There seemed to be someone screaming in the woods.

At the beginning of class, many students heard the shrill wails, but most of them just looked at the window and then looked back. At the podium, the teacher who looked as handsome as if he had just stepped out of an idol drama, looking at his students tenderly, came to a standstill. 

Ouyang was the kind of teacher who was difficult for students to hate.

He was tall, handsome, and very gentle and graceful in his speech and behavior. Whether it was summer or winter, he always dressed as if he had just stepped out as an old-school fashion model. Li Xiu couldn’t see anything special about Ouyang’s clothing, but after class, the girls often praised Ouyang’s good taste…..and the price tag.

When he first learned that the watch on Ouyang’s wrist might be more expensive than his lifetime expenses from childhood to adulthood, the gel pen in Li Xiu’s hand paused on the test paper for a few seconds. The poor quality nib leaked onto the paper, leaving a small lump of coarse ink.

Everyone in school was aware of Ouyang’s identity as a rich second generation. And the marvelous thing was that the students became more well-behaved and obedient in front of Ouyang.

Not only Li Xiu’s class, but students in almost every grade liked Ouyang.

“Almost time.”

Before starting the lecture, Ouyang scanned the classroom in a routine manner.

Li Xiu silently lowered his head in the audience, avoiding Ouyang’s eyes…..

The hair on the back of his neck stood up.

Li Xiu keenly felt that Ouyang’s eyes seemed to linger on him for a few seconds. As a result, there was a cold, greasy sensation on his palms.

Sure enough, in the next second, he heard Ouyang call out his name.

“Li Xiu?”

Ouyang gave Li Xiu a gentle look.

“I heard that you weren’t feeling well this morning. Didn’t you ask for leave?”

Li Xiu raised his head, his gaze falling on the blackboard behind Ouyang.

“I’m fine.”

The boy’s answer was mild, his tone without fluctuation.

“That’s good. I saw that your complexion was somewhat bad,” Ouyang said kind-heartedly.

“Your foundation is weaker when compared to other students, so you need to spend more time on this course. I have already corrected the last enhancement paper, and you got a lot of questions wrong that you really shouldn’t have. Come to my office after class and I’ll go through it with you again.”

“……Thank you, Teacher.”

Li Xiu ducked his head, his lowered eyelashes covering the gloom in his eyes.

The female tablemate seized the opportunity when Ouyang turned to write on the blackboard and couldn’t help but murmur to Li Xiu: “Wa, Ouyang is giving you preferential treatment, ah. Li Xiu, you really make a person envious.”

“En.”

Li Xiu responded quietly with a wooden face. His eyes were somewhat vacant, and the hand holding his pen whitened due to excessive exertion.

*

The class went by quickly.

When the bell rang, Ouyang picked up the lesson plan and tucked it under his arm with a smile, then waved to Li Xiu in the corner of the classroom.

Sitting in his seat, Li Xiu took a deep breath before standing up, and slowly followed Ouyang to his office.

As an elite school, Qiming’s facilities were naturally better than an ordinary public school in all aspects. Not only did students enjoy excellent teaching conditions, but so did the teachers—at Qiming, there was no such thing as teachers sharing the same office. Each one had a separate office with complete facilities. And as a star teacher hired by the principal at a high price, Ouyang’s treatment was better than that of other teachers. His office was located in the corner of the hallway, the largest and most private room. The only drawback of this office was that there was an old tree planted outside the window. The branches and leaves were so lush that they blocked out almost all of the natural light, so the lighting was not very good. Even during the day, the room would look extremely dark if the lights were not turned on.

And at present, Ouyang did not turn on the lights.

He stood at the door of the dark office, holding the door with one hand as he turned to look at Li Xiu.

“Come in, Li Xiu,” he said.

Li Xiu didn’t move.

He spoke in a whisper, “Teacher…..”

“I’ll go back and read the papers myself first. If I don’t understand something, I’ll come back to you. The break between classes is so short, my next class will be…..”

“Isn’t your next class phys ed?”

Ouyang interrupted Li Xiu altogether.

His face darkened, and there was a hint of callousness in his tone.

“I recall that you don’t have to take the physical education class.”

Li Xiu trembled slightly.

He knew Ouyang was looking at him, and that his eyes fell precisely on his ankle.

There was a lump in his throat, and he couldn’t respond. Ouyang wasn’t wrong. Because of his physical defect, the physical education class was a self-study period for him. But after Ouyang pointed this out, the chill that had been lingering in the depths of his body since that morning suddenly broke out. Li Xiu had never felt as cold as he did now.

“You are different from other students. Although the students here are lazy, they all receive bilingual education as soon as they learn to walk.” Ouyang regarded Li Xiu with a gentle expression, but his voice was harsher than any other student had experienced. “And your situation is very special. You need to be more serious in your studies than others, Classmate Li Xiu. This teacher also wants to strengthen you individually for your own good.”

