After Helping the Protagonist Escape From a Madman, I Became His Target [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 15

Shen Luyang was utterly floored by Xie Weihan’s culinary skills.

Even though Teacher Xie looked like the type of person who excelled at everything, actually tasting his cooking was a whole different level of shock. The two had originally planned to go for a stroll after dinner, but just as they were headed for the door, Shen Luyang’s phone rang. It was his mother.

“Baby, it’s so late. Why aren’t you home yet?”

Shen Luyang stole a glance at Xie Weihan, who tactfully stepped away to give him privacy.

“I’m having dinner at a colleague’s place. What’s up, Mom?”

His mother clearly didn’t buy it, but she didn’t want to be too blunt. She could only offer an uneasy warning. “It’s late. Come home early. I’m at your place right now—why did you change the locks?”

Shen Luyang froze. “You’re at my front door?”

Thinking he was angry, his mother quickly added, “I just missed you. If you don’t have time…”

Shen Luyang felt a pang of guilt. “Mom, wait for me. I’m coming back right now.”

His mother had arrived fearing her son’s temper, so Shen Luyang’s gentle tone came as a pleasant surprise. “Don’t rush. Drive safely.”

Shen Luyang hung up and called out, “Teacher Xie, my mom is at my place. I have to go let her in.”

“I’ll walk you down,” Xie Weihan said, already changed and standing by the door. “It’s dark out.”

“No need, I drove here,” Shen Luyang said, scratching his head. He looked at the man apologetically. “Let’s do that stroll another day.”

“Of course. Let’s go,” Xie Weihan said, holding the door open. “I’ll see you to your car.”

Once inside the car, Shen Luyang gave a wave. The man stood under the hazy glow of the streetlamp, the deep night as his backdrop. His unique, languid aura made him look like a living landscape painting. He nodded, and his deep, mellow voice drifted into Shen Luyang’s ears.

“See you tomorrow.”

*******

On the drive back, Shen Luyang finally had the mental space to dissect the entire encounter.

It was, quite frankly, a total failure.

Aside from confirming that Teacher Xie’s cooking was divine and his voice was like velvet, he hadn’t managed to test or discover anything. Shen Luyang reached a Zen-like conclusion: Teacher Xie really is a wonderful person.

[Luyang, as long as you’re happy…]

Watching the city lights flash by, Shen Luyang felt a strange hollowness. He muttered, “Tongtong, did I forget something? I feel like…”

[You didn’t just forget ‘something,’ my dear Luyang. You forgot you’re allergic to chili! And Teacher Xie has already guessed that you know about his Antisocial Personality Disorder. Luyang, you aren’t just big-hearted—you’re incredibly lucky to still be alive.]

Shen Luyang was horrified. “Did I tell him I’m allergic?”

[Not quite. You told him you love spicy food.]

Shen Luyang: …Crap.

“Then why didn’t Teacher Xie point out the contradiction? Did he forget?”

[Oh, definitely. He’s forcing himself to forget because he loves you so much.]

Fingering the steering wheel, Shen Luyang corrected the system: “Don’t talk nonsense. We’re both men. Even if Teacher Xie liked Alphas, I don’t… even if I did, it would have to be a female Alpha.”

[One that’s bigger than you down there?]

Shen Luyang’s voice spiked. “Impossible!” That was a matter of male pride; he had to be bigger than his wife.

After that tangent, Shen Luyang began to reflect. “Will this affect the mission? What happens if he finds out I’m not the original owner?”

[He can’t ‘find out.’ What’s he going to do—pluck me out of your brain? He might be sure you aren’t the ‘original’ Shen Luyang, but he has zero evidence. Besides, he’s ignored your slips twice now. It shows he doesn’t care.]

Shen Luyang felt a wave of embarrassment. So, my whole ‘I have a friend’ routine was spotted ages ago? If Xie Weihan hadn’t called him out on it, did that mean he truly didn’t care?

In that case… let the chips fall where they may. It was too late to fix it now. He’d just go with the flow.

Red light. Shen Luyang hit the brakes.

“The fanfic went on for five years. So, as long as I last five years and finish the missions, I can live in this world forever?”

[Bingo! And if you don’t want to wait, you can make Teacher Xie fall for someone else to finish the mission early and get your reward!]

Shen Luyang: But what if he stops liking that person and goes back to Shi Fan?

[That’s a rule of the world-line. Once Teacher Xie falls for someone else and stays with them, the two timelines separate completely. There’s no chance of them merging again.]

Shen Luyang had to admit, the idea of finishing early was tempting. He wondered what kind of Alpha Xie Weihan liked—the gentle, elegant type like Shi Fan?

********

By the time he got home, it was nearly 10:00 PM. Shen Luyang sent a voice message to Xie Weihan letting him know he’d arrived safely.

The late September air in the North had dropped to about 10°C. His mother had been standing downstairs for who knows how long, her gaze full of anxious expectation as she watched for his car. The original owner was an unfilial idiot, but Shen Luyang didn’t intend to follow that path just to stay in character. As the system said, no one could prove he wasn’t the original. He’d just let them believe he’d been struck by lightning and decided to turn over a new leaf.

Shen Luyang parked and ran over to her. “Mom! It’s freezing! Why didn’t you wait in the car?”

His mother brightened at his voice and trotted toward him in her heels. She grabbed his hand, her eyes instantly welling up. “Why have you lost weight? Is the school job too hard? I’ll call your father right now! We aren’t staying there!”

Shen Luyang quickly stopped her. His mother was an Omega—soft and delicate—and he easily took the phone from her. “Mom, I’m just tired because the semester just started. It’s busy, but I’m doing great. Let’s go upstairs; your face is white from the cold.”

