Chapter 118: Buy a Lesson

Ling'an Academy.

A female teacher, who was over seventy years old but looked only twenty-five or twenty-six, looked helplessly at the young woman sitting in her seat: "Are you really not looking to cause trouble for someone? You mustn't act recklessly!"

"Oh, I told you I'm not! I'm looking for a friend!"

"Swear it to the Sword Master!"

"I swear to the Sword Master, if I'm here to cause trouble for someone, let the Sword Master be struck dead by lightning! If the person I'm looking for isn't my friend, or if I have privately recorded and leaked someone else's information, let the Sword Master be struck dead by lightning too! Is that good enough now?"

Zhang Suannai put her hand down impatiently:

"So annoying!"

"..." The female teacher twitched the corner of her mouth, "Why do I feel like this isn't reliable at all?"

"How is it not reliable? I can't exactly let the Sword Master of our Sword Sect be struck dead by lightning, can I? Besides, the old man is my master; you mustn't slander someone's innocence out of thin air..." As Zhang Suannai said this, she suddenly looked at the female teacher in front of her with sorrowful eyes, "I say, Zhiyan, why have you become so fussy? This isn't the conduct of our Sword Sect Disciple! Don't let yourself be corrupted after working off the mountain for so long!"

"I want to beat you up!"

"Hey! Don't commit an act of insubordination!"

Zhang Suannai muttered to herself; she couldn't win in a fight, so she had to puff out her chest and say righteously:

"I am your Martial Aunt!"

"Shut up!"

"Hey! That's the spirit!" Zhang Suannai gave a thumbs up repeatedly, "That's exactly it, this is what a Sword Sect Disciple should say!"

"..."

"Pour your Martial Aunt a cup of tea while you're at it."

"Drink what? Haven't you found them yet? I'll emphasize this again: you are not allowed to reveal anyone's personal information!"

"Alright, alright, stop nagging, pour your Martial Aunt some tea."

"..."

The female teacher had no choice but to turn around and grab a paper cup; soon, a cup of scalding hot plain water was placed in front of Zhang Suannai.

Zhang Suannai glanced at it, feeling very gratified, then ignored the water and leaned in close to stare at the computer screen, checking the relevant student information one academy at a time, one entry after another.

First, she looked at the academies with a strong correlation to "Ancient Cultivation," such as the Martial Cultivation Academy, the Rune and Spiritual Power Academy, the Traditional Cultivation Academy, and so on.

If she didn't find them, she would look through the other academies in order of relevance.

This student information system had no filtering or search function; she could only look at them one by one, which was somewhat troublesome.

Zhang Suannai remained patient.

She directly excluded the men.

To be able to enter the Ancient Cultivation Group, their Spirit Power Talent in the entrance exam definitely couldn't be bad; if it wasn't a perfect score, it couldn't be too far off, so she excluded those who were too far off as well.

Next, she looked at the height and weight in the personal information, excluding those who were too fat or too short.

However, considering that Qingcai Keke might have sent her "catfish photos," and there weren't many students in a grade whose Spirit Power Talent could be called "excellent," she was quite lenient regarding their physique, focusing mainly on Spirit Power Talent.

She noted down anyone who was a suspected target.

The Martial Academy was finished.

There was one suspected target.

The Rune and Spiritual Power Academy was finished.

Two suspected targets.

The Traditional Cultivation Academy was also finished.

Also two suspected targets.

Zhang Suannai's patience was about to run out; she picked up the water, which had now become lukewarm, and drank it in one gulp. She simply stood up and said to the female teacher sitting on the other side: "I'll stop here for now; I'm going to go find them first, and if I don't find them, I'll come back."

"Get lost."

"Hey, you disrespectful... I'm going to tell your master to discipline you!"

"Do you believe you'll get a beating if you don't get lost right now?"

"Tch..."

Zhang Suannai strode out of the office, not bothering to argue with this junior.

She had already noted down the Dormitory addresses of those five junior schoolmates, so she would go confirm them one by one—

If the back-view photo that little junior schoolmate sent her was real, with such a good figure, she would easily be able to recognize her. Even if this method failed, as long as that junior schoolmate could recognize her, her expression would surely be somewhat unnatural, and she would be able to identify her that way too.

Zhang Suannai set off in high spirits.

She was currently full of vigor.

She arrived at the first Dormitory.

It was on the sixth floor.

It was a real pain to climb.

Zhang Suannai knocked on the door, and when a girl came to open it, she immediately put on a smile and asked: "I'm looking for student Lingxiu, is she here?"

"She is." The girl who opened the door shouted inside, "Lingxiu! A classmate is here to see you!"

"Who is it?"

A tall girl with an ordinary face walked out and looked at her in confusion.

Zhang Suannai scrutinized the girl's expression, her heart sinking a little, but she still said: "Haha, Qingcai Keke, I've found you!"

"Huh?"

