Forcibly Taken by My Student’s Mother - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Teacher Tao, Your Button Popped Open, So…

In the days that followed, Tao Yao maintained a normal facade at her tutoring job, but her inner heart was a surging ocean due to Lu Xuelan’s ambiguous, touch-and-go provocations.

She repeatedly brainwashed herself.

“These are all sugar-coated bullets.”

“I am executing a revenge plan.”

“Once I catch her red-handed, I can slap her face hard.”

But every time the night grew still and the people grew quiet, those chaotic dreams and the soul-disturbing state she fell into while writing would sweep over her like a tide, making her begin to feel a flicker of out-of-control panic.

Gradually, this panic became increasingly obvious while tutoring Su Xiaowan.

She found herself subconsciously paying attention to movements outside the door, her heart racing at the thought that Lu Xuelan might suddenly appear; this was fundamentally not the state a “fisher” should be in.

She was fretful because of this, yet the problem student Su Xiaowan was still constantly pulling little stunts.

The little patience Tao Yao had left was being worn away bit by bit.

“Student Su.” She put down the lesson plan in her hand, her voice intentionally kept steady. “Please put your phone away.”

Su Xiaowan didn’t even look up, her fingers sliding across the screen: “Almost done, just replying to a message…”

“Now.” Tao Yao added weight to her tone.

Only then did Su Xiaowan sluggishly lift her eyelids and curl her lip: “Fine, fine, Teacher Tao, you are so strict.”

Tao Yao took a deep breath and continued the lesson. But before five minutes had passed, Su Xiaowan started shaking her leg again, her shoe making a rhythmic tapping sound on the floor like a provocative drumbeat.

“Su Xiaowan.” Tao Yao’s voice turned cold. “Focus on the lesson.”

“I am listening.” Su Xiaowan looked innocent. “My leg is just a bit numb, I’m just moving it around.”

Tao Yao stared at her for three seconds and suddenly slammed the textbook shut.

This action made Su Xiaowan startle: “What’s wrong, Teacher Tao? Stopping?”

“No.” Tao Yao stood up, walked around the desk, and stood in front of her. “But before that, I think we need to resolve the issue of your attitude toward learning.”

Su Xiaowan blinked. Instead of being flustered, she leaned back into her chair, striking a pose of ‘what can you do to me?’:

“What issue? I think my attitude is pretty good.”

Tao Yao smiled, with a hint of danger: “Fine, then let’s play a game.”

“What game?” Su Xiaowan immediately became interested in a silly way.

“Don’t you like to move around?” Tao Yao crossed her arms, looking down at her from above. “Since you can’t sit still, let’s change the method. Do one hundred horse-stance squats. After you finish, we’ll continue the lesson.”

Su Xiaowan’s expression froze instantly: “One hundred? Teacher Tao, are you joking?”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” Tao Yao raised an eyebrow. “This is punishment for your multiple instances of zoning out and disrespecting the classroom today. Finish them, and we continue the lesson. Don’t do them, and I will report today’s situation to your mother exactly as it happened.”

Su Xiaowan’s face changed color, but she quickly regained her playful, grinning look: “Oh, Teacher Tao, don’t be so serious. I promise I’ll listen well for the rest of the time, okay? Let’s skip the squats, it’s so tiring…”

“No.” Tao Yao was decisive. “Choose one of the two, choose now.”

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, the air filled with a silent confrontation.

Seeing Tao Yao’s firm attitude, the rebellious streak in Su Xiaowan’s heart suddenly surged up. She jumped out of her chair, shouting: “I’m not doing it, and I’m not studying anymore! Move aside, I’m going back to my room to rest!”

Before the words had even finished, she reached out to shove Tao Yao, attempting to use brute force to break through the obstruction and leave the study.

Tao Yao hadn’t expected her to actually get physical. Caught off guard, she was pushed back half a step.

But her reaction was extremely fast. As Su Xiaowan stubbornly tried to push her away completely again, Tao Yao stepped aside to dodge. Simultaneously, she flipped her wrist, accurately grabbing Su Xiaowan’s lunging arm and using the momentum.

