As soon as the words were spoken, the children who loved stirring up trouble immediately perked up, chattering all at once: “Teacher, Teacher, where are the monkeys? Teacher, are we going to the back hill? Teacher, how do we catch them?”

Ji Huai ignored all the varied questions. Pointing at Li Yuanyuan, he issued a command.

“You, lead the way. First stop, Li Xiaohu’s house.”

Li Yuanyuan swaggered at the front of the group, followed by a noisy crowd of children. He felt extremely proud previous teachers had always thought him stupid, but this was the first time a teacher had assigned him a task. He felt entrusted with great responsibility, finally useful, and was utterly smug.

Soon enough, they arrived at Li Xiaohu’s house. In the dilapidated yard, a sturdy-looking boy was feeding chickens.

“Li Xiaohu!”

Ji Huai stood at the gate and shouted loudly.

Hearing the stern call, Li Xiaohu in the yard trembled all over. Looking up, he saw the Teacher leading a crowd of schoolmates gathered at his gate.

The scene was so frightening that Li Xiaohu couldn’t help but let out an “Ah!” The chicken feed in his hands accidentally spilled all over the ground. Several scrawny chickens clucked and rushed over, pecking at the rotten vegetable leaves scattered on the ground.

Ji Huai surveyed the surroundings. Li Xiaohu’s home was wretchedly poor a few wooden huts that probably barely kept out the wind. The chickens on the ground were so thin they were practically skeletons. Besides Li Xiaohu, there were no other adults in the household. Not far away, a frail toddler was tied to a post with gray cloth strips, babbling “Aya ya.”

“Teacher, wh-why are you here?” Li Xiaohu wiped his hands casually on his pants and stood there awkwardly.

Ji Huai’s originally stern expression and tone softened considerably after seeing Li Xiaohu’s family situation. He asked slowly, “Why didn’t you come to class on time?”

Li Xiaohu glanced blankly at the sky, then slapped his forehead and muttered, “Oh no, I lost track of time. My parents went up the mountain to gather firewood, so there’s no one to look after Er Gouzi, and the chickens haven’t been fed. I had to do it all.”

Ji Huai sighed. The patches covering Xiao Hu’s clothes showed just how poor his family was.

“Never mind, finish up here and then come to class. As for the child at home…” The toddler wasn’t shy at all, grabbing a handful of dirt and stuffing it into his mouth. Seeing this, Ji Huai immediately cried “Hey, hey!” and ran over, snatching the dirt from the child’s hand.

The child had no idea what was happening and looked up at Ji Huai with a silly grin.

“Bring your little brother to the schoolhouse with you.”

“Really? Is that allowed?”

Previous teachers had never allowed anyone to disrupt class discipline, so it was no wonder Li Xiaohu found it hard to believe that this time, the Teacher was merciful enough to let him bring a toddler to class.

Ji Huai nodded again. He thought the child seemed quite well-behaved not crying or making a fuss. Bringing him along for a lesson until his parents returned from gathering firewood would be fine.

Overjoyed by the confirmation, Li Xiaohu cheered, shouting “Thank you, Teacher!” with a wide, silly grin that was just like the little child on the ground.

With Xiao Hu’s situation resolved, Ji Huai continued his “home visits” to the other families. Aside from Li Xiaohu, who was late due to family difficulties, the other children were troublemakers like Lin Heyu either catching fish by the river or sleeping lazily at home.

Ji Huai lifted the quilts one by one, wielding the disciplinary ruler with such vigor that the children howled in pain. Amid all this lively commotion and wailing, their group finally arrived at the destination Lin Heyu’s fenced yard.

The small courtyard was quite beautifully decorated, bursting with clusters of flowers in the height of summer. However, due to lack of care, the plants looked somewhat wilted. The yard was silent, with spears, wooden stakes, sandbags, and some other items Ji Huai couldn’t name arranged under the eaves. They looked like equipment for physical training.

Ji Huai smirked. Mischievous as he was, those well-built muscles weren’t for nothing it seemed Lin Heyu had a habit of working out regularly.

The lock on the fence gate made little difference; Ji Huai could push it open with a bit of force. As he applied pressure, a nearly invisible transparent thread on the fence reflected a glint of scattered sunlight. Ji Huai’s eyes sharpened, and he swiftly withdrew the foot that had half-stepped into the yard. The next moment, a basin of water poured down from above. With quick reflexes, Ji Huai retreated, only to step on a protruding stone. Immediately, a blunt-tipped short arrow shot straight toward his face. Reacting swiftly, he pulled back a student behind him and leaned aside, narrowly avoiding the arrow.

A light sweat broke out on Ji Huai’s forehead. Anyone would need a moment to recover after nearly being hit by an arrow even one without a sharp tip, it could still injure vulnerable body parts. Fortunately, Ji Huai’s agility and years of experience dealing with troublesome students allowed him to barely escape these two pranks.

He felt displeased. This was no mere mischief in modern times, it would count as intentional harm.

The followers behind him, however, gasped in awe, murmuring, “Lin Heyu is amazing he even knows how to set traps!”

When no student was looking, Ji Huai rolled his eyes hard. After carefully inspecting the surroundings and confirming there were no more traps, he cautiously stepped into Lin Heyu’s space.

