The anchor I was supposed to meet turned out to be my student.

I reached out to lift the ends of Ye Zhi's hair, wanting to feel the texture, but as soon as I touched her, Ye Zhi's voice came from in front: "Be careful, don't mess up my hair, I don't want to spend time fixing it again."

I wasn't surprised by Ye Zhi's words, because she had told me before that she was a girl who paid great attention to her appearance. A good appearance allowed her to spend the day in the best possible condition. So, if you observe carefully, you'll find that among the seven girls, Ye Zhi is definitely the one who puts the most effort into her appearance. Even Luo Yao, who has a celebrity image to maintain, might not pay as much attention to her appearance as Ye Zhi.

So I didn't dare touch it, afraid of messing up her hair and upsetting her...

Then my gaze moved down and landed on her slender waist. In the comfortable tight-fitting off-shoulder dress, her tiny waist showed off its charming curves. The phrase "slender enough to be held in one hand" came to my mind. Although one hand certainly couldn't fit it all, how about two hands?

So I stretched out both palms to try it out. The moment I touched it, the soft touch began to spread across my palms. In addition, the quality of her dress itself was so good that it was so comfortable it was almost unbearable.

Ye Zhi's gaze remained fixed on the two phones, but she asked in confusion, "Why are you holding my waist?"

"I see you have a very slim waist, I'd like to try and see if I can hold it with both hands..."

Ye Zhi thought I was being silly and said, "Have you been reading too many Mary Sue novels? How could you possibly capture me with just two hands..."

Well... you can think I'm stupid if you want, anyway, my real intention isn't what it seems...

"There's still a long way to go..."

Even so, her waist is still quite slender for her height. I couldn't help but think of my ex-girlfriend and how wonderful it felt to hold her waist. If it were Ye Zhi instead... well, I can't think about it anymore, or I'll have to find some tissues to stop my nosebleed.

After a while, Ye Zhi successfully raised our intimacy level from 200 to over 6,000 by sending gifts. Then she reached out and slapped my hand off her waist, scolding, "Take your phone back. Do you expect me to play on two accounts by myself?"

Reluctantly, I grabbed back the cold, hard phone...

I don't know how long we played, but there was a knock on the door. It was the housekeeper who came up to tell us that dinner was ready. We responded and got out of bed to go downstairs to eat, but Ye Zhi asked me to go out first, as she wanted to stay and touch up her makeup.

I had no choice but to leave the room first, but I happened to see Hua Xinning and Lu Xiaojun coming out of the room. They were holding hands and seemed to be very close. I couldn't be happier to see Xinning and Xiaojun become good friends or even best friends, because Xinning has very few close friends due to her introverted nature.

They were also surprised to see me come out of Ye Zhi's room. Before they could ask me anything, I explained, "I went to play games with Ye Zhi. What about you guys?"

Lu Xiaojun glanced at me, then her face flushed slightly. Hua Xinning smiled and said, "I was just talking to Xiaojun about something related to my brother."

I looked over in confusion, wondering what had she said to make Lu Xiaojun so shy...

"What did you say about me?" I asked nervously, worried that Hua Xinning would tell me something embarrassing that would make me lose face in front of Lu Xiaojun.

"I won't tell my brother, hee hee~"

I became increasingly curious and nervous. Could it be that incident from my second year of high school, when she came into my room and misunderstood that Luo Yao and I were watching inappropriate content?!

Just then, Ye Zhi came out of the room, closing the door as she complained, "I told you to be careful when you touched me, but you loosened the belt around my waist. No wonder I said my skirt was a bit loose..."

Then Ye Zhi turned her head and saw that Hua Xinning and Lu Xiaojun were there. At this moment, I was almost killed by the eyes of Hua Xinning and Lu Xiaojun. Heaven knows what they would imagine after hearing Ye Zhi's words.

"No, Xiaojun, don't misunderstand. Ye Zhi, why don't you explain yourself clearly?"

However, Ye Zhi turned around and went downstairs, seemingly oblivious to what Lu Xiaojun and Hua Xinning might misunderstand...

Then Lu Xiaojun and Hua Xinning walked past me hand in hand, giving me no chance to explain. I was instantly on the verge of tears...

After we sat down at the table, I couldn't find Bi Antong and Xu Lehan, so I asked the housekeeper, Sister Zhang, about it.

The housekeeper told me that Bi Antong said she didn't have a good appetite and didn't want to eat dinner, while Xu Lehan had just returned from the beach and was taking a shower.

I glanced at Bi Antong's room on the second floor with some concern. She was fine at noon, so why did she suddenly lose her appetite for dinner?

So I asked the housekeeper to leave some dinner for Bi Antong, so she might come down to eat later when her appetite returned.

The dining table was as quiet as it had been at noon, but I knew the reason for the silence was quite different. Lu Xiaojun and Hua Xinning were both misunderstanding me, which was why they were silent. There was another difference, though: Luo Yao was sitting next to me, occasionally putting food on my plate and asking which dish I wanted to eat so she could get it for me. But I was a little distracted because I really wanted to know what Hua Xinning had said to Lu Xiaojun about me.

"Brother Tusheng!"

