01 - Uhh, the author removed the title of this chapter
Recently, there had been a very popular post on the student forum of K University’s law school.
The title of the post was both academic and serious: 《International Economic Law: Classroom Exchange and Seminar Summary》
However, once you clicked inside you would find that although this post was very serious at first sight...the content was absolute nonsense from beginning to end.
The original poster used a string of exclamation marks and onomatopoeia in their opening to express a fierce internal drama, and the content of the post revolved around one central idea: Professor Que, who had just transferred to the new campus this semester, was really terrible.
The poster had then dumped a blurry photo in the replies, with the text: Don’t dare to take photos too obviously, sneak shot!! [img][♥].
The background of the photo was in a lecture theatre, facing the podium and it was taken right at the moment when a man turned around after he’d finished writing on the blackboard. The image was a little blurry, but the outline of a handsome man’s profile and tall body could clearly be seen. He was holding the edge of the desk with one hand, and his shirt drew an unusually beautiful arc across his back with the movement, this feature alone was unspeakably attractive.
Some people in the replies gossiped about Professor Que's academic resume, and finally they all sighed with longing hearts. He didn’t become an associate professor at such a young age by chance. Sure enough, there was a gap between him and ordinary people.
Their male god used to take the Masters and Doctorate students in the old campus, but he recently transferred to the new campus.
The post had thousands of replies in just a few weeks, although it appeared to be the kind of mediocre post that would only receive sporadic replies. The reason why the post hadn’t been deleted was that the moderator of the forum was also a student and after browsing the content, he immediately turned a blind eye towards it and right-clicked to save the candid photos by the way.
While everyone's focus was still on this Professor Que, someone quickly discovered another item of note in the picture.
Reply 2166: Why do I seem to see someone...sleeping?
The photos included the first few rows of seats closest to the podium, and if you zoomed in and looked closely, among the backs of students looking up and listening, there was actually someone sleeping with their head on the desk. The person had soft black hair spread across her shoulders and draping down her back and the ends of her hair were slightly bent into curls.
Soon, someone replied: If I remember correctly, I saw them in the last class, and the class before...
This lecture for International Economic Law was notoriously difficult to grab a seat in. Even though the venue was a huge lecture theatre, every time it was on, those attending always had to squeeze through the doors and corridors in the hustle and bustle. There were more than a few people who even asked for help reserving a seat at a high price.
Professor Que never called roll, and there were even students from other universities who came to his class. Whether it was for the lecture or just to see him, it was extremely difficult to secure a seat in the front row.
And this one girl, every single lecture, grandly occupied the centre position in the third row——
To sleep.
She slept openly, calmly, and like no one else could.
.
Three hundred books could be filled to describe her, but in a word it would be: sleepy.
Lin Mian had slept through almost half a semester of classes for International Economic Law.
At this moment, the lecture theatre that could accommodate a hundred people was quiet. She was half-dreaming and half-awake, lying on her arms, only hearing a single voice drifting into her ears.
The man's speech was neither too fast nor too slow and his voice was low and sweet, like clear as ice hitting a wall. Traditionally, this kind of voice was one that could easily draw the students into the rhythm of the class, but what was strange was that every word of his sounded very hypnotic to Lin Mian.
When she came to the first lecture, she had sat in the last row, and she could only vaguely see the tall and straight figure of the distant lecturer, and she fell asleep after barely hearing a few words.
Usually Lin Mian couldn't sleep for a full week when she had insomnia, but his voice was peculiarly soothing to her. For the first time in her life, as someone who suffered chronic insomnia, she was soothed by another person's voice. She had gotten a taste, so she made a conscious effort, and from the second class onwards she managed to occupy a front row position, and there she had slept until now.
Vaguely, Lin Mian heard someone calmly say a name, "Xu Tong."
Xu Tong?
“……”
Hearing the name, the person lying on the table sleeping peacefully finally moved. Lin Mian slowly raised her face and subconsciously turned towards the sound, her vision still in a hazy state.
A boy who was fiddling with his phone noticed and asked in a low voice, "Hey, is your name Xu Tong?"
Lin Mian made a ‘hmm’ and said, "It is."
It is? The boy was silent for a moment, then said, "The professor is calling on you to answer the question."
