CH 31.1

Chapter 31.1 – Stationery

Su Qin thought it was normal to get tanned during military training but she didn’t realize how tanned she was.

When she saw Li Chuan’s surprised look, she seemed to realize that she might have really been … too tanned? She smiled at the other party, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, “What? Teacher Li doesn’t recognize me anymore after not seeing me for half a month?”

With her mouthful of white teeth shown, the young girl appeared much tanner. She obviously didn’t use the sunscreen lotion he gave her.

Li Chuan laughed and brought her to the parking spot, “Let’s go, I’ll send you home.”

From the man’s eyes, Su Qin could see … disdain?

Knowing there would be traffic jams today, Li Chuan deliberately rode a battery-assisted bike. Taking the bag off Su Qin’s shoulder, he put it in front, took the helmet and handed it to Su Qin, then instructed her to put it on.

As Su Qin put on the helmet, she looked at the man dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, yet riding a battery-assisted bike, and felt a little amused.

“Get on.”

Buckling his helmet, the man’s voice was low.

These two brief words endowed with an irresistible force. Mounting on the back seat, Su Qin was at a loss of where to put her hands. She couldn’t grab his shoulders, nor his shirt, for fear of creasing the man’s white shirt.

Catching sight of the girl’s perplexed look in the rearview mirror, Li Chuan called her attention, “Grab whatever you want.”

“En … afraid of getting palm prints on your white shirt.”

She lowered her hands and just held the storage box behind her.

Carrying Su Qin on the battery-assisted bike, Li Chuan rode all the way through the gaps of cars without hindrance.

On the back seat, Su Qin could smell the man’s faint scent and felt inexplicably relaxed.

She stretched out her hand to feel the gush of wind when she recalled someone once described the wind sensation with her bra-cup size that she looked down at her own chest, which was so flat that she could hardly look straight at it.

The man’s stern voice reached her ears along with the wind.

“Take your hand back, it’s dangerous.”

She took her hand back, obediently like a little black cat.

Looking ahead, Su Qin caught sight of Li Chuan and her own face in the rearview mirror. Without comparison she didn’t know and was startled by the contrast.

Everyone in school was equally tanned so she didn’t think her face was so obvious. But now compared with the man’s skin tone, the difference was distinct. The two of them were completely two shades of tone.

With Li Chuan as backdrop, she could pass off as Judge Bao* if she drew a crescent moon shape on her forehead.

[T/N: 包公 (Bāo Gōng) – Lord Bao/Judge Bao, an official in the Song Dynasty who was immortalized in stories as a model of honesty and justice]

Li Chuan drove her through the city center, then stopped outside a bookstore and asked if she wanted to buy some stationery?

She almost forgot if he didn’t mention it. Students would go buy stationery before school starts. Pens, book covers and so on.

There is a large stationery department below the bookstore, which is very cheap selling at wholesale price and cost effective. Li Chuan bought his stationery here too when he started school. This is a student’s paradise.

Pondering for a moment, Su Qin asked Li Chuan, “Teacher Li, if you still have work to do, we won’t shop then.”

“It’s okay.” Li Chuan smiled at the young girl and said, “Teacher Li has not taken a break for half a month, so don’t mention about work again during this half-day leave.”

“No break for half a month? You’re not tired ah?”

“You won’t feel tired if you are making money.” Getting off the bike, Li Chuan took off his helmet and hung it on the handlebars.

Under the scorching sun and after comparing her skin tone with Mr. Li, Su Qin, who felt somewhat inferior, covered her forehead with her hands and waited for the man to lock the bike.

Looking at the man squatting on the ground locking the bike, she felt really amusing and felt that Professor Li was particularly down-to-earth at this moment.

Professor Li in her previous lifetime lived like a prince in a villa and drove a mid to high-range car. His suit must be of high quality and his neckties were also tastefully chosen. From the standpoint of his previous lifetime, Su Qin definitely couldn’t imagine Professor Li would ride a battery-assisted bike or even squatted here in a white shirt and pants to lock the bike.

Compared to the gentle and sophisticated Li Chuan of the previous lifetime, Su Qin prefers such a down-to-earth man in front of her, who carries her on a battery-assisted bike through the city streets and lanes. This kind of person, even as friends, is easy and especially comfortable to get along with. He will not make people feel there is a social gap and also won’t prompt inferiority feelings in others.

