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墨書 Inktalez
In the early morning, I was jolted awake by a knock on the door. Outside, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the sun had yet to dispel the shadows of night.
"Who is it?" I asked, alert.
"It's me." Liang Xue's timid voice came through the door. "Teacher Xia, I'm scared."
I opened the door to find the little girl clutching a giant Teddy Bear, her tear-streaked face pale and her eyes red and swollen from crying.
"Did you have a nightmare?" I asked, my tone unconsciously softening.
Liang Xue nodded, gripping the Teddy Bear's ear tightly. "I dreamed that my dad didn’t want me anymore."
I crouched down to meet her gaze. "That was just a dream."
"But my dad is always not at home," she said, her voice trembling as tears welled in her eyes. "Does he not like me anymore?"
I paused for a moment, unsure of how to respond. According to the experiment's requirements, I should remain indifferent or even sarcastic. But facing those innocent big eyes, I felt a pang of compassion.
"Your dad loves you very much," I finally said. "He’s just very busy."
Liang Xue blinked, as if she couldn't believe I would say that. After a moment's hesitation, she asked softly, "Can I sleep with you? Just for tonight."
My instinct was to refuse, but then I thought that agreeing might help me gain her trust more quickly. So I nodded and moved aside to let her in.
Liang Xue carefully climbed onto the bed, curling up with her Teddy Bear. I lay on the other side, keeping my distance while contemplating how to use this breakthrough.
As I pondered, Liang Xue had already fallen asleep. Her breathing became steady, and her little face appeared particularly serene under the moonlight.
Watching the sleeping girl stirred an inexplicable sense of protectiveness within me. This feeling was strange and unfamiliar; it shouldn’t be present in a Cold-Blooded Tutor like me.
I shook my head and forced myself to close my eyes. There were more plans to execute tomorrow.
When I took Liang Xue to kindergarten in the morning, she unusually clung to my side, her small hand tightly grasping my fingers.
"Teacher Xia, can you come pick me up today?" she asked, looking up at me with hopeful eyes.
Usually, it was the nanny who picked her up and dropped her off. I hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.
"I'll be good!" Liang Xue exclaimed happily as she bounced along, her little braids swaying.
I watched her skip into kindergarten, a flicker of unease passing through me. Such emotional entanglement was definitely a taboo for the experiment.
Upon returning home, I discovered that Liang Mo was missing. His room was locked tight and empty inside. On the table lay his completed reading notes for Crime and Punishment, with his name—Liang Yin'an—neatly written on the cover.
I opened the notebook to find a profound analysis of Dostoevsky inside. The handwriting was neat and the logic clear, far exceeding that of an average high school student.
This child was much smarter than I had imagined.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, I went to pick up Liang Xue as promised. The entrance of the kindergarten was bustling with parents chatting in small groups.
I looked around but didn’t see Liang Xue anywhere. After waiting for ten minutes and watching most of the children being picked up, Liang Xue still hadn’t appeared.
A sense of foreboding washed over me. I hurried into the kindergarten and asked a teacher for help. A young female teacher informed me that Liang Xue was in the activity room and that Teacher Liu was giving her "special tutoring."
Following her directions, I found the activity room with its door slightly ajar. Through the crack in the door, I saw a middle-aged man standing in front of Liang Xue with his hand resting on her shoulder.
"Good girl, let me show you some interesting pictures again, okay?" The man's voice was gentle but sent chills down my spine.
"I want to go home," Liang Xue's voice trembled with tears. "Teacher Xia is coming to pick me up."
"Just wait a little longer," the man crouched down, his hand brushing against Liang Xue's face. "Don't you love playing with Teacher Liu?"
I pushed open the door and stood at the entrance. "Liang Xue."
The little girl’s eyes lit up when she saw me. She broke free from Teacher Liu's grasp and rushed toward me. "Teacher Xia!"
Teacher Liu stood up, a professional smile on his face. "You must be Liang Xue's new tutor. I'm her homeroom teacher, Liu Ming."
"Xia Leng," I introduced myself briefly, my gaze sweeping across the room. Children's drawings adorned the walls, toys were scattered on the floor; everything seemed normal, yet it raised my alarm.
"Liang Xue is very special," Liu Ming adjusted his glasses. "I've been giving her extra tutoring."
"Is that so?" I scoffed, "What kind of tutoring requires a closed door?"
Liu Ming's expression shifted slightly. "You've misunderstood; I was just—"
"Liang Xue, we're going home," I interrupted him, taking the little girl's hand.
On the way home, Liang Xue was unusually silent. Sensing something was off, I stopped the car and turned to the back seat. "What happened?"
Liang Xue lowered her head and remained silent.
"Liang Xue," I softened my tone, "you can tell me."
After a long hesitation, she finally whispered, "Teacher Liu said this is our secret and that I can't tell anyone."
A surge of anger rose within me. I forced it down and asked as calmly as I could, "What secret?"
"He shows me some strange pictures," Liang Xue's voice grew quieter, "and he touches me."
"Where did he touch you?" My voice trembled with rage.
Liang Xue pointed to her shoulder, back, and thigh. Tears welled in her eyes as her body trembled slightly.
"He also said if I told anyone, I would be a bad child and that my mom and dad wouldn't want me anymore."
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to remain calm. Anger would not help; what I needed now was evidence and action.
"Liang Xue, listen to me," I held her small hand firmly. "You did the right thing by telling me. Teacher Liu is in the wrong; this is not your fault."
Liang Xue looked up at me, uncertainty in her eyes. "Really?"
"Really." I nodded firmly. "I promise he will never hurt you again."
Once we got home, I told Liang Xue to rest while I sat in my study to think of a plan. As a Cold-Blooded Tutor, I shouldn't have cared so much about a child. But at this moment, the experimental objective no longer mattered; protecting Liang Xue was my top priority.
