Soon, the bell rang, and I had no choice but to return to the classroom.
Taking a deep breath, I sat down at my desk. All the other students were in their seats—only Daguo was missing.
Not long after, even the teacher arrived, but Daguo still hadn't returned. My heart was pounding, and my hands trembled slightly as I flipped through my textbook.
The teacher naturally noticed Daguo's absence and frowned, pulling out her phone as if to make a call.
All the school staff know Daguo is Teacher An's son, so she was probably about to call Teacher An...
"Tap, tap, tap…" Just as the teacher took out her phone, there was a knock at the door. The classroom door was open, and I looked up to see Daguo standing there, looking hurried and disheveled.
"Take your seat…" Seeing that Daguo had returned, the teacher didn't say much. Since class hadn't started yet and Daguo was less than three minutes late, she let him go to his seat.
This was all thanks to Teacher An's influence. If it had been any other student, they would have likely faced a scolding from the teacher.
Daguo, with an ingratiating smile and a series of bows, returned to his seat. He didn't even glance at me. After taking a deep breath, he opened his textbook.
"Hah…" I quietly let out a sigh. I had no idea what this guy had been up to on his way here, making him arrive so late.
At the same time, it dispelled my worries and illusions. It seemed he had left our house right away but must have stopped somewhere else along the way.
"Sorry, bro, I couldn't answer the call at noon…" After school ended in the evening, Daguo surprisingly didn't avoid me. When we met up at the school gate, he grinned from ear to ear, his face beaming with an almost sycophantic smile.
"Let's talk later…" I didn't respond. Instead, I got on my bike. On the way home, I didn't initiate any conversation with Daguo. He tried to say a few things, but when I didn't reply, he eventually gave up, feeling awkward and ignored.
I had actually intended to talk to Daguo on the way, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. For one, I felt a bit embarrassed to bring up the topic. Secondly, there was the issue of Teacher An. After all, I had already "won" Teacher An, while Daguo hadn't fully "won over" my mom. I felt like I was taking advantage of the situation, and I hate taking advantage of others.
So, even when we parted ways, I still hadn't brought it up with Daguo. I figured it would be better to discuss it over QQ in the evening—it's easier to talk without meeting face to face.
"You're back… hurry up and eat…" When I entered the house, I was still cautious. As I opened the door, my mom stood in the kitchen wearing an apron and spoke to me with a smile. But her smile wasn't as natural as before. It used to be bright and genuine, but now it seemed forced and somewhat fake.
Moreover, her face looked somewhat haggard. Compared to how she looked at noon, it was clear she had just reapplied her makeup not long ago.
She had cried at noon, and after Daguo left, she must have cried again. Otherwise, she wouldn't have needed to touch up her makeup.
If I hadn't seen the surveillance footage and known what had happened, I probably wouldn't have noticed anything unusual about her.
"Mom, why aren't you eating?" When I sat down at the dining table, I noticed there was only one set of bowls and chopsticks. I couldn't help but ask my mom, who was just about to enter her bedroom.
"I've already eaten. You go ahead and eat by yourself. I need to work on some reports… After you finish, go do your homework…" At the doorway, she turned back to give me another smile before disappearing into her room.
I was left alone in the kitchen. I couldn't help but sigh to myself. I wasn't sure if she was really working on reports or not, but I was certain she hadn't eaten dinner yet.
This was the first time my mom had skipped dinner. No matter how busy she was in the evening, she always made time to eat with me.
Now, she wasn't eating. I figured there were two possible reasons: First, she was struggling to control her emotions, especially her facial expressions and eyes. She was afraid that if she ate with me, she might give something away and I'd find out. If I discovered what had happened between her and Daguo, I could only imagine how she would feel.
The second reason was quite simple: Mom had no appetite. The events of the afternoon had deeply affected her, leaving her with complicated emotions, especially when she faced Dad's photo.
After finishing my meal, I returned to my bedroom. As I did, I thought about peeking at Mom's door but decided against it, not wanting her to see me and start overthinking things.
I remembered when Mom's friend visited our home. Her friend had said that Mom was wonderful in every way, except she tended to carry too much on her mind.
While doing my homework, I didn't contact Da Guo and had no idea what that guy was up to.
As I worked on my assignments, Mom came out of her room. Soon after, the sounds of her clearing the table and washing dishes echoed from the kitchen. She was deliberately avoiding me, at least until she felt better.
Once I finished my homework, I lay down on my bed and opened QQ.
Before opening the app, I had prepared a lot of things to say. If I had been hesitant before, seeing Mom's state after returning home made me resolute. No matter what, I had to talk to Da Guo and put an end to this deal. If things continued like this, I had no idea what might happen to Mom. If something went wrong, neither of us might be able to stay here anymore.
"Ding, ding, ding..." Just as I opened QQ on my phone, Da Guo's avatar started blinking. I opened our chat window and found no text, only a compressed file waiting for me to download.
I checked the file—even though it was compressed, it was still quite large. Unsure of what it contained, I clicked to start the download.
It took a full two to three minutes for the file to finish downloading.
By then, Mom had already returned to her bedroom. Tonight, she didn't go to the storeroom to livestream. It seemed her mood was off, and she didn't want to face her fans in this state.
Her room was dark—she must have been lying in bed, trying to calm herself, or perhaps she was genuinely exhausted and had already fallen asleep.
I couldn't resist opening the compressed file using my phone's file manager. It turned out to be a video file.
Quickly, I turned down the volume and played the video.
The scene that appeared was a bit strange at first—the footage was shaky and somewhat dark, but soon it became clear, and the setting looked very familiar.
Wasn't this Teacher An's room?
It seemed the camera had been placed on a flowerpot near Teacher An's door. At that moment, there was no one in her bedroom.
After it was set up, everything fell silent. Judging by the lighting, it seemed to be daytime, as there was still some natural light in Teacher An's room.
Then the footage cut abruptly, as if the video had been edited. In the next scene, her bedroom was completely dark.
Shortly after, the door opened, and Teacher An entered the room. After tidying up briefly by the bed, she lay down and turned off the lights.
Was this something Da Guo had recently recorded for me?
Did he realize he had gone too far at noon and was using this to make it up to me?
If I hadn't yet been with Teacher An, I might have been interested in this, but now that I've already had her, these things no longer satisfy my appetite.
Just as I was feeling somewhat deflated and amused, a figure suddenly appeared on the screen. This person slowly entered the room and walked step by step toward Teacher An.
When I clearly saw who it was in the footage, I froze for a moment and instantly understood what was going on.
My cheeks immediately flushed with heat and numbness, while cold sweat broke out in my heart.
The person now appearing on the screen was none other than me.
And everything that followed in the video was the scene of that night when Teacher An and I were intimate.
That little rascal really did record it secretly. At the time, I was so nervous when I entered Teacher An's room that I didn't think much about it.
Afterward, I had wondered whether Daguo had secretly recorded it, but as days passed and he never mentioned it, I assumed he hadn't. I never expected he actually did record it, and now he's even sent it to me.
What does Daguo mean by this?
Is it compensation for me?
Or is he reminding me, leaving me in a dilemma?
Or perhaps...
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