by Dragon King
“Ms. Jin, it happened a long ago…” Xie Yujia lowered her head and said shyly.
Standing in the office, Hao Ren just looked at Xie Yujia and the teachers. He felt a little embarrassed since he had not been a student of LingZhao Middle School and thus didn’t know any of the teachers.
“Haha! You’ve brought your boyfriend to visit us?” Ms. Jin saw Hao Ren standing in the office and asked Xie Yujia.
“No! He’s my classmate in the university,” Xie Yujia hurried to explain.
However, the teachers didn’t believe her. They teased her, “You used to study hard, but you are in the college now. It’s natural to have a boyfriend.”
Xie Yujia blushed. She turned to look at Hao Ren, but he didn’t come over to help her explain.
Hao Ren felt it would be weird to talk to them. After all, they were not his teachers.
“Your boyfriend is quite handsome. You two must be going steady since he has agreed to come here to visit your teachers with you,” Seeing Xie Yujia’s blush, the teachers teased her more vigorously
Since Xie Yujia had graduated from the Middle School Department many years ago, the teachers no longer treated her as a kid. Besides, it was quite common for college students to date. Seeing Hao Ren’s solid character and Xie Yujia’s gentleness, they thought it was highly likely that they would stick with each other after graduating from university.
Being teased mercilessly by the teachers and Hao Ren didn’t look like he would come forward to help explain, Xie Yujia had to distract them with another topic. She asked, “Are you quite busy these days?”
“Of course! I’m overwhelmed!” Ms. Jin complained. “The students are getting more and more rebellious! Today I even caught one copying someone else’s homework in class!”
“Oh?” Xie Yujia pulled out a chair and sat down before beckoning Hao Ren to sit beside her.
Just when Hao Ren was dragging a chair over to her side, Ms. Jin turned toward a corner and asked, “Zhao Yanzi, are you finished with your Self Reflection Report?”
Hao Ren turned his head and saw behind the piles of papers on the desk Zhao Yanzi was busy writing a Self Reflection Report with her teeth gritting.
183 Unconvinced!!
“Um…” Hao Ren was utterly stunned as he and Zhao Yanzi gazed into each other’s eyes.
Zhao Yanzi suddenly stood up, walk in front of the English teacher with a stern face, and put her written self-reflection report on the desk.
Ms. Jin sat straight and picked up the report. She read it over and turned to Zhao Yanzi. “You don’t sound very sincere here.”
Zhao Yanzi gritted her teeth and gasped for some air. Her face turned green from the embarrassment.
Hao Ren sat beside Ms. Jin, so he could clearly see Zhao Yanzi’s reaction.
“Why, did I say something wrong?” Ms. Jin put on a serious look after seeing Zhao Yanzi’s reaction. “Was it my mistake to catch you cheating on your homework in class?”
Zhao Yanzi gritted her teeth and pouted; she looked unconvinced, which made Ms. Jin even sterner. She said to Zhao Yanzi, “Let me tell you. Don’t think that you are all perfect just because you did well on the midterm! Your English grade is still one of the lowest in the class!”
Zhao Yanzi suppressed her anger, but Xie Yujia couldn’t help but say, “Don’t be mad, Ms. Jin. Good grades come gradually and copying someone’s homework is only a rare occasion.”
“I don’t need you to speak up for me!” Zhao Yanzi suddenly yelled as she stared at Xie Yujia.
Ms. Jin knocked her hand on the table. “What kind of attitude is this!”
“There’s no attitude whatsoever!” Zhao Yanzi talked back.
Although Hao Ren wasn’t a student at this school, he couldn’t keep watching anymore. He stood up and pulled Zhao Yanzi to the side.
Zhao Yanzi pouted and stared at Hao Ren as if she was blaming it all on him.
“Save yourself some words.” Hao Ren patted her arm lightly.
He used to be scolded by his teachers and knew that the best one could do was to apologize and show regret for the mistake. There would never be a good outcome if one were to talk back to the teacher.
Ms. Jin couldn’t hold back her anger and said to Xie Yujia, “Look! Look! This is what the students are like nowadays!”
