3-2: Tracking

[Reading tips: The protagonist is an adult; this is not a case of underage romance. No romantic relationship will occur during the teacher-student relationship.]

Huaiyan stood in front of the desk, ashamed, flipping through the practice questions covered in red crosses.

"That's not right..." 073 asked awkwardly, "Wasn't the original owner's performance in the middle range?"

How can I make more red pen notes on practice problems than black pen notes when doing the problems?

"N-I'm sorry, teacher..." The boy couldn't think of a reasonable explanation, his cheeks flushed red. "I..."

When the boy lowered his head, the cowlick on the top of his head that inadvertently appeared was incredibly well-behaved.

The man suddenly paused, moved his fingers, and pulled back the practice questions.

"Alright." He put down the practice questions and said, "Huai, you've been acting very strange lately."

The man's powerful aura inexplicably made Huai Yan tremble violently.

Even just by hearing his voice, one can imagine the cold expression on his face when he speaks.

Huaiyan couldn't stop apologizing.

"I'm...I'm sorry, teacher." Huaiyan bowed pitifully and promised, "It won't...it won't happen again."

Whenever he gets nervous, the boy's stuttering always gets worse.

In fact, he couldn't think of a good reason to explain this to the man.

After all, it was the original owner who was doing the questions, and he had only just arrived in this world.

How could Huaiyan possibly know what the original owner was thinking?

The man didn't speak, just silently looked at Huai Yan, as if pondering the truth or falsehood of his words.

After a long pause, the man finally spoke coldly: "Take the pen, sit down and redo it."

W-what?

The boy's eyes widened, and he instinctively began to feel afraid.

Isn't it just like being kept after school by the teacher to recite a text?

"T-Teacher, I—"

Huai Yan was about to refuse when she looked up and her eyes met the man's.

Those cold, aloof eyes were fixed on him without blinking.

In an instant, Huaiyan's legs went weak.

For no apparent reason, the man's extremely sexually charged gaze made his brain buzz.

"I...I understand." Just as Huaiyan was about to refuse, the words caught in her throat.

The boy obediently picked up the pen from the man's desk and sat down at the desk.

Suddenly, the boy caught a faint scent.

It's a cool, woody scent, like it's emanating from... a man.

A very familiar scent.

For a moment, Huaiyan couldn't recall where she had smelled it.

"You can do all of these questions?" 073 asked, somewhat surprised, glancing at the spread-out practice problems. "You'll have to redo them, won't you?"

Huaiyan was a little absent-minded. She picked up her pen and wrote a few questions: "I know how. It's very simple, isn't it?"

073 paused for a few seconds, then asked in confusion, "Then why did you write fifteen solutions?"

Huaiyan: "..."

Huaiyan looked down at her practice questions.

He actually wrote fifteen solutions to a geography question.

Thankfully, the man didn't see it...

"What are you doing?" A deep male voice came from above.

Huaiyan's hand trembled, and she looked at the man helplessly.

"Bring me your work." The man's voice remained as calm as if it had been washed.

You can't even hear any emotion in your voice.

Huaiyan panicked and stood up awkwardly, walking around the desk and timidly to the man's side.

He stared blankly at the man, his heart pounding wildly, almost unable to speak.

"Look at the question."

The man's indifferent voice pulled Huaiyan back to reality.

He quickly snapped out of his daze and unconsciously moved closer to the man, pretending to be looking at the questions.

As they got closer, Huaiyan could indeed smell the pleasant scent emanating from the man.

Huai Yan suddenly began to have wandering thoughts.

Ever since he entered this office, his gaze has been frequently drawn to men.

073 may not know why, but Huaiyan herself knows very well.

The harmful factors within the body can cause problems in an instant.

"Teacher."

The boy suddenly spoke, naturally moving closer to the man, and pointed to a problem in the workbook, "Could you explain this problem to me?"

The man looked in the direction the boy was pointing, but didn't notice Huaiyan's little actions.

-

When Huaiyan got home, it was almost 7 p.m.

Fortunately, the original owner was an orphan and had no family.

“I feel like…” 073 finally realized something was wrong, “There’s something off between you and that teacher?”

Huai Yan paused in taking off his clothes, blinking innocently, "Huh?"

Seeing Huai Yan's innocent reaction, 073 realized that he had been overthinking things.

How could my host be so incredibly naive as to get involved in a flirtatious relationship with a teacher?

It's just asking a few questions, right? It's a normal thing.

After thinking it over and over, 073 sighed and said, "It's nothing, I was just overthinking it."

You can't just assume someone is Fu Tingyu just because you see them, right?

After taking a shower, Huaiyan turned off the living room lights and returned to the bedroom.

Although the original owner was an orphan, it is clear that before becoming an orphan, the original owner must have been happy.

