The price of enjoying ultimate resources was to carry the family’s honor.
They had to protect their family and defend China.
Since no one dared criticize Shen Shangchi and Ying Qi, their attention shifted to the others.
Ning Shaoyu, logically, should have been the one most criticized.
He was the first to lose to Li Yang.
But Li Yang had also defeated Shen Shangchi and secured first place in the monthly exam.
In comparison, Ning Shaoyu’s loss seemed reasonable, justified, and without any flaws.
He lost in a fair way.
So many outstanding young talents had lost.
What was wrong with a commoner genius losing?
He had no Half-Step Supreme mentor, after all.
When Ning Shaoyu watched the competition, his back became straighter and straighter.
Initially, he was filled with resentment, but when he saw Li Yang defeat Lin Zhaoxia, all his resentment evaporated.
Ning Shaoyu even anonymously posted a set of golden wheat emojis.
As for the other person defeated by Ying Qi, there was nothing much to criticize, so… the target shifted to Fang Chuyun.
Fang Chuyun lost to an outsider.
She had also stood up for Li Yang during the Tree Tower event.
Fang Chuyun didn’t care about the reputation of the Star Magic Department and continuously cheered for their public enemy.
She didn’t mind these things; she was always a loner.
Her sister had told her to focus on cultivation.
As long as she advanced to the Third Stage, she could graduate in just one year.
It was only a year; she could endure it.
It was just being ostracized by a few fellow students.
The Star Magic Department’s teachers wouldn’t be hard on her.
While thinking this, Fang Chuyun received a message from Li Yang.
Li Yang: “Chuyun, do you want to come to the Agricultural Studies Department?”
Fang Chuyun: “!”
Li Yang continued: “No rush. My teacher is in seclusion and won’t be out for half a month. You can decide then.”
Fang Chuyun stood still for a long while before asking: “I heard the Agricultural Studies Department isn’t accepting students…”
“My teacher gave me full authority over admissions. I can make the decisions. If you want to come, you can!”
At this moment, two Star Magic Department students walked past Fang Chuyun, as if avoiding a plague.
Fang Chuyun initially didn’t care, but when she saw the message on her phone, she suddenly felt a pang in her nose, and her eyes began to sting.
“I… I’ll ask my sister.”
“Mm! You can have Fang Jie inquire. The Agricultural Studies Department is called the Natural Studies Department in the star realm. It’s really impressive!”
Fang Chuyun struggled to type a single word: “Okay.”
Zhao Qin also smiled.
She said, “I knew you’d understand me! Anyway, I can’t beat Lin Zhaoxia. Rather than being a supporting character in the Lin family, it’s better to carve a new path for myself!”
In another first-class dormitory not far away, Zhong Kun was pacing frantically.
“Heavens, is Li Yang really the destined one, and am I the so-called ‘unlucky one’?”
“I’m so unlucky! During the Provincial Examination in Donghua Province, I cursed my brother into second place, and when we came to the Zhongdu Military Academy, my brother didn’t even make second place, he fell to third!”
“Damn it, I can’t even handle Lin Zhaoxia’s bad luck. What should I do?”
Suddenly, Zhong Kun stopped and had an idea.
“Instead of pestering my brother, I should pester Li Yang! She’s got super luck on her side, maybe she can suppress my bad luck!”
Zhong Kun wasn’t as competitive as Lin Zhaoqin.
He was a real “brother’s fanboy,” just wanted to hold onto his older brother’s leg and live a carefree life.
But the problem was, his older brother seemed to be dragging him down.
“Brother, you’ve got to become strong!”
If the Zhong family fell, who would give him 10 million a month in pocket money?
Zhong Kun rushed out of the dormitory and ran towards home, shouting in his mind, “Great-grandfather, great-grandfather!”
The retired patriarch of the Zhong family was in the golden age of doting on grandchildren, especially enjoying Zhong Kun’s lively and cute great-grandson.
“What’s wrong?”
“I want to transfer to the Natural Sciences Department!”
The sound of the patriarch’s smoking pipe hitting the ground echoed.
Zhong Kun quickly babbled his mysterious reasoning, leaving the patriarch stunned.
“Hm?” The patriarch pondered for a moment, then asked, “Will that person take you in?”
Zhong Kun’s eyes lit up.
“Li Yang is my good buddy (if worse comes to worst, I can bribe her), I’m sure she can help me out!”
“That’s a good fate,” the patriarch mused.
He had lived for a long time and wasn’t stuck in old ways.
