Chapter 315: Yan Got Bored

After leaving the fishing area, Li Luo led Yan Zhusheng all the way to the esports room on the northwest side.

It was called an esports room, but the place was actually huge.

After pushing open the door and stepping inside, a cool breeze from the air conditioning blew over, and Li Luo saw a lively scene within.

Counting up, this group of classmates was surely the largest.

Aside from a few boys who had gone off somewhere unknown, the rest had all gathered here.

Among them, five people led by Zhu Yufei sat at five rows of computers playing LOL; others, including several girls, either played arcade games or sat at the long table nearby playing board games.

Zhu Yufei's Three Kingdoms Kill was pointless here, since they had it already.

And not just Three Kingdoms Kill—monopoly, flying chess, Werewolf, and even some obscure board games were all available here.

Snacks on the nearby shelf were free for the taking, and waiters brought in several trays of sliced fruit.

Gathering in an air-conditioned room on a hot summer day to play games, board games, snacks, and fruit—couldn't be more comfortable.

Li Luo wandered around here, and classmates greeted him as they saw him; then their eyes fell on Yan Zhusheng behind him.

Everyone exchanged knowing glances, snickered quietly, and went back to their own activities.

Some invited Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng to join in, but Li Luo shook his head, saying he'd come back later—he still needed to check out other areas.

After confirming the number of people and their names here, Li Luo led Yan Zhusheng out again, heading straight for the boating area to the east.

After passing through the dining area, the two turned south, but Yan Zhusheng's gaze drifted toward the building to the north, and she asked curiously, "The waiters didn't take us to visit that side—what's over there?"

"Ahem… I don't know either," Li Luo coughed. "But since they didn't take us to see it, it's clearly not open to the public. We shouldn't go in randomly."

Of course, he said that—but in truth, Li Luo knew exactly what was inside.

It was just a massage and foot bath area.

This countryside resort was set up by Li Guoru's friend, the owner, specifically to entertain business clients and partners, so naturally it included such facilities.

Li Luo was just a kid now—he couldn't very well ask Li Guoru outright whether this place was legitimate.

But when Li Guoru defined the activity zones, he naturally excluded this area.

Li Luo had guessed at the time that it was probably not very proper.

How improper, he didn't know.

Either way, he had no intention of going in.

In his past life, when he was richest, he had Xu Youyu by his side—and even then, he had no interest in foot baths.

On the few occasions he did go, it was Xu Youyu who dragged him, saying he needed to experience male happiness.

So they found a reputable foot bath parlor and enjoyed it a few times.

After his Short Drama Lines blew up, Li Luo's pockets were always empty—he had no means to indulge anymore.

As for now.

He had the means now, but he'd lost any real interest in such things.

After all, three goddesses lived in his home—day after day, their beauty had raised his aesthetic threshold to an absurdly high level; other girls were just plain, ordinary makeup.

Whether it was Gao Yuqin from Class Seven, or Shen Shuhua from Class Sixteen, or any other girl who'd secretly written him love letters, Li Luo felt nothing.

Thinking of this, Li Luo glanced at Yan Zhusheng, taking in her flawless profile.

Yan Zhusheng noticed Li Luo's gaze and assumed she understood his intent—she willingly slipped her small hand into his palm.

Li Luo: "... What are you doing? Why are you holding hands again?"

"Didn't you want me to?"

"When did I say that?"

"Your eyes told me."

"You're pretty sharp—you can read that from my eyes?"

"Thank you for the compliment."

"Can you now read from my eyes the signal to let go?"

Yan Zhusheng gripped Li Luo's hand tightly, turned her head, and stared intently at his eyes from every angle, then finally shook her head a few times: "I'm not that good—I can't read it anymore."

Li Luo: "..."

Turning southeast, the two arrived at the boating area.

When they saw the three small boats on the water, and one of them carried Kong Junxiang and Ding Xiang, Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng immediately let go of each other's hands.

After checking the number of people on the boat, Li Luo nodded: "Alright, everyone's here."

"Can we play now?" Yan Zhusheng asked, turning to him.

Li Luo checked the time—it was only two in the afternoon—so he nodded. "What do you want to do?"

"This, for now," Yan Zhusheng said, pointing to the boating area.

"It's pretty sunny," Li Luo glanced at the sky—Yuhang City in July was at its hottest.

Especially at two in the afternoon.

"There's an umbrella," Yan Zhusheng pointed to Kong Junxiang and Ding Xiang rowing nearby—Ding Xiang held one.

