Chapter 18: Lesson

Chapter 18: Lesson

From the direction of the voice, a group of young people, similar in age to him, had gathered.

There were both men and women, dressed and behaving quite normally and elegantly, unlike some troublemakers. Some wore expensive watches, others carried luxurious bags, and the looks they gave him were far from friendly.

As Xu Qingran scanned them, one of them, holding a coffee cup, smugly asked, "So, how about it? Did our edits make your outstanding works even better?"

After he finished speaking, the group burst into laughter again.

The system couldn't help but angrily exclaim, "So it was them who destroyed the original owner's things!"

Xu Qingran thought, *Just as well—saves me the trouble of searching.*

He placed the box he was carrying against a pillar by the school entrance, then walked down the steps slowly, approaching the group and asking, "When you say 'improper,' are you referring to me or Xu Qingan?"

At the mention of Xu Qingan, their hostility grew sharper.

The young man with the gravelly voice retorted directly, "Qingan would never be as provocative as you, flaunting a soul mark right on your hand. Having a mark in such an exposed and easily touchable place, isn't that just begging for trouble?"

"Too bad Senior Lu Cheng saw right through your pretty face."

"Is that so?" Xu Qingran asked, "Then how does Xu Qingan usually describe me to you?"

The man sneered, "What? Guilty conscience? Scared everyone will find out how you've been bullying him at home, pushing him around, and losing your temper at him?"

"We can't stand how you exploit his kindness to push him around. How dare you make a spectacle at his engagement party?"

Xu Qingran halted a foot away, his eyes coolly scanning them. The group felt that the person before them seemed somewhat different from usual, but they couldn't pinpoint exactly what had changed.

Then they heard Xu Qingran ask again, "Did he also tell you that when I'm unhappy, I can lose control?"

"The kind that wouldn't hesitate to kill."

Before the young man with the gravelly voice could react to Xu Qingran's words, his shoulder was suddenly grabbed. Xu Qingran seized his other hand, smiled at him, and then abruptly yanked his hand towards himself.

The others heard a sickening pop, like a joint dislocating, and then the gravelly-voiced companion was flung heavily to the ground by Xu Qingran using an over-the-shoulder throw. The loud thud of his fall and his agonized wails sent shivers down everyone's spines.

But Xu Qingran didn't stop there. He stepped forward and slammed his foot into the man's stomach.

Sending him flying a few feet away.

He then moved to the man's other arm, lifted his foot, and pressed it down on the wrist.

Xu Qingran looked down at him, his gaze cold, "You know I’ve got a short fuse and a nasty streak, yet you still mess with me?"

"If you want to die, just say the word, and I can make it happen."

As soon as he finished speaking, the foot resting on the wrist applied pressure. To the onlookers, the force didn't seem significant, but only the person being stepped on knew the intensity of the spiritual energy impact surging through his body, his bones and tendons injured, nearly shattered.

The pain was so intense that he could only open his mouth wide, tears streaming down his face, his voice stuck in his throat.

The others watched in horror and astonishment.

...Was this the Xu Qingran with a barely F-grade spiritual energy, the one who was supposed to be delicate and weak?!

In their panic, they saw Xu Qingran turn and walk towards them again, and they all took a step back.

One of the braver ones angrily warned, "Xu Qingran, you've already been rejected by the medical school, and now you dare to hit someone at school!"

"Aren’t you scared of getting blacklisted? No university in the whole empire would dare take you!"

Xu Qingran’s eyebrow shot up. He snatched the coffee from the speaker’s hand and poured it over his head, saying, "Thanks for worrying. The college I’m headed to would love it if I fought even harder."

The guy soaked in coffee was some spoiled rich brat. Humiliated and furious, he brushed his hair and shouted, "Xu Qingran, how dare you treat me like this?!"

"Why not? You think you’re made of gold or something?" Xu Qingran sneered, then delivered a hook punch to his face.

With his other hand still gripping the other’s collar, he demanded, his voice icy, "Since you messed with my stuff, I’ll treat you like my next masterpiece."

