NOVEL NEXT c49 - Teacher Tang
When Gu Junwan returned to the administrative office area, everyone she encountered couldn’t help but steal extra glances at her.
Though they often covertly observed the Empress, today felt different.
Everyone sensed something unusual about Her Majesty, but they couldn’t quite put their finger on it.
The Empress appeared as cool and composed as ever.
Yet the aura she exuded leaned towards gentleness.
This combination of nobility and tenderness made it difficult to look away.
Gu Junwan walked into her office with poise, then a visible blush spread across her jade-like cheeks.
She couldn’t have missed the curious and suspicious gazes from earlier.
Normally, the Empress wouldn’t be affected by others’ glances.
But today was different. Just half an hour ago, she had nearly been swept into a passionate tide by her Alpha.
Recalling their entangled kiss in the entryway, she felt her heart still floating in the clouds.
Xu Zhao maintained a neutral expression, but her thoughts were a jumble.
Though she hadn’t witnessed what happened after the Alpha carried Her Majesty into the room, it wasn’t hard to guess.
When the Empress emerged, her red lips were slightly swollen from kissing. That alluringly charming sight flustered even her, a Beta.
At the time, she couldn’t help thinking: That Shen dog was so bold today!
She wondered if the other would die of embarrassment upon learning Tang Yucai’s identity.
As Xu Zhao silently prayed the two Alphas wouldn’t cross paths again,
The next morning, Tang Yucai walked into the guard team’s assembly room.
……
Instructor Liu stood at the podium with his hands behind his back, assigning tasks to the guard team.
“In the coming days, Group 1 will carry out a special protection mission. Go to the armory later to collect your equipment-”
Hearing Instructor Liu’s words, all of Group 1 buzzed with curiosity and excitement.
Several members couldn’t contain themselves and started whispering.
“Finally, an outside mission! Do you think the Empress is attending some event?”
“Very likely. Wonder where it’ll be? Maybe we’re going to another country? We could bring back some local specialties.”
“You think we’re going on vacation? There’ll be time for shopping?”
“Can you all calm down? Look at our captain, so composed. Learn from her. Don’t embarrass our guard team out there.”
As teammates chattered, Captain Shen Han quickly raised her hand to quiet them.
“Control your emotions. Don’t get worked up. There’ll be plenty of outside missions in the future. We need to focus on the present and look to the future.”
Group 1 members nodded in agreement, straightening their postures and reducing their whispers.
After Instructor Liu finished his routine instructions, he secretly glanced at Shen Han below, then gestured towards the door.
“Now, let’s meet the protection subject for this mission. Teacher Tang, please welcome!”
“Group 1 members can familiarize yourselves a bit. You’ll be in plainclothes when you go out, so the atmosphere can be more relaxed. No need to be so tense.”
The next moment, a tall figure in a vintage shirt and mask slowly entered.
After nodding to Instructor Liu, the person’s gaze fell on the group of Alpha guards below.
Shen Han had been casually leaning back in her chair, but when she saw Teacher Tang remove the mask and leisurely put on thin-framed glasses, she froze.
Damn! Isn’t that her girlfriend’s relative from yesterday?
And now they want her team to protect her? It’s already restraint enough not to punch those glasses off her face!
Tang Yucai observed everyone’s reactions.
She smiled politely at the group, finally resting her gaze on Shen Han, speaking gently: “Well then, I’ll be troubling you all for the next couple of days.”
Shen Han’s inner wild horse broke free.
Trouble what? Trouble you to stop hovering around me!
At the same moment.
In a house at a sanatorium in the Northern Second District, an elderly man with graying temples carefully trimmed a potted plant on the table.
Behind him stood two men in black suits.
“The innermost villa in the Peace Palace is now under lockdown. No one can enter or leave the former Empress’s room except her personal caretaker.”
“As per your instructions, our people have detected Tang’s whereabouts at the Empress’s residence in the Fourth District. Teacher, what should we do next?”
Hearing the report from the two behind him, the old man’s hands paused briefly.
He sat motionless on the stool like a statue for a long time.
The two behind knew this was their teacher’s appearance when conducting rapid mental analysis.
So neither spoke, even suppressing their breathing to near inaudibility.
After a while, the old man resumed trimming the plant.
He seemed to mumble to himself, or perhaps he was reviewing with his students.
“The sudden lockdown of Gu Qianqiu’s room most likely means her condition has worsened. Tang Yucai leaving her wife at this time suggests two possibilities.”