Reaching the main door, Ji Huai didn’t let his guard down. He examined the wooden door thoroughly three times before boldly pushing it open.

Lin Heyu’s small room was simple and sparsely furnished just one table, one chair, and one bed. On the bed lay a rolled-up quilt, bulging with a round head peeking out it was Lin Heyu.

“Sleeping quite soundly,” Ji Huai thought expressionlessly.

Then, he strode forward, mercilessly yanked off the quilt, and pressed his icy hand directly against the broad, adult-like back.

“Ah !”

A sharp cry erupted as Lin Heyu, jolted by the cold, snapped his eyes open and froze in place.

“Ah !”

An even more pitiful scream followed as Lin Heyu quickly snatched the quilt back from Ji Huai and burrowed inside, his sturdy face flushed bright red with embarrassment.

Buried under the covers, Lin Heyu slowly groped for his clothes. Anyone would be mortified to wake from a deep sleep and find the beauty who’d been wandering in their dreams all night standing right there especially when they were naked.

Ji Huai, however, felt no discomfort. He had often barged into student dormitories and personally yanked the quilts off lazy sleepers in the past. In his eyes, Lin Heyu was no different from the troublemakers he’d dealt with in his previous classes.

“Get up now. Didn’t I say class starts at Chen hour? What time is it already, and you’re still sleeping?” Ji Huai frowned, standing with crossed arms beside Lin Heyu’s bed, glaring disapprovingly at the figure still squirming under the blankets.

The rustling under the covers quietly ceased upon hearing Ji Huai’s displeased tone. After a long moment, Lin Heyu’s muffled voice emerged from beneath the quilt:

“Um, Teacher, could you please step out for a moment? I need to get dressed.”

The pitiful voice carried a barely detectable plea.

Ji Huai struggled to suppress a laugh – the child’s pride was quite strong indeed.

Waving a hand behind him, Ji Huai’s cheerful voice rang out clearly: “Let’s go, children. Let’s leave our classmate Lin some dignity to get dressed.”

With that, Ji Huai strode out of the room, leaving the quiet space for the bashful student.

“…”

All the romantic tension from last night had vanished. Lin Heyu gritted his teeth and muttered quietly: “The Teacher after sunrise has grown that poisonous tongue again. Wonder if that tongue is soft or hard…”

Bah! Lin Heyu scowled and shook off all those unrealistic thoughts from his mind.

Dismissing all improper thoughts, Lin Heyu quickly dressed with efficient movements. After adjusting his inexplicably fluctuating mood, he finally opened the door with feigned composure, taking in the courtyard scenery.

Ji Huai stood beside a somewhat wilted blue Chinese bellflower, slightly bent over as he gently sniffed the blossom. The pre-noon sunlight, though not yet scorching, was brilliant, casting a soft glow upon Ji Huai’s water-blue narrow-sleeved robe. His often “cunning” fox-like eyes were slightly narrowed now, savoring the summer floral fragrance.

The blue bellflowers, the blue-clad figure, the blue sky – everything complemented each other perfectly, competing in radiance.

Among all the people in the courtyard, only that particular shade of blue reflected in Lin Heyu’s eyes.

Thump.

“Ouch!” The distracted Lin Heyu clutched his forehead with a pained cry. A withered magnolia flower had struck his head, pulling his wandering attention back to reality.

Looking up, Ji Huai remained in his crouched position by the bellflowers, but his left hand now held several fallen magnolia blossoms while his right hand tossed a relatively intact one up and down – clearly the source of the projectile that had hit Lin Heyu’s head.

“You again ”

Lin Heyu’s complaint was cut off by Ji Huai’s retort: “What are you daydreaming about? The whole class has been waiting for you. We’ve already wasted a full hour. Hurry up already – why are you dawdling? You move slower than an elderly gentleman.”

Lin Heyu pursed his lips discontentedly. So the beautiful flower-sniffing vision was just an illusion – this sharp-tongued version was the real Ji Huai.

Standing among the floral abundance, Ji Huai realized that upon arrival he had been too focused on carefully avoiding traps to notice the garden’s fragrant blooms. Only after leaving Lin Heyu’s room did he properly observe the courtyard’s layout.

The square courtyard was enclosed by low fences draped with unnamed pale pink blossoms. A bluestone path ran through the center, beside which stood a well. Around the well grew Chinese bellflowers – the relatively rare blue variety that happened to be Ji Huai’s favorite flower, a preference born from his fondness for a certain anime female character.

The courtyard was planted with summer begonias, their pink blossoms quite delightful. At the easternmost edge stood a magnolia tree currently in full bloom, its branches crowded with large white flowers. Beneath the tree lay petals scattered by the wind. Ji Huai found this rather novel – magnolias typically bloomed in spring, yet here they were blossoming in late summer.

This clearly demonstrated the courtyard owner’s profound, almost obsessive love for magnolias. This particular tree might be a rare variety. Unfortunately, it was being neglected by some clueless lad who didn’t understand flowers and couldn’t even bother to water it.

Ji Huai felt regretful – such beautiful flowers truly didn’t deserve such mistreatment.