Teacher Li, You Wouldn't Want to...

Chapter 37

Hearing Gu Ran's words, Li Sinan chuckled softly. She blinked playfully and said, "Hmm... if it's an unreasonable request, then you'd better not say it."

Gu Ran: "..."

"Ms. Li, you wouldn't want to see your student sad and heartbroken, would you?"

"Hahaha... I'm just kidding. Tell me, what do you need from me?"

Seeing his deflated expression, Li Sinan laughed even harder, actually letting out a goose-like cackle.

But she didn't tease him for too long. After a few laughs, she grew serious.

Gu Ran touched his nose rather shyly. "Well, Ms. Li, could you help me run a program?"

It was an industry consensus: when you had just written a program and couldn't find the bug after running it several times, you should get someone else to run it. Breaking the fixed mindset made it much easier to spot the issue.

"A program?"

Hearing the word, Li Sinan was a bit bewildered, not quite grasping Gu Ran's meaning for a moment.

"It's just... I recently wrote a piece of software. I've tested it myself a few times and noticed it has a certain chance of crashing, but I can't figure out the problem. Could you help me out, Ms. Li?"

Gu Ran felt quite embarrassed saying this, because it was purely time-consuming grunt work.

If he spent a little more time on it himself, he could definitely find the problem.

But time was tight and his workload was heavy. Not only did he have to study, but he also had to continue development. So, he was too lazy to do the tedious job of hunting down minor bugs.

After processing this for a moment, Li Sinan finally understood what the tall boy in front of her was asking for. She was immediately astonished.

"You can already develop software on your own?!"

"Uh... it's just a little game I made in my free time..."

Faced with Li Sinan's shock, Gu Ran acted very modestly.

But hearing that it was a game, Li Sinan's interest was piqued even further. She nodded in pleasant surprise, "Sure thing. Let me admire my student's masterpiece."

Sensing that she might have misunderstood something, Gu Ran felt slightly awkward. He secretly suspected that the game she was imagining was a fully formed product, complete with art and music assets, ready to play upon opening.

He wondered how she would feel when she saw that his game was just a stick figure running mindlessly forward in a blank box, with absolutely no sound...

However, he didn't dare mention it, afraid that clarifying the situation would scare off this free labor.

He hurriedly took a USB flash drive out of his pocket and, wearing a reserved smile, handed it over.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Ms. Li. Please help me find where the bugs are."

Seeing the USB drive in his hand, Li Sinan's eyelid twitched. She truly hadn't expected Gu Ran to give her the game right then and there.

Had this guy come prepared all along to put her to work?

What kind of normal student carries a USB drive to school with their own homemade game copied onto it?

Gu Ran naturally had his own answer to this. As a veteran programmer, backing up every line of code you wrote was essential, because you never knew where your next overtime location would be.

And in this era, cloud storage wasn't very user-friendly yet, and the risk of leaks was high. Thus, the value of a USB drive became apparent.

Writing code without backing it up gave him the insecure feeling of streaking naked.

"Alright then, I'll try it when I get home. But let's get one thing straight, I can't guarantee I'll be able to find it."

Looking at Gu Ran's sincere eyes, Li Sinan smiled and reached out to take the flash drive.

"No worries at all. I'm just incredibly grateful that you're willing to help, Ms. Li."

Seeing her accept the USB drive, Gu Ran's smile grew even brighter. He quickly stepped forward, took the stack of exam papers from her hands, and without leaving room for argument, helped her carry them back to the office.

Grading papers at home with nothing else to do?

Well, not anymore, because now she had something to do!

As they walked, he kept chattering away, "Life is meant to be enjoyed! Ms. Li, I have to criticize you on this point. How can you work overtime during your resting hours?"

Placing the stack of papers back onto her desk, he continued to persuade her, "Work is work, and personal time is personal time. You absolutely cannot mix the two!

Sacrificing your rest time to work comes at the cost of lowered efficiency and diminished passion for your job. Plus, it severely impacts your happiness index."

Li Sinan followed behind him with a half-smile, silently crossing her arms and quietly watching him put on his little performance.

"Stop looking at me. Go on, hurry up and go home. Play some games, relax your mind, isn't that great!"

Turning his head and seeing her leaning against the doorframe, Gu Ran quickly went over and ushered her out of the office.

Go home and play games?

Which game? The one on the USB drive he had just shoved into her hands?

Li Sinan's smile widened. She truly couldn't fathom how this guy managed to say such shameless things without even blushing or skipping a beat.

"Alright, alright, I'm leaving. You don't need to rush me."

She smiled helplessly. Being bossed around to do chores by her own student didn't annoy her; instead, she found it rather amusing.

"Okay, goodbye Ms. Li!"

Gu Ran quickly and obediently waved goodbye. Li Sinan, who was about to head downstairs, looked slightly surprised.

"Aren't you going home, Gu Ran?"

"Ah, I'm going to find a classmate in a bit. We agreed to head home together."

Gu Ran smiled shyly and answered softly.

Hearing this answer, Li Sinan suddenly recalled seeing him walking with a girl earlier. It seemed to be... the top student in their grade, Ye Zhenzhen?

How nice. Ah, youth!

Looking him up and down, a strange smile appeared on Li Sinan's face.

Although she felt that Gu Ran's intentions might not be entirely pure, she was an open-minded teacher and wouldn't forcefully interfere.

However, since the girl in question was Ye Zhenzhen, she couldn't help but add one extra piece of nagging, "You still need to focus more of your mind on your studies, Gu Ran."

Thinking she was talking about him making games, Gu Ran obediently nodded again and again. "Don't worry, Ms. Li. I definitely won't let it interfere with my studies."

Li Sinan: "..."

Won't let it interfere with his studies?

Meaning he was going to continue doing it?

She shook her head and decided not to meddle any further.

After all, she had been that age once too, and she understood the meaning behind the phrase, "You are the joy of my youth."

Bidding Li Sinan farewell with a face full of smiles, Gu Ran turned around to head upstairs, only to unexpectedly spot Ye Jinliang still waiting for him in the hallway.

Lately, the chubby boy had managed to completely ignore Gu Ran's overflowing luck with women.

Standing by the window, staring at the sky with his arms crossed, he had listened to the cheerful laughter just now, silently blocking out his senses and reciting vocabulary words in his head.

When Gu Ran approached, he turned his head and asked, "We have the afternoon off today. Do you have any plans for tonight?"

Hearing this, Gu Ran thought for a moment before replying, "I'll probably go watch the fireworks. I heard there's a New Year's Eve fireworks show at the plaza tonight."

A fireworks show?

Ye Jinliang frowned. The answer he got didn't quite match what he had in mind.

On such a great day, why wouldn't they go to the internet cafe?

His prized in-game weapon, a cannon he'd had for half a year, had been gathering dust in his inventory for over a week.

Seeing his confusion, Gu Ran offered an explanation.

"I'm planning to take Ye Zhenzhen to see it. That girl is going crazy from studying every single day. It's the perfect opportunity to take her out to clear her head."

Ye Jinliang: "..."

His chubby face instantly froze as if struck by lightning.

He suddenly felt that he shouldn't have even asked. Now, he didn't even have the mood to go to the internet cafe anymore.

He silently turned around and went back to staring out the window, repeatedly telling himself that he wasn't jealous.

Women were nothing but beautiful distractions anyway; they would only ruin his reaction speed when holding the angle at A-Long...

After trying to brainwash himself for a good while, he still couldn't help but put on a crying panda meme face.

Seriously, damn that guy!!!