Sinking

“A-Cheng, I cannot imagine how I would go on living if one day I lost you.”

“What are you saying, you silly girl? Even if…”

Jiang Li’s line cut off mid-sentence. Along with the stagnation of his Performance Power, the surrounding illusions ground to a halt, as if someone had pressed the pause button on reality.

He looked at Xiao Yuehua in his arms, his expression stiff. “Student Yuehua, what exactly are you doing?”

Xiao Yuehua simply withdrew the suspicious finger that had been snaking beneath the hem of his shirt. She spoke with a perfectly natural face. “I’m acting, Professor. Why did you stop so suddenly?”

“You… why did you reach your hand inside my clothes?”

“It’s required for the scene, Professor. Can’t you even endure this much? Have you never had a girlfriend before?”

This seemed to strike a nerve. Jiang Li’s expression flickered, and he hurried to pull the topic back. “That has nothing to do with it. Your behavior is inconsistent with—”

He was cut off by Xiao Yuehua before he could finish.

“Inconsistent with what? The script? I’m performing exactly according to the script’s content. Or is it just that you don’t like being touched, Professor?”

Seeing Jiang Li nod stiffly, she let out a feigned, dramatic sigh.

“But there’s no helping it, Professor. This is what the script demands. Besides, I took a slap from you once, remember?”

Jiang Li felt a pang of guilt; he had indeed slapped her abruptly back then to trigger her anger for training. Now that Xiao Yuehua was bringing up old grievances, it effectively silenced his protests.

Seeing that Jiang Li had nothing left to say, Xiao Yuehua smiled with satisfaction.

“Since the Professor has no objections, let us continue. The competition isn’t far off, after all. I’m working this hard because I don’t want to let down the Professor’s expectations…”

Soon, as the Performance Power surged once more, the surrounding illusions flickered back to life.

Xiao Yuehua’s reasoning was sound enough that Jiang Li could only suppress his sense of wrongness and try his best to cooperate with her vision. As the rehearsal continued, the dialogue between the leads became increasingly sweet and explicit.

Before long, the two characters in the script were locked in a tight embrace.

Feeling the yielding softness against his chest and the scent of Xiao Yuehua’s perfume drifting past his nose, Jiang Li instinctively felt this was inappropriate. He tried to loosen his hold slightly, but he was firmly pinned by Xiao Yuehua.

He didn’t know how those slender arms could possess such strength, but his attempt to pull away failed. Not only that—

“A-Cheng, once I’ve held onto you, I won’t ever let go, okay?”

Xiao Yuehua delivered the line with a meaningful cadence. Jiang Li prepared to respond according to the script.

“It doesn’t matter, I will always— Are… are you mad?!”

Jiang Li suddenly broke the embrace and scrambled back, looking at Xiao Yuehua in a panic. “You put your hand inside my shirt?”

“Is something wrong, Professor?”

“Of… of course it’s wrong! We are—”

“We are husband and wife, Professor.”

The smile on Xiao Yuehua’s face vanished instantly. “Your state of mind is very off today. We are merely performing. Why do you keep breaking character so frequently? This isn’t like you. It’s very unprofessional.”

Her aura of absolute righteousness momentarily derailed Jiang Li’s train of thought. The words he had been about to say were suddenly forgotten.

“Professor, can we continue?”

“…Yes.”

After a moment of silence, Jiang Li eventually reactivated his Performance Power. I’m a man, anyway, he comforted himself. And isn’t the goal to get closer to Xiao Yuehua and complete her conquest?

With this internal justification, he awkwardly accepted her embrace once more.

This time, her movements were even bolder. She made no attempt to hide her actions, sliding her hand beneath his shirt to stroke his back. The heavy sense of crisis mixed with a physical shiver he had never felt before, all swirling together in the ambiguous atmosphere. Jiang Li began to tremble.

“How does it feel, Professor?”

“You… didn’t you say…”

“We haven’t started the lines yet, so it’s not an official start. Tell me, how does it feel?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Heh…”

Xiao Yuehua let out a low, inscrutable chuckle. Her hand, roaming his back like a serpent, traced a path from his shoulder blade down to his spine. Sensing the tremors in Jiang Li’s body, her gaze grew increasingly dangerous, and a chilling smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“A-Cheng, I love you.”

Having finished the line, she looked up, staring directly into Jiang Li’s eyes.

Jiang Li could only force himself to speak: “I… I like you too.”

“Wrong.”

Xiao Yuehua’s face went cold in an instant. “Professor, the line isn’t written that way, is it?”

“Is… is it?”

Jiang Li tried to play it off, but he quickly wilted under her gaze, his eyes darting away. “It was a rookie mistake. My apologies.”

“Hmph, a rookie mistake… I’ll trust you one more time, Professor.”

Xiao Yuehua sneered and embraced him again. But unlike before, she now held the clear, dominant position.

“However, I hope the Professor can be a bit more cooperative. It takes two to tango. Without the Professor’s support, I’ll be quite troubled.”

“I’ll try my best.”

For a moment, Jiang Li didn’t even dare to meet her eyes, focusing all his effort on keeping his voice steady.

“It’s fine. I trust that the Professor won’t make such a rookie mistake again.” Her words were loaded with double meaning.

Jiang Li felt her touch with trepidation. It wasn’t that he couldn’t feel any pleasure, nor was he being prudish—it was a genuine fear of a “higher predator” at work in his heart. After the previous interruptions, he found himself unable to call for a stop, even as Xiao Yuehua’s blatant caresses made him increasingly uncomfortable.

Her breath grew hotter, brushing against his collarbone, while the faint fragrance of her hair left his head spinning. The shame of being fondled and the annoyance of being a man toyed with by a woman fought in his mind. By now, Jiang Li was even stuttering his lines.

The scenery conjured by his Performance Power began to flicker and blur as his concentration slipped, but Xiao Yuehua seemed oblivious. Instead, she became even more immersed in the scene.

“A-Cheng, do you love me?”

“I… I love you too.”

Following Jiang Li’s clumsy line, Xiao Yuehua looked up with an overwhelming charm. Her beautiful face, gazing up at him, caused Jiang Li to daze for a moment.

She leaned in with a smile, whispering tenderly:

“Then… shall we kiss?”

Kiss?

Jiang Li was instantly jolted awake.

Even though the Xiao Yuehua before him was stunningly beautiful; even though no man should refuse a woman’s request for a kiss; even though he himself felt a surge of desire…

The sense of crisis.

The alarm bells he had pushed to the back of his mind came screaming back. The terror was so thick it was almost physical, making his heart beat like a war drum.

He had a premonition.

If he kissed her now, things would become uncontrollable. His mission would be lost forever. Jiang Li had no proof, but he was certain. And he could not accept that outcome. He could not allow himself to sink into this world and leave his sister, Jiang Yun, to suffer in the main world.

“No!”

At that thought, he instinctively took a step back. “Today… that’s enough time for today. Let’s end the tutoring here. We’ll do the rest tomorrow.”

“Is that so?”

Xiao Yuehua looked at him gloomily. The air around them grew so heavy it felt as if it could draw blood.

But in the next heartbeat, she flashed a radiant smile, sweeping away the eerie atmosphere.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Professor?”