Chapter 187: Is Peach-daren Someone to be Trifled With?

May 20th.

Inside the Yujing Academy library...

The three of them sat in the corner, each holding a book and a pen, focused and quiet.

Meng Chunqiu was dressed in traditional clothing, his sleeves fluttering; his features were delicate and his skin fair, and sitting there, he didn't know how many gazes he had attracted. Just two days ago, someone had even posted on the confession wall looking for him, which Chen Shu had accidentally stumbled upon while scrolling.

These people...

They don't dare to flirt in person, but go fishing in the sea after the fact.

Trash.

However, the kind-hearted Mr. Chen still provided that classmate with Meng Chunqiu's personal information and Feixin ID; after all, it was just a small favor.

And so—

Another boy's heart collapsed.

Meng Chunqiu had long since grown accustomed to this and still followed them to the library for self-study every day.

Last year, he had only scored sixty-something on one subject and nearly failed, but fortunately, he almost never skipped class, and his daily participation grade pulled him through at the critical moment. This incident had caused great psychological pressure on him, as he bore the glory of the Imperial Family, and he had been studying tirelessly for the past few days.

Jiang Lai's pressure was no less than his.

Brother Jiang needed to get a scholarship, but he was a special admission student whose academic grades were terrible; if he failed even one subject, the scholarship would be out of his reach.

For Brother Jiang, every cent was precious.

Chen Shu had not expected that in this Dormitory, he would be the most composed one.

While his two roommates were nervously reviewing, he was holding a thick book unrelated to the exams, "Small Blazing Sun Art," marveling at the principles within and trying to think about the possibility of optimizing its Spell Rune structure.

This Spell was a rare one that utilized the Reverse Rune Principle, which was to use the conflict between Runes to make the Spirit Power erupt with greater force.

Common Spells all utilized the positive Rune principle: there is one or more main Rune Group serving as the main functional body of the Spell, and there are some Auxiliary Rune Groups with different functions to provide support to the main Rune Group, perfecting its functions and enhancing its performance; when designing Runes, one must try one's best to avoid conflict. Previously, when Chen Shu was researching the Impact Technique, he had run into a small conflict, which led to the Spell's performance not being fully realized.

The Small Blazing Sun Art was the exact opposite.

The main function of this Spell was achieved precisely by utilizing the intense conflict of some Runes: the different Runes created contradictions in the use of Spirit Power, colliding to produce a lethality more terrifying than conventional use, and then supplemented by Auxiliary Runes to amplify and control it, which created this most famous Spell of the Spirit Sect for thousands of years.

The ingenuity of the conception and the uniqueness of the structure of this type of Spell were truly breathtaking and amazing.

Those without sufficient attainments in Spell Principles, let alone researching and learning it, would probably not even be able to understand it, only feeling that every part of it was wrong.

Even until modern times, with the rapid development of Spell Principles, very few such Spells have been born.

Thinking that the original version of this Spell was born thousands of years ago, even Chen Shu couldn't help but shake his head, sighing at the wisdom of the ancients and feeling like a fool himself.

Until noon.

The bracelet buzzed, and only then did Chen Shu turn off the alarm and call his two roommates to get up.

A male student opposite hurriedly nudged another male student with his elbow; the latter looked up, packed his books and pens, and stood up. When the three of them walked out of the library, he ran up to ask Meng Chunqiu for his Feixin.

Chen Shu and Jiang Lai watched with numb expressions.

Meng Chunqiu sighed long and hard, helplessly stating his gender and giving the boy a brief explanation that the clothes he was wearing were for men to go hunting in.

Only then did the three of them leave.

"Brother Meng, what charm you have!"

"Brother Chen, you are just teasing me..." Meng Chunqiu sighed again, "What else can I do? The beauty of a man is even better than that of a beautiful woman..."

"Emmm..."

Chen Shu felt a bit uncomfortable listening to him show off.

He acknowledged the beauty of men; in the natural world, the vast majority of animals have more beautiful males, and humans seem to be the exception. However, since ancient times, the most beautiful men have often possessed looks not inferior to peerless beauties. But for Brother Meng to show off in this area, it just happened to hit his sensitive spot.

After a moment of contemplation, he said: "I have a way."

"What way?"

"Tomorrow, ask Brother Jiang to lend you his undershirt and big shorts to wear; surely no one will misunderstand again," Chen Shu said affirmatively.

"Emmm..." Meng Chunqiu pondered for a moment, "Better not; after all, I am a member of the Imperial Family, and I still need to pay attention to my appearance in daily life."

"Then shave your hair off."

"I worked so hard to grow it."

"Look—"

Chen Shu pointed at him, but faced Jiang Lai, slandering him: "He is just into this!"

Jiang Lai just smiled and didn't participate much.

Meng Chunqiu's face turned bright red; he wanted to say how Brother Chen could slander someone's innocence out of thin air, but thinking that he could never beat Brother Chen in a war of words, and fearing that he wouldn't win but instead be labeled with even more accusations, he had to swallow his anger and change the subject:

"Brother Chen, have you heard? Long Lake at the school next door is going to start fishing in a few days."

"And then?"

"Their Aquaculture Major is a trump card major; the Golden Fin Fish they cultivate is especially delicious. Even His Majesty said after eating it that this fish is the best in the world among freshwater fish. After they catch the fish, they will make a full-fish banquet and invite all the teachers and students of the school to taste it for free. If you know any classmates at the school next door, you can go and mooch a meal."

"What date is it?"

