CH 37.3

He froze for a moment, the magic power of his fingertips dissipated, and he lowered his head to connect to the communication.

“It’s time to sleep…” Chu Rong’s originally gentle voice sank instantly when he saw the background Qiao Zhiya was in. His face darkened as he asked in a deep voice, “Where are you? Why are you still outside this late?”

Qiao Zhiya blinked in confusion, moved his eyes to the clock in the laboratory. He belatedly became surprised when he saw the time. “It’s already ten o’clock? So fast?” He obviously just repaired a section of the energy blade!

After hearing his rhetorical question, Chu Rong’s expression became even more terrifying. He glanced coldly at the energy blade behind him and his soaked clothes, and said solemnly, “Now, immediately go back to the dormitory to sleep. If I found out you are actually fiddling with that energy blade instead of sleeping…”

Qiao Zhiya didn’t hear the full threat, he was irritated by Chu Rong’s tyrannical attitude. But he still hurriedly put away the energy blade, packed his things and prepared to go back to the dormitory.

He made a mistake the day before, so Qiao Zhiya didn’t dare to mess around anymore.

The next day, he also tried to be obedient. Unlike his usual self-study during lunch, he chose to go to the cafeteria to eat a proper lunch. But he remembered Ning Kongran who he usually met here. He searched for a window near the corner, then left a small metal doll there.

He also left a paper slip near the metal doll, so he could be sure that Ning Kongran would see this gift for him. Then, he finally walked towards Yun Xiachu, who was starting to become impatient. Together, they went to the cafeteria.

After eating, Qiao Zhiya went back to that window. He saw that the paper slip and doll in the corner of the window were gone, and there was an extra box of snacks hanging under the window. He squinted and smiled—this Ning Kongran was indeed a nice guy.

On the opposite building, Qiu Guangji finally found his friend. Seeing him leaning on the railing of the corridor and looking at the opposite side, he looked like he was lost in his thoughts. He bumped into his friend with a smile and asked, “Why do you have time to bask in the sun today instead of doing experiments?”

Watching the thin figure disappear into the corner of the corridor, Ning Kongran withdrew his gaze, shook his head and replied, “I’m not doing experiments today, I have to go home later.”

“Go home?”

Qiu Guangji’s expression became strange. He worriedly asked, “Is it because of your father or your grandfather1爷爷 “yéyé”; paternal grandfather.…?”

Ning Kongran shook his head with a grim expression, “No. My aunt2姑姑 “gūgū”, father’s older sister. asked me to go back.” When Ning Kongran mentioned his relatives, his tone was very light yet indifferent. He elaborated, “It has been confirmed. The Empire will indeed send a few people to school, including my cousin3表弟 “biǎodì”, younger male cousin from your aunt. In this case, this particular Aunt’s son.. My aunt asked me to take care of him when he started to attend the Federal Military Academy, she even specifically asked for me.”

Qiu Guangji snorted, raised his hand and grabbed his naturally curly hair. Ning Kongran was one of his closest buddies; he could immediately symphatize with him. “Let’s be real here, she’s probably still pissy about being married off to the Empire. So when an opportunity like this came up, she immediately seized it so she could get a piece of the Ning family’s pie. Well, she’s probably going to use her son to do it, she’s not brave enough to do it herself, anyways. Sigh… Kongran, sometimes I really feel wronged for you. Is it a blessing to be born in the Ning family? Your family might be rich, but day by day, all I see is you suffer—”

“Guangji.” Ning Kongran interrupted him, glanced around, and said, “Speak carefully, the walls have ears.”

Qiu Guangji patted the railing, and simply refused. But he knew Ning Kongran was probably too uncomfortable with this subject. So he changed it. “The mecha manufacturing competition on the VR World is coming to the final, do you want to continue participating?”

“Of course.” Ning Kongran glanced at the opposite corridor again, then finally said, “Out of all this year’s participants, Xiao Luo is definitely the dark horse. In the final, I know he’s going all-in.”

“All-in?” Qiu Guangji was surprised. His eyes were a little complicated, and he persuaded his friend in a whisper, “Kongran, you don’t have to work so hard. You still have five years before you graduate from advanced college too. You…”

Ning Kongran shook his head, turned to look at him. Unlike his desperate crazy look on the Internet, he looked calm and collected. “Guangji, time is running out. If I want to leave the Ning family smoothly after graduating from the Federal Military Academy, I will need an astronomical amount of capital. The grand prize from this competition will help me make a significant dent on that amount.”

Plus, what he wants is not only to leave the Ning family. He also wants to get rid of the enmity from his mother’s family and takes what’s left of his younger brother4of his younger brother, not from his younger brother, to be clear..

Chu Yan stayed at school for training again this week. After school, Qiao Zhiya came to the south gate alone, got into the black hover car – still being stared by his classmates – and went home together with Chu Rong.

