Chapter 27: I Am That Lucky Bastard!

Qin Luo had just returned to his office when Xiaomin, the office clerk, approached him. “Mr. Qin, Director Guo would like to see you in his office,” she said.

Xiaomin was a delicate-looking young woman with glasses, exuding a gentle, demure charm. She was a recent graduate from the Medical University, having secured her position at the school through connections, and for now handled miscellaneous tasks and clerical work in the office.

“Alright. Thank you,” Qin Luo replied with a nod and made his way toward Director Guo’s office.

Glancing back at Mr. Zhu, Qin Luo caught a hint of schadenfreude on his face. Could he have set me up again? Qin Luo wondered.

When he entered Director Guo’s office, he found two guests already inside.

Both were familiar faces: Ma Youcai and his son, Ma Heng.

“Director Guo, you wanted to see me?” Qin Luo asked politely. The two guests were seated on the sofa, sipping tea, appearing to be engaged in pleasant conversation.

“Yes. Mr. Qin, come in. Have a seat,” Director Guo gestured to the sofa beside them, inviting Qin Luo to sit.

“Qin Luo, this is your student, Ma Heng, and his father, Dean Ma Youcai,” Director Guo introduced the guests.

Qin Luo studied Director Guo’s expression carefully, but seeing nothing unusual, he smiled and said, “Dean Ma, we meet again.”

Ma Youcai nodded without expression, neither wishing to be too friendly nor to make things so tense as to lose his composure.

“Mr. Qin, here’s the situation: Dean Ma would like his son to transfer to another class. Since you’re Ma Heng’s teacher, I’d like to hear your thoughts,” Director Guo said tactfully.

The truth was, Ma Youcai had come with his son to lodge a complaint, claiming that Qin Luo had expelled his son from class, depriving him of equal educational rights. He demanded that either the school assign a new teacher or transfer his son to a different class.

If an ordinary parent had made such a request, Director Guo would hardly have paid it any mind. However, when higher-ups had also placed a call, he had no choice but to take the matter seriously.

In a place like Yanjing, connections are tangled and intricate. Unless you’re deeply involved, you can never truly know how much influence someone wields. Even as the director, Guo had to tread carefully.

Since the Ma father and son had filed a complaint, it was only right to bring Qin Luo in and hear his side. After all, this young man came with a recommendation from Dean Li—he wasn’t someone to be brushed aside.

“I have no opinion,” Qin Luo stated candidly. “We ought to respect the students’ freedom. If they wish to transfer, I personally support that. Perhaps another class or major will offer them more.”

Director Guo was taken aback; he hadn’t expected Qin Luo to sidestep the conflict with Ma Heng so deftly. Forced to clarify, he asked, “I heard you don’t allow Ma Heng to attend your lectures?”

“That’s not true,” Qin Luo replied. “I told all my students: if you don’t want to attend my class, you’re free to study on your own. For the final exam, I’ll give you a passing score of sixty. Ma Heng was delighted and was the first to leave the classroom. In fact, he’s the only student who chose not to attend my lectures, which I find rather regrettable.”

“What kind of attitude is that?” Ma Youcai burst out angrily. “I sent my son to school so teachers like you could educate and nurture him. Not only do you refuse to discipline him, but you encourage them to goof off and even offer fake grades—what kind of teacher are you? Is this how a teacher should behave?”

Qin Luo turned to Ma Heng and asked, “Ma Heng, are you twenty yet?”

“Of course I am. What does that have to do with you?” Ma Heng retorted, puzzled.

Qin Luo nodded and said to Ma Youcai, “Your son is already over twenty, and you still expect people to coddle him? A man is an adult at eighteen; he should take responsibility for his own choices. If I had a son who still needed coddling at eighteen, I’d sooner poison him with arsenic and be done with it.”

“You—you see this attitude, Director Guo?” Ma Youcai was so flustered he nearly spat blood.

He realized then that Qin Luo was his nemesis.

Director Guo raised his hand, smiling in an attempt to diffuse the tension. “Let’s all speak calmly. There’s no need to get worked up.”

He turned to Qin Luo and said, “Mr. Qin, we have an attendance policy at this school. Students who skip class are penalized, and it affects their final grades. How can you simply allow them to skip?”

Qin Luo sighed softly, feeling stifled by all the bureaucratic rules and regulations.

He gestured at Ma Heng. “On my very first day, he questioned my credentials, insulted me, and—despite the bell already having rung—he was groping a female classmate inappropriately. One hand on her thigh, the other reaching into her collar—”

“You’re lying! I never put my hand down her collar—” Ma Heng protested furiously, feeling slandered and humiliated.

“Oh, my mistake. Perhaps I didn’t see clearly. You only touched her thigh,” Qin Luo conceded.

