Liu Fengying's words lifted a huge weight off Professor Wei's shoulders; such an attitude on Liu Fengying's part, focused on living in the moment rather than having all sorts of expectations, was much more compatible with her personality and current situation.
On the contrary, if the girl had turned out to be a "love brain," Professor Wei would have had to analyze much more carefully whether or not to let anything happen between them. In such a scenario, it wouldn't have just been about a higher risk of hurting Liu Fengying's feelings, but also about the possibility of her becoming far too difficult to restrain. If she were to enter a relationship, she wanted to enjoy beautiful moments, not be stressed out by potential emotional blackmail or, even worse, have to deal with extreme gestures.
Still, such a casual attitude toward relationships could also bring certain problems; Professor Wei thought that just as it was easy for Liu Fengying to decide to get close to someone she liked, it might be just as easy for her to distance herself if something didn't suit her.
And regarding this matter, a doubt began to take root in her mind. More precisely, she realized that when Liu Fengying said she wanted to try to get close to whoever she was attracted to, she hadn't necessarily meant just her. This led Professor Wei to wonder if Liu Fengying wanted to be a player, intending to jump from one girlfriend to another, or perhaps even have several at the same time.
Of course, Professor Wei wanted to find the answer to this question as quickly as possible; after all, it was a crucial element to consider when determining what kind of relationship she should try to have with Liu Fengying. The good thing was that, since she already had Liu Fengying under interrogation, she had the chance to do it right that very moment.
"So, does that mean you intend to get close to every young woman you find attractive?" she asked in the most casual tone possible, so as not to put Liu Fengying on the defensive.
How indifferent Professor Wei had managed to appear regarding the answer she was about to receive was debatable. However, what she hadn't taken into account was that the very question she asked was not something that would come out of the mouth of an indifferent person.
"..."; Liu Fengying froze for a few moments, not expecting to find herself in such a situation. The atmosphere that had suddenly settled between them reminded her of a scene from a movie where one of the characters suspects their partner of cheating.
Not that she had a guilty conscience; after all, she had never planned to secretly have multiple girlfriends. As for flirting, as long as she wasn't involved in a relationship, she considered herself free to do it with anyone she pleased.
Was she willing to go beyond the stage of ambiguous interactions? Of course she was, but she had no intention of leading anyone on to achieve that; she just wanted everything to be out in the open. From her point of view, two people could simply enjoy pleasant moments together or satisfy their desires without burdening themselves with any obligations from the very start.
And if that eventually resulted in a decision to enter a relationship with one or more people, all the better; it wasn't as if she planned to be a bachelorette for the rest of her life. It was just that before doing so, she wanted to make sure she had met the right person or people; after all, once bitten, twice shy—she didn't want to repeat the unpleasant experience from her past life.
The problem, however, was that her tendency to behave like a rabbit grazing around its own burrow complicated the adherence to this plan; Liu Fengying expected both Professor Wei and Hua Shu to be interested in entering directly into a romantic relationship with her, should the attraction they felt for her cross the critical threshold that would allow them to change how they viewed her.
Honestly, both relationship options seemed quite tempting to her; in fact, if she could manage to have them both as girlfriends, in something like a three-person relationship, it seemed like an ideal situation. However, for her to agree to be tied down so quickly in a relationship, that relationship couldn't just come about through her own efforts; she wanted to see her future partner or partners fight for her.
With this consideration in mind, Liu Fengying thought about passing the decision-making power regarding her fidelity to Professor Wei.
"If I don't enter a relationship, probably? Anyway, even if I were only interested in having fun, it's not as if anyone would stand to lose by dealing with me..." Liu Fengying finally replied in a rather immodest manner; it was as if she were saying that, like a trophy, her job was to tempt, not to compete.
If this line had been spoken by anyone else, Professor Wei would have considered them too full of themselves and would most likely have advised them to bring their feet back down to earth. However, in Liu Fengying's case, she had to admit that the girl possessed the necessary attributes to back up her words.
Due to her otherworldly beauty and her aura of superiority, Professor Wei had no doubt that any young woman, regardless of her sexual orientation, would feel flattered if Liu Fengying tried to get close to her. In addition, she truly had a talent for making a person feel cared for and cherished—in other words, making them feel like the most important person in the whole world. Who wouldn't like that?