"Just kidding! I'm here to deliver flowers; a classmate of yours asked me to bring you a bouquet!" Zhang Suannai pulled a bouquet of sunflowers from who knows where and handed them over with a grin, "They said to wish you good studies in the new semester, progress every day, and to reach the goals you want."

"Who is it?"

"It's anonymous."

"Oh."

"Goodbye."

Zhang Suannai closed the door directly and left.

The first search failed.

One hour later.

Zhang Suannai stood downstairs from the fifth girl's building and scratched her head.

She had already ruled out all five, but none of these five were the one.

Unless that Qingcai Keke was a master actor and could also deceive her Spiritual Sense as a Sword Cultivator, the result could not be wrong.

Was she from another academy?

"Sigh..."

Zhang Suannai took a step and continued walking toward the office.

She could only keep looking.

She had bought ten bouquets of sunflowers in total; there shouldn't be many students in other academies with excellent Spirit Power Talent, so screening them would be easier. She hoped to find her before the remaining five bouquets of sunflowers were used up.

Two hours later.

Zhang Suannai walked out of the flower shop with an expressionless face; she had bought another twenty bouquets of sunflowers.

It seemed the conditions she set earlier were too strict, or perhaps Qingcai Keke's talent wasn't that high; her talent might lie in other areas. Furthermore, it was highly likely she hadn't just sent a fake photo of herself, but a ridiculously fake one; not only was her figure not that good, but she might even be a short, stout person.

In any case, she would lower the requirements and try again.

She had to find her today; otherwise, classes would start tomorrow, and she might end up at the Dormitory only to find an empty room.

Three hours later.

Zhang Suannai felt somewhat lost—

Where exactly had things gone wrong?

Could it be that this person wasn't a freshman?

Was she a sophomore?

Did she only reveal her talent last year and get added to the group?

But why did she keep saying "Senior" every other word? Was she that eager to pretend to be young? Or was this woman's mind actually this deep?

Or could it be that she was actually a man?

And was she actually as clever as herself?

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

"Gurgle..."

She hadn't eaten lunch yet, and Zhang Suannai's stomach began to growl. She couldn't help but rub her stomach and look up at the sky, feeling momentarily bewildered, not knowing whether she should continue searching or go eat first.

Let a coin decide.

A coin appeared in Zhang Suannai's hand. She made up her mind: if it landed on heads, she would go eat; if it landed on tails, she would continue searching.

One toss to decide it all!

"Ding!"

The coin spun as it flew into the sky.

Zhang Suannai squinted her eyes and, without even looking, reached out and caught it with precision.

She opened her eyes to look.

"Emm..."

She would toss it one more time.

"Ding!"

This damn heaven!

Forget it! I'm going to eat!

Ten minutes later.

In front of Zhang Suannai sat a bowl of soft, chewy wide rice noodles in a rich broth, topped with a thick layer of chopped pig's trotters. She picked up her chopsticks and unceremoniously plunged them into the noodles to start stirring; the aroma was mouth-watering.

"Buzz buzz!"

Zhang Suannai picked up her Mobile Phone.

Haoran: It's already afternoon.

Haoran: Have you found Green Vegetable Keke's personal information yet? @NainaiZongShuo

"Bang!"

Zhang Suannai slapped the table hard.

The customers and the owner dining in the shop were all startled by her. They turned their heads to look at her, only to see her put down her chopsticks and type frantically on her Mobile Phone, her two thumbs almost creating afterimages on the screen.

NainaiZongShuo: You don't know her personal information???

NainaiZongShuo: /I might not be human but you are truly a dog

Qingcai Keke: /eating melon seeds

Haoran: /eating melon seeds

Haoran: If I didn't want to see you make a fool of yourself, you would have been muted again by now.

NainaiZongShuo: Mute me then!

NainaiZongShuo: Mute me for three days and three nights!

Haoran: You wish.

Qingcai Keke: /eating melon seeds

Haoran: Don't use my emoji.

Gate of All Wonders: The group owner is right, how is your investigation going?

Nameless Person: I want to ask too.

Grandma Always Says: What's the rush?

Gate of All Wonders: You said you'd have results today, and you even made us pay in advance; you can't go back on your word, right?

Grandma Always Says: Did I? Forgot.

Grandma Always Says: If you paid in advance, that's on you for being stupid.

Grandma Always Says: Suffering a loss is a blessing, take it as a lesson. Stop thinking about gossip every single day, damn it! It would be better to use that time for cultivation!

Gate of All Wonders: ……

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Amitabha, what a sin.

Just Call Me Luo Huaian: I knew she wouldn't be able to do it.

Zhao Yeqing: A scammer.

Qingcai Keke: /eating melon seeds

Grandma Always Says: Don't get cocky! I'll be able to find you soon! At the very least, I already know now that the photo you sent me is fake, and you aren't as good-looking as you usually brag about in the group!

Qingcai Keke: /dazed

Qingcai Keke: Pure nonsense! I am the most beautiful woman in the whole world!

