Chapter 55: Beloved Disciple

"It's over, it's over! Why was this monthly exam so hard? Who the hell set the last two math problems? I didn't write a single answer!"

Zheng Fa was reading a book, listening to Wang Chen at the desk behind and to his side wailing with his head in his hands.

He glanced around the classroom; the atmosphere after the monthly exam was somewhat low, many faces looked rather unpleasant, as if they all felt they had performed poorly.

"Zheng Fa, how did you do?" Wang Chen poked Zheng Fa's arm and asked.

"I don't know, I didn't check the answers."

Not checking answers after an exam was Zheng Fa's habit.

But he felt he should have done quite well.

The test paper was a bit difficult, but he felt he would do better than before—on one hand, the math paper that made Wang Chen wail in agony, after tutoring from Old Bai and Tang Lingwu, he actually found the difficulty average.

He even had time to check it twice after finishing the paper.

On the other hand, after mastering the Spirit Crane Body, he felt his memory and reaction ability had both stepped up a level, so other subjects likely improved too.

Wang Chen knew this habit of his, nodded, and suddenly said: "Zheng Fa, you're in trouble this time, Old Chen is definitely going to look for you."

"Look for me?"

"He can endure for three days, that's already a record."

"A record?"

"The record that anyone who covets Tang Lingwu gets hammered within two days; if it hadn't been for the monthly exam, he should have called you to the office long ago."

Wang Chen stated it very confidently; he always acted particularly professional about such matters.

Zheng Fa shook his head; he and Tang Lingwu could only meet at school, and he had never thought of hiding it from anyone.

If Old Chen saw them, he saw them.

As for physical contact... Zheng Fa really had no other intentions.

Whether the Spirit Crane Body could be cultivated by people in the modern world was very important to him; this concerned the value of what he learned in the Xuanwei Realm in the modern world.

From the experiment on Tang Lingwu, his Qi energy could help Tang Lingwu cultivate the Spirit Crane Body, or rather, half of the Spirit Crane Body—the modern conditions determined that Tang Lingwu could not sense the strange power in the void, but her body would undergo similar changes.

In terms of cultivation speed, Zheng Fa's Qi energy was after all too weak, completely unable to replace the entire environment of the Xuanwei Realm.

Tang Lingwu cultivating with the help of his Qi energy was much slower than his cultivation in the Xuanwei Realm; perhaps cultivating dozens or even a hundred times wouldn't equal Zheng Fa cultivating once in the Xuanwei Realm.

But, being able to make people master it was Zheng Fa's unique advantage in this world.

The modern world was far from a place where cultivating a little Spirit Crane Body allowed one to act without restraint; using knowledge from the Xuanwei Realm to attract people like Old Bai, learning the knowledge he needed, was the method for him to maximize his advantage of traveling between the two worlds.

"If Old Chen looks for you, just admit your mistake directly, say you'll never date Tang Lingwu again." Wang Chen was still offering suggestions.

"Tang Lingwu and I are not dating." Zheng Fa corrected him.

"You scum, even I, your brother, can't stand listening to this; you've already made a move and don't want to take responsibility?" Wang Chen's eyes revealed a look of contempt: "Besides, Old Chen saw it all clearly!"

Dating Tang Lingwu?

Zheng Fa admitted he had no such intentions.

As for Tang Lingwu...

If the way she looked at him could be called the first flutter of love, then the way she looked at milk tea must be called eternal devotion until death.

In Tang Lingwu's eyes, he must be Zheng·Milk Tea Supply Pack·Beauty Department Miracle Worker·Not Very Bright·Fa.

Zheng Fa considered himself upright, so he had no fear of a crooked shadow.

Wang Chen, seeing his expression showed no panic at all, interpreted it as a dead pig not fearing boiling water: "Let me tell you, do you think Old Chen not looking for you is tolerating you? I bet you, he's waiting for the monthly exam results; if you have even a tiny bit of poor performance, he'll settle new and old scores together; the longer he drags it out, the bigger the blow he's going to give you!"

