For a week after Tang Coco returned to campus, life smoothed out like a calm pond under spring light. Classes with Meng Xiaoxiao drifted by like chalk dust in the air, then dinners with Ye Yiyi and the girls warmed the evening like steam rising from fresh rice. But beneath that glossy surface, eyes watched from the neighboring villa like owls behind curtains, and several big families in Ninghai City stirred like storm clouds gathering at the horizon.

Until one day, the loop of school life cracked like a bell with a hairline fracture.

“Tang Coco, come to my office after class.” The voice fell like a cool pebble into the room.

The homeroom teacher now was Avril, who dropped the line, folded her lesson plan like a paper fan, and turned away like a breeze leaving the window.

“Huh? What’s up? Coco-jie, is she mad we weren’t listening?” Meng Xiaoxiao whispered like a kitten tugging at yarn.

“Maybe. But why didn’t she call you?” Tang Coco spread her hands like leaves open to rain.

“Maybe I’m cuter~” Meng Xiaoxiao’s grin sat thick and shiny like fresh lacquer.

“Scram, scram~” Tang Coco waved her off like shooing a sparrow from the sill.

“I’ll go first. You play by yourself.” Her eyes rolled once like marbles catching light.

“Okay~” The reply skipped off like a pebble skimming water.

Tang Coco rose and left the classroom like a shadow slipping through a door.

“Uh… where’s her office?” The thought bumped her mind like a toe against a hidden step.

“Yo~ Tang beauty, why’d you pop out of class?” A lilting voice chimed from behind like silver bells.

She turned. Xu Yinuo stood there in an off‑shoulder tee and white hot shorts, summer bright like a peach in sun.

“Why are you here?” Tang Coco’s gaze brushed past like wind over reeds.

“Listen to you—I’m just passing by~” Xu Yinuo smiled, light as swirls of cream in coffee.

“Oh. Then pass by.” Tang Coco pivoted to leave like a crane stepping back into the shallows.

“Aiya~ don’t be so cold~” Xu Yinuo slid close and hooked Coco’s arm like ivy twining a railing.

“…” Tang Coco stared at this over‑familiar girl like a stone sitting in a stream.

“What are you scanning for with those eyes?” Xu Yinuo’s curiosity flickered like a firefly.

“Mm… our homeroom teacher’s office.” Tang Coco kept her voice flat like winter glass.

“Your homeroom teacher… the new beauty teacher, right?” The rumor hung between them like scented smoke.

“You know her?” Coco’s brows tightened like threads pulled taut.

“No, why would I? But her popularity blooms everywhere like spring magnolias.” Xu Yinuo’s laugh fluttered like a fan.

“Hmph, that woman…” Coco muttered under her breath like a cold knife sliding back into its sheath.

“Hmm? What’d you say?” The question pricked like a thorn.

“Nothing. Do you know where her office is?” Coco’s tone cooled like tea left too long.

“Oh~ you’re looking for her office. I know. It’s on the same floor as mine.” Xu Yinuo’s answer dropped neat as a bead on a string.

“Huh? How is it there? Isn’t that for student offices?” Coco’s doubt rose like mist from a riverbank.

“No idea. The school gave her a private office, roots deep like an old pine with backing.” Xu Yinuo shrugged like willow leaves in a breeze.

“…” Silence stretched like silk.

“Thanks. I’ll go find her.” Tang Coco slipped free of the hold like a fish out of a net and took the stairs like a cat.

“She… seems linked to that American teacher,” Xu Yinuo thought, a thin thread flashing like silk in sunlight.

Tang Coco reached the office floor and spotted Avril’s room fast, the way a lone lantern stands out at dusk. Last time, there hadn’t been this outrageous door—red sandalwood gleaming like burnished blood, patterns carved like flowing vines, dusted with fine silver like frost.

She stared at the door, speechless, like a traveler facing a mountain gate.

Thump, thump, thump.

“Come in~” A sweet voice drifted out like honey on warm tea.

Tang Coco pushed the door and entered like a breeze slipping into a hall.

“You’re here~ Sit, sit~” Avril, lounging in a luxurious chair, wore a smile like peach blossoms after rain.

