Impossible Lovers

Qu Zhi said he was outside this afternoon. So, he was giving a lecture at the school? Zheng Baozhu thought for a moment and gave a thumbs-up to Teacher Zhang's post on moments.

She then took a towel and went to the bathroom to take a shower and change into fresh clothes before heading downstairs to have dinner. It was almost dark and the garden lights were already on. Since Christmas was soon approaching, the hotel management decided to decorate the hotel with some Christmas ornaments. So, some people were still working outside to set up the decorations.

Zheng Baozhu was pondering about whether to help with the decorations after dinner when Liang Huihui came over, holding several thick books.

"Miss Baozhu, did you send these books for me?" Liang Huihui placed the books on the table and pointed at them, "A delivery guy just brought them to me. He left them at the front desk, and I didn't have a chance to ask who sent them."

Zheng Baozhu flipped through the books on the table; they were the ones Liang Huihui needed for her exams. Opening one of them, she found a message written inside: "At any point in time, life can start anew."

Liang Huihui read the message aloud as both of them looked at the line of words. Zheng Baozhu smiled and said, "It's well written. It's not only suitable for you but also for me."

Liang Huihui looked up and asked, "So, Miss Baozhu, did you send me these books?"

"No," Zheng Baozhu shook her head, "But these are the books you'll need for your exams."

Liang Huihui became even more puzzled. Who else would be so kind besides Miss Baozhu? "Ah, I know! Did Mr. Qu send them to me?"

Zheng Baozhu shook her head again, "This isn't Qu Zhi's handwriting."

Liang Huihui widened her eyes, seeming somewhat disbelieving, "Then who could it be?"

"It's probably Qi Sheng who sent them to you," Zheng Baozhu replied.

Liang Huihui thought about it and realized there was no one else other than Mr. Qi who would send her these books.

"Alright, no matter who sent them, it's their blessing for you. Study hard and don't let their blessings go to waste," Zheng Baozhu advised.

"Yes, I will!" Liang Huihui nodded firmly, holding the books in her arms. Before leaving, she turned back to Zheng Baozhu, "Miss Baozhu, can you recognize Mr. Qu's handwriting?"

Zheng Baozhu: "..."

Was this the main point?

Looking at Liang Huihui's rejoicing expression, Zheng Baozhu smiled faintly, "I have been Qu Zhi's deskmate for so many years, it's not surprising that I recognize his handwriting, right?"

"Not surprising at all! Got it!" Liang Huihui seemed truly convinced this time and walked away with the books, "I won't disturb Miss Baozhu's dinner!"

Zheng Baozhu chuckled as she watched her leave, then continued eating her meal. Her phone was placed on the table. After eating a piece of tofu, she lightly swiped her index finger on the screen. The phone unlocked, it was still on the moments. At the top, there was a red number "1", indicating that there was a new message.

She tapped it and saw that Teacher Zhang had left a comment on the post she had liked.

Teacher Zhang: It seems the charm of a handsome guy is irresistible, even exploding in my moments!  Replying to all the younger sisters and moms, I asked for you, the person is still single!  However, our Dr. Qu now has only one goal—to serve the country, and he has no time for dating. 

Zheng Baozhu: "..."

Wow, even in someone else's moments, Qu Zhi's character remains intact. Let's keep him focused on serving the country and not let him cause any trouble for those young girls!

As she continued to scroll through her friend circle while eating and finishing her meal, Teacher Zhang left two more comments.

Teacher Zhang: You guys are too enthusiastic; it seems even the country can't stop you!  I'm not convenient to give you contact information, but I'm having dinner with him right now. If you want to send photos for him to look at, hurry up and send them, I'll show them to him! 

Teacher Zhang: Oops, he said it himself—he really isn't looking for a girlfriend or a boyfriend!  This is the video of our lecture today, you can watch it on the school website. Since you guys are so enthusiastic, why not watch our lecture? [link]

Zheng Baozhu: "..."

Teacher Zhang is on fire today.

Zheng Baozhu dabbed the corners of her mouth with a tissue and gently tapped on the link.

The page redirected to the school website; the video's cover was a picture of Qu Zhi. It could be considered as using Qu Zhi to attract people to watch the lecture.

These days, for the sake of education, they were using every means necessary.

Zheng Baozhu sighed.

Because this lecture was for school students, it wasn't an academic one but a public welfare lecture.

The topic was about visually impaired people.

Qu Zhi was wearing a well-tailored suit and stood on the lecture hall's platform, greeting everyone. The response from the young audience below was particularly enthusiastic. They not only gave him the loudest applause but also shouted, "Brother is so handsome!"

Zheng Baozhu: "..."

Shouldn't their teacher control the situation? Qu Zhi is not human; even school students can't escape his charm. :)

On the platform, Qu Zhi seemed unperturbed by the situation. After signaling for everyone to be quiet, he began his lecture: "Do you know how many visually impaired people there are in our country?"

