DCTMOAS Chapter 36
by SuxxiChu Cheng and his uncle were driven home by the chauffeur. The moment he stepped into his cozy little apartment, he was met with a gleaming floor so clean it could reflect light.
Lifting his gaze, he noticed the whole place had been tidied up spotless. Even the previously chaotic living room table was now neatly arranged.
“Whoa, did a burglar break in? One with a strong sense of cleanliness,” Chu Cheng joked, recalling that only his uncle had taken the spare key to bring fresh clothes during his hospital stay.
“Cut the crap,” Jin Dong said, setting down the various bags he was carrying and brushing off the sleeves of his custom-made suit. “I’ve already signed a contract with a local housekeeping service for you and gave them a spare key. From now on, someone will come clean up every two days.”
“That’s overkill, isn’t it?” Chu Cheng grabbed a throw pillow and flopped comfortably onto the sofa. “It’s not like this is my permanent home. I’m just renting this seventy or eighty square meter place. No need for a whole cleaning crew.”
Jin Dong checked the time on his wristwatch. “I know you’re busy with work and don’t have time. Plus, you’re just recovering, and you still need to rest. Besides, there’s nothing in this apartment worth stealing anyway, right?”
“…That’s just rude.”
Chu Cheng was just about to thank him for being so considerate, but the words caught in his throat.
Jin Dong, learning from past experience, knew that nagging too much would only annoy his rebellious nephew, so he decided to let it go.
“I’ve got work to get back to, so I won’t stay with you. There’s hot congee on the table—my assistant just picked it up. Eat, rest, and don’t go wandering around.”
He was clearly referring to Chu Cheng’s recent sneaky night market escape from the hospital. Chu Cheng understood the implication and didn’t say a word, quietly guilty.
Jin Dong kept giving instructions while heading for the door. “Also, I threw out your instant coffee. Don’t stay up late. If you’ve got nothing urgent to do, go to bed early. And don’t make me take action against your game account. I’ll ban it and I’m not lifting the ban.”
Chu Cheng stood to see him out, replying obediently, “Got it. Go do your thing. Don’t treat me like a kid all the time.”
Jin Dong and his assistant entered the elevator.
“Bye-bye,” Chu Cheng said sweetly, smiling like a good boy. But the moment the elevator doors closed, he turned on his heel, changed into a hoodie, and headed downstairs.
He left through the side gate of the complex and flagged down a cab by the street. Sliding into the front seat, he said, “To No. 10 High School, please.”
“Alright.” The driver, in his late thirties or early forties and quite chatty, glanced at the dashboard and joked, “This late? You’re running late for evening self-study, aren’t you?”
If Chu Cheng explained he wasn’t a high school student, he’d just get an earful of “You look so young,” “When did you start school?” and other nonsense.
So he simply smiled and replied, “No worries. Our teacher’s out sick this week—no one’s really enforcing the tardy rules right now.”
The driver clicked his tongue as he turned the steering wheel. “Tch… no matter the job, it’s tough for everyone these days.”
“Exactly,” Chu Cheng responded, then lowered his head to play with his phone.
During the last two days of his hospital stay, he had received a lot of messages from students asking how he was doing. At this moment, he was practically like a worried dad, itching to get back to class and check in on his kids.
It was already past dinner time, and the students were in self-study. The hallway in the teaching building was quiet.
Chu Cheng tiptoed to the back door of Class 7, wanting to peek inside and see how things were going. He hadn’t expected to lock eyes with a student the moment he poked his head in, and he quickly pulled back.
“Eh? Wasn’t that Mr. Chu just now?”
“I think I saw him too.”
“Where’d he go?”
The students doing their homework suddenly became restless and looked toward the door. Chu Cheng had no choice but to step in openly.
“Mr. Chu, you’re back? We missed you so much!”
“I heard your stomach was acting up. How are you now?”
“You still look pretty pale… You’re not fully recovered yet, are you?”
