When Evan Lin and Lily Zhong arrived at school, class was already in session.
The first period in the afternoon was Chinese.
"Excuse me, may I come in?"
Standing outside the classroom, Evan called out. Mr. Zheng, who was explaining the lesson, glanced at Evan outside the door and frowned.
"Evan, you're twenty minutes late, and I heard from Darren Zhao that you skipped soccer practice at noon too. Are you just ignoring the class's honor now?"
"The Summer Cup is a really important tournament for our school. Even if your skills aren't great, you shouldn't be so unmotivated. How can you have zero sense of collective honor?"
Mr. Zheng put down his textbook, looked at Evan standing outside, and spoke each word slowly, his expression clearly displeased.
Darren Zhao and the other soccer team members sitting below heard Mr. Zheng's words. All of them lifted their chins, staring at Evan with cold, mocking smiles.
"They're too weak. Not qualified to play with me," Evan replied calmly. As soon as he said this, Mr. Zheng slammed his textbook onto the desk with a loud smack, his face full of anger.
"Not qualified to play with you? Who do you think you are, Zidane? Ronaldo? Or maybe Gu Qinghai, who graduated from our school? Or Yi Sicheng from Class 3?"
"So arrogant!" Mr. Zheng was clearly getting angry now.
In all his years of teaching, he'd never met a student who dared talk to a teacher like this. The more he looked at Evan standing outside, the more annoyed he felt.
Plus, Victor Feng ended up in the hospital because of Evan, and he's still lying in bed. There's no way he'll play in the Summer Cup now.
With Victor Feng out, Class 7's already weak soccer team is in even worse shape. When the class doesn't get results, Mr. Zheng knows the school leaders will criticize him at the next meeting.
Mia Chen sat at her desk, frowning at Evan's calm face. She felt he was getting more and more reckless—no real ability, but still so arrogant, which just made her dislike him even more.
"You're late. If you want to come in, recite Han Yu's 'On Teachers' for me. If you can do it, you can enter; if not, stand outside!" Mr. Zheng snorted coldly.
The class started buzzing when they heard Mr. Zheng's words.
"Aren't we not required to memorize 'On Teachers' yet?" someone whispered.
"Yeah, we were just told to preview it. We haven't even started the lesson. There's no way Evan can recite it now." someone snickered.
"Looks like even Mr. Zheng can't stand Evan anymore. Haha, that kid's definitely getting punished again. How many days has he spent standing outside now?"
Darren Zhao wore a victor's smile, looking arrogantly at Evan standing at the door.
Aren't you so cocky? Aren't you supposed to be awesome?
If you can't recite the text, just stand outside and take your punishment!
Just wait until the Summer Cup starts—let's see how you embarrass yourself then!
Everyone stared at Evan. Mr. Zheng was sure Evan couldn't recite it and was about to tell him to go stand outside, but unexpectedly, Evan suddenly spoke.
"In ancient times, scholars must have teachers. A teacher is one who passes on the Way, imparts knowledge, and dispels confusion."
"People are not born knowing everything—who can be free of confusion? If you are confused and do not learn from a teacher, your confusion will never be resolved."
...
"Li Pan, son of the Li family, age seventeen, loves classical texts, has studied the Six Arts and all the classics, unconstrained by the times, and learned from me. I admired his ability to follow the ancient Way and wrote 'On Teachers' for him as a gift."
Evan recited fluently and calmly, taking a few minutes to flawlessly recite every word of 'On Teachers' from memory.
Mr. Zheng was slightly stunned. He'd taught for years and knew the essay inside out. At first, he thought Evan was just bluffing and only remembered the first few lines, but as he listened closely, Evan didn't miss a single word—every line was perfect.
The key point was, they hadn't even started this lesson yet!
"I'm done reciting," Evan said, looking at Mr. Zheng.
At that moment, the smug smiles froze on Darren Zhao and his friends' faces. Mia Chen's mouth was slightly open.
She'd always thought Evan was just wasting time, so she never expected him to have memorized the text ahead of time. These days, what student actually memorizes Chinese essays before the lesson?
Let alone someone like Evan, who's always at the bottom of the class.
"Ahem, well, you may come in then."
Mr. Zheng snapped back to himself, coughed, nodded slightly, and looked at Evan with a hint of surprise.
He really hadn't expected Evan to be able to recite it.
But he'd already said it, and Evan really did recite it, so there was nothing more he could say.
Evan returned to his seat and kept working on his exercises.
He ignored all the strange looks around him.
"Alright then, let's continue with the lesson."
Mr. Zheng started teaching again, and the earlier incident quickly passed.
While writing, Evan quietly felt the new surge of spiritual qi inside his body.
"Just now, in the Imperial Grand private room, Lily Zhong put my hand on her chest, and the spiritual qi entered my body through my left hand."
Evan glanced at his left hand, which still seemed to retain a lingering sensation—a softness he couldn't quite forget.
"There's not much spiritual qi in my body now, but it should be enough to nourish the Brownrock Grass."
Evan sighed softly, shook his head, and put the thought aside for now.
