After Helping the Protagonist Escape From a Madman, I Became His Target [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 8

The moment Shen Luyang opened his eyes, he knew things were looking grim.

He grabbed his phone to check the time. It was already 6:30 AM! He bolted out of bed as if he had springs attached to his feet, cleaned himself up at record speed, grabbed his bag, and sprinted out the door.

Out of necessity, he fired up his flashy silver ride and “flew” all the way to school, strictly adhering to traffic laws, of course.

As he entered the school gates, Shen Luyang happened to cross paths with a certain student who had been cornered by the Dean. Although this particular student was currently being yelled at by Zhu Weifeng, his expression remained defiant. His chin was tilted up with impatience, and his furrowed brows and clenched fists made it look as though he was ready to roll up his sleeves and start a brawl at any moment.

However, Zhu Weifeng was no pushover. He was currently fuming. “Peng Jun! I’m telling you, drop the attitude! How many times have I said it? You are not allowed to taper your school uniform pants!”

Peng Jun let out an impatient “Tch” and grumbled under his breath, “They look like sacks. Only idiots wear them like that.”

Zhu Weifeng’s eyes widened in sheer fury. “What did you say? Call your parents! Call them right now!”

“Oh? Director Zhu?” Shen Luyang pulled the car over and poked his head out of the window with a cheerful smile. “What seems to be the trouble?”

Zhu Weifeng didn’t give him a pleasant look either. To him, Shen Luyang was just a rich kid who had been forced into the faculty and was doing nothing but corrupting the good students of the second year. This was exactly how promising young seeds turned into weeds!

“A student is being disobedient; I’m just giving him a piece of my mind. Teacher Shen, since you’re arriving so late, don’t bother meddling.”

The words were sharp enough to make one’s ears sting.

But Shen Luyang acted as if he hadn’t caught the thorn. He hopped out of the car with a grin, walked over to Peng Jun, and addressed Zhu Weifeng. “Now, now, Director. This is my student; I should at least understand the situation.”

He then turned to Peng Jun. “What did you do?”

Peng Jun looked away, acting as if he couldn’t even stand the sight of him. His tone was stiff. “Altered my pants.”

Shen Luyang looked down. Indeed, while other students’ uniform pants looked like two oversized potato sacks, Student Peng Jun’s were very different. They were as thin as two pencils; the sharpened kind.

“In my opinion,” Shen Luyang began, choosing his words carefully and even using his hands to gesture for emphasis, “next time, you could try wide-leg trousers. They’d look better than these.”

Peng Jun: “…”

Zhu Weifeng’s eyebrows practically stood on end. “What did you say?!”

“I said his behavior is excessive!” Shen Luyang clenched his fists and looked at Peng Jun with a face full of manufactured rage. “Did you finish your physics homework?”

Peng Jun had no idea what game the man was playing. He answered instinctively, “…No.”

“You didn’t do it again!” Shen Luyang raised his voice, his face a mask of disappointment and fury as he pulled out the classic teacher’s “Triple Threat” lines. “Do you just not take my words seriously? Do you even respect me as your teacher? If you aren’t going to study, then get out and go home!”

The roar was quite impressive. Shen Luyang’s chest heaved as he pointed a trembling finger at Peng Jun. He then turned to the stunned and utterly bewildered Zhu Weifeng, took a sharp breath, and said, “Director Zhu, I’m going to tell his homeroom teacher. I must tell his homeroom teacher! He skipped my homework again! Call the parents. We absolutely must call the parents this time!”

With that, he glared at Peng Jun and barked, “You! Get in the car!”

Before he knew it, Peng Jun was sitting inside a million-dollar sports car. In the rearview mirror, Zhu Weifeng seemed to finally remember what he had originally been doing, but Shen Luyang slammed on the gas and took off. Zhu Weifeng didn’t even get a whiff of the exhaust.

Peng Jun: “…”

So, that’s how it’s done.

“What a pity,” Shen Luyang said suddenly.

Peng Jun looked around; he was the only other person in the car. He frowned, debating whether to remain “cool” or give the man some face by responding. Before he could decide, Shen Luyang naturally continued.

“There’s no one here to give me an award,” he said with a face full of regret. “I feel like that performance just now was at least worth a Golden Rooster or a Hundred Flowers Award.”

Peng Jun shut his mouth. He was speechless. He felt that the guy named Shen was different from the time he’d been beaten up, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what had changed. Despite having the exact same face, the aura he projected was entirely different.

