Outside the house it had begun to rain again.
The weather forecast that three days earlier had shown clear skies for the entire coming week had suddenly flipped its face.
The data had changed to alternating overcast and rainy weather for the next few days.
Military training had been canceled.
The students who had originally cheered with joy did not stay happy for long.
After a few days of classes they once again became frowning and worried.
The previous three main subjects had now expanded into Chinese, mathematics, English, science, and social studies, and there were also evening classes that lasted all the way until nine o’clock at night.
On Thursday afternoon, during the last self-study period before dinner, the teacher on duty was Li Jue.
The first-year curriculum could not yet be called difficult, especially at the very beginning of the semester.
Combined with the fact that Ying An himself studied seriously, today’s homework was finished in no time at all.
Once free time appeared, many students liked to randomly flip through textbooks looking for any interesting content.
Ying An was the same.
He was flipping through a textbook called History and Society.
Many of the stories Li Jue had previously told him could be found in this textbook.
The content was almost the same, and she had even narrated them in greater detail.
“Ying An.”
His desk mate Zheng Qiaonian called him, grinning as he said, “Look at the science book. Chapter two, section two.”
Ying An blinked and opened the science textbook in confusion.
Two naked human body diagrams lay exposed before his eyes.
The text beside them labeled the names of various organs, describing the differences between male and female in the most direct manner.
The chapter title: Human Reproduction.
“This… the book even has this.”
“Does it look good?”
A familiar voice came from beside his ear.
Ying An lifted his head and only then discovered that Li Jue was standing beside his seat looking at him.
Zheng Qiaonian, who had originally wanted to chat with him, immediately shrank back.
“Sis… Teacher Li, this is…”
“It’s fine. Keep looking. You’re going to study this lesson anyway.” Li Jue gave him a meaningful smile and turned back to the podium.
Su Yueyue sat right behind Ying An.
Hearing their conversation, she curiously patted Ying An.
“Xiao An, what are you looking at?”
“Nothing. Just the textbook.”
Ying An hurriedly closed the book, yet Su Yueyue had already turned her head and seen the content above.
A flush of crimson appeared on her face. “It’s… it’s this.”
“Zheng Qiaonian told me to look at it.”
“Hey!” He elbowed Ying An’s arm.
This little disturbance quickly returned to silence.
After the dismissal bell rang, the students lined up to collect their trays and get food.
Xiheng’s student meals had always been quite good—two dishes and a soup.
Only today’s dinner was stir-fried meat with kelp and bitter melon, the two dishes Ying An hated most.
So he secretly followed behind Li Jue and entered the office with her. “Sister, are you going to eat dinner?”
“What’s wrong? Is today’s dinner again dishes that Xiao An hates?”
“Mm-hmm.” Ying An nodded. “I want to eat together with Sister.”
Li Jue actually did not want to spoil Ying An too much.
Being picky about food was not a good habit, and the school’s meals were not particularly bad either.
Yet whenever she heard the little guy say he wanted to be with her, she could never harden her heart.
She took Ying An to the teachers’ cafeteria.
The variety of dishes here was much greater.
Ying An ate with wolfish hunger while Li Jue slowly sipped egg-drop soup.
“Teacher Li, is this your little brother?” A young man wearing glasses suddenly came over to strike up a conversation with Li Jue.
She lifted her head and glanced at the other party, not recognizing him.
“You are?”
“I’m Teacher Zhu who teaches Chinese. I’m the one teaching Chinese for Class Three.”
The class Ying An was in was Class Three, yet apart from his homeroom teacher, Li Jue almost never paid attention to the information or movements of other teachers.
She did not even remember the man’s name or appearance.
Zhu Yao was neither tall nor short, with small eyes and a rather thin build.
His features were mild and refined, always giving people the feeling of a good-natured gentleman.
Most of the time he was indeed easy to talk to, and many students liked male teachers like him.
“Is there something?”
“Nothing much. Just seeing that both Ying An and you were here, so I came to say hello.”
Li Jue did not look at him and continued leisurely sipping her soup. “I am his sister.”
“You’re siblings. I thought so, haha.”
Zhu Yao did not feel embarrassed because Li Jue was cold toward him and continued accompanying her with smiles.
“Then you two take your time eating. I’ll go first. Goodbye, Xiao An.”
“Goodbye, Teacher Zhu.”
Ying An politely waved at him.
Li Jue did not sense any demon power from Zhu Yao.
In the entire school, apart from the slight demon aura on Su Yueyue, no one else showed anything unusual.
Yet this Zhu Yao… Li Jue always felt he was not as simple as he appeared on the surface. “How is this teacher’s class?”
“Very good. Teacher Zhu’s class is very interesting, and he’s not fierce at all.”
“Then between him and Sister, whose class does Xiao An prefer to listen to more?”
In his heart Ying An definitely wanted to choose Zhu Yao.
During English class he always felt Li Jue was staring intently at him.
Every time he secretly said a couple of sentences to Zheng Qiaonian, when he turned back he would discover she was watching him, causing him to not dare to be distracted in the slightest.
In comparison, Chinese class was much more relaxed.
Zhu Yao’s discipline was managed very loosely.
“Of course it’s Sister’s.”
“Really?”
“Really, really.”
Li Jue smiled.
She knew Ying An was saying the opposite of what he truly felt, yet as long as he had fallen into the trap it was fine.
“Then this weekend Sister will give you some extra tutoring. Not just English… science is fine too.”
Ying An’s hand holding the chopsticks suddenly paused.
He subconsciously sat up straight. “I misspoke just now, Sister. Can I take it back?”
“Then that means you prefer his class more. In that case Xiao An needs tutoring even more. Watching you suffer makes Sister happy.”
“Why?!” Ying An grew anxious.
“Because Sister is a bad woman.”
***
“Xiao An, why didn’t I see you at dinner just now?” Su Yueyue asked him.
“Sister told me to eat with her.”
“Is that so? Having a teacher for a sister is so nice.”
The girl’s face was full of envy.
She was not as sharp as Li Jue and could not see through his lie.
There were still more than ten minutes until class.
Dinner had long since ended.
The classroom was noisy, with students gathering in twos and threes to chat.
Su Yueyue looked out the window toward the back mountain of the school and said, “Xiao An, do you know? I heard there are wolves on the mountain south of the school.”
“Wolves?”
Ying An had never seen a real wolf in reality.
There were none of these creatures in the zoo either.
He did know one fox who had lived for several thousand years.
“Really? That mountain is very close to the school.”
“Someone heard wolf howls on the sports field at night. There must be wolves on the back mountain.”
“Isn’t that very dangerous? What if a wolf runs into the school at night…”
The first class in the evening was Chinese.
Zhu Yao had already arrived in the classroom and happened to overhear their conversation.
He walked over, wearing his signature kind and gentle smile.
“It’s fine. The school is very safe. No need to be afraid.”
“Teacher Zhu, have you heard about this too?”
“I’ve heard of it.”
Zhu Yao looked through the classroom window toward the sports field to the south.
“Maybe that person was too sleepy or too scared at night and had auditory hallucinations. In any case you don’t need to be afraid. Just study hard and work hard. Leave the rest to the adults.”