She looked at Zhao Yanzi and continued, “If you were half as understanding as the students I used to have, I wouldn’t be worrying so much!”
“She is a good student, and I’m not!” Zhao Yanzi shouted abruptly.
“What’s the matter? What’s the matter?” Zhao Yanzi’s Class Advisor, Luo Ying, walked in and spotted Zhao Yanzi who was almost about to quarrel with Ms. Jin.
Zhao Yanzi was a bit scared of the Class Advisor. Thus, her toughness suddenly decreased a lot. She kept her mouth shut, pouting.
Hao Ren finally relaxed. He pulled on her arm, but she pushed his arm away immediately.
“Ms. Jin, there’s no need to get into an argument with a student even though they don’t behave,” Luo Ying said to the English teacher. Then, she waved at Zhao Yanzi and said, “Come over here.”
Zhao Yanzi gritted her teeth and walked to her.
“I asked different teachers for your homework, and I know you copied all of this weekend’s homework from Xue Ling. Let’s put that aside and answer this question first - what did you do this weekend?” Luo Ying seemed to be nice, yet her eyes were staring at Zhao Yanzi sharply.
Zhao Yanzi pouted her mouth and kept quiet, but Hao Ren knew that she went to Zhejiang with him this weekend.
“It is true that you have shown some improvement in your midterms but getting into a relationship while your grades are going up would definitely affect your studies. Do you know that?” Luo Ying continued.
Zhao Yanzi wanted to explain but didn’t know where to start. She wasn’t sure what Luo Ying meant by a ‘relationship.
“Don’t think that I don’t know. That guy named Hao Ren. He climbed over the wall to see you while you were in PE class a few days ago, right?” Luo Ying continued to ask.
Zhao Yanzi and Xie Yujia both shivered at Luo Ying’s words.
Xie Yujia turned to Hao Ren, but Hao Ren didn’t know where to look all of a sudden.
“Now that you are fully committed to the relationship, you don’t even have time to do your homework? Were you hanging out with him this whole weekend?” Luo Ying asked again.
Zhao Yanzi’s anger turned into embarrassment. To her surprise, Luo Ying guessed everything right. Hao Ren’s heart sank at the same time; it sounded like he was the one to be blamed for all of this after all.
“I know a teacher from City North First High School, and I will go find that Hao Ren sometime to talk with him,” Luo Ying said seriously.
“What a Class Advisor… To chase after me across schools.” Hao Ren was stunned as he stood beside Ms. Jin’s desk.
Luo Ying changed back to her friendly tone after the few remarks. “I’ll let it go this time. Go back to class.”
Zhao Yanzi walked immediately toward the office door after hearing that.
Ms. Jin was relatively young, and she didn’t want to let it go.
“Ms. Luo, you are letting her go just like this?” she asked.
“What else can I do? Check out my drawer,” Luo Ying pulled her drawer open and said, “There is a dozen of her self-reflection reports here already!”
Hao Ren sighed slightly, thinking, “Zhao Yanzi is just like me when I was her age. Quite a self-reflection report producer!”
“And you,” Luo Ying turned to Hao Ren and said to him, “As her cousin, you need to tell her to focus on her study more!”
Hao Ren thought, “I tell her to study every day. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have gotten so much better on her midterms.”
Xie Yujia was confused as she heard Luo Ying call Hao Ren Zhao Yanzi’s cousin.
Ms. Jin turned from angry to surprise when she found out that Hao Ren was Zhao Yanzi’s cousin. That m
eant Zhao Yanzi was the cousin of her favorite student’s boyfriend.
“How are you lately, Yujia? You should be a second-year student now, right?” Luo Ying asked Xie Yujia.
“Yes, I’m in my second year, and midterms have just finished as well,” Xie Yujia answered softly. Good students like her had always been popular among teachers.
Hao Ren felt awkward standing between them. He sneaked to the door and said to Xie Yujia, “I’ll go take a walk outside.”
She gave him a sweet smile and said, “Eh… Don’t go too far. You might get lost.”
Hao Ren nodded and got out of the office. He felt the stress inside the office, and he is a lot more relieved.