The former “loser” was now a… “Golden Rooster” contender. Peng Jun gripped his phone, his intuition telling him to keep his guard up as he shot a wary look at Shen Luyang.

Unaware that he had become a person of interest to his student, the “Best Actor” Shen Luyang nimbly parked the car and led Peng Jun toward the teaching building. He didn’t stay quiet either, humming a song Peng Jun had never heard before about “The East,” “Beauties,” “The West,” and “The Yellow River.”

When they reached the stairs, Shen Luyang pointed toward Class 21. Morning self-study had already begun, and the discipline committee was patrolling the hallway.

He lowered his voice and told the committee leader, “I just took him out to discuss some matters.” Seeing that a teacher was involved, the leader immediately let Peng Jun inside.

Shen Luyang then rushed to the office. He greeted every teacher he saw before walking toward Xie Weihan’s desk with a mix of awkwardness and anticipation.

Xie Weihan looked up at the sound. He had an open lecture today, so he was dressed very formally. His hair had been styled, with a few stray locks left out to make him look sophisticated and mature without being stiff. A pair of silver wire-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of his nose. Combined with his pale complexion and overly exquisite features, the “sophisticated” look took on a new meaning: a refined scoundrel.

He hadn’t put on his tie yet. The top two buttons of his collar were undone, resting just above his collarbone and concealing the traces of yesterday’s frenzy—an intimacy that only Shen Luyang could understand.

Shen Luyang looked away, his Adam’s apple bobbing. His throat felt dry.

“Didn’t sleep well?” A smile played on Xie Weihan’s lips as he handed over a peppermint. “Did you stay up late?”

“I was writing until very late last night and couldn’t get up this morning.” Shen Luyang took a breath to calm himself and popped the candy into his mouth. A refreshing coolness exploded in his mouth, and he couldn’t help but press his tongue against it. Not being used to mint, it felt a bit spicy, but it certainly woke his brain up.

Seeing Xie Weihan ready for his lecture, Shen Luyang pulled out the two physics problems. Shaking the “unhealthy” thoughts from his head, he spoke with an air of righteous duty. “Teacher Xie, I’ve added you on WeChat.”

Xie Weihan picked up his gold fountain pen, took the notebook, and let out a soft chuckle. “I’ve already accepted. Your profile picture is very cute.”

Shen Luyang froze for a moment, then couldn’t help but let his lips curl upward. He had recently changed his profile picture. The original owner’s had been a Lamborghini, which he found incredibly stupid, so he’d changed it to a little red flower he’d doodled himself.

Shen Luyang pulled up a chair and sat close to Xie Weihan, opening his phone. Xie Weihan had messaged him asking which two problems he needed help with, but he’d been in such a rush to leave that he hadn’t seen it.

As he looked at Xie Weihan’s profile, Shen Luyang’s nose twitched. He thought he caught a faint, lingering scent of red wine. Before he could discern it, it vanished into the air. He rubbed his nose, feeling a bit warm.

Xie Weihan’s behavior toward him wasn’t overly intimate, yet it was undeniably different from how he treated other colleagues. This perfectly controlled distance—not too far, not too close—made him feel very comfortable. Shen Luyang had to admit that being with Teacher Xie felt… really good.

The System suddenly chimed in with a highly punchable tone: [Oh, my straight-man Luyang~~]

******

Xie Weihan briefly explained the solution to Shen Luyang before being called away by the school leadership. Before leaving, he gave him another peppermint.

Shen Luyang sucked on the candy and spent an entire class period studying the problem until it finally clicked. Just as he was planning to take a stroll around the track during his free period to stretch his legs, Zong Weiqing called out to him.

“Teacher Shen, do you have plans for the next period?”

“None,” Shen Luyang said, distributing small snacks to the other teachers. He handed her a Shaqima and asked with a smile, “Is something up, Ms. Zong?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Zong Weiqing said with a smile as she thanked him. “The second period was supposed to be Math, but Teacher Xie has his open lecture and can’t make it. I was wondering if you could swap your fourth-period class with his.”

“Sure, no problem,” Shen Luyang agreed readily.

Armed with a few sheets of paper and a pen, Teacher Shen confidently stepped into the classroom just as the bell rang. Seeing him, the class erupted into a flurry of whispers. Clearly, the “Big Living Person Swap” of their beloved math teacher for the loathed physics teacher was a heavy blow.

Shen Luyang once again felt a wave of sympathy for them. He waited for a minute until the noise died down before speaking. “Teacher Xie has something to do this period, so we’re swapping with Physics.”

