Ying An fell asleep quickly.
A faint scent of sweat could still be detected on him.
The air conditioning was set very low, and their seats were right under the vent, so his arms had been blown cold enough to raise goosebumps.
Li Jue took one of her own jackets and draped it over him.
Outside, the sun was blazing and the sky was clear—just looking at it made one feel especially hot.
Unfortunately the bell was about to ring, and she could not help feeling a little distressed.
After all, she had spent so many years carefully raising Ying An’s skin until it was fair and clean.
After this round of military training, who knew how dark it would become.
“Sister…”
Ying An woke up early, still a little dizzy.
“Since you’re awake, go to the restroom and wash up a bit. Midday rest is almost over.”
“Mm.” He patted his own face, sat up, and the jacket draped over him slid down, only to be caught by Li Jue’s outstretched hand.
“Sister, why do I feel like you’ve been especially happy these past two days?”
“Of course I’m happy. Watching Xiao An enjoy a whole summer vacation almost made Sister suffer to death. Now that your hard days have arrived, of course I’m happy.”
Ying An felt a little angry. “Why are you happy when I’m suffering?”
“Because Sister is a bad woman.” Li Jue patted his back. “All right, go wash your face. There’s still training in the afternoon.”
Ying An shot her a dissatisfied glance, the resentment on his face looking heavier than a ghost’s.
He went to the restroom, washed his face, returned to the classroom, and waited for the bell to ring.
The afternoon training was just as dull and painful.
Heat and exhaustion continued to torment this group of teenagers.
At the edge of the sports field stood several small sheds with long benches underneath.
Their water bottles were all placed there.
Although that area was out of the sunlight, the temperature had already warmed the cold drinks until they were lukewarm.
A physically weak girl was sitting under one of the sheds.
She had just recovered from heatstroke.
Although she did not have to train, she still had to stay on the sports field and listen to the instructor’s lectures.
Ying An heard them call her Su Yueyue.
She was not tall, her skin was very fair, and her appearance was quite pretty—belonging to the cute and pleasant-to-look-at type.
Just as the instructor was loudly lecturing, several students’ gazes were drawn toward the shed.
The man noticed and glanced over there, then turned back and fiercely shouted at the students,
“Where are you looking? Who is explaining things to you? Look at me! Look at me!”
Su Yueyue also noticed they were looking in this direction.
She turned her head and only then discovered a tall, slender woman standing beside her.
She was very beautiful, drawing Su Yueyue to stare at her for several glances.
Especially those eyes—they seemed to possess a soul-capturing magic, empty and distant.
The woman placed a bottle of chilled mineral water on the bench and smiled gently at her. “Listen carefully to the lecture, little kitten classmate.”
“Ah… oh, okay.”
Li Jue turned her head and looked toward the training students.
She found Ying An’s figure in the crowd, met his gaze, and directed a gentle, doting smile at him before leaving the sports field.
During the mid-training break, many students went over to drink water.
Ying An opened the mineral water bottle whose surface was beaded with condensation and took a large gulp.
The water poured into his dry throat and finally slightly relieved the heat throughout his body.
“Who was that just now? She’s so pretty.”
“Don’t know. Maybe a teacher?”
“Seemed like she came to deliver water. Wait, who drank that bottle?”
***
When Ying An returned to the formation, he still heard a few boys discussing Li Jue.
He did not explain anything to them and only chatted with Zheng Qiaonian for a while.
When the break ended, they had to endure another stretch of physical and mental exhaustion.
They finally managed to finish the training and eat dinner.
They had not rested long before the instructor led them to assemble on the sports field again.
The evening activity was learning to sing military songs.
However, the discipline requirements in the evening were not as strict.
Everyone sat together loosely, the various classes scattered casually across the sports field.
When they grew tired of singing, they could still rest and chat.
“That bracelet of yours looks pretty nice. Where did you buy it?” Zheng Qiaonian asked while looking at the Zhuyan on Ying An’s wrist.
“Sister gave it to me. I don’t know where she bought it either.”
“Can I take a look?”
Ying An took the bracelet off and handed it to Zheng Qiaonian.
He held it in his palm and rubbed it.
A cold sensation seeped into his fingertips, inexplicably making him feel a sense of dread, as if he had touched some forbidden object.
“Weird… it feels awful.” He returned the item to Ying An.
“What feels awful?” Ying An did not understand.
“When I held this thing, my body somehow just felt really uncomfortable. The moment I gave it back to you it was fine. You don’t get that feeling?”
“No.” Ying An did not know where Li Jue had obtained this bow and arrow.
He only knew it was called Zhuyan.
After shooting Xu E that day, he had never transformed it into a bow again.
Li Jue had said this bow was very dangerous and that he could not summon it himself.
When he encountered a crisis it would activate on its own, but he had to remember one point: no matter what he used it to shoot, he must never draw the bowstring to its maximum.
“Are you classmate Ying An?”
Hearing someone speak to him, Ying An glanced to the side.
The girl had sat down beside him at some point and greeted him.
“Mm. You’re Su Yueyue, right?”
“Yes, my name is Su Yueyue. This afternoon I saw you drink the water that very pretty big sister brought. Who is she to you?”
“She’s my sister, and also our English teacher.”
“She’s our teacher? Then that means I’ll be able to see her often.” Su Yueyue looked very happy, a smile hanging on her face. “She’s really the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. Xiao An must be very happy living with her, right?”
“It’s all right.”
The girl was rather outgoing and familiar with people right away.
Ying An did not dislike this kind of personality, but her impression of Li Jue was more or less based on appearance alone.
As a victim who had been teased and bullied by her in various ways and had even been spanked by her, Ying An already thoroughly understood the principle of knowing someone’s face but not their heart.
She was an out-and-out bad woman—the kind she herself admitted to being.
Especially… he had also seen the way Sister taught him to kill: cold, decisive, and indifferent, as if it were second nature.
“By the way, what’s her name?”
“Li Jue. The ‘Li’ from ‘dawn,’ and the ‘Jue’ from ‘Qian Jue.’”
“Qian Jue?” Su Yueyue had never heard this name.
“It’s just one ‘king’ character and one ‘jade’ character.”
Ying An actually did not play League of Legends, but the game was so popular that it was hard not to see related information when browsing the internet, and he also did not know how else to form a word with the character “jue.”
“Do you like Sister a lot?” Ying An asked.
“Who wouldn’t like a pretty teacher? Just like the most beautiful flowers attract the most attention, right?”
Ying An nodded, acknowledging this statement.
“By the way, this afternoon Teacher Li called me ‘little kitten classmate.’ Does that mean I’m as cute as a cat?”
He looked at Su Yueyue’s appearance.
She did indeed belong to the very cute type, with a slight bit of baby fat on her face.
When she smiled, two shallow dimples appeared on her cheeks just like Fu Yu’s.
She was very pretty and very likable.
“Maybe.”