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

Chapter 32, Chapter 87. What was that "baby face" again?

"Do you want me to go shopping with you?" I asked Jiang Yanyi as we stood in front of the department store.

"You can understand it like this... you'll need to cooperate with me on something later."

I took a step back.

"I'm not going to bite you, what are you afraid of!"

"I'm not afraid of you biting me, but I'm afraid you'll try to play dirty tricks again. I have to be more wary of you."

Jiang Yan rolled her eyes and said helplessly, "I just want you to pretend to be my boyfriend later..."

"Look, look, you're trying to mess with me again..." I wiped my face hard. Sure enough, there was a reason why you agreed to study with me so easily back then.

Jiang Yan grabbed my hand and said unhappily, "Whether you have a girlfriend or not is not a problem. When my classmate comes back to find me later, just pretend to be my boyfriend. You don't need to say anything else."

"But I'm so much older than you..." The thought of pretending to be a middle schooler's boyfriend in front of a group of middle schoolers makes me feel incredibly awkward.

"If you weren't that old, I wouldn't be looking for you... Anyway, stop talking nonsense and just do as I say."

"Yes, yes..." I'll just take it as a joke.

We met her classmates outside Starbucks. They were two girls with somewhat avant-garde styles. I took a closer look; they were wearing makeup, earrings, and even had permed hair. They dressed much more maturely than typical middle school students. I glanced at Jiang Yan again; she looked much more innocent in comparison. I really didn't know how they became friends.

After the two women greeted Jiang Yan, they turned their attention to me, waiting for Jiang Yan to introduce me.

Jiang Yan took my hand and introduced me affectionately, "Jiang Yi, Xin Ya, this is my boyfriend, Hua Tusheng~"

Then the two women looked at me, somewhat disbelieving. I could sense Jiang Yan subtly trying to remind me, so I reluctantly nodded and awkwardly squeezed out a few words in front of the three of them: "Nice to meet you..."

"I never thought you were really Yan Yi's boyfriend. I didn't believe it when I saw you taking Yan Yi to school last time," said the girl named Jiang Yi.

No wonder Jiang Yanyi suddenly took my hand at the school gate last time, so that's why...

"You must be in the workforce by now, right? He's so tall and handsome, I really envy Yan Yi for having such a mature boyfriend..." Xin Ya also looked on with envy.

The more I was praised, the more smug Jiang Yanyi became, her chin practically tilting up 180 degrees.

"There's nothing to envy. You guys can find an adult boyfriend too. Dating those kids in school is pointless~"

Jiang Yi looked at her outfit and said dejectedly, "My boyfriend looks so immature, he's such an embarrassment to me..."

Xin Ya sighed in empathy.

I've roughly figured out what's going on with these three girls. It's basically a competition! Except the object of their competition isn't money, but who's more mature, more like a grown-up. So Yan asked me to pretend to be her boyfriend just to outdo them and gain some vanity...

I'm not surprised that they have these kinds of thoughts at their age. I was like that back then, always thinking that as long as I did things that adults would do, I was mature and could stand on my own. In reality, it seemed really silly to the elders...

So, being an educator, I couldn't help but succumb to my professional instincts and start lecturing: "Actually, anyone can achieve a more mature appearance by putting on makeup and changing their clothes... What's important is inner maturity. If you can figure out what's most important at your age, then you're already more mature than most of your peers, and even more mature than many of those so-called adults..."

I was just saying it casually, but I didn't expect Jiang Yi and Xin Ya to look at me with such admiration.

"As expected of Jiang Yanyi's boyfriend, the things he said are things that the boys in school would never say!"

These two girls are really a disgrace to their peers...

I looked at Jiang Yanyi helplessly, wanting to ask her, "Are these all your friends? You're clearly much smarter than them, how did you end up hanging out with them..."

Just then, a pair of hands appeared out of nowhere and separated Jiang Yan from me. When I turned around, I saw that it was Mu Mu, the content creator I had met before, and Lu Xiaojun was following behind her, but she didn't look too good.

"Hey, is this how you keep Xiaojun hanging on?" Mu Mu said angrily.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Lu Xiaojun, but I didn't think too much about it, so I didn't immediately realize what Mu Mu was talking about.

