Nobody said that teachers at elite academies have to be heartthrobs.

Xiao Chi's gaze lingered for a moment.

Yunbai noticed his gaze, but her eyelashes didn't even tremble.

He remained stubborn, even possessive, focusing all his attention on the sleeping person in his arms, without giving Xiao Chi, who was watching from the sidelines, even a glance.

It was as if he was silently declaring that at this moment, there was only this one person in his world, and he needed no one else to care about or disturb.

Xiao Chi slowly withdrew his gaze and closed his eyes again. His face was expressionless, but in the darkness, one could clearly sense the almost overflowing, burning gaze that was completely different from Yun Bai's usual one.

This brought back that lingering sense of unease in his heart, and it became even more pronounced.

He knew Yunbai well.

Or rather, one's own belief that one understands.

They grew up together, and although it was mostly him who was close to her, Xiao Chi had never seen Yun Bai truly care about anyone or anything.

To describe it as sexually frigid would be too mild; it's more like a mechanical indifference stripped of emotion and desire.

Aside from the necessities of survival and the family responsibilities he had to shoulder, he seemed to have no interest in anything else.

Only the word "teacher" could elicit an unusual reaction from Yunbai.

According to rumors, Yunbai had a very kind teacher when he was young, but the teacher disappeared without a trace.

The strange thing is that, apart from Yunbai herself, no one has ever seen the teacher's true face, and they can't even determine his gender or age.

That person seemed to exist only in Yunbai's narration and memory, like a phantom that appeared only for him.

Over time, this matter became an unspoken mystery within the circle, one that no one dared to delve into.

Yunbai's strong reaction to the title of "teacher" gradually faded as he grew older and became more aloof and withdrawn, turning into a deep-seated obsession.

Xiao Chi once thought that his friend had gone insane because of the almost perverse upbringing methods in his family.

until now.

Seeing Yunbai hold Yu Fuli in his arms with an unprecedented, almost protective, demeanor, his gaze so focused it seemed to shut out the entire world.

Xiao Chi's fingertips twitched slightly at his side.

Yu Fuli was also a teacher.

Could it be that this identity alone touched upon Yunbai's long-dormant obsession with being a teacher?

But how similar can Yu Fuli be to that illusory figure in the rumors?

Or……

Is Yu Fuli the teacher that Yun Bai has been searching for all along?

This conjecture was quickly rejected by Xiao Chi himself as soon as it took shape.

Age is the biggest problem.

Yu Fuli looked to be in his early twenties, not much older than Yun Bai, so it was impossible for him to have been Yun Bai's teacher during her childhood.

The timelines don't match at all.

Furthermore, if Yu Fuli was truly the teacher Yun Bai couldn't forget, given Yun Bai's personality and the capabilities of the Mo Organization, how could she have never tried to find him over the past ten years? And how could they only reunite by chance when Yu Fuli appeared at Saint Laurent Academy as an ordinary teacher?

Logically, it doesn't make any sense.

In the darkness, the three of them were almost touching.

Yun Bai maintained that protective posture, her gaze still fixed on Yu Fuli's face, as if she were depicting a rare treasure that had been lost and found, her tenderness almost abnormal.

This unusual focus, like a fine needle, continued to prick Xiao Chi's nerves.

During the day at the horse farm, the memory of that close contact after the fall from the horse, where our bodies were intertwined, our breaths mingled, and our physical reactions caused an extreme level of embarrassment, is still vivid in my mind.

The angry slap from Yu Fuli, and the lingering, cold fragrance on his fingertips, still vividly linger in my memory.

And now, just a few hours later, this person is lying in another man's arms without any suspicion, sleeping soundly without a care in the world.

This feels extremely eerie.

Xiao Chi inexplicably recalled a scene he had seen in some shady, secret videos—a husband in a coma, an intruder with malicious intent, and a wife who was oblivious to everything.

And now, he is the "husband" lying to the side, forced to witness everything.

No, he was even worse than that.

At least the husband in the video was either unconscious or drunk to death, while he was perfectly lucid at this moment.

Feeling the cold with a clear mind, feeling the continuous stinging pain in her legs, and watching with even a clearer mind, even with her eyes closed, the scene seemed to be imprinted on her retina—how Yunbai used her gaze to carefully trace Yu Fuli's eyebrows and eyes, how she carefully adjusted her posture to make the person in her arms sleep more peacefully.

He could even hear Yunbai's breathing, brushing against Yu Fuli's forehead.

Absurdity, suffocation, and a certain anxiety that even he himself was unwilling to delve into accumulated in Xiao Chi's chest.

He wanted to turn over, to make some noise to break the suffocating silence and the overly intense gaze, but reason held him back, preventing him from waking Yu Fuli and from causing any unnecessary conflict at this time.

After all, Yu Fuli and he didn't have any real relationship.

He could only continue to play the role of the "sleeping husband," lying on the cold wooden board, consciously enduring this indescribable torment in the pitch black.

Time passed by in seconds, each second stretched out infinitely long.

Until Yu Fuli seemed to feel cold in her sleep, and unconsciously curled up deeper into the source of warmth, which was Yun Bai's arms, and let out a muffled murmur.

Yun Bai tightened her arms around him slightly, bringing the two closer together, their chins almost touching the top of Yu Fuli's head.

Xiao Chi's Adam's apple bobbed silently in the darkness.

He suddenly opened his eyes and looked up at the blurry wooden roof covered with cobwebs and dust, his gaze as dark as the impenetrable night outside.

This is fucking terrible, what kind of hellish situation is this?