You Sound Sleepy

Recently, on K University’s forum, a popular post popped up in the law school section.

The serious and academic name “Summary of the International Economic Law Seminar” accompanied the post.

However, once clicked, you will immediately realize that this so-called “serious” post’s content was… most definitely not serious, from beginning to end.

Using a series of exclamation points and onomatopoeias to express the rising intensity of their thoughts, the original poster’s text revolved around a single, central idea: Professor Que is teaching in a new campus in K University this semester. This really sucks!

Shortly after, the same person posted a blurry photo as the first reply under the post with the caption: Didn’t dare to be too obvious when taking the picture, everyone be low-key![image] [].

Containing a teacher’s podium in the background, the photo was furtively taken right when the man finished writing on the blackboard and turned around. It was a little blurry, but you could see the faint silhouette of the side of Que’s charming face and his tall, rangy figure. He delicately supported one of his hands on the side of a table, and in doing so, his shirt tugged, accentuating an unusually beautiful arc at his back. He looked ineffably lonely and handsome.

The people who gossiped about Professor Que’s academic achievements, in the end, all sighed with a longing heart. Such a young associate professor like Professor Que did not appear inexplicably. After all, vast disparities in accomplishments between people did exist…

Revered as a male god, Professor Que used to teach master and doctoral students at the old campus; he had only recently transferred to the new campus.

In only a few weeks, the post was covered in countless replies, dominating the other monotone, academic posts in the forum that only had a few sporadic replies. The reason why the post hadn’t been taken down yet, in this quite serious academic forum, was due to the forum’s moderator also being a student. After glancing at the indecent post’s contents, said student swiftly right clicked, saved the photo, and then turned a blind eye to the post, allowing it to run rampant in popularity.

Although everyone’s gaze was laser focused on Professor Que, an observant person soon found another bright spot in the picture.

2,166th Reply: How come I seem to see someone… sleeping?

The photos were taken on one the few seats closest to the podium. After carefully zooming in, it was revealed that, between the backs of people who were listening and watching with attention, there was a girl languidly bending over and sleeping. Her silky inky black hair draped down to the back of her shoulders and little curls littered the ends of her hair.

Soon, another person replied: If I remembered correctly, I saw her last class. I also saw her last last class…

It was notoriously difficult to seize a seat in this International Economic Law lecture hall. Despite the lecture hall’s immensity, people would routinely crowd, squeeze, and push through the walking corridors in order to listen to the lectures. In fact, a majority of people were willing to pay a hefty price to reserve a prized seat in that lecture hall.

In addition, as a result of Professor Que never tracking attendance, the attendees of his classes would even consist of students from other schools, filling up even more of the seats! It didn’t matter if you were going to the lecture hall for the sake of listening to a lecture or for the sake of chatting and seeing people, obtaining a seat near the front of the lecture hall was an arduous undertaking.

And every single time, a seat in the middle of the third row of the lecture hall would be seized, like a ruler taking their rightful throne, by this girl. And what did she do with such a treasured position?

Sleep.

She slept blatantly. She slept serenely. She slept disregarding all of those around her.

She was sleepy…

Lin Mian had already slept through a little under half a semester of these International Economic Law classes.

The lecture hall, which could accommodate 100 people, was currently calm and quiet. Leaning on the sides of her arms in a limbo state between being conscious and dreaming, Lin Mian could only hear a singular male voice pass through her ears.

Carrying a steady pace, the man’s voice was deep and pleasant. Its clearness was similar to a piece of ice being tapped against a wall. Such a voice was originally intended to smoothly bring people into the lecture’s rhythm, but strangely enough, when it reached Lin Milan’s ears, every single one of his words were unusually hypnotic.

When Lin Mian first attended his class, she sat in the very last row of the lecture hall. She could only see his blurry upright figure from the distance. Before even two sentences passed through his mouth and into her ear, she had fallen dead asleep.

Usually, when her insomnia acted up, she would go for as much as a week without sleeping. However, his voice had a strange soothing effect on her. Unexpectedly, for the first time in her life, a chronic insomniac like her had been soothed by a person’s voice. She needed to get closer to that soothing voice. With great persistence, she managed to seize a position in front of the lecture hall and from then on never failed to sleep, freeing herself from her insomnia.

At an indistinct time during her limbo state in the lecture hall, Lin Mian heard someone deeply and slowly read out a name: “Xu Tong.”

Xu Tong?

“…”

Hearing the name, Lin Mian, who was lying on the table tranquilly, finally moved. Lin Mian slowly and languidly raised her face, subconsciously following the sound, her vision still hazy.

The boy next to her, who was playing with his mobile phone, turned his attention over to Lin Mian and whispered, “Classmate, your name is Xu Tong, right?”

Lin Mian listlessly murmured, “Hmm…” and finally responded, “I guess… yeah.” 

