Chapter Seventeen: The Thoughts of Qianrou Xia

If Lan Qian and Xin Xin were to find out that tonight he was alone in a room with another woman, who knows what the consequences would be. But right now, Zhuo Nan couldn't be bothered to think about any of that. After Xia Qianrou finished in the bathroom, Zhuo Nan once again carried her back to the bed...

This time, however, it was as if an unspoken agreement had been reached between them. The earlier awkwardness was gone, replaced instead by a perfect harmony. Xia Qianrou nestled naturally into Zhuo Nan’s embrace...

Back in bed, Xia Qianrou looked at Zhuo Nan and asked, “It’s so late and you’re not going home—won’t your family be worried about you?”

Zhuo Nan reached for the remote, turned on the TV, and handed it to Xia Qianrou with a smile. “Don’t worry, they trust me. When I was in middle school, I often didn’t come home at night.”

Xia Qianrou found this strange. Very few parents would be unconcerned about their child staying out overnight, especially a student like Zhuo Nan, whose grades were outstanding. By rights, his family should be quite strict. Curious, she asked, “So your parents aren’t very strict with you. How come your grades are so good?”

Seriously? Is that even a question? Ever since he’d acquired the Super Brain, Zhuo Nan had grown smarter, taller, richer, and his luck with women was unstoppable. The Super Brain truly was the essential tool for being reborn after death and changing one’s fate...

With an air of arrogance, Zhuo Nan lifted his chin and said, “Miss Xia, let me remind you, you’re standing before a genius...”

Xia Qianrou stared at him, then burst out laughing, pressing a hand to her forehead. “Zhuo Nan, you know, I never realized you were a genius. Right now, you look more like a fool to me...”

“You’re the fool!” Zhuo Nan retorted immediately, stung by her words.

Not willing to back down, Xia Qianrou locked eyes with him and challenged, “Where do I look like a fool? Let’s hear your reasoning.”

Zhuo Nan chuckled mischievously. “Miss Xia, just look at the situation now. You let a man like me stay in your home. What if I decide to do something to you? Wouldn’t that make you a fool?”

Zhuo Nan was clearly teasing her out of boredom, but Xia Qianrou didn’t seem to catch on. She shot back, “Do you think I’m afraid of you? Go ahead and try something, and I’ll have you expelled. I won’t show any mercy to a little rascal like you.”

Zhuo Nan was taken aback. Since when had she classified him as a little rascal? Come to think of it, he probably was the biggest rascal in all of Deqing... At that thought, a wicked grin appeared at the corner of his mouth. Raising an eyebrow, he said, “Miss Xia, since you’ve already called me a rascal, if I don’t do something to deserve the name, wouldn’t that be letting you down?” With that, he tensed his legs and pounced onto the bed.

Xia Qianrou’s face instantly turned pale. Terrified, she scrambled into the corner, clutching her blanket and shouting, “Zhuo Nan, what are you doing? Don’t you dare...!”

Zhuo Nan stopped in his tracks, breathing heavily, his eyes fixed on Xia Qianrou with a look that was as menacing as could be. Wrapped in her blanket, she shrank into the corner of the bed, trembling with fear.

“Miss Xia, are you scared? Let me tell you, tonight you won’t escape from the palm of my hand.” Zhuo Nan’s expression was devilish. He stretched out his right hand, slowly curling it into a fist. The sound of his knuckles cracking made Xia Qianrou shiver.

“Don’t come any closer, Zhuo Nan, please don’t...” Xia Qianrou was on the verge of tears, regretting her decision to let him in. She’d truly invited a wolf into her home.

After staring at her for a few seconds, Zhuo Nan suddenly clutched his stomach and burst into laughter, rolling around on the bed. Realizing she’d been tricked, Xia Qianrou was mortified and furious.

She sat on the bed, fuming in silence. Zhuo Nan laughed for a long time, but when he saw her reaction, he realized he’d gone too far.

He hurriedly straightened up, his face full of apology. “Sorry, Miss Xia, I was only joking.”

Expressionless, Xia Qianrou didn’t even look at him. She spat out a single word, cold as ice: “Get out.”

Zhuo Nan stuck out his tongue, realizing he’d really messed up. After all, she was a decent woman; alone with a man, she was bound to be nervous, and he’d deliberately scared her. Hardly anyone could tolerate that.

Trying to defuse the tension, Zhuo Nan feigned innocence. “Miss Xia, do you mean get out of this room, or your home? I’m kind of big, so rolling out might be a bit of a hassle.”

