Chapter 39: Social Death

Su Shiyi, embarrassingly, replayed Jiang Xingyao’s three voice messages several times. Most of them were his self-introduction, including details about his personal life and hobbies.

It seemed that Jiang Xingyao was treating her as a potential match for arranged marriage. It turned out that what Panpan said about “Jiang Xingyao liking her for some time” was largely exaggerated.

This was fine, though, as it relieved some pressure off Su Shiyi. Unlike Xiao He, whose intentions were so clear, if it were Xiao Yu, she felt that the other party might not even understand why Gu Lang had sent him.

— She had no idea that Qi Yude was very clear about it, and he was even a bit love-struck.

Since Xiao He and Xiao Yu were younger than her, she decided to refer to this associate professor, who was six years older than her, as “Xiao Jiang”!

Something felt off, but it didn’t matter.

Su Shiyi quickly changed Jiang Xingyao’s contact name to “Xiao Jiang”, but she hesitated about how to introduce herself. Jiang Xingyao’s resume was too impressive—he had completed both a master’s and a Ph.D. in one go, was directly promoted to lecturer, and soon became an associate professor. He could definitely be considered a leading figure in economics among the younger generation, while she…

She was just a salted fish, lying around and waiting to die (crying).

In a moment of inspiration, Su Shiyi downloaded a resume template and started replacing the information. With the help and inspiration from the template, she finally managed to scrape together some impressive points.

If you count the fact that she passed the CET-4 (426 points) and never failed a single course (though she barely passed, all thanks to her professors pulling her through).

Su Shiyi sent the resume to Jiang Xingyao, and within half a minute, he replied with a question mark.

Five minutes later, he sent a picture with his suggested edits marked out.

And a voice message: “The expression is unclear, the main points are not clear, and vague phrasing to cut corners is unacceptable. You won’t pass the defense like this. Redo it.”

Su Shiyi: …

Professor Jiang, please spare me. This isn’t my thesis, and you’re not my advisor!

She wasn’t used to sending voice messages, so she typed a response: “I’m Su Shiyi, 21 years old, with a wide range of interests. After graduating with my bachelor’s degree, I don’t plan on pursuing graduate studies for now, and I’m currently doing some investment work.”

Not planning on going to grad school = academic garbage who only wanted to graduate with a bachelor’s degree

Some investment work = coming up with a money-burning idea, talking about it, and letting Kevin handle the execution

The art of language √

Jiang Xingyao, holding his phone, chuckled lightly. For the second-generation rich, the word “investment” usually meant “throwing money around,” especially when they didn’t have to inherit family businesses.

Su Shiyi sent a new message: “Professor Jiang, could you give me some guidance on the direction of my thesis? QAQ”

Jiang Xingyao understood. This sentence meant that she had no idea what to write for her thesis.

“I remember you majored in management?”

We’re in the School of Economics and Management. If you’re willing to guide me, Professor Jiang, I can actually do it! My thesis advisor is from the economics department, but he’s been neglecting me…”

At this point, Su Shiyi couldn’t help but sigh. Her advisor had eight students, and the other seven were all working on research under the advisor’s project team—only she wasn’t.

It wasn’t that her advisor had intentionally left her out. When the advisor asked in the group whether anyone wanted to join a research project, she had declined, because she was too lazy.

But now, all the other students had their thesis topics, and she was the only one who didn’t have one. QAQ

Jiang Xingyao: “You’re Su Shiyi, do you still need to write the thesis yourself?”

The way he said it, it was like asking her whether she needed to eat or go to the bathroom herself—it was a silly question!

Although Su Shiyi was lazy and had some fleeting urges to give up, she still wanted to seriously finish her thesis. Letting someone else write it for her would be considered cheating, and her conscience wouldn’t allow that.

Moreover, her life had been going smoothly enough, and this was one of the few challenges she still needed to tackle. She wanted to complete it on her own.

She sent this explanation to Jiang Xingyao, and received praise from him. However, he still didn’t agree to guide her thesis.

“We’ll talk in person,” he said. His voice was still as pleasant as ever, but there was a hint of teasing. “I need to understand your situation first. Don’t call me ‘Professor Jiang.’ I’m very strict with my students.”

Su Shiyi: …

Okay, Xiao Jiang.

She had originally changed his name to “Professor Jiang,” but since he didn’t like that, she decided to keep calling him Xiao Jiang.

Not caring about what Jiang Xingyao’s reaction might be, Su Shiyi shoved her phone into her pocket. She opened the door to the living room, intending to use the periscope to look at the view of Shanghai’s skyline during the day, but she unexpectedly ran into Qi Yude, who had just come out of the gym.

He looked like he had just finished working out, with sweat still dripping from his forehead. His tank top was completely soaked, and what happened next is for the readers to imagine, as the author dares not write it.

Su Shiyi… Su Shiyi, feeling embarrassed, took a step back, even covering her mouth, almost letting out a gasp.

Damn, this is too embarrassing!

It was clear that Qi Yude hadn’t thought much of it at first and was about to greet her, but he quickly became aware of what was going on after noticing her small reaction.

Then… his face turned bright red, almost like it was about to catch fire.

He seemed frozen in place, not knowing what to do. If he blocked it, a man who was almost 1.9 meters tall making that move in front of a girl would be weird, and he honestly didn’t know where to block.

Fortunately, Su Shiyi quickly turned around. Acting like nothing happened, she walked over to the periscope, and Qi Yude was finally able to recover briefly from the suffocating situation. He rushed to his room to quickly dry off and change clothes.

He should’ve known better than to wear this one—sweat-absorbing and…

Oh no, Su Shiyi won’t think he did that on purpose, right?

Poor Xiao Yu, not only was his face flushed and hot, but he also felt uncomfortable all over. He was too embarrassed to go downstairs and didn’t dare to recall the scene, his ears burning fiercely.

Help, how could this be so awkward?!

—This was also what Su Shiyi wanted to say.

On the surface, she appeared calm, but internally, her emotions were just as turbulent as Qi Yude’s. Although Xiao Yu had a great body, they weren’t that familiar yet, really, they weren’t!

What Su Shiyi was thinking was that she was glad she controlled herself—she didn’t swallow, or else it would have been a huge embarrassment.

She tearfully shared this suffocating incident in the roommate group, hoping to receive some care and comfort, but her grumpy roommates all replied in unison:

“I don’t believe it, unless you show me.”

Su Shiyi typed angrily: 【How could I possibly show you that kind of scene? Stop thinking about these impossible things and help me figure out what to do!】

Lin Jiayan: 【What else can you do? You’ll have to take responsibility for him.】

Xu Wenwen: 【Mm, you’ve already seen him. If he doesn’t marry into your family, you might as well throw yourself into the river. A guy’s purity is very important!】

Wu Feifei: 【I’m telling you, sis, you can’t be a trashy girl!】

Su Shiyi: …This sisterhood was really misplaced!

She expressionlessly typed: 【Don’t think I don’t know, you just want him to treat you to dinner.】

Another batch of replies: 【Otherwise? If there’s no handsome guy, don’t bother coming back to see us.】

Damn it, these people who prioritize looks over friendship!

Su Shiyi collapsed helplessly, her heart deadened. She didn’t want to try to save herself anymore, let her and this cruel world destroy together. TAT