Breaking Through

[Xiao Yuehua is coming to find me?]

Jiang Li stared at the phone screen, his relaxed expression instantly freezing over.

“Professor!”

“Ah? What is it?”

Amidst his internal turmoil, Ning Rou’s call pulled Jiang Li back to reality. As his eyes refocused on the path ahead, he was startled to find a roadside tree mere inches from his face.

“There’s an obstacle, Professor!”

Beside him, Ning Rou gripped his sleeve tightly, pulling him aside. She wore a look of utter seriousness, lecturing him in a tone one might use for a child.

“Playing with your phone while walking is dangerous. Doesn’t the Professor even know that? If it weren’t for me, you would have walked straight into that tree.”

“Th—thank you,” Jiang Li responded reflexively.

But Ning Rou’s brows furrowed with suspicion. “Wait a second, Professor. Why did your face suddenly turn so pale? Are you feeling unwell? Or…”

As she spoke, she cast a sly, inquisitive glance toward his phone screen.

“No, it’s nothing!” Jiang Li panicked, instinctively darkening the screen. “Just some news from the Academy…”

“Suspicious…”

Ning Rou didn’t look like she believed him for a second. She scanned him from head to toe, rubbing her chin in a parody of a detective from a TV drama. She gave a cheeky grin. “Could it be… a secret girlfriend?”

“…”

Jiang Li kept his face taut, doing his best not to let any guilt show. He truly hadn’t expected this silly girl’s intuition to be so sharp. It was a joke of a guess, yet she had stumbled upon eighty percent of the truth. To avoid leaving any openings, his best response was to use his [Poker Face] skill and remain silent.

However, Ning Rou seemed to find a specific “flavor” in his silence.

Click-clack.

She came to a sudden, dazed halt, though her hand didn’t let go of his sleeve. Her brow pinched slightly.

“Professor?”

“…What?”

“Why aren’t you answering me?”

“…”

“Do you… have a girlfriend?”

She asked the question with a complex expression. A moment later, as if realizing how she sounded, she panicked and forced a strained, awkward smile. “No—I don’t mean to cross a line or pry into your private life! I was just… just curious…”

The excuse was flimsy at best, and Ning Rou seemed to know it; her voice grew smaller and smaller. Yet, in the end, she still looked Jiang Li straight in the eye and asked the one question she absolutely shouldn’t have, given their current relationship:

“So, does the Professor have a girlfriend?”

The surrounding traffic seemed to slow down at that moment; the noisy street suddenly fell hushed. Ning Rou was focused entirely on him, waiting for his response.

Jiang Li looked back at her. He pondered for a moment, expressionless. Finally, he shook his head.

“No. I don’t.”

“Oh… haha… I knew it…”

The roar of the city rushed back in an instant. Ning Rou looked as if a weight had been lifted from her heart, and her expression softened. Then, the delayed shame hit her. She laughed awkwardly, looking a bit foolish as her face flushed—like a child who had accidentally knocked over a candy jar.

“How could someone like the Professor have a girlfriend…”

The eerie atmosphere was broken, and Jiang Li felt himself breathe a sigh of relief. He had never been in love and had no idea how to deal with a girl making that kind of face. Being able to bluff his way through was for the best.

He turned and resumed his pace. “Is Classmate Ning Rou attacking me now?”

“Not at all! This is Teacher Ning Rou’s professional judgment!”

“A teacher who makes that kind of judgment can hardly be described as ‘professional.'”

“The Professor is bullying me again!”

Amidst Ning Rou’s protests, the two continued on their way. But compared to the walk out, Jiang Li’s heart felt weighed down by an indescribable heaviness.

Ning Rou had chosen a pasta place.

To be honest, whether in his past life or in this current world, Jiang Li had never gone out of his way to understand Italian food. Although he had tried it a few times, it always felt average to him. The flavor seemed entirely dependent on the sauce; he wasn’t sure what level actually qualified as “delicious.”

Therefore, he harbored a bit of extra curiosity regarding Ning Rou’s “strong recommendation.”

“Professor, is it good? The flavor here is amazing, right?”

“Mhm, it’s alright…” Jiang Li nodded, taking a small bite of his pasta.

In terms of pure taste, he didn’t feel this was much different from what he’d had before. However, sitting across from Ning Rou, his mood was certainly more relaxed than usual.

Buzz… buzz…

That mood, however, was destined to be short-lived. The vibration of the phone in his pocket felt like the strike of a morning bell, sending a booming resonance through his chest.

Xiao Yuehua’s message seemed to hover before his eyes: [I’m coming to find you.]

Would she really come? Even though he knew he hadn’t told her where he was going—and the probability of her finding him was less than one percent—Jiang Li felt an unprovoked sense of agitation.

If this were the quiet, competitive girl from before, Jiang Li wouldn’t be this panicked. But now, after whatever psychological transformation she had undergone, Xiao Yuehua had evolved into something akin to a “Witch.”

She knew he felt guilty toward her, and she was trying to use that guilt to gain absolute control over him. Before her, Jiang Li felt as passive as a lamb led to the slaughter. The mere thought of her brought waves of apology and oppression, making his chest feel tight under the mental pressure.

Even more terrifying was the reaction Jiang Li kept imagining—what Xiao Yuehua would do if she discovered him having lunch with Ning Rou. All sorts of horrific futures flashed through his mind.

“Ugh… is the Professor in a bad mood?”

Sitting opposite him, Ning Rou held her fork in her mouth and cast a concerned look his way. Jiang Li shook his head.

“Then your body really is uncomfortable, right?” The girl seemed to realize something and clapped her hands. “I knew your complexion looked off today… if you’re not feeling well, you should tell me. Why force yourself…?”

She stood up with a serious expression and reached out to touch Jiang Li’s forehead. “Do you have a fever?”

But in the very next heartbeat—

“What a coincidence. Is Ning Rou dining here as well?”

A familiar voice rang out, freezing Ning Rou’s hand in mid-air. As for Jiang Li, he turned into a literal statue under the weight of this sudden catastrophe.