As he spoke, Ouyang stepped forward and placed his hand on Li Xiu’s shoulder.

The tall, slender man immediately felt the boy’s body tremble under his palm. The not yet fully-grown body unique to the young looked so delicate under his hand. There was a brief flash of darkness beneath Ouyang’s gold-rimmed glasses.

But in the next second, that strange look was quickly replaced by that of a “responsible, gentle teacher.”

“It’s alright, Li Xiu. Don’t be so cautious.” His voice abruptly softened, and under his lead, Li Xiu could only walk into the office step by step. “…..Even though I’m a teacher, I actually like to be friends with my students.”

A click sounded. 

The office door closed.

Inside the office, Ouyang behaved like the gentlest, most patient, ordinary good teacher.

The room was very dark, and the young male teacher only turned on the table lamp. Then he picked up the English paper and placed it on the table. He pulled out a chair next to him and patted it, indicating for Li Xiu to sit beside him.

“I want to talk to you about these few questions,” he said.

Ouyang was very satisfied when he saw Li Xiu obediently sitting in that position.

The young man still wasn’t looking at him. His incredibly beautiful face revealed no expression at all, just like a carefully crafted mask. Only the thin layer of sweat on his forehead and the back of his neck exposed his extreme tension and resistance.

However, this helpless, weak resistance caused Ouyang’s breathing to become even thicker.

As the topic went on and on, Ouyang’s tone suddenly dropped.

“……I’ve heard you’ve been having a hard time recently.”

He raised his hand and stretched it uncontrollably toward Li Xiu’s thigh.

“I’ve said it before, you can tell me if you encounter any trouble. After all, I have some connections in Qiming.”

Just as Ouyang’s hand was about to touch Li Xiu, a strong wind suddenly gusted outside the window, and it opened with a bang. The heavy floor-to-ceiling curtains roiled, billowing up to hit the bookshelves.

Bang—

Behind Li Xiu and Ouyang, countless books and furnishings fell from the bookshelves, and the tremendous stir instantly dispersed the swamp-like heavy, sticky atmosphere in the office.

Ouyang was also given a start. 

He cursed: “Fucking hell—”

When he saw something fall to the ground, his pupils shrank slightly and he paid no attention to anything else. Pushing away his chair in a panic, he rushed to the bookshelf and bent down.

In addition to some ornamental decorations, there were also several thick hardcover tomes that had fallen. There were no titles, and the books were tightly wrapped in plastic protectors. Because of this, the sound was particularly loud when they fell. 

As he picked up the books, several photos slipped out of the pages. 

There was a bulging vein on Ouyang’s forehead. He quickly put the photos back into the books, then put things back in their places one by one.

While putting these things back, Ouyang sorted out his panic. He turned and murmured to Li Xiu jokingly: “Aiya, that was really scary just now. Looks like we’ll need to ask the school janitor to come repair the window…..”

His voice suddenly paused.

Because he clearly felt a hand resting on his shoulder.

The corners of Ouyang’s mouth twitched. He wanted to grin but had to hide his pleasure, so his final expression was a bit eerie.

“So bold all of a sudden…..”

The much-loved teacher teased him in a murky voice, content with his achievement. The corner of his vision fell on the hand on his shoulder.

The smile on Ouyang’s face froze at once.

That hand did not belong to Li Xiu as he had imagined. The leather of that watch was mottled. Veins criss-crossed under withered skin, and there were no nails on the fingertips, only bloody nail beds.

A biting chill spread along the place that hand was touching.

“Ah—”

A short scream erupted from the man’s throat.

He leaped up and bumped against the bookshelves, knocking down several more ornaments.

“Teacher…..Ouyang?”

A confused voice sounded hesitantly.

Ouyang raised his head in shock to see that Li Xiu was still sitting at the desk.

The young man regarded him with a tense expression and no small amount of fear.

“W-what’s wrong with you?”

Ouyang stared at Li Xiu and didn’t speak immediately. Breathing rapidly, he looked over his shoulder.

The hand had long since disappeared.

In just a short moment, countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

What was that just now? Was it his imagination? Or was it retaliation from Li Xiu? He’d heard that there were some weird prank devices on the internet now…..no, that wasn’t it. Li Xiu was still some distance away from him. How could he let Li Xiu get that close to his back and prank him without hearing any sound? And that hand…..

He had seen that hand before.

He could even recall the scene of that hand digging into the floor, the nails all peeled off to leave bloody streaks on the carpet.

Buried deep in Ouyang’s heart, memories he didn’t want to think about suddenly surfaced.

A gust of wind blew through the window, and Ouyang shivered violently.

So cold…..

Ouyang realized that his back was soaked in cold sweat, so much so that at this moment, the originally comfortable office became unbearably cold to him.

“I-it’s nothing,” Ouyang said dryly to Li Xiu. Certain desires that were formerly entrenched in his heart had long since dissipated.

Just at this moment, there was a knock on the office door.

---

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Chapter 9 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 11