Lu Chuning’s heart was filled with disbelief.
Had Luo Qingchuan really fallen under the Bewitching Heart Technique?

The young man was drenched in cold sweat, with tears welling in his eyes.
Luo Qingchuan tried to raise his head, tried to stand,
but his gaze felt locked in place, unable to tear away from Lu Chuning’s delicate face and graceful brows.

He was painfully enduring two conflicting urges.
His mind wanted to immediately answer Lu Chuning’s question and reveal Mudan’s dying words;
his body, however, was overwhelmingly tempted to commit vile acts against the girl who stood like an orchid in a secluded valley.

He would die—he would definitely die! Whichever urge he gave into would drag him straight into hell.

Lu Chuning was starting to get anxious.
It was her first time using the Bewitching Heart Technique through her own body as a medium,
so why didn’t it seem to be working?
Was making a teenage boy cry with emotion the only effect?

…Lu Chuning pondered carefully.
Either Luo Qingchuan truly had a remarkable mind and a pure heart,
or he had used some strange demonic sect technique to resist the Bewitching Heart Technique!
Or maybe he lied! Maybe he just didn’t like her looks and actually preferred more mature women!

Even though she was growing impatient, Lu Chuning didn’t dare resort to anything too extreme.
Although Luo Qingchuan was most likely the target, he didn’t seem like a bad person.
She simply wanted him to confess so that she could keep him close by and train him strictly from now on,
then release him back into society once she was sure.

Biting her lip, Lu Chuning spoke sweetly and gently,
“May I ask, Luo tongxue (classmate), why do you look like you’re about to cry?”

The girl’s long lashes trembled.

Clack.

A high heel dropped onto the floor—it had been kicked off.

Lu Chuning lightly raised her leg,
and the little “ice cream” wrapped in white socks began to slowly glide along Luo Qingchuan’s thigh.
Her delicate, snow-white foot moved upward, soft and cotton-like.

“Go on,” Lu Chuning’s brows curved gracefully, her voice tender like an orchid in a silent valley,
“Was the demonic cultivator in the bar you?”

Luo Qingchuan stayed silent, only lifting a hand—like a demon’s claw—toward her.

The moment Lu Chuning’s little foot stepped on him,
an unimaginable tremor surged through Luo Qingchuan’s heart.

He wanted to seize it in his hand, pull off the sock,
and gently caress every inch of her skin without holding back—
to fondle the tender, crystal-clear toes of this youthful girl.

So Luo Qingchuan channeled all his desire for that jade-like foot into one single obsession—
in that instant, his urge to defile Lu Chuning turned into an intense foot fetish of perverse magnitude.

Luo Qingchuan bent down and grabbed Lu Chuning’s slender ankle.
Suddenly, Lu Chuning’s face turned red all the way to her ears.
She let out a surprised, delicate cry, sweet and trembling like the song of a warbler.

Luo Qingchuan’s eyes blazed as he gently played with Lu Chuning’s soft, warm foot.
Each clear little toe felt like a moist pearl,
its petite texture sending warmth straight into his heart and quelling a bit of his burning desire.

But it wasn’t enough...

In a brief moment of clarity, Luo Qingchuan quickly picked up Lu Chuning’s little high heel.

“Your shoe fell off. Let me help you put it back on.”
He crouched down, held her ankle, and slipped the heel back onto her delicate foot.

To avoid being tempted further, Luo Qingchuan looked at Lu Chuning.
“Chuning laoshi (teacher), did you hear something just now?”

“No, you misheard.”

Her skirt disheveled, the girl had already sat upright.
Lu Chuning supported herself on the desk with both hands,
biting her cherry-like lips, her back arching as if struck by lightning,
her face flushed red as if it might start bleeding.

The moment Luo Qingchuan grabbed her foot,
Lu Chuning’s entire body had gone numb.
It felt like a current surged from the hypersensitive sole of her foot through her entire body.
Her face burned like fire, her bones turned to jelly,
and her delicate body trembled with a slight chill.

Luo Qingchuan caught the change immediately,
and smiled at the girl sitting on the desk.
“So this is your weak spot, Chuning laoshi.”

“W-What weak spot?! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Blushing furiously, Lu Chuning drew back her legs, planting her feet against the desk edge.
She hugged her calves, trying to cover her little “ice creams” with her dress hem—
but no matter how she curled up, her skirt just wasn’t long enough.

