On Tuesday, Yang Wei received a call from the police station. The robber had been caught, and she was requested to come and claim her lost property. She went straight to the police station after work, but her wallet and phone had already been sold, and only a few thousand yuan could be recovered.

However, she was already pleased with the outcome. After signing her name, she took the bus back home, and knowing that she was carrying a few thousand on her, followed Jian Shuang's teachings faithfully by keeping her bag in front of her the whole way.

When she got home, she found Qi Xiao Yan's car parked downstairs. Raising a brow, she entered to find him messing around on the balcony.

She threw her bag on the sofa and approached. "What are you up to?"

Hearing her voice, he turned, his hands stained with dirt. "You're back late."

"I went to the police station. They caught the robber and wanted me to come pick up my money."

Hearing about it made him recall the feeling of powerlessness. Approaching her, he asked, "What did you get back?"

"Only cash, but that's not bad."

Qi Xiao Yan nodded. Yang Wei craned her neck to look behind him. "What are you doing on the balcony? What's with all the soil on your hands?"

"Didn't you say you wanted flowers? I brought you some flowers."

"Huh?" Yang Wei bypa.s.sed him and went straight to the balcony. There was indeed a long rectangular planter on the balcony, in which were planted a number of budding rose plants. Dangling from hooks set on the iron railing hung several pots, the flowers within also just setting bud. She examined them and recognized cosmos, lewisia, and double petunia.1I'm amazed she could recognize those right off the bat. I love gardening and would hardly be able to look at a double petunia and be like "oh yeah man, this chrysanthemum-ish thing is a petunia for sure"

"I bought flowers just about to bloom because I was afraid you'd kill them. I thought about buying blue roses at first, but I was afraid you'd kill those too, so I got red and pink instead."

Yang Wei: "..."

She was capable of feeding herself, what was with this lack of faith in her ability to feed a few flowers?!

A closer look at the balcony showed that Qi Xiao Yan had not only bought plants, but also a watering can, a trowel, and fertilizer.

She looked up at Qi Xiao Yan with a smile. "So your way of giving me flowers is by giving them to me to take care of?"

"Doesn't it make more sense? You can just water them every morning before leaving. Don't add too much fertilizer. There are instructions on the bag."

Yang Wei stared at him in silence for a moment, then sighed. "Weren't there any, you know... bouquets?"

"Yes, but I feel like flowers you raise yourself are more meaningful."

Yang Wei: "..."

But I just want to receive a beautiful bouquet! I'm just that superficial!

Qi Xiao Yan paused. "Are you unhappy with them?"

"Not at all. I'll water them every day. I'll go cook, you..."

Qi Xiao Yan met her gaze. She paused, then added, "...stay for dinner." With that, she made her way to the kitchen. A smile on his face, Qi Xiao Yan continued arranging the plants on the balcony.

Yang Wei peered inside the refrigerator. She had bought quite a bit from the supermarket yesterday, and after thinking for a moment, decided on hot pot for that night. She had just so happened to have bought a bag of hot pot ingredients. After starting the rice cooker, she started putting together the hot pot, and the sharp, spicy scent made her eyes water. She couldn't help but giggle at the thought of how Professor Qi would look eating it later.

Placing the induction cooker on the table, she added some meat in when the soup base began boiling. Qi Xiao Yan moved to sit down opposite her and looked at the induction cooker. "Hot pot tonight?"

"Yup. I bought a lot yesterday, and it needs to get eaten quickly." Stirring the food with chopsticks, she raised her eyes to him. "Don't worry, it'll definitely be less spicy than that broken heart jelly, and I made rice to go with it."

While speaking, she got up and pulled out a box of yogurt from the refrigerator. Pouring some into a cup, she set it in front of him. "This will help with the spice."

Qi Xiao Yan picked up the yogurt silently and took a sip.2A lot of yogurt in China is more like a drink than a creamy solid. Think something more like Yakult than Greek yogurt. Where I grew up, we drank Vitagen.

Yang Wei enjoyed that meal a good deal, cleaning off two-thirds of the food. She had added a little less of the hot pot spices when frying up the ingredients, so it was hardly spicy for her at all. Due to her efforts, Professor Qi managed the last third with great difficulty.

