You're my wife, don't doubt it!

"what?"

"So actually, things are progressing quite well, Dad," Shen Tianyun said happily.

What was delivered was a thin, collared short-sleeved summer shirt, navy blue on one side and fuchsia on the other. A pair of casual shorts in a strange color that Xiao Yao couldn't name, and a pair of men's loafers—although they were all English brands that Xiao Yao didn't recognize, just like the ones from roadside stalls, they didn't look cheap.

“Your shoulder is crooked, yes, that’s good.” Shen Tianyun stood behind Xiao Yao, looking at the large floor-length mirror they used every day: “By the way, don’t wear socks with these loafers, otherwise it looks very old-fashioned.”

"Why does it sound a bit effeminate to me?" Xiao Yao muttered. "And why is it pink?"

“Sure, sure, very trendy, you wouldn’t understand. My mom’s taste is definitely top-notch,” Shen Tianyun said confidently. “This style of yours is called retro in our time, and it should be very popular in your time.”

"Oh well, whatever."

--split line--

The following day, Thursday.

“Time really flies. After Monday and Tuesday comes Wednesday. By Wednesday, it’s halfway through. By Thursday, it feels like the weekend is just around the corner,” Zhang Jialong boasted to his classmates during self-study class. “I like Thursdays.”

"Me too," Xiao Yao answered silently to himself.

It was supposed to be a self-study period, but it was actually a math class—Xiao Yao felt strange to himself. Self-study was always replaced by math, so this was unprecedented.

After class, Little Bear came to our door with a plan.

"Going through the teacher's drawer? Are you out of your mind?!" Xiao Yao didn't finish listening and turned to leave.

“Listen to me!” Little Bear grabbed his arm. “I’ve checked. There’s no one in the teachers’ office right now. They’re probably all tied up with investigating Zhou Qi’s disappearance. This is a golden opportunity.”

"I don't want to investigate Teacher Yao," Xiao Yao said. "Wait a minute, Zhou Qi is missing? What happened? She hasn't come to class for two days. Wasn't she just on leave?"

"How come you don't know anything? This morning, a guy with glasses and a crew cut came to see the principal. I've seen the guy with glasses before; he's from the district police station. I asked around and heard that Zhou Qi hadn't been seen for several days, so his parents called the police. Look, this morning, the police quietly called a classmate who was close to Zhou Qi to the meeting room for questioning, and Teacher Yao was with him."

"No wonder math class was changed to self-study..."

"Stop thinking about it. This is a rare opportunity. You're the underwear thief now, Mr. Xiao. Even if you don't care, I don't want to be his lackey. Stop talking nonsense and go. I'll keep watch for you."

Xiao Yao was pushed and pulled by Xiao Xiong to the teachers' office for the first-year high school students.

"Is this really a good idea?" Xiao Yao squatted in front of Teacher Yao's desk, looking worried.

"Why do you talk so much?" the little bear complained from the doorway. "Make sure everything is clean and tidy, so no one can tell..."

……

Lesson plan? So you need to prepare this many drafts for just one lesson?

He used metal chopsticks in his lunchbox and bowl?

A bunch of keys, hmm...

Is this a question from the monthly exam? Let's talk about it next time.

Professional title... evaluation form? Wow, a senior professional title.

Faculty log? That's what the teacher was looking for yesterday, right? What's in it?

Surely I wouldn't record the process of him doing bad things? After all, it's a diary, so I'd better try not to read it.

Let's look for something else...

The third drawer from the bottom has a lock lug and a small lock attached.

Try using that set of keys... No, none of them are right.

This kind of small lock is only good for honest people, not for thieves. Trying to pry it open with those iron chopsticks... no way, the police are right here at school. Trying to pry open the drawer would be suicide.

Never mind, let's see what's in that diary.

……

Hmm... these are all daily work records, including students' questions and their analysis and answers...

No, why is Zhou Qi asking questions every single day?

I didn't realize she had any particular interest in math.

Sigh, there's nothing else to say, so this doesn't really count as a diary.

Suddenly, the sound of a little bear came from outside the office.

"Teacher Ding!"

"I have a question I don't understand, and I'd like to ask you!"

"This is it. If a sealed bottle is placed on a balance scale and there's a fly inside the bottle, will the bottle's mass decrease if the fly takes off inside?"

Yes, will it decrease? Xiao Yao couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Wait, what's going on?! This is clearly the bear reminding me to retreat and buy time.

But this drawer is still something I'm quite concerned about.

Xiao Yao examined the drawer, and suddenly, a strange idea popped into his mind: "Aren't the top two drawers unlocked? If you remove the second drawer, you can get the things in the third drawer, right?"

Having made up his mind, Xiao Yao acted swiftly.

He carefully opened the second drawer, pulled it all the way out, and gently twisted it, quickly removing the roller from its track.

