable to make sense of the situation, and unsure how to respond, he simply turned to Su Shanshan, giving her a meaningful, slightly forced smile, hoping she would grasp his intentions and retract her earlier declaration.

After all, by any measure, Teacher Shen Zhishu no longer seemed entirely normal.

Evidently, however, Su Shanshan had completely misinterpreted his signal. She clasped his hand tightly, her grip firm, exuding the air of someone ready to face down hostile forces and bravely sacrifice herself alongside her beloved.

This wasn’t high school, where getting caught in an early romance could lead to expulsion. And even if it were, she wouldn’t be afraid!

She simply wanted to stand by her darling!

Shen Zhishu took deep breath after deep breath, muttering something under her breath—she was clearly trying to calm herself, but the fury raging within her heart was evidently difficult to subdue.

Pei Xingyan knew he had to do something. He subtly took a step back, positioning Su Shanshan protectively in front of him, and mouthed words to Shen Zhishu. The message was:

[Don’t provoke her. She’s *that* girl!]

He trusted that Shen Zhishu was intelligent enough to understand his meaning.

Yet, Shen Zhishu pointedly ignored him, as if stubbornly refusing to acknowledge his presence. Her gaze remained fixed on Su Shanshan, her eyes unmoving, their intent utterly unreadable.

Pei Xingyan could only resort to a deliberate cough. However, he failed to capture Shen Zhishu’s attention; it was Su Shanshan who reacted instead.

She turned around, concern etched on her face, and poked Pei Xingyan’s waist. “Baby, are you feeling unwell?”

Pei Xingyan forced a smile, waving his hand dismissively to indicate that everything was fine.

Su Shanshan’s concern only deepened. She leaned her head in, peering intently, trying to discern why he had coughed.

This, in turn, finally captured the attention of Shen Zhishu. As she watched the two of them draw closer and closer, her breathing instantly grew heavy, and her eyes became clouded with an unreadable emotion.

She began to walk towards them, her high heels clicking ominously in the empty corridor, a sound that echoed like the approach of death itself.

Pei Xingyan hastily raised a hand, pointing towards Su Shanshan’s head, and silently mouthed the words he had just spoken, repeating them over and over.

This time, his efforts finally bore fruit. Shen Zhishu halted her steps, her features etched with a mixture of doubt and disbelief.

Pei Xingyan repeated, [It’s true! I’ll explain later!]

His pleading expression was more earnest than a death row inmate’s last plea for mercy, his single hand held in a supplicating gesture, much like Tang Sanzang (TL Note: A Buddhist monk from the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, known for his alms-begging) on his rounds.

Such a sincere entreaty finally seemed to sway Shen Zhishu. She let out a long breath, emphatically ‘tapped’ Su Shanshan’s head twice from a distance, and then departed in the opposite direction.

Click—

Click—

Click—

The sound of high heels faded into the distance, and the enigmatic female boss, who had left Pei Xingyan utterly bewildered, finally vanished from his sight.

He let out a long, shaky breath, still reeling from the encounter. The oppressive aura he had just felt was absolutely no joke; Shen Zhishu had to be some kind of hidden gravity-manipulating character.

What was even more alarming was that, though Pei Xingyan himself wasn’t entirely clear on it, this woman undoubtedly had some past entanglement with him. Otherwise, her reaction to him having a girlfriend would not have been so utterly bizarre, almost mirroring Ye Ziwei’s own strange behavior.

Su Shanshan was still fussing over his throat, but now it seemed more like she was simply taking advantage of the situation. She pressed her face against his clothes, inhaling deeply, her infatuation more intense than that of any lovesick maiden.

Pei Xingyan could only gently pull her away, simultaneously giving her little head a firm tap—a small lesson for the unrestrained girl.

Su Shanshan stuck out her tongue, shrinking back and rubbing her head in a show of feigned remorse.

Still, she refused to release his hand and paid no mind to the woman who had already vanished.

After this whole incident, however, Su Shanshan no longer wished to cause Pei Xingyan any more trouble. She leaned into his ear, cooing affectionately for a good while, then reluctantly watched him enter the classroom from the doorway. She lingered there, watching him for a considerable time, before finally departing with a profound sense of loss.

****

Pei Xingyan had no mind for the lecture. He returned to his seat, spending the rest of the class idly chatting with Lin Xiaoyu.

The girl seemed to have encountered new difficulties once again. She complained about everything under the sun, pouring out her heart to Pei Xingyan about her affairs.

Yet, her mental state had visibly improved, and perhaps it was only a matter of time before she fully extricated herself from her troubles.

Pei Xingyan finally found a sliver of confidence, which was the only thing that had brought him any sense of ease during this tumultuous period.

But immediately after, the lingering problem from earlier came knocking. Shen Zhishu sent a message:

[Come to my office after class. I’ll be waiting.]