Looking at the message on the phone lock screen, Gu Qiu’s gaze faltered slightly.
Then he opened WeChat.
He was about to type a reply when he saw that Qin Zhiyi had added another line.
『I’m talking about the breakfast!』
Gu Qiu’s brow twitched.
Of course he knew she meant breakfast. Otherwise, what else did she think she could help him solve?
How baffling!
Besides, they were sitting face to face, and no one else was around. If this woman had something to say, why not just say it directly? Why send a message? Did she think mobile data was free?
After mentally grumbling for a while, Gu Qiu lifted his dark eyes and glanced at the breakfast on the table again.
After thinking for a moment, he picked up the water cup and drained it in one gulp. Then he stood up and walked toward the water dispenser. On the way, he casually placed the things on Qin Zhiyi’s desk. After getting water, he returned to his seat as if nothing had happened.
Qin Zhiyi was amused by how careful he was being.
Then she untied the plastic bag and took out two takeout boxes containing potstickers and xiaolongbao.
At that moment, Ge Yan walked in just as the morning reading bell rang.
“Morning, Teacher Gu, Teacher Qin!”
“Morning, Sister Yan!”
Gu Qiu and Qin Zhiyi answered politely at the same time.
Ge Yan walked slowly behind Qin Zhiyi. Seeing a dead leaf stuck in her hair, she helped take it off.
Qin Zhiyi glanced sideways, noticed her action, and smiled in thanks.
At the same time, she opened the takeout box in her hand.
“Sister Yan, want some?”
Although Ge Yan had already eaten breakfast, she did not refuse the kind offer.
“I’ll have some potstickers!”
Qin Zhiyi gave her two, then looked at Gu Qiu for confirmation. Seeing him shake his head, she had no choice but to give up.
Ge Yan immediately offered her verdict.
“Not bad.”
Qin Zhiyi also took a small bite and nodded in agreement.
Then her eyes flickered. She picked up her phone again and sent Gu Qiu a half-joking message.
『How about leaving it all to me from now on?』
She could sense Gu Qiu’s resistance toward this breakfast, though she wasn’t sure whether it was because of her presence.
If that was the case, then it meant Gu Qiu still had her in his heart.
Of course, she also had the duty to help Gu Qiu deal with his troubles.
If not… well, that possibility did not exist!
After reading the message, Gu Qiu replied irritably:
『Keep dreaming!』
Maybe the person who sent the breakfast meant well, but since he had no intention of accepting it, it had become a nuisance.
Once he found the person, he would definitely return the money.
In other words, at the moment he was basically paying to treat Qin Zhiyi to breakfast!
But speaking of that, he still hadn’t asked Qin Zhiyi whether she had seen anyone.
Gu Qiu looked up at Qin Zhiyi, only to find that she had already put down her phone and turned around, chatting with Ge Yan while eating and drinking.
After some inner conflict, he still shook his head.
“Forget it. Worst case, I’ll come even earlier tomorrow.”
Gu Qiu did not keep thinking about the matter, because he suddenly remembered the video he had posted last night.
A whole night had passed. He had no idea how the stats were doing!
With that thought, he nervously opened Xunmeng short videos.
Unexpectedly, the very next second, the audio from a video in the recommendation feed blared out.
“Hubby, I want a hug…”
Gu Qiu jolted and hurriedly hit pause.
But it was too late. Qin Zhiyi, Ge Yan, and Chen Qian, who had just walked in, all turned to look at him at the same time.
Gu Qiu could only cover his embarrassment with a smile while scrolling down, making it clear to everyone that he was just browsing videos.
He had always used Doulang before, so it was understandable that Xunmeng’s big data did not know what kind of content he liked. But was it really necessary to hit him with an opening shock like that?
After a short while, seeing that everyone’s attention had shifted elsewhere, Gu Qiu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he turned off the media sound and tapped into his personal page.
After checking, he saw that the video he had shot last night currently had more than fifty thousand views, over eight hundred likes, more than two hundred comments, and his follower count had increased by well over a hundred…
Gu Qiu raised his eyebrows.
He was quite satisfied with those numbers, after all, it was his first video!
Then he clicked into the comments section of his video, and the first thing that caught his eye was the top-liked comment.
『I don’t recommend doing events like this, because I’ve never met a teacher like this!』
Gu Qiu smiled and kept scrolling.
