Chapter 127

Chapter 127

But Bai Xingshu had no idea, and neither did most of the students who had signed up.

To them, it just seemed like what was originally a matter of each class compiling statistics and forwarding them to Bai Xingshu had suddenly turned into a school-organized sign-up process.

Moreover, during registration, they were merely reminded of what they might run into as temporary staff.

Cadets couldn't back out—once they signed up, no matter how tough or exhausting it got, they had to stick with it until school starts.

Hearing this, many of those who had just been following the crowd quickly changed their minds.

They were interested in the temporary staff position, but not if it meant giving up their whole break!

While the students were sweating over whether to join, Bai Xingshu simply felt that his workload had lightened up a lot.

Perfect!

After all, ever since he had rejected Song Xiyan, the system hadn't thrown a fit—it had gone totally silent, seemingly content to just wait until Bai Xingshu’s junior year.

Without the system's help, dealing with all this sign-up stuff would have been quite troublesome for Bai Xingshu.

Now, with so much more time on his hands, Bai Xingshu could focus more on polishing the battle plan write-up he was preparing for Lin Lie’s squad.

Initially, he had thought he could finish it quickly, but after repeated revisions and additions—tweaking this part, adding to that section, or incorporating new insights from the mech combat platform—what he thought would be maybe 50 pages had blown up.

Bai Xingshu glanced at the page count displayed on his tablet.

217 pages.

Ahem.

He had a feeling that what he was about to deliver might not exactly qualify as a "gift" anymore.

Recalling how his classmates had groaned during certain cultural courses…

…At the very least, he wouldn’t be assigning homework like some of the instructors.

Completely unapologetic, Bai Xingshu continued adding to the document’s length when suddenly, a message pinged on his comm.

Song Xiyan: I’m downstairs at your dorm.

Bai Xingshu went still.

This was the first time Song Xiyan had come directly to his dormitory to find him.

His hands moved faster, jotting down his last ideas before saving the document—if he waited, he might forget his train of thought later.

Hearing the unusually frantic scratching of Bai Xingshu’s pen, Shen Geng turned to look just in time to see him close the tablet.

“Someone’s looking for you?” Shen Geng put down his own work, prepared to go with him.

He assumed it was a school official wanting to speak with Bai Xingshu.

While Bai Xingshu and most students didn’t understand the back-and-forth of admin stuff, Shen Geng did.

He had also supported Bai Xingshu during the temporary staff incident, making him basically an accomplice—of course he wouldn’t let Bai Xingshu face it alone.

“It’s Teacher Song,” Bai Xingshu’s answer froze Shen Geng in place.

Shen Geng fell silent.

It was already 9 PM. What was Song Xiyan thinking, taking Bai Xingshu out this late?

Watching Bai Xingshu's departing figure, Shen Geng clenched his jaw.

He made up his mind then and there.

If Bai Xingshu didn't return within half an hour, he would call him up directly to ask what was going on.

If he hesitated to come back... Shen Geng would take apart the dorm's plumbing and tell Bai Xingshu to return immediately to help clean up the mess!

Shen Geng used every strategy he'd learned in the Combat Command Department, yet...

He'd barely come up with a Plan A, without even a backup Plan B, when the sound of the dorm door opening reached his ears.

Bai Xingshu was back.

And behind him was Song Xiyan, holding something unidentifiable.

"Just grabbing something!" Bai Xingshu said briskly, making a beeline for his desk.

Shen Geng didn't respond, instead turning his gaze to Song Xiyan. He noticed how Song Xiyan followed Bai Xingshu's movements, his eyes settling on Bai Xingshu's desk.

—On that desk, displayed meticulously, were all the gifts Song Xiyan had given Bai Xingshu. Every mechanical figurine was neatly stacked into a mountain-like arrangement.

Shen Geng's fingers twitched. He could almost hear the rise in Song Xiyan's affection for Bai Xingshu.

This was just like Bai Xingshu.

He treasured everyone deeply.

Shen Geng could clearly recall how, during their ride back in the car, Bai Xingshu had accurately recounted details about the Mechanical Engineering students they had only spoken to once.

Song Xiyan must be thrilled right now. Shen Geng mused sourly, only to realize that Song Xiyan's gaze didn't linger on the figurines for long. After just two seconds, his eyes shifted to... Shen Geng's hands.