With that, he kicked the other’s kneecap hard, forcing him to kneel before him.

Xu Qingran grabbed his hair, forcing him to look up and meet his gaze, his icy stare burning with a terrifying rage: "Listen up, today you’re kneeling to your granddaddy, Xu Qingran."

Then, with a forceful press of his hand, he stepped on the other’s head, pressing it to the ground in a full prostration.

He spun around to face the rest, who were shaking in their boots, and asked indifferently, "What’s wrong? Not enjoying my masterpiece?"

Some of the more timid ones, who clearly knew they had no ability to fight back, immediately knelt and begged for mercy: "Xu Qingran, please, we didn’t know any better! We... we were also incited by them, saying we should vent for Xu Qingan..."

"Do you think sorry fixes anything?" Xu Qingran asked.

Their silence was deafening.

"But breaking your bones and giving you some internal damage? That’ll heal with time."

Xu Qingran chuckled lightly, his beautiful peach blossom eyes slightly curved.

"Relax, I’ve got the cash to cover your hospital bills."

·

When Shen Tingyu got to the main building of Grandis Middle School’s branch, he saw an extremely chaotic scene.

In one corner of the big front yard, a bunch of beat-up guys were sprawled out. Their arms and legs looked broken, and some even had visible injuries on their faces, too severe to take care of themselves.

And there he was, the guy he’d been waiting for, standing with one hand in his pocket, coldly looking down at them, like an artist admiring his masterpiece.

Shen Tingyu paused, his gaze lingering on Xu Qingran for a few more seconds.

A few teachers came rushing out of the building and stopped Xu Qingran just as he was about to deliver another 'finishing blow': "Xu Qingran, this is a school! You can’t just beat up your classmates!"

"Keep this up, and I’m calling the cops!"

Xu Qingran recognized one of the teachers from the academic affairs office and calmly asked her, "You’re a teacher—why didn’t you stop them from wrecking my stuff and awards?"

The female teacher exchanged a glance with the male teacher beside her, their eyes betraying guilt and embarrassment: "The office is huge, we’re all busy, and we didn’t see what was happening. Xu, that doesn’t mean you can hit people!"

"I think it’s fair," Xu Qingran shot back. "You don’t know pain till you’ve been stabbed."

"You teachers wanna feel it too?"

Seeing those so-called educators blush, he added, "Since you guys can’t see straight, I’m sure you didn’t see anything today either."

Xu Qingran turned to the loudmouth, now a bloody mess with barely a spot left unharmed. Just as he zeroed in on the last untouched spot, a hand landed on his shoulder.

Xu Qingran pursed his lips, his gaze icy and sharp as he turned around. The fist he was about to throw dropped silently after he recognized who it was.

...Damn it, I can't take this guy on right now.

And I still owe him one.

He asked Shen Tingyu, "You here to stop me too?"

If so, I’ll back off today.

But Shen Tingyu replied, "No, I wanted to ask when you'd be done."

His blue eyes, lit up by the light, were as clear and calm as a still sea, with a faint smile. "Don’t forget, we’ve got other places to hit."

Like he didn’t even notice the mess the guy in front had caused.

Right, what’s the Golden Wing Battalion got to do with the mess the Silver Dragon folks caused?

Xu Qingran hesitated for a moment.

Then he turned back and landed another solid kick to the loudmouth’s face before nodding, "I’m done."

As he walked off with a box of stuff, he could still hear the guy’s raspy voice yelling, "My nose! My brand-new nose!!!"

The ride to Grandis University’s main campus was quiet.

Shen Tingyu didn’t ask about the branch school incident, and Xu Qingran didn’t explain either. The atmosphere was oddly calm.

Both of them were headed to the military affairs office on the main campus.

Shen Tingyu had just gotten a batch of top graduates from the military academy and needed to file some paperwork and check their status. His job was way simpler: just registering his ID and soul palm print, turning in his high school records, confirming the invite and details, and picking up his military academy pass.

Before they left, Xu Qingran made a point to ask Shen Tingyu where the medical affairs office was.