The original owner's parents left behind a huge inheritance, including an apartment of over 100 square meters.

However, when Huaiyan was alone in the apartment, she always felt a little bored.

Perhaps it was because there was no one to talk to in the apartment, and the decor wasn't very cozy.

Huaiyan dried her hair with a towel and then sat down at her desk.

According to the original storyline, the original owner was an extremely withdrawn and isolated person.

Not only did he have few friends in class, but he also died by suicide.

Perhaps such a lonely person has many diaries?

With this in mind, Huaiyan tried flipping through the desk.

Before long, Huaiyan actually found a thick diary.

The diary has a gray-black cover and feels a bit heavy in your hand.

Like a heavy ancient book.

Turning to the title page, the handwriting was beautiful, with only three large characters written neatly.

Bai asked the boat.

Judging from the appearance, it should be a person's name.

Next, the second page of the diary begins with the original owner's diary entries.

September 9, 20xx

I didn't see him today.

September 12, 20xx

The shift change was successful, and I saw him.

September 15, 20xx

He explained the problem to me; he didn't call me stupid.

September 20, 20xx

He didn't know it was the first time I went home with him.

After flipping through it for nearly ten days, I found that the content was generally very short.

The person who appears most often is probably "him".

Which "him"?

In the original storyline, the original owner was an ordinary person who was detached from the class.

Could it be that he actually has someone he likes, and that person is a man?

"Strange." Huai Yan closed the diary. "The original owner had someone she liked, so why did she become so distraught later?"

Logically speaking, this could be considered as having a source of emotional support.

Under what circumstances would the original owner be utterly despondent and choose suicide?

How could an adult have such a weak mental capacity?

“…Perhaps it’s because,” 073 said with difficulty, “that he discovered the other person didn’t like him?”

According to the diary, the original owner of this body later followed "him".

Whether "he" actually discovered it or not is another story.

After thinking for a moment, Huaiyan reopened the diary, wanting to take another look.

This diary is probably the only place where we can get a lot of information right now.

Further down the list, the content becomes rather mundane.

November 12, 20xx

Many people liked him and were jealous. But it didn't matter; I was the only one who went home with him.

November 13, 20xx

They're all writing love letters. Should I write one too?

November 14, 20xx

I like him so much.

November 30, 20xx

It's been discovered.

Upon seeing this, Huaiyan felt a tremor in her heart and understood the meaning behind the words.

That "he" discovered that the original owner was following him.

Huaiyan didn't have the courage to read any further and abruptly closed the diary.

There may be many reasons why the original owner couldn't bear it and committed suicide, but one of them must be...

It's inextricably linked to "him".

Bai asked the boat.

Huaiyan repeated the name in her heart again.

-

The next day, the seat next to Huaiyan was still empty.

Jiang Yuxing is still at the hospital taking care of her seriously ill grandfather and has not come to school.

However, Jiang Yuxing was the class monitor, and Huaiyan took the opportunity to find the class roster in Jiang Yuxing's drawer.

Unfortunately, the boy looked at that list at least seven or eight times.

The name Bai Wenzhou could not be found.

“That doesn’t make sense,” 073 asked. “Bai Wenzhou isn’t in this class, so why would the original owner specifically transfer here?”

Huai Yan didn't say anything, but quietly stuffed the list back into Jiang Yuxing's drawer.

The bell rang just then, and people began to read their books one after another.

This morning's reading subject was geography.

Just as Huaiyan took her textbook out of the drawer, the classroom door was pushed open.

The man, wearing a black trench coat different from yesterday's, stood in front of the podium with his lesson plan in hand.

In an instant, all the reading aloud stopped, and the girls all perked up and sat up straight.

"Review what we learned yesterday." The man opened his lesson plan, his voice cold and deep, like the frost of winter.

Below, the students responded in unison.

While Huaiyan was in a daze, she happened to meet the man's gaze.

It was just a fleeting moment.

The moment their eyes met, Huaiyan seemed flustered, as if she had been caught peeking.

The boy lowered his eyes in a panic, his heart pounding terribly.

But the next second, a clear female voice interrupted the boy's romantic fantasy.

The girl's voice mustered up the courage to ask, "Teacher Bai, will there be a quiz next class?"

Huai Yan had previously made many guesses.

Bai Wenzhou might be a senior student, or a peer who is both highly regarded and incredibly attractive.

At the very least, he might be a bright and cheerful junior, the kind of person you could spot in a crowd at a glance.

Until this moment, I heard a clear female voice asking a question, and a familiar title.

Huaiyan's fingers suddenly froze, and she didn't even have the strength to turn the pages of the book.

He raised his head blankly and looked in the man's direction again.

—Teacher Bai?