“Ah!”

In a cry of surprise, Su Xiaowan was thrown onto the soft carpet with a clean, sharp over-the-shoulder throw.

Although the carpet cushioned most of the impact, this sudden turn of events still left her dazed. She lay on the floor, eyes wide, staring at Tao Yao standing before her. Her pink hair was a mess, and her expression looked like she had seen a ghost.

“You, you…” Su Xiaowan stammered.

Tao Yao looked down at her, rolling up her shirt sleeves to reveal the smooth lines of her forearms: “Alright, you’ve got some nerve, dare to shove a teacher? Can you accept the punishment properly now, Student Su?”

Su Xiaowan’s face flushed red then white, a mix of shame and anger.

She suddenly scrambled up from the floor and lunged at Tao Yao with flailing arms: “You actually threw me! I’ll fight you!”

Tao Yao was prepared. She dodged easily, grabbed Su Xiaowan’s wrist with a backhand, and pulled her along with the momentum.

Su Xiaowan stumbled forward a few steps, nearly falling again.

In the midst of the scuffle, their movements became larger and larger. Tao Yao’s white shirt had already become a bit messy during the initial shove and the throw; now, under Su Xiaowan’s frantic grabbing, there was a soft “pop”.

The topmost button snapped open.

The collar instantly gaped open, revealing a small patch of fair skin below her collarbone and the faint edge of her underwear.

Tao Yao hadn’t noticed it herself yet, still trying to restrain Su Xiaowan who was struggling like a fuming cat. But Su Xiaowan suddenly stopped moving, her gaze staring straight at Tao Yao’s chest, her expression turning peculiar.

“What are you looking at?” Tao Yao frowned.

Su Xiaowan blinked, her lips spreading into a mischievous grin: “Teacher Tao, your button popped open, so… much material!”

Tao Yao froze and looked down.

With this look, her cheeks instantly turned an embarrassed red. She hurriedly used her hands to cover her collar in a panic.

But just then…

“What is all this commotion?”

A cool female voice came from the doorway. It wasn’t loud, but it made the air in the room suddenly freeze.

Tao Yao’s whole body stiffened as she slowly turned her head.

Lu Xuelan was standing at the study door, one hand on the handle. Her gaze calmly swept over the mess in the room—the scattered books, the tilted chair, and… the disheveled Tao Yao, plus the guilty-looking Su Xiaowan.

Her gaze lingered for a split second on Tao Yao’s open collar, her eyes darkening almost imperceptibly.

Then she turned to Su Xiaowan: “Su Xiaowan, explain.”

Just three words, but they carried a weight of pressure as heavy as a mountain.

Su Xiaowan instantly wilted like a cat being picked up by the scruff of its neck, shrinking her shoulders: “Mom… we were just… messing around…”

“Messing around?” Lu Xuelan stepped slowly into the room, the sound of her high heels clicking on the wooden floor exceptionally clear in the silence. “Su Xiaowan, I paid to have a teacher come and give you lessons so you could ‘mess around’?”

“No…” Su Xiaowan’s voice grew smaller and smaller, explaining haltingly: “It was Teacher Tao punishing me with squats. I didn’t want to, and I accidentally… pushed her a bit, and then that happened…”

Hearing this, Lu Xuelan turned her gaze to Tao Yao.

Tao Yao was still clutching her chest. Originally righteous, she felt inexplicably nervous under Lu Xuelan’s gaze. She took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice steady: “President Lu, Student Su was zoning out and playing on her phone multiple times today, ignoring repeated warnings. Following what you said last time, I took necessary measures and punished her with one hundred horse-stance squats. She refused to comply and initiated a shove, so I…” The rest was left unsaid.

Lu Xuelan didn’t speak, her gaze scanning back and forth between the two.

After a long time, she looked at Su Xiaowan: “Is what Teacher Tao said true?”

Su Xiaowan hemmed and hawed, her head drooping powerlessly: “…It’s true.”