While standing outside, he vaguely heard Luo Ying asking Xie Yujia quietly, “Is he really your boyfriend?”
“He is actually pretty nice, and… I know Zhao Yanzi as well. She is a nice girl,” Xie Yujia tried to defend Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi.
Hao Ren went to the balcony of a classroom ahead of him. He looked into the window when he passed by Class Two of the Eighth Grade and saw Zhao Yanzi doodling on her blank notebook in her seat, which was located in the front of the classroom.
A few students turned to him as they noticed someone at the window. Zhao Yanzi looked over as well. However, she immediately looked down at her notebook as soon as she saw Hao Ren. She put more force on her pen as if she was mad at the pen.
Their Geology teacher was explaining air pressure on the whiteboard, and he noticed the weirdness on Zhao Yanzi’s face. He called out her name and asked her to answer a question, but Zhao Yanzi couldn’t explain it at all since she wasn’t listening.
She looked at Hao Ren by the window and blushed in embarrassment.
Hao Ren smiled, thinking it really was not her day. He walked on to the sports field next.
After a while, he figured it was about time that Xie Yujia finished chatting with her teachers. Therefore, he went back to the office that he was in earlier.
Luo Ying looked up from the homework that she was grading and said, “Yujia is in the office next door.”
Hao Ren stayed at the door and asked, “Could I talk with you for a bit, Ms. Luo?”
Luo Ying stood up in surprise and walked out of the office.
Luo Ren felt strangely nervous facing a middle school teacher like Luo Ying. However, he took a deep breath and said, “Actually, Zhao Yanzi is not a bad kid at all. She is under a lot of pressure at the moment. Please be more patient with her.”
“She skips classes, talks back to the teachers, reads comic books and magazines in class, and causes conflicts with students from higher grades. Aren’t those enough?” Luo Ying asked Hao Ren.
“Maybe she is not as obedient as Xie Yujia, but that doesn’t mean she is not a good person,” Hao Ren said.
Luo Ying stared at Hao Ren as he looked into her eyes sincerely.
“Maybe my way of judging students is one-sided and too simple. However, the improvement in their grades is the best indication of their hard work. If Zhao Yanzi can rank in the top six in the finals, I will change my view of her,” Luo Ying said.
Hao Ren thought for a bit and nodded. “OK!”
Luo Ying added as Hao Ren was about to leave, “Yujia is a very good girl. Although university relationships often end after graduation, I would still like for you to take good care of her.”
Hao Ren looked at her and didn’t know what to say. Luo Ying expression and tone showed her care for her old student.
“She likes you a lot from the way she talked about you. Although you were not my student, I could see that you are not a bad person. So, please be nice to her,” seeing that Hao Ren was quiet, Luo Ying added.
“Um…” Hao Ren mumbled and answered before heading toward the other office.
Xie Yujia pushed the door open and walked out of that office at the same time.
Xie Yujia was surprised to see Hao Ren and Luo Ying outside of the office and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Oh, he is asking me about Zhao Yanzi. Do you want to stick around for a little while, Yujia? We can have dinner together.”
“It’s ok, Ms. Luo. I still need to go over to the High School Department!” Xie Yujia answered energetically.
“Ok! Go ahead then!” Luo Ying laughed pleasantly.
“Goodbye, Ms. Luo!” Xie Yujia waved and pulled on Hao Ren’s shirt, guiding him downstairs.
Luo Ying watched them and smiled as she shook her head.
She thought Hao Ren was a bit presumptuous when she first saw him at the Parent-Teacher Meeting. But now, she thought that Xie Yujia might have a good pair of eyes for picking out guys.
“But this Zhao Yanzi is like a crooked stone that is difficult to polish. She will have much better grades if she behaves like Xie Yujia…” Luo Ying sighed slightly and went back to her office.
184 In Public!!!
Xie Yujia glimpsed at Hao Ren as they got out of the Academic Building.
“I am going to the High School Department to visit some teachers. Are you coming with me, or do you want to take a walk around campus?” she asked.
“I’ll take a walk and take you back later,” Hao Ren said.