“First, the former Empress’s situation is truly dire, and Tang has returned to her old profession, seeking medicine from that Ancient Medicine Preserve. This would explain why Tang chose to quietly leave the Peace Palace and secretly go to the Fourth District.”
“Second, the former Empress is fine, and this is a trap they’ve set to lure out the masterminds behind that coup. This is also reasonable. How could someone like Gu Qianqiu allow her life’s work to be schemed against and remain silent?”
The two men waited a long time without hearing their teacher’s instructions.
One finally asked directly: “Should we withdraw our people?”
The old man laughed: “Withdraw? Why withdraw?”
“If it’s the first scenario, we must ensure Tang dies in the Fourth District. With her death, the former Empress’s life will also end. As for Gu Yuwei, we needn’t influence her further. She’ll immediately choose to war with her sister.”
“As for the second scenario, they want to use themselves as bait to fish. Isn’t that also providing us an opportunity to swallow the bait?”
“Closely monitor Gu Junwan’s movements. She wouldn’t use her own mother as bait. Her subsequent responses will be our sole criteria for whether to attack.”
Hearing their teacher’s analysis, the two men in black felt a sense of clarity.
They thought: Yes, to unravel the mystery, one only needs to pull at that thread.
If Gu Junwan secretly implements unusually tight defenses, there must be a trap.
If not, then her mother’s life is ours for the taking!
……
The 837th Street in the Fourth District was remote.
Wireless power supply hadn’t been widely implemented in the area, so floating cars relying mainly on electromagnetic energy rarely entered that zone.
At the edge of the 700th Street district, Group 1 of the guard team would switch to ground vehicles to escort Teacher Tang to the destination.
Gu Junwan had originally planned to arrange higher-grade security for her mother, but Tang Yucai refused.
She patiently instructed her daughter: “I came here secretly. In the north, only your mother and sister know. If you make a big show with top-level security, aren’t you telling everyone there’s a VIP in the travel group?”
Seeing her daughter still hesitating, she played her trump card.
“Actually, your Mom Qianqiu asked me to check out your Alpha girlfriend this time, to make an impression and such. I think that child’s performance is decent. You don’t need to worry about this.”
“Besides, don’t you trust your own guard team? I heard they’ve all distinguished themselves on the battlefield!”
Gu Junwan considered and found no flaws, so she nodded in agreement.
She just hoped her mischievous mother wouldn’t deliberately provoke Shen Han, lest conflicts escalate and embarrass her Alpha in the future.
At 11:30 AM.
Shen Han sat in the passenger seat of the vehicle with a black face.
Feeling the obvious low pressure in the car, Ma Haoyu driving didn’t dare breathe loudly.
He didn’t know what was wrong with his boss.
Earlier in the assembly room, she had cheerfully taught everyone to stay calm in changing situations, but now before encountering anything, the boss had already lost her temper twice.
The source of all this sat calmly in the back seat – Teacher Tang.
At this moment, seeing Teacher Tang about to speak again, Ma Haoyu immediately shrank his neck and imperceptibly shuddered.
Tang Yucai gazed at the rapidly passing wilderness outside the window and spoke leisurely.
“Do you know the character ‘Tang’ in my name can actually be extended to many beautiful meanings?”
Ma Haoyu kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, pretending he couldn’t hear anything.
Shen Han squeezed out a syllable from her nose: “Hmph!”
The indifference from the two in front didn’t stop Teacher Tang in the back from continuing her lecture.
She shifted her position, purposely moving behind Shen Han, and said in a gentle voice: “Add a ‘rice’ radical to it, and it becomes ‘sugar’. We are sugar, sweet to the point of sorrow.”
Shen Han’s hands suddenly gripped her clothes tightly, a small blue vein popping out on her forehead.
She took a deep breath and turned to the Alpha perched on her headrest: “Actually, the character ‘cai’ in your name can also be extended to many meanings.”
Hearing this, Tang Yucai immediately perked up: “Oh? Is it changing to a ‘shell’ radical, symbolizing wealth pouring in?”
Shen Han shook her head: “No need to change the radical. It already has the meaning of ‘not shedding tears until seeing the coffin’. Oh right, speaking of coffins, Teacher Tang, do you prefer flip-top or sliding-lid?”
Tang Yucai: “……”
Ma Haoyu listened nervously from the driver’s seat.
He didn’t understand why Teacher Tang kept trying to talk to his boss, nor why his usually easygoing boss seized every chance to retort at Teacher Tang.
He silently accelerated, hoping to reach their destination sooner.
Lest the two start fighting in the car, and he’d have no way to break it up.