“Apologize.” Lu Xuelan commanded. “For your disrespect in class, and even more for putting your hands on your teacher.”

Su Xiaowan bit her lip and reluctantly turned to Tao Yao: “Teacher Tao, I’m sorry…”

Tao Yao was surprised. she hadn’t expected Lu Xuelan to take her side so decisively. She nodded, her tone softening: “Fine, I accept your apology, but the punishment stands. One hundred squats, start now.”

Su Xiaowan wailed, looking pitifully at Lu Xuelan: “Mommy…”

“Do them.” Lu Xuelan had only two words.

Su Xiaowan completely wilted and resignedly walked to an open space in the room to start her squats.

Seeing this, Tao Yao sighed in relief inwardly. It seemed Lu Xuelan at least supported her discipline on the surface. Her hand clutching her chest loosened slightly as she thought about quickly finding a safety pin or changing clothes.

However, before she could finish that sigh of relief, Lu Xuelan’s gaze fell back on her.

Furthermore, she walked toward her.

Tao Yao’s heart leaped into her throat again. She instinctively wanted to back away, but her feet felt as if they were nailed to the floor.

Lu Xuelan stopped a step away from her. Her gaze fell on the hand clutching Tao Yao’s collar, and she spoke calmly: “Teacher Tao, with your clothes like this, it seems… quite inconvenient.”

Tao Yao’s ears burned with embarrassment as she mumbled: “Mhm, the button popped off. I’ll find a way…”

Before she could finish, she saw Lu Xuelan reach up toward her own suit jacket’s lapel. There was a brooch pinned there—simple in design but full of texture, made of silver. Its geometric lines were cold and hard, with a blue diamond embedded in the center, low-key yet expensive.

Lu Xuelan took off the brooch.

Then, before Tao Yao could realize what she was doing, Lu Xuelan had already naturally taken a half-step forward and leaned in slightly.

A crisp, elegant perfume scent, mixed with the warmth of sunlight-dried clothes, faintly enveloped her.

Tao Yao froze completely, her mind going blank.

She could only watch helplessly as that well-defined hand, holding the cool brooch, approached the spot where her shirt had popped open.

Lu Xuelan’s movements were unhurried, even carried a sense of focus. She used the pin of the brooch to skillfully pierce through two layers of the shirt fabric, temporarily fastening the opening back together.

The icy metal occasionally brushed against her skin, triggering a series of tiny shivers.

As she adjusted the position of the brooch, her fingertips unintentionally grazed the exposed skin below Tao Yao’s collarbone.

The touch was a mere stroke—cool, soft, yet carrying what felt like a weak electric current.

Tao Yao’s whole body jolted. Her blood rushed to her head in a “boom,” her cheeks, ears, and neck instantly turning a deep red. She forgot to breathe, forgot to move, and even forgot to push her away. She just stood there dazed, feeling the strangely clear burning sensation from that patch of skin and the frantic rhythm of her heart in her chest.

Time seemed to be infinitely stretched.

It wasn’t until Lu Xuelan briskly fastened the brooch and her fingertips seemingly accidentally swept over the top of Tao Yao’s chest.

As if burned, Tao Yao suddenly snapped back to her senses and scrambled back a large step in a panic, pulling away from the overly intimate distance. She lowered her head, not daring to look Lu Xuelan in the eye, her voice tight and incoherent: “Th—thank you, President Lu… I, I will return it to you later…”

Lu Xuelan had already straightened up, as if that overly intimate gesture just now was just a small, casual favor.

“No need to return it, just a small trinket.”

As she spoke, her gaze lingered for a split second on the tip of Tao Yao’s bright red ear, her eyes darkening almost imperceptibly.

Lu Xuelan took one last look at her and said nothing more, her voice calm and waveless, “Teacher Tao, continue the lesson.”

Tao Yao felt like she had been granted a royal pardon. Her movements were practically “same-hand-same-foot” as she walked back, her palms full of sweat.

That brooch pinned to her chest felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, its presence startlingly strong. Beneath the fabric, that small patch of skin that had been touched was still faintly burning, reminding her of everything that had just happened.