As she polished off the last piece of broccoli, Qi Xiao Yan emptied the entire family-sized box of yogurt. He put down his cup and looked over at the satisfied looking face across from him. "I risked an upset stomach tomorrow to eat this hot pot with you."

Chopsticks in her mouth, Yang Wei said with a smile, "I must have saved the universe in my last life."

Qi Xiao Yan:" ...... "

Stretching, she tossed dishwas.h.i.+ng to Qi Xiao Yan. "I cooked, so you get to do the dishes. Sounds fair, right? Anyway, I've got cla.s.s."

Qi Xiao Yan looked at his watch. It was almost half past seven, and he... also had cla.s.s.

He stood and began to tidy up the table. Before long, he heard Yang Wei's voice inquire from the bedroom, "Why isn't Cla.s.smate Li Gou Dan here today?

Qi Xiao Yan: "..."

He finished was.h.i.+ng quickly, then headed to the doorway and called, "I'm heading out!"

Yang Wei turned around and nodded. The students at the other end, however, were all boiling up as if they had just discovered a new continent

Future Mr. Perfect: There's a man's voice over where teacher is!

Cocoa: I heard it too!

Qi Qi's Meow: A man again so soon, indeed a winner at life [laughing crying]

Nine Nine Eight: #TeacherDon'tForgetDogAbuseInCla.s.s [Bye]

Yang Wei: "..."

She coughed drily and explained, "That's my SMS alert tone."

Liang Ming Hao, naturally, didn't believe her. He went to Fang Cheng Ran's room and peered in to make sure that his uncle was at home - then he sighed and returned to his bedroom.

Alas, poor uncle, it seems that you'll soon be out of the running.

Halfway through the cla.s.s, Cla.s.smate Li Gou Dan arrived, late. Yang Wei saw him enter and said, "Cla.s.smate Li Gou Dan, we're already halfway through cla.s.s."

Li Gou Dan: I went out for hot pot today and just got back.

"What a coincidence! I had hot pot today too~"

Li Gou Dan: :)

"Today is the first coloring lesson. After cla.s.s, please watch the recording to make up for what you've missed."

Li Gou Dan: :)

Yang Wei mused on what an omnipotent expression :) was. It gave off the feeling of silent wisdom.

After the cla.s.s ended, she took a shower and lay in bed catching up on novels.

had been updated. The latest chapter revealed that the princess had all along been an a.s.sa.s.sin sent by the Demon Lord, but that the main character had seen through her and therefore stabbed her to death.

One after the other, the readers confessed that Great G.o.d, our hearts just cannot bear the plot's dramatic rollercoaster ups and downs.

Yang Wei threw out a coin, left an encouraging comment, and went to sleep.

Right at that moment, a few other people were having struggles of their own.

Song Jin's manager spread out a few photos on the tabletop. "I won't ask who this man is, but what are you going to do about it?"

Looking down at the photos on the table, Song Jin replied flatly, "Isn't that my manager's job?"

Her manager snorted. "Eating together, chatting together, going in and out of a hotel... the paparazzi said that he's even got photos of the two of you going back to your apartment together. He's apparently been eyeing you  with his camera for a long time and is all set to make you into a series."

Song Jin said nothing. Sitting in her large chair, her manager was also silent for a moment. Then she said, "If this is the first love you were talking about, I hear that he's a professor at Imperial City University. He looks good, and his occupation's decent. I've already contacted 30 Minute News and had them publish it early. The t.i.tle is probably going to be something like 'G.o.ddess Returns to School to Meet Her First Love, Old Love Rekindled'."

Song Jin's eyes flashed. Noticing it, her manager frowned. "This way, when that paparazzi reveals the photos that he's taken, the impact will be much reduced. It'll help with your movie promotion, too. You know how much I loathe paparazzi. This is blackmail, and I refuse to pay it."

Staring her down, Song Jin asked, "Isn't it a bit nasty to use other people as hype?"

Her manager smiled. "What, are you telling me that all these photos are just Photoshop composites?"

When she frowned, her manager got up from her chair. "You can leave now, don't miss tomorrow's trip."

Song Jin held her gaze for a while, then picked up her coat and left the office.

