Honey Stewed Squid

Behind them, several students who were gaming enthusiasts had a nagging feeling that Gun’s face looked familiar.

But, after they mentally a.s.sociated it with something, they felt that… it wasn’t very likely, right? The gaming circle was small to begin with, and the professional gaming circle was like a subset of an already small minority. Occasionally seeing appearances on the news or stuff like that would be more like it. To actually make an appearance in their cla.s.sroom? Those several students who had had some suspicions now all dismissed that idea and continued instead to hold up their books, trying with all their might to hide their faces so that they would at least not get called out by the old professor and given a lecture plus dressing down.

Soon, an elderly gentleman in his fifties, wearing a stern expression on his face and carrying books under his arm, stepped into the room as the cla.s.s bell sounded. His gaze very quickly landed on Gun…

Very few students sat in the front row to begin with, and they all preferred to sit s.p.a.ced out with empty seats between them.

This served even more to emphasize the two people who were sitting together, side by side.

Very gingerly, Tong Nian nudged her cla.s.s notebook so that it was in front of him. Written on it was a line of words:

This lesson is on movie and film appreciation. The homework the teacher gave was that everyone had to write a film review in English. Whoever gets called on in cla.s.s has to read the homework out loud.

His eyes slid over that line of words. There was no particular expression on his face.

Tong Nian pulled her notebook back over toward herself and swiftly wrote another line:

How about you just say that you walked into the wrong cla.s.s? Hurry and leave now…

Gun arched a brow.

While she was still doing these little actions, the old professor had already strolled over to stand in front of the two of them. Curving his fingers, he rapped the desktop in front of Gun. “This student here, you don’t look to be a student from this faculty?”

Gun switched to another attractive sitting posture. “Long have I admired your repute and have come a great distance to sit in on Professor’s cla.s.s.”

The old professor raised his eyebrows and looked Gun over. “Oh? Since it is out of admiration for my repute that you’re sitting in on this lecture, you must know, then, that this particular cla.s.s is on appreciation of film and television works?”

Gun returned a smile to him. “Of course.”

From the moment the dialogue between the two started, they had switched over into an English channel.

Apprehensively, Tong Nian gripped her pen, extremely thankful that he had absolutely no troubles with English.

Luckily, oh luckily, this was an English cla.s.s. At least it wouldn’t pose a problem for him…

“Well, then, we won’t waste time on saying useless words. Here, tell us, what movie have you watched recently?” The old professor’s tone was mocking as he set down his stack of lesson plans in front of Gun.

The cla.s.sroom was so quiet it was as if there was not a single person in it.

They had fallen in to the normal state of this English cla.s.s.

In this professor’s cla.s.s, the best thing to do was to treat yourself as if you were thin air. Making it through one cla.s.s meant one cla.s.s was done and behind you…

“Recently?” Gun was very cooperative and recalled for one-tenth of a second. “It’s been years since I watched a movie.”

Everyone fell over and could not get back up again…

Those male students who had had their ears up, trying to listen in to see what was so special about this man who had managed to snag the cutie-girl of Electronic and Electrical Engg, now all inwardly prostrated themselves at this.

Hey bro, your life sure is monotonous enough…

That’s all you’ve got? And you still s.n.a.t.c.hed one of ours?

“Oh?” With a lift of his brow, the old professor looked at Tong Nian. “Your girlfriend hasn’t ever complained? Doesn’t she find it boring to date you?”

“Complain? No, she hasn’t.” His eyes swept a glance over the kid, who was squeezing her pen cap until it was about to shatter. “She’s a very good girl.”

The old professor set his palms on the desk, leaning his weight on them as he and Gun stared directly at one another.

Utter silence.

Noiselessly, the girls sitting randomly in the dozen or so rows behind broke out in cold sweat on behalf of this handsome guy whose future was uncertain.

Poor little Tong Nian… Her first time bringing her boyfriend to sit in on a cla.s.s with her and she just had to have a prof like this. Would that hot guy be mentally scarred from this so that afterward, a barrier of some sort would form between them and they’d break up or something?

Unlike the boys of the cla.s.s, the girls were all silently praying: It’s better to tear down ten temples than destroy a single marriage, eh… Professor!

Aside from her studies, Tong Nian, that kid, was dense in everything. It was her first time bringing a man here. What if things went south between them? …

She’d cry to death.

Tong Nian anxiously clenched her pen cap in her hand, scared that the professor would flip out at them.

Out of all the cla.s.ses he could choose, why did he have to pick one that was taught by a professor from another faculty to sit in on? T.T… If he had sat in on any other random one from her own faculty, the teacher would not have said anything about it.

Slowly, the fifty-plus year old elderly gentleman straightened back up, his eyes forming slight crescents as he chuckled, “You’re still just the same as you were before, you.”

Everyone 0.0…

“Senior Brother[1] [a senior, male cla.s.smate], you’re just the same as you were before, too.” Unruffled, Gun smiled, “Still love to joke around.”

A broad smile covered the old professor’s face. “Haven’t played around for a long time now. Since I came back to China, the people around me are all so boring.”

Everyone continued to 0.0…

“Here, let me make the introductions for all the students here. This person, here, can be considered my junior brother.” With a laugh, the old professor said, “Remember, during my self-introduction in the very first cla.s.s, I said that in the first half of my life, I studied and learned many different skills? One of those happens to be industrial design. This person, here, is my junior cla.s.smate—my junior brother[2]—from that period. He was very well-known, a big shot.”

It was evident the professor held this junior schoolmate in very high regard, and briefly, he introduced him. Back then, when the professor was studying for his masters degree, this schoolmate was still in undergraduate studies. He was extremely gifted in the field, but it was a pity, for his ambitions had lain elsewhere and after graduation, he had left…

……

All the students who were present suddenly understood and were enlightened.

Holy crud! It turns out our little beauty’s boyfriend is the Old Demon King’s junior schoolmate. What’s this wickedly awesome feeling we all of a sudden have, as if the meridians in our bodies have been opened up and completely connected?! That one of our own is covering our backs, and this semester, we don’t need to be scared of the Old Demon King anymore?!

“It’s been… five or six years since we’ve seen each other?”

Gun answered, “About that.”

“You specifically came to find me?”

“Just a coincidence. I only found out yesterday that Senior Brother, you are my girlfriend’s English teacher.”

The old professor smiled, once again glancing approvingly at Tong Nian. The little girl truly had a discerning eye, a very discerning eye. “You’ve returned to China this time for…?”

Gun replied, “Work.”

“I hear you started your own business? And in an emerging sector?”

He nodded. “Electronic sports. I started up a team.”

At the back, those several male students who were familiar with the eSports scene together all sat up straight, their faces completely covered with astonishment.

It really was him?!

……

The old professor had already recovered his composure and switched back into the topic of this cla.s.s.

He flipped open his attendance sheet and began slowly, one at a time, to call out the names. Amid the cries of “Present!” “Right here,” and “I’m here,” Tong Nian took her pen and lightly poked the back of his hand. When Gun looked over, she immediately lowered her head, pretending to read her book.

Actually, she did not know what to ask.

Just a moment ago, what the two had said had already been very clear, that they were fellow cla.s.smates from when they were studying abroad in university…

Flip through the book. Flip. She flipped through a dozen or so pages.

Continue to flip. Continue to flip.

“Where’s your hand?” Sliding his finger over his phone’s screen, he kept reading through his emails.

Oh…

Wordlessly, Tong Nian extended her hand.

… And set it on his thigh…

“What are electronic sports?” In the last row, the girl beside Yaya asked this.

Yaya gave a wide grin. “A super dashing profession. You play video games at a level where you can win World Championships and gold medals, and the prize money is easily in the hundreds of thousands. Oh right, and that’s all in American dollars.”

0.0… Straightaway, the girl grabbed the people around her and began murmuring.

And in this way, the word spread, from mouth to mouth.

The last row became utterly fired up…

Those who had the advantage of location all pulled out their mobile phones and, concealing them with their textbooks, madly took photos of that attractive-looking guy’s back and side views.

“Is he hot or not? Hot or not? Our old prof’s junior brother!”

“Apparently he’s part of the eSports scene! Anyone know him? Anyone involved in eSports?”

“My brothers, no need to howl tearlessly in the middle of the night anymore. The most delicate flower of our faculty has wed the junior schoolmate of our prof… Who can tell me, what kind of seniority does that give her? The wife of our teacher’s junior brother—our Little Aunt[3], huh huh huh huh? …”

“Hey bros, it’s already rare enough that we’re up early for cla.s.s… And now G.o.d Gun has descended from Heaven. Do you guys believe it? …”

……

Only two girls in a corner, the same two girls who, earlier, had deliberately made things difficult for Tong Nian when she was arranging the bicycles, had ugly expressions on their faces.

What kind of dumb luck was that? …

“Oh right, that person’s self-introduction was just too modest.” Yaya continued maintaining an air of mystery as she educated the people around her. “He’s an ancient legend of the gaming circle. Bonjwa level.”

The people surrounding her all gave cries of “oh, oh, oh!” and looked as if their eyes had taken on the shape of stars. “What’s Bonjwa level? …”

“It’s…” Yaya was not without sighs as she answered, “Forget it. I’m not going to say any more. In our faculty, people who actually dabble in eSports are as rare as phoenix feathers or qilin horns[4]. Go do a search. G-U-N. The name, Gun, has a Baidu Baike page for it.”

And so…

Ten minutes later…

Everyone in the entire cla.s.sroom was unable to sit still…

Although the vast majority of the people did not understand at all what they had read, simply looking at the paragraph after paragraph of text that introduced him was enough to cause their blood pressures to soar. They utterly could not control the boiling excitement that they were feeling. The ones with quicker fingers went directly to Weibo and did a search, and when they saw the Weibo account with only a single status post but several hundred thousand comments, they even more so felt that… this was unfathomable, you know? Clearly, they did not know what eSports even was, but they still felt such fiery fervor in them it seemed as if they were going to explode, you know…

This dude!

His life was one that completely, utterly crushed and dominated, you know?! …

[1] 师兄 “shi xiong.” This is how one would address a senior, male fellow cla.s.smate (former or current).

[2] 师弟 “shi di.” This is how one would address a junior, male fellow cla.s.smate (former or current).

[3] 小师婶 “xiao shi shen.” Gun is the professor’s junior, male schoolmate, i.e. junior brother, so he is the professor’s students’ 师叔 “shi shu,” which, in this context, can be thought of as their “uncle, from an academic perspective” (for lack of better words). Therefore, his “wife” would be these students’ 师婶 “shi shen” or “aunt, from an academic perspective.” The 小 “little” in front of this address is to acknowledge Tong Nian’s young age. To make the reading less clunky, I have simplified the address to “Little Aunt” in the main body of the translation.

[4]凤毛麟角 “feng mao lin jiao.” Literally, this means “phoenix’s feather, qilin’s horn” and is used as a saying to describe something extremely precious and rare or un.o.btainable. The phoenix and qilin are both mythical creatures of Chinese legend. There are variations in how the 骐麟 qilin (sometimes called “kylin” or “kirin” in English) is described, but generally, it is a creature with a dragon’s head, horns or antlers, a deer’s (or sometimes a horse’s or an ox’s) body that may or may not be covered in scales, and hooves.