Can following the rules be called rebirth?

Chapter 254, Section 252: Gathering Clouds in Jiangnan (1)

"Oh, right."

Shen Yunrong rubbed her temples, her tense body gradually relaxing. She leaned back on the sofa, a smile spreading across her face.

"Actually, I didn't mean to be stubborn."

"It's just unbelievable, Mr. Zhou, Zhou Mingyuan, and young Mr. Zhou."

"Do you understand? I just want to have something to drink to calm down."

A variety of terms of address came out of Shen Yunrong's mouth, one word at a time.

The older sister's eyes were brimming with tears as she stared intently at Zhou Mingyuan's face.

When she was drunk, both her way of addressing people and her tone of voice suggested that something was quietly melting away.

"What's so unbelievable?"

The man smiled, gently placed her back on the sofa cushion, and sat down in the seat next to her.

"Millions in GMV, 25% commission – every metric is top-tier in the industry."

"Moreover, Jieyou is just a startup company that came out of the school, and it has been established for less than half a year, less than a semester. I think it is exaggerated to have achieved so much in such a short period of time."

"That's really outrageous."

Shen Yunrong crossed her arms, and her previously dizzy brain became clearer and clearer as she spoke.

"We did it together."

As Zhou Mingyuan corrected her, he focused on the edge of her still flushed cheeks.

"Your efforts and hard work are especially indispensable."

"The data breakdown, logical deduction, future planning, even the PPT is impeccable. President Dai has praised you to me several times and said he wants to recruit you."

"I?"

Shen Yunrong chuckled softly, unable to suppress her amusement, and shook her head.

She rolled up her sleeves, brushed aside a few strands of hair from her forehead, and said frankly.

"What does this have to do with me? I'm just following orders and occasionally acting as a tool for analysis."

She paused, her gaze slowly sweeping over everything familiar around her, then took the water glass in front of her and gulped down several large mouthfuls.

"correct."

Zhou Mingyuan rested his chin on his hand and immediately changed the subject.

On this beautiful night, he went to great lengths to bring Shen Yunrong back, not to chat with her about work as her boss.

He couldn't bring himself to do something so wasteful.

"I discovered your little secret when I was pouring water."

"Huh? What little secret?"

Shen Yunrong's eyes widened, her fingers clenched, and her expression froze on the spot.

"The sticky notes on the refrigerator."

"Oh, you mean this?"

Shen Yunrong pressed her temples and silently breathed a sigh of relief.

"I didn't expect that Teacher Shen was still thinking about me up there!"

Zhou Mingyuan narrowed the passage.

"What did you write?"

"It seems to be a few keywords: class monitor, and a conversation outline."

"Yes, yes, I wrote that down before I left the company. I really didn't expect that."

Shen Yunrong murmured to herself, her voice soft.

"At that time, the semester was almost halfway over, and everyone had settled into their university life. I wanted to have a talk with everyone in the class."

The tone carried a distant memory, drifting in the air.

“Based on the class roster, I prepared a conversation outline for each person.”

"."

It was a rare moment to have such a heartfelt conversation, and Zhou Mingyuan listened attentively.

"For example, Xiong Yao, who shares a dorm room with you."

Shen Yunrong spoke slowly, the name uttered as if the boy from Sichuan and Chongqing were standing right in front of her.

"He is a typical introverted boy with good grades and always takes very careful notes."

"When I was talking to him, his fingers were nervously twisting the hem of his clothes."

“For a boy like this, I know he comes from an average family, so I will talk to him about how he is adapting to university life and ask him if he has encountered any difficulties.”

"I also reminded him that the school has many scholarships and work-study opportunities, and that he can come and talk to me anytime if needed, so he shouldn't feel pressured."

Shen Yunrong paused for a moment, then continued to recall.

“And there’s another student in your dorm, Cai Zhipeng.”

"He's the kind of guy who's clever, quick-witted, from a good family, and loves socializing."

“Talking to him is quite different.”

Shen Yunrong straightened up, her starry eyes sparkling.

"During the conversation, he was more concerned about which courses were easy to get high marks in, which teachers were lenient, and which activities would help with evaluations and awards."

"For boys like this, I would say that while grades and honors are important, solid professional knowledge and upright character are the foundation of one's life."

"A conversation outline is nothing more than these, and ultimately it's not very useful."

Shen Yunrong shrugged and continued.

"Adjusting learning methods, planning university life, and future career direction are actually all old topics."

"But I just hope that even just one sentence can have a little bit of a positive impact on everyone, or just make them feel that someone cares about their growth, that's enough."

"."

Zhou Mingyuan's heart felt as if it had been gently bumped by something.

It's not hard for him to imagine.

At that time, despite suffering heartbreak and being scammed, Shen Yunrong still remembered to leave a kind message for the students who had just entered university.

An almost obsessive sense of responsibility and gentleness are written into the essence of her humanity.

"That"

Zhou Mingyuan unconsciously softened his voice and continued to ask.

"And me?"

"They specifically appointed a class monitor, so why didn't they talk to me about it?"

“You.”