You guess? The boy was speechless for a moment before saying “The professor just now called you out to answer a question.”

Lin Mian raised her eyes. Her gaze focused on a man in the distance.

The distance between them was not far. After waiting for Lin Mian to stand up, Professor Que Qingyan closed the class roster, his pupils focusing in her direction. He simply but meaningfully asked, “Law major, Xu Tong?”

Lin Mian nodded. A red mark was imprinted on her pale forehead from sleeping. Her state, from the top of her head to the tips of her curling hair, all screamed “sleeping now, do not disturb.” Struggling to fish out from the streams of her blurry memory what exactly the question was, she secretly pinched her forearm under the table. Her mind began to gradually clear.

It was unfortunate for her. To think that Professor Que would, for the first time in calling somebody to answer a question, would call on a sleeping person. Eyes mixed with a little sympathy, the boy sitting to the side looked at Lin Mian and whispered, “… … to ‘be’ is the answer, classmate.” 

She didn’t quite catch the first part of his answer, but that appeared to be unnecessary, after giving the boy a grateful look, Lin Mian, emboldened, answered with complete confidence. “I choose the answer choice B.”

All the students in the lecture hall clearly heard her. Her voice was neither high nor low. As soon as her voice fell, the lecture hall was eerily silent for a few seconds. An unknown person couldn’t resist chuckling. Immediately afterwards, the entire lecture was ringing with laughter, the contagious laughter spreading from one person to another. 

“B what? I said…” The boy struggled to suppress his laughter.

Lin Mian turned her attention to the projection screens located at the front of the lecture hall. They projected a long string of English words. Although there was obscure professional lingo mixed in the sentences, it was not difficult to see that the question was definitely not a multiple choice question and was, in fact, a question that required analysis and discussion.

It required analysis and discussion…

What did she just answer?

She chose B.

Lin Mian: “…”

She chose death.

An hour later, Lin Mian was obediently sitting on a reception sofa in an office.

The office’s half closed door revealed a person outside the office appearing to make an overseas call. Helpless to the situation, Lin Mian roughly estimated the time of the next phone call, carefully adjusted herself to an upright sitting posture, delicately added the finishing touches to her look of repentance, and then soundlessly inspected her surroundings.

The sunlight radiating on the office’s bookshelf from a window, the interior of the office was spacious, and the decor was quite particularly chosen. Lin Mian’s eyes lingered carefully on a bookshelf. The wooden bookshelf, which completely covered a side of a wall, contained a plethora of professional books in all sorts of thicknesses. All of the books had one thing in common; they all looked incomprehensible to her.

After arriving at the office, her attention immediately focused on a plaque in the office. Gold gilded words were clearly pasted on the plaque’s silver background. It read: Associate Professor of Law, Que Qingyan.

The same person was currently making an overseas call outside the door.

“…”

Lin Mian desperately wanted to go back in time to when Xu Tong had called her two months ago and ruthlessly cut off the line, preventing this entire fiasco. She should have never accepted her proposal.

Xu Tong was her cousin.

Her little cousin was a sophomore at K University. Half a year ago, she departed to Canada for a student exchange session for one semester. Two months ago, she returned from the student exchange in Canada. Immediately after her return, Xu Tong hastily applied for an international volunteer project, and after her visa was approved, she briskly gathered her luggage and passionately rushed to return to Canada once again.

The reason? The little girl encountered a steamy romantic lover in Canada. An international romance transcending borders bloomed. Desperate to spend more time with her little boyfriend, she promptly scampered back to Canada, disregarding her college courses.

Xu Tong and Lin Mian from a very young age grew up together. In addition, since they were both residing in City B, their relationship became even tighter.

Before leaving for Canada to see her boyfriend, Xu Tong called her and pleaded. “Sister Mian, let’s forget about the other courses and only focus on this one required professional course that I’ll miss due to my little excursion. I heard that the old professor who teaches this course is extremely strict and hot-tempered. Furthermore, attendance is mandatory in his class. Those who are absent for even a single time are forced to drop his class.” Finally, she got to the point. “Please, attend this class and pretend to be me! Please, save this child!”

Lin Mian didn’t buy the idea. “Xu Tong, I graduated university three years ago. Do I even look like a college student?”

“Yep, you definitely look like a college student. Extremely pure and cute!”

Xu Tong said this sentence from the bottom of her heart. She and Lin Mian have known each other for so many years, the latter having been a beauty since childhood. Even back then, Lin Mian had red lips and pristine white teeth, and when she grew up, her facial features became even more charming. She had delicate pale skin and a bright, clear pair of eyes. When they went shopping, those who didn’t know would think that Xu Tong was the one taking along her little sister and not the other way around.

Xu Tong promised again and again, “All you have to do is arrive on time. The old professor’s eyes are not good, so once he’s finished taking attendance you can slip away. He probably won’t even realize it if you slip out from the front door.”

