The car was dim and muggy.

At first it was just a kiss. The man carried a badness in his bones, deliberately teasing her. He lightly bit her, then pulled back a little, pressing close to her, lowering his voice by her ear as he laughed softly and said some improper things.

“Is it okay to kiss you like this?”

“What about this?”

“Doing bad things at school—will Teacher Jin think it’s a bit indecent?”

Jin Zhao couldn’t take it anymore. She hooked both arms around his neck and forcefully pulled him down.

Her lips crashed into the bridge of his nose, off target. The next moment, the man’s fingers hooked under her chin, tilting his head slightly, and he kissed her hard.

Later, the one who had been deliberately provoking her was the first to lose control.

The temperature inside the car was ignited, their breathing growing rapid.

Jin Zhao’s seat belt hadn’t been undone yet, like a barrier between them. Meng Yanxi cradled her face with one hand, while the other hand impatiently slid downward, groping.

After a faint rustling sound, there was a “click,” and the seat belt came undone.

But Meng Yanxi was pressed over her, and the seat belt was pinned beneath them, still stretched between the two of them.

The man shifted his body irritably.

At last, the seat belt disappeared from between them, and at the same time, Jin Zhao felt the car rock ambiguously twice.

The restlessness in her body instantly magnified.

Very quickly, voices talking came from outside the car, and the agitated blood immediately cooled.

Building No. 7 of the teachers’ apartments was originally built during the Republican era. It was old, with a courtyard, and parking was available both inside and outside the yard. Meng Yanxi was used to parking outside, beneath the roadside trees, a dim streetlamp some distance away.

Usually, aside from the teachers who lived there, few people passed by, but at this hour it was just after evening classes ended.

The main road was crowded, and many students detoured through here.

At first there were only one or two faint voices drifting over. Soon, the sounds grew closer, and more and more students appeared.

They passed by the car together, chatting about teachers, homework, and the annoying package pickup process at Cainiao stations. Someone even recognized Meng Yanxi’s car and suddenly let out an exclamation of “Holy shit.”

“Are all our school’s teachers this rich? Driving a Maybach!”

“What’s so amazing about driving a Maybach?”

“Whether it’s amazing or not, I don’t know, but anyone who can drive this Maybach is definitely amazing—this thing costs nearly twenty million.”

“Holy shit! That’s insane! If I were that rich, I’d just lie flat at home—why would I even work!”

“Maybe it’s the principal’s?”

“The principal can’t drive something that expensive, can they? That’d be a violation.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, universities really are full of hidden talents. You never know how impressive the background of that ordinary-looking teacher might be.”

…

The loudest voices gradually faded into the distance, but the flow of people didn’t disperse. Instead, more and more students passed by.

Inside the car, Jin Zhao curled up in Meng Yanxi’s arms, not daring to move at all.

It had originally just been a normal kiss between a man and a woman in a relationship, but because they happened to run into students coming out after evening classes, it instead felt like some shameful affair that couldn’t see the light of day.

Jin Zhao hadn’t done anything wrong, yet she felt inexplicably guilty.

And at a time like this, Meng Yanxi still came to kiss her.

His thumb and forefinger pinned her chin at the tiger’s mouth, and he leaned in intimately to kiss her lips.

How was Jin Zhao supposed to kiss him back?

She could practically see the three huge characters “role model teacher” stamped right on her forehead.

Cursed by this bad guy’s words coming true, she really did start to feel a bit indecent.

She tilted her head slightly to avoid him.

The man’s hot lips landed at the corner of her mouth instead, his breath spraying over the base of her ear.

The tips of her ears were so red they looked ready to drip blood.

He stared at her, then laughed soundlessly, his breath brushing her ear as he asked in an apparently easygoing tone, “Not kissing anymore? Then get out of the car?”

Jin Zhao was stunned, eyes widening.

He was doing this on purpose, right? How could they get out of the car at a time like this?

And when a certain someone didn’t get an answer from her, he braced one hand on the seatback behind her and made as if to rise.

Jin Zhao remembered the ambiguous rocking of the car just now. Panicking, she grabbed his hand, lowering her voice and urging anxiously, “Don’t move!”

There were students everywhere outside right now. With the windows tightly shut and the streetlight not reaching this spot, everyone just assumed this was an empty car and walked around it without a second glance. But if the car suddenly started rocking at this moment… Jin Zhao didn’t dare imagine how spectacular the campus gossip wall would be tomorrow.

This man was rotten to the core. With his nose pressed to hers, he even asked with an innocent face, “Why can’t I move?”

Jin Zhao: “……”

It was her mistake. How could a person possibly compete with a green tea master?

Teacher Jin gave up and lay flat: “Then move.”

Wasn’t it just a contest of who was more shameless?

But the facts proved that once someone abandoned all shame, their odds of winning rose immediately.

The bad man chuckled quietly. “How could I bear to let Lingling be publicly executed?”

Jin Zhao stared at him with a numb expression, no longer believing his sweet talk.

Outside, it was the peak of foot traffic, silhouettes crowding past the windows. But because the car had one-way glass, those outside couldn’t see in. And thanks to his sister—back when Meng Zhuxi had insisted that one couldn’t lie flat, Meng Yanxi had even modified the passenger seat. At this moment, the seat was almost fully reclined, and he himself was pressed over her. Even from the windshield, no one could see that there were people inside.

Now the students passing by had moved on to discussing cafeteria food. Which window’s cook was more generous, which one’s hands shook like they had Parkinson’s, shaking all the meat away.

Their voices carried clearly into the car.

Separated by a single pane of glass, Meng Yanxi quietly cradled Jin Zhao’s face. The teasing in his eyes faded, and those pitch-dark pupils seemed to overlap with the inexperienced boy from nine years ago.

“I won’t move. I’ll just kiss you, okay?” he asked softly, his voice barely more than breath.

Outside, the wind picked up. The fruits of the roadside Chinese pistache trees were blown down, lightly knocking against the car roof.

Jin Zhao heard a very faint impact and couldn’t tell whether it was the sound from the roof, or from her own chest.

She lay beneath him, gazing at him quietly, moisture shimmering in her eyes.

Without saying yes or no, she closed her eyes and, unable to help herself, took the initiative to kiss his lips.

This kiss that followed was very pure, very quiet.

Outside the car was the stream of people passing by after evening classes ended; inside the car was a couple locked in a silent embrace.

Outside was a clamor of voices; inside, within this small enclosed world, it was so quiet that one could almost hear the restless flow of each other’s blood.

Their fingers were interlaced as they sank quietly and with restraint, unable to pull themselves away.

……

The crowd outside didn’t fully disperse until nearly half an hour later.

The two of them separated even later than that.

When they finally parted, there wasn’t a single person outside anymore, just like when they had first arrived. In between, students had finished their evening classes and returned to their dorms—and they had been kissing the entire time.

Meng Yanxi still didn’t get up, his fingertips lingering as they brushed over the corner of her mouth.

Jin Zhao’s eyes were full of moisture as she looked at him, glistening.

He seemed to really be a bit unable to stop himself. After caressing her for a moment, he leaned in again, unwilling to part, and continued kissing her.

Jin Zhao’s lips were starting to feel numb from his kisses. She lightly pressed a hand to his chest and said in a small voice, “You’re too heavy.”

“Mmh, I’ll be lighter.” He took her hand and gently ground it across her lips.

Jin Zhao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“No, I mean you—you’re too heavy…”

Only then did someone finally come back to his senses.

He sat up and pulled his girlfriend upright, using his fingers to straighten her clothes and tidy her hair.

Meng Yanxi said, “Sorry. Next time I’ll be underneath.”

Jin Zhao: “……”

Hearing it like that made him sound downright beastly in human clothes—he might as well not have said anything.

Lowering her eyes, Jin Zhao said softly, “Then I’ll go back.”

“Mm.”

He was suddenly so self-aware that Jin Zhao actually felt unaccustomed to it. She hesitated, then asked, “You’re not going in?”

“No,” Meng Yanxi said with rare self-mockery and clear-headedness. “Once I go in, I won’t be able to come back out.”

Jin Zhao: “……”

-♥︎ ྀི◟ ͜ ◞♥︎ ྀི◟ ͜ ◞♥︎ ྀི

As for the lecture, Jin Zhao was only responsible for submitting the proposal. The specific arrangements were handled by the university.

Early the next morning, Zhuang Yu received a call from the principal’s office of Sui Normal University. The one coordinating was the principal’s assistant.

“December 20th?”

Hearing that date, Zhuang Yu frowned.

Aside from private matters, most of Meng Yanxi’s schedule was arranged by him, so Zhuang Yu knew even better than Meng Yanxi himself that on December 20th, Meng Yanxi was scheduled to fly to New York to personally liaise with a very important financial consortium.

How had a lecture suddenly been scheduled?

He hadn’t even heard the boss mention it.

Zhuang Yu was smooth and tactful. With a couple of polite remarks, he placated the other party, hung up the phone, and immediately contacted Meng Yanxi.

Meng Yanxi had been a bit too carried away the night before. In the end, he hadn’t gone inside, but everything that should have happened, more or less, had already happened in his dreams.

When Zhuang Yu’s call came through, he had just finished showering. Beneath the bath towel was a virile male body, blood hot and hormones surging.

He casually pressed speakerphone, wiping his hair as he listened to Zhuang Yu report the scheduling conflict.

Meng Yanxi admitted that he’d been somewhat lust-addled lately, but the New York trip concerned the interests of the entire Yunsheng Group. He wasn’t about to forget something like that.

Meng Yanxi said, “The New York banquet is on the 22nd. There’s also a twelve-hour time difference over there. There’s enough time.”

Zhuang Yu’s working style was cautious and thorough. Even if the big boss had spoken, if the lecture at Sui Normal University were treated as a work engagement, December 20th was not appropriate. As an assistant, he would never schedule it on that day.

But Zhuang Yu quickly checked Meng Yanxi’s schedule. His entire month was packed solid, and there really was no other time he could squeeze out.

Zhuang Yu suggested, “Why don’t we arrange it for after you return to the country? I can negotiate with them.”

“Negotiate what?” Meng Yanxi laughed. “This is a private matter. You don’t need to handle it.”

The boss’s private matter.

Got it.

Even mountains of knives and seas of fire couldn’t stop him, let alone a mere schedule.

Zhuang Yu immediately took the hint. “All right. I’ll reschedule the flight to the 21st.”

And just like that, the lecture was officially set. What Jin Zhao hadn’t expected was that because of this, the dean actually publicly praised her in the college’s main group chat.

Jin Zhao herself felt embarrassed. She thought she’d merely completed a task.

Having such a sought-after boyfriend left Jin Zhao with mixed feelings.

There was definitely a tiny bit of vanity, but also an unavoidable sense of disparity.

Before her research and teaching abilities had been recognized, she had first been recognized because of her boyfriend.

She often said that they weren’t from the same world, and at moments like this, that feeling became especially pronounced.

With just a flick of his finger, he could affect so many people, while she exerted herself to the utmost and was still just a bottom-tier worker.

Jin Zhao still sent Meng Yanxi a message on WeChat to express her thanks.

Meng Yanxi really did push his luck. He quickly replied, “Just a verbal thank-you?”

He must have been busy—he replied directly with a voice message.

But he also didn’t seem that busy. Jin Zhao hadn’t even had time to reply before several more voice messages came whooshing in one after another.

“Teacher Jin, don’t you think that ever since you got my body, you’ve started being perfunctory with me?”

“Back then, when I merely gave you a ride once, you wanted to write me a thank-you letter.”

“By now, shouldn’t I at least have earned a silk banner?”

Jin Zhao: “……”

She really must have been possessed—just moments ago she’d actually thought Meng Yanxi was standing high up on some pedestal.

With that mouth of his, he could be dragged right back down in minutes.

Still, she was always fairly indulgent toward her boyfriend. With good temper, she asked, “What kind do you want?”

Meng Yanxi seemed to seriously think about it for a moment, then said, “Forget it. My new place is decorated in a French style. A silk banner wouldn’t match.”

The big capitalist added shamelessly, “You can just prepare a housewarming gift for me then.”

Meng Yanxi had casually mentioned that he was moving at the end of the month. Jin Zhao hadn’t even thought to ask where he was moving to, but she immediately took it to heart and started picking out a gift for him.

Over the past few days, whenever she had free time between classes, she browsed French-style interior photos online, mulling over what to buy him—something that would match the house and also make him happy.

“Buy?”

When Meng Yanxi came to pick her up after class and heard her use that word, he was clearly displeased. “You’re just planning to buy something for me?”

Jin Zhao looked confused.

Staring at the young master’s handsome yet aloof face, she said awkwardly, “But robbing something would be illegal.”

Meng Yanxi: “……”

His girlfriend was adorably slow, so Meng Yanxi could only mercifully remind her, “Back then, the gifts you gave Meng Zhuxi were all handmade. When it comes to me, you’re just going to casually buy something?”

Jin Zhao reflected for a long while and confirmed that she hadn’t handmade any gifts herself.

“Which one?” she asked.

Meng Yanxi enunciated each word, confronting her unhurriedly: “The clay figurine.”

Only then did Jin Zhao remember. She laughed. “That wasn’t made by me, that was molded by my grandfather.”

But at this point, someone was clearly bent on being unreasonable and insisting on making things difficult. Raising an eyebrow, he made an arrogant and rude demand: “Then you make one for me too.”

Jin Zhao fell silent for a moment, then obediently nodded.

She stood on tiptoe and used both hands to pinch Meng Yanxi’s face, gently pulling it outward to both sides.

Like teasing a child, that stunningly handsome face of his became something comical and faintly cute under her hands.

Jin Zhao withdrew her hands. “All done.”

Meng Yanxi: “…………”

As for how the two of them ended up kissing again afterward, Jin Zhao couldn’t remember.

There was no one around behind the exam paper repository. Except during finals, teachers and students never came here. Only very occasionally would the building supervisor come by to inspect.

Meng Yanxi leaned his back against a Chinese pistache tree. Jin Zhao wrapped her arms around his waist, and the two of them quietly embraced and kissed beneath the gentle daylight.