249 - I Don’t Want to Be Turned Into the Female Protagonist by the System
# Chapter 249: Courage Training (Part 4) Su Qi was feeling extremely nervous at the moment. She had accepted Principal Lin Xiangdong’s invitation to give a brief speech at the upcoming Su University Cultural Conference next Friday. Even though it was only a ten-minute speech, for someone with social anxiety like Su Qi, it was quite challenging. Therefore, she was presently practicing to build her courage. To simulate the feeling of speaking on stage, her girlfriend, Zi Jin, had specially arranged for Su Qi to practice standing on a stool. After all, speaking on the actual stage would present as somewhat detached from the audience. At this moment, Su Qi was dressed in a fairy-like Hanfu, although her audience consisted only of her three roommates. Yet she was still extremely tense, feeling as though her heart was about to leap out of her throat under their attentive gazes. It was the first time for An Ning, Wang Zijing, and Gu Panpan to see Su Qi wearing this ethereal Hanfu in real life, and it was quite a novelty. An Ning looked at his wife, her small face full of nervousness and bewilderment, and couldn’t help but feel a slight impulse to tease her. Remembering how he had her as his “heater” in bed the previous night filled him with excitement. Meanwhile, Gu Panpan couldn’t help but feel an even stronger urge to embrace Su Qi, as the innocent charm of a naive yet ethereal maiden was incredibly enticing. Standing on the stool, Su Qi tightly clutched the script she had just written, took a deep breath, and slowly started speaking: “Respected leaders and classmates, good evening to you all.” Zi Jin listened to Su Qi’s opening speech, speechless. Why is this exactly the same as her ‘host’ starting line? This won’t do, it needs some changes. Then, noticing that Su Qi was speaking with a tremble in her voice and her playful eyes seemed misted with anxiety, Zi Jin shook her head. This wouldn’t do; Su Qi clearly needed some more adjustments. Su Qi had initially thought speaking for ten minutes would be easy. But just now, she realized that was only in theory. Especially after hearing the tremble in her own voice, her confidence dwindled further; after saying a few more lines, her voice dropped to a whisper. Noticing this, Zi Jin stepped forward, gently lowering her tense and rigid wife off the stool. Seeing her still recovering from her nervous state, a thought came to Zi Jin’s mind. If Su Qi went on stage completely unprepared, she imagined Su Qi freezing up, unable to move, and her having to carry her off stage. Thinking about that scenario amused her. Zi Jin gently pressed Su Qi’s shoulders, and as she massaged them, Su Qi’s body slowly relaxed. After massaging for a while and seeing Su Qi finally leaning fully against the back of the chair, Zi Jin thought for a moment and said: “Darling, let’s participate in special training!” At 3 PM, in the third-floor English lecture hall, Teacher Liu Li looked at Su Qi, the newcomer to the class, and nodded with satisfaction. Girls should live in their dormitories; visiting a boys' dormitory is genuinely too risky. Recently, she’d been following various news stories, so she knew that Su Qi was quite popular and had even donated all her possessions, which surprised her. Although it was a foolish act, faced with this kind-hearted girl, Teacher Liu Li nonetheless admired her. Therefore, when Zi Jin had called asking to help train Su Qi’s courage, Teacher Liu Li agreed without hesitation. She had noticed during previous interactions with Su Qi that the girl was somewhat timid, which was normal for a young woman. However, Su Qi appeared to be on the verge of social anxiety, and really needed to work on it. Ten minutes into the class, Teacher Liu Li posed a question. Pretending to call out names from the attendance list, she looked around three times before saying, “Now, let’s have Su Qi answer this question!” Hearing her name, Su Qi was taken aback but slowly stood up. Given Su Qi’s high profile at Su University, upon hearing her name, many students instinctively turned to look. Feeling all those eyes on her, Su Qi’s hand shook slightly holding the textbook, but she managed to say: “Don’t try so.” Yet she wasn’t even done when Teacher Liu Li said, “No, that’s too quiet; I can’t hear you.” Seeing even more eyes on her, Su Qi felt an impulse to flee. Thankfully, both her wives seated two rows away placed their hands on her thigh, quietly encouraging her. Though this method of encouragement felt a bit odd to Su Qi, it undeniably had some effect. At last, she succeeded in projecting her voice to answer in English: “Don’t try so hard, happiness will come when you least expect them to.” Seeing Su Qi successfully answer the question, many university students who were watching her finally relaxed, including Wu Wei and Wang Dongxu, sitting in the last row. They were aware of Su Qi’s social anxiety, and recalling the scene made them sweat on her behalf. Teacher Liu Li, noticing Su Qi’s cheeks turn red as apples, realized she’d made some progress yesterday, so she decided to let her off. “Very good, you may sit down.” Upon hearing her words, Su Qi quickly took a seat, and she felt as though even her hair was glued to her neck with the light sheen of sweat covering her body. Her face also felt burning hot, and she instinctively waved her small hand up and down to cool her face. This unconscious, natural action made both of her wives, ever observing her, think she looked just like a contented cat. So adorable, they wanted to pet her. However, having answered the question and now sitting down, Su Qi felt a sense of fulfillment in her heart, as if it had been filled. It was refreshing and satisfying. This exhilarating feeling stayed with her until the class concluded. That night, in her dorm room. As Su Qi was flipping through her stock trading guide around 9 PM, she felt like taking a shower. At that moment, her girlfriend, Zi Jin, stood up too, saying, “Come on, darling, let’s do the second round of special training.” Ten minutes later, in the bathroom, Su Qi felt a bit shy. She never expected the so-called second special training was to take a shower together. This training is certainly just a pretext. Seeing her girlfriend’s mischievous hands, Su Qi could only feel she was about to level up again.