The Bewitching Heart Technique had long been dispelled in her panic.
Her usually serene pupils now trembled erratically,
and she had no mental capacity left to maintain the spell.

Curled up into a ball, the girl looked helpless and pitiful.

Luo Qingchuan’s back was already soaked in cold sweat.
“Chuning laoshi, is there anything else you’d like to ask me?”

He stood up with a smile, feeling as if he had just run a marathon—both light and exhausted.

Lu Chuning stopped panicking.
After all, it wasn’t like she could cover up anymore,
and there was nowhere to hide.
She simply pouted and muttered, “No more questions.”

She seemed a little annoyed.

Her loosened ponytail hung down in disarray.
Lu Chuning puffed out her cheeks and glared at the boy,
the sunlight filtering through her delicate ears, making them look almost translucent.

Luo Qingchuan smiled and wiped the tears from his face.
“Chuning laoshi, thank you for moving me so deeply.”

“Moved?”

Lu Chuning turned her face away, eyes fixed on the sky outside the window.
She didn’t seem too happy.
“W-Whatever. You can leave now.”

“Goodbye, Chuning laoshi.”

Luo Qingchuan stepped outside, closed the door behind him, and walked away quickly—
faster and faster with each step.

Once he was far enough, he patted his chest and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Lu Chuning had set quite the trap.
Several times, Luo Qingchuan had nearly spilled all his secrets to her—
every last one.

That was close... really close...

Until school ended in the afternoon, Lu Chuning didn’t come to find him again.
Luo Qingchuan figured he had probably passed the test.

The autumn sky at dusk was always dark and heavy.
Luo Qingchuan packed his things and followed the crowd downstairs.

“Luo Qingchuan.”

Su Yingxue stood at the staircase landing, smiling brightly as she waited for him.

The two walked down the stairs together, leaving the school.
The orange-red afterglow was tinged with crimson,
like a vibrant dress draped over the girl’s shoulders.

“I won’t walk home with you tonight,” Su Yingxue said with a gentle smile.
“I’ll let you... rest for a couple days~”

Her dimples rippled under the sunset glow, her cheeks slightly pink.

The evening light was truly beautiful.

“Go on home,” Luo Qingchuan said with a smile.
“Wouldn’t want to worry Uncle and Aunt too much.”

“Mm.” Su Yingxue nodded lightly, then looked down.
“I want to explain everything to my parents.”

Luo Qingchuan felt a lump in his chest. “Mm.”

Su Yingxue lifted her head and smiled at him,
her thick black hair dancing in the autumn wind.

“I already have something I want to do, someone I want to love,
somewhere I want to go, and a future I’m looking forward to.
I want them to know that their daughter has grown up.”

She winked at Luo Qingchuan.

His heart pounded wildly.
He nodded and smiled warmly.
“Xiaoxue, I hope you succeed on your first try.”

Su Yingxue tucked away the nervousness in her eyes,
waved goodbye with a radiant smile.

Luo Qingchuan watched her leave, smiling.

After Su Yingxue left, a black business van parked by the roadside beside him opened its door—
as if it had been waiting all along.

Luo Qingchuan heard a man’s voice.
Familiar, yet distant.

There was both surprise and emotion in it.

“I’ve never seen you smile like that.”

The man walked up to him.
He wore a tailored suit, his eyebrows thick and straight, facial features sharp and upright.
He was clearly still young, but carried the presence of a middle-aged man.

His eyes, usually filled with contempt, now held a trace of complexity.
“Seeing you like this... I never imagined it.”

Luo Qingchuan found himself facing the one person he least wanted to see lately.

His gege (older brother), Luo Changsheng—
a young man who had married early and achieved career success,
but had always considered his younger brother a disgrace.

Luo Qingchuan opened his mouth, then asked calmly and helplessly,
“Ge, did you need something?”

“Come home tonight,” Luo Changsheng said,
his gaze fixed on the gloomy-looking teenager.
“Mom misses you.”

Luo Qingchuan really wanted to nod and agree—
to feel a bit of family warmth,
to repair the broken bond with his loved ones.

But he remembered the murderous gaze he felt that morning behind his back.

His lips moved,
but in the end, he shook his head.

“Forget it.”

Because tonight... the night didn’t feel so gentle.

…