Forcibly Taken by My Student’s Mother - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: A Very Interesting Puppy, I Want to…

Since the “button popping incident,” Tao Yao had become exceptionally cautious at the Lu residence.

She began to calculate precisely, compressing any chance of bumping into Lu Xuelan down to nearly zero. The occasional unavoidable brief exchanges became a form of torture for Tao Yao.

“Teacher Tao, Xiaowan has made progress in her studies lately.”

Meeting head-on at the corner of the stairs that day, Lu Xuelan stopped in her tracks, her gaze landing on Tao Yao’s face.

Tao Yao immediately lowered her eyes, staring at the meticulous crease in the other woman’s trouser leg.

“Ye… yes,” she said, her voice tight. “She’s willing to put in the effort now.”

“It’s thanks to your credit.”

“I wouldn’t dare take it; it’s her own…”

“Look at me when you speak.”

Tao Yao’s body stiffened, and she was forced to lift her eyes.

Lu Xuelan’s gaze was calm, yet it carried a weight of pressure that allowed no evasion. Tao Yao felt her heart leap; her gaze stayed on that cold, beautiful face for less than a second before hurriedly sliding toward the adjacent wall.

“I—I still have to go prepare materials for the next class.” She edged sideways, almost pressing herself against the wall as she squeezed past Lu Xuelan. “Goodbye, President Lu.”

She could feel Lu Xuelan’s gaze following her back until she escaped into the study, closed the door, and leaned against the doorframe, breathing rapidly.

Even Su Xiaowan noticed the abnormality.

“Teacher Tao,” during the mid-class break, Su Xiaowan bit the end of her pen and tilted her head to study her. “Why have you been like a mouse seeing a cat whenever you see my mom lately? Did she scold you?”

“No.” Tao Yao’s movements paused, her voice stiff. “Just write your characters properly and stop snooping.”

“No, there’s definitely a problem.” Su Xiaowan leaned in closer, lowering her voice. “You were afraid of her before, but not this dramatically. What exactly happened between you two? Is my mom…”

“Su Xiaowan.” Tao Yao suddenly put down her pen and glared at her. “Are you finished with your writing? You still have the mind to snoop around?”

Su Xiaowan shrank her neck and mumbled softly: “Why so fierce… can’t I just be a little curious?”

Tao Yao took a deep breath, trying to calm her surging emotions.

She had bitter grievances but no way to speak them.

These words felt like a stone weighing on her chest.

The only thing that comforted her was that under Lu Xuelan’s explicit pressure and her own strict discipline, Su Xiaowan had indeed restrained herself a lot these days. Although she would still zone out, her phone was at least kept obediently to the side, and she finished her assigned homework on time. Her dictation accuracy had steadily climbed from thirty percent to fifty.

However, Su Xiaowan clearly didn’t plan on letting her have total peace.

The afternoon session ended early for once. Tao Yao checked her watch; there were still ten minutes until the scheduled break.

“Let’s rest early today.” She closed the lesson plan and rubbed her temples. “You’ve performed well lately, so consider this a reward.”

“Yay!” Su Xiaowan immediately bounded out of her chair and stretched, yet she didn’t rush to grab her phone as usual. Instead, she leaned in toward Tao Yao. “Teacher Tao, are you tired? Should I give you a shoulder massage?”

Tao Yao leaned back warily: “No need.”

“Then do you want some water? I’ll go pour some for you.”

“Not thirsty.”

“Then… shall we chat?” Su Xiaowan sat on the sofa next to her, her pink hair shimmering in the afternoon sun, her eyes sparkling with a certain craftiness and expectation. “Teacher Tao, look at how good I’ve been lately and how much my Chinese has improved. Shouldn’t there be some kind of reward?”

The alarm bells in Tao Yao’s heart rang loudly. Suspecting she was up to some new shenanigans, she asked in a “fishing” manner: “What kind of reward do you want?”

“For example…” Su Xiaowan blinked, her voice softening. “Teacher Tao, can’t you really consider me? I swear I’ll be super good to you. I’ll give you all my allowance; you can buy whatever you want…”

Here we go again.

Tao Yao’s temples throbbed, and a flare of nameless anger surged up.

This pair, mother and daughter taking turns—did they think her life was too peaceful?

“Su Xiaowan.” She interrupted her, her voice as cold as ice. “I’ll say this one last time. First, I don’t do teacher-student romances. Second, I am straight. Dead straight. The kind of straight you can use as a ruler. Do you understand?”

“Impossible, I believe in my own intuition.” Su Xiaowan said very firmly: “Teacher Tao, you are definitely not straight. You really should face your inner heart~”

Utter nonsense. Tao Yao was so angry she nearly threw the lesson plan in her hand at her.

Afraid she might get another over-the-shoulder throw, Su Xiaowan scurried away.

During the thirty-minute break, Tao Yao’s chest ached from anger.

