Chapter 57: You Don't Still Like Him, Do You?

Su Ya did not know what kind of relationship existed between Zhou Guowei and Xu Qing.
However, as a woman of normal moral standing, she found it rather distasteful for a man to neglect his legal wife while parading around every day with a woman who had no official title or status.
This senior schoolmate of hers—
If not for his messy personal life that constantly drew gossip, he might have truly gone much further in his career.
What a pity.
Thinking this, Su Ya could not help glancing at Zhou Ziyang, a trace of sympathy showing in her eyes.
To be so young and living in such a family environment, it must be exhausting, right?

Zhou Guowei was extremely reluctant to discuss his family with outsiders.
Faced with Su Ya's inquiry, he could only offer an awkward smile and say, "You aren't unaware of my situation, so I won't go into detail. We mainly came here today for the sake of the two kids. They just got accepted into your School of Architecture, and I hope you can take good care of them and help them out."

Su Ya looked at Zhou Ziyang and Xia Wei, then nodded. "They look very smart. Ziyang has quite the dashing air of his senior when he was young."
Su Ya said this with a smile on her lips as she looked at Zhou Ziyang.

Zhou Guowei was very pleased to hear this, yet he remarked, "He has surpassed his teacher."

In the previous life, without the existence of Zhou Ziyang, Xia Wei had tested into the law school, and she had indeed received favors and care from Su Ya.
After all, since the old senior had entrusted her with just this one girl, Su Ya felt obliged to look after her no matter what. However, because Xia Wei was outside her major, Su Ya could only help guide her toward becoming an elite lawyer—though, in truth, Xia Wei herself was exceptionally capable.
In fact, ever since high school, Xia Wei had always wanted to be a lawyer.

Unfortunately, in this lifetime, because of Zhou Ziyang's existence, the moment the college entrance examination ended, Zhou Ziyang had announced that he wanted to study architecture.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Guowei declared that studying architecture was a fine choice.
"The vice dean of Nanjing University's School of Architecture is my junior schoolmate."
When Xu Qing overheard these words, Xia Wei changed her major.

Xia Wei had, of course, put up some resistance.
However, Xu Qing had told her, "Don't be foolish! Aren't I doing all this for your own good?"

Su Ya still took matters entrusted to her by her senior quite seriously. Her gaze swept over Zhou Ziyang and Xia Wei as she parted her bean-paste-colored lips and asked, "Why do you want to study architecture?"

Hearing this question, Xu Qing was delighted because she had already coached Xia Wei on how to answer it.
Sure enough, Xia Wei gave a lofty and high-sounding reply.
Su Ya pushed up her glasses, appearing to listen with great earnestness.
Once Xia Wei finished speaking, Su Ya nodded to indicate it was a very good answer.

"And you, Ziyang?" Su Ya turned her gaze to Zhou Ziyang.
Hearing this, Zhou Ziyang smiled somewhat sheepishly.
Su Ya asked what he was smiling about.
Zhou Ziyang thought to himself that he certainly couldn't say: *I studied architecture in my past life, so I just picked it again this time out of laziness, didn't I?*

"I originally wanted to go to Tsinghua or Peking University, but my scores weren't high enough, so I just picked a major at random," Zhou Ziyang said.

Zhou Guowei, who had been waiting with full expectation to see how Zhou Ziyang would answer, was so close to dying of anger upon hearing such a reply that he glared fiercely at Zhou Ziyang.

Su Ya, on the other hand, let out a chuckle.
Crossing her long legs encased in thin black trousers and leaning forward slightly, she smiled and said, "Your answer is certainly quite interesting."

"You must be laughing at us," Zhou Guowei said, his mood rather sour now as he hurried to smooth things over for his son. "I rarely bring this child out to meet people, so he's a bit too casual."

"It's fine. In the college, I'm used to seeing people who are dead serious all the time. I rather like someone like Ziyang," Su Ya said, pushing her glasses up again.
Hearing this, Zhou Guowei didn't know what else to say.

