Study System: I'm a 38-Year-Old Student-Chapter 186 - 138: Scruffy Man and Big-Eyed Cutie
Sanjiang University.
The number of students reporting in on the second day was way lower than the first.
Freshmen are all hyped up and dreaming about college life, unless there’s some special reason, most of them rush in on day one.
So right now, all the department welcome booths are practically deserted, and the student council members on duty are either playing on their phones or chatting in little groups.
At the Medicine department’s welcome desk.
Fang Xiaoya was discussing lunch plans with her roommate Zhu Ying. Both of them are student council members, handling the new student reception.
"Hey! Old Shen!" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
Fang Xiaoya glanced over by chance and happened to spot Shen Qiushan walking toward her.
She quickly tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, straightened her collar, and put on a bright, radiant smile.
Next to her, Zhu Ying discreetly used her phone as a makeup mirror and touched up her lip gloss in a flash.
Ever since they’d added Shen Qiushan on WeChat, Lin Jiayu’s roommates—well, Fang Xiaoya wasn’t the only one who messaged Shen Qiushan over the holiday.
Zhu Ying messaged too, but she did it more subtly, dipping a toe in to test the waters.
Seeing Shen Qiushan clearly had no interest in chatting with her, Zhu Ying didn’t push it, figuring she’d wait till school started for another shot.
She hadn’t expected that opportunity to come so soon.
"Old Shen, what brings you here?"
"Don’t tell me you came looking for me!"
Fang Xiaoya walked up with a grin, very obviously aiming to win Shen Qiushan’s heart.
No secret about her intentions—everyone could see her crush from a mile away.
And Fang Xiaoya didn’t bother pretending, just straightforwardly showed her interest.
"Cut it out, I’m here to report in."
Shen Qiushan turned sideways and waved over to Xu Pipa, who was trailing behind.
Only then did Fang Xiaoya notice the little mushroom-head following at Shen Qiushan’s heels.
"Hi, senior! I’m Xu Pipa."
"Freshman in Clinical Medicine."
Xu Pipa stepped forward and did her self-introduction.
"Xu Pipa, you finally made it!"
"You were the last Clinical Medicine freshman who hadn’t checked in."
Zhu Ying jumped in, smiling, "I’m Zhu Ying, Oral Medicine."
"Just call me Sister Ying."
"I’m Fang Xiaoya, so you can call me Sister Xiaoya."
Fang Xiaoya did her intro too.
"Hello Sister Ying, hello Sister Xiaoya..."
Xu Pipa’s not the social type, but she still greeted them politely.
They chatted a little and then started the registration process.
Previously, Shen Qiushan had talked to Vice Principal Liu to reserve a spot for Xu Pipa as a student in financial difficulty.
Not really pulling strings, since Xu Pipa qualified anyway, but giving a heads-up saved some hassle and paperwork.
Sanjiang University has a tuition reduction policy for students in difficulty, meaning Xu Pipa doesn’t need to pay tuition—just small fees for bedding, military training uniforms, stuff like that.
They also give regular meal subsidies directly onto the meal card, without any big fuss or formal selection, super considerate.
Once everything was sorted, the experienced Shen Qiushan just drove Xu Pipa over to the girls’ dorm.
Fang Xiaoya and Zhu Ying naturally didn’t want to miss the chance to hang with Shen Qiushan, so they tagged along and scored a seat in Shen Qiushan’s fancy Wenjie M9.
"Old Shen, why’re there so many pillows in the car?"
Sitting in the second row, Fang Xiaoya suspiciously pointed at the pile of pillows in the third row.
"Of course, they’re for using."
Shen Qiushan shrugged, "Oh, later can you take one back to Jiayu?"
"Oh, sure."
Fang Xiaoya nodded. She was dying to ask if she’d get her own pillow out of all these.
But right now, it was obviously not the time for that kind of question.
She wasn’t that close to Shen Qiushan yet—no way he’d give her a pillow.
Zhu Ying quietly googled the price of these pillows, and saw they cost 499 yuan each!
Pretty steep price, really.
The car cruised along the campus road and soon reached the girls’ dorm building.
"Xiaoya, you two go handle your stuff."
"I’ll take Pipa upstairs myself!"
After parking, Shen Qiushan waved Fang Xiaoya and Zhu Ying off.
"It’s fine, we live just above Pipa."
"Yeah, and I need to bring Jiayu her pillow anyway."
Xu Pipa was staying in Dorm 3, room 307.
Fang Xiaoya and Zhu Ying lived in 511, so really just upstairs.
Since they insisted, Shen Qiushan didn’t push—they just followed as he carried a huge woven bag in one hand, travel bag in the other, striding upstairs.
Xu Pipa quietly trailed after him.
No idea when it started, but Little Mushroom Head liked the feeling of following Shen Qiushan, because seeing that tall, solid figure in front of her gave a weird sense of security.
They reached the third floor in no time.
Since it was already day two, hardly any parents were still hanging around the dorms.
When girls spotted Shen Qiushan, some actually looked surprised!
The door of 307 was open, and a short-haired girl sat at her desk flipping through a copy of "Medical Miscellany."
Anyone who gets into Clinical Medicine was a top student back in high school, one of the best in their grade.