After school, downstairs, he didn't see Lily Zhong waiting for him.
"She must be afraid it'll be awkward."
Evan shook his head and headed straight home.
Since Lily Zhong wasn't waiting, Evan decided not to go to her house for tutoring tonight.
But as he left the school gate, he saw Big Tank and his guys waiting there.
Big Tank, all fat and sweaty, waited in front of the school with a van parked beside him—hard to miss.
Especially now, with the temperature so high, Big Tank's forehead was drenched in sweat—he looked like he'd just walked through a rainstorm.
Two men stood next to Big Tank—no sign of Jace or Jack Zhang.
When Evan came out the gate, Big Tank hurried over, grinning: "Hey, Brother Nine Mysteries, you're out of class!"
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Evan had told them his name was Lin Jiuxuan. Compared to his real name, he actually preferred this alias.
"What, are you here to pick a fight?"
Evan slung his backpack over his shoulder and glanced at Big Tank, his tone full of disdain.
"No, no, nothing like that, Brother Nine Mysteries. See, Brother Cheng Jiu asked me to take you to our place for a look. From now on, we'll be counting on your support."
Big Tank had always looked down on Evan, but now there was a hint of fear in his eyes.
The incident at Imperial Grand had spread all over town.
Big Tank still doubted Evan could really pull something like that off, but Brother Cheng Jiu’s words made him half believe it.
Feeling complicated, Big Tank decided to play it safe and act humble.
"Jace and Jack Zhang? I've already had someone teach them a lesson. They were blind to mess with Brother Nine Mysteries—asking for trouble." Big Tank looked righteously indignant.
"Evan Lin?"
A group of girls came out from the school gate, and Evan glanced over.
Mia Chen was among them.
When Mia Chen saw Big Tank and his crew next to Evan, a flash of disgust crossed her eyes.
"So what if he can prep the lesson? Birds of a feather flock together. Hanging out with these thugs..." Mia Chen thought to herself, refusing to look at Evan again.
And at the school gate, another commotion broke out.
People instinctively moved aside as Liu Luran, cool and aloof like a queen, walked out surrounded by her entourage.
Beside her was Niu Fan, looking arrogant as ever.
Niu Fan spotted Evan next to Big Tank, grinned, and walked over. "Hey, Evan Lin, I thought you were cozying up to some big shot. Turns out it’s just Big Tank, huh? Tsk tsk."
Big Tank frowned and said darkly, "Who are you, kid? Looking for a fight?"
"I'm Niu Fan, from the Niu family. I’m giving you face—do you dare hit me?" Niu Fan sneered.
Big Tank's expression changed, his heart skipped a beat, but he stayed silent. His two lackeys couldn't help but step forward.
"Watch your mouth, kid!" One of Big Tank's men pointed at Niu Fan.
"Screw you!" Another guy stepped up and threw a punch at Niu Fan.
But Niu Fan snorted, sidestepped, and swiftly kicked out.
His kick landed fast and hard on the guy’s chest and stomach, sending him sprawling.
Seeing this, the other lackey’s face changed and rushed in, but Niu Fan simply knocked him down with a punch.
"With underlings like these, no wonder you’re stuck running a tiny place." Niu Fan sneered at Big Tank, nose in the air. "You’re with Imperial Grand, right? When you recruit, you’d better know what kind of people you’re getting."
Then Niu Fan turned to Evan, who stayed calm throughout: "Picking up losers like him just means trouble. Don’t say I didn’t warn you."
Big Tank’s face was ugly, fists clenched, his chubby cheeks flushed red, but he didn’t dare say a word.
Liu Luran glanced at Evan, barely pausing on his face.
Soon, a BMW X6 pulled up and stopped in front of Liu Luran.
Niu Fan walked over and opened the car door for Liu Luran.
"Guys like you are destined to be trampled under my feet." Niu Fan sneered, flashed a thumbs-up at Evan, then flipped it down to a thumbs-down.
"Is Niu Fan targeting that kid now?" someone whispered.
"Seems like it. Isn’t he the one who confessed to Liu Luran and got beaten up by Niu Fan?" someone said, looking at Evan as if recalling something.
"Yeah, that’s him—Evan Lin, right?"
Out front, many people looked at Evan with a trace of pity in their eyes.
Getting targeted by Niu Fan means school life is about to get rough.
The BMW X6 and the van next to Evan formed a stark contrast—rich and poor, worlds apart.
"Brother Nine Mysteries, should we still go?" Big Tank took a deep breath.
He really didn’t dare mess with Niu Fan. Big Tank doubted Imperial Grand would go all out to protect him if something happened.
Inside Imperial Grand, Big Tank was just a small-time boss.
Looking at Evan’s blank expression, Big Tank felt uneasy—and a little resentful.
It was Evan who provoked Niu Fan, and now his own men had been beaten and his reputation suffered.
So his tone became a bit more dissatisfied.
"Go. Why wouldn’t we go?" Evan glanced at Big Tank, his eyes deep and unreadable, making Big Tank shudder.