The waiters had clearly anticipated the weather and placed some umbrellas here as a small comfort.

Since there was nothing else to do, Li Luo agreed—they borrowed a boat from the boating area and boarded it with the waiters' help.

The boat was small, shaped like a kayak, able to seat three or four people.

Li Luo sat toward the rear, stretching his long legs out to either side, nearly reaching the bow.

After boarding, Yan Zhusheng leaned into Li Luo's lap.

He patted her shoulder, signaling her to move forward; reluctantly, she shifted her seat a little.

"Kong Teacher is still over there—don't get reckless. I'm warning you."

"Oh." Yan Zhusheng adjusted the umbrella slightly backward, ensuring both of them were shaded from the sun.

Li Luo took the double oars handed by the server and slowly began rowing, guiding the boat to drift leisurely across the fish pond.

Soon, their boat drew near Kong Junxiang's group until the two boats were side by side.

"Teacher Kong, you two are enjoying yourselves." Li Luo stopped rowing and grinned over at them. "Having fun?"

"I was having fun," Kong Junxiang chuckled. "Now that you've come over to bother us, not so much."

At this moment, though still teacher and student, Kong Junxiang and Li Luo shared a hint of friendship.

Ding Xiang smiled at Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng and asked, "Why aren't you two inside enjoying the air conditioning? Why come out to row?"

"We came to visit you two."

"Nice words," Ding Xiang sniffed, then dipped one hand into the water and splashed it toward Li Luo's boat.

Seeing this, Li Luo immediately grabbed Yan Zhusheng's umbrella hand and used it as a shield, urging, "Zhusheng, hit back."

"Oh." Yan Zhusheng nodded, dipped her hand into the water, and splashed back at Kong Junxiang's boat.

The two sides began splashing each other; though the scene was small, it resembled two ships battling on the open sea.

But soon, since neither side was rowing, the boats were carried apart by the splashing water, slowly drifting away.

Both sides tacitly left each other alone and did not approach again after separating.

On the other boat, Ding Xiang watched Yan Zhusheng nearly nestled into Li Luo's arms and whispered to Kong Junxiang, "Back in class, I noticed they kept passing notes to each other—I thought something was up. Now it looks like it's true?"

Kong Junxiang nodded with a smile. "Obvious."

"As homeroom teacher, didn't you do anything?" Ding Xiang giggled, covering her mouth.

? ￠o

"Why interfere?" Kong Junxiang shook his head. "Li Luo's grades have always been steadily in the top 40 schoolwide. Do you know Yan Zhusheng's?"

"When she first entered Fuyi High, her rank was around 280th schoolwide."

"By midterms, she rose to 220th."

"Look at this year—her midterms and finals rankings are both steady in the top 160. That's elite class level."

"With them pushing each other forward like this, I'd be bored out of my mind to meddle. As long as no one dies, leave them be."

Privately, Kong Junxiang spoke plainly; in front of his girlfriend, he had no need to hide his thoughts.

"If you break them up now, you'll hurt their feelings. Then their emotions fluctuate, and they lose motivation to study."

"What if their grades suffer as a result?"

Here, Kong Junxiang paused. "Besides, you know Li Luo—he's got boundaries. As long as it doesn't seriously affect anything, we shouldn't meddle."

As a teacher, you must sometimes read the situation—you can't be rigid.

Especially regarding student romance, you must analyze each case individually and choose your response accordingly.

In Kong Junxiang's eyes, Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng's situation was entirely positive and healthy—no intervention was needed.

Many sensible teachers would turn a blind eye to such cases, happy to see the two students improve together. If they eventually get into the same university and date for years before marrying, the teacher might even happily attend the wedding and enjoy free wine.

Then at the banquet, smile and say: "Back when you two were in my class, I knew all along—I just didn't say anything..."

And watch the students' astonished expressions, feeling a quiet sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

And beyond good students improving together, if two underperforming students fell in love, teachers usually didn't interfere either.

As long as it wasn't excessive, they simply ignored it.

Only when an underperforming student dated a top student—and it harmed the top student's grades—

did teachers consider intervening.

After all, everyone had been young once. Especially now, with more young teachers joining the profession, everyone understood.

"How wonderful," Ding Xiang sighed after listening, glancing at the young couple on the other boat. "Every time I see them, I feel myself growing older."

"Don't say that," Kong Junxiang laughed. "I'm two years older than you—you're calling me old too."