“Spare me. Say it straight—why call me?” Tang Coco’s eye‑roll snapped like a fan shut in one flick.

“Ay, you’re no fun… Fine, I need to remind you of something.” Avril’s tone smoothed out like a hand over silk.

Tang Coco sank into the sofa, calm as still water in a jade bowl.

“Know why I came to your school to play teacher?” Avril’s voice hid a hook like a ribbon around a gift.

“You were bored.” Coco’s answer cut clean like a blade through paper.

“…” Awkwardness smudged Avril’s face like ink bleeding on rice paper.

“Puh‑hahaha~ Looks like my presence really grates on you.” Her laugh rang like little bells on a dancer’s sleeve.

“Good. You know.” Coco’s words fell like hail, small and hard.

“Alright. I came with a task from my family. Either persuade you to join us and work for us, or… remove you.” Avril’s calm sat like a lake under moonlight. “Clearly… persuasion won’t happen.”

“Oh? So you’ll remove me?” Cold climbed Coco’s face like frost on iron.

“If this were earlier, I wouldn’t even think it,” Avril said, eyes closing like shutters at dusk. “I knew I wasn’t your match; killing you would be eggs thrown at a boulder.” She leaned in slowly like a tide inching up the shore.

“But… after watching you these days~ I found your strength seems to have dropped a lot~” Her words brushed close like a hand over a sleeve.

“So, you think you’ve got a shot?” Coco’s vigilance drew tight like a bowstring.

“Yep.” The answer clicked like a bead on wood.

Coco’s heart set for a fight, steel coiling under silk like a sword in its scabbard. But the path curved like a river around a rock.

“However… I don’t want to do that. I have another way to finish the task.” Avril straightened like bamboo after rain.

“…” Coco’s stare held like a hunter watching grass sway for a hidden step.

“That is—get to know you, attract you, let us be close, not enemies~” Avril’s voice softened like rain tapping leaves.

“…” Silence breathed between them like fog.

“Heh. Then you’ll fail. I’m not interested.” Coco turned her face away like a swan refusing grain at the shore.

“Really? Then why did you save me?” Avril’s question nudged like a fingertip on glass.

“If you’re unhappy, I can return your life.” Coco’s tone fell colder than winter wind through pines.

“You’re just covering it up. If you truly meant to kill me, I’d have died that night on the amusement island.” Avril’s certainty stood like a lantern that refuses to blow out.

She didn’t flinch, and she sat beside Coco like a shadow taking a seat at dusk.

“I’ve noticed—you’re gentle to girls, even enemies,” she said, voice steady like a path of stone. “Unless someone steps on your bottom line, you won’t take their lives. That’s how a responsible man treats women… Yet you’re a woman, and a stunning one. Why? I’m honestly curious about your past.” Her curiosity curled like incense smoke.

“Here’s a warning. Some things aren’t for you to dig.” Coco laid the line like a blade scoring sand.

“Then I’ll leave your past alone and care only about you now~” Avril clung to her aim like sticky rice that won’t let go.

“…” The pause cooled the room like a cloud covering the sun.

“Suit yourself.” Coco turned away again like the moon slipping behind thin cloud.

“Hehehe~” Laughter scattered like seeds in a breeze.

“Anything else?” Coco, having read the purpose, cut the talk short like snipping a thread.

“I need to warn you. I won’t move against you, but my family may send others to stir trouble.” Avril’s words dropped like pebbles into a pond, ripples inevitable.

“You’re not afraid your family will punish you for this?” Coco’s question pressed like a thumb on a bruise.

“Hmph! I’m no obedient flower.” Avril planted her fists on her waist like a tulip braced in wind.

“…” The ellipsis sat there like three black birds on a wire.

“I’m leaving.” Coco’s steps set toward the door like a river choosing its current.

“Thank you for saving me. Truly.” Avril’s voice came from behind, clear and sincere like a bell struck once at dawn.

“…” Silence answered first like frost before sunrise.

“Then live well. Don’t go courting trouble.” Coco spoke without turning, her words steady like a path kept swept clean.

She left, her figure fading down the hall like a slender reed swaying out of sight.