The next day, as noon was drawing to a close.
The clouds drifting across the sky resembled somewhat murky stream water, occasionally obscuring the sun. The gentle breeze tickled the lush green trees lining the campus paths, sending the leaves swirling and colliding in a rustling, desolate sound.
At that moment, a figure passed by.
Gu Qiu held up a selfie stick, and the brand-new camera mounted on top captured his spirited expression.
After finishing lunch at the cafeteria yesterday, he had gone home and lain down, resting all the way until noon today. Then he received the camera he had been longing for, and both his body and mind felt incredibly refreshed.
Considering the issue of image quality, he had not filmed any new videos over the past two days. Although he had explained it in the comment section of his first video, a small number of people still chose to unfollow after seeing no hope of an update!
Now that his new equipment had arrived, and he happened to have another class in the afternoon, he was full of energy and planned to record material for a new episode!
Gu Qiu walked all the way to the teaching building and entered the office.
The class bell had long since rung, and there was only one middle-aged male teacher in the office at the moment.
Seeing that the other party was busy with his head down, he did not greet him and went straight to his own seat to sit down.
Gu Qiu’s class was scheduled for the third period; by his estimate, there was still an hour and a half to go.
He sat and thought for a moment, deciding to fiddle with the camera for a while first, then sort through the class content later.
Just then, a petite but rather refined middle-aged woman in white passed by the doorway.
She deliberately glanced inside, and upon spotting Gu Qiu, abruptly stopped in her tracks.
After adjusting herself on the spot, she changed direction and walked toward Gu Qiu.
Gu Qiu noticed the visitor, stopped what he was doing, and studied her for a moment before recalling her identity.
He raised an eyebrow slightly and asked with a smile:
“Teacher Zhang, is there something I can help you with?”
Zhang Ailan also offered a smile, dragged a nearby chair over, and only spoke after sitting down.
“What could I possibly be here for? I was just a little bored and wandering around. When I passed the door and saw you, I realized it had been a while since we last talked, so I came in to catch up.”
“Are you busy?”
“If you’re busy, then forget it!”
Gu Qiu narrowed his eyes slightly, a trace of suspicion hidden in his dark pupils.
This Teacher Zhang had taught a class with him last semester, but aside from swapping one lesson, they did not seem to have had much other interaction. Moreover, this semester she was focused on teaching second-year high school students. What kind of catching up was there for them to do?
Despite thinking this, as the saying goes, you don’t slap a smiling face. He could only reply politely:
“I’m not busy.”
Receiving his answer, Zhang Ailan nodded and continued:
“I heard you weren’t in great shape some time ago. Even though you’re still young, there’s no need to push yourself so hard. You…”
Listening to her endless stream of advice and concern, Gu Qiu felt warmth in his heart, but his suspicion grew at the same time.
He could sense that she had come with a purpose, but he did not say much and quietly watched the performance.
After a round of pleasantries, Zhang Ailan sighed, then slowly shifted the topic to her family conflicts, followed by bringing up her son’s early romance, before finally getting to the main point.
“…”
“…Speaking of which, Teacher Gu, you’re not getting any younger either. Haven’t you thought about dating or anything?”
Gu Qiu’s gaze sharpened slightly.
Truly a Chinese teacher – one trap leading into another – but she was still acting too eager.
After a brief moment of thought, he gave a calm smile.
“I want to focus on my career first. Relationship matters aren’t under consideration for now.”
“There’s a problem with that thinking. We teachers all get the same fixed salary – how much more can you develop!”
Zhang Ailan first refuted his words, then offered her own perspective.
“Besides, settling down and building a career aren’t mutually exclusive!”
“Life’s major matters have to be resolved sooner or later. If you don’t find a suitable partner while you’re young, it’ll be too late when you’re older!”
Finally, she delivered the solution at just the right moment.
“There are quite a few teachers in our school who are around your age and quite pretty. How about I play matchmaker and set you up?”
Gu Qiu’s shoulders sagged slightly as he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
At first, hearing Zhang Ailan ramble on for so long, he had almost gotten the illusion that she was interested in him.
If that were truly the case, he was afraid he would have no choice but to resign and flee – after all, Zhang Ailan was old enough to be his mother!
But what was worth mentioning was that just now, upon hearing the words “around your age and quite pretty,” the first person who came to mind was actually Qin Zhiyi!
Was this a go-between Qin Zhiyi had found?
Probably not.
That woman had not even met all the first-year high school teachers yet. How could she possibly have any connection with Zhang Ailan!
Meanwhile, seeing that Gu Qiu still was not responding, Zhang Ailan hurriedly added:
“You can try getting to know each other first – it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be together right away!”
Hearing this, Gu Qiu set aside his thoughts and shook his head decisively.
“No need.”
“I still think being on my own is perfectly fine. Thank you for your concern, Teacher Zhang.”
He had originally wanted to find out who had commissioned Zhang Ailan to act as a go-between, but he worried that pressing too much would cause a misunderstanding. After some thought, he decided it was better to simply refuse.
Suddenly, Gu Qiu turned his head to look at the workbooks piled on his desk, feigning a look of sudden realization.
“Oh right, I haven’t graded the homework yet!”
With that, he immediately took out a red pen and began flipping through them.
Zhang Ailan understood that Gu Qiu did not want to continue chatting with her. She stood up somewhat helplessly, said a brief goodbye, and left the office.
After stepping out, she turned her head to look at Gu Qiu.
She was a go-between, but she had not been commissioned by anyone.
Three mornings ago, she had suddenly caught the English teacher from her class sneaking into this office. After observing and asking around, she learned that she was delivering breakfast to Gu Qiu. Seeing that several days had passed without any progress, she decided to help bring them together – never expecting that Gu Qiu would refuse so firmly…
Zhang Ailan withdrew her gaze, shook her head, and murmured in a low voice:
“Little Wan, if you want to pursue him, it won’t be that easy!”
…
Gu Qiu did not dwell on Zhang Ailan’s little matchmaking incident. After keeping busy in the office for a long while, his final class of the week finally arrived.
This class was not Class 9’s, but rather the other liberal arts class he taught – Class 15!
After entering the classroom, Gu Qiu stood on the podium and scanned the room.
Class 15’s environment and discipline were somewhat better than Class 9’s, but the students were far less lively than Class 9’s!
However, many of them looked at him with bright, shining eyes.
Gu Qiu placed the sports camera on one corner of the podium and made a few simple adjustments to ensure it could capture him without blocking the students’ view.
The girl seated closest in the front row stared at his actions and finally spoke up, asking in a whisper:
“Teacher, are you recording a video?”
“That’s right, just documenting life!”
Gu Qiu replied with a light smile.
Hearing this, the girl – who was not very tall and looked rather thin – blinked her pretty peach blossom eyes and said nothing more.
A moment later, after Gu Qiu finished the pre-class teacher-student greeting routine, he got right to the point.
“Last time, I already introduced the History Points Competition to everyone, and today I’ve brought the first classroom points mini-game – Answer Relay!”