I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Chapter 124: Quitting the Romantic Encounter, Focusing on Duty, Loving the School and the Job, and Achieving High Academic Performance

When Shen Kang heard a woman's voice coming through Ouyang Yu's phone microphone, and then heard what Ouyang Yu said, his eyelids twitched. He no longer needed to ask Ouyang Yu if he was working part-time as a courier.

He'd seen nice guys before, but this was the first time he'd ever seen one who was so kind as to help a girl deliver a package to another guy.

However, in his later life, he heard Yin Mingyang say that Yin Mingyang had an even more bizarre male colleague who bought condoms for the woman he liked and another man, saying something like, "If you don't buy condoms, she'll suffer if I ejaculate inside." It was so heartwarming that it made men speechless and women weep. He didn't know if Yin Mingyang made it up.

As Shen Kang was reminiscing, Ouyang Yu finished her call, put away her phone, and her demeanor became melancholic again.

Shen Kang couldn't help but ask, "Ou, she asked you to deliver a package to this guy, and you actually did it?"

He was genuinely curious about the psychology of this kind of person.

He had to pay off his debts by getting married, but at least his ex-wife had been extremely gentle and devoted to him before the marriage.

If his ex-wife were like that, he would never be able to continue the relationship.

Hearing Shen Kang's words, Ouyang Yu felt quite confused: "What's the problem? Her male best friend is busy and can't pick up the package, so I just delivered it to him."

"A male best friend? You actually believe that?" Shen Kang couldn't help but ask again.

Ouyang Yu looked around with an "you don't understand" expression and whispered, "Her male best friend is gay."

""

"—Did she say that?"

"yes."

Shen Kang glanced at Ouyang Yu and dropped the subject, since he and Ouyang Yu had only just met and it wasn't appropriate to say too much.

So they skipped that topic and got back to business: "Let's get back to why I wanted to see you. I've been studying tea brewing lately, but I just can't seem to get it right. I've heard you're quite knowledgeable about tea, so I'd like to invite you to my place to brew a pot of tea. Would you be willing?"

"No problem, let's go."

Following Shen Kang, they walked to Xiaodong Street and arrived at the door of study room 302. Ouyang Yu was still a little confused: "Didn't we say we were going to your dorm? What are we doing here?"

Shen Kang explained, "When I said 'go to my place,' this is it. I'm the owner here; the tea and everything else are here."

"Are you the owner here?"

Ouyang Yu was stunned for a moment.

He was also a customer of Jiahe Laundry, so he naturally knew about Room 302. He just didn't expect that the boy introduced by Song Qingru would be the owner of Room 302.

However, he only paused for a moment before reverting to his melancholic demeanor, seemingly not particularly concerned about it.

'

Okay, where are the tea leaves?

"Right there."

Shen Kang led Ouyang Yu inside and plunged into the coffee corner, taking out all 16 kinds of tea. Because he had been studying tea brewing, he had taken all the tea leaves out of the jars, so at first glance, they all looked like loose, unbranded tea in bags.

"Quite a lot." Ouyang Yu was also somewhat surprised, seemingly not expecting Shen Kang to have prepared so many kinds of tea.

Then, as was his habit, he glanced through the bags, rummaged through them with his hands, and even smelled them. "This Xinyang Maojian is pretty good—this White Peony is also alright—this Mengding Huangya is a bit lacking—"

Watching from the side, Shen Kang felt that Ouyang Yu really knew his stuff when it came to tea, and he had even higher expectations for him.

After examining the tea leaves, Shen Kang discovered that Ouyang Yu had accurately identified 9 out of the 16 types. Shen Kang knew the accuracy rate, not because he was knowledgeable about tea, but because he had taken all the tea leaves from the jar and spent most of the day on them, so he had temporarily memorized them.

"So which tea leaves do you want me to use for brewing?" Ouyang Yu asked after looking around.

Shen Kang casually pointed, "Let's go with that Biluochun tea."

"7

Ouyang Yu then began to operate it.

Shen Kang brought over a small stool, sat down and watched, and found that Ouyang Yu's operation was indeed different from his.

He always puts tea leaves into a cup, boils water, and pours it in directly, but Ouyang Yu doesn't do that.