'And her ability to seduce is that powerful; just an insinuating look from her is enough to make a person.. Wait a minute, now is not the time to be remembering such things...'
Well, Professor Wei realized she had let herself get a bit carried away; if she allowed herself to be overcome by desire, how could she draw a conclusion objectively?
As for the fact that Liu Fengying had confirmed she might get close to other young women, Professor Wei found it quite irritating. Imagining her in an ambiguous situation with someone else, she was fairly certain she would be tempted to step in and stop it.
However, she was aware that it was irrational to demand that Liu Fengying be faithful to her just because she was attracted to her. In her view, such "proofs of love" were nothing but the inventions of "hopeless romantics" who, instead of seeking inner fulfillment, placed the control of their own happiness into someone else's hands—or even worse, a tactic used by some to impress the person they were attracted to or to emotionally blackmail them.
From another perspective, the fact that Liu Fengying was a bit "promiscuous" wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as it provided more options for her future relationship with her. Just like eating at a buffet, knowing that others can also eat as much as they want helps you fill your stomach without a care. Likewise, she would feel less remorse about seeing Liu Fengying just for fun if she knew the girl was seeing others too.
As for the possibility of trying to enter a serious relationship, now that Liu Fengying had confirmed she was open to it, Professor Wei was quite confident she would succeed. After all, she was an excellent and highly desirable woman; who would say no to being in a relationship with her?
'My only disadvantage is my age...' Professor Wei finally remembered the main reason she hesitated to enter an official relationship with Liu Fengying.
However, since her competitive spirit had been ignited, it was much easier to overcome this psychological obstacle. At this moment, the only thing that mattered to her was what Liu Fengying thought about it.
'But what if Liu Fengying likes more mature women? Then this might actually be an advantage...' Professor Wei tried to look at things from a more favorable angle; after all, she was not the type of person to get demoralized when she wanted to achieve something.
Professor Wei wanted to get a concrete answer to this question from Liu Fengying, and perhaps to a few others as well. The problem was that if she started acting like a matchmaker, asking all sorts of questions to see how compatible they were, it would be worse than if she had simply agreed to go to dinner with her. She hadn't forgotten that until Liu Fengying's graduation, she had to maintain an ambiguous attitude regarding any kind of potential relationship with her.
Yet, just because her own hands were tied for the moment didn't mean the same applied to other young women. So, to reduce the chances of someone beating her to the punch, she thought about trying to calm Liu Fengying down for the time being by giving her a little lecture.
"Student Liu, the only thing you should be thinking about in the coming weeks is your studies. You only take the college entrance exam once in a lifetime, and you can't risk not performing at your absolute best. You could say it's a defining moment for your future: the better you perform, the more opportunities you will have. Once you see yourself accepted into university, you'll have all the time in the world for fun..."
"Umm, okay?..." Liu Fengying agreed, nodding approvingly, though she was visibly confused by how abruptly their conversation had drifted toward the importance of studying.
Not that it was unusual for Professor Wei, in her role as a teacher, to advise her to focus on her schoolwork. However, in this current situation, when she had just openly confessed that she liked her, wouldn't it have been normal for the teacher to offer a clear reaction to her confession? Seeing that the teacher intended to completely ignore the subject, Liu Fengying wondered if this was her discreet way of rejecting her.
Through her speech, Professor Wei had also intended to convey to Liu Fengying that now was not the right time for anything to happen between them, not that she was rejecting her. However, seeing the girl's perplexed reaction, she thought she might have been too discreet.
"Ahem, so let's leave the discussions about going out to dinner until then, okay?" she added, so there would be no room left for misunderstanding.
Had she been too direct this time? Well, Professor Wei couldn't deny it. Still, she told herself it wasn't as if she had accepted Liu Fengying's proposal, so she should still be within the boundaries she had set for herself.
But that was not how Liu Fengying saw it.
"Huh?", she could hardly believe her own ears. To her, the words spoken by Professor Wei were nothing short of a promise to go on a date with her sometime in the future. After all, now that the teacher had no doubt about her intentions, why would she postpone the discussion about going out to dinner if she weren't, in reality, willing to accept?