Chapter 11

That was the first time Shuangyun heard Cheng Lang lecture. He was someone who easily made people's minds wander from the class.
Perhaps because the sound changed when transmitted through electronic devices, his voice sounded even better when speaking English. Not the heavy Australian accent, but almost accentless English—very standard and clear.
When lecturing, he liked to leave the podium and stand leaning against the first row of desks. White shirt and black dress pants, sleeves sometimes rolled up to his forearms.
There were definitely many students not looking at the projection, but like Shuangyun outside the computer screen, looking at Cheng Lang.
Even when Shuangyun wanted to concentrate on what he was saying, she would easily fall into his voice and stare at his body and face.
Want to sleep. This thought in Shuangyun's mind grew stronger.
Especially this cup of coffee he'd just placed on her desk.
What did it mean? Compensation for her? Because she'd rejected his freeze-dried coffee this morning? Or a reward? Because she'd stayed up all night working on the model?
Shuangyun's fingers touched the cup, and warmth transferred to her fingertips. Was his body this warm too? Shuangyun picked up the cup and took a sip.
The next week passed very quickly, as if just to wait for Friday to attend Cheng Lang's class.
Shuangyun stayed at the office until five, then took a taxi to Cheng Lang's university.
After winding around, she found Cheng Lang's classroom. Many people were already seated. A three-hour class from 6 to 9 PM was originally a very unpopular time slot. Plus, students could also choose to watch the live stream at home. Shuangyun was indeed somewhat surprised that so many people came.
She found a seat near the back door in the last row.
Students took their seats one by one. A tall foreign guy sat next to her.
"I haven't seen you before," he said.
"I haven't seen you before either." Shuangyun replied cheerfully.
"I mean, are you a student in this class?" The guy scratched his head. "I'm Ian, Landon's teaching assistant."
Only then did Shuangyun realize he wasn't hitting on her.
"I'm Landon's friend. He invited me." Shuangyun answered naturally.
The guy nodded. "I see. What's your name? Are you also a student at this school?"
"Shuangyun." Shuangyun gave her name.
The guy struggled with the pronunciation.
"No, follow me: Shuangyun." Shuangyun didn't like people always mispronouncing her name.
The guy tried to open his mouth several times but failed to pronounce it correctly.
Shuangyun laughed. "Landon's here."
There were more girls than boys in the classroom.
As soon as Landon arrived, several people went up to ask him questions.
Shuangyun leaned back in her chair watching him.
Cheng Lang's gaze came from the podium.
She was sitting alone, far away. Ian was also sitting next to her.
Did they know each other before? How come he didn't know?
But she was dressed quite beautifully today. Cheng Lang withdrew his gaze, but also felt she wasn't wearing anything particularly flashy. Why did he have this impression?
A student called his name.
Cheng Lang turned his attention.
A few simple questions. Cheng Lang answered some, and told others to ask after class.
He opened his computer, and in his peripheral vision saw Shuangyun again.
Ian was leaning toward her, laughing and chatting.
Cheng Lang opened the course materials.
Shuangyun pointed at Cheng Lang, and Ian finally shut up.
Today he mainly talked about how to adjust the model's solver and iteration method, exactly the parts Shuangyun hadn't understood well before. This content was more mathematical, not her previous focus of study.
The knowledge was naturally quite dry, but Shuangyun found Cheng Lang's thinking logic very clear, and his teaching was too. If you followed his train of thought, it was easy to understand the underlying logic of adjusting algorithms.
But Shuangyun's mind wandered more than three times.
Looking at Cheng Lang's face, it was hard not to think of some inappropriate things. Shuangyun closed her eyes, forcing herself to be pure and desireless for now.
It was already dark outside. The classroom lights were very bright. Some students gradually picked up their backpacks and left.
Shuangyun was getting a bit hungry and also sleepy. What Cheng Lang was teaching was more than what she'd seen in the video before, but she'd watched the video, so hearing it again wasn't too difficult.
She took out her phone and scrolled around, suddenly receiving a message from Linwen Lu.
Linwen liked to message Shuangyun from time to time, always asking what she was doing and if she had time to go out for drinks. When Shuangyun first came to Sydney, she'd wanted to buy a car and had consulted Linwen on a few questions. He had many cars, so naturally knew a lot, and had helped Shuangyun look at cars a few times.
So Shuangyun was somewhat grateful to him and had treated him to a meal. But Linwen later became somewhat persistent with her. Shuangyun had always maintained a not-too-close, not-too-far distance. After celebrating his birthday last time, he'd still been chasing her with messages, and Shuangyun had clearly rejected him.
Linwen: "If you don't reply to my message, I'm going to die."
Shuangyun thought, should she just delete him?