Ouyang Yu didn't put in the tea leaves at first, nor did he remove the boiling water. Instead, he waited a little while before pouring the water into the cup. He stopped when the cup was about a third full, picked up a small pinch of Biluochun tea leaves, and dropped them into the cup. After the tea leaves absorbed the water and sank, he filled the cup with water again. Then, he picked up the cup, waited a moment, placed a lid over the rim, and poured all the tea into another cup, leaving only the tea leaves in the original cup. The movements were fluid and seamless.

"Your Biluochun tea is just average, so I used a mid-range shot. If it were a better Biluochun tea, I would have used a high shot."

Ouyang Yu offered a casual explanation, then picked up the cup of tea (which contained no tea leaves) and handed it to Shen Kang, "Want to try some?"

Shen Kang took it, blew on it, and took a sip. Without even tasting it carefully, he could feel the difference from the tea he brewed himself. It was indeed no longer astringent, and he could only taste the fragrance.

He gave Ouyang Yu a thumbs up and said, "Amazing."

Ouyang Yu's expression didn't change much; he still had that melancholy air about him, as if he didn't think it was anything special, just a simple tea brewing.

Shen Kang then said, "If it's not too much trouble, could you brew a few more types of tea for us to try?"

"It's no trouble at all."

Zhenzhen said she was going out to dinner with her roommates tonight, so Ouyang Yu didn't have to bring her food. With nothing else to do, he started making tea for Shen Kang again, using different techniques for each type.

Shen Kang watched as Ouyang Yu brewed a cup, and he sipped it. Later, he was so full that he asked the barista to help him drink some too. After doing this for a while, he was certain that Ouyang Yu really did have a family background in tea and was quite knowledgeable about it. He was exactly the kind of person he was looking for!

"Alright, that's enough for now."

After confirming Ouyang Yu's skill level, Shen Kang stopped him and said, "Actually, I'm studying tea because my shop wants to make a milk tea—the kind made with real milk and real tea leaves—so we need some good tea broth. I feel you'd be quite suitable to be the technical supervisor, and I'd like to hire you. What are your thoughts?"

Ouyang Yu shook his head without even thinking, "No, I'm usually quite busy, I don't have time to do these things."

Shen Kang then said, "Why don't you listen to my offer first? The monthly salary is two thousand, and you don't have to sit in the shop. Your main responsibility is to work with me to develop a suitable tea soup, simplify the production process, standardize it as much as possible, and teach it to the shop staff. You can do whatever you want in your spare time."

Ouyang Yu thought for a moment and asked, "Just one type of tea soup?"

If they were to hire Ouyang Yu, it would be a long-term collaboration, so Shen Kang couldn't lie to him and truthfully said, "Initially, there will only be one style, but if business is good, we will definitely need to research and develop more styles."

Ouyang Yu then shook his head, "That won't do, it's too time-consuming, I'm quite pressed for time."

His family's teahouse was very successful in his hometown, and he wasn't short of money. If the monthly salary offered by Shen Kang conflicted with his needs, he would refuse without even thinking about it.

Shen Kang tried to persuade her for a while, but Ouyang Yu just wouldn't agree, her attitude was very firm.

Shen Kang could roughly guess what Ouyang Yu was so busy with: most likely, he was serving Zhenzhen 24/7, and incidentally, serving Zhenzhen's male best friend.

Seeing Ouyang Yu's sycophantic behavior, Shen Kang got a little angry. After being repeatedly rejected by Ouyang Yu, he finally couldn't help but say, "Ouyang, what's so great about dating? Especially dating like this. You'd be better off like me, quitting the dating scene and focusing on your job, loving your school and your work, and achieving high grades. There's no need to be tested by love; you should be tested by your school and your job. That's what a man should do!"

As a result, Ouyang Yu focused on the wrong thing: "You're single?"

"I'm single."

"Aren't you dating?"

"Even a dog in love wouldn't date!" Shen Kang said righteously.

Seeing Shen Kang like this, Ouyang Yu understood: this was a pathetic guy who couldn't find a girlfriend and wanted to drag him down with him.

Bah! He may not have any women, but I certainly do! And he's trying to drag me down with him.

