Professor Shen’s Needy Little Lover - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Long Xin had preconceived notions that something was indeed wrong with her outfit. In a panic, she used her fingers to smooth the wrinkles on her hoodie, tugging here and pulling there.

She hadn’t expected praise to come out of Shen Zaiqing’s mouth. Stunned, her movements came to a halt, and her tensed fingers slowly relaxed. Her gaze returned to Shen Zaiqing’s face.

Shen Zaiqing’s eyes were sparkling, warmed by a lingering smile. She nodded once more to indicate that she meant every word.

Long Xin still couldn’t quite believe it. Her elegant brows were knit together, and her teeth tugged at her lower lip. To Shen Zaiqing, she looked utterly dazed—compared to her “derpy-cute” dragon cub form, this was even more pronounced.

Shen Zaiqing thought that if she were still in her dragon form, she would have already gone over to rub her head. Speaking of which, the few tufts of hair currently sticking up on the crown of Long Xin’s head were from Shen Zaiqing’s rubbing earlier—back when she wanted to eat bread but didn’t dare ask. Now that Long Xin had turned into a twenty-five-year-old young woman, Shen Zaiqing felt it wasn’t quite appropriate to rub her head anymore.

She simply said: “Your hair and collar are a bit messy. Do you want to go tidy them up?”

She rose from the sofa and averted her gaze. If she kept staring like this, Long Xin would probably want to dig a hole and crawl into it.

“Mm, okay.” Long Xin responded twice in quick succession. Her frantic heart settled down, and she felt a sense of relief. Her mind was a bit foggy and lagged for a moment; it took a while before she remembered to go to the bathroom mirror to fix her appearance.

Shen Zaiqing went to her bedroom. She put the extra clothes from the sofa back into the wardrobe and picked out a light-colored long dress for herself—it was in the same color palette as the one Long Xin was wearing.

Walking through the university like this, everyone would likely know this was the dragon she had brought along without needing an introduction. The teachers and students in the college all knew about Shen Zaiqing’s plan to adopt a dragon and the frustration of her previous failed applications. Having heard the good news this time, everyone was delighted, clamoring for her to bring the dragon to school to introduce them.

Shen Zaiqing wasn’t opposed to the idea, but she was mainly afraid of startling Long Xin. So, she decided to bring her secretly this time without making a formal announcement. She would only speak of it if she encountered someone “clever.” In Shen Zaiqing’s eyes, a clever person was someone who could deduce her relationship with Long Xin based on their matching outfits.

Professor Shen, who was already repeatedly adjusting her own attire in front of the mirror to be more “compatible” with Long Xin, had no idea what kind of sensation their appearance at the university would cause.

In the bathroom, Long Xin was fussing with her collar. Because she was wearing Shen Zaiqing’s clothes, she was exceptionally careful with everything, not wanting to get the Professor’s clothes dirty.

Shen Zaiqing had called her beautiful. She leaned her face close to the mirror, looking left and right, repeatedly observing her own features. She couldn’t see what was so special about it; she didn’t feel particularly beautiful, and in fact, she couldn’t even remember what she looked like half the time.

The number of times she had transformed into a human could be counted on one hand. The last time was seven years ago and had left behind bad memories, which made her dislike the human form even more. However, now that Shen Zaiqing had praised her, her internal resistance had lessened slightly.

Once they were changed, Shen Zaiqing called Dean Su of the College of Agriculture and Forestry to explain Teacher Lin’s situation. Since they had communicated, Dean Su had no objections, but he reminded her to arrive at the college office early so everyone could meet up and familiarize themselves with the scoring rules.

Although it was just a small competition hosted by their college, there were participants from other colleges, and many school leaders would be attending. The college took it very seriously. The on-site scoring and commentary had to ensure fairness and professionalism.

For lunch, Shen Zaiqing sought Long Xin’s opinion, letting her choose from a few simple and quick dishes. Long Xin said she still wanted the bread from this morning, so Shen Zaiqing fried eggs and ham, giving it a slight upgrade. They had made extra jaboticaba jam in the morning; eating it now while it was fresh meant they didn’t even have to store it in the fridge. Naturally, just like the morning, the majority of the remaining jam ended up in Long Xin’s stomach.

After lunch, the two set off. Shen Zaiqing couldn’t pick up her car until tomorrow, so they had to take a taxi.

Long Xin was not unfamiliar with cars; she had ridden in one once when coming to Building No. 3. Some unpleasant things had happened on that ride, but it didn’t affect her fondness for the vehicles. She found this mode of transport magical. Places that many dragons couldn’t reach could be arrived at in a bit of time by sitting in such a car, and one could see scenery along the way that was invisible from high altitudes.

Of course, there was also that “long thing” that Long Xin longed for. Long Xin didn’t know what it was called, so she turned her head and asked Shen Zaiqing: “Professor, what is that?”

Shen Zaiqing looked in the direction of Long Xin’s finger and said softly: “That is a sightseeing mini-train.”

“Train?” Long Xin broke down Shen Zaiqing’s words, extracting the central noun and repeating it with confusion.

Shen Zaiqing made a decision the moment she asked: she would definitely take Long Xin on a sightseeing mini-train. And it would be this very weekend.

Having made the decision, Shen Zaiqing explained in detail: “A train is a type of transport that runs on fixed tracks. The one you see is actually just styled to look like a train on the outside, and the interior is renovated to mimic train seating, but it’s actually a sightseeing bus.”

“Sightseeing bus?” Long Xin gained another new term. Her long eyelashes blinked as she looked at Shen Zaiqing with eyes shimmering with the light of a thirst for knowledge.

Shen Zaiqing explained the difference between a train and a sightseeing bus. She noticed that the newly arrived Long Xin was curious about everything in human society; whenever they encountered a small flower on the road, she would cast a look of “help” toward her. In such cases, Shen Zaiqing would explain patiently.

The two were so engrossed in their conversation that Shen Zaiqing didn’t notice the frequent glances and whispered chatter from students as she and Long Xin entered the university.

They walked straight toward the competition classroom. The classroom was right next to the college office; before Shen Zaiqing went to the office for the meeting, she had to get Long Xin settled.

Since Tuesday was a public break, there were no students in the classrooms for lectures, and people could enter and leave freely. Many students would use the empty rooms for self-study. It would certainly be fine for Long Xin to find a seat in a self-study classroom for a while.

Shen Zaiqing found her an empty room at the other end of the hall, which was also very close to the college office. After settling Long Xin and giving her a few instructions, she set off for the meeting.

She was quite uneasy. Although Long Xin was very smart and could learn things instantly, she couldn’t help but worry. Today was only the second day; for Long Xin, this human society was still full of unknowns.

As Shen Zaiqing’s figure disappeared around the corner, Long Xin sat obediently in the last row of the empty classroom. She didn’t move an inch. She observed every piece of furniture and every desk and chair with her eyes; even the projector hanging from the ceiling kept her occupied for a long time. She was incredibly curious about her surroundings.

The wait wasn’t difficult for Long Xin. However, a group of people suddenly appearing in the classroom made her abruptly tense up, her heart leaping into her throat.

What was even more terrifying was that this group of people was heading straight for Long Xin.

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