CH 18.1

Chapter 18.1 – Studies

This novel is only hosted on Foxaholic, copies found elsewhere are either stolen or plagiarized.

Although Li Chuan is a pretty good person, he will become a strict teacher once he stands on the podium.

As for how serious Li Chuan tutored his students, she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, but she did hear his students mention it occasionally. Su Qin had meals with Li Chuan and his students several times in her previous lifetime. At the dining table, the students always complained to Su Qin and in his presence that ‘Professor Li’s classes are scary’.

At that time, Li Chuan just laughed it off. Seeing him smiling so amiably, Su Qin thought the students were joking.

Now it seems that … it’s really ‘scary’?

Li Chuan was strict in class, but it didn’t affect his personal relationship with the students, nor did it affect his status in the students’ heart. It was also precisely due to his usually good-naturedness that his strictness in class was even more intimidating.

Of course, Li Chuan’s ‘vicious tongue’ bearing does really inspire Su Qin, allowing her to be less overly confident and making her have a clear reality-check.

**********

In mid-April, the temperature in Yunyang City has risen to 30 degrees and those on the streets sweltered even in short sleeves.

The first batch of summer clothes in the store has almost sold out, and the lady boss, Chen Meixin, wants to order some new clothes.

She checked several avant-garde and novel styles in the fashion book, and came over to ask Su Qin’s opinion, “Little Su, look at these. How about I order a few pieces of these batches of summer clothes?”

Su Qin had a certain obsession with the fashion world in her previous lifetime that she had done her homework on the fashion trends from 1998 to 2023.

The lady boss has a very trendy view in selecting styles, which is one of the reasons why this new store is sought after by the customers.

But this batch of summer clothes that Chen Meixin chose now, although the style is OK, the color is rather outdated.

She asked, “Sister Chen, I went to the bookstore the other day and looked through the fashion magazines to see the popular trend of this spring and summer fashion week. There are a lot of blue-toned clothes this year and this wave of blue craze is expected to last until winter. Why don’t you choose blue for this batch of summer clothes?”

Chen Meixin said, “The big brands’ counters in the department stores have a lot of blue this year and it is reckoned that blue will wane off by May. Will there still be people buying blue clothes by then?”

Taking advantage of her previous lifetime’s experience, Su Qin gave Chen Meixin a brief overview, “En, the global popularity of yellow-green in 2004 has gone from the peak to decline, and the purple fever should continue. These two purple styles you chose are pretty good, so do keep it. But these few gray and yellow-green can be done away with. Last September, an internationally renowned color prognostic company anticipated that blue will be particularly popular in 2006 and this wave of blue fever is estimated to last until next year. So even if these blue styles can’t be sold off this year, they can still be sold next year.”

Chen Meixin felt that this girl has good aesthetics, hence she asked for her opinion. She didn’t expect this girl to actually start analyzing this year’s fashionable color and speak of it so coherently.

“Also, the white, pastel, metallic and gradient colors may stand out too, so you can choose a few of those.” Seeing that the lady boss was skeptical, Su Qin added, “Sister Chen, I have nothing to do recently, so I went to the bookstore to browse some fashion magazines. Of course, the above-mentioned is my summation and opinion which you can consider.

Chen Meixin hesitated for a while and felt that Su Qin had a point. So she cross-out those chosen styles and began to re-choose the colors that she suggested.

Chen Meixin has her own means of getting goods, and she is very picky with the style of each piece of clothing.

Three days later, Chen Meixin received the new batch of clothes.

Su Qin worked overtime until late at night, ironing all the clothes, matching them well and letting the lady boss, Chen Meixin, wear them. She then complemented her with jewelry and high-quality imitation branded bags.

Chen Meixin was very dissatisfied with her figure after the photos were taken, “I’m not in good shape. Once the clients see these photos in Myspace, will they still come to our store?”

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Su Qin took the SD card from the camera and inserted it into the card reader, preparing to go to the internet cafe.

She reassured the lady boss, “Of course these are not ready photos. I’ll fix it before posting it online. Lady Boss, you wait and remember to give me a like when browsing Myspace tonight.”

Chen Meixin didn’t know what this girl had up her sleeves and let her have her way.

In the evening, Su Qin took the photos to edit in the internet cafe. There weren’t any beautify apps in this era, so she could only use photoshop.

Due to the camera and lighting issues, Su Qin had to use ps to retouch the photos.

She used ps liquefy tools to refine the lady boss’ face, legs, arms and also elongated the lady boss’ legs.

The lady boss had no makeup on, so she dabbed the lady boss’s face with the paintbrush, and after spending 2 hours, she actually touched up a magazine makeup for the lady boss.

Su Qin hadn’t used this set of ps skills for many years and didn’t expect she was still proficient now.