Being stared at by so many eyes made Chu Cheng a bit embarrassed. He held up a finger to his lips, signaling for everyone to lower their voices so as not to disturb the other classes.
“Thanks for your concern. I just had a minor removal surgery. I’m totally fine now.”
“Was it a tumor? It wasn’t an emergency, was it? How come you never mentioned anything before?”
“Huh? But Mr. Chu, you’re so young. Don’t tell me it was from us stressing you out? I read on Baidu that when people are in a bad mood or constantly angry, they’re more prone to that kind of illness.”
“Then I’ll try to behave from now on, so you won’t have to worry so much.”
The students all started talking at once, making it impossible to tell who was saying what, and all of them sounding like they were setting up future regrets.
As cheesy as their words were, Chu Cheng, being a new teacher, couldn’t help but be touched by the sincerity and tenderness behind them.
“Alright, alright, just knowing you care is enough for me.” He raised his arms to gently calm them down, then asked in a softer voice, “Is Big Bro not here?”
A student in the front row pointed to the chair near the podium. “He’s probably in the office. He was here proctoring during the last math period.”
“Another exam? Didn’t you just have one yesterday?” Chu Cheng remembered seeing a student complaining about it on their Moments feed earlier.
Mentioning this was like striking a nerve — the whole class let out a collective groan.
Even Yu Siting’s class rep, Meng Xin, couldn’t help but speak up. “More than just one! Big Bro’s been on an exam high these past two days. He hands out tests like it’s a reflex. Since the day before yesterday, there’ve been at least three sheets we haven’t even gotten to. If this keeps up, I bet he won’t even have time to finish teaching.”
Well damn, that’s what you call grinding your students into the ground while someone else is on leave.
Chu Cheng put on a knowing expression. “I think I understand now why your grades in other subjects are so solid. I might have to borrow this math test strategy someday.”
The students were even more enthusiastic than he was: “Don’t wait for someday — do it next period!”
“Huh? That soon?” Chu Cheng was momentarily stunned, glancing back at the schedule. “But isn’t the next period your homeroom teacher’s study session?”
The student replied with a tone that clearly screamed “come on, man”: “Time is like water in a sponge — if you don’t fight Big Bro to squeeze some out, you’ll never get any.”
“But Mr. Chu just got discharged. Is it really okay for you to teach right away? Maybe you should rest a few more days?” Han Rui, the class rep for Chinese and probably the closest student to Chu Cheng in the class, was the first to express concern for his health.
“I’m officially on leave until the end of the week,” Chu Cheng replied gently, then added with a small twist in tone, “But if you guys want, I could come back early.”
The moment he finished speaking, the classroom exploded with cheers.
“That’s awesome!”
“I just realized Chinese is my favorite subject!”
“No more math worksheets, finally!”
“……”
Hmm?
Hearing the students shout out their true feelings so openly, Mr. Chu started to sense something was off.
Wait a minute… do you all actually miss me, or are you just using me as a human shield against Big Bro?
After making a quick appearance in front of the students, Chu Cheng handed over discipline duty to the class monitor and snuck back to the office for a breather.
The excitement over the vice homeroom teacher’s return was hard to contain, and Lu Yan’s voice calling for order could be heard from far down the hall.
Chu Cheng couldn’t help feeling a little emotional.
He used to think dumping responsibilities on others like this was a bit irresponsible, but honestly? This laid-back, hands-off approach to class management was kinda amazing.
The south wing of the fifth floor in the teaching building was all staff offices, and most of them were dark since school hours were technically over. Only the math office was still lit.
Chu Cheng knocked on the half-open door, peeked inside, and sure enough, there was Yu Siting, sitting at his desk grading papers.
“Knew it was you,” Chu Cheng said, stepping into the room, which was otherwise empty.
Yu Siting looked up, visibly surprised. His eyes quickly noticed the absence of a hospital wristband, and his brows furrowed. “You got discharged early?”
