Chapter 31: Choice

A summer night breeze brushed past the window.

It made a faint, fleeting sound.

Like wandering spirits tapping on doors and windows.

Outside, the night was pitch black.

Occasional soft cat meows broke the silence.

In the brightly lit room, Mo Yuan stared at the screen.

Her right ring finger hovered over the mouse button.

She hadn’t clicked to send the command.

It was late at night.

Lu You was fast asleep in his room.

Mo Yuan was in a foul mood.

Someone was coveting her most precious treasure.

It filled her with restless irritation.

Her left hand crushed an empty coffee can.

She tossed it into the trash.

The left side of the screen displayed everything about Su Ye Mi.

Mo Yuan had been studying it for half an hour.

The girl’s life was unremarkable.

Ordinary schooling.

Ordinary upbringing.

Ordinary… until she met Lu You and fell for “Lu Ming.”

Mo Yuan had agonized over whether to “deal with” Su Ye Mi.

She hadn’t made up her mind.

If she weren’t constantly in close physical contact with Lu You…

Her intense, possessive urges might have driven her to eliminate these “unnecessary” people.

She didn’t want to ruin Lu You’s simple, happy life.

But she couldn’t tolerate anyone eyeing her most important person.

After long thought, Mo Yuan sighed.

She deleted the unsent warning message.

She closed the page.

She leaned back in her chair, expressionless.

She stared at the ceiling.

‘Xiao You, I want to lock you up.’

‘Keep you by my side every moment.’

‘Then no one else could covet you.’

‘You’re mine.’

‘Only mine.’

Ten minutes later, she stood.

She returned to Lu You’s room.

She slipped into bed.

She wrapped the boy’s slender frame in her arms again.

At 8:10 a.m., the classroom hummed with students reading aloud.

Mo Yuan sat upright.

Her cold gaze swept over the forty or fifty students holding books.

She rarely needed to scold those whispering or daydreaming.

Her emotionless stare was warning enough.

No student dared misbehave in her class or during her supervised study sessions.

She never harshly punished anyone openly.

But everyone instinctively knew…

Provoking the aloof English teacher had grave consequences.

A fear they’d remember forever.

Su Ye Mi felt the same.

She didn’t dare let Mo Yuan grow annoyed with her.

Like An Xue Ruo, she was a model student.

In academics and behavior, she earned praise from teachers and peers.

She almost never messed up.

Especially in front of Mo Yuan.

But during this morning’s reading session…

Mo Yuan stared at her for more than half the time.

Su Ye Mi was certain.

She hadn’t zoned out once.

She hadn’t dozed off.

For a timid girl like her, it was an indescribable torment.

When the bell rang, Mo Yuan gathered her lesson plans.

She glanced at Lu You, chatting and laughing with his desk mate.

She left the classroom silently.

On her way to the staff room, students greeted her.

She nodded or gave a soft “mm” in response.

Mo Yuan was distant but fulfilled her teaching duties diligently.

Her work was meticulous, thorough.

She didn’t spend much time on it.

Coupled with her beauty—rivaling or surpassing the campus belles…

She was quite popular among students.

But with that came unwanted feelings.

Some students, caught in youthful stirrings, developed inappropriate affection for her.

A neatly written homework book had an extra paragraph.

The words were subtle but hinted at more than student-teacher gratitude.

The owner was one of the few students Mo Yuan bothered to remember.

A girl.

That a student would have such feelings for her, a woman…

Mo Yuan smiled faintly.

She graded the work as usual.

She added no extra comments.

She closed the book and stacked it with the others.

She ignored it.

Just as she’d done before.

Those students, seeing her lack of reaction, stopped pursuing.

Among colleagues, no teacher ever expressed such feelings so boldly.

Not because she wasn’t attractive to other adults.

On her first day as an intern, the principal introduced her.

He relayed Yun Xi’s words.

Someone who could make the vice-principal give up a private office…

Wasn’t someone they could approach.

Five minutes before the first class, Mo Yuan returned to the classroom.

She carried a stack of graded homework.

Most students were back at their desks.

Including her English class representative.

“Class rep, distribute the books.”

Lu You stopped his pointless chatter with his desk mate.

He walked to the podium.

He met Mo Yuan’s eyes and gave her a goofy grin.

He took the stack and started handing them out.

Her gaze was as indifferent as it was with other students.

But Lu You could clearly sense the warmth and affection in her eyes.

Mo Yuan watched him move through the classroom.

Her mind drifted to last night.

Even without Yun Xi’s help…

She could easily ruin Su Ye Mi’s peaceful family life.

She’d imagined countless ways to do it.

She’d been tempted to act more than once.

But this morning, seeing Su Ye Mi shrink under her gaze…

She was reminded of Lu You eight years ago, when she first brought him home.

Mo Yuan decided to let Su Ye Mi off.

If she knew her place.

“Turn to page 27.”

“Today we’re covering relative clauses with missing components.”

“Last class, we discussed that ‘that’ is…”

The chilling gaze no longer fixed on her.

Su Ye Mi felt relieved.

She couldn’t figure out why Teacher Mo kept staring at her coldly during the reading session.

Since it stopped, she chalked it up to her imagination.

Lu You, meanwhile, was much calmer.

He jiggled his leg, taking notes.

Occasionally chatting with Zheng Chen next to him.

Mo Yuan’s gaze lingered on him longer than on others.

It’s why he avoided looking at the podium.

He wasn’t worried about his English grades.

Besides her relentless teasing, Mo Yuan diligently tutored him every night.

Though that had stopped recently.

These days, he got home at eight or nine.

Less time for studying.

Instead of reviewing lessons, Mo Yuan spent those precious evening hours teasing her dearest Xiao You.

It’s not that she didn’t care about his grades.

She wanted him to grow more dependent on her.

Unable to function without her.

To need her to survive.

It’s one reason she spoiled him so much.

She handled everything he needed.

Preventing him from growing through those tasks.

Ensuring he couldn’t do them alone later.

*TL Note: The depiction of Mo Yuan’s intense protectiveness and subtle manipulation reflects a common trope in Chinese youth fiction, where characters with complex emotional bonds (like Mo Yuan and Lu You) navigate possessive dynamics, often exaggerated for dramatic effect in school and workplace settings.