I opened my computer and began gathering information. The psychological suggestions in my mind struggled against me, reminding me not to deviate from the experimental path. Ignoring them, I continued with my plan.
Tomorrow, Teacher Liu would pay for what he had done.
The next morning, I took Liang Xue to the hospital.
The examination results confirmed my worst fears—she had multiple bruises and minor injuries on her body. Although they weren't severe, they were clearly inflicted by someone.
"Is this... abuse?" the doctor asked me quietly, his brow furrowed in concern.
I nodded and clenched my fists. "I'll handle it."
The doctor provided us with the forensic report, which would serve as evidence. I took Liang Xue home, stopping along the way to buy her favorite strawberry cake and a new Teddy Bear.
"You don't have to go to kindergarten today," I told her. "You can play at home."
Liang Xue nodded happily, though a shadow still lingered in her eyes. The innocent joy that once sparkled there seemed a distant memory.
Upon returning home, I found Liang Mo and Liang Chuan waiting for me in the living room. Their expressions shifted to surprise when they saw the new Teddy Bear in Liang Xue's hands.
"What happened?" Liang Mo asked directly.
I had initially intended to keep it a secret, but then I reconsidered; perhaps they could help.
"Liang Xue's homeroom teacher, Liu Ming, has been inappropriately touching her," I stated bluntly.
The expressions of my brothers changed instantly. Liang Mo's face turned pale, a flicker of barely contained rage flashing in his eyes. Liang Chuan remained calm, but his knuckles turned white from gripping his fists too tightly.
"What evidence do you have?" Liang Mo asked hoarsely.
I handed him the hospital report along with the recordings I had secretly made of our conversations. After a quick glance through them, Liang Mo looked up at me.
"What do you want to do?"
"Teach him a lesson," I said coldly, "and then report him."
Liang Mo nodded, finally showing some agreement with me. "I'll find someone."
I stopped him. "No, we'll handle this ourselves."
Suddenly, Liang Chuan spoke up. "I know the janitor, Xiao Zhang. He has the key to the back door of the kindergarten."
We exchanged glances and reached a silent consensus.
After Liang Xue took her afternoon nap, we set off. Liang Chuan was responsible for distracting the guard while Liang Mo and I entered through the back door.
The school building was quiet; the children were all in class. We followed the signs until we found Liu Ming's office.
He was sitting alone at his computer, focused on whatever was on the screen. We approached silently, and I grabbed his collar, pushing him down into his chair.
"Teacher Xia?" Liu Ming stammered in panic. "What are you doing?"
"Let's take a look at your little secrets," Liang Mo sneered as he pressed the spacebar.
The images that appeared on the computer screen were nauseating.
Liu Ming struggled against us. "You can't do this! I'll call the police!"
"Go ahead," I said, pulling out my voice recorder and the hospital report. "That's exactly what we intend to do."
Liu Ming suddenly wilted, his face turning pale. "This is a misunderstanding..."
"A misunderstanding?" I scoffed. "What you did to a nine-year-old girl is called a misunderstanding?"
Liang Mo clenched his fists tightly. "Let me break his hands."
I gestured for him to calm down. "Let's discuss a better solution."
In the end, under threat, Liu Ming signed a confession and promised to resign immediately, vowing never to work in education again. We also forced him to delete all inappropriate content from his computer.
"If you dare to go back on your word," I whispered close to his ear, my voice like a snake's hiss, "I will make sure you spend the rest of your life in prison."
After leaving the kindergarten, we went straight to the Education Bureau and the police station to submit our evidence and report. Faced with our firm attitude and solid proof, the authorities had no choice but to take this matter seriously.
On the way home, the car was filled with silence. After a long while, Liang Mo finally spoke up:
"Thank you." Just two simple words, yet they carried a multitude of emotions.
I nodded, neither affirming nor denying. Yet inside, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction—not from completing the task, but from protecting a child.
That night, Liang Xue knocked on my door. She was wearing a pink pajama set and holding a new Teddy Bear, her little face filled with hope:
"Teacher Xia, can I sleep with you?"
I paused for a moment before nodding in agreement.
A few days later, I received a call from an unfamiliar number. The caller claimed to be the experimental supervisor, Professor Lin, and requested to meet that day.
We arranged to meet at a quiet café. Professor Lin was a middle-aged woman with sharp eyes like an eagle's.
"Xia Leng," she got straight to the point, "do you know why I came to see you?"
I shook my head.
"Because you have deviated from the original intent of the experiment." She slid a report across the table. "You are no longer that 'Cold-Blooded Tutor.'"
The report detailed my recent actions—helping Liang Chuan deal with bullying at school, protecting Liang Xue from harm, building trust with Liang Mo...
"Our psychological cues are weakening," Professor Lin frowned. "Your emotional involvement has gone too deep."
"I'm just doing what’s right," I defended myself.
"But that’s not what the experiment requires," Professor Lin coldly pointed out. "If this continues, we will terminate the experiment, and you won't receive any compensation."
I fell silent. One hundred thousand yuan would solve all my financial problems. But on the other hand, I could no longer treat those three children coldly.
"I'll give you a week to adjust," Professor Lin said as she stood up to leave. "Otherwise, the experiment will be terminated."
Returning to the the Liang Family home, I found the three children waiting for me in the living room. Liang Xue ran over as soon as she saw me and joyfully hugged my leg; Liang Chuan nodded at me with respect in his eyes; Liang Mo merely glanced at me but no longer held any hostility.
Looking at them, I felt torn inside. For the sake of the experiment and the reward, I had to become cold-hearted again. But was that truly what I wanted?
That night, I tossed and turned in bed. The moonlight poured in through the window like water, casting my conflicted shadow on the floor.
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