“You...” Xia Qianrou was exasperated, pointing at him, unable to find the words. She’d seen thick-skinned people, but never anyone quite like him. This guy could really talk—now he was complaining about the logistics of rolling himself out. Despite herself, she burst out laughing. Looking at Zhuo Nan’s expression, her anger evaporated. This boy was truly entertaining.

The moment he saw her laugh, Zhuo Nan immediately put on a cute face and said, “Oh, Miss Xia, you smiled! That means you’re not mad anymore.”

Xia Qianrou quickly composed herself. “Let me tell you, if you ever scare me like that again, I really will get angry.”

“Don’t worry, you’re my teacher, I wouldn’t dare.” Zhuo Nan thumped his chest and continued, “Miss Xia, to prove my sincerity, I’ll go wash the dishes in the kitchen now.”

Xia Qianrou smiled. “Alright then, for the sake of those few bowls, I’ll trust you this once.”

Her words left Zhuo Nan speechless. He stood there dumbly for a few seconds before finally reacting, a look of defeat on his face. “So to you, I’m only worth a few bowls?” He shook his head in mock resignation.

Xia Qianrou laughed, “What did you expect you were worth? Less talking, more washing. And make sure they’re clean...”

Dragging his heavy feet, Zhuo Nan went off to the kitchen to play the housemaid...

Alone on the bed, Xia Qianrou watched Zhuo Nan’s retreating figure with a smile. “Let’s see if you dare scare me again,” she thought. “If you don’t work a little, how could I let you off so easily?” She touched her injured foot—it no longer hurt. Thinking back to Zhuo Nan’s massage, she had to admit it was effective. She found herself thinking Zhuo Nan was rather nice: good grades, knowledgeable, calm in a crisis, capable of handling ten people at once... All the thoughts that sprang to mind were about his strengths.

Feeling her cheeks grow hot, she quickly touched her face. “Heavens, am I falling for this student...? No, absolutely not. He’s my student, my student...” Xia Qianrou forced herself to calm down, reminding herself of Zhuo Nan’s status.

A thirty-year-old woman isn’t a naive twenty-year-old girl. Women like Xia Qianrou are much more mature about love; she was past the age of reckless passion. If she were to fall for someone, she would seek an outcome, not the fleeting romances of a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old, who could fall in love one day and break up the next.

Besides, Zhuo Nan was her student, almost half her age. If anything really happened, it would end badly for both of them. As a mature woman, Xia Qianrou knew what she should and shouldn't do.

But emotions are never that simple. The more you force yourself not to think about someone, the more persistently that person invades your mind, disrupting your thoughts. It’s said that women in love lose their wits, and even though Xia Qianrou wasn’t in love yet, Zhuo Nan’s image was already etched in her mind. Who could say that one day these feelings wouldn’t erupt like a volcano?

Meanwhile, Zhuo Nan was busy in the kitchen, oblivious to Xia Qianrou’s inner turmoil. His attitude toward her was straightforward: who wouldn’t want to get close to a beautiful woman? But that was as far as it went. He was well aware of the gap between them—not just in age, but also because of Lan Qian and Fu Xinxin, who were already in his life. Could Xia Qianrou accept that? And then there was the teacher-student relationship; if they got together, rumors would fly and Xia Qianrou’s reputation would suffer. Zhuo Nan knew his place. Still, flirting with a teacher and taking advantage where he could—he wasn’t about to pass that up.

After finishing the dishes, Zhuo Nan dried his hands and returned to Xia Qianrou’s bedroom. She was staring blankly at the TV. Curious, he followed her gaze, only to see it was just a commercial. Taking a closer look, he realized she was lost in thought...

He walked up to her and waved his hand in front of her eyes. Only then did she blink and come back to herself, calmly saying, “Oh, Zhuo Nan, you’ve finished.”

“Miss Xia, what were you thinking? You looked completely spaced out.” Zhuo Nan chuckled.

What else could she have been thinking about but Zhuo Nan? Hearing his words, Xia Qianrou blushed deeply and stammered, “Nothing, really.”

Seeing she didn’t want to talk about it, Zhuo Nan didn’t press further. He could have used his Super Brain to probe her real thoughts, but he refrained—doing so would have been a violation of her privacy, especially since she was his teacher and had always treated him well.

An awkward silence settled between them. They sat there dumbly for a while until Xia Qianrou finally spoke, fixing her gaze on Zhuo Nan as if trying to see into his soul. With a sigh, she said, “Zhuo Nan, let me tell you a bit about myself...”