"Listen to my demands, Professor Pan An."
When Pan An heard this, he couldn't help but sigh as he frustratingly ran his hand through his hair, disheveling it.
However, even with the unkempt look, Shu Xian still found him attractive...
"Fine," Pan An heavily agreed as he gritted his teeth, showing his frustration. "What is this deal?"
"Great!"
Shu Xian then put down her spoon for a while as she turned her body to look at Pan An who was sitting beside her. She then crossed her arms in front of her chest as she looked at the professor with determined eyes.
"You see, there is a scholarship wherein I couldn't apply for in the university. I wanted to be a student assistant and maybe with you being a professor and with your connections, you could make it happen?"
Pan An raised a brow at her, "Why can't you apply for it? All you need is to submit the requirements and the part where it would ask you the monthly income of your—oh…"
"Yup."
Shu Xian nodded, both of them knowing what the dilemma is when applying for student assistant scholarship.
"'Oh' is right," she added, Pan An, sighing as he contemplated for a while.
Being a student assistant in the university requires a lot of effort and time. It is usually offered to students who are having financial problems when it comes to paying their tuition.
For those applying to be a student assistant, they would have to lessen the units they spend in the university. Other than that, they would have to work in their designated area—depending on which job they applied for.
A student assistant can either work in the library, canteen, school grounds, or even in the offices. But those jobs also depend on the marks that a student will get based on the interview and the marks he or she will get from the exams.
The requirements for applying to be a student assistant is the same. However, they added to require an income statement of the family, revealing how much salary they get in a month so they could see if the student is fit to be a student assistant or not.
They require this because the university will fully pay for the student's tuition. Other than that, they would also provide monthly allowance for him or her.
Being a student assistant in a university also adds up to the resume since it can also be considered as a job. Working while studying can be a plus point for some companies who are looking for their employees.
"I really want to be a student assistant in the university. But given the process, I wouldn't want to go through personal interviews and I wouldn't want to go through the trouble of looking for an income statement since, you know... I ran away from my stupid uncle."
With Shu Xian expressing her thoughts and frustrations, Pan An snapped out of his thoughts. He looked at Shu Xian with a serious expression etched on his face, narrowing his eyes at her at the same time as he spoke his reply.
"And you want me to do this for you because you're doing me a favor of faking this relationship so my mother won't match me up again?"
Shu Xian nodded, "Correct!"
A smug grin appeared on Pan An's face, "Then what if I told you that I would want to push through with the matchmaking and I want you out of the house? What would you do then?"
"Oh!"
Shu Xian blinked her eyes a few times, cocking her head to the side as what Pan An said had no effect on her.
"Are you really willing to do that?"
"What?"
Pan An felt that her reaction and reply was different to what he expected. He thought that Shu Xian would be scared—wanting to not push through with her asking a request from him.
With her being this way, what had made her confident to act this way?
"Are you… up to something?"
"Oh, no, no!"
Shu Xian laughed as she shook her head, her eyes having a cunning glint to it as she looked at Professor Pan An's face.
"It's just that 'mother-in-law' has asked me to watch over you and that she said she'll pick me up this weekend to have a private dinner."
"She… what!?"
Pan An's eyes widened and with his sudden outburst, the spoon that he held for his soup fell on the floor, surprising the dog as it cocked her head to the side in wonder.
"You will not be having a private dinner with her!"
With this thought, Pan An could not help but interject. Knowing his mother, he knew that he might tell a lot of information about him to Shu Xian!
With the young lady still a stranger in his life, and with him only helping her because she needed it, he wouldn't want everything to be too personal with Shu Xian.
"I will come with you to dinner. You will not be left alone with my—"
"Oh, but 'mother-in-law' said that she will ward you off and only wants me to herself! It's a talk required only between me and her, she said."
Pan An rolled his eyes at her, "Will you please stop calling her mother-in-law?" He then narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. "And then she said she wanted to be alone to dinner with you?"
"Yup!" Shu Xian nodded, drinking her half consumed water. "She said we would be eating out of the city. But don't worry, your personal butler will take me home here, she says."
Pan An furrowed his brows. He could not understand why his mother wanted to have a dinner alone with Shu Xian when she just met her. Other than that, when he was together with Ruo Xi, his mother even didn't meet her when he started dating her.
Cai Li never liked Ruo Xi. So with Shu Xian now, what could be the difference?
With his prevailing headache due to the hangover still there and with the number of questions running in his mind, Pan An exasperatedly sighed out loud, shaking his head as if giving up before he gave his reply to the young lady beside him.
"Fine," he said, Shu Xian's eyes twinkling as she knew what he meant. "I'll help you get a hand on that student assistant scholarship."