“Hello, students. Today we’ll be studying classical poetry and the stories behind them. Actually… they’re quite interesting.”
Facing a classroom full of distracted students, Li Xueli spoke timidly. This cultural class had an odd attendance pattern—some students who didn’t need to attend came anyway, and some who should’ve been there still didn’t show up. For instance, the two students in the last two rows by the window were both missing.
One of them, a curly-haired boy, had handed her a leave note before class and ran off without looking back. The note stated that he had reached a sudden insight and needed extra training—so he could avenge his fallen comrades.
As for the other, a girl, she didn’t even bother with a leave note. But she didn’t need one either, since she was already a Tier 2 student—the rising star of the entire academy.
Li Xueli sighed.
Just over a week ago, when the principal announced the addition of weekly diary entries as cultural class homework, she had thought the school was finally starting to take cultural education seriously.
She had even hoped her time to shine had arrived. But it turned out that “diary” was just a diary, and the status of cultural classes had actually fallen further due to curriculum reforms. As a teacher at the bottom of the academic food chain, she hadn’t realized there was still room to drop even lower.
Just as her mood hit rock bottom, a sweet, soft voice came from the classroom door: “May I come in?”
Li Xueli’s heart leapt—thump, thump—as she turned toward the door in disbelief. It was her. It was really her. The homeroom teacher had said she didn’t need to come to class today, but here she was anyway—the pride of Class 1, Grade 3: Xu Chuyao!
“Please come i—Ah, I mean, come in.”
Most of the class was too distracted to notice that Li Xueli had nearly misspoken.
Her feelings toward Xu Chuyao were special—not for any specific reason, but because Xu Chuyao truly understood culture. She was the only top student Li Xueli had ever had over the years.
What? You’re saying Xu Chuyao never actually paid attention in class, so her achievements have nothing to do with Li Xueli? That didn’t matter.
According to the P.E. teacher, Xu Chuyao didn’t put much effort into training either, yet she still managed to be one of their favorite students.
“Class, today’s story is about Bo Ya and Zhong Ziqi. Bo Ya was a master of the zither, and Zhong Ziqi was a master of listening…”
Xu Chuyao returned to her seat and glanced at the window side. “Huh? Where’s Shen Ning? Where’d she go?”
“No idea. She ran off early this morning. Just skipped class entirely. Guess that’s how a Tier 2 honor student rolls,” Mi Xiaolu sighed, then turned to her roommate. “What about you? Did you really go be that main interrogator or whatever?”
“Of course I did!” Xu Chuyao sniffed proudly. “This morning, Principal Lü and dozens of school leaders from all over watched me conduct the interrogation. None of them could get a word in—it was all me asking the questions!”
“Whoa, how’d you manage that?”
“Simple. A big shot came—the Director of the Main City Security Department. Last time, when homeroom called me away, I casually gave him some analysis. He immediately saw I was a talent. That’s what you call…”
“Xu Chuyao~” Li Xueli called from the podium. “Could you tell us which idiom this story corresponds to?”
“‘High mountains and flowing water meet a kindred spirit!’” Xu Chuyao answered aloud.
“Correct!”
So right! Li Xueli secretly wiped her eyes, her nose tingling with emotion.
Excited, she flipped through her lesson prep book, hoping to find more references to “high mountains and flowing water” to share with her beloved top student.
But she didn’t realize that Xu Chuyao was already thinking about another girl.
“I need to go find Shen Ning. There’s something important,” Xu Chuyao said.
She was just 350 villain points short of a 10-pull. She needed the heroine’s help to level up again.
……
On the rooftop of the teaching building, eleven sheets of old newspaper were laid out over the gravel. The curly-haired boy dashed from the first page to the last, talking nonstop.
“We all know that Director Luo has worked at the academy since his youth. But remember—Miss. Li once said adjectives are relative… Don’t look at me like that—that’s the only thing I remembered from that class. Anyway, based on Director Luo’s age, his ‘youth’ probably means his twenties or thirties. So here’s the question: what did he do before that?”
Xiao Snow took a little leap back to the first page of newspaper.
“I searched for a long time but couldn’t find any reports about Director Luo. I was about to give up—then I passed our homeroom teacher on the way to the cafeteria and suddenly remembered: he once changed his name. So what if Director Luo did the same? I searched again and actually found someone who’s likely to be him.”
He picked up one newspaper and held it out to Shen Ning. The headline on the front page read—
[Dawn Breaks! One of the Twin Stars Rising to Fame in the Latter Half of the Pacification War, General Wen Shengqing, Prepares to Launch an Attack on the Four Rebel Leaders Occupying the Old City: Kuang Han, Suishi Ya, Luo Kang, and Pin Yu.]
“Ordinarily, headlines like this—big, mainstream stories—aren’t really my thing. But something in the follow-up caught my eye.”
Xiao Snow picked up three more newspapers and showed them to her one by one. “Look. One day later, Kuang Han is executed. Third day’s headline: Suishi Ya beheaded in battle, body unrecovered. Fifth day’s news: Pin Yu decapitated, Old City cleansed, celebrations everywhere.”
Shen Ning didn’t get it at first. But as he explained, something clicked. “There’s someone missing.”
“Exactly! One person—Luo Kang—is missing. Which means he either escaped or… surrendered! Driven by my obsession with details, I immediately looked for news about Luo Kang and found some info. Most importantly, aside from the name, his age and strength match Director Luo’s exactly!”
Names can change, but age and power are much harder to fake. Especially at Tier 3 and above—those individuals are always well-known, with detailed records. There’s little room for error.
“After piecing everything together, I uncovered a historical truth.” Xiao Snow stepped into the center of the rooftop, his curly hair rustling dramatically in the wind.
“Director Luo’s real name is Luo Kang. Decades ago, he ruled the Old City like a king. But when he was around thirty, he fought General Wen Shengqing, who was just twenty-something at the time. After only a few moves, he was forced to kneel and surrender. Because he gave in so quickly, his life was spared, and he was exiled to Ascension Academy to work as a discipline director.”
Back then, Ascension Academy was a ragtag operation lacking everything. For someone of Luo Kang’s strength, being a grade director was definitely a demotion.
Shen Ning blinked, struggling to process this. Their stern and exacting grade director used to have that kind of past?
But Xiao Snow was sure: “I’ve always heard people say Director Luo doesn’t care about students’ cultivation. He just obsesses over his discipline classes. Sometimes he even scolds those who train too hard, saying stuff like ‘chasing power too early leads to madness.’ I used to wonder why. But now I get it—it’s PTSD! He was traumatized by someone younger and stronger beating him into the dirt…”
“Oh, right—why were you looking into him, Shen Ning?”
Shen Ning hesitated, then told the truth: “He always seems to target me.”
“Ah, that explains everything!” Xiao Snow said animatedly. “He probably sees a shadow of that ‘Twin Star’ in you, which is why he can’t stand you. That’s a good thing! Who knows, maybe you’ll be like that hero someday—reach Tier 3 before turning twenty, and by twenty-two, beat Luo Kang into the ground again!”
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