She leaned against the sofa back and closed her eyes, trying to cast out those messy thoughts.

But the quieter it got, the clearer certain images became: the cold fragrance on Lu Xuelan when she got close, the cool touch of her fingertip brushing against her collarbone…

Stop!

Tao Yao scolded herself internally.

She forced her attention elsewhere, and as she thought, her consciousness gradually blurred.

The days of tension and anxiety relaxed at this moment, turning into a heavy fatigue that dragged her into a deep sleep.

In the dream, light and shadow were ambiguous.

It was still that study, but the air was thick with a heat different from before.

Lu Xuelan stood behind the desk, her back to her. The black lace slip dress she wore shimmered faintly in the dim light, the thin straps hanging loosely on her shoulders as if they would slide off at the slightest touch.

“Teacher Tao.” Lu Xuelan turned around. Her face lacked its usual coldness, replaced by a languid smile. “You’re here.”

Tao Yao wanted to retreat, but her feet were nailed to the ground.

Lu Xuelan walked closer slowly, the sound of her heels clicking on the floor exceptionally clear in the silence.

She stopped in front of Tao Yao and leaned in slightly, her breath brushing against Tao Yao’s ear: “Why are you hiding?”

Tao Yao’s whole body was stiff. She wanted to push her away, but her hands wouldn’t obey.

Lu Xuelan gave a low laugh, her fingertip lightly stroking Tao Yao’s cheek, sliding down the jawline to the neck, finally stopping at the spot where the brooch was pinned. She pinched the brooch and pulled it gently.

“Click.”

The faint sound of a metal clasp popping open.

The shirt collar opened again, but this time, Lu Xuelan didn’t help her pin anything.

That hand continued downward, fingertips unfastening the second button, the third…

“President Lu…” Tao Yao heard her own trembling voice.

“Call me by my name.” Lu Xuelan’s lips were almost pressed against her ear, her voice low and raspy with a certain seduction. “Or… call me something else. Sister, or wife. Or what do you want to call me?”

As she spoke, her fingers had already slipped inside the shirt, stroking the firm skin of her waist.

The touch was terrifyingly real—cool, soft, and carrying an undeniable aggression.

Tao Yao jolted violently.

“Ah!”

She cried out in surprise and bolted upright from the sofa, her heart pounding wildly, fine beads of sweat on her forehead.

It was a dream.

She panted rapidly and looked around. Su Xiaowan was playing games with her back to her, seemingly unaware of the commotion just now.

Tao Yao pressed her hand to her chest, where her heart was frantically hammering against her ribs. Her shirt buttons were perfectly intact, but the skin that had been touched in the dream seemed to still hold that cool, soft sensation, even… feeling faintly hot.

She was filled with shame and anger, as well as extreme annoyance.

“Teacher Tao, you’re awake?” Su Xiaowan took off her headphones and turned to look at her. “Did you have a nightmare? You just shouted.”

“…It’s nothing.” Tao Yao’s voice was raspy as she raised a hand to wipe her face. “Just a bit tired, I accidentally fell asleep.”

She stood up, wanting to straighten her clothes, but suddenly realized there was an extra blanket on her. An extremely soft cashmere blanket, light gray, high quality, with exquisite dark patterns embroidered on the edges.

Tao Yao froze for a moment, her heart suddenly softening.

It seemed this Su Xiaowan girl, despite her usual lack of seriousness, was quite attentive at key moments.

“I didn’t teach you for nothing.” She looked at Su Xiaowan, her tone softening. “You even knew to cover your teacher with a blanket.”

Su Xiaowan, however, looked completely blank: “Blanket? What blanket?”

Tao Yao pointed at her body: “This one. Didn’t you cover me with it?”

“No.” Su Xiaowan shook her head, her expression serious. “I’ve been in the room playing games; I just came down.”

Tao Yao’s heart sank abruptly.

It wasn’t Su Xiaowan?

Then it was…

“It was President Lu.”

Aunt Zhang happened to walk in with a fruit tray. Hearing their conversation, she explained with a smile: “President Lu saw Teacher Tao fall asleep on the sofa just now, so she got a blanket to cover you. She even specifically told us to be quiet so we wouldn’t wake you.”

Tao Yao’s heart rate instantly accelerated.

Lu Xuelan had been back.

While she was having that absurd dream, Lu Xuelan had been watching her like that, and then… covered her with a blanket.

A spine-chilling sensation of being silently watched crawled slowly up her spine like a cold snake. She could even imagine the scene: Lu Xuelan standing by the sofa, looking down at her sleeping form, her gaze calm, or… carrying a meaning she didn’t want to look into deeply.

And then, she covered her with a blanket.

Like a declaration of sovereignty-style invasion—gentle, meticulous, yet undeniable.

Tao Yao abruptly ripped off the blanket as if throwing away something burning hot.