Shen Yunrong smiled, her lips pursed, and two indistinct syllables escaped.

"You're the last one. I actually hesitated for a long time about whether or not to talk to you."

"what?"

Zhou Mingyuan raised an eyebrow and began to speak with great interest.

"What are you hesitating about? Are you worried that this student is causing you trouble every day and you don't know where to begin? Or should you just skip it?"

"Haha, of course not~"

Shen Yunrong chuckled, her fingertips brushing across her eyebrows and eyes, brushing aside her woolly bangs.

"I don't know how to guide you."

She paused for a few seconds, seemingly organizing her thoughts.

"You are too smart and too mature, Zhou Mingyuan."

"He is smarter than any student I have ever taught, and he never does things the way people do."

“You are different from those freshmen. The problem is not that you don’t understand the rules, but that you know too much how to use the rules, or even manipulate them.”

"In this situation, what can I talk to you about?"

Her assessment was spot on.

Ordinary encouragement won't work on you.

"You've probably heard more lectures than I have, and you secretly scoff at them."

"As expected of Teacher Shen, so what do you want to talk to me about?"

Zhou Mingyuan gave her a thumbs up.

"That's what I was thinking at the time."

Shen Yunrong crossed her two fingers, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping herself.

"Perhaps I can only try to talk to you about things beyond the rules."

"Something beyond the rules?"

Zhou Mingyuan blinked.

"Yes."

Shen Yunrong drew out her voice, her posture becoming more and more relaxed, her pair of jade feet unconsciously touching each other.

"I want to remind you that with great power comes great responsibility, or rather, the potential for great damage."

"I hope you can use your talents and vision in more worthwhile areas."

"But it's a good thing I didn't talk to you back then."

"why?"

Zhou Mingyuan asked curiously.

"of course?"

Shen Yunrong was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter as if her funny bone had been tickled. Her shoulders trembled slightly, and tears even welled up in the corners of her eyes.

"Of course, it's because I've discovered that you're a rational and law-abiding person who knows what you can and can't do, and you're incredibly smart."

"There is no order of precedence in learning; those who are accomplished are teachers. There are many things I need to learn from you, and I have no right to put on airs or spout high-sounding nonsense in front of you."

"."

Their eyes met, and Zhou Mingyuan quickly read the emotions in the other person's eyes.

This is what she means.

In her mind, Zhou Mingyuan was indeed rational and law-abiding.

That night, faced with a beautiful older woman who was drunk and made all sorts of demands, he was able to remain unmoved and leave on the spot.

Do people like this really need to be lectured?

There's no need for that. "Teacher Shen, you actually have a lot of misunderstandings about me."

Zhou Mingyuan said with a smile, his voice neither hurried nor slow.

"Don't call me Teacher Shen."

"Ok."

Where did I misunderstand?

"Actually, I never follow the rules, I only follow the law."

"."

Shen Yunrong looked at him, her gaze unfocused and somewhat dazed.

The man's words struck her heart with every single one.

She seemed to understand, yet she also seemed even more confused.

What does this mean?
I thought about it, but I still couldn't figure it out.

She rubbed her eyes, trying to dispel the fog in front of her, and her gaze returned to Zhou Mingyuan's face.

In fact, he is no longer a student who needs her personal instruction, but a boss who leads her into a whole new world and gives her high recognition.

Eh?
wrong.

He said he doesn't follow the rules, only the law.

Could it be that.
No way?
An absurd thought vaguely crossed my mind, and my heart inexplicably raced.

"Okay, okay, you're a law-abiding citizen."

She muttered something softly and weakly, with the last syllable drawn out slightly, sounding more like an unconscious coquettish complaint.

"As a law student, of course I should be a law-abiding citizen."

Zhou Mingyuan naturally leaned forward, closing the distance between the two.

This distance has long exceeded the safe social boundaries.

The man could even see her slightly trembling eyelashes and smell the warm fragrance emanating from her body.

Shen Yunrong instinctively tried to shrink back, but her body wouldn't obey, too weak to move. She could only stare blankly at his face so close to hers, her breath involuntarily stopping in place.

The atmosphere shifted abruptly the moment their eyes met.

It seemed as if only a second later someone realized that this was not a teacher-student conversation, but a traditional conversation between a man and a woman alone together.

Tiny sparks seemed to crackle and pop in the air, thick and ambiguous.

"."

Zhou Mingyuan suddenly reached out and, with an extremely natural movement, tucked a strand of curly hair that had slipped down her cheek behind her alluring pink ear.

"you"

It felt as if the fingertips were electrified, and the electric current suddenly surged through Shen Yunrong's limbs and bones.

She shuddered, almost bouncing as she shrank her shoulders, her drunkenness dissipating somewhat. She opened her eyes wide, staring at Zhou Mingyuan in disbelief.

"What are you doing!"

She opened her mouth, her voice tinged with obvious panic.

Got it wrong.

I realized I had made a mistake.

Why even bother defining this guy?

How could he be a rational and law-abiding model student?

"It's alright."

Zhou Mingyuan, however, remained calm and composed, his emotions perfectly stable.