His mother followed him inside. Seeing the apartment as clean and tidy as new, she couldn’t help but ask, “Did you find a maid? Give Mom the contact info; I want to make sure she’s reliable.”

Shen Luyang realized that the original owner wasn’t just a spendthrift; he was someone who couldn’t even care for himself. In his mother’s eyes, he was basically a toddler. This was the perfect chance to show off his “growth.”

He guided her to the sofa and made two cups of hot water with lemon slices. “I cleaned it myself, Mom. I’m an adult; I don’t need a maid for this.”

Ning Wanshu was nearly fifty but looked beautifully preserved, with a gentle, serene appearance and a kind aura. When the original Shen Luyang was a child, she and her husband were too focused on their careers to raise him properly. By the time they realized their failure, he was already a grown man with a twisted personality. It was too late to correct him, so they tried to buy his happiness with money.

The result was a bottomless pit. No amount of money could buy his reform. She had spent many nights in tears, vowing to make him change, but she’d soften the moment he cried or brought up his lonely childhood.

Now, looking at the Shen Luyang sitting before her, she felt like she didn’t even recognize her son. The old Shen Luyang was hollowed out by alcohol and smoking, with dull eyes and dark circles—always impatient, always demanding money. He was a walking ghost of a debt collector.

But the Shen Luyang in front of her had a bright, sunny smile and clear eyes. He sat tall with broad shoulders, and aside from some light circles from staying up, he looked like a completely different person.

“Mom, have you eaten?” he asked, checking the fridge. He could whip something up.

Ning Wanshu gripped his hand, tears shimmering in her eyes. “I’ve eaten.”

“Don’t worry,” Shen Luyang said, standing behind her to give her shoulders an amateur massage. “I really love my job. Dad’s decision was the right one. Since coming to Lanjiang Fifth High, I feel like I’ve found what I’m supposed to do.”

“You don’t blame your father for dumping you there?” she asked. Back then, the fight had literally made his father ill and led to them nearly disowning him.

Shen Luyang sighed, taking the fall for the original owner. “I was too immature. I realize now that Dad was doing it for my own good. I was too rebellious and childish, always making you both worry. It was my fault.”

His mother couldn’t believe her ears. She burst into tears, covering her mouth to muffle her sobs. “Mom always knew you were a good boy… I knew it… I just knew…”

Shen Luyang felt a pang of sadness and comforted her. “Just watch me, Mom. I’m going to try and get an ‘Outstanding Teacher’ award for you and Dad this year.”

His mother had planned to stay the night, but an urgent matter at the company called her away. She left with a thousand instructions for him to take care of himself and secretly tucked a bank card under a sofa cushion. When Shen Luyang saw her text and found the card, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Whatever, let her love me. It’s a ‘sweet burden,’ I suppose.

*******

Monday arrived, and Shen Luyang set out in his usual simple backpack and blue tracksuit, taking the one-yuan bus to school. Math was the first period, while Physics wasn’t until the second period in the afternoon.

He squeezed in a thirty-minute nap and sent some caring texts to his mother before joining the office gossip.

Zong Weiqing walked in with several sheets of paper. Jiang Nuanyu asked casually, “What’s that, Ms. Zong? Another meeting?”

Zong Weiqing shook the papers. “The meeting isn’t set yet. These are the disciplinary notices for the students—official demerits.”

Shen Luyang looked up. “Peng Jun and the others?”

“Yes, all four of them,” Zong Weiqing replied, rubbing her temples. She had been exhausted from mediating between the parents and the administration. “If you hadn’t run into them, who knows how bad it would have been? It’s a real headache.”

Jiang Nuanyu, sipping on a pouch of milk, added with half-closed eyes, “I heard that Tu Bohao from the vocational school is a repeat offender. He has a record for using pheromones to suppress other Alphas—one student had to get psychological counseling for a long time before returning to class. He also tried to force an Omega into heat once; luckily the Omega was already permanently marked, otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable.”

Shen Luyang was baffled. “And no one did anything?”

Jiang Nuanyu was equally disgusted. “They settled privately. The families took the money and dropped the charges.”

Shen Luyang felt it was a shame he hadn’t landed a few more punches on that guy. The guy was a third-year—only two years younger than him—so he could have fought him without guilt.

[Relax, Luyang. Tu Bohao won’t be back on his feet for months after the backlash from Teacher Xie’s pheromones.]

Shen Luyang: And then he’ll just go back to being a prick? Idiots like him should spend a few years in reform.

[Diversity of the human species, my friend. You can’t change everyone, but as a teacher, you can guide your own students to do the right thing.]

Shen Luyang looked at the class list on his desk and slowly smoothed it out.

After class, he headed out for some fresh air. Just as he reached a secluded corner near the science building to take a shortcut, he heard a suppressed roar of anger. The voice was familiar.

“Duan Chen! Have you had enough?!”

Shi Fan? Who could make the gentle Teacher Shi so angry?

Curious as he was, Shen Luyang took a step back, not intending to eavesdrop. But then he heard another voice.

“Shi Fan, I saw it that day! You practically sat in Xie Weihan’s lap! And you’ve been making eyes at the new physics teacher! Do you just act like I don’t exist?”

As the person allegedly being “made eyes at,” Shen Luyang was dumbfounded.

Shi Fan sitting in Xie Weihan’s lap was due to the timeline’s influence—it actually happened. But when had he and Shi Fan ever exchanged suggestive looks?

Should I… step in and explain?

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