The Zhong family already had Zhong Qian as a key candidate for cultivation, while Zhong Kun was more or less left to fend for himself.
If he wanted to fight for an opportunity, it wasn’t a bad thing.
“Fine!”
the patriarch said.
“Leave it to me to handle things with your parents. As long as the Natural Sciences Department is willing to accept you, everything can be arranged.”
Zhong Kun was even more determined after hearing the patriarch’s easy agreement.
“For my older brother, I’m going to Li Yang’s department!”
“Li Yang, you must suppress my bad luck!”
“Brother, you must grow stronger! Don’t let me down for leaving home to cultivate!”
“A little hardship now, a lifetime of lying down as a salted fish later.”
Zhong Kun: Plan approved!
The next day, Li Yang received an email from the academic affairs office.
Ding! You’ve received a congratulatory gift from your lovely classmates for the monthly exam~
Total gift amount: 12,333 merit points.
Gift income after division: 6,144.5 merit points.
Li Yang couldn’t help but widen her eyes and take a sharp breath.
“This monthly exam… maybe we should change it to a daily exam?”
But it was only the first monthly exam for the freshmen, which was relatively grand.
Future monthly exams, midterms, and finals would only be for ranking based on realms, not a gladiatorial contest.
With this unexpected income, Li Yang could finally pay back the debt she owed to Li Yaowan.
“Teacher Li, let’s settle the IOU.”
Li Yaowan was crunching numbers with a sound.
“Not a bad income from the gifts.”
“It’s decent, just enough to pay off the debt. I guess it was all for nothing.”
“How could it be? You still have 1,144.5 merit points left.”
Li Yang: “You really have a knack for calculating. Professor Yaowan, you should switch to finance!”
But thinking about the system and structure of the Pill Department, it was basically the same as working in finance.
Li Yaowan then asked, “You only have about 1,300 merit points on hand. It might not be enough. Do you want to borrow more?”
Li Yang couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Professor Li! Personal finances are private. What you’re doing is like peeling off my clothes and forcing me to run naked. I’m going to report you for student harassment!”
Li Yaowan:
This girl never accepts losses.
She’s a real gem in the Pill Department (when it comes to making money).
“Well…” Li Yang changed the topic, “If you lend me 100,000 merit points with no interest, then we’ll call it a deal…”
Beep beep beep.
Li Yaowan hung up.
Li Yang pouted.
“So stingy!”
The next week was very peaceful.
The academic affairs office released an announcement:
Dean Si is in seclusion, and the Agricultural Studies Department has temporarily suspended transfer applications. Students are asked to come back in half a month for further inquiries.
Lin Zhaoqin and Zhong Kun both saw the announcement and messaged Li Yang.
Li Yang replied, “At most half a month, maybe even just ten days.”
Lin Zhaoqin: “Alright, I’ll come find you to ‘play’ then.”
Zhong Kun: “Hehe, I’ll surprise you!”
Li Yang smiled and replied, “Alright.”
She didn’t expect these two to start plotting first; she thought it would be Ying Qi.
As for Ying Qi…
She hadn’t yet realized she could transfer departments.
As long as no one “spoke directly” to her about it, she probably wouldn’t figure it out until Lin Zhaoqin and Zhong Kun had successfully transferred.
This week, Li Yang spent her days in peace, but at night… she couldn’t sleep.
Her playful, teasing words had actually come true!
When the teacher’s will wasn’t present, she really couldn’t sleep well.
Whenever Li Yang fell asleep, she would dream the same dream every night.
A misty white haze, with a white, multi-colored lotus.
The lotus wasn’t fully blooming but was in a bud form, trembling intensely, with faint sounds emanating from it that Li Yang couldn’t quite make out.
Each time, Li Yang was abruptly woken by the system.
【Lifespan +1 year.】
Li Yang: “Why!”
The system remained silent, only adding 【Lifespan +1 year.】 the next evening.
This continued for seven nights. Every night, a year was mysteriously added to her lifespan.
If it weren’t for the strange dreams, Li Yang would’ve suspected that the system had leveled up and was automatically adding a year of life every day!
By the tenth day, the teacher still hadn’t shown any signs of coming out of seclusion.
Li Yang sighed, “Only five more days, at most five days.”
The “teacher’s precious girl” felt the longing for the teacher like a river flowing endlessly, hoping the teacher would come out of seclusion soon.
On the twelfth day, Li Yang had gotten used to the lotus dreams.