So even in college, they still had the reading habit.
When people walked in, the short-haired girl glanced over instinctively, then politely greeted Shen Qiushan: "Hello, Uncle."
To her, Shen Qiushan must’ve been a parent dropping off a kid—even if he looked young, "Uncle" sounded fine.
"Hi there!"
Shen Qiushan nodded back and set down his woven bag and travel bag on the floor.
Of the four bunks, only one lower bunk was empty—obviously, that’s Xu Pipa’s.
"Pipa, let me help you make your bed."
Fang Xiaoya tried her best to play the parent role.
"Me too, I’ll help."
Zhu Ying jumped in, mainly to show off in front of Shen Qiushan.
She was super curious what the deal between Shen Qiushan and Xu Pipa was, like why is he dropping her off—but couldn’t straight-up ask.
So, she figured she’d buddy up to Xu Pipa and get the scoop later.
Witnessing this—
The short-haired girl was kind of baffled, since she remembered Fang Xiaoya and Zhu Ying.
Both were student council members for welcoming freshmen, but when she arrived, they hadn’t given her nearly this much attention.
"That’s okay, I can do it myself..."
Xu Pipa quickly tried to refuse; she didn’t want to trouble the two of them with such a small thing.
But Fang Xiaoya, the "stepmom," totally wouldn’t let her lift a finger!
You won’t let me help?
How am I supposed to look like a model wife and mother in front of Old Shen?
Shen Qiushan just gave a helpless smile—he was honestly speechless at Fang Xiaoya.
No idea which wire in this girl’s head was crossed; how did she end up chasing after an "old onion" like him?
Still, being chased by a girl eighteen years younger—it’s definitely a brand new experience.
"Pipa, with your two sisters here, I’ll head off now."
"Call me for anything."
Shen Qiushan gave little Mushroom Head a fond ruffle and then left the dorm building.
Back in the car—
Shen Qiushan checked the time.
Today he had some big business to handle.
He needed to meet with Chenghua Film and Television Company’s rep to sign the adaptation rights for "I Really Didn’t Want to Reincarnate."
This time, Penguin Novels was also sending staff.
The deal:
Meet at 1 p.m. at Guomao Grand Hotel.
Right now there was still an hour to go.
Shen Qiushan set the navigation and headed off.
Half an hour later—
In a private room at Guomao Grand Hotel.
Penguin Novels copyright operations manager Yao Xiaochuan, content department deputy editor-in-chief Ma Zhuang, and content editor Tao Meng were the first to arrive.
Yao Xiaochuan and Ma Zhuang were both middle-aged guys around forty, while Tao Meng was a cute, wide-eyed girl in her twenties.
The name Tao Meng wouldn’t ring a bell in the web novel world.
But say her online handle "Wutong," and lots of authors would recognize her. Even though she’d only worked at Penguin Novels for about six months, she discovered the wildly successful "I Really Didn’t Want to Reincarnate," which averages over a hundred thousand orders.
For a rookie editor, that’s a huge achievement!
After taking their seats in the private room—
Ma Zhuang grinned at Tao Meng, "Xiaotao, you sure Shen’s Tutoring is just a high schooler?"
"He should be a college student now."
"Back then, he was prepping for the entrance exams, so he often missed my messages."
"Barely replied at all."
Tao Meng herself was super curious about "Shen’s Tutoring" identity, so she was pretty excited for this meet-up.
"He’s not a high schooler!"
"I called him last night. Judging by the voice, he doesn’t sound like a high schooler."
Yao Xiaochuan took over.
"No way!"
"I bet it was his dad answering!"
"He’s sent me tons of pics at school."
Tao Meng was convinced Shen’s Tutoring was a high schooler—how else could he send school pictures?
Would he really go out of his way to fake pics just to mess with her?
That wouldn’t make any sense!
"Xiaotao, you’re still too young!"
"Old guys have all kinds of tricks!"
Yao Xiaochuan teased, chuckling.
"Totally! Some authors are total big, rough dudes but love pretending to be cute girls."
Ma Zhuang chimed in—he’s been in the industry over twenty years and met tons of web authors.
Most people look nothing like their online persona, and sometimes the difference is wild.
While the three of them were chatting—
The waiter tapped on the door, then led in a tall, handsome man.
"You’re President Liang from Chenghua Film and TV?"
Yao Xiaochuan quickly stood up, with Ma Zhuang and Tao Meng following suit.
The man who came in looked so good, none of them could connect him to a web novel author.
Because, let’s face it, web novel authors are usually nerdy guys who’ve neglected their looks.
The man before them was basically movie star level!
"Nope."
Shen Qiushan smiled and shook his head, "I’m Shen’s Tutoring!"
"Huh??"
That floored all three of them.
Especially Tao Meng—she’d always thought he was a high school kid, even threw down "Go little brother!" lines now and then.
Who’d have guessed he was actually a hot older guy!
Shen Qiushan scanned the three and landed on Ma Zhuang: "You must be Brother Shu, right?"
"Long time online friends, thanks for looking out for me."
All this time, Shen Qiushan had assumed his editor "Wutong" was a rough old dude.
Of the three here, only Ma Zhuang really fit that image!