The day after the joint monthly exam finished, rumors that the results were out were already spreading in the class.

"Did you hear? Tang Lingwu should be first in our class again."

Wang Chen was telling Zheng Fa the gossip he had heard.

"Isn't she always first?" Zheng Fa wasn't surprised either.

"You don't understand; if she gets first again this time, she's Old Chen's beloved disciple, his lifeblood; just think, can someone like you, who has meddled with his precious treasure, expect any good outcome? He'll scold you to death!"

Zheng Fa glanced sideways at Wang Chen, frowning slightly: "I always feel like you seem very eager for Old Chen to scold me?"

"I'm treating you as a brother." Wang Chen said earnestly.

"Hmm?"

"I just want you to get a scolding." Wang Chen said through gritted teeth: "But other boys want to kill you."

Just as the two were chatting, a series of footsteps came from outside the classroom, among which was Old Chen's voice speaking.

Wang Chen hurriedly sat back in his seat, picked up a book, and pretended to read.

It was indeed Old Chen, but Old Chen didn't come alone; two or three middle-aged men were following behind him.

The middle-aged man walking in the very center of the crowd was very familiar; during student assemblies, he often sat in the middle of the main platform.

Everyone's faces were beaming with joy.

"Which student is Tang Lingwu, who got first place this time?"

That middle-aged man asked.

"Tang Lingwu!" Old Chen called out Tang Lingwu's name; Tang Lingwu walked out of the classroom, and Old Chen pulled her to his side: "Principal, this is Tang Lingwu."

The principal also didn't expect that Tang Lingwu had such an outstanding face, so he couldn't help but look at her a few more times: "I've long heard your class has a pretty young Miss with good grades; I didn't expect her to be so beautiful."

As Old Chen's most frequently used medal of merit, Tang Lingwu wore a perfectly appropriate look of shyness on her face, seeming very accustomed to being pulled by Old Chen to show off.

The principal didn't even wait for her answer, just nodded and said with a smile: "This time you got first place in the entire grade of our school, and also first among Gao San students in several schools! You've brought honor to our Qingshui Middle School!"

Hearing these words, Zheng Fa and the others understood why these people had specially run over to see Tang Lingwu.

Being first in the grade wasn't important; what mattered was stepping heavily on the brother schools!

That principal praised Tang Lingwu thoroughly, then as if remembering something: "I see there's another name on the top ten list, Zheng Fa? Is he also in your class?"

Zheng Fa saw Old Chen beckoning to him, stood up, and walked towards the group; Old Chen's smile towards him today was exceptionally warm.

"This is Zheng Fa."

The principal looked at him, nodded, and seemed somewhat puzzled: "I haven't seen this name in the top ten list before?"

"Yes, although this student's entrance exam scores weren't great, he has always studied very hard and has been making progress continuously." Old Chen praised.

"Oh?" the principal asked with great interest: "Making great progress certainly means mastering some study methods. Zheng Fa, how do you usually study?"

Zheng Fa looked at Tang Lingwu. Old Chen's bald head suddenly broke out in a cold sweat: "This... Principal, he usually studies with Tang Lingwu, learning from each other and promoting each other."

"Good at learning from students with better grades? That's a good method! His situation is even more suitable for ordinary students to learn from. Why not have Zheng Fa speak to all the teachers and students during the Monday assembly?"

"That's not really... I mean, this method is somewhat unique; others probably can't learn it, can't learn it." Old Chen stammered.

The principal was a bit disappointed but didn't press Old Chen there, only encouraging him: "Then you must still urge the two of them to continue uniting and helping each other, redouble their efforts, and progress together!"

Old Chen's smile suddenly carried an expression of toothache.

He didn't seem very eager to urge them.

Inside the classroom, Wang Chen's gaze was somewhat dull as he looked blankly at his desk mate beside him: "Why do I feel like Zheng Fa has also been promoted to Old Chen's favorite disciple?"

"No need to feel it; look at Old Chen, how sweetly he's smiling?"

"He's not scolding him anymore?"

"Scolding? He's still praising him! It's so sickeningly sweet."