“Go to the ancient martial arts hall tomorrow.” After he got in the car, Chu Rong ordered him with a no-nonsense attitude. Then, he added, “Master Ren also wants to give you news about your patent experiments. He asked me to take you to his lab when you have the time. But basically, the experiment can start anytime. I think you can go tomorrow’s morning if you want.”

“Okay, I’ll go there then,” Qiao Zhiya nodded very obediently to the arrangement. He looked at Chu Rong’s stinky face. He slinked closer to the grumpy Marshal, then put his gloved fingers to his pointy ear. With a childish-tone whisper, he said, “I’m sorry for that day. I really forgot the time when I started to repair the energy blade. I promise I will pay more attention in the future.”

Chu Rong wouldn’t pass up this opportunity to play with Qiao Zhiya’s squishy ears. It’s a good stress-reliever. He especially liked it when he could feel the spiritual power simulator earrings on Qiao Zhiya. “Did you eat well at noon?”

Qiao Zhiya nodded again, “I do.” Then, he began to smile and asked back with more affection, “As for you, did you have a good meal? Is the military department busy now?”

Chu Rong’s mood has completely calmed down. He still gently pinched Qiao Zhiya’s ears, though. He skipped the first question, then replied, “Not busy. When will your winter vacation begin? I just have time to train with you.”

Training?

Qiao Zhiya froze, strained his ears, and looked up at him carefully.

“What’s with your reaction?” Ancestor Chu narrowed his eyes and became unhappy again.

“I, I want to skip grades next term. So… I have to make up classes during the winter vacation…” Qiao Zhiya replied. Seeing the White-Haired Monster’s face darken suddenly, he hugged him, rubbed his face into the Marshal’s chest like a small animal, and quickly explained: “I just want to learn faster , go to school earlier, so I can make mechas for you earlier. You understand me… right?” After speaking, he looked up at him expectantly.

“Sit down properly.” Chu Rong reprimanded him, but he didn’t push him away. Half of his anger was wiped away by him, and seeing him looking up so pitifully, he couldn’t help but raise his hand to cover his face. He pushed back the Bald Chicken, and finally reluctantly compromised,”You still must persist in the morning training every day.”

He’s not in a hurry to train the Bald Chicken. So long as he gradually improves with each session, it’s fine. Next year, Xiao Yan will enter the advanced college branch of the Federal Military Academy, so if the Bald Chicken could join him together because of his grade-skipping, it’s great. Xiao Yan could prevent any sort of bullying.

Thinking of this, he rubbed Qiao Zhiya’s hair again, and said, “If you don’t study hard, your helmet will be confiscated.”

The White-Haired Monster agreed so easily!

Qiao Zhiya was stunned for a moment, and then immediately became pleasantly surprised. He couldn’t help hugging him for a while, and said happily, “You are so kind, you are the best! I will study hard, and try to skip a few more grades!”

‘Stupid Bald Chicken,’ Chu Rong pinched his ears again. He glanced at the military uniform with many buttons sewn on the chest, and began to think about wearing training uniforms with no buttons as much as possible at home during the holidays.

With the permission from the White-Haired Monster, Qiao Zhiya officially began to select paid classes after putting the long knife up for sale.

He has now completed the most elementary material understanding and tool use courses in mecha manufacturing, and he has also learned part of material handling. The next focus was to learn the ratio of multi-material combinations for creating useful alloys and many ways to make primary parts.

The fourth grade course focused on the former, while the fifth grade focused on the later. After learning those basics, only then could the students truly enter the door of mecha manufacturing.

If he wanted to successfully skip to the fourth grade, that alloy-making must be mastered quickly. This was the kind of knowledge that the AI teacher couldn’t teach him effectively.

His eyes turned around the paid classrooms that met his requirements. He chose a few of the most famous and popular classrooms, and paid the trial class fee.

Two hours later, Qiao Zhiya, who had only the last trial fee left, stood in the course selection square with his brows deeply furrowed.

The more famous the teacher, the more students there were, and the less energy the teacher allocated to each student. He has to keep up with the schedule. This kind of teacher with many students was obviously not suitable for him. Moreover, the knowledge taught by these popular teachers was too general. What he wanted to learn was the real application, not listening to the teacher explaining to him the content of his textbook.

Holding the last trial fee, he skipped those paid classes with high popularity and many students. Instead, he looked around at the options where the teaching quality was judged to be excellent by the system, but the number of students was relatively small. Finally, he selected the class with zero students. It was a teacher who preferred giving private lessons. This should be perfect for him.

After the system deducted the fee, the scene around him changed, and he appeared in a classroom.

The short-bearded old man who was sitting behind the podium flipping through the textbooks immediately looked over. His blood-red eyes were a little gloomy, making Qiao Zhiya’s scalp numb when he saw the teacher was looking at him.

“Uh… Hello, teