Shen Zhixu first met Lin Yan in the Chinese teachers' office. The eighteen-year-old girl held a stack of homework and, smiling, set a cup of chrysanthemum tea on her desk.
Lin Yan smiled brightly. "Teacher Shen, have some tea to soothe your throat."
Shen Zhixu had just been promoted to director of academic affairs and become the homeroom teacher for the repeat-year class. Lin Yan was one of her students. Shen Zhixu couldn't understand why a girl who had already scored over 600 on the exam would choose to repeat the year.
Lin Yan said, "I think I can do even better."
Shen Zhixu ruffled her fluffy hair. "You're already amazing."
Lin Yan was one of the top students in class, always ranking among the top ten in her year. She was beautiful, her white school uniform was always spotless, and she always wore her hair in a neat high ponytail. She greeted everyone with a smile.
The first time she saw Shen Zhixu standing at the podium, she was captivated. She had never met a teacher so gentle, or whose smile was so charming. It stirred a strange thought in her.
At the post-exam dinner celebrating the teachers after the college entrance exams, Shen Zhixu got drunk. Lin Yan took her home and, in the dim light, secretly kissed her.
Lin Yan: "Teacher Shen smells so nice, and her lips are so soft."
Shen Zhixu, thinking to herself: I don't dare open my eyes. It must be a hallucination.
University life was always full of excitement. One admirer after another appeared around Lin Yan, but the person she couldn't forget was still Teacher Shen. So she started contriving to bump into her.
A typhoon hit, and Shen Zhixu was soaked through. Just as she entered the stairwell, a shadow startled her.
Lin Yan sat trembling at her door, looking pitiful.
A drenched puppy, Lin Yan: "Teacher, please take me in."
Shen Zhixu looked at the see-through white T-shirt, swallowed, then calmly looked away and opened the door.
A guilty Teacher Shen: "Come in quickly. Don't catch a chill."
The next day, Teacher Shen lay weakly in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
All that talk about clingy little puppies was a lie. This was a big bad wolf in sheep's clothing!
[Blurb written: 2026.3.16]
Theme: You wait for the romance; I wait for you