Seeing the expression on the Math Class Rep’s face, Shen Luyang couldn’t help but laugh. “No need to look so tragic. It’s a swap, not a substitution. You won’t have to see me during the fourth period.”

Zhan Jingmiao, one of the girls from the first row, burst out laughing. Shen Luyang held up a hand to quiet her, fearing she’d start “goose-honking” again. “Did everyone do their physics homework?”

Silence.

Shen Luyang didn’t mind. As an unpopular teacher, he had mastered the essential skill: talking to himself.

“By the way,” he added, “I don’t have a Physics Class Rep yet, do I? If anyone is interested, you can come and talk to me privately. I’m usually in the office. Or… if you’re too shy, you can add me on WeChat.”

He turned and wrote his WeChat ID on the blackboard, tapping it with his knuckle. “This is my ID and also my phone number. Add whichever you like.”

“Alright, back to business.” Shen Luyang picked up the class list. Those with a slash next to their names were the ones who hadn’t done their homework yesterday. “First, Peng Jun, stand up.”

Peng Jun jerked his head up and glared at him. Shen Luyang received that intense gaze and looked back. After a moment of thought, he nodded knowingly.

Then, he gave him a friendly wink and a warm smile.

Peng Jun: “…”

Just like yesterday, he kicked his chair back with a “badass” air and stood up. Shen Luyang didn’t care how he stood up and continued calling names. By the end of the round, not a single student from the front rows was standing; the back row was still valiantly “guarding the tower.”

Whispers began to ripple through the class. The heads in the front row kept darting back and forth between Shen Luyang and the troublemakers in the back, as if waiting for a show to begin.

However, Shen Luyang simply set the list down and spoke with an air of “peace and love.” “Sit down. I won’t increase your workload today; even if I did, you wouldn’t finish it. I’ll just spend my lunch break calling your parents one by one to chat about your academic progress.”

“Alright, troublemakers and flower-buds, let’s begin the lesson.”

Halfway through the class, Shen Luyang noticed a small detail: every time he turned around to write on the blackboard, a flurry of stifled giggles would erupt behind him. After pinpointing the source of the sound a few times, it was, unsurprisingly the troublemakers.

“These are sample problems. I’ll give you five minutes to see if you can solve them; I’ll be asking for answers later.”

Shen Luyang set down the chalk and leisurely walked down from the podium. He started checking their work from the first row, occasionally leaning over to guide students who had hit a dead end.

When he reached the second-to-last row, he suddenly rested his elbow on Peng Jun’s shoulder. His voice was at a moderate volume. “Student, why aren’t you writing?”

Peng Jun tried to shrug him off, but the damn elbow remained firmly in place. He turned his face away and said impatiently, “I don’t know how!”

Shen Luyang’s brow quirked as he took the boy’s pen. “What a coincidence! I do. Here, let me teach you.”

Peng Jun: “…”

Shen Luyang slung an arm around his shoulder, acting as if they were old friends, and borrowed a piece of scratch paper from Li Shenyu behind them. He began explaining step-by-step, starting from concepts as fundamental as the dawn of creation.

Peng Jun didn’t want to listen at all, but Shen Luyang’s smiling face held a strange aura that made it impossible to say “get lost.” The hand on his shoulder felt as heavy as a mountain. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his eyes were forced toward the paper.

Feeling incredibly frustrated by his sudden bout of cowardice, Peng Jun answered “I don’t know” to everything Shen Luyang asked. He wanted the guy to lose patience and leave.

But he underestimated Teacher Shen’s “heart of gold.” Shen Luyang started asking from the hardest concepts and worked his way down through dozens of questions until he reached: “This is a positive charge symbol, and this is a negative charge symbol. Do you know that?”

Peng Jun finally couldn’t take it anymore and interrupted irritably, “I know that!”

“Good,” Shen Luyang said, patting his shoulder with satisfaction. “You’re a promising student. Come to my office for lunch today, and I’ll explain things to you further.”

“I’m not—”

“Alright, everyone finished?” Shen Luyang moved back to the podium much faster than he had left it. With his long legs, he was back in a few strides. “Zhan Jingmiao, you tell us.”

Zhan Jingmiao stood up and said confidently, “C, B, A.”

Peng Jun, filled with irritation and bewilderment, turned to Li Shenyu. Li Shenyu shook his head at him, gesturing for him to endure. Peng Jun gritted his teeth in anger. He pulled a uniform jacket and spread it on his desk, about to put his head down…

“Peng Jun, tell me, is her answer correct?”

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