Shen Geng automatically glanced down.

His tablet screen was dark for who knows how long.

Clearly, this completely exposed the fact that Shen Geng had been sitting there, lost in thought, the entire time Bai Xingshu was gone.

Turning the tablet back on at lightning speed, Shen Geng stayed silent, struggling to keep cool before casually asking Bai Xingshu, offhandedly, "Where are you two heading?"

By then, Bai Xingshu had already reached his desk, grabbed a bag, and started packing all the figurines into it. "Just the lounge area outside."

Realizing he'd jumped to conclusions, Shen Geng replied, "...Oh."

Song Xiyan could practically feel the way Shen Geng relaxed after that single "Oh."

He could see Shen Geng's inner turmoil.

The corner of Song Xiyan's lips quirked slightly.

As the "loser," it was hard not to feel a twinge of jealousy toward the "winner."

Though this time, he hadn't come to upset Shen Geng.

It had been a week and a half since Bai Xingshu made his stance clear to him. Little by little, Song Xiyan had sorted through his feelings and gradually steadied himself.

What isn't yours can never be yours.

He came here for a respectful farewell.

During this time, it had always been Bai Xingshu who patiently humored his reluctance and stubbornness.

As the older one, Song Xiyan gradually calmed down and didn’t want to be remembered by Bai Xingshu as just someone he tolerated.

He should also take a step forward himself, to let... Bai Xingshu feel reassured.

Knowing how firmly Bai Xingshu had rejected him, Song Xiyan actually didn’t feel any particular emotion upon seeing those ornaments piled mountain-high—contrary to what Shen Geng had imagined.

He only felt a momentary amusement at Shen Geng’s obvious concern over Bai Xingshu going out with him, and then...

His expression cooled again when he noticed how some of their belongings in the dorm were showing signs of shared domestic life.

They moved to the rest area. In the lounge area.

Bai Xingshu took out all the metal ornaments. "Professor, what’s the surprise you mentioned?"

As someone destined to marry into an elite Alpha family, Bai Xingshu had done some research on courtship—like secretly hiding something heartfelt within a gift.

But…

As a metal ability user, Bai Xingshu could clearly sense that these pure metal ornaments contained no hidden additions.

Song Xiyan didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled out twelve more metal ornaments from the bag he had brought.

Bai Xingshu showed no surprise.

He'd already detected what Song Xiyan was carrying.

Twelve.

Twelve days.

Exactly matching the time until the final exams ended.

Also the timeframe Song Xiyan had originally planned to give him one ornament daily.

Song Xiyan had brought them all tonight.

"Help me assemble them," Song Xiyan said, picking up two ornaments with a twist of his wrists, fitting them together. "Just like we did in the repair room."

From Song Xiyan’s slightly melancholic tone, Bai Xingshu caught a hint of something.

"...Okay," Bai Xingshu responded.

There being only fifty-eight ornaments in total, Bai Xingshu put them together quickly under Song Xiyan’s guidance.

In just a few minutes, a half-meter-tall model of a specific standard-issue mecha stood assembled before Bai Xingshu.

This long-outdated mecha model was familiar to him.

After all… he'd taken apart every last one in the repair room, he thought.

This was how he first met Song Xiyan.

Originally, Song Xiyan had imagined that after successfully winning Bai Xingshu's heart, they would put these objects symbolizing their time together into place, completing the picture.

But now...

Song Xiyan gazed at the finished model and said, "Earlier, I told the other faculty members to use the remaining mechs in the repair workshop as test equipment for this semester's junior students."

"Starting tomorrow..." He hesitated for a beat before adding, "You don't need to come to the repair workshop anymore."

"Yeah," Bai Xingshu didn’t know what to say at that moment and could only respond softly.

Song Xiyan reached out and touched the mech model—the one that held all their shared memories.

"I’ll take it with me," Song Xiyan murmured, lowering his gaze. "So no one takes their bad mood out on it in the future."

As the embodiment of all his cherished memories, he didn’t want it to be treated that way.

After running his fingers over the model for a while, Song Xiyan finally stood up.

At that moment, he became the stern, unapproachable Teacher Song in everyone’s eyes once more.

"Till next time."

"Till next time."