Professor Shen’s Needy Little Lover - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

As soon as Long Xin finished speaking, she covered her own mouth. Her gaze went stiff, the whiskers on her face tensed up, and her skin felt as if it were on fire; a crimson flush swallowed her original complexion.

She hadn’t controlled herself; she had spoken much too loudly. She wanted to find some medicine for regret and swallow it immediately.

If she had handled her tone and volume with more tact, it wouldn’t have sounded so urgent, nor would it have exposed her emotions so nakedly.

It made it seem as if she had ulterior motives toward the Professor.

Long Xin felt she was doomed. The more she thought about it, the more afraid she became; the Professor would not only refuse her but would look at her with strange eyes from this day forward.

Clearly, it was already very good for them to get along in this current mode how could she be so greedy?

Long Xin wanted to scratch her own stupid head.

To her surprise, Shen Zaiqing only paused for a single second before calmly placing the watermelon rind into a trash bag. Her red lips parted, and she said in a light, casual tone: “Sure.”

“Really?” Long Xin doubted she had heard correctly.

There was an obvious hint of a smile in Shen Zaiqing’s voice: “Since it’s a reward, of course we should do as you wish.”

Long Xin’s eyes went wide. Fearing Shen Zaiqing might change her mind, she took a step toward her own room with the gait of a thief.

She continued to test the waters: “Then, I’ll go get my blanket?”

“Mhm, go ahead.”

Shen Zaiqing didn’t look at her, yet she could guess her current expression. Saying nothing else, she bent over to finish tidying up the watermelon rinds on the floor.

It wasn’t until Long Xin entered her own room and closed the door with a guilty conscience that Shen Zaiqing straightened her back. Looking toward the direction of Long Xin’s door, the corners of her mouth curved upward.

After finishing the cleanup in the living room, Shen Zaiqing returned to her own room. After a quick wash, she sat at her desk and opened her desk lamp and notebook.

Before sleeping, she liked to briefly record the events of the day. Since Long Xin’s arrival, she had much more to write about.

Long Xin was dawdling likely doing some mental preparation. She had been in her room for a long time, but Shen Zaiqing didn’t urge her.

Her little dragon was growing too fast. With a little guidance here and there, before long, she would be a little dragon who understood everything.

If that happened, she would soon stop needing her, wouldn’t she?

At the thought of this possibility, Shen Zaiqing’s lips pressed together, and her pen tip moved with unconscious force.

Her heart felt heavy.

She wrote her distress down in the notebook as well.

“Zhi.” The sound of a door being pushed gently came through. Long Xin’s little head poked in first, looking around. Seeing Shen Zaiqing writing at the desk, she didn’t dare disturb her; she walked light-footedly to the bed and tossed her small blanket onto it.

Then she walked to Shen Zaiqing’s feet and sat down, waiting for her obediently.

Shen Zaiqing had noticed the moment Long Xin entered the door.

She thought Long Xin would play by herself or lie down on the bed early, but she hadn’t expected her to sit so obediently by her side, keeping watch over her.

Those bright eyes stared at her without moving.

Shen Zaiqing couldn’t help but chuckle again. She picked her up and placed her by her hand, rubbing her little head while saying: “If you’re bored, there are many curious little trinkets on my desk you can look at.”

The desk in Shen Zaiqing’s room was against the wall, and along that wall stood a row of metal objects.

These metal objects were of strange shapes. Under the glow of the bedroom light, they shimmered with a silvery-white metallic luster, fashioned from cold, rigid materials.

“This is a storage box for index stickers. Shake its arm, and a sticker will be spat out from its mouth.”

“Even though it looks a bit creepy, it’s very practical. I’ve used it for many years.”

Long Xin’s hand was held by Shen Zaiqing to touch the arm of the humanoid storage box. A sticker with an orange base was spat out.

The adhesive area at the top of the sticker hadn’t touched anything; with a pull from the humanoid storage box’s mouth, a perfectly intact sticker was held in Shen Zaiqing’s hand.

Shen Zaiqing stuck the orange sticker onto the back of Long Xin’s hand, then took a pen and wrote Long Xin’s name on it.

“This is how it’s used. You can write in this area, and the other end sticks to the side of a book, leaving the written part exposed. It’s like making a bookmark to help us quickly find the content we’re looking for.”