The editor of 30 Minute News was exceedingly efficient. They wrote the article overnight and published it to the Internet. After seeing it on the news, the paparazzi threw out all the photos he had, and in just half an hour, Song Jin shot up to the top spot of Weibo, overwhelming the new song of a certain group.

At work the next day, Teacher Yao pulled Yang Wei to the side, flushed with excitement. "Did you check what posts you got tagged on Weibo last night?"

"Weibo? What Weibo?" Yang Wei found her phone from her bag and logged on. On the upper right corner, she was stunned to see more than 20 tag notifications. She opened it and found that they were all from the same message.

Qi Xiao Yan and Song Jin's Old Love Rekindled? Hahaha, Professor Qi sure is doing well nowadays, making headlines on Weibo and all!

Teacher Yao leaned over and peered at her screen. "The person on the photo is Professor Qi, isn't it? Did you hear any rumours about it prior?"

Yang Wei tossed her phone back into her bag and made her way to her desk. "No. He and I are divorced. These things have nothing to do with me."

Teacher Yao thought that it made sense and went to her own seat. She opened a music textbook and for a while prepared lessons. Then she turned to look at Yang Wei curiously. "I wonder what Professor Qi is doing right now?"

Qi Xiao Yan was right that moment surrounded by a group of reporters. They had pounced on him as soon as he left the dormitory building.

"Professor Qi, when Song Jin referred to a first love in her interview, was she referring to you?"

"Excuse me , Professor Qi, what is your current relations.h.i.+p with Song Jin? Is there really a resurgence of old feelings involved?"

"Excuse me, Professor Qi. A reporter photographed you going back to Song Jin's apartment together with her. Do you have an explanation for this?"

"Professor Qi..."

Their questions peppered him like buckshot. Qi Xiao Yan gave them all a look and asked, "a.s.sume that a plane contains N >= 3 points. How would you prove that if a straight line though any two points also goes through a third, all N points lie on a single line?"

Reporter: "..."

What was he talking about?

"Just like you can't answer my question, I can't answer yours." Then he pushed the reporter aside and walked out from their encirclement. Watching his back disappear, a reporter holding a microphone asked another next to him, "Did he just say that a straight line was determined by two points?"

"Psh, he was talking about the Sylvester theorem3The Sylvester-Gallai theorem in geometry states that, given a finite number of points in the Euclidean plane, either

- all the points lie on a single line; or

- there is at least one line which contains exactly two of the points.."

Reporter A c.o.c.ked his head. "So you understood? Why didn't you answer him just now?"

Reporter B: "Because I've only heard the question part of the problem."

When Qi Xiao Yan walked into the cla.s.sroom, it immediately quieted down. The eyes of the students staring at him revealed their surging inner hearts.

The cla.s.s monitor was the first to ask, "Professor Qi, is Song Jin really your girlfriend?"

The cla.s.s secretary piped up as well, "Professor Qi, have you really been to Song Jin's house?"

He turned to them and placed the book he was carrying on the desk. "The problem I left for homework yesterday will be explained to the cla.s.s by you two in two different ways." As he spoke, he stepped aside and left the podium to them.

The cla.s.s monitor and secretary: "..."

When cla.s.s was over, Qi Xiao Yan met the head of the mathematics department in the corridor. The department head approached him with a stack of books in his arms and a solemn face. "The director just told informed me to send you to the princ.i.p.al's office."

Qi Xiao Yan nodded. "Got it."

The cast of

was still filming on campus when he left the teacher's building, and there were more reporters that day than the day that it had began. Song Jin's eagle eyes spotted him pa.s.sing by on the small path next to them, but from start to finish, he gave her not a single glance.

Though the reporters saw him as well and attempted to stop him, Qi Xiao Yan relied on his familiarity with the terrain to evade them.

In front of the princ.i.p.al's office, he straightened out his clothes and raised his hand to knock on the door.

"Please come in," the voice of the princ.i.p.al came from behind the door. The princ.i.p.al was generally not present at the university, and Qi Xiao Yan was afraid that the fact that he was here today was just to deal with his own affairs.

Qi Xiao Yan opened the door and walked in. The headmaster sat at his desk and the director stood beside him.

"Princ.i.p.al Zhao."