“I—I’m going to the restroom.” Her voice was dry as she practically fled the study.

At the same time, on the top floor of a high-end office building downtown, inside a private psychological clinic.

Lu Xuelan sat on a deep gray single-seater sofa, her posture still elegant, but there was an imperceptible hint of fatigue in her brow. The woman opposite her was about thirty, wearing a beige knitted cardigan and rimless glasses, her temperament gentle and intellectual.

“How has your sleep been lately?” Dr. Zhou flipped through the notebook in her hand, her voice soft.

“A bit better than before,” Lu Xuelan said. “At least I can sleep for four or five hours consecutively.”

“Does the medication dosage need adjustment?”

“Not for now.”

Dr. Zhou nodded, her pen recording something on the paper.

She was a long-time friend of Lu Xuelan and one of the very few who knew her true condition.

Severe psychological germaphobia accompanied by a strong sex addiction.

Two seemingly contradictory tendencies had been tearing at Lu Xuelan for over a decade. Her psychological germaphobia made her unwilling to establish intimate relationships with anyone, even causing a physiological disgust toward the touch of others. Yet the flickering fire deep within her body burned her logic away on countless late nights. The conflict between these two contradictions kept her in a state of high suppression for a long time.

“That person you mentioned last time.” Dr. Zhou looked up with an inquisitive gaze. “How is the contact going?”

On Lu Xuelan’s habitually calm face, a rare trace of something resembling a soft expression flickered, though it vanished in an instant.

“I like her very much.” She spoke, her voice lower than usual. “She is a… very special puppy.”

Dr. Zhou raised an eyebrow: “Puppy? That’s an interesting metaphor.”

“I wanted to pin her down the first moment I saw her.” Lu Xuelan’s tone was calm, like stating an objective fact. “Very vivid, full of life, eyes very clean, but she has claws. It should be very interesting when she struggles.”

Dr. Zhou was silent for a few seconds: “It sounds like you have a very strong… primal urge toward her.”

“Yes, but she seems to be dodging me lately; she’s quite timid. And very…” Lu Xuelan pondered for a moment and smiled, “And very playful, very interesting.”

“So you’ve been restraining yourself?”

“I’m afraid of scaring her off.” Lu Xuelan frowned slightly; this was the first time today she had shown a clear emotion. “Direct methods might make her escape completely. But…”

She paused and didn’t continue.

But I’m nearly unable to hold back.

She didn’t say this sentence out loud. But Dr. Zhou read the unspoken words from her suddenly darkened eyes.

“Xuelan.” Dr. Zhou’s tone became more serious. “Do you remember our previous agreement? If you choose to accept someone, it must be on the premise of establishing a healthy romantic relationship. It cannot be pure hunting, locking the other person in your cage to ensure what you psychologically consider ‘absolute cleanliness’.”

“I know.” Lu Xuelan looked up at her. “I am very serious about establishing a romantic relationship with her.”

Seeing her so certain, Dr. Zhou’s expression turned complex as she silently shed a tear of sympathy for that poor “puppy.” To be targeted by a clearly abnormal, beautiful seductress like Lu Xuelan—it was hard to say whether it was a blessing or a curse.

“But she seems a bit reluctant?” Lu Xuelan whispered distressingly.

Dr. Zhou was about to offer some advice on taking it step by step, but she didn’t expect Lu Xuelan to answer her own question in the next moment.

With a certain obsessive tone, she said: “She will be willing; I will make her willing.”

Seeing this, Dr. Zhou couldn’t help but sigh softly: “From a professional perspective, I still suggest you take it slow. But—” she flipped through the test reports in her hand, her tone softening, “I must say, looking at your recent physiological indicators and psychological assessments, your anxiety and depression indices have indeed dropped significantly. A normal intimate relationship would indeed be a positive help to your current condition. I just hope you adopt the correct ‘methods of pursuit’.” The doctor gave a subtle reminder.

Lu Xuelan nodded slightly: “Of course, I will mind the boundaries.”

Reaching the underground parking lot, Lu Xuelan sat in her car without starting the engine immediately.

She leaned against the seat back, eyes closed to rest, but the images she saw in the study this afternoon uncontrollably surfaced in her mind.

Tao Yao had been curled up on the sofa asleep. She wasn’t sleeping very peacefully; her brow was slightly furrowed and her lips were pressed together, looking completely defenseless—a world away from the usual spiky little hedgehog who was always on guard.

Lu Xuelan had stood by the sofa watching for a long time.

Then, she went to the guest room to get a blanket and gently covered her with it.

Her fingertips paused for an instant as they brushed past Tao Yao’s shoulder.

The desire to touch surged up like a tide, only to be forcibly suppressed by her.

Can’t rush, it will scare her away.

She reminded herself once again that she must exercise restraint and wait for the right moment.

It must be a strike that hits the mark perfectly.