“Lin Heyu, what year is it now?” Ji Huai suppressed the surging pain in his chest, his reproachful tone completely masking his bluff to Lin Heyu.

“The second year of Qing Country,” Lin Heyu scratched his head, somewhat puzzled but still answered.

“How old are you?” Ji Huai didn’t give him time to react and continued questioning.

“Si-sixteen.” Lin Heyu’s voice clearly showed panic.

“How long have you been studying here?”

“Over a month…” Lin Heyu was completely baffled by Ji Huai’s questions. He answered each one mechanically, failing to notice anything unusual.

“Then how can you be so unruly?” Ji Huai bluffed with a stern shout, having obtained the information he wanted.

At least he had gained some understanding of the young man before him.

Lin Heyu wasn’t one to submit meekly to oppression. The moment Ji Huai scolded him, his rebellious nature surfaced. He immediately dropped his responsibilities, snorted coldly, threw down the cloth in his hand, and turned to leave.

The loud shouting had exhausted what little strength Ji Huai had mustered since waking up. Once Lin Heyu left, Ji Huai could no longer keep up the act. He collapsed by the bedside, gasping for breath.

Inside, he was weeping uncontrollably.

Damn it, I’ve really traveled through time!

The second year of Qing Country – which dynasty is this? Although he was a math teacher, he was also an all-round educator who had substituted for Chinese and history teachers. How come he had never heard of any Qing Country?

Where exactly is this? What will happen to his students who are about to take the college entrance exams?

Can he still go back?

Should he try jumping into the pond again? Maybe that would send him back?

No sooner thought than done. For the sake of his hard-nurtured seedlings successfully passing the college entrance exams, he couldn’t stay in this unfamiliar era. He had to return to the 21st century, back to his Class 12 of senior year.

With his face flushed from fever, Ji Huai struggled to get up and headed toward the pond outside the house. It was already late at night, and the courtyard was silent. Someone seemed to be in the kitchen, with smoke drifting out.

Ji Huai looked fearfully at the pond. The water was truly cold. Judging by the season, it should be midsummer, yet the pond water was inexplicably bone-chilling.

Gritting his teeth, Ji Huai hesitated for a moment. But thinking of his “eagerly waiting” children in modern times, he closed his eyes and resolutely jumped into the water.

What if the pond water could send him back to modern times?

“Oh heavens, Master Ji!”

In his dazed state, he seemed to hear an old woman’s shouting.

“Someone come quickly! Master Ji has jumped into the water to kill himself! Lin Heyu! Lin Heyu! Lin Xiaoniao! The Teacher has committed suicide!”

Granny Li was Ji Huai’s neighbor and had often looked after him. She had just been brewing medicine in the kitchen when she stepped out and saw Master Ji in his blue robe jump into the water.

Like a dazzling ghost flitting through the heavy night.

She screamed toward the gate and rushed to the pond’s edge. Master Ji had already sunk below the surface, and the situation looked dire.

Granny Li couldn’t swim either, so she could only shout desperately for someone to come rescue him.

Fortunately, Lin Heyu still had some conscience. Angry as he was, he hadn’t gone far. Hearing Granny Li’s desperate cries for help, he didn’t have time to think and dove headfirst into the pond.

As luck would have it, he collided with Ji Huai who was floating upward.

One jumping down, one buoying up – two heads separated by centuries of time smashed together heavily, shattering Ji Huai’s hope of returning to modern times through the pond water.

Still here. He hadn’t gone back…