『Are history teachers this handsome these days?』
『I’d be insanely jealous of these rewards… If it were our teacher, it would definitely be test papers, workbooks, and the like.』
『Hahaha, the bickering between the two rivals is so funny. Why didn’t they get any screen time?』
『So fake. He’s the only one on camera the whole time. We don’t even know whether the people sitting below are students. Maybe the audio was generated directly.』
『Go, Teacher Gu! Looking forward to updates!!』
『…』
Overall, the positive comments made up the majority, and there were even people pushing back under the negative ones.
Gu Qiu also spotted a “rating guy.”
『Video humor: 8, copywriting: 8, creativity: 8, creator’s looks: 9, temperament: 9, filming: 6, image quality: 5… My review is as follows: I’ve followed the creator. The creative thinking and direction are good, and he has the potential to become a big creator. The future is promising, but the camera angle is too single. I suggest appropriately increasing the number of student shots. The creator probably used a phone to film this, right? I recommend switching to better equipment, such as a professional recording camera, to improve image clarity…』
He read the long comment carefully. It had reached the character limit and was split into two parts.
After some thought, he gave it a like.
The commenter had pointed out two main issues.
Student shots… he had already considered that and would definitely add more later.
As for changing equipment… when he edited the video last night, he had felt that something was off, and only now did he realize it was an image quality issue. That was indeed very important.
Thinking of this, Gu Qiu turned to glance at the phone he had bought in his second year of university with a month’s worth of part-time job pay.
Because it had been well maintained, even after four years of wear, it still worked normally, and the exterior had not suffered much damage.
But he had to admit that both the camera specs and the storage were far too outdated. Using it to shoot videos was really pushing it.
He shook his head and sighed softly.
“Looks like I can’t avoid a big expense!”
That said, Gu Qiu also understood the principle that you have to spend money to make money.
Since he wanted to make short videos, he definitely needed a good set of equipment.
He exited Xunmeng and instead opened Jingxi Mall, browsing a sports camera he really liked and had also placed as the first-place prize in the points competition.
But not long after, just as Gu Qiu was consulting customer service about a question, a tall, burly, and muscular man walked in.
He swept his gaze around the room and placed a stack of papers on the desk.
“The competition schedule, events, and rules for next month’s sports meet will be announced later in the school’s big group chat. Teachers, please read them carefully and relay them to the students.”
“These are the registration forms for each event. Each class must submit its roster by next Friday at the latest!”
“In addition, this year’s staff sports meet is divided into two groups, youth and middle-to-senior. Interested teachers can come to the office downstairs or sign up with me on WeChat!”
After he finished speaking, the several teachers who were eating breakfast began discussing it all at once.
“The fitness of the students in our class… sigh, it’s really hard to put into words!”
“Teacher Song, the PE teacher in your class is always ‘sick’ and taking leave every time. How could the students’ fitness possibly be any good?”
“With staff split into two groups, does that mean I don’t have to compete with the principal anymore?”
“Brother Zhao, you’re fifty this year, right? Which group do you think you’ll be in?”
“Hahaha, Brother Zhao says he’s old in body but young at heart, and he’ll force his way into the youth group!”
“…”
Meanwhile, Sun Yi, the PE teacher who had spoken earlier, noticed Gu Qiu with his head lowered and quickly walked over.
“Gu Qiu, look at how hunched your back is!”
“You’ve been pretty busy this semester, huh? I don’t even see you on the court anymore!”
Gu Qiu came back to his senses.
Playing basketball was one of his few hobbies. Last semester, he would go to the court every weekend.
By a lucky coincidence, he had met Sun Yi. The two of them had become friends after a fight, and from then on they became basketball buddies, meeting up every now and then to spar.
Unfortunately, this semester his teaching load had increased, and even if he wanted to play, he did not have much time.
He gave an awkward laugh and replied, “Yeah. I’m exhausted every day. How can I be as carefree as you?”
Sun Yi, however, merely shrugged it off and asked, “There’s a basketball game at the sports meet. Want to play?”
Gu Qiu raised his eyebrows.
Thinking about the sports meet, he probably wouldn’t be too busy anyway. It would be good to get some exercise, so he nodded and agreed.
Seeing that, Sun Yi smiled and patted his shoulder.
“Then I’ll sign you up!”
At the same time, Qin Zhiyi, who was sitting across from them, listened to the conversation and her starry eyes flickered.
It seemed like she had not seen Gu Qiu play ball in many years.