"It starts on the 26th, and they eat for two days. Most colleges start exams on the 28th... That's what I heard."

"The 26th..."

Chen Shu was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but smile.

"What's wrong, Brother Chen?"

"Nothing, you guys go and mooch a meal."

"You're not going?"

"I'm going with my girlfriend who I'm not dating."

"..."

Meng Chunqiu and Jiang Lai looked at each other with complex expressions.

Chen Shu didn't care about them, walked into the cafeteria first, and said without looking back: "I'm still not going to the library this afternoon; I'm going to the laboratory. Brother Meng, you and Brother Jiang be careful, don't let sparks of love fly between you..."

"..."

"..."

Both of them wore expressions of discomfort.

The next few days were basically like this—

In the morning, I would go to the library with Brother Jiang and Brother Meng to study the exquisite structures and concepts within the Small Blazing Sun Art, help out at the laboratory in the afternoon, sometimes go for a walk at the Sports Field in the evening, or go to the small courtyard to feed Qingqing, and return to the Dormitory for Daily Cultivation.

An unchanging life of study.

Soon, it was May 26th.

Chen Shu arrived at Zhilan Garden early in the morning, caught Taozi, who was running around in the yard, and gave it a rough petting; he ignored it even as it wailed.

A heartless cat-petting machine...

The little girl stood to the side, also indifferent to Taozi's pleas for help, only holding a bag of soy milk powder and pouring it into her mouth, eating it dry just like that, asking as she ate: "Brother-in-law, is Sister being released from prison today?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

The little girl smacked her lips, feeling the soy milk powder sticking to her teeth and the roof of her mouth, and it had also stuck to the corners of her mouth, making her feel a bit uncomfortable.

But there was no help for it, all for the sake of growing taller.

How could one grow taller without suffering...

The little girl continued to ask: "Should we clean the house from top to bottom?"

"Yes."

Chen Shu then put Taozi down and said: "The courtyard also needs to be cleaned; it hasn't been taken care of for many days, and there are many fallen leaves and flowers on the ground. Fortunately, Sister won't be out until noon, so we still have plenty of time, otherwise if she came out and saw this, given her personality, she would definitely scold us."

"That's right..." The little girl nodded repeatedly, her speech a bit slurred due to the milk powder, "Sister has a terrible personality!"

"Woof~"

"Can't you just mix it with hot water to drink?"

"It's so delicious this way!"

"..."

"What did Taozi just say?"

"Don't know, being stupid, probably..."

"Brother-in-law, do you want to eat some soy milk powder?"

"I don't eat it..."

"Okay." The little girl pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, always feeling that a thick layer of powder was piled up there, just like cement, and she had to get it off.

"I'll go prune the withered flowers, you go sweep up the leaves and petals on the ground."

"Okay... *cough cough*!"

The little girl suddenly started coughing and sprayed a small cloud of milk powder from her mouth.

Just as she was speaking, she had finally broken through the milk powder fortification on the roof of her mouth, but she hadn't expected that the powder inside was still dry, so she happened to choke while talking, and the milk powder was sprayed out like spores.

"*Cough cough*..."

The little girl coughed violently.

The milk powder drifted and scattered in the sunlight.

Chen Shu looked at her helplessly, shook his head, went to get the scissors, and began to prune the withered flowers.

The little girl soon defeated the milk powder as well and brought a broom over to sweep the floor.

At first, they were unhurried, chatting and playing while cleaning, occasionally chasing Taozi until it ran wildly all over the place, but as noon drew closer and there were more and more things left undone, their cleaning movements clearly accelerated.

They began to get nervous.

The little girl trotted off to take out the trash.

Chen Shu quickly mopped the floor.

The little girl tidied up the clutter on the coffee table.

Chen Shu brushed the fur Taozi had shed off the sofa.

Only Taozi sat upright, tilting its head to watch them from the side, its pair of big, azure eyes revealing a look of contemplation, not knowing what it was thinking about.

"Phew..."

Chen Shu straightened his back and let out a long breath.

The house had become tidy once again, and the floor he had just mopped was not yet dry, shimmering with a bright luster.

A small head suddenly popped out at the doorway.

Taozi kept its whole body hidden behind the door, only poking its head out to peek inside sneakily; seeing Chen Shu, it quickly retracted it again.

"?"

Strange.

A stupid cat.

Chen Shu pretended to run over quickly, scaring Taozi into dashing into the courtyard in a flash, where it hid behind a cluster of flowers and secretly aimed a look at him.

Chen Shu grinned and laughed.

Admiring his masterpiece once more, he walked out of the courtyard, feeling full of a sense of accomplishment, and no longer paid any attention to this stupid cat.

Not until the little girl, who had gone to take out the trash again, returned and said to him: "Brother-in-law, I just saw Taozi scratching around on the lawn outside; that lawn was automatically watered this morning and is all wet, it didn't run into the house, did it?"

"!"

Chen Shu suddenly felt that something was wrong.

He turned his head to look—

Behind that patch of flowers, it was already completely empty.

He scanned the courtyard once more, but could not find the figure of Taozi either.

"Oh no!"

Chen Shu stood up and ran into the house.

He saw that on the floor tiles he had just mopped, there was a trail of small plum-blossom paw prints, extending from the doorway, circling once inside the living room, and then winding back out.

"..."

Chen Shu suddenly turned his head—

A snow-white long-haired cat was standing on the courtyard wall, peering at him; seeing that he had spotted it, it shrank its neck, turned around, and leaped out.