Hai Jiao was the art teacher at Qianpu School. Both her parents were intellectuals, and as their only daughter, she had studied art from a young age before being admitted to an art academy for university.
Because she was a girl, her parents thought it would be best for her to become a teacher after graduation, as it was a stable and relaxed profession.
During her university years, Hai Jiao had won several national competitions, which made her entry into Qianpu School quite smooth.
Although Qianpu was a private high school, not the public institution her parents would have preferred, they were very satisfied with their daughter's high salary and indeed relaxed daily life. They often boasted about it to their acquaintances.
After securing a job that pleased her parents, they began suggesting that she should find a husband who was either a teacher or a doctor. With such a match, they said, they could close their eyes without any regrets.
As her parents were urging her to marry, Fang Tai joined the school. He was handsome and refined, standing out among his mostly ordinary-looking male colleagues.
At this time, he often showed attentiveness to Hai Jiao. Faced with such a gentle, handsome, and considerate young man courting her, Hai Jiao quickly fell for him and they married.
Her parents were very pleased with their teacher son-in-law, especially since he was good-looking and well-educated. Although his family background was slightly inferior, they weren't the type of family to "sell" their daughter. The most important thing was that he treated their daughter well.
With only one daughter in the family, all the assets the elderly couple had built up would eventually belong to the young couple.
As long as the young couple lived happily together, the parents didn't mind providing some extra financial support.
After Hai Jiao's marriage, the eager grandparents-to-be began urging them to have children. "Aunt Liu's little granddaughter is so cute," they'd say, or "Uncle Wang's grandson is so well-behaved."
Hai Jiao didn't share the desire for freedom that many of her art school classmates had. She always listened to her parents, so when they urged her to have children, she actively began preparing to conceive, doing everything she could to ensure a healthy baby.
But what Hai Jiao could never have imagined was that her husband was secretly misbehaving behind her back.
That would have been bad enough, but he was fooling around with a man – Principal Lu from their school – and he was the one being dominated.
All at once, a surge of anger and nausea welled up inside her.
She looked at Principal Lu's wife, standing next to the mobile projection equipment, with complex emotions. The woman was about the same age as Hai Jiao's mother, seemingly at an age where outsiders might expect her to endure for the sake of her children and family. Yet she had chosen to stop enduring and bravely stand up.
From a young age, Hai Jiao had been taught by her parents to be patient and calm when facing difficulties, and never to do anything she might regret.
She wondered, what would truly make her regret?
She didn't know what the future held, but at that moment, she felt that swallowing this bitter pill and pretending nothing had happened – the way her parents had always chosen to handle things – would be what she'd truly regret.
She had recorded part of the early morning video herself, focusing on Fang Tai as the main subject.
She sent this video to everyone Fang Tai knew in a mass message.
To show how much he valued Hai Jiao, Fang Tai had introduced her to all his friends from childhood to adulthood when they were dating.
Fang Tai had many friends. Hai Jiao, who preferred solitude to socializing, had found it somewhat bothersome to add all these people as contacts at the time. Now, she was reaping the sweet rewards of having added so many friends.
Hai Jiao tapped away at her phone screen, finally pressing the button to confirm sending.
"Tremble in the wind, you dog!" she thought.
After making sure she hadn't missed anyone, Hai Jiao finally allowed herself a satisfied smile.
Her colleagues in the same office gave her sympathetic looks. No one could bear such a situation, regardless of who they were.
They didn't know how to comfort Hai Jiao, fearing she might think they were gloating.
But they were all quite concerned about her, worried she might do something rash.
Hai Jiao stood up, preparing to go teach her art students. Her sudden movement startled everyone.
Seeing her pick up her books to go teach, they relaxed.
A female teacher said, "What a coincidence, I need to go out too. Hai Jiao, shall we go together?"
She was worried Hai Jiao might do something desperate on the way, thinking that if she could escort her to the classroom where students would be watching, nothing bad would happen.
Hai Jiao gave a gentle smile. "Teacher Xia, don't worry. I'm fine. I won't do anything rash."
Teacher Xia wouldn't admit she was worried about Hai Jiao harming herself. She laughed awkwardly, "Of course I know you wouldn't do anything rash. You're an only child; your parents are counting on you. I just wanted to go out, that's all."
Hai Jiao declined her kind offer, but Teacher Xia had reminded her of something.
Oh, right. She had only sent the video to Fang Tai's friends earlier, forgetting the most important people.
Hai Jiao, in her kindness, forwarded the video to the "One Big Happy Family" group chat, letting Fang Tai's relatives see what kind of person he really was.
So Hai Jiao picked up her phone and continued forwarding the video.
After doing all this, she felt refreshingly unburdened.
Indeed, rather than driving herself mad, it was better to destroy others.
When people lose their sense of decency, their faces only gain more smiles.
Seeing the smile on Hai Jiao's face, her fellow teachers felt uneasy. For someone in her situation to be smiling instead of crying seemed very abnormal (though they certainly weren't hoping she would cry).
Hai Jiao picked up the teaching materials she needed for class and nodded to her colleagues. "I'm off to teach now."
Meanwhile, Fang Tai saw the message Hai Jiao had posted in the family group chat. The content of the video was all too familiar; he had just rewatched it not long ago.
Afraid of losing face, he hid in a bathroom stall.
In fact, Fang Tai's other brothers had already received the video Hai Jiao sent. They were too shocked by their brother secretly selling himself to reply to Hai Jiao or ask their good brother what was really going on.
Whether the video was AI-generated or not, as longtime friends, they could vaguely recognize the truth.
The fact that the video was real made it even more terrifying. Their good brother had suddenly become a "bottom," and his previous intimate gestures were now seen by his friends as coveting their bodies.
How could they even ask about it now? Should they say, "So, you like men?"
Or follow up with, "You've put your arm around my shoulder before. Does that mean you like me?"
Or perhaps, "Brother, your wife told us all about how you like men."
Everyone was pondering how to talk to Fang Tai about this, or whether they should bring it up at all.
Sitting in the bathroom stall avoiding reality, Teacher Fang had already discovered it himself. His family group chat had over fifty members, including his aunts and uncles. His aunts didn't get along well with Fang Tai's mother, who often boasted about her successful son and beautiful daughter-in-law when she visited her maiden home.
Fang Tai's aunts were shocked, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads. They had always hoped for their sister's family to struggle a bit, but who could have imagined their nephew would give them such a big surprise?
Fang's elder aunt tagged her younger sister: [Look how exhausted the child is. Make sure to feed him some good stuff.] She suggested various animal parts believed to have restorative properties...
