Chapter 41: Before Class
The Electives Department had it’s own mess hall wherein the teachers and students ate in separate areas. The food was rather good – well, according to your average teacher at any rate.
Lan Jue carried his tray to a nearby corner and sat, having only picked a plate of steamed vegetables and a bowl of rice.
“You eat so little, Mr. Lan!” Jin Yan’ fair voice reached him as she placed her tray across from him and sat.
Lan Jue smiled. “I’m not very hungry.”
“But you’re so tall and strong,” she replied with a smile of her own. “Surely that isn’t enough nutrition there.”
Lan Jue only laughed.
So accustomed to fine cuisine, Lan Jue had lost his taste for the more conventional fare, but still he finished everything on his plate. Not a grain of rice went to waste. If the food wasn’t to your liking you could eat less, but you absolutely must not waste.
Lan Jue made no effort to press the conversation further, so Jin Yan ate in silence.
After he’d finished Lan Jue made no motion to leave, instead sitting quietly until Jin Yan had cleaned her plate. But he was sure not to stare – after all, staring at young women was not polite.
Even still, Jin Yan’s pretty face still grew slightly flushed. It had been somewhat abrupt, she felt, to sit beside him in the mess hall. But for reasons she didn’t quite understand Lan Jue’s every word and deed made her feel at ease, and not the slightest bit awkward.
“All done.” Finishing off her last bite she glanced at Lan Jue’s cleaned plate. She smiled in appreciation. “No wasting, that’s a good habit.”
His only response was to smile. He waited until Jin Yan had risen, and followed taking his own tray to the drop-off counter.
“So this afternoon is your first class, Mr. Lan. Would you mind if I sat in?” She’d known him for only a very short while, but Jin Yan’s interest in Lan Jue had grown considerably. This young gentleman with his noble demeanor and sharp clothing seemed almost perfect to her. It was the first time she had felt this way.
“Of course! It would be my pleasure,” he said with an amicable nod.
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Jin Tao ran a hand through his peach-colored hair, making them gather together in the center of his head all the more. A cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth, the smoke curling around him as he sauntered towards the alumni’s section. He hadn’t any friends lately, but it hardly bothered him. He entertained himself.
“The following is an announcement,” a melodious female voice called.
Jin Tao in turn paused, listening. It appeared to be a school-wide broadcast, so he was curious what it had to say.
“Announcing a new Elective Course: Etiquette and Lifestyle Training. The first class will commence at two o’clock this afternoon. Instructor Lan Jue leading. Any students with time and interest are invited to attend.”
The broadcast repeated three times, echoing throughout every nook and cranny of the campus.
Jin Tao’s lips curled in contempt. “The hell is that? Etiquette? Pfft.” As he spoke he stuck in middle finger up to the sky in defiance.
Just at that moment he spotted a couple figures in the distance making their way towards him. His eyes lit up… and he darted out of sight.
Two women in school uniform were walking his way. The first woman was wearing the formal dress of a university lady. White shirt, a black skirt stopping at the knee, white stockings and a black suit constituted her outfit. Her black hair hung loose, free to flow down her back, and her glimmering blue eyes seemed like they could look right through you in to your soul. Her beauty was breathtaking.
The second young lady stood at her side and was wearing a tight-fitting mecha-pilot flight suit. These flight suits were excellent at protecting the body, but it also served to perfectly outline the figure of this long-legged beauty. She had a hair full of blond hair and deep, penetrating green eyes that shone like quartz. The uncommon length of her legs might have been somewhat off-putting, but her posture and well-built figure exuded a tameless, alluring beauty.
The normally fearless Dumb-mutt Jin had a reason for hiding away. Upon seeing the black-haired vixen he had been immediately smitten. However, that blond Amazon filled him with an odd sense of fear.
She was a name among the Mecha department. The NEU had but a few Special Grade pilots, and this was one – Special Grade second rank. But rumor said, she was just a hair’s breadth away from Special first rank. And what’s more, a Sophomore National Scholar like the black haired beauty she accompanied.
Jin Tao had managed to earn a Third Rank in piloting with no small amount of effort, still the lowest rank to be found in the school. In front of this beautiful maverick he wouldn’t dare act arrogant.
What’s more, both were top of the charts for the most beautiful girls on campus. At at the very top? Black Beauty. Some students might not even know who the Dean was but the Blue-Eyed Goddess Zhou Qianlin, not a soul was unfamiliar.
“So what do you think, Qianlin. Why do you want to check out this Etiquette class? Could it be you have some lifestyle defect? I really don’t know what the university was thinking, suddenly opening this class,” Tang Mi said querulously.
Zhou Qianlin walked beside her textbook clutched to her chest, and said in resignation, “I’m not forcing you to go with me. It’s you who really wants to tag along.”
Tang Mi snorted. “Hmph, you still really don’t understand public sentiment do you! Who do you think are the people with nothing better to do than attend electives? Problem students. You rush over there and they start to harass you, what then? I get the worst of it, that’s what!”
“What are you talking about,” Qianlin muttered quizzically.
Tang Mi giggled in response. “Don’t you remember? You said if I were a man, you’d have married me. You’re my woman!”
Zhou Qianlin stuck her tongue out at her friend. “Big breasts and no brains.”
“Nonsense,” Tang Mi blurted out, “Mine clearly aren’t as big as yours!” Her voice had risen markedly. Hidden behind a nearby tree, the racy visions surging through Dumb-mutt Jin’s head threatened to send him spiraling in to a coma.
“Fine. Long legs and no brains, how’s that,” Qianlin grumbled.
After the two beauties passed, Jin Tao remained hidden, dizzy from what he assumed must have been a sudden lack of blood. The two campus belles were going to join the Etiquette class eh? Awesome, a chance to see these gorgeous ladies up close and personal!
This was a secret he definitely wasn’t going to share!
Off he went with that thought still ringing in his head, directly to his dorm room to change clothes. If he wanted to make a good impression on those girls he needed to look his best!
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At the same moment Lan Jue had already arrived in the first classroom he’d use as a teacher.
The classroom they’d assigned him wasn’t large. It looked capable of holding only maybe fifty students. There was no fancy teaching equipment. Just a blackboard, a podium, and the chairs which would hold his charges.
