Jiang Zhou walked in, closed the door, and looked around.
He frowned. The space was tiny, barely big enough for a single bed. The walls were peeling with flaky plaster, and the room lacked air conditioning, making it bitterly cold in the dark. The bed held only a single, thin quilt.
Teacher Chu lived in a place like this?
Yet, because of the person who lived inside, the dim room seemed to carry an aura of pure, detached chillness, making Jiang Zhou want to throw himself onto that bed and roll around.
He could not help letting his imagination run wild, feeling that he should move Teacher Chu into the villa he had purchased near the academy. No, if Teacher Chu was unwilling, he could reluctantly stay in this small place as well, though he would have to buy the adjacent rooms to knock the walls down and add some proper furniture.
Jiang Zhou smiled, stepped forward, met Chu Xunsheng’s gaze, and pulled out his phone, waving it in front of him.
“Teacher Chu, do you want everyone to know that you live here? Hmm? To know that the teacher they revere is actually dirt poor?”
Chu Xunsheng remained silent, keeping his eyes lowered. His long eyelashes trembled slightly, casting shadows against the corners of his eyes.
While Chu Xunsheng appeared panicked on the surface, he was entirely calm on the inside. This was the moment the original host’s secrets were exposed, and he had prepared for it long ago.
Jiang Zhou almost felt as though those eyelashes were scratching at his heart, leaving an itch.
He continued, “I bought an account boosted with algorithmic traffic. As long as I press this button,” he shook his phone to signal Chu Xunsheng, “your secret will…”
Chu Xunsheng nodded inwardly. Very good, on the right track, keep going.
Yet, Jiang Zhou shifted his tone, “However, as long as you… as long as you are willing to come with me… I can make this secret stay a secret forever.”
Huh? What?
Jiang Zhou watched the man before him pause, then slowly raise his head. The eyes looking back at him held no panic or fluster, but rather a sneer.
The corners of the man’s lips curled into a smile. He took a single step forward, instantly closing the distance between them. Jiang Zhou instinctively took a step back, but the man pressed forward relentlessly, forcing him back until his spine hit the wall.
Hunter and prey seemed to swap roles in an instant. Jiang Zhou almost stopped breathing as he watched the man draw closer and closer.
“As long as what? Hmm?”
The acclaimed control master and genius of the empire possessed no power at this moment, forced to watch as he surrendered the initiative, yet feeling an overwhelming surge of anticipation deep within.
So close. Closer, a little closer. He could already feel the other’s breath and the heat radiating from his skin.
He answered with a hoarse voice, “As long as you keep acting like this…”
The man’s fingertips brushed against his neck, sliding downward gently. Every place those fingers touched felt as uncomfortably hot as if it had caught fire.
Jiang Zhou panted softly, involuntarily arching his body in an attempt to hide a rather unseemly reaction.
Chu Xunsheng asked him, “Acting like what?”
Jiang Zhou could no longer form words. His hands hung limply at his sides as the man’s fingertips slid down toward his waist, lingering as if wanting to move lower.
Chu Xunsheng’s other hand reached out, grabbing Jiang Zhou’s hands and locking them behind his back. With a gentle twist, he spun Jiang Zhou around, pressing his face firmly against the wall.
What kind of position is this?
Jiang Zhou felt a jolt of surprise. Born to a noble family, he almost felt a trace of humiliation, yet he made no sound, willing to let the person behind him do as he pleased.
However, after waiting for a long time, no further action followed.
Jiang Zhou waited and waited until he finally lost his patience. He turned around, only to freeze completely.
Chu Xunsheng was pinning him down with one hand while holding his phone in the other, lowering his gaze to operate the screen.
“Teacher, even if you delete it, it is useless, I can still post it…”
Hearing this, Chu Xunsheng glanced at him, expressionless, and waved the phone right in front of his face: “It has already been posted.”
What?!
Jiang Zhou snatched the phone back in a panic, but it was too late. Beneath the algorithmic-boosted post, the comment thread had already piled up into high-rise layers and was still rapidly growing.
A casual glance showed that every single comment expressed utter shock.
Jiang Zhou slid down to sit on the floor, whispering powerlessly, “Teacher, no, I did not want it to turn out like this…”
Chu Xunsheng ignored him, simply stating flatly, “Is this not exactly what you wanted?”
He pulled Jiang Zhou up, shoved him out the door, and slammed it shut behind him. Disregarding the sounds of pleading outside, he sent a resignation text to the school and crawled into bed to sleep.
I hope the plot progresses smoothly. Amen.
However, tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.
His phone rang frantically. Those zombie contacts he had added just for submitting homework were spamming him with messages. Initially, Chu Xunsheng assumed they were insults, so he refused to waste his time reading them.
Until these people started calling.
Chu Xunsheng expressionlessly hung up the seventeenth phone call.
What does “you can move into my villa” mean? What does “my family has too much money, please let the teacher come tutor us” mean?
There were even shy declarations from people offering to support him.
Enough is enough!
Chu Xunsheng put his phone on silent, put on a blank expression, and went to bed.
No matter what, his exposure and resignation plots had wrapped up smoothly. As for the rest of this nonsense, they were mere trivial details that required no attention.
Yes, exactly.
Having successfully self-hypnotized, Chu Xunsheng drifted peacefully to sleep.
Meanwhile, lights burned bright throughout the night in various luxury villas in the upscale districts far away.
“Go buy out all the houses in that slum! This young lady is moving in!”
“What? They are sold out?! Damn it, how can they be this fast! What about the ones next to them? Sold out too?! Crap!”
The next morning, Chu Xunsheng was woken up by the deafening sound of construction.
Such a dilapidated building, and someone is still renovating it?
Rubbing his eyes, Chu Xunsheng finished washing up and splashed cold water on his face.
The stimulation from the cold water left the skin around his eyes slightly red. Thinking for a moment, Chu Xunsheng ruffled his hair to make himself look even more disheveled.
He casually threw on a jacket, grabbed a bag of trash, and headed out the door to take it down.
Then he ran straight into the Third Imperial Highness living right across the hall.
“Good morning, Teacher Chu.” Ji Yan greeted him with a smile.
I must still be half asleep. There is no way a noble imperial prince would appear in a place like this.
Chu Xunsheng rubbed his eyes again, ignored the awkward, raised hand of the person opposite him, and walked past him expressionlessly.
The trash disposal point was at the corner of the street, a short walk away. To his astonishment, Chu Xunsheng noticed that construction work was going on everywhere.
Could this area be slated for commercial development?
Even if it was developed, it had nothing to do with him since he was leaving soon anyway.
Ignoring the construction crews moving back and forth, Chu Xunsheng continued toward the dumpster.
“Good morning, Teacher Chu!”
It was Lin Zhinian, holding a book on casting weapons and reciting its contents with a studious, serious expression.
“Your book is upside down.”
Chu Xunsheng reminded her expressionlessly.
Then, maintaining his deadpan expression, he finished throwing away the trash, returned home, and slammed the door shut with a bang.
I must still be sleep-deprived. Taking a nap will fix it.