Professor Shen’s Needy Little Lover - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Long Xin looked at the lab coat in her hands, her expression darkening. Then, without a word, she walked over to the cabinet and hung the lab coat back up.

“I am not the Professor’s girlfriend. I am the little dragon she adopted.”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but her tone was exceptionally steady and firm. Long Xin’s bright eyes also became very serious, carrying a weight that brooked no argument.

“Why can’t a little dragon be a girlfriend?”

Li Baixin’s soul-searching question made Long Xin’s heart tremble, but she quickly retracted such unrealistic thoughts and emphasized again: “I am not the Professor’s girlfriend. The clothes I’m wearing were borrowed from the Professor, and I will return them to her in the future.”

Li Baixin’s expression became complicated again, and she muttered: “But everyone says so.”

“Rumors,” Long Xin stated decisively.

Seeing Long Xin so serious, with her lips pressed tight, Li Baixin began to waver. Could it be that everyone had truly misunderstood?

Just as she was wondering whether she should apologize to Long Xin, Shen Zaiqing’s call came through.

In the heavy atmosphere of the office, the ringtone sounded from Long Xin’s phone watch.

Seeing it was Shen Zaiqing calling, joy flashed across her brow. The gloom gathered in her heart vanished instantly as if hit by sunlight.

She pressed the answer button.

“Long Xin,” Shen Zaiqing’s voice came through the moment the call connected.

“Professor,” Long Xin’s voice was low, and she couldn’t help but sound a bit aggrieved. She didn’t know why, but having been away from the Professor for only an hour, she missed her terribly.

She wanted to see her, wanted to hear her voice.

“Are you still in the lab?” The first class had ended. Shen Zaiqing was calling from the corridor, and with students walking back and forth behind her, the call was filled with the noisy sound of laughter and chatter.

“Mhm, yes,” Long Xin replied honestly.

“There might be some unpleasant rumors in the school. Don’t listen to them, and don’t take them to heart. I’ve already explained to the students today, and the rumors will disappear in a few days.”

When Shen Zaiqing arrived at the classroom for her lesson, before she even had a chance to catch her breath, a student who had been waiting for a long time ran up to her and said: “Teacher, happy wedding!”

The shock on Shen Zaiqing’s face was the same as Long Xin’s when Li Baixin called her “Mistress.”

How did she suddenly get married?

Upon inquiry, the students said the news had spread from other colleges. Someone had happened to encounter Shen Zaiqing and Long Xin walking side-by-side on campus and snapped a photo. They were wearing matching outfits, with smiles on their faces and eyes only for each other.

In that frozen frame of a photograph, love overflowed, and it was being spread like wildfire. Everyone unanimously agreed that if they didn’t get married after that, it would be hard to justify.

Therefore, the word was out that Teacher Shen was already married.

Marriage was a bit far-fetched; if the College Goddess got married, the students of her own college and class should have been the first to know.

Furthermore, knowing Teacher Shen’s personality, if she got married, she would definitely give every student a big bag of wedding candy.

Without having tasted the wedding candy, rumors of the teacher’s marriage weren’t believed by her own students.

But a girlfriend might be real.

So these gossipy students took the opportunity before class started to rush over and verify.

“It’s none of the above. These are rumors. Long Xin is the little dragon Teacher adopted.” Shen Zaiqing denied it first, then explained, and then very seriously told everyone, “Don’t spread rumors, don’t believe rumors.”

“Don’t let the students from other colleges lead your rhythm.”

Shen Zaiqing held high prestige among the students, and they would listen carefully to whatever she said. Since she had personally denied it, they would also help her explain to students from other colleges to settle the rumors as soon as possible.

Listening to Shen Zaiqing’s voice, Long Xin’s voice dropped, and she gave a soft response: “Mhm.”

Though she clearly hoped the rumors would stop quickly so as not to cause unnecessary trouble for the Professor, hearing the Professor deny it personally still caused waves in Long Xin’s heart.

That feeling of melancholy welled up again.

“If you need to wear a lab coat to collect specimens, just take mine and wear it. It’s hanging on the cabinet on the west side.” Shen Zaiqing was thorough, considering even the lab coat.

“Okay,” Long Xin replied.

“Class is about to start, I have to hang up. I’ll call you again when the next class is over.”

“Okay.”

The other end hung up first. Long Xin didn’t have to do anything; the screen of the phone watch went dark on its own.