A young woman was sitting at the counter by the entrance.

Xu Qingran dropped a stack of transcripts he’d grabbed from the branch school in front of her.

The woman looked up, puzzled.

He asked, "You got a voice recorder?"

Though confused, she pulled a small, flat recorder from the drawer and handed it over.

Xu Qingran took it and said, "Give these to your dean and that professor, Lu Wennian."

"No big reason. Just want them to know if Xu Qingran really needs to cheat to get into some med school."

He hit record and sneered, "Professor Lu Wennian, your eyes are so trashy it’s like they’re smeared with crap. Even dogs would puke at the sight."

"What I really wanna say is, your brain’s so messed up, you shouldn’t be teaching anyone. Hope to hear you’re quitting soon."

After he was done, he stopped the recording and, under the woman’s stunned stare, dropped the recorder on the stack of transcripts.

He added politely, "Make sure this gets passed along too, thanks."

A total 180 from when he was ripping into Lu Wennian.

...

The system was starting to feel like giving up on crafting its host's kind and friendly image.

Looking at their target, Shen Tingyu, who was just silently watching on the side with a faint smile, it was impossible to decipher his thoughts, which was driving the system up the wall.

——What if the target thinks its host is too fierce and crazy, and his impression of him plummets?!

Xu Qingran, however, wasn't concerned about this in the slightest. After accomplishing his goal, he boldly addressed Shen Tingyu, "I'm done here, what about you?"

Shen Tingyu glanced at him and chuckled, "I don't have anything either."

They came to an agreement and headed home.

Admittedly, Xu Qingran felt a twinge of envy at the depth of Shen Tingyu's mental reservoir. Despite days of travel and driving, he barely required any rest.

Xu Qingran managed to endure for a few days, but eventually chose to compromise on the last day of the return journey, curling up in a spacious chair, eyes shut, to catch some rest.

However, being in an unfamiliar environment, he slept very lightly, and the slightest disturbance would rouse him.

During the journey, he occasionally peeked through his eyelids in the quiet, seeing the man in the driver's seat, his icy gaze fixed straight ahead. There was not a trace of a smile on his lips, and he seemed utterly cold and detached, even exuding a vague sense of irritation from some unknown cause.

He quickly closed his eyes again.

Hazily, he thought, this guy really has a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on.

·

After Xu Qingran and Shen Tingyu returned home, they went back to their separate routines.

He continued working to get his body back to its former condition, while Shen Tingyu spent most of his time in the study dealing with his own affairs. Their interactions were limited to meal times, and there was no increase in interaction due to their previous outing together.

The system quietly kept track of Shen Tingyu's dwindling vacation days, and finally couldn't sit still the night before he returned to work.

Xu Qingran changed into his pajamas and was about to go to bed when it abruptly shoved a manual, cobbled together from various sources, in his face: 「Host, the mission, the mission!」

The figure on the bed didn't budge.

It could only tap him again: 「Do you remember the special power from Daming Lake?」

This sentence indeed had an effect.

Xu Qingran was extremely reluctant, but after recalling his special ability, he opened his eyes.

Then, reluctantly, he cracked open the system's so-called 'guide' to the dashing uncle.

The title on the first page was downright shocking.

"Climbing into bed."

'The beautiful niece-in-law should use her appearance advantage to take the initiative and seduce her handsome uncle!'

Xu Qingran's face darkened: "Where on earth did you find all this messy content?"

What kind of thing is Shen Tingyu?

If anyone is to climb, it should be him taking the initiative!

At the same time, in the study on the second floor where the light was still on.

Shen Tingyu stood in front of a dark metal cabinet in the corner, unlocked it with his palm print, and opened the cabinet door.

His hand gripping the handle was somewhat forceful, and he stared gloomily at the two potions lying inside for a long time before expressionlessly taking one out.

He didn't use it immediately, but instead dialed a private communicator.

The other side answered after a few seconds, and a clear male voice came through: "Hello? My sister is training the dog, what do you need her for so late?"

"Xie Nanjun, tell your sister to prepare another batch of inhibitors for me."