Lin Mian raised her eyes and met the eyes of a man not far away.
The two weren’t far apart, and when Lin Mian stood up, Que Qingyan closed the class roster. He narrowed his eyes and stared at her, then asked concisely, "Law major, Xu Tong?"
Lin Mian nodded. There was a red pressure mark from sleeping on her white and smooth forehead and from the top of her head to the tips of her hair seemed to be written the four words ‘Sleeping, do not disturb’. While struggling to recall the problem from the scattered memories of her sleep, she secretly pinched her forearm under the table as she gradually woke up.
It was truly unfortunate. The first time Professor Que had ever referenced the class roster and he had chosen the one who was sleeping. Looking at Lin Mian, the boy sitting next to her was filled with sympathy and awe, and whispered, "...niú bī."
Lin Mian cast a grateful look at him, and replied confidently, "I choose B."
Her voice wasn’t particularly loud or quiet, but all the students present were able to hear her clearly. After she spoke, the audience became strangely quiet for a few seconds. Then someone couldn’t help but laugh, and then one after another laughter filled the theatre.
"B, what B, I just said," the boy suffocated his smile, "niú bī..."
Lin Mian noticed that there were long paragraphs of English projected onto both screens at the front of the theatre. Even though there was obscure professional vocabulary mixed in, it wasn’t difficult to tell that this was an analysis question.
A discussion analysis question.
What did she just answer?
I choose B?
Lin Mian, "..."
She chose death.
.
An hour later, Lin Mian sat obediently on the visitors sofa in an office.
The office door was slightly ajar, and the man outside seemed to be making an overseas phone call, and she was made to wait for the time being. Lin Mian estimated the phone call would take some time, so she adjusted her upright sitting posture, and after making herself a little more comfortable, she calmly surveyed her surroundings.
The interior of the office was spacious and well decorated, with sunlight spilling on the bookshelves through floor-to-ceiling windows. Lin Mian's gaze stayed on the shelves for a moment. The bookshelf covered the whole wall and contained thick and thin professional books. They all had one thing in common: she couldn't understand them.
When she’d entered earlier, she’d noticed the sign on the office. The gilded silver background read clearly: Associate Professor of Law, Que Qingyan.
He was the one who was on a phone call outside the door now.
“……”
Lin Mian just wanted to go back in time to two months ago to when Xu Xiaotong called her, and hang up mercilessly.
Xu Tong was her cousin.
Her cousin was a sophomore at K University and she’d participated in the Canada exchange for one semester more than half a year ago. Two months ago, Xu Tong came back from Canada and immediately applied for an international volunteer project. After completing the visa application, she packed her luggage and went back to Canada in a hurry.
The reason wasn’t complicated, it was simply that the little girl had met a romantic exotic lover in Canada, and wanted to accompany her little boyfriend some more.
Lin Mian was Xu Tong's cousin. They had grown up together since they were children and now that the two of them were both in City B their relationship was even better.
Before leaving, Xu Tong called her and begged her softly, "Mianmian, don’t worry about other courses, but this is a professional course. I heard that the old professor who takes it is murderous. He checks the roster in the hall and anyone who misses his classes is forced to drop out." At the end she finished with, "Save me!"
Lin Mian didn't buy it, "Xu Xiaotong, I graduated three years ago, do I look like a college student?"
"You do, exactly the same, very pure and lovely!"
Xu Tong praised her from the bottom of her heart. She and Lin Mian had known each other for so many years, and the latter had been a beauty since she was a child. She always had red lips and white teeth, and as she grew up her features became even more beautiful.
Xu Tong repeatedly promised, "You only have to be there when he checks the roster, the old professor has bad eyes, if you slip out the door afterwards, he shouldn’t notice."
When Lin Mian agreed, she thought, she only needed to register her attendance, it would be fine.
What she didn’t expect was that the professor of this class would be temporarily replaced by Que Qingyan, and that she would actually develop a sleep dependence on his class, and finally...
She didn't expect that she would now be waiting in someone’s office to be scolded.
She listened for a while, the man was still on the phone, his voice calm and pleasant. He seemed to be discussing things through methodically with the person on the other end.
Lin Mian started to feel sleepy again, and muttered before dozing off again.