Grandma Always Says: Bullshit!

Grandma Always Says: Watch me expose your true colors!

Grandma Always Says: /slaps table

Qingcai Keke: /eating melon seeds

"Bang……"

The way this person is so fearless is truly detestable.

Zhang Suannai turned off her Mobile Phone directly, threw it on the table, picked up her chopsticks again, and slurped up a large mouthful of noodles.

The broth was rich and thick, accompanied by the oily and savory aroma of pig trotters; it was very satisfying to eat.

Her mood was finally a little better.

It was fated that no results would be found today, and later she still had to take Ning Qing's younger sister out to get familiar with the campus—although Ning Qing's sister was also very cold, she always spoke more than Ning Qing, and she wouldn't tell people to shut up directly like Ning Qing; she was cuter and more polite, so Zhang Suannai decided to get along well with her and strive to cultivate this little girl into her own playmate and chat partner.

Results in one day?

Sorry, I've already forgotten.

……

The night was deep.

Chen Shu sat beside his desk, watching the shareholders in the group protest against Zhang Suannai for posting false information to trick people into investing, and found it extremely interesting.

At this time, the teacher for last year's "History of Cultivation and Cultivation System" sent him the class schedule, which was the sophomore year's "Cultivation System Detailed Explanation," and said that the content he wanted to know would probably be covered in the third to fifth week.

After checking it, Chen Shu thanked him earnestly.

Secondly, there were still many messages waiting to be processed on Feixin.

Perhaps it was to earn money for engraving Runes, or perhaps the tips from readers during the winter break were exceptionally generous; in any case, Jiang Lai hadn't been idle during the winter break, and had served as a little promotional ambassador for Chen Shu for over a month, leading to people constantly adding him on Feixin to seek cooperation.

Chen Shu was indeed starting to lack money again now; it was time to dig out these shelved tools to send him money.

Chen Shu pondered.

Among the many tools, the ones he least wanted to deal with were the bosses who came to him to design new Runes individually.

Designing new Runes requires using one's brain.

Using one's brain is very tiring.

Although he lacked money, he still wanted to earn easy money.

If they only wanted that set of Runes for Jiang Lai, he would only need to modify the original foundation of that set of Runes, which would be relatively acceptable.

But it was only relatively acceptable.

If he let that set of Runes on his roommate flow out, wouldn't his roommate lose their advantage in the Arena?

Besides that, there was another problem—

Rune leakage.

He hadn't really cared about this problem before, mainly because he felt that even if this set of Runes were accidentally leaked, it would only impact the Martial Artist Rune market in Yujing and wouldn't have much of an effect on him. At the time, he hadn't expected to be able to earn so much money through Martial Artist Runes, or even that he could rely on them to exchange for better Auxiliary Potion; he had thought he could only earn some pocket money.

Now, if the Runes leaked again, he would lose a lot of money.

Chen Shu was different from the Rune studios outside; he only possessed the ability to design Runes, while Rune studios all came with their own Engraver, so after designing the Runes, they could complete the engraving in their own shop without worrying about Rune leakage.

Chen Shu, however, could not.

After Chen Shu designed the Runes, he had to find an Engraver outside, and it was hard to guarantee that his customers would be as conscientious as Jiang Lai.

Registering Design Copyright had some effect, but not much; it could mainly only constrain those large-scale shops, and it was difficult to constrain small shops or individuals.

Unless he found a cooperative Engraver.

If that were the case, this method would be the most profitable, even after deducting the salary for the Engraver, it would still be very profitable. The only difficulty was that it wasn't easy to find a badass Engraver who met his requirements, as most badass Engravers already had jobs.

Too much trouble.

Give up.

Therefore, Chen Shu was more inclined to license this set of Runes to certain studios—some studios had already contacted him, hoping to buy the exclusive license; although they also used different reasons to drive down the price, for Chen Shu, this money was the easiest to earn.

Finally, there was one more type of potential partner.

That was the boss of the Arena where Jiang Lai was.

The Arena boss hoped to reach a long-term cooperation with Chen Shu, letting Chen Shu design Runes specifically for his Martial Artist; the method of cooperation was similar to licensing to studios, but the Arena boss was more generous.

Chen Shu was more inclined toward this choice—

Easy and worry-free;

The pay is good;

Even if the Runes leak out, it won't be serious; at the very least, it's unlikely the Arena boss would give Runes to a Martial Artist signed with another Arena, right?

So, Chen Shu found the Arena boss.

The Arena boss's WeChat name was "North Wind Does Not Return," his surname was Li, and to avoid forgetting later, Chen Shu set a nickname for him.

Chen Shu: Boss Li

Li Leitai: Have you decided?

Chen Shu: Yes.

Li Leitai: I've already told you the conditions roughly; we can discuss the details in person.

Chen Shu: If we can chat online, let's chat online. I'm too lazy to go out; young people are like this nowadays.

Chen Shu: /Already a salted fish.

Li Leitai: That works too.