Chapter 7 Dating

Xu Zhen saw Assistant Chen still by his side, so he casually asked, "What is she in such a hurry for?"

"I don't know." Assistant Chen shook his head with a puzzled face, thinking that Mr. Xu had been acting oddly these past few days.

Xu Zhen laughed heartily, the smile on his face meaningful. He said nothing more and walked towards his office.

~

When Xu Jinzhi arrived at University A, it was already late. Seeing that Xie Yanchuan's class was about to end, Xu Jinzhi parked her car hurriedly and rushed towards Yanchuan's classroom.

She made it to the classroom just before the class ended, but since the lecture hall only had one door at the front, Xu Jinzhi couldn't enter without disturbing others.

But before Jinzhi could enter, the bell signaling the end of the class rang, and soon students began to exit the classroom.

Whether it was the students' good memory or for some other reason, they immediately recognized Xu Jinzhi upon seeing her and couldn't help but stop in their tracks.

Xu Jinzhi didn't mind being stared at; she greeted them with a proper smile and continued to wait by the door until Xie Yanchuan came out.

The students tactfully made way for Xie Yanchuan and Xu Jinzhi to stand face to face. Then, in the silent moment of their eye contact, they started to tease.

Although Xie Yanchuan usually wasn't very temperamental, he wasn't without authority, and a cold glance was enough to quiet down the surrounding students.

Xu Jinzhi smiled, "Class over?"

Xie Yanchuan didn't know what to say and just nodded, "Yeah."

He looked at Xu Jinzhi standing before him, and though he had done nothing, he felt oddly guilty.

While still in the classroom, he had heard someone mention "Mrs. Professor" was here. At that moment, his usually placid emotions stirred as if a small insect had suddenly flown into a calm pond, rippling the surface.

He felt an inexplicable sensation at the bottom of his heart.

Looking back, he saw Xu Jinzhi amidst the crowd, and like always, she was the center of attention.

At that moment, Yanchuan thought that marrying a girl like Xu Jinzhi seemed like a good idea.

"Going to the office?" Yanchuan asked, snapping back to reality.

He didn't know why Xu Jinzhi had come today, but with everyone watching them, it wasn't a good place to talk.

"Yeah," Xu Jinzhi nodded.

Xie Yanchuan turned and prepared to lead Xu Jinzhi to his office.

But just then, Yanchuan's authority failed, and they hadn't walked far when a male student raised his voice and asked, "Professor, when are you going to treat us to wedding candy?"

Yanchuan remained expressionless, not intending to answer the question.

But Xu Jinzhi couldn't help but laugh, stopping to look back at the student, not knowing who just asked, she said directly, "Soon, you will be treated to wedding candy."

Hearing Xu Jinzhi's response, Yanchuan instinctively looked back at her, a flash of surprise in his eyes.

"Okay, thank you, Mrs. Professor!" the male student shouted.

Xu Jinzhi didn't say anything more. She turned around, and as she did, Yanchuan quickly looked forward, and they continued heading to the office.

Upon reaching the office, Yanchuan asked, "Miss Xu, what do you need?"

"A date," Xu Jinzhi stated seriously.

Yanchuan was again surprised, not knowing how to respond.

After a brief silence, Jinzhi coyly tilted her head and asked playfully, "I wonder if I might have the honor of inviting Professor Xie to have dinner with me tonight?"

Yanchuan didn't have any more classes, and originally, he had nothing urgent, as he was supposed to go to the lab for experiments, but Jinzhi's appearance changed that.

Seeing that Yanchuan didn't respond, Xu Jinzhi slightly furrowed her brows, looking slightly aggrieved, "Can't we?"

Upon seeing Xu Jinzhi's forlorn expression, Yanchuan instinctively said, "It's not that."

Pleased with his answer, Xu Jinzhi smiled again, "I've already made a reservation at the restaurant, when shall we leave?"

Yanchuan pursed his lips and said, "We can go now."

"You pack up, and then we'll head out," Xu Jinzhi said lightly, raising her eyebrows and looking at the teaching plan Yanchuan hadn't put down yet.

Yanchuan nodded. He didn't have much to pack, set aside what he was holding, tidied his desk, and said, "We can leave now."

"Then let's go," Xu Jinzhi said.

The two of them left the office and walked at a leisurely pace, but they were in the faculty building where, although not many students were watching them, the teachers' gossiping abilities were not weak.

Moreover, many of these people were older than Yanchuan, and it wasn't inappropriate for them to ask about their situation, especially since they happened to run into one of Jinzhi's former teachers.

Xu Jinzhi made no attempt to hide anything, telling anyone who asked that she was Xie Yanchuan's fiancée and that they were getting married soon, inviting them to the wedding.

Initially, Yanchuan wanted to object, but upon further thought, what Xu Jinzhi said was right—they were indeed getting married.

So he had no grounds to object and simply let Xu Jinzhi speak.

After they left the faculty building, they were finally free from people persistently asking questions.

Walking along the tree-lined path on the campus, Xu Jinzhi excitedly said to Yanchuan, "Thinking about it, from elementary school to university, you've always been my senior, just two grades ahead of me."

Yanchuan nodded, it was indeed the case, so he had always been aware of Xu Jinzhi, but they had no connection otherwise.

Xu Jinzhi added, "If I had known we were going to get married now, I would have dragged you into an early romance back then."

Xu Jinzhi said something else that left Yanchuan not knowing how to respond, so he simply stayed silent.

However, Yanchuan also thought to himself, if back then Xu Jinzhi had really come to him with the notion of an early romance, would he have agreed?

"It's okay, we can still start to cultivate our feelings now," Xu Jinzhi stated earnestly.

Xu Jinzhi had driven herself, and she had assumed that Yanchuan would ride with her without asking.

So Yanchuan ended up sitting in her passenger seat, the first time in his life he had ever sat in the passenger seat of a woman's car.

It was only then that Jinzhi realized, and then she told Yanchuan, "I'll take you back tonight."