Suddenly, Luo Yao called out to me from my reverie, and I quickly replied, "What's wrong, Yao Yao?"

Luo Yao said with some dissatisfaction, "I'm the one helping you pick up the food, why do you keep looking at Lu Xiaojun?"

I quickly comforted her, "I'm sorry, Yao Yao. I was just a little bothered by what Xin Ning said about me in Xiao Jun's room earlier..."

Luo Yao's expression immediately turned incredibly smug. She said to Lu Xiaojun, "I've known Brother Tusheng since I was seven years old. I know everything about Brother Tusheng before he went to university. If you ask me, I might tell you~"

Hearing Luo Yao's provocation, Lu Xiaojun said somewhat angrily, "Xin Ning just told me a lot too. You only met your teacher when you were seven years old, so Xin Ning must know more than you do. Maybe you don't even know as much as I do!"

Luo Yao glanced at Hua Xinning and said disdainfully, "She only spent four more years with me and Brother Tusheng than me, what's there to be proud of..."

Jiang Yan, who had been silent until now, asked in confusion, "Sister Xin Ning told me she's nineteen this year, the same age as you, Sister Yao Yao. Why is it that you've known each other for four years longer?"

I was immediately startled and looked at Luo Yao...

Chapter 22, page 193. Hahaha...hiccup! Hahaha...

When I was nine, and Hua Xinning was three, my parents adopted her from an orphanage. We stayed at home for two years before we started sending her to kindergarten, which is why Xinning is a year older than her classmates…

I was surprised that Luo Yao knew that Hua Xinning had been away from me for three years before she turned three. Only my parents, a few relatives, and I knew that Hua Xinning was adopted. Luo Yao couldn't possibly have contacted my other relatives, and my parents and I hadn't told her. How did she know?

Besides me, even Ye Zhi, who usually doesn't care about anything else, looked at Luo Yao with a puzzled expression.

"Am I wrong? When I was seven, Hua Xinning was also seven, right? Could she possibly remember anything about Tusheng before she was three? Let alone before three, she probably wouldn't remember anything before five, after all, she was so young..."

After Luo Yao's explanation, everyone finally understood, especially me, who breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Luo Yao knew that Hua Xinning was adopted...

Hua Xinning was indeed unconvinced by Luo Yao's words, and said, "Who said I don't remember? I remember when I was five years old, my brother accompanied me to kindergarten for the first time. He stayed with me all day!"

Thinking back on that memory, I can't help but smile wryly. Back then, Xin Ning clung to me and was shy around strangers. Going to kindergarten and interacting with so many other children was still quite difficult for her. On her first day of kindergarten, I, who was still in elementary school, made an excuse to take a day off from school and spent the whole day with Xin Ning at the kindergarten. That day, I became her personal teacher...

Luo Yao got jealous when she heard that Hua Xinning and I had such an experience, and snorted, "What about before you were three years old?"

Hua Xinning was speechless. It was obvious that she had no memory of that time in the orphanage. Even if she did, it would only be a fleeting and incomplete memory. So I didn't need to worry that Hua Xinning would have any memories of the orphanage before she was three years old.

I didn't want them to discuss this anymore, so I changed the subject, saying, "By the way, Xin Ning, what exactly did you say about me to Xiao Jun in the room just now? You weren't secretly saying bad things about me, were you?"

Hua Xinning said, "My brother made me say it, it has nothing to do with me... I told Xiaojun that my brother lifted up a female classmate's skirt when he was in sixth grade~"

I almost spat out my food, my face burning with shame at that embarrassing incident. Back then, I was young and reckless, and during a school physiology class, the teacher said that girls and boys have different anatomy. Afterwards, my best friend persuaded me to investigate, and out of sheer curiosity, I lifted the skirt of the prettiest girl in class… Looking back, I'm so glad I didn't lift the skirt of the female teacher, or I might have been expelled from school by now…

You asked me what happened to that girl afterward? Don't worry, she didn't develop an interest in me because I'm interesting. Instead, she called her parents over and gave me a scolding. When I got home, my parents beat me up, both of us. At the time, Xin Ning, unaware of what was going on, kept trying to stop her parents from hitting me. But when my parents told her that I had lifted up a girl's skirt in class, Xin Ning also became part of the beating...

"I had no idea about this! No wonder you stared at my skirt with such a strange look when you first met me, Brother Tusheng!" Luo Yao exclaimed from the side.

After the skirt-lifting incident, I had just finished my junior high school entrance exams and moved to the house opposite Luo Yao's. At that time, Luo Yao and Xin Ning were the same age, both seven years old. Although I was scolded by my parents, my curiosity was still not satisfied. You know, in those days when sex education was lacking, the more adults tried to hide something, the more curious the children who had just entered puberty became. I was no exception, but Luo Yao's claim that I stared at her skirt was utter nonsense!

Although Luo Yao liked to play with me, her new neighbor (I don't know why she didn't like playing with Hua Xinning, who was the same age), I, being a first-year junior high student, had no interest in little kids like her. In the end, my curiosity was satisfied with the help of a big shot in my junior high class. From then on, it was like opening up a new world for me, setting sail on an unknown journey, riding the waves and going further and further...