"You're an old thing too," Ding Xiang teased with a grin.

"I'm still young. So are you," Kong Junxiang pulled Ding Xiang into his arms. "Being around these young people makes us feel young too—that's why I love being a teacher."

"And that's why I love you," Ding Xiang whispered, laughing softly against his chest.

On the other side.

Yan Zhusheng handed her sunshade to Li Luo, took the oars from him, and tried rowing herself.

After about ten minutes, she saw Kong Junxiang and Ding Xiang had already left the water and boarded shore; the other students' boats were gone too. Only the two of them remained on the water.

Yan Zhusheng rolled her eyes and whispered to Li Luo behind her: "I'm tired. You row now."

"Alright, hand me the oars."

"No. Row like this." Yan Zhusheng slid her small stool backward until her entire body leaned fully into Li Luo's arms.

She placed the oars on her thighs, took back the sunshade, then tilted her face up to him and said: "Now we're both shaded from the sun—we won't get burned."

Li Luo looked down at the girl in his arms, her expression sweet and innocent, and sighed: "Should I compliment you on your cleverness?"

"You taught me well."

"I don't remember teaching you anything like this."

"It's in the book," Yan Zhusheng admitted honestly. "I remember a scene where Li Yang and Jiang Mingyue took a boat ride—Jiang Mingyue did exactly this."

Hearing this, Li Luo froze, speechless.

After all, Jiang Mingyue's boat scene—where she seduced Li Yang—was directly inspired by the time Xu Youyu dragged him through an hour-long "couple experience" on Xihu.

And now, this girl remembered it in perfect detail.

"Why aren't you moving?" Yan Zhusheng turned her head to look at him. "Row."

Li Luo snapped back to reality, wrapped his arms around Yan Zhusheng's soft body, gripped the oar handles, and resumed rowing.

The two rowed quietly across the fish pond, resting when tired.

The sunshade covered their heads and slanted to block the view from shore—no one knew what the two were doing beneath it.

All she knew was that when they got ashore, Yan Zhusheng looked utterly satisfied, then secretly slipped her small hand into Li Luo's palm again.

After about an hour of rowing, Li Luo took Yan Zhusheng back to the e-sports room and joined his classmates in playing cards and chess.

Around four in the afternoon, Kong Jun and Ding Xiang also wandered over to the countryside resort and joined the game.

Only then did the classmates realize their homeroom teacher could play LOL; he temporarily replaced Zhang Guohuang while he went to the bathroom.

But once he sat down, he couldn't get up again.

When Zhang Guohuang returned from the bathroom, his buddies told him: "Go rest over there and watch Coach Kong's Yaso—then look at yours."

"Zhang Guohuang's just a pathetic stooge; Coach Kong is the real Stormblade!"

At first Zhang Guohuang resisted, but after watching one match, he changed his tune, repeatedly exclaiming "Amazing!" and nearly knelt down to beg for lessons.

"Alright, alright, you kids keep playing." Kong Jun played two matches to satisfy himself, then gave up his seat.

Zhu Yufei and the others all showed clear reluctance; watching Zhang Guohuang eagerly take the seat, they sighed: "It's hard to go from luxury back to simplicity."

"Can't you say something nice?" Zhang Guohuang grumbled. "I learned a lot just now—I've got the feel for it now. Wait and see me show you something."

Li Luo didn't know whether Zhang Guohuang ever got to show off, but by dinnertime, Zhu Yufei and the others had made a formal invitation for Kong Jun to join their five-man squad that evening.

"Zhusheng, try this one carefully."

After the dishes arrived, Li Guohong got up and came over to their table, pointing at the newly served braised fish meat with a smile: "This fish is the one you caught this afternoon—I had the kitchen prepare it. Everyone, give it a taste."

Li Guohong was in high spirits.

After Yan Zhusheng put her fish into Li Guohong's bucket, somehow fortune turned—within just a few hours in the afternoon, he caught five or six fish!

In the end, Li Guohong picked only Yan Zhusheng's fish and his own last catch, sending them to the kitchen to be cooked.

As soon as the braised fish meat arrived, Li Guohong rushed over to introduce it, growing fonder of Yan Zhusheng with every glance, urging her to eat more.

The classmates at the table, seeing Li Luo's father treat Yan Zhusheng so warmly, exchanged glances, their expressions filled with unspoken implication; a certain unspoken atmosphere quietly spread across the dinner table.