Mu Mu then turned to Jiang Yan and her two classmates and scolded them: "How old are you? Instead of focusing on your studies, what are you doing talking about love? Do you even know what love is?"

Lu Xiaojun quickly pulled Mu Mu aside and said, "Mu Mu, don't say anymore..."

Jiang Yi and Xin Ya were somewhat taken aback by Mu Mu's imposing manner, and hurriedly left after saying goodbye to Jiang Yan.

Only four people remained. After realizing what had happened and seeing that Jiang Yi and Xin Ya had already walked away, I took the initiative to explain, "You've misunderstood..."

"What misunderstanding? We saw you two hugging and kissing right there in Starbucks. And you call yourselves boyfriend and girlfriend? You're already a jerk for stringing Lu Xiaojun along, but how can you be a grown man dating a middle schooler? You're a disgrace! Xiaojun really misjudged you!" Mu Mu shouted.

Although Lu Xiaojun tried to stop Mu Mu from continuing, the way she looked at me became strange.

Unable to bear Lu Xiaojun's gaze, I quickly said, "She and I were just pretending; we were just fooling those two classmates..."

"Impersonating her?" Both women looked at Jiang Yan for confirmation.

Since her classmate had already left, Jiang Yanyi had nothing to hide anymore and nodded.

Lu Xiaojun was clearly relieved, but still asked, puzzled, "Why did you have to pretend?"

I looked at Jiang Yanyi and asked her to explain, but she was too embarrassed to give a reason, so I could only say tactfully, "It's normal to want to prove something at this age..."

Lu Xiaojun and Mu Mu were both experienced people, and after thinking about it for a while, they immediately understood what I meant.

After the misunderstanding was cleared up, Mu Mu looked at me apologetically and said, "I acted impulsively just now. I'm sorry, Teacher Hua."

I waved my hand to indicate that I didn't care.

"But a teacher can't just pretend to be someone else's boyfriend, especially since he's already pretending to be my boyfriend..." Lu Xiaojun pouted and complained.

Not knowing how to respond, I took the opportunity to change the subject and said, "Let me introduce you. This is Jiang Yanyi, one of my tutoring students in the third year of junior high school."

Jiang Yanyi seemed still angry at the two women for bothering them and remained silent.

Lu Xiaojun, however, was much more polite and took the initiative to introduce herself: "My name is Lu Xiaojun. I am a student in Teacher Hua's department. This is Mu Mu, my friend."

Jiang Yan looked at Lu Xiaojun with great surprise and said, "You're actually his student? I thought you were in elementary school. You look younger than me..."

I could tell Jiang Yan didn't mean it, but Lu Xiaojun was definitely hurt. I quickly scolded Jiang Yan, "You don't look that mature either. Xiaojun has a youthful face. What do you know..."

Actually, she's not as young as Jiang Yanyi described; she just looks a bit immature compared to her peers.

Jiang Yan said with a snort, "You play with the elementary school kids, I'm going to find my classmate."

Then Jiang Yanyi left too, leaving only the three of them.

I comforted Lu Xiaojun, saying, "She's just outspoken, don't take it to heart..."

Lu Xiaojun's face was flushed, as if she was still thinking about the words "baby face"...

Mu Mu, however, did not learn from her previous lesson and recklessly said, "Teacher Hua, were you feeling regretful that the four-character phrase couldn't be perfectly applied to Xiao Jun?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiaojun and I simultaneously thought of that four-character phrase and both blushed. I subconsciously glanced at Lu Xiaojun's adorable twin peaks...

To be honest, although it's the size I'm satisfied with, it's still a bit short of being "huge"...

Chapter 33, Chapter 88. It feels like riding a horse~

Probably noticing my gaze, Lu Xiaojun lowered her head somewhat uncomfortably. Realizing this, I immediately looked away and changed the subject, asking, "Are you two out shopping?"

Mu Mu was annoyed by my avoidance of the topic and said, "Xiao Jun and I came out mainly to film a vlog together."