I placed the second drawer on the chair and reached down to feel it; it was filled with books of various sizes. I grabbed one at random—a small 64mo comic book—these pirated comics were cheap, easy to hide, and very popular among students.

But why did Teacher Yao hide these in the drawer?

"Hey, Teacher Ding, wait a minute! I have another question!" Little Bear's voice rose even higher from outside the door.

Time is running out.

After pulling out two more books, which turned out to be comic books, Xiao Yao casually grabbed one and put it in his pocket before quickly putting the book and drawer back to their original state.

Using the desk as cover, I peeked out the door and saw that Little Bear seemed to be being scolded by Teacher Ding, his head covered in sweat—most likely because he was asked a question that had been covered in class.

Fortunately, he did not forget his mission, and Teacher Ding's gaze was firmly drawn to him, unable to see the office door.

Seizing the opportunity, Xiao Yao stealthily slipped out of the office from behind Teacher Ding and walked into the corridor. He then took a few steps in another direction, turned around, straightened his body, and greeted Xiao Xiong and Teacher Ding as if he had just come from the other side of the corridor.

Chapter 31 Putting the blame on

2023-07-31

When Xiao Yao and Xiao Xiong took a closer look at the comic book, they were both taken aback.

This is not a piracy issue at all; it is an illegal printed publication that does not comply with national laws and regulations.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Little Bear clicked his tongue repeatedly. "So big? Old Yao has this hobby? You've already brought it out, can I borrow it to take a look?"

"It might just be this one, and it's a little... out of place." Xiao Yao rolled up the book.

"What are you pretending to be innocent for? You just grab any book and it's this one, which only proves that all the books in there are this one. Otherwise, why would they be locked?" Little Bear slapped him: "A teacher in name only, a beast in human clothing, a pervert at heart!"

“That’s not necessarily true,” Xiao Yao pointed out. “If you were a teacher, would you keep this kind of thing at home or in the office? It would definitely be confiscated from a delinquent student.”

"Want to take your uncle as a concubine?" (Note: This is a Shanghai dialect expression, not polite.) Little Bear said, "So he's innocent, and you're guilty?"

"Have you heard of sildenafil?" Xiao Yao suddenly remembered: "I found it in the trunk of Lao Yao's motorcycle yesterday."

"Brother Wei, you didn't know this?"

“No…” Xiao Yao was stunned: “Isn’t that called Viagra? No wonder Shen Jie scolded me for flirting with her yesterday…”

"Look!" Little Bear exclaimed excitedly, slapping his hand. "He's bad at that thing, and he's prone to becoming a pervert. That whole drawer full of adult content, and the stuff about stealing from female students... it's all connected!"

“Even if it really was Lao Yao who did it,” Xiao Yao said sullenly, “you have no evidence. Can those magazines and that drug be used as evidence? As for the surveillance footage, you said it yourself, it’s very likely that it has been tampered with.”

"Then what should we do? Catch the adulterer in the act, catch the thief red-handed. If you want to get rid of the reputation of being the underwear thief, you have to find that underwear. Since you can't find it at school, it must be at Yao's house," Little Bear said. "You can keep an eye out when you go to his house for tutoring."

"Stop messing around," Xiao Yao complained. "You rummaged through the teacher's office drawers, and now you want me to come in? Oh, the teacher took me home for tutoring, and I'm repaying kindness with enmity, becoming a thief?"

"Justice is ruthless! You're not a thief, I believe you, so why do you seem so insecure?"

Xiao Yao sighed and said, "Even when it comes to gathering evidence, there should be due process. What you did was illegal evidence gathering. Even if you find it, what if they say I planted the underwear to frame them? How am I supposed to defend myself?"

"Maybe he brought you home for tutoring to lure you in; he's always been one step ahead of us. But as long as we find the evidence, he won't get away scot-free. Justice will prevail, and I support you."

"And another thing, Teacher Yao is a married man. Even if I find the underwear, how would I know it's the one Yu Luying lost?"

"Why don't you ask Yu Luying? Besides the thief, only she knows the truth about this." Little Bear rolled his eyes. "Anyway, didn't you two make up?"

"Want to take your brother-in-law as a concubine?!" Xiao Yao cursed, then turned and left.

After walking a few steps, he turned around again: "Oh, right."

He solemnly instructed Xiao Xiong that he must not disclose any of Teacher Yao's personal privacy to the outside world before obtaining conclusive evidence of the crime.

Although the little bear didn't think much of it, he still agreed.

--split line--

When Xiao Yao arrived at the classroom, the bell had already rung for a while.

Thankfully, this class is still math—as everyone knows, math class has been changed to self-study today.

He was about to sneak back to his seat through the back door when he saw the class monitor rummaging through his desk.

It's hard, the fist is hard.

"Ah, you're back." Seeing Xiao Yao's angry appearance, the class monitor adjusted his glasses and stepped aside: "Teacher Yao assigned us to do the unit's practice questions this class, and they're due next class."