Chapter 230: New Chapter

Small nobles were strapped for cash and could only attach themselves to great nobles; the truth about the identity of the Magician Ling Wu was quickly suppressed by the combined efforts of the Jing, Yin, Yu, and Jin families. Furthermore, with the Empire in severe internal turmoil, those who knew the inside story were almost all dead, and the survivors were all placed under gag orders.

Death to those who disobey!

Five years later.

During the five years of internal strife, Chu Yi grew rapidly. Wherever his blade pointed, he was invincible, uprooting half of the Empire's aristocratic families and eliminating them entirely. The remaining families suffered heavy losses and could only attach themselves to the Four Great Families, before being gradually annexed...

The Empire gradually formed a situation where the Imperial family and the Four Great Families stood in opposition. The Crown Prince's faction, supported by the Fu and Xiao families, clearly held more popular support, and many of the bad habits of the aristocratic class were abolished one after another.

The nobility was in decline, feeling powerless, and had the intention of stopping the war and turning hostility into friendship.

The Federation.

In the midsummer cicadas chirped incessantly. Ling Wu stood on the podium at S University. He neatly rolled the cuffs of his white shirt up to his elbows, unbuttoned the top two buttons of his collar, revealing his fair collarbones and sexy Adam's apple. The hem of his shirt was tucked into his trousers, making his legs look long and straight. His bony fingers held a piece of chalk, and the veins on the back of his hands were clearly visible.

His voice was clear and resonant: "When people hold two contradictory beliefs at the same time, what kind of psychological stress is produced?"

"For example, you firmly believe that a regular schedule is beneficial to your health, yet you always stay up late. How would you handle this conflict... Please, this student, answer this question."

The male student hurriedly turned off his phone, which was held horizontally, and put it away. His face flushed red: "Um... I suppose it's telling myself silently that I'm still young, not to worry unnecessarily, and that it's okay to indulge in staying up late occasionally?"

"Mm."

Ling Wu gestured for him to sit down: "A typical 'trivial justification' strategy."

He wrote "cognitive dissonance" on the blackboard, then snapped the whole piece of chalk in two: "Now you have seen with your own eyes that I have broken this piece of chalk, but I tell you that I did not do so, and the chalk has never been broken from beginning to end. How would you adjust your cognition?"

At this moment, a female student raised her hand confidently: "Professor, is your example similar to 'gaslighting'? When an authority figure distorts the truth, the victim instead doubts their own perception."

Ling Wu smiled and nodded.

He was just about to say something when the bell for the end of class rang. Ling Wu knew that students did not like teachers who ran over time, and he had no intention of delaying the students' time to occupy the cafeteria.

Ling Wu said: "Class dismissed. We will explore this part of the knowledge in the next lesson."

The students were beaming with joy and quickly rushed out of the classroom door.

Someone was discussing: "How can there be such a perfect person as Professor Ling Wu in this world? He looks stunning, his voice is pleasant, he doesn't slack off in class, and the key is that he never runs over time!"

"Only this kind of professor is worthy of deducting my credits!"

"The way the professor wears a white shirt is so ascetic."

"Professor Ling Wu is very young, it seems he is only 27."

"At 27, others are professors, while at 27, I don't know where I'm working like a dog."

Ling Wu packed up his textbooks and prepared to leave.

But he was stopped by a clean male voice—

"Professor!"

Ling Wu turned his head and saw it was student Lin Yue, who often came to him to explore psychological knowledge: "Student Lin, is there something the matter?"

Lin Yue stood close to him, and could smell the pleasant scent of jasmine laundry detergent on Ling Wu. He moved his gaze away from those fair collarbones, his face a bit flushed, as if from the heat.

"Pro-Professor... are you free this weekend? I would like to invite you to dinner."

Lin Yue added stumblingly: "Because the professor has helped me a lot, I want to thank you. Can we have a meal together?"

There was a probing look in Ling Wu's eyes. He frowned slightly, as if he could see through the human heart: "Sorry, I don't have private contact with students. If you have difficulties with your studies, you can ask me in class."

"It's getting late, hurry to the cafeteria."

He nodded politely and refinedly, and walked out of the classroom door.

Lin Yue stood blankly in place, staring at his back in a daze.

At the South Gate of S University, Xi Huaizhi parked a low-key car at the school gate. He waited for Ling Wu to open the car door and sit in the passenger seat before asking: "How are things?"

Ling Wu knew what he was asking: "Still the same. A physician cannot heal himself; it's not that I can't be cured just because I teach psychology."

Five years ago, Ling Wu jumped into the sea, which scared Xi Huaizhi half to death. He almost wanted to follow him, but fortunately, there was no danger, it was just that his mental illness became more severe.

After several years of clinical treatment, Ling Wu's condition had basically stabilized, but a complete cure was almost impossible.

Even Ling Wu himself had let it go; he was now quite self-consistent and open-minded, just looking forward in everything.

Xi Huaizhi said: "A-Wu, why did you come out later than usual today?"

Ling Wu fastened his seatbelt and told the truth: "A student wanted to invite me to dinner, and I refused, which took some time."

Xi Huaizhi's expression changed subtly: "A man or a woman?"

But thinking carefully about Ling Wu's face that could charm both men and women...

"Forget it." Xi Huaizhi heard the implication in his words: "A-Wu, we aren't forcing you; we just want you to be happy. There is something you can do to better integrate into this society. If you don't want to be a professor anymore, I'll go tell Pei Ziying to transfer you back to the Research Institute, or you can just find some idle job."

Ling Wu was just waiting for him to bring it up: "Then you go tell Senior Brother."

"?"

Xi Huaizhi stepped on the gas: "Are you plotting to trap me again?"

"If you're really bored, I'll take you back to our old trade. We'll be master thieves, wandering the ends of the earth, and I'll pass on my life's unique skills to you, making you my personal disciple to inherit my mantle. That would be much more exciting than your current dull-as-water life."

"........." Ling Wu turned his head slowly: "Inherit your mantle of petty theft?"

Xi Huaizhi: "What unpleasant words."

Then he didn't care, and said again: "A-Wu, that little tyrant of yours has come to the Federation again. Shi Yu is treating him to good food and drink."

"When he landed this morning, he was already called over by your teacher to be fussed over."

Hearing that Jin Shaoyu had come to the Federation, Ling Wu propped up his head and said: "Got it. Turn the air conditioning down a bit, it's so hot."

"Sure."

After that incident happened back then, Jin Shaoyu called Pei Ziying to confirm that Ling Wu was fine, and then made several video calls before he was completely relieved. He shifted his focus back to the Empire, determined to trip up Chu Yi, but the other party parried every move, causing no trouble at all.

He gradually felt it was meaningless, so he threw the matters to Gu Xin and Davis, or at worst, the Elder Council helped out.

Jin Shaoyu traveled tirelessly between the Federation and the Empire like this, usually leaving in the middle of the night and arriving in the morning.

The Empire was too chaotic; he didn't want Ling Wu to return.

Jin Shaoyu believed he could make more concessions. The journey from the Empire to the Federation was long, but the brothers' hearts were close, so everything was worth it.