Ouyang Yu chuckled, his melancholy demeanor brightening up. "Love is the greatest thing in the world, you wouldn't understand even if I told you. Anyway, I'm not going to be your so-called technical supervisor."

Seeing how deeply engrossed he was and how resolute his attitude was, Shen Kang gave up. There were other tea makers besides Ouyang Yu; if he really didn't want to, he could just find someone else.

It seems I still need to go out of school and visit those teahouses.

It's a little past 4 p.m., and the 302 study room is full again; all five tables are occupied.

Huang Jiayi is sitting at table number 1, and she is already out of the game.

Since that night, she's frequently visited study room 302. She'll definitely come whenever Yang Yunhan calls, and sometimes even if Yang Yunhan doesn't call, she'll buy a few experience vouchers on the Yangbei forum and come over at her own expense. Firstly, study room 302 is indeed quite interesting; secondly, she also hopes to bump into that boss, Shen Kang. If the two of them could develop a wonderful romance, that would be even better.

However, Huang Jiayi wasn't very lucky; she didn't run into Boss Shen again on her several visits.

The same is true today.

However, Huang Jiayi did gain something. In the past two days, she met a new friend she really liked, who is the beautiful woman sitting next to her right now, talking to her.

"—Later, he stopped replying to my text messages altogether."

The beautiful woman smiled faintly as she spoke, seemingly with a hint of self-deprecation.

Huang Jiayi was surprised.

Huang Jiayi's new friend is talking about her past relationship, but from what she's saying, it turns out that this beautiful woman was the one who pursued the guy, and she failed!

This struck Huang Jiayi as somewhat unbelievable. After all, her new friend, like herself, was a "plant" hired by Yang Yunhan, and Yang Yunhan had approved of her looks. Moreover, this beautiful woman had a great personality—generous and unpretentious—which was exactly what Huang Jiayi liked about her. So how could such a beautiful woman, with both looks and personality, fail to win over a guy she was actively pursuing?

"That guy is blind; he can't see how good you are," Huang Jiayi comforted her beautiful friend.

The beautiful woman shook her head: "You don't need to comfort me. I've figured it out. Maybe we're just not meant to be. Let it be."

As she spoke, she seemed both melancholic and resigned, as if she had already let go of the past.

Seeing that she seemed to have let it go, Huang Jiayi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly changed the subject: "Would you like to order a coffee?"

The beautiful woman agreed, so Huang Jiayi planned to call the staff over and order a silky latte for 15 yuan.

During the few days Huang Jiayi spent in study room 302, she earned over a hundred yuan, and her income continues to grow. As a result, she is now spending money more lavishly than before.

As it turned out, the staff was too busy to come over, so Huang Jiayi suggested that they go to the coffee corner to order. They figured they might as well get up and stretch their legs since they had been sitting for a while. Her beautiful friend agreed, and the two of them went to the coffee corner together.

Just as Huang Jiayi was about to order, someone stood up from inside.

Huang Jiayi was overjoyed to see this person and greeted him, "Boss Shen."

The person who stood up inside was Shen Kang, who was preparing to see his guests off and go to a teahouse outside the school.

Shen Kang looked at the girl in front of him, but didn't recognize her. "Who are you?"

Huang Jiayi smiled shyly, "My name is Huang Jiayi. I'm a customer of your store, the kind Yang Yunhan invited. That night when you drove over to deliver goods, I was at the same table as your classmate Wang Pan. We've met before."

That night, she spent a long time complaining about the girl at the same table being a clumsy person, but now that she herself is clumsy, she's just as good, if not better.

After saying that, Huang Jiayi didn't know what to say for a moment. Just then, she remembered that there was someone next to her, so she quickly gestured to her female companion and introduced her: "This is my friend Zaiwei. It's quite a coincidence that I met Zaiwei in your study room 302, Mr. Shen. She was invited by Yang Yunhan."

Then, she introduced Shen Kang: "Ran Wei, this is Shen Kang, the owner of study room 302."

The new friend Huang Jiayi made these past two days is none other than Ran Wei.

Ran Wei didn't expect to run into Shen Kang here. She was brought here by Yang Yunhan and didn't know that Shen Kang was the owner of this study room 302 until Huang Jiayi told her.