The students answered in unison, "Don't know—"

Qu Zhi said, "In our country, there are over ten million visually impaired individuals, making it the country with the highest number of blind people in the world. But have you ever seen them when you're out and about?"

"No—"

"Then have you ever wondered why? Is it because they never leave their homes?" This time, Qu Zhi didn't ask the children for an answer but continued, "They might indeed stay at home because going out is extremely difficult for them."

At this point, Qu Zhi clicked on the computer's PPT and the large projection screen behind him displayed the images from his presentation. Considering the audience were all elementary school students, Qu Zhi's PPT was designed to be colorful and appealing, using images that kids would like. Clearly, it wasn't something Qu Zhi made himself.

How could he be so considerate?

Zheng Baozhu smirked and continued watching the video.

"Speaking of this, let's take a look at how visually impaired people usually get around," Qu Zhi pointed to the projected tactile paving on the screen and said to the children, "This is tactile paving, also known as the lifeline of blind people. You can see these tiles have two types of raised patterns—one is straight lines, the other is dots. The straight lines represent a safe path, while the dots indicate obstacles ahead that require a turn."

Qu Zhi patiently explained how tactile paving is used and then walked to the center of the stage, "Today, to let you experience what it's like to be visually impaired, we have specially set up a simple tactile path here. Any kids who want to try it out, please come up!"

This game segment was especially exciting for the children and seeing the attractive teacher on stage made most of them raise their hands eagerly, "Me, me, me!"

Qu Zhi eventually selected a little boy and a little girl to come up on stage. He had two blindfolds in his hands that would cover the children's eyes later. To prevent any accidents, they laid foam pads on both sides of the tactile path.

The two children put on the blindfolds themselves and Qu Zhi handed each of them a simple white cane. He then told them they could start walking.

With the white canes in hand, the two children slowly walked on the tactile path, feeling the patterns beneath their feet. When they reached the circular tiles, they attempted to turn around.

The children in the audience below were watching with extreme focus, even holding their breaths as if afraid that any noise would disturb the kids on stage.

Qu Zhi accompanied the two children throughout the entire process, helping them reach the end successfully. The young audience below applauded warmly when Qu Zhi had the children on stage take off their blindfolds. He then asked the little boy beside him, "Can you tell everyone about your experience just now?"

This little boy was particularly outgoing and didn't feel nervous standing on such a big stage. He leaned over to Qu Zhi's microphone and began speaking, "After my eyes were covered, I felt very unsafe, but I could still feel the patterns on the floor tiles. I only dared to continue walking when I stepped on them!"

Qu Zhi nodded and then asked the other child, "What about you?"

The child replied, "I feel the same way. The patterns on the floor are very important to me."

Qu Zhi nodded again and turned to address everyone, "Through the demonstration of these two students just now, you should realize how important tactile paving is for blind people. Now, let's take a look at what real tactile paving looks like."

Qu Zhi asked the two children to return to their seats and walked back to the computer to display several pictures he had taken himself. The photos showed tactile paving being obstructed by various objects, "These are all candid shots I took, and you can see that anything and everything can end up on the tactile paving, besides blind people."

His words elicited a chuckle from the children in the audience, but after the laughter, they subconsciously started to reflect on the issue.

Qu Zhi then showed a few pictures of poorly designed tactile paving, "Aside from being obstructed, there are also poorly designed cases, like manhole covers directly on the tactile paving or complicated, winding paths that lead blind people straight into walls."

The little boy who had just been on stage saw the pictures displayed by Qu Zhi and couldn't help standing up and shouting loudly, "Isn't this just fooling around? What are all these things? If it doesn't work, let me go up there!"

The children below burst into laughter, and a few of his close classmates playfully encouraged him to go up on stage.

Qu Zhi once again quieted the audience and told the boy what field of study he should consider for such designs, then he continued with his lecture. After discussing tactile pavements, he moved on to talk about two other important aids for blind people: the white cane and guide dogs.

"Do you all know about guide dogs?"

"We know!"

Qu Zhi displayed several pictures of guide dogs on the computer. A bold little boy stood up, holding a headband with dog ears, and said, "Teacher, this one!"

Qu Zhi looked at him, not sure of his intention. The innocent child said, "Dogs are so cute. Teacher, can you put this on and continue the lecture for us?"

Qu Zhi: "..."

"Hahaha!" Zheng Baozhu, watching from the screen, burst out laughing, "Well done!"

All the children looked expectantly at Qu Zhi, even the teacher in charge of the order encouraged him, "Teacher Qu, why not wear it? Kids love this kind of thing, it will make the lecture more interesting and engaging, and they will be more attentive."

Reluctance was written all over Qu Zhi's face.

Zheng Baozhu couldn't stop laughing. This teacher definitely wanted to see Qu Zhi wearing the dog ears too, but... Qu Zhi was afraid of dogs, hahaha!

Zheng Baozhu watched Qu Zhi on the screen, feeling a sense of schadenfreude. Who could have imagined that the ones to punish Qu Zhi in the end would be these innocent and adorable kids!