Because Shen Zaiqing promised to call her again later, Long Xin’s mood improved, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

Just as she was about to look up, a dark shadow pressed down in front of her. Li Baixin was leaning halfway across the desk, apologizing to her: “I’m sorry, I misunderstood the two of you. I apologize for what I said just now. I’m sorry!”

The phone watch was on speaker, so Li Baixin had also heard what Shen Zaiqing said and realized she had overthought things.

So she expressed her sincere apology to Long Xin; even if there were some unshakeable convictions deep down, she had to apologize first.

“It’s okay.” Long Xin smiled, turned around, took down the white lab coat from the hook, and put it on over her light green hoodie.

Shen Zaiqing’s name was embroidered on the outside of the lab coat, right over her heart. Long Xin looked down and lightly brushed it with her finger.

“Let’s go collect specimens.” Since the matter had been put behind them, she let it pass. Long Xin kept the task assigned by Shen Zaiqing in mind and urged Li Baixin.

“Let’s go, let’s go.” Li Baixin took some large zip-lock bags and two pairs of pruning shears and went downstairs with Long Xin.

“This building is our College of Agriculture and Forestry’s lab building. Opposite is the College of Architecture, and those two over there are Mechanical & Electrical and Chemical Engineering respectively. For the teaching buildings, just follow this road straight and turn a corner.”

Li Baixin introduced her school while collecting specimens.

Long Xin’s gaze drifted toward the teaching buildings, thinking that was where the Professor was teaching her classes.

She really wanted to see what the Professor looked like while teaching her students.

Li Baixin was an observant person.

Seeing Long Xin glance toward the teaching buildings repeatedly, she guessed her intention. Pretending to be in a great hurry, she led Long Xin toward the teaching area: “Next target, Spiranthes sinensis (Orchidaceae). Target area: East side of the large lawn on the first floor of Building No. 5 in the teaching zone.”

“Time is short. We need to dig up the Spiranthes before this class ends. Once class is out, it’ll be crowded, and a group of people will surround us to watch us collect specimens. It’s quite embarrassing.”

Shen Zaiqing happened to be teaching in a large classroom on the first floor of Building No. 5. She was lecturing on “Prevention and Control of Pests and Diseases in Landscape Plants,” and this session was about insect biology.

There were only ten minutes left until the end of class. The students’ attention wasn’t as focused as in the first half, so she simply played a documentary about insect migration on the screen to let everyone relax.

The light in the classroom was too bright, affecting the projector’s effect, so all the curtains had to be drawn.

When Shen Zaiqing went to the window to pull the curtains, she saw Long Xin squatting on the large lawn outside her window, patiently digging up plants from the ground with the pruning shears in her hand.

They hadn’t brought any other tools, only the pruning shears.

Pruning shears are not like ordinary scissors; although the front end is metal, the tips are not sharp and the blades are short, making them not very useful for digging.

Li Baixin gave up after digging a couple of times, clamoring to go back to the lab to get a small trowel.

Long Xin, however, was surprisingly patient. She cleared away the Manila grass surrounding the Spiranthes, used the shears to pry the soil, and after loosening all the soil around it, used her hands to dig out the roots of the Spiranthes bit by bit.

“Wow, these two you dug up are just too perfect.” Li Baixin took the two Spiranthes plants Long Xin handed her, greatly admiring them.

Two plants one in bloom, one fruiting. The roots were dug out completely; after pressing, they could be sewn together so that the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits of the Spiranthes would all be on the same specimen sheet.

This was the most complete plant specimen.

Li Baixin looked at Long Xin with new eyes.

What was going on? Long Xin clearly wasn’t a student of their major, yet she was more skilled and more meticulous at digging specimens than she was her professional literacy was even higher than hers!

Teacher Shen knew her project had been stumbling and going poorly, so she really sent a savior!

Li Baixin was straightforward, and she didn’t want to hide her internal excitement, so she showered Long Xin with praise.

Talented, patient, meticulous, beautiful, and kindhearted she praised her with every word she could think of.

After praising Long Xin, she had to praise Shen Zaiqing again: “Teacher Shen is so good too. Knowing you know how to dig specimens, she specifically sent you to rescue me. I’m truly touched!”

Hearing this, Long Xin suddenly froze, her face turning pale.

She was so skilled because she used to help Shen Zaiqing dig up plants for experiments all the time; all those meticulous details were taught to her by Shen Zaiqing.

But in Shen Zaiqing’s memory, the one who knew how to dig specimens should be the little azure dragon from seven years ago, not the current Long Xin.

Could it be… she recognized her?

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