Lin Mian agreed unwittingly at the time. After all, isn’t it just an attendance thing? A piece of cake, right?

But she didn’t expect that the professor of this class would be temporarily replaced by Que Qingyan. She also didn’t expect that she depended on the class to cure her insomnia. And she never expected…

She never expected that she would be waiting to be admonished in someone’s office. 

She listened for a little bit. Talking to the other party in a logical and clear manner, Que Qingyan was still on the phone, his voice steady, deep, and pleasing to the ear. 

Sleepiness began to overtake her, Lin Mian murmured a few unintelligible sentences before dozing off.

Indeed, his English was also hypnotizing…

Lin Mian woke up shocked.

…she actually unknowingly fell asleep!

Petrified from embarrassment, she pretended to sleep for a little while longer. Soon, she tentatively opened and raised her eyes, fixing onto a nearby male figure.

There was a table between him and her. To think that she would just casually sleep here for so long with nobody waking her up. Lin Mian, with a half opened her mouth, apprehensively said, “Professor Que.”

Currently, Que Qingyan was reading through some material. Hearing her words, he glanced at her and paused. “My office doesn’t have juice. Would you like water or coffee?”

Juice…

He treated her like a child.

“There is no need for drinks.” Lin Mian could admit her mistakes. She bowed her head twice and said, “Professor Que, I’ve made a mistake. From now on, I will never sleep in your class again.”

Yet, in her head she was actually thinking, From now on, I need to find a more secretive sleeping place.

Que Qingyan responded with an ‘uh-huh.’

Just as Lin Mian was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the other party handed over a green slip of paper that read: “《Convention》Article 1, Paragraph 1, Discuss the scope of application.”

“…” Huh?

She skimmed through the piece of paper and lowered her head with a contrite expression.

Her conclusion? She couldn’t possibly “discuss the scope of application.”

Not long after, an opened foreign law book was in front of Lin Mian’s eyes. Notes covered an open page of the book, and next to the notes were annotations written lightly in sharp, pretty letters. Que Qingyan glanced at her. “After you finish your analysis on this case, notify me.”

He wrote these annotations. Reasonably speaking, I should at least understand it, right?… Lin Mian gave a tentative look at the law book. Impossible. She bowed her head even more apologetically.  

Professor Que was silent.

He must think that I’m unable to learn. He must think that I possess no knowledge. He must think that I can only sleep. Lin Mian shamefully reflected. She had been heavily praised during her childhood. That was great and all, but after crossing into a certain professional discipline, she had become illiterate.

Instead of fixing her faults, Lin Mian decided to shamelessly comfort herself. Anyway, he won’t remember me. It’s little Xu Tong’s reputation that’s being lost here. What am I afraid of?

After those reassuring statements, Lin Mian’s heart was stable. Finally, she once again looked up at Que Qingyan. Noticing her gaze, Que Qingyan lifted his eyes and looked over at her.

Caught off guard by his gaze, Lin Mian’s fingers, which were resting on her knees, wriggled slightly.

…He hasn’t changed. He still looks so handsome.

The desk was right next to a window. At this time, the sunlight spilled through the window and bathed Qin Qingyan, outlining his deep and charming facial features. Lin Mian couldn’t tear her gaze off his handsome figure. Qin Qingyan curled his lips into a slight smile.

Originally wearing a mask of frigid indifference, Qin Qingyan subtly twitched his eyebrows as he smiled. Her heart shook. She compared this smile to the bleak blooming of a Clivia lily in the bone-chilling winter frost, carrying restraint, chill and an enchanting sense of asceticism. She couldn’t help but wish to draw closer to him.

Entranced, Lin Mian gingerly scrutinized Que Qingyan’s smile. She lacked time to derive the general meaning of his smile and her trance was soon disrupted by Que Qingyan.

“10,000 words.”

“…ah?”

He retracted his gaze from her and turned a page with his slender fingers. “Write a 10,000 word minimum reflection paper on your sleeping in class, and when you’re finished, turn it in to me.”

She sat there stunned for ten seconds. After recovering, she leaned forward, struggling to suppress the numerous curses and swears that were directed at him. With the first syllable “Fu” caught between her lips and teeth, she suddenly heard him say, “20,000 words.” Although the voice wasn’t harsh, it was frosty. “If I hear you say naughty words again, I’ll add another 10,000 words.”

“………”

Lin Mian’s mind was filled with a long string of curse words. 

Despite this, she blinked innocently in confusion, then softly mumbled, “I didn’t say any naughty words…”

“En…,” responded Que Qingyan. “20,000 word minimum paper reflecting on your actions. Turn that paper in with your midterm papers that are due in two weeks.”

…

What was I thinking? Did I actually compare that  man’s smile to the blooming of a Clivia lily in winter???

Trapped in her past memories, Lin Mian brooded in silence.

My sincerest apologies to the Clivia lily…