Though Qi Xiao Yan's voice was low-key and inconspicuous, it gave one a feeling of soberness, like a mint candy eaten during the first cla.s.s of the afternoon.

Princ.i.p.al Zhao nodded to him, a smile on his face, "Little Qi, I think you should know what this is all about. I saw the news report, and while I believe your private matters are your own, this has attracted a great many reporters, and is a bad influence on both you and students. This is still a school, and I would like for these things to not affect the normal order."

"I understand. I'll take care of the matter."

"That's great. You have always been outstanding, and I believe that you will solve the issue satisfactorily."

From outside the headmaster's office, Qi Xiao Yan gave Yang Wei a call. It was refused. He checked the time - she should be between cla.s.ses at this point, so she must not be answering her phone on purpose. He stood in there a moment, thinking about it, then replaced his phone in its bag.

After Yang Wei had refused Qi Xiao Yan's call, it rang again. Thinking he was calling again, she was about to hang up, but then realized that the call was from Fang Cheng Ran.

"What's up?"

There was a pause at the other end of the line. "Bad mood?"

Yang Wei grunted. A smile in his voice, Fang Cheng Ran said, "Didn't I tell you to eat something delicious to cheer up a bad mood? I hear there's a new cake shop that's opened recently, supposedly very delicious. Why don't I invite you for some?"

"Nnn... I'm sorry, I'm just really not in the mood today."

Fang Cheng Ran fell silent for a moment. Then he offered, "Then I can bring some to you at school during lunch break. Would you like chocolate cake, strawberry cream cake or green tea cake?"

Her mouth opened and closed a few times. Then she replied spinelessly, "Can I have one of each?"

He laughed. "See you at noon."

Hanging up the phone, he strode out the door. As Yang Wei was herding students out the school gate at noon, she saw his car parked across the street.

The eye-catching Maserati naturally attracted a crowd of onlookers. The fat security guard at the gate blinked. So the Maserati guy was still in the game!

Liang Ming Hao recognized the car, of course. He walked over, tapped on the window, and asked with a crafty smile, "Uncle! Here for me?"

Fang Cheng Ran handed him a beautifully boxed fruit cake. "You know what to do."

Liang Ming Hao took the cake and left, exclaiming, "Oh my! I do believe I just saw Uncle Zeng's car over there."

Once Yang Wei had sent away all her students, she too came to knock on his window. Fang Cheng Ran opened the door for her and turned to grab the cakes from his back seat. "These three are for you, and this one is for your colleagues."

Yang Wei was all smiles to see the cakes. "You're terribly thoughtful." She raised her head. "I have to go up and watch my students, but do you want to come with me to see the school cafeteria?"

Fang Cheng Ran thought for a moment. "No, I'm already very happy just to see you. I'll ask you out to dinner next time."

Holding the cake, she scrutinized him for awhile. Then she opened the box with the matcha cake in it. "Then let's get rid of one right now." She handed him a spoon and carefully cut the cake in half with a knife. "This half is yours. Give me half of the chocolate. I'm not scared of getting fat."

Fang Cheng Ran laughed and picked up his spoon. The cake was small, and gone in two or three bites. Looking at her, he asked, "Are you in such a bad mood because of that newspaper article?"

When she was silent, he sighed softly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

Yang Wei wiped her mouth with a napkin and smiled at him. "This was delicious, thank you." She got out of the car carrying the other cakes, waving to him before leaving. Fang Cheng Ran watched her enter the teaching building before starting the car.

Yang Wei hid her two cakes in the cupboard. The other one was quickly carved up by Teacher Yao and the others. She checked her phone - there were no missed calls.

She bit her lip, threw the phone aside, and headed to the cafeteria.

Before school was over, she couldn't help but check her phone once more. Still no missed calls. In her heart, she laughed mockingly. But when she walked out of the school that afternoon, she saw Qi Xiao Yan's car parked outside the school gate.

Lately I have been reading a lot of Vengeful Woman In Imperial Harem novels. Because of that I've begun going to bed by opening the bedroom door and declaring to my boyfriend, "Imperial concubine, serve this Empress!"

Now he responds by rolling over and covering his face shyly. So obedient and docile! A beautiful little 6' tall, 220lb white lotus. This Empress is pleased.