It goes without saying, even his English was hypnotising...
.
When she woke up again, Lin Mian was stunned.
...she actually fell asleep again!
She pretended to sleep for a moment longer, petrified in her heart, then raised her eyes little by little, and fixed her gaze on the man sitting before her.
There was a table between them. She had slept here for so long without being woken up. Lin Mian said nervously, "Professor Que."
Que Qingyan was looking through some information. He glanced at her and paused, "I don't have any juice here, do you want to drink water or coffee?"
Juice……
He was treating her like a child.
"I’m not thirsty." Lin Mian had a good attitude towards admitting her mistakes, she lowered her head again. "Professor Que, I was wrong. I won’t sleep in your class again."
Although what she thought was that next time she needed to find a more remote place to sleep.
Que Qingyan responded with a "hmm".
Lin Mian was about to breathe a sigh of relief, when the other party handed over a green slip of paper and said, "Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention, explain the scope of application."
"……" Huh?
She looked up at the book, then bowed her head with a repentant look.
She can’t.
Not long afterwards, there was a barely used notebook in front of her. Notes were made on the page that was open, and next to the sloppily written paragraphs, were notes written in a sharp and beautiful handwriting. Que Qingyan glanced at her, "After reading and analyzing the above case, let me listen to your thoughts."
It stood to reason that he wrote the comments, so she should at least understand it...Lin Mian glanced at it tentatively and bowed her head even more apologetically.
The man stopped talking.
It was over. He must be thinking that she was stupid and lazy. Lin Mian thought with shame that she had always been overestimated since she was a child. Now that she had finally gotten herself together, she had immediately become illiterate again after switching professional fields.
Lin Mian swallowed her pride and comforted herself. He wouldn't remember her anyway. She would only be losing face for Xu Xiaotong, so what was she afraid of?
She had done enough psychological preparations, and finally raised her head to look at Que Qingyan again. He noticed her gaze and also looked up.
Lin Mian met his eyes unexpectedly, and the fingers of both hands on her knees curled up slightly.
...she had to say that he hadn't changed much, he still looked so good.
His desk was right by the window and at this time, the sunlight from the tall windows outlined the man’s profound and noble features. Lin Mian couldn’t look away, and in the next second she saw Que Qingyan curl his lips and smile.
He usually looked indifferent, but sometimes there was a slight smile in his brow, and he looked dazzling. His smile was like a clivia flower blooming quietly in the cold frost and snow, cold and abstinent. He was usually so restrained, that when it happened people couldn't help but want to get closer.
Before Lin Mian had time to carefully study what the smile probably meant, she heard Que Qingyan say:
"Ten thousand words."
"……ah?"
He retracted his gaze and turned a page of the book with his slender fingers, "Ten thousand words for your sleep experience, hand it over after you’re done."
Lin Mian was stunned for a full ten seconds, but she still couldn't hold it back, she felt the air between her teeth but while the first sound of ‘f’ was still unspoken between her lips, she heard him speak again, "Twenty thousand characters." His voice wasn’t harsh, but cold, "If I hear you swearing, then I’ll add ten thousand words."
Lin Mian, “..................”
If Lin Mian's inner monologue could be seen at this moment, a whole bunch of question marks would have filled the screen.
However, she just blinked her eyes in confusion, and whispered softly and obediently, "I didn't swear..."
Que Qingyan hm’d and then said, "Twenty thousand words. Return it to me in two weeks."
……
What was she thinking before? What fucking clivia flower quietly blooming in the freezing wind and snow? ? ?
Lin Mian fell silent for a second in thought.
Sorry, she needed to apologise to the clivia.
New novel! Welcome! Not much to say about this one, I only just started it but it's pretty much what it says on the box. Should be funny and sweet.
The usual spiel: New chapters are posted everyday, unless I am busy/sick/lazy/forget at approx.1200AEST. You can get updates when a new chapter comes out via Twitter (@mtlshitty), or email (signup to mailing list in menu at the top, not below), or check NovelUpdates. If you'd like to leave a comment you can sign up below, or if you don't want to sign up you can tick 'anon' and comment away! (You can also tick 'anon' AND sign in, you'll still be anonymous)