She looked at Shen Kang in front of her with a complicated expression.

That day in the large classroom, after Shen Kang left again under the pretext of "dinner," she realized that Shen Kang seemed to be rejecting her. Afterwards, Shen Kang stopped replying to her text messages, which further proved this point.

Ran Wei also has her own pride and didn't pester him. She was indeed upset at first, but gradually, she seemed to let go and move on.

But when she saw Shen Kang again, she realized that she hadn't really let go.

It's probably because it's so regrettable. If it were just a normal case of unrequited love, there might not be this much regret, but it's precisely this missed opportunity caused by the other person liking her but not responding in time that's truly heartbreaking. This feeling of almost finding happiness, only to ultimately miss it, this "just a little bit short," is incredibly agonizing and agonizing.

This led Zaiwei to a thought: maybe one more try and it will work? Perhaps it's just that "little" difference? Even if it still doesn't work, at least she made one last attempt, tried her best, and had no regrets.

Once the thought arose, it grew uncontrollably and rapidly in her mind, until finally, her voice trembled as she asked, "Shen Kang—do we still have a chance?"

"?"

Huang Jiayi looked at Ran Wei, then at Shen Kang, her mouth slowly opening into an "O" shape, her eyes filled with shock: the guy Ran Wei mentioned before, the one she had tried to pursue but failed with, was actually Shen Kang!?

Zaiwei felt like a warrior waiting to be slaughtered, just waiting for the final blow to fall.

Then she heard Shen Kang's voice, "I'm sorry, you're a good person."

19

The knife really came down.

Ran Wei's mind went blank for a moment, followed by a feeling of exhilarating relief.

After a moment of silence, she chuckled softly, "As expected, you rejected me." Her voice was no longer trembling, as if she had truly let go.

Then she looked around, picked up a pen from the coffee bar, and turned to the right.

On the right wall hangs a portrait of Zhang Fei from the game *Three Kingdoms Kill*, along with a lengthy text describing his life: Zhang Fei (?-221), courtesy name Yide, was a native of Zhuojun, Youzhou, and a famous general of Shu Han during the late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms period. In the first year of the Zhongping era (184), the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out. Liu Bei organized a rebel army in Zhuojun to participate in suppressing the Yellow Turbans, and Zhang Fei joined them along with Guan Yu.

Shen Kang had previously told Qian Ming'en that he would hang introductions to figures from the Three Kingdoms period in study room 302 to help students learn history. He wasn't just talking; he actually commissioned these paintings. Just like the portraits of "Newton" and "Einstein" that were hung in junior and senior high schools, he hung these portraits and introductions of figures from the Three Kingdoms period on various walls in study room 302 to help students learn history.

Ran Wei took the pen and wrote some words directly in the blank space of the description of Zhang Fei's portrait:

You are the most difficult question for me to answer.

After finishing writing, I casually tossed the pen aside, turned around and left study room 302 with a flourish, thinking to myself that I shouldn't look so embarrassed like this.

"————" Shen Kang stared speechlessly at the portrait of Zhang Fei, wondering if female college students these days are so abstract.

Then she looked at Huang Jiayi and asked, "Do you want to order coffee?"

"Huh?" Huang Jiayi was taken aback, then quickly nodded, "Yeah, I'll order a silky latte."

"Fifteen yuan."

After paying, Huang Jiayi slowly came to her senses and thought to herself, "Wait a minute, if Zaiwei runs away, should I chase after her?" — Never mind, she probably just wants to be alone right now.

Then Huang Jiayi thought of something else: "Boss Shen, Ran Wei is gone, and our table is short-staffed."

"Yang Yunhan!"

Shen Kang called Yang Yunhan over and told her that there was a temporary shortage of people at table number 1. Yang Yunhan immediately made a phone call to contact someone to come over.

Huang Jiayi wanted to say a few more words to Shen Kang, but after being shocked by what happened with Zaiwei, her mind was still a bit foggy, and she couldn't think of any topics for the moment. So she had no choice but to return to table number 1 with some regret.

Shen Kang finally had a moment to spare, and looked at Ouyang Yu, preparing to see the guest off.