At that moment, Zhou Ziyang spoke up again: "Dean Su, could I ask you for a favor?"
"???"
The moment Zhou Ziyang opened his mouth, leave it to Su Ya—even Zhou Guowei was dumbfounded.
*Hold on, what are you trying to pull?*

Over on the side, Xu Qing let out a snicker, thinking to herself that this child really looked like he had never seen the world outside.

***

Su Ya noticed Zhou Ziyang hesitating as if finding it difficult to speak, and she felt a flicker of curiosity.
In truth, there were many people who came to her asking for favors.
If Zhou Ziyang genuinely had some serious matter, he should have discussed it with Zhou Guowei first.
To ask someone for a favor right here at the dining table?
Even Xu Qing knew she should bring gifts first.

"What sort of favor do you need from me?" Su Ya asked.

Xu Qing chimed in, "It wouldn't be asking Dean Su to arrange for you to become the president of the student union, would it?"
Zhou Guowei shot an irritated glance at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing, however, merely stuck her tongue out at Zhou Guowei as if it were all a joke, looking rather cute.

Su Ya looked at Zhou Ziyang, wanting to know what exactly he needed help with.
Zhou Ziyang said, "It's like this, Dean Su. I want to ask for your help in renting a parking space on campus. When I went to register today and asked about it, they told me campus parking spots are only open to faculty and staff and aren't rented to students."

"The favor you're asking me for is... this?" Su Ya asked.
"Huh?" Zhou Ziyang was momentarily taken aback.

Right, given Su Ya's position, she received so many requests for assistance that whenever someone asked for a favor, her mind automatically jumped to those kinds of heavy-duty matters.
To think it turned out to be something like this...

"That's not a problem at all."
Faculty and staff didn't even need to rent spaces; they just had to inform the security office and have their license plates registered.
"Just send me your license plate later, and I'll notify the security office."
"Thank you so much, Dean Su," Zhou Ziyang quickly expressed his gratitude.

Su Ya shook her head, indicating it was nothing. Then, remembering she hadn't added Zhou Ziyang on WeChat yet, she turned and said, "Go ahead and add me on WeChat."
"Oh, sure."
"Weiwei, you should add her too. Your Aunt Su and your uncle have a very good relationship. If you ever need help with anything in Jinling in the future, you can always come to Aunt Su," Xu Qing hinted pointedly.
"Ah? Oh," Xia Wei replied.

Over on his side, Zhou Ziyang scanned Su Ya's WeChat QR code and said with a smile, "Aunt Qing, what are you rushing for? Couldn't I just forward Dean Su's WeChat contact to Weiwei later? We're in the middle of eating here, right, Dean Su?"
Zhou Ziyang shot a meaningful look at Su Ya.

Su Ya gave an amused smile, finding this kid rather interesting. She said, "You don't have to be so formal. Your father and I truly do have a very good relationship; you can just call me Aunt Su."

After finishing that exchange with Zhou Ziyang, Su Ya turned back to Zhou Guowei with a curious expression and asked, "Ziyang is still so young, Senior, and you've already bought him a car?"

At this mention, Zhou Guowei still felt a trace of pride.
He said, "My salary wouldn't even come close to enough to buy him a car.
He bought it himself."

"He bought it himself?" Su Ya looked at Zhou Ziyang, her face registering confusion.
Zhou Guowei explained, "This kid writes web novels online, earned some royalties, and bought a BMW 3 Series with his own money."

"A BMW 3 Series isn't cheap," Su Ya said, looking at Zhou Ziyang with a gaze that grew increasingly appreciative.

Zhou Ziyang humbly claimed it was nothing, just pure luck.
"What kind of novels do you write?" Su Ya asked.
"..."
"Just some crude scribblings, hardly fit for refined company. It would only make Aunt Su laugh if I told you."
"Nonsense. I like to read web novels in my spare time too. Who knows, maybe I've even read your books," Su Ya said.

