The Lady I Flirted With Is Here - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Phone Call

That night, Lin Xian hastily sent a message saying, “I have class tomorrow, going to sleep now. Goodnight,” and vanished into silence.

Across the network, Fang Daiyu, for the first time in her life, suffered from insomnia because of a “Goodnight.”

Lin Xian had sent a voice message. Her voice was slightly hoarse from the night and tinged with shyness after the embarrassing exchange. Fang Daiyu didn’t know how her own mind had filled in the blanks, but she became convinced that the girl was acting coquettish. She listened to that “Goodnight” countless times, and after washing up, she finally drifted into a muddled sleep accompanied by that voice.

The next day brought a summons from the Department Head, Ji Feng. Ji Feng was Lin Xian’s thesis advisor. It was now September, and by next June or July, this batch of students would leave campus for various destinations. Ji Feng called several students together primarily to check on their thesis progress and discuss postgraduate entrance exam preparations. He was advising only four students this year; three were buried in exam prep, leaving only Lin Xian, the leisurely one, “playing dead” in her rental room every day.

“Lin Xian…” Ji Feng spoke earnestly, looking up at her. Lin Xian reflexively tried to hide her head in her shoulders.

Seeing this, Ji Feng laughed and waved her over. “Come here. Am I going to eat you or hit you?”

Lin Xian gritted her teeth and said he wouldn’t.

To her surprise, Ji Feng didn’t ask about her thesis or her laziness at home. Instead, he asked with a friendly face, leaning toward her ear, “You don’t have much to do day-to-day, right? How about coming to work for me as an assistant?”

This was an outcome Lin Xian hadn’t expected. For Chinese Department students, senior year meant entering an internship phase; starting in October, internships were mandatory. The easygoing Lin Xian had planned to just hang a title at her uncle’s company to coast through. Ji Feng’s intention was clear: he wasn’t going to let her slack off during her department internship.

If it were anyone else, Lin Xian would have refused. But she couldn’t refuse Ji Feng. Ji Feng was a rigorous scholar, dedicated to the Chinese Department. One could say that Northern Tian University’s Chinese Department remained a sanctuary of peace largely because of his presence. Back in freshman year, when Lin Xian’s “coming out” caused a massive stir, it had spread until the whole school knew. The principal had been on the verge of calling her parents to take her home.

If Ji Feng hadn’t united the faculty to argue that “homosexuality is a normal group no different from heterosexuality” and fought for her rights while clearing rumors within the department, Lin Xian would have been long gone.

Whenever he recalled the events of freshman year, Ji Feng would shake his head and sigh, “You’re just too honest, kid. Even if you’re gay, you didn’t need to make it known to everyone. The school doesn’t care about your identity; they care about the influence you bring. Do you understand?”

Since then, Lin Xian had kept a low profile. She didn’t join large group activities or compete for scholarships or grants. She lived like a transparent person. Over the four years, the classmates who used to avoid the topic of homosexuality realized Lin Xian was no different from anyone else. She worried about failing exams and was teased for not finding a girlfriend just like them. Sometimes, meeting on the road, boys would joke, “Let’s see who finds a girlfriend first after graduation. Lin Xian, when you have one, remember to bring her around!”

Lin Xian, optimistic by nature, would wave like a brother: “Of course!”

In the following days, Lin Xian received “Good morning” and “Goodnight” messages from Fang Daiyu. They chatted like ordinary online friends about hobbies and idle gossip.

However, Lin Xian’s peaceful life was turned upside down by her role as a teaching assistant. September was the season for make-up exams. she was busy grading papers, helping teachers check project documents, and leaving early and returning late. She was so busy her feet barely touched the ground.

With this sudden busyness, Fang Daiyu became dissatisfied.

It was strange—how could a senior student be even busier than a working professional like her who did overtime? Was she dissatisfied with her? Or just not interested?

That evening, as Fang Daiyu finished work, she placed a voice call. On the other end, Lin Xian had left her phone on Ji Feng’s desk. A freshman boy on duty saw the call and quietly hung up.

Hung up? Fang Daiyu worried something serious had happened. After walking home slowly, she called again.

The phone rang for a long time before finally connecting.

Fang Daiyu’s voice traveled nervously through the receiver: “Hello?”

A young male voice came from the other side: “Hello, Lin Xian is busy right now. Please call back later.” The freshman boy took a nervous deep breath and hung up. He was terrified—would he get in trouble for answering Senior Lin Xian’s phone without permission? But the WeChat ringtone kept going, and he was genuinely afraid the teacher would walk in and be displeased.

Upon hearing the voice, Fang Daiyu threw her phone onto the sofa and let out a cold laugh. “A young boy?”

She couldn’t help but mock herself: “Fang Daiyu, oh Fang Daiyu. At your age, what’s wrong with you? Trying to chase a young girl when you haven’t even figured out if she’s straight or ‘bent’ yet.”