The office door was locked from the inside, and that crisp "click" sound, like a heavy hammer, struck Liu Hanyan's heart, completely shattering her last sliver of hope for escape.
She leaned against the cold wall, her chest heaving violently, her face ashen, as she watched the man leisurely walk back to his chair and sit down again.
Lu Xuan crossed his legs, a faint smile on his face, but in her eyes, that smile was more terrifying than a devil's sneer.
The office was deathly silent, with only her own heavy breathing remaining.
"Teacher," Lu Xuan finally spoke, breaking the suffocating silence. He shook the phone in his hand; the screen still displayed the live stream screenshot of the person wearing a mask. "You said you don't know the person in the photo, but I, for one, like to get to the bottom of things and have to confirm it."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly stood up.
Liu Hanyan's heart tightened, and she instinctively took a step back, hitting the door with a dull thud.
Lu Xuan, however, seemed not to notice her fear and walked up to her in a few strides.
"Student, you... what do you want to do...?" Her voice was dry and hoarse, trembling in a way she herself didn't notice.
Lu Xuan didn't answer; he just raised his hand, moving like lightning, and grabbed the collar of her white professional shirt.
"Rip!"
A harsh sound of tearing fabric exploded in the quiet office.
The fine silk blouse was forcibly ripped open from the collar, revealing her exquisite, perfect collarbone and the lace-trimmed bra strap underneath.
"Ah!" Liu Hanyan instinctively let out a short scream, then quickly clamped her hand over her mouth.
She dared not scream!
There might still be people outside who hadn't gone far. If anyone saw her in her disheveled state, alone in a room with a male Student, her life would be completely ruined!
Humiliation, fear, anger—countless emotions flooded her like a tide.
She wanted to resist, to push away this demon in front of her, but her body felt like it was filled with lead, too soft to exert any strength.
"You... let me go! Lu Xuan! This is a crime! I advise you to stop at once!"
Her face flushed, and her hands futilely clutched at her torn clothes, trying to cover herself.
Lu Xuan, however, seemed not to hear her warning. He lowered his head, his gaze falling on her left collarbone line.
But there was no mole there. Immediately after, Lu Xuan pulled down again, breaking the shoulder strap.
Below the collarbone line, a small, inconspicuous, heart-shaped mole was exposed to the air.
He stared at the mole, a playful, wicked smile curling at the corner of his mouth, and clicked his tongue: "Teacher, your mole... how is it exactly the same as the one in the photo?"
He even extended his other hand, using his finger to cover the lower half of Liu Hanyan's face, then brought the phone screen close, seriously comparing them.
"Heh, don't say it, looking at it this way, the eyebrows and eyes really are the same person. Isn't that a coincidence, Teacher?"
Liu Hanyan trembled all over, her eyes welling up with tears of humiliation from his insulting actions.
She pushed Lu Xuan's hand away and roared hoarsely, "What exactly do you want?! If you want to kill me or cut me, just say it quickly! What is this, constantly humiliating me?!"
She spoke bravely, but her heart was already filled with fear.
This photo, this video—if any of it got out, not only would she be ruined, but the entire Liu family's reputation would be trampled on the ground.
Moreover, profiting from overseas live streaming, with a huge sum involved, would lead to unavoidable imprisonment once confirmed.
Lu Xuan looked at her outwardly fierce but inwardly timid appearance and found it amusing.
He was like a cat that had caught a mouse, not in a hurry to devour it, but enjoying the feeling of playing with its prey.
"Just a screenshot, Teacher, what are you afraid of?" He withdrew his hand and said slowly, "Don't rush, I have something even more fun to show you."
Saying that, he lightly swiped his finger across the screen and opened a video.
The next second, a series of sounds came from the phone's earpiece, accompanied by a woman's feigned seductive voice: "Brother, I don't want a rocket... Brother says you're Yanyan's little dog, quick~"
In the video, "Princess Yanyan" was wearing a mask, facing the camera, swaying her waist.
Lu Xuan, finding it insufficient, deliberately turned the phone volume to maximum.
The sound instantly filled the entire office.
"Take... take it away! No... no!" Liu Hanyan's face instantly turned pale. She forcefully pushed away Lu Xuan's phone, as if she had seen the most disgusting thing, her eyes darting away, not daring to look at the screen again.
"Oh, Teacher, why are you hiding?" Lu Xuan's tone was full of mockery. "Isn't this all your own wonderful performance? Don't you usually appreciate your own replays and summarize your business experience?"
He forcibly held the phone up to Liu Hanyan's eyes.
Liu Hanyan tightly closed her eyes, covered her ears with her hands, curled into a ball, and kept shaking her head.
"Lu Xuan!" She finally broke down, crying, "Tell me! What exactly do you want to do?! Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you have these things!"
She took a deep breath, seemingly having made a major decision, forcing herself to calm down, and said in a transactional tone: "Do you want to be recommended for postgraduate study? Or go directly for a doctorate? As long as you delete all these things, I can guarantee that you'll be able to study at Yan University all the way to your doctorate, how about it?"
"I guarantee you'll have smooth sailing at Yan University and a limitless future!"
She threw out her last, and what she believed to be her most weighty, bargaining chip.
This was the maximum authority she could wield as a counselor and as the daughter of Vice Principal Liu.
This was the best future a Student could ever hope for.
However, upon hearing this, Lu Xuan chuckled, as if he had heard the funniest joke of the year.
He looked at the woman in front of him, who was still trying to negotiate with a condescending attitude, shook his head, and slowly leaned close to her ear, speaking in a voice that was almost a whisper, yet chillingly cold:
"Teacher, have you misunderstood something?"
"Doctorate? Do you think I care about that piece of paper?"
"Do you think your future is only worth this much?"