I understand that. Some lifestyle content creators also like to film these kinds of videos, and of course, many fans enjoy watching them. Vlogs are more like video diaries, recording a person's day.

Thinking about this, I felt a little ashamed. That day, Lu Xiaojun talked about a lot of my strengths in the sports equipment room, which undoubtedly showed that she had a thorough understanding of me as a person. On the other hand, I didn't know much about Lu Xiaojun, especially about her off-campus side. I even followed her Bilibili account, but I was too busy to watch the videos she filmed and uploaded to learn about her online persona...

I smiled and said, "Meeting famous content creators like you filming outdoor videos is a rare opportunity that many fans don't even get. I'm really lucky today."

"Then let's have the teacher in the picture too~" Lu Xiaojun suggested excitedly.

"I'm just an ordinary passerby, not someone who's in the picture..."

Just then, Mu Mu suddenly interrupted, "Since we've run into Teacher Hua, why bother filming a vlog? We can film it tomorrow... Today, of course we should have some fun, right, Xiao Jun?"

Mu Mu winked at Lu Xiaojun, but the latter didn't react immediately and asked blankly, "But you promised your fans..."

"Oh well, it doesn't matter if I miss a day. How can I let go of such a rare opportunity?"

As Mu Mu spoke, she gently pushed Lu Xiaojun towards me. Lu Xiaojun turned to look at Mu Mu in confusion, only to hear the latter say, "My second aunt came to my house, I have to go back... Good luck, Xiaojun!"

"But Mu Mu..."

Lu Xiaojun tried to call out to Mu Mu, but the latter had already quickly walked around the corner...

Lu Xiaojun pouted, very dissatisfied with her best friend's betrayal, but when she turned around and met my gaze, her face turned red.

Actually, we both knew that Mu Mu was creating an environment for Lu Xiaojun and me to be alone...

So for a moment we were speechless, and the atmosphere became awkward. This kind of awkwardness would never have happened before, but this was our first meeting since Lu Xiaojun confessed her feelings to me. Both of us had a special change in our mindset when facing each other, and this change was hard to adapt to because her confession had not been answered with rejection or acceptance. This ambiguous relationship made it difficult for us to find the right mindset to face each other...

Lu Xiaojun can't treat me as her boyfriend, but she also can't treat me as just a regular friend since nothing happened. She's in a dilemma, and so am I. I don't know if she regrets confessing her feelings...

Looking at her new hairstyle and cute dress, I took the initiative to break the awkward atmosphere and said, "Xiaojun, your outfit today is very..."

Lu Xiaojun looked up at me nervously and asked, "Am I... am I really that unsophisticated?"

Lu Xiaojun thought her double ponytail hairstyle was very outdated in my eyes, but quite the opposite was true.

"No, I think it looks weird when other people wear pigtails, but it looks really cute on Xiaojun!"

So cute that I even wanted to reach out and tug at it...

Seeing my genuine praise, Lu Xiaojun happily said, "I've always seen this hairstyle in anime, but I've never tried it before. Today is my first time!"

These double ponytails suit Lu Xiaojun surprisingly well, but I couldn't help but imagine Lu Xiaojun with a married woman's hairstyle. That image must be beautiful, as you can tell from her mother, Mrs. Lu...

I cherish this opportunity to spend time with Lu Xiaojun, as it allows me to learn more about her, so I asked, "Xiaojun, are you free this afternoon?"

"Yes, I'm free!"

"How about we wander around this area this afternoon and see what's fun? Let's go have lunch first, shall we?"

After I finished speaking, I felt a little uneasy, because based on my preconceived notions, I thought that a young lady like Lu Xiaojun would usually only engage in high-class entertainment activities like racing, and wouldn't be interested in ordinary things like watching movies.

But after hearing my suggestion, Lu Xiaojun quickly nodded to indicate that she had no objection, as if that was exactly what she was thinking.

I checked the time; it was already past eleven. It was just the right time to go for lunch, so I asked, "What would you like to eat?"

"I'm fine with anything," Lu Xiaojun said nonchalantly.

I thought for a moment and said, "Western food?"

"Wouldn't it be too greasy to have Western food for lunch...?"

"How about hot pot?"