After locking the bike, Li Chuan used his body to block the sun for her and asked for a pamphlet, which he held above the girl’s head to shade her from the sun.

The two of them entered the bookstore and took the elevator down to the basement.

The stationery department is very huge, with pen racks densely packed with pens and shelves full of stationery that is a feast for the eyes. Since it was the school opening’s peak season, the store was very crowded and the pen rack area was surrounded by girls.

Feeling embarrassed to squeeze in between a group of young girls, Su Qin stood aside to wait for the girls in front to finish their selection before she moved closer again.

However, Mr. Li, whose arms and legs are long, reached over the young girls’ head, grabbed a few pens and handed them to Su Qin, “This brand of rollerball pens is pretty good, try it out.”

Li Chuan’s action caused the girls in front to all turn their heads back. Seeing such a handsome big brother, the young girls were smitten and moved aside.

Taking this opportunity, Su Qin approached the pen stand, unscrewed the cap of the pen and tried writing on the white paper. Smooth with sufficient ink, worthy of the pen chosen by Genius Li, excellent.

The few young girls stood around Li Chuan and a girl struck up a conversation with him.

“Big Brother, are you from the nearby university?”

“You look a lot like the genius who was on our school bulletin board, the one who skipped grades all the way. Is that you?”

“It must be, it must be! Not only look exactly alike, but exactly the same!”

“ ….. “

After the girls finished ‘chattering’, Li Chuan replied with a cold face, “I’m not.”

The atmosphere instantly turned cold. The girls looked at each other and sighed, “Okay. We’ve got the wrong person.”

The few girls were about to leave.

One of them turned back after a few steps, sticking her tongue out at Li Chuan, “Big Brother, you are really handsome, even more handsome than Long Riyi!”

“ ………. “ Li Chuan knitted his eyebrows tightly, feeling that he could not quite understand the brain circuits of these girls.

Taking the initiative to talk to a stranger? Didn’t their parents tell them that this is a very dangerous behavior? Looking at these young girls, Li Chuan thought of his daughter and fell melancholy silent. How wonderful if they can be reunited with Baobao in this lifetime?

Once those girls left, Su Qin teased him, “Big Brother is very handsome, oh, even more handsome than Long Riyi!”

Li Chuan held his forehead embarrassingly and sighed silently.

Su Qin continued to choose the pens. The man standing behind her was a little bored, so he took out his handphone, switched to QQ and sent a message to Panda who knows-all, “Who is Long Riyi?”

Panda replied with a string of “ ………. “

After a while, Panda sent him a popular Chinese drama, “[Long Riyi, You’re dead], you haven’t heard it ah? All the female doctorates of our department are reading this romance novel. It is so popular across the country’s campuses. Long Riyi, a school bully who was a rich second-generation* of a super wealthy family, flew a helicopter to the campus to deliver flowers to the female lead … “

[T/N: 富二代 (Fù èr dài) – children of entrepreneurs who became wealthy under Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms in the 1980s]

This plot made Li Chuan frown and he asked, “Young girls like these kinds of pompous stuff?”

“Exactly … Boss, just imagine. If a girl flew and hovered a helicopter over the campus and then shouted with a loudspeaker, “Boss Li, I like you”, you’d probably be moved to tears and marry her right away, right?”

Li Chuan put himself in the setting and thought about it. If the girl flying the helicopter is not Su Qin, not only will he be unmoved, he will even feel physiologically disgusted.

Isn’t this crazy …

Wait … why would Su Qin fly a helicopter over the school to confess to him? Sensing a headache, Li Chuan felt he had been with the young girl for too long and was slightly afflicted by Mara (the demon of temptation).

Holding the phone, Li Chuan followed Su Qin closely through various stationery racks.

Su Qin stopped in front of the figurine rack, turned back and poked the back of the man’s hand, “Teacher Li, is that Teacher Lin? Looks very much alike.”

Li Chuan followed Su Qin’s line of sight and saw two young women choosing some notebooks in front of the shelf ahead. He glanced over indifferently then withdrew his gaze and asked her, “What else do you still need?”

“Well, I’ve almost picked out the pens. I want to buy notebooks and book covers.”