Chu Cheng nodded. “Yeah, the doctor gave the okay.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Yu Siting sounded a bit let down. “I even had someone deliver soup to the hospital this afternoon.”
“I got it! Astragalus black chicken soup — it actually tasted pretty good,” Chu Cheng replied with a smile. Then he paused, sensing something strange. “Say something again.”
“Huh? Like what?” Yu Siting blinked, not catching on.
But Chu Cheng had already noticed. “Is your throat bothering you?”
Yu Siting cleared his throat and coughed a bit. “A little. You could tell?”
“A little? Your voice is totally off,” Chu Cheng said, frowning. “It’s really obvious the more I hear you talk.”
Normally, Mr. Yu’s voice was deep and smooth, but now it had lost its usual clarity and punch, coming across rougher — huskier, even… strangely sexy.
Chu Cheng suddenly felt a pang of guilt. “Don’t tell me it’s because I took time off and had you running between school and the hospital… and now you’re sick too?”
Yu Siting shook his head. “No, it’s just the weather’s gotten cold lately — sudden drop in temperature. I think I might be catching a seasonal cold.”
“You really think you’re made of steel, huh?” Chu Cheng shot a glance at the guy’s desk, which was absolutely buried in teaching materials and test papers.
No wonder the students were complaining about him having an ‘exam addiction.’ Turns out it wasn’t that he was being overly strict — he was probably not feeling well and used tests to ease up on the strain of teaching.
But wasn’t that just drinking poison to quench thirst? With his throat like that, if he could still speak normally after explaining three full sets of papers, that’d be a medical miracle.
While Chu Cheng was lost in thought, Yu Siting finished marking another paper. As he tallied the score, he casually responded, “You showed up at school just a few hours after being discharged. When it comes to work ethic, I can’t compete with Mr. Chu.”
Chu Cheng gave a wry laugh. “Let’s not start throwing sarcastic compliments at each other. Didn’t we agree before that one class only needs one overachiever and one poor sucker? Now we can’t even manage to have one healthy person between us?”
Before Yu Siting could reply, Chu Cheng continued, “I’ll take over the next study session. There’s some licorice and fritillary granules in the Chinese office drawer — I’ll make you a cup in a bit.”
“I really can’t let you teach the reading comprehension tonight,” Yu Siting said, glancing at the three thick stacks of papers on his desk. “You see this mountain of KPIs? With the weekly assessment coming up…”
“When did I say I was going to teach reading?” Chu Cheng interrupted, raising an eyebrow. “Mr. Yu, I may have majored in Chinese language and literature, but that doesn’t mean I’ve never learned high school math. If you’re worried, feel free to come supervise.”
Before Yu Siting could respond, Chu Cheng bent down and—right in front of his shocked and skeptical gaze—scooped up the math test papers and walked off with them.
The bell for the second evening study period rang.
Both the homeroom teacher and the vice homeroom teacher walked into Class 7. Two tall and handsome figures entered one after the other, neither of them speaking.
What was this… a showdown?
The students sat quietly on the surface, but their minds were racing — who was going to be in charge for the next hour and twenty minutes?
When Mr. Chu stepped up to the podium holding a piece of chalk, it seemed the mystery was solved. The students were just about to cheer when Big Bro, not to be outdone, made his move.
Yu Siting sat down at the desk in the back row, leaned his head on one elbow, and said in a husky voice, “Class rep, hand out the math test papers.”
“Uh…?” Meng Xin, suddenly called out, froze and stared blankly at him.
Wait, what’s going on? Which of you is actually teaching?
When he looked back toward the podium, his expression turned from confused to straight-up stunned.
Wait a second… is Mr. Chu drawing conic sections on the board right now?
Author’s Note:
Lu Yan: Uncle, you better think this through. If you lose your job, you’ll have no choice but to go back and inherit that hundred-billion-dollar family fortune.