For most of the remaining class, Tao Yao was in a state of being completely unsettled.

The more she looked back, the more her heart panicked.

What sugar-coated bullets, what revenge plan, what tearing off the other’s fake-sanctimonious mask… in the face of these high-impact, intentional provocations, it all seemed pale and weak, like a layer of window paper that could be pierced with a single poke.

She recognized one fact with absolute clarity: she was no match for Lu Xuelan at all.

Every word, every action, and even every look from that woman seemed meticulously designed, perfectly stepping on the edge of her defenses, testing again and again, closing in again and again. While she herself was like a clumsy raw recruit; besides passive endurance and panicked escape, she had no power to retaliate.

If this continued… she was truly going to be finished.

This realization sent a wave of intense panic through her heart.

That night, Tao Yao threw herself into her small bed in the rental apartment, exhausted in body and mind.

Possessed, she clicked on her forum alt account again.

In the private messages, sure enough, there was an unread message.

From L, sent just half an hour ago.

L: “A small accident happened today; a button on her clothes broke, and I helped her out.”

Tao Yao’s heart skipped a beat.

L: “When I was close, I could smell a very clean and fresh scent on her. She also seemed very nervous; the tips of her ears were extremely red, and she kept her head down, not daring to look at me.”

Tao Yao stared at the words on the screen, her cheeks starting to heat up again. What alarmed her even more was that the other party observed so minutely that she even noticed her ears turning red.

Her fingers were a bit stiff. After hesitating for a long time, she slowly typed a reply.

Tao Zhi Yao Yao: “…You really are a very keen observer.”

The other party replied very quickly.

L: “I just happened to notice. Her reaction was very cute, making it hard not to want to look a few more times.”

Looking at the screen, Tao Yao couldn’t help but send the internal complaints she had.

Tao Zhi Yao Yao: “And you said you had no experience. From what I see, your observation skills and your ability to take action don’t look like a novice’s.”

This time, the other party paused for a while before replying.

L: “Before I met her, I indeed had no experience in pursuing someone.”

L: “But seeing her, it’s as if many things… came naturally without a teacher.”

Looking at these two lines, Tao Yao didn’t believe a single punctuation mark.

What “came naturally”? It was clearly calculated and experienced! This old vixen was practiced in putting on an act!

Yet she… shamefully felt her heart skip another beat because of these words.

The sense of panic returned, stronger than before. She suddenly realized that this “fishing” game she thought she controlled had long since spun out of control. The bait might still be on the hook, but the person fishing was about to be dragged underwater.

She couldn’t let this continue.

She had to stop before it was too late, earn the money peacefully, and not dare to pull any more of these shenanigans.

Tao Yao took a deep breath, her fingers tapping the keyboard forcefully, her tone more cautious than ever as she tried to dissuade her.

Tao Zhi Yao Yao: “Sister, I’ll tell you the truth, don’t take it the wrong way.”

Tao Zhi Yao Yao: “I think… you might need to cool down a bit.”

Tao Zhi Yao Yao: “The relationship between you is too complicated. There’s an age gap, a status gap, and then there’s the relationship between her and your daughter. If any one of these is handled poorly, it could bring a lot of trouble.”

Tao Zhi Yao Yao: “Besides, didn’t she say she was straight? A twisted melon isn’t sweet.”

Tao Zhi Yao Yao: “You are successful in your career and live a comfortable life now. Why take such a big risk to pursue someone who might have no result at all?”

She sent a long string over, full of earnest advice, stopping just short of explicitly telling the other party to give up.

Silence lasted on the other end for a long time—so long that Tao Yao thought the other party wouldn’t reply or would be angry.

Finally, a message popped up.

L: “I still feel she has feelings for me, and desire as well; she’s just a bit thin-skinned.”

L: “I will mind the boundaries, but I will absolutely not give up.”

Looking at that last sentence: “absolutely not give up”… Tao Yao’s heart, which had been hanging by a thread, finally died.

It was over. This was a total car crash. She couldn’t shake her off even if she wanted to.