At 8pm with nothing to do at home, Chen Meixin surfed the internet and browsed through Myspace when she saw Su Qin updating the photo albums.

Clicking in to look at the photos inside, she was dumbfounded at once.

“? ? ?”

Wait … is the woman who looks like a Taobao model really her? After a few minutes, she saw more than a dozen comments under the album’s commentary.

[True Loving Heart]: “So beautiful, how much is this set ah? 5555555[1] … it is too beautiful!”

[Look Up the Sky at 45 degrees]: “Omg ah! This dress is quite pretty, ah, how much is it?”

[Sweet-Nothings Enthusiastic Nonsense ︿ξ]: Are these the store’s new clothes? Beautiful, give me a set! This dress must be pretty on me!”

**********

That night, the lady boss’ phone was jammed with calls. More than 20 clients successively called to ask the price of that clothing and how many more sets were left.

The style that Su Qin posted in Myspace became a hot seller and the demand exceeded the supply. Considering that Su Qin’s ‘Myspace marketing’ was doing pretty well, Chen Meixin moved her home computer to the store to facilitate her access to QQ.

In order not to be disturbed by the clients’ calls, Chen Meixin gave her a small handphone that wasn’t in use at home, and even set up a 5 yuan monthly fee phone card for her.

Having a handphone, it is also convenient for Su Qin to contact Meng Sisi and she will also often call Captain Lu.

Captain Lu was moved to tears by Su Qin’s frequent calls, and the sense of accomplishment at work became more exuberant that he even felt good working extra hours since being a policeman can save lives.

As the people’s police officer and being concerned by the civilians, that kind of feeling is extremely blessed.

Having her day-off on Monday, Su Qin went to look for Teacher Li as agreed.

Since her neighborhood was located in the old city district and it was difficult to take the bus, Su Qin got up early and walked to Nanjing University with her schoolbag in order to save the few dollars bus fare.

The two-hour walk, she didn’t feel exhausted and treated it as losing weight.

Nanjing University campus, also known as Nanyi Garden, is adjacent to two famous ancient buildings in Yunyang City. After Nanjing University moved to Nanyi Garden in 1952, the foundation of the architectural classical garden was preserved and it was aptly transformed into a historical garden campus.

Not only are there quaint pavilions in the campus, but also towering ancient trees and leafy shade of greenery, as well as surrounded by a beautiful landscape of mountains and water.

Su Qin was no stranger to this place. Walking into the school and looking at the students coming and going in the campus, she suddenly felt a brave sense of progress.

The school was filled with youthfulness.

She arrived ten minutes early at NJU library and waited at the entrance for Li Chuan with the schoolbag on her back.

With her hair tied in a ponytail, Su Qin wore a very plain t-shirt and jeans. Under-developed and short in stature, she could be seen like a high school student at a glance. Realizing that she attracted a bit of attention standing at the entrance, she simply entered the library and sat in the most conspicuous seat to wait for Li Chuan.

Ten minutes later, Li Chuan, a doctoral student, arrived as scheduled.

Dressed casually in a white short sleeves and khaki pants, the distinctive top and bottom colors made his legs look very long.

With both hands hanging down, the man’s fingers are clean and slender as he held a pen between his fingers and twirled it at will. Su Qin was very worried that the pen would accidentally drop and break to pieces on the ground.

The attractive top-scholar’s appearance in the library was a rare occurrence, and the girls all looked over the entrance and some even started to talk about it.

Li Chuan’s gaze swept around the library when it landed on Su Qin and he walked towards her.

He stopped in front of her, placed the pen on the table first and asked her, “Did you bring everything that you need?”

Looking at the towering man above, Su Qin nodded, indicating that she had brought everything.

Li Chuan pulled the bench in her direction.

When the man reached out for the textbook, his arm rubbed against the tip of the girl’s nose that a faint waft of his body’s scent lingered on the tip of her nose.

The man is a bit of a mysophobia, who must change his clothes daily and even in summer, he doesn’t smell sweaty but refreshingly clean.

Su Qin was drenched in sweat when she arrived at the school. Although with the fan blowing after she sat down, her body was still sticky and not as refreshingly clean like the big man, Li Chuan.

“Thud, thud.”

Seeing her in a daze, Li Chuan tapped softly on the table twice, sending out the heavily muffled sound.

Regaining her senses, the girl stared blankly at him.

“I have flowers on my face? Are you here to look at me or listen to my lesson?”

Li Chuan had taught for many years in his previous lifetime after all, and this was something with a heavily educated sharpness that he often said to those female students in class.

“Sorry, Teacher Li. Let’s begin.”

Su Qin nodded slightly at the man, then took out a rollerball pen from the pencil case and pulled out pieces of draft paper.

[1] 555 (呜呜呜 pinyin: wūwūwū) – China’s internet slang represent the sound of tearful crying.