He made a perfectly natural gesture, calmly withdrawing his hand and retreating to a seemingly safe distance, his tone returning to normal.

“I have OCD. When my hair got on your face, I couldn’t help but want to help you.”

"When you're drunk, you sweat a lot, which must be uncomfortable, right?"

"."

This is true.

Shen Yunrong drew her attention back to herself, and the heat and stickiness brought on by the alcohol resurfaced.

"is a bit."

She pouted and said softly.

"Shall I get your pajamas for you?"

Zhou Mingyuan didn't stand on ceremony at all and immediately stood up: "Where did you put it?"

"The first shelf on the left in the bedroom wardrobe."

Shen Yunrong felt as if she were drunk again, so drunk that she could only respond with a question-and-answer format.

Champagne, it's all because we drank champagne tonight.

The effects of alcohol tend to surge repeatedly, and consciousness begins to become blurred and eroded.

"Wait a minute."

Zhou Mingyuan got up as instructed and went to the bedroom.

The bedroom door was ajar, and he pushed it open and went in.

The room was simply yet warmly decorated, filled with the same faint fragrance as her.

A large bed covered with light blue sheets occupies the center, with a reading lamp and a book with a bookmark on the bedside table.

The title is "Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Exploration of Freud's Thought".

He glanced at it curiously, flipped through a few pages at random, and couldn't help but chuckle softly.

I put the book back, opened the wardrobe, and saw several sets of pajamas neatly folded in the first drawer on the left.

My gaze swept across the options, which were categorized into A, B, C, and D.

The first thing that catches the eye is a silk slip dress.

The color is a charming champagne pink, the material is smooth, and the amount of skin exposed is ambiguous, with a delicate luster flowing under the light.

Should we choose this one?
When the man went out again, he was carrying a set of what looked like the most conservative and safest pajamas.

The light blue cotton long-sleeved and trouser suit even has a somewhat student-like style.

Back in the living room, he found that Shen Yunrong was almost asleep again, her head nodding off.

"Are you getting high again?"

The man kept his voice steady as he handed her the pajamas.

"Um"

Shen Yunrong struggled to open her heavy eyelids and found herself in a conservative cotton nightgown, which added a touch of color to her eyes.

"How about I change it for you?"

Before the colors were fully illuminated, an unexpected question reached her ears.

"."

She was silent for a few seconds.

The hustle and bustle of the city outside the window seemed to be completely shut out, leaving only the uneven breathing of the two people in the living room.

"Thank you then. I really don't have the strength."

"Why are you so polite?"

As Zhou Mingyuan spoke, he casually reached out and pinched the metal zipper on the side of her skirt, his movements surprisingly practiced.

"Um"

When her fingertips touched the burning skin on her back, Shen Yunrong couldn't help but stiffen slightly.

Shen Yunrong's body tensed up instinctively, and she snorted softly through her nose.

Perhaps because his tone was too serious, or perhaps because it was too uncomfortable not to change out of her pajamas after drinking, she accepted it all.

Men are indeed very familiar with skirts.

He was like a master craftsman, pulling down the zipper extremely slowly, little by little.

The subtle sound of the metal chain disengaging was amplified infinitely in the small living room, each sound striking her nerves.

Continue until the zipper is fully closed.

The neckline of the long dress was loose, revealing a dazzling expanse of snow-white skin on her back, with smooth and delicate skin along her spine.

The graceful spinal grooves are hidden in the shadows, while the chest area is even more captivating.

The shoulder straps, buckles, and even the overall outline are all clearly visible.

so white.

So perfect.

That's really impactful.

This was Zhou Mingyuan's first reaction.

There are many kinds of perfection.

Unlike Du Jianuo's perfect figure, which is the result of long-term exercise, Shen Yunrong's figure is clearly a different kind of perfection.

She has a naturally pear-shaped figure, full yet taut, and within that tautness lies a myriad of charms.

How can one describe such a visual impact?
Song Yu's "The Rhapsody of Deng Tu Zi's Lust" from the Warring States period described it as follows: "Adding one part would make it too long, subtracting one part would make it too short, applying powder would make it too white, and applying rouge would make it too red."

When used to describe women, it's a universal truth.

Zhou Mingyuan's breathing suddenly became heavier.

But he remained unhurried and made no frivolous movements. Instead, he slowly and gracefully took off the long dress from her body, folded it neatly, and placed it on the armrest of the sofa.

Do not forget the original intention.

"Here, reach out your hand, I'll help you put on your pajamas."

Zhou Mingyuan is an extremely gentlemanly man.

He shook out his cotton long-sleeved pajamas, took Shen Yunrong's hands, and wrapped them tightly from her shoulders to her lower abdomen, like a cocoon, leaving only her cheeks flushed with an abnormal redness exposed, and then slipped her two slender arms inside.

It's as if those beautiful moments were just a fleeting glimpse in my memory.

But pajama pants are not so simple.

No matter how confidently she moves, she can't avoid that 25D with its powdery sheen.

Stockings.

The stockings are still there.

(End of this chapter)