Zhou Ziyang felt somewhat awkward because he hadn't actually written any novels at all.
He simply had a habit of spinning tall tales.
Having spent so many years knocking about in society, he had developed a firm personal code of conduct:
Tell absolute nonsense to strangers, and tell elaborate lies to acquaintances.
In short, not a single sentence of truth ever crossed his lips.

Especially when sudden, unexpected wealth arrived—whenever it couldn't be concealed, one must never reveal the true source of that fortune.
To his surprise, this high-achieving female dean actually enjoyed reading web novels.

Seeing that Su Ya was deeply interested, Zhou Guowei eagerly wanted his son to shine. "Since your Aunt Su wants to know, you should just tell her."

Zhou Ziyang thought to himself, *How on earth am I supposed to explain this?*
"My novels are different from others. I write historical ones—dry, obscure stuff that Aunt Su might not necessarily enjoy."
Su Ya replied, "I happen to love historical novels..."

Zhou Ziyang lowered his head and fell silent.
Zhou Guowei prompted him, "Your Aunt Su is asking, so answer her."
Zhou Ziyang: ...

Noticing that Zhou Ziyang genuinely didn't want to talk about it, Su Ya chuckled softly and said, "If you really don't want to say, you don't have to. Anyway, we've added each other on WeChat, so you can tell me whenever you figure it out."
As she spoke, Su Ya gave her phone a light shake.
Zhou Ziyang nodded hastily.

Su Ya held a certain fondness for Zhou Ziyang because, in her eyes, he was the sort of child who had grown up unloved by his mother and neglected by his family. A background like Zhou Ziyang's easily awakened a woman's maternal instincts.
Therefore, she hoped that during Zhou Ziyang's four years at the university, she could genuinely look after this pitiful boy.
Naturally, she remained quite curious about the novels he wrote and chatted at length about various web novel topics.

Hearing that Zhou Ziyang had scored a perfect mark on his composition exam, Su Ya asked what kind of essay it was and whether he had the original text for her to read.
"You really don't need to know about that," Zhou Guowei said with a straight face.
"Ah," Su Ya laughed awkwardly, saying, "Alright then.
In that case, actually, Ziyang might be better suited for the School of Literature."

All in all, the conversation had been a very pleasant one. Whether for Zhou Guowei or Zhou Ziyang, Su Ya enjoyed it too, and she had thoroughly accepted Zhou Ziyang as her student.

The only one who probably didn't enjoy it was Xu Qing.

After returning to the hotel, Xu Qing and Xia Wei were sharing a room.
Xu Qing complained that Zhou Ziyang was a child with far too much scheming in his heart!
"Everything he does is calculated as if it were planned out in advance—from renting the parking space to claiming he writes novels. Look at how well he showed himself off, and then look at you! Come to think of it, your grades were always better than his back in school; why doesn't your brain move as fast as his?"

Faced with her mother's grievances, Xia Wei only felt exhausted in her heart. She said, "Mom, can't you tell? That Dean Su didn't want to engage with you at all.
Your behavior earlier was just too unsightly."

Xia Wei really didn't want to deal with her mother anymore; she stood up and prepared to walk out the door.
"Where are you going this late?"
"What's with that look? What, are you looking down on me?"
"Xia Wei, just think about it! If your old mom hadn't been out there flattering and fawning, how could you have gotten to where you are today?"
"Oh, now that your wings have hardened and you've gotten into university, you think I'm acting beneath my dignity?"

Xu Qing grew angry, while Xia Wei retorted, "No, I don't!"
"It's just that the way you acted earlier was a complete joke! Didn't you see Zhou Ziyang laughing at you the whole time?"
"What does he know? He's Zhou Shushu's own flesh and blood, of course he can laugh!"
"But you can't!"
"You don't still like him, do you?" Xu Qing suddenly asked, her guard going up.
"What are you talking about?!" Xia Wei instantly grew flustered.