“Alright, I’ll treat you to dinner,” Xie Yujia laughed happily.
She walked past the small bridge over the lake and headed toward the Academic Building of the High School Department.
Looking at her, Hao Ren could imagine how youthful and energetic Xie Yujia was during her middle school years.
He thought to himself, “If there were a girl like her in my class, I would probably like her as well.”
On the sports field nearby, three classes were having PE. The boys were running while the girls chatted on the railings beside the sports field. It was almost identical to what happened when Hao Ren was in middle school.
He found a step to sit on and silently cultivated the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll as he watched the mid-schoolers running on the sports field.
One can put natural treasures in the space in the necklace but not the invisible Nature Essence. Hao Ren wanted to store some Natural Essence in the necklace so that he could make use of it to accelerate his cultivation speed, but it seemed like it wouldn’t work that way.
According to test results given to him by Lu Linlin and Lu Lili, Hao Ren especially emphasized the absorption of metal and wood elements. Su Han’s Golden Pearl could assist him with the metal elements, but he needed to rely on his own efforts to absorb wood elements.
Although the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll could convert different elements, there had to be a profound foundation. The thin elements inside Hao Ren’s body couldn’t be converted efficiently. It would be better just to absorb them from nature.
The Nature Essence circulated inside Hao Ren’s body according to the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll seven times until it further stabilized the second opening in the Dragon Core.
Soon, the students gathered together on the sports field. The bell rang, and the students were dismissed. The Academic Building behind Hao Ren suddenly got noisy as well.
The students got out of their classrooms and walked around on the balconies and staircases.
Hao Ren wanted to go see Zhao Yanzi, but he didn’t want to cause her any trouble. Therefore, he stood up and started to walk around campus.
“Uncle!” Zhao Yanzi called him from behind all of a sudden.
Hao Ren turned back and saw her running out of the Academic Building in her blue school uniform.
Hao Ren stood still until she ran in front of him. Ling, Zhao Yanzi’s good friend from school, followed.
[Eighth Grade, Class Two, Zhao Yanzi]. A name tag was pinned under the school badge on Zhao Yanzi’s uniform.
“What… Are you doing here?” she asked, panting a little.
“I’m here to see you,” Hao Ren said.
“Where is she?” Zhao Yanzi asked aggressively.
Hao Ren knew she was asking about Xie Yujia. He shook his head and said
, “She should be in the High School Department.”
“Humph, you are here with her, right?” She lifted her head and stared at Hao Ren angrily.
“Ok, ok, ok. Whatever you say.” Hao Ren didn’t bother arguing with her since he was in her school after all.
Zhao Yanzi got even madder at Hao Ren’s attitude.
“You were in the office just to see me in embarrassment, weren’t you?”
“I’m neither a student of your school or your teachers’ acquaintance. What was I supposed to say?” Hao Ren asked as he thought, “It might be my fault that you have to cheat on your homework, but it was definitely your fault for getting caught.”
“When are you going back?” Zhao Yanzi’s tone warmed up a little.
“Maybe… In a little while,” Hao Ren answered.
“Wait for me by the school gate when school is over,” she said.
Hao Ren hesitated for a few seconds before he nodded.
Ling stood beside Zhao Yanzi and examined Hao Ren as they spoke. She felt like something was different about this “uncle” from the first time she saw him.
“Zi! Your boyfriend is here to see you again?” A few girls ran over and shouted beside them.
Zhao Yanzi bit her lips and smiled happily. She turned around to hit them lightly without explaining. The girls laughed louder as they ran away.
Hao Ren looked around and realized that students on the balcony were all leaning on to the railings and looking at him and Zhao Yanzi.
A bunch of mid-schoolers was observing them as they spoke by the Academic Building…
Zhao Yanzi was a popular girl whose name was even brought up regularly in the High School Department. A gossip like ‘Her boyfriend from another school came to find her’ would undoubtedly quickly spread through the entire Middle School Department.
“Zhao Yanzi, Kiss!” the girls who ran away circled back and shouted together. They had obviously planned this.
“Zhao Yanzi, Kiss!” some guys on the second-floor balcony shouted as well.