Although Qu Zhi's face clearly showed reluctance, to avoid disappointing the children, he finally put the headband with dog ears on his head.

Zheng Baozhu quickly took a screenshot, feeling like she had captured an important handle on Qu Zhi.

After putting on the headband, Qu Zhi initially felt a bit awkward, but as he continued speaking, he forgot about it. "Although guide dogs are adorable, when you see them outside, they are working seriously, so we should not disturb them. Understood?"

"Understood!"

After he finished speaking this, Qu Zhi introduced to the children the advancements in technology that could assist blind people, which was his area of expertise. However, since these things were relatively complex for the children, he only touched on them briefly, with the main aim of sparking their interest in scientific research.

"Alright, our lecture for today concludes here," Qu Zhi's PowerPoint reached the last page, where he wrote the conclusion for the day, "Through today's lecture, when you see your parents parking their cars on tactile pavements in the future, you can correct their behavior. As long as we all start from ourselves, the living environment for blind people will gradually improve."

Looking at the eager faces of the children below, Qu Zhi continued, "You are all the future of our country. When you become better, our country becomes better."

The progress bar of the video reached the end and stopped. The lecture lasted for over an hour, but Zheng Baozhu felt like she had only watched for a short time. With Qu Zhi finally elevating the meaning behind the lecture, it ended on an impressive note.

She locked her phone and looked outside. It was already dark outside and the staff setting up the Christmas tree had finished their work. Zheng Baozhu hadn't realized she had been sitting here watching Qu Zhi's lecture for such a long time. The restaurant was now empty...

She cleared her throat, picked up her phone, and returned to her room. After she watched Qu Zhi's lecture, her phone's battery was left with only about ten percent, so she plugged it in to charge. She then heard someone knocking on the door.

She walked up to take a look, and to her surprise, it was Qu Zhi. With a quick glance, she opened the door for him, "Dr. Qu, is there something you need?"

Qu Zhi was still wearing the suit he had on in the video, but he had taken off the headband with dog ears. Zheng Baozhu felt a bit regretful about that.

Qu Zhi stood outside the door and looked her up and down, showing no sign of entering, "Nothing, I just came to see you. When you got stuck in the elevator today, were you not scared to tears?"

"..."

Zheng Baozhu snorted disdainfully, "Do you still think I'm the same as I was years ago? Today, my performance was the best in the entire group!"

Qu Zhi lightly chuckled, seeing that there didn't seem to be any particular matter to discuss, he said, "Then, I'll go back now."

Zheng Baozhu glanced at him, "Is that all you came to say?"

"En," Qu Zhi also glanced at her, "Did you have something you wanted to tell me?"

Zheng Baozhu pursed her lips, and reached up to adjust her hair, "I saw you on Teacher Zhang's moments today. Not bad, huh? One photo causing a sensation. No wonder they say that handsome guys posting selfies is an act of charity."

Qu Zhi thought for a moment and subconsciously asked, "Is there such a saying?"

"Yes," Zheng Baozhu nodded, "So, in the future, you can consider posting more selfies. It's like accumulating virtue for yourself."

"..."

Qu Zhi looked at her silently, nodded, and replied, "I see."

After saying that, he returned to his room. Zheng Baozhu closed the door, opened her computer, and prepared to continue watching Gao Boyun's online drama. Since her phone was charging, she logged in to the web version of WeChat as well. After finishing one episode of the TV drama, she absentmindedly checked her friends' moments and found that Qu Zhi had actually posted a selfie!

Zheng Baozhu sighed and enlarged the photo to take a closer look. Qu Zhi's selfie was taken casually, without deliberately posing, but because he had good looks, he looked handsome even in casual shots. She gave him a like and waited to see her friends' circle explode.

She had some friends in common with Qu Zhi, but after waiting for ten minutes, Qu Zhi's selfie only had one like—hers! This was not scientifically possible!

Even Su Mingxi, who was usually active in Qu Zhi's friend circle, seemed to have missed this post!

...Did everyone suddenly go blind??

Zheng Baozhu couldn't understand, so she waited for another ten minutes, but there was still only one like. Finally, she couldn't resist asking Qu Zhi about it.

Zheng Baozhu: Why is there only one like on your moments post??

Qu Zhi quickly replied: Because it's only visible to you.

Zheng Baozhu's heart skipped a beat, inexplicably beating fast. She looked at Qu Zhi's reply and touched her own cheek with the back of her hand.

Zheng Baozhu: What do you mean?

Qu Zhi: This is targeted poverty alleviation.

Zheng Baozhu: ............

Poverty alleviation my foot!

Zheng Baozhu gritted her teeth, and with a series of messages, she retorted, "How can I be considered from a poor household? My friend circle is full of handsome guys, okay!"

Qu Zhi: Oh? Let me see.

Zheng Baozhu quickly took screenshots and sent them all to Qu Zhi: Hehe!

One minute later.

Qu Zhi: Finished looking. I'm still the most handsome.

Zheng Baozhu: ...

Before she could even start to mock him, Qu Zhi sent another message: Why did you add so many guys?