The pen tip moved across the back of Long Xin’s hand, bringing a tingly, numbing itch. Long Xin didn’t dare scratch the place where Shen Zaiqing had written in front of her, so she used her other hand to scratch a spot near her belly.

The itch-relieving effect was actually quite good.

Her eyes wandered across the desk and saw an object shaped like a small umbrella. Curious, she pointed at it and asked: “Professor, what is this used for?”

Shen Zaiqing followed her gaze, reached out to bring the item over, and placed it in front of Long Xin.

She removed the small umbrella from its base and took a pencil to demonstrate for Long Xin: “This is a pencil sharpener. Open the umbrella handle, put the pencil in, and then insert it into this base. It will sharpen the pencil automatically.”

As Shen Zaiqing spoke, she inserted the umbrella with the pencil inside. Once activated, the canopy spread at the top began to rotate continuously with the sharpening motion.

As the canopy spun, a melodious tune drifted from the base, like a music box; this was the highlight of this automatic pencil sharpener.

Long Xin found it very interesting to watch.

Once the pencil was sharpened, Shen Zaiqing took it out, placed it in Long Xin’s hand, and smiled: “Not bad, right? I’ve been using this sharpener since I was in middle school. It’s been so long and it hasn’t broken; it’s very durable.”

“It’s just that it plays the same music over and over; I’m a bit tired of hearing it. Next time I’ll take it back and have the person who made it change the song.”

From Shen Zaiqing’s tone, it seemed she was very familiar with the person who made the pencil sharpener. When she mentioned him, her voice was quite intimate.

Long Xin’s mood shifted. She pointed at the row of metal objects and asked: “Were all of these made by that person?”

Shen Zaiqing smiled and said: “Yes, they were all made by the same person. And only I have them; he only gives them to me. Others couldn’t buy them even if they spent a fortune.”

Long Xin could hear the slight pride in the tail end of Shen Zaiqing’s voice. That person was very good to the Professor, making curious trinkets by hand to give to her and make her happy.

Unique items are very precious, aren’t they? This person gave such precious thoughts to the Professor—does he like her?

And the Professor… seemed to like this person very much too.

Long Xin lowered her gaze, a very sour and bitter taste rising in her heart.

After finishing the display of the automatic sharpener, Shen Zaiqing’s gaze returned to her half-finished diary. She said to Long Xin: “Go over and move things around, poke at them, and look at them a few more times. You can probably guess what they are used for. Look around for yourself first, and if you don’t understand, ask me, okay?”

“But Professor, I’m a bit sleepy.” Long Xin turned her back, not wanting to look at those things anymore.

“Then go rest.” Shen Zaiqing turned her head to look at Long Xin, but only saw her back.

“Okay.” With a forceful leap, Long Xin jumped from Shen Zaiqing’s desk onto her bed.

She hugged her small blanket, wrapping herself up so tightly that even her face was covered.

She suddenly felt the world wasn’t quite so bright anymore.

Shen Zaiqing propped her head on her hand and used her pen to draw a sulking little dragon in her diary.

She drew the huffy cloud above the little dragon’s head quite large.

Long Xin’s heart was soaking in vinegar; how could she possibly sleep?

She kept her eyes open under the blanket, her face scrunched up, thinking hard about who this person giving gifts to Shen Zaiqing could be.

She had just entered human society and knew hardly anyone at all. Even if she racked her brain, she couldn’t possibly figure it out.

It would be better to… just ask the Professor directly.

Anyway, the Professor hadn’t recognized her; she didn’t know she was the little azure dragon who had stolen a kiss from her seven years ago, nor did she know that she liked her.

After a while, Long Xin’s voice came from under the blanket: “Professor, who is the person who gave you those gifts? He’s so impressive.”

She had brooded for a long time. When she spoke, she suppressed her personal emotions, making it sound like pure curiosity and admiration.

Shen Zaiqing replied quickly: “You’ll meet him soon. We’re having dinner with him on Saturday.”

Hearing this made Long Xin feel even worse. She thought sourly: Having dinner together on the weekend, the relationship must be extraordinary!

“His name is Shen Zailiang. He’s my older brother. He has many strange ideas in his head, but he’s very easy to get along with. Long Xin, when you meet him, you’ll like him very much too.”

Shen Zaiqing’s last sentence caused Long Xin to flip the blanket open and sit right up.

Older brother?!!

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