After Hua Xinning brought up the matter of lifting my skirt, everyone at the table was already looking at me strangely. And when Luo Yao pointed out that I was staring at her skirt when she was still seven years old, everyone's gaze immediately turned disgusted...

"I never imagined that you were so... naughty when you were little..." Lu Xiaojun seemed unable to say the word "sour," so she had to euphemistically change it to "naughty"...

I just realized that Hua Xinning hadn't mentioned this to Lu Xiaojun in the room at all. She was really setting her brother up!

I glanced at Hua Xinning and saw her smiling broadly. I felt a pang of envy; it seemed I had spoiled her too much. I needed to find some time to teach her a lesson.

Although I knew I couldn't explain it away, because it was the truth, I still tried my best to save face and said, "Actually, it was one of my bad friends who instigated me, so it's not entirely my fault..."

"But teacher, it's wrong of you to lift up a girl's skirt, that's indecent assault!" Lu Xiaojun lectured me with a stern face. I knew this was a habit she developed from her work in the student council; she even wouldn't let me smoke in my office before...

Looks like I'll have to find an opportunity to remove her from her student council position sometime. She should be more obedient and listen to the teacher; how could she possibly lecture the teacher like that? Hmm...

"It was the teacher's fault..." I had no choice but to admit.

"Anything else?" Ye Zhi's voice rang out.

"Sister Ye Zhi... are you asking me?" Hua Xinning wasn't sure if Ye Zhi was asking her, because Ye Zhi rarely spoke.

"Yes, what other embarrassing things has your brother done? Tell us so we can have a laugh." Ye Zhi calmly let Hua Xinning betray me, as if the mouth that was speaking wasn't even on her body.

I was surprised that Ye Zhi would be interested in these embarrassing things about me. I quickly looked at Hua Xinning and kept signaling with my eyes to her to save some face for her brother. After all, I am a decent person!

But Jiang Yan also urged, "Yes, Sister Xinning, share some more! We're all very curious about Brother Hua's past!"

So, under everyone's instigation, Hua Xinning completely failed to notice my subtle hints and tricked her brother again.

"My brother, before going to college, had never even held a girl's hand except for mine~"

I suddenly felt my childhood pride shattered into pieces. How shameful it was that I hadn't even touched a girl's hand in 18 years... No! There was one, it was Luo Yao! But how could I say that before university, besides my younger sister, the only girl's hand I had ever touched was Luo Yao's hand when we were in elementary school...

"Ha ha ha ha……."

I could hear her voice before I saw her. That's right, even in the lowest quality setting, I could tell that this silly laugh belonged to Xu Lehan. I saw her sitting down at the dining table after taking a shower.

"Teacher Hua is so pitiful and pathetic! He never even touched a girl's hand before he was 18! I'm dying of laughter, hahaha... hiccup! Hahaha..."

She laughed so hard she hiccuped...

(Second update later)

Chapter 23, Chapter 194: I Like You

"Who said that!"

But what was bound to happen, happened anyway...

Luo Yao, speaking up for me, said, "Brother Tusheng not only held my hand, but also kissed me..."

"Luo Yao!" I suddenly interrupted her loudly.

Luo Yao looked over in confusion and said, "What's wrong, Brother Tusheng? I didn't lie..."

Of course I knew she wasn't lying, but she almost revealed that we had kissed! If the people present knew that I had kissed Luo Yao, who was only in sixth grade at the time, wouldn't I be tortured by their stares? (For details about Luo Yao and Tusheng, please see the extra chapter at the bottom of Volume 3 in the table of contents.)

"Hahaha..." Xu Lehan started laughing again.

"They even used holding hands with an elementary school student to make up the numbers, haha... hiccup!"

"Stop talking, or you'll choke!" I said irritably.

However, not only Xu Lehan laughed, but Ye Zhi also burst out laughing...

Although I know it's shameful and a little sad to use holding hands with an elementary school student as proof that I held hands with girls before college, but... so what if it was Luo Yao from elementary school? Back then, Luo Yao was more beautiful and charming than many girls today. Wouldn't it be great to be clung to by a princess-like girl like her day and night?

What's most infuriating is that even the most well-behaved Lu Xiaojun started laughing while covering her mouth, and although Jiang Yanyi didn't laugh out loud out of respect for her idol, she could barely contain her laughter...

I'm wondering if this is really that funny. Aren't there tons of guys dating anime characters these days? Not to mention before college, even after graduating, they might not have ever held hands with a girl...

Finally, to save face, I couldn't help but say, "Laugh, laugh, laugh! Why don't you laugh at yourselves? Every single one of you has been single since birth! Did you even hold hands with a guy before college? At least I've had a boyfriend, have any of you? And you still have the nerve to laugh..."

I was met with a barrage of retorts, and the table fell silent. Everyone blushed and buried their heads in their food. I scoffed and said, "Laugh, why aren't you laughing anymore? I don't know what you're laughing at. You should have focused on your studies before university. Why bother with all that useless stuff? Really..."

"I've held your hand!"

I looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Xu Lehan had raised her hand.