Only Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng remained completely unaware.

Even Yan Zhusheng happily picked up her small spoon and eagerly scooped a spoonful of fish meat into Li Luo's bowl.

"Eat," she said to Li Luo, completely ignoring the classmates' stares.

Li Luo, unable to refuse her kindness, accepted her feeding.

After all, the classmates had already misunderstood him many times; one more wouldn't matter.

Next semester they'd be split into new classes; he could rebuild his image as a proper gentleman then.

…

After dinner ended, the sky outside had grown dark.

For safety reasons, evening hours were no longer free time.

Li Luo gathered everyone and led them to the entertainment space in the e-sports room.

Besides the five computers in the corner, there were three or four long tables—plenty of room for their thirty-odd students.

Gathering under one roof, playing cards and chatting, they all had a pleasant time.

Meanwhile, Li Guohong ushered the parents into the adjacent small living room, where they sat on the sofa, watched TV, smoked, and ate light fruit while chatting.

At the parents' curious inquiries, he shared his parenting experiences.

In truth, he had no real parenting wisdom to speak of, but for some reason, Li Guohong found that no matter what he said, parents like Lu Zhangyuan would always spin his words into something profound.

Some things Li Guohong himself hadn't even grasped the meaning of—yet the parents had already distilled deep lessons from them.

It was as if everything he said was right.

Still, Li Guohong didn't care much about that; he was just pleased to be praised so much, thinking this class trip had truly been worth it.

When it reached eight in the evening, Li Guohong suddenly remembered something and quickly grabbed the remote, switching the TV channel to Hulan TV.

July 17th—today, Friday at eight p. m.

"I Am a Singer" Season Three aired on schedule.

Li Guohong himself loved singing competitions and often watched them at home.

After hearing Yuan Wanqing would be participating, he'd been keeping track of the broadcast schedule.

The only pity was that Yuan Wanqing wasn't a starting singer this season, but a challenger.

She wouldn't appear until Episode Six; tonight she definitely wouldn't be singing.

Even so, Li Guohong watched with great enjoyment, chatting with the parents and critiquing the performers, getting a sense of the strength of Yuan Wanqing's future opponents.

…

While Li Luo and the others laughed and chatted at the countryside resort, in the second bedroom of Bihai Lanting 1502, Ying Chanxi lay listlessly on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

Hugging a panda plushie, pressing it against her body, gave her just a little sense of reality.

After several minutes, she suddenly picked up her phone and checked QQ—Li Luo hadn't messaged her.

She checked her call log—Li Luo hadn't called her either.

Pouting, she tossed the phone aside, grabbed the Pikachu from her bedside, and punched it twice hard.

The Doraemon beside her was lucky—escaping unscathed. Since this morning, it hadn't been hit once; Pikachu had taken all the blows for it.

After two punches to vent her anger, Ying Chanxi stared at the ceiling again. Minutes later, she picked up her phone—no message—then punched Pikachu twice more.

Turning onto her side, hugging the panda plushie, she pressed her lips together, feeling a little sad.

When the bus left in the morning, he hadn't sent her a message.

He hadn't messaged to say he'd arrived safely.

He hadn't told her whether lunch was good, or what they'd done in the afternoon.

He hadn't said what they'd eaten for dinner, or whether he'd had fun with his classmates.

She buried her face in the panda's chest, wrapped its arms around herself, and let out a soft sigh.

She kept this up until past ten at night—still no message from Li Luo.

Ying Chanxi, gloomy, got up intending to take a shower, but as she reached the door, she heard the phone on the bed ring.

At the sound of the ringtone, her disappointment vanished instantly; her face lit up with delight as she rushed back to the bed and snatched up the phone without waiting.

But it was just another sales call…

After hope and disappointment alternated, deeper sorrow followed.

Ying Chanxi slumped onto the edge of the bed, clutching the phone in her palms, and finally could no longer hold back—she opened the call interface and expertly typed out Li Luo's phone number.

But just as she was about to press the call button, the phone screen suddenly switched.

Another incoming call appeared, accompanied by the ringing sound.

It clearly displayed the three characters: "Stupid Idiot."

Seeing this nickname appear before her, Ying Chanxi felt as if struck by overwhelming joy, her head spinning, and without hesitation, she answered the call.

"Hello?" Ying Chanxi's face beamed, but she forced her tone to soften, giving the impression of a flat, expressionless reply as she struggled to hold back, "What do you want?"