"Someone even more charming than Xiao Yu...?" As Lu Banxia finished her sentence, she looked up to be met with Xiao Yu's stern face.
Startled, her phone almost dropped onto the desk, feeling like she got caught talking behind someone's back.
Xiao Yu's gaze casually swept over Lu Banxia's phone, "Come to my office."
A few minutes later.
"These are the materials you'll need." Xiao Yu handed the items over to Lu Banxia.
Lu Banxia was somewhat flattered.
She had been pushed into Xiao Yu's class by her dad, so she could get her economist certification and help out in the company, but to be honest, she had never truly contemplated passing the exam.
Being the third heir of the wealthy Lu family, everyone at home was business-savvy, and she'd just hold them back.
There were plenty of wealthy families' heirs in Xiao Yu's classes. Not just her dad, but surely several CEOs must have spoken to him as well. So why did Xiao Yu take such an interest in her?
And it just so happened on the day Sheng Shushu didn't show up?
"Professor looks a bit kidney-deficient, huh?" Lu Banxia took the materials.
Xiao Yu's cold gaze swept over her, and she cowered, smilingly said, "I mean, did you stay up late preparing these materials for me?"
"Why is your friend missing classes?" Xiao Yu asked, instead of answering.
Lu Banxia was sure he was asking about Sheng Shushu.
She deliberately asked, "Which friend?"
Xiao Yu looked up without explaining and officially said, "There are two volumes of the handbook I couldn't find here, check if the teaching assistant has them."
"It's a commercial secret, minimum five years." he added.
Oh, how scary.
With a slight smile, Lu Banxia said, "The teaching assistant? She seems... heartbroken over someone she was chasing and is thinking of changing targets?"
She said it on purpose.
But Xiao Yu, as if he hadn't heard a thing, turned to the person waiting aside, "What other questions do you have?"
After leaving the office, Lu Banxia gave Sheng Shushu a call.
"Sheng Shushu, did you take Xiao Yu's materials? Keeping them for playing hard to get?"
"The two of you are well-matched, I told him you're considering a new target, and Xiao Yu didn't even react – he must be as unmoved as a bandage, right?"
Sheng Shushu chuckled. Of course, he could remain indifferent; to be exact, Xiao Yu should be relieved she won't bother him anymore.
"Hurry up and return them, take the chance to reconcile a bit, after all, an office kiss is something you deserve to experience."
After hanging up the phone, Sheng Shushu started to get ready in earnest.
Looking at the beautifully glowing face in the mirror – five years, she'd been secretly married to him for five years, and such a beautiful face, could be touched by depression.
They didn't even have a child, how could she be so oblivious?
If he loved her, would they go five years without a child?
The phone was incessantly ringing.
Sheng Shushu only checked it after washing her face, all the messages were @ mentions from the group chat.
"[Group leader, set a time and place]"
"[Group leader, where are you, gone on a date?]"
Only then did Sheng Shushu scroll up.
They were discussing having a meal together after the course ended, after all, it was a kind of connection.
Among them were true elites like Zhou Ling and Lu Banxia, as well as those with more modest backgrounds like Sheng Shushu.
Some were already helping run their family companies, while others focused on being prodigal sons and imperious daughters.
So, indeed, coming together for a meal was a matter of fate.
Sheng Shushu sat by the window and typed:
"[Can, Jingxi Mansion? Last time the food was good.]"
Several well-tempered young masters chimed in, jokingly asking her to invite more female classmates.
The group was laughing and joking around.
"[Zhou Ling: Is the professor going, too? It's rare to have a teacher-student gathering.]"
Xiao Yu was indeed in the group.
Sheng Shushu had gone through a lot of effort to add him.
But he had joined by scanning the group's QR code, never adding her as a friend.
Everyone else quieted down for a while, waiting for Xiao Yu to speak.
Zhou Ling, the crown prince of Zhousheng Jewelry, not so big, not so small a CEO, everyone would pay respect when they saw him – others surely would have accepted the invitation.
However, Xiao Yu didn't seem to like these kinds of social events, even Zhou Ling's dad reportedly couldn't get a meal with him previously.
If others wanted to invite Xiao Yu, they would either email him or directly pay for his risk assessment services, and then he'd respond.
"[Xiao Yu: Okay]"
!
The group suddenly went silent.
For quite a while, someone was skeptical.
"Is this really Professor Xiao?"
"Xiao Yu: Address, time"
Then everyone else began asking Sheng Shushu, which day it was and what the exact time would be.
Sheng Shushu had set it for this weekend.
The group became lively again for a while.
In the end, Sheng Shushu only sent two lines:
"I won't be going, I got injured, it's inconvenient to go out"
"Everyone eat well, drink well! Let's catch up when we're free!"
As soon as she finished, the others were immediately astonished.
You have to know that since Xiao Yu started teaching, she had been the most active in organizing such things, always trying her best to arrange a time with Xiao Yu, under the guise of seeking benefits for classmates.
Now, Xiao Yu had rarely agreed, and she, out of the blue, wasn't going?
Xiao Yu didn't see her message until two minutes after his next sent message.
Last night, he might have been not too gentle, he pondered for a moment, then sent a message: "Serious?"
This ambiguous message, others couldn't understand.
The people in the group didn't even see Xiao Yu's message, it was quickly overwhelmed.
It was Zhou Ling who replied to him privately.
"Zhou Ling: Professor, Sheng Shushu has left the group"
Indeed, Sheng Shushu had left the group as she had added everyone as friends when creating the group. Those who weren't added didn't need to be added in the future.
Xiao Yu's eyebrows creased slightly.
He still added a message: "Tell her to try her best to come, and bring the handout."
Of course, Sheng Shushu didn't know about these things anymore.
After leaving the group, she went downstairs.
After finishing some pastries, her father, Sheng Huannian, came back.
"Didn't go to class?" Sheng Huannian looked very tired, as if he hadn't slept all night.
He beckoned to her, "As it happens, I have something to talk to you about."
Sheng Shushu didn't expect that the first family member she would see after being reborn was him, who in the past hardly stayed at home even once every ten days.
She was very young when her parents divorced, and after her mother died, she was brought back home, by that time her stepmother had already entered the family, later on, giving birth to a son.
At that time her father's business had just started, so he was too busy to even know which direction the home door faced, and the stepmother only took care of her own son – Sheng Shushu was an extra.
As the company gradually improved, her father gave her more and more pocket money, but he never cared about her.
No one cared about her, no one loved her.
A child without a mother is not entitled to love.
Perhaps even she hadn't realized that when Xiao Qingzhou cheated on her, and she went to provoke Xiao Yu, she wanted to prove that she too could be loved.
"You're taking a concubine?" she asked with sparse emotion.
"What are you saying?" Sheng Huannian frowned, "Tonight father has an appointment, you'll come with me."
In the past, Sheng Shushu would have been happy that her father finally cared about her, willing to take her to socialize and introduce her to his friends, so she was obedient and cooperative.
In reality, he took her because she was beautiful, making others pleased and facilitating work conversations.
Secondly, he was looking for a good business partner to marry her off to at a good price.
Bluntly put, taking her there and having her sit was like letting others pick her out like goods.
After the engagement with the Xiao Family, taking her out was to gain face with the promise of the future Mrs. Xiao.
"I won't go," Sheng Shushu refused.
"Take your little secretary, you've given her a bag, rented her a house, aren't you using her for something other than keeping her as a dependent?"
Sheng Huannian's brows twisted at her refusal, having not expected it as she had always been willing, even dressing up obediently every time.
The next second, Sheng Huannian realized, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
In her past life, he indeed had an affair with his secretary, and it was caught by her stepmother.
Sheng Shushu looked at him coldly, "That's enough, you've slept with her. Grandfather has a bad heart, if Aunt Dao starts a divorce, can you bear it?"
She couldn't care less if not for the fact that his divorce might cause her grandfather to be hospitalized in a coma.
Sheng Huannian was suddenly scolded by her, looking at her with an alien face, forgetting to argue.
She used to be very soft and gentle at home.
It took a while before he huffed, "We'll do as you say, but under the condition that you come with me. I made a guarantee to someone, saying that you're Xiao Qingzhou's fiancée, close to Xiao Yu, able to reserve a spot at Handun Hotel."
Sheng Shushu's face turned ugly, "Are you trying to punch above your weight? Where am I supposed to get you a reservation?"
"Can't you just call Xiao Yu?"
The owner of Handun Hotel is a friend of Xiao Yu.