Ma Heng was about to nod in agreement when he realized something was off—just as a stinging slap landed on his cheek.

“Disgraceful. Just wait till I deal with you at home,” Ma Youcai fumed. How did he end up with such an idiot for a son?

Qin Luo, as if he hadn’t noticed the exchange, continued his report to Director Guo with a straight face. “I felt Ma Heng’s actions might have a negative impact on the rest of the class, so I offered what I thought was a generous solution, considering his best interests.”

“But as a teacher, your primary responsibility is to educate, not to let students run wild,” Director Guo said with a wry smile. Today he was witnessing firsthand just how formidable this young man could be.

“I disagree,” Qin Luo replied. “University students are adults with their own ways of thinking. Restrictive, dogmatic management only destroys them, not helps them succeed. Frankly, if they end up delinquents, that’s their choice.”

He glanced at the Ma father and son, and added, “Of course, they might also be influenced by their families.”

“Director Guo, let’s just transfer departments,” Ma Youcai said through gritted teeth. He suspected that leaving his son under Qin Luo’s tutelage would only lead to disaster.

---

When Qin Luo returned to the office, he found a group of teachers clustered around Mr. Zhu, engaged in heated discussion.

But the moment they noticed Qin Luo entering, the conversation died abruptly. One by one, they fell silent, though their eyes kept darting in his direction.

Qin Luo surmised that if they hadn’t been so disdainful of associating with him, he would have been the subject of their discussion.

He didn’t care to engage with them, anyway; people he didn’t value had little effect on his opinion of himself.

Tossing his textbooks onto his desk, he pulled out his rattan chair and settled in.

He glanced out the window; the view outside was unchanged. Here and there, students strolled along the paths, but there was nothing particularly striking to see.

He felt a bit bored. Due to Mr. Zhu’s influence, the others in the office had ostracized him somewhat, making it difficult to even have a conversation.

Even if they knew Qin Luo had a notable background, with Mr. Zhu present, none dared show him any particular warmth. After all, Mr. Zhu was one of the office’s old guard, while Qin Luo was just a green newcomer.

There were only two computers in the office, mostly used by the director and the secretary. The traditional Chinese medicine teachers like Qin Luo were not assigned computers, and even if they were, people like Mr. Zhu probably wouldn’t know how to use them.

Of course, Qin Luo himself was no computer whiz either.

Remembering the new phone he’d just bought, Qin Luo took it out and started playing a game.

Suddenly, someone cried out in surprise.

“Everyone, come look! The Ice Goddess’s student boyfriend has been exposed—” Xiaomin called out loudly from her seat at the computer.

At her words, everyone’s curiosity flared up. The younger teachers bustled over, while the more reserved ones, including Mr. Zhu, hesitated to crowd around but nevertheless paused their work, casting glances at Xiaomin’s screen.

“Someone from our school caught Lin Huanxi with her student boyfriend and posted the photos on the school forum—this post is going to explode—”

“Of course! She’s the Ice Goddess—everyone wants to know who managed to melt her,” a teacher quipped.

“I can’t believe Lin Huanxi would make such a poor choice. With her looks, she could have any man—why pick a student?”

“Maybe he’s a rich kid?”

“Possible. Sigh, one of the two great beauties of our university has been taken—who’s the lucky bastard?”

“Xiaomin, haven’t you opened it yet? Is the internet that slow?” one teacher grumbled at the sluggish progress bar.

“It’s not my fault! The school’s network is slow, and this post is getting hammered—oh, it’s loading!” Xiaomin exclaimed, delighted.

“Eh. It’s shot on a phone—not very clear.”

“Wait, why does this guy look so familiar?”

“A robe—wait, isn’t that Mr. Qin?”

Someone shouted in astonishment, and then all eyes turned to Qin Luo with odd expressions.

“I’m that lucky bastard,” Qin Luo said with a broad grin.

The whole office sat in stunned silence, as if they’d seen a pig fly.

The university’s campus network forum was shared among the School of Basic Medicine, the School of Biomedical Engineering, the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and others. Not only students and teachers frequented it, but doctors from affiliated hospitals and even alumni were regular readers. The forum saw thousands of posts and tens of thousands of views daily.

Lin Huanxi was renowned on campus as the “Ice Goddess,” and together with another beauty, Li Qingcheng, they were known as “Ice and Fire.” The moment rumors spread about her dating a student, the campus was abuzz. With the release of the photos, students flocked to check them out.

Within only ten minutes of the post, views had already surpassed a thousand, with hundreds of comments—and the numbers were rising rapidly.

With the news spreading by word of mouth, alumni groups, and text messages, it wasn’t long before the whole school knew. Whether Qin Luo liked it or not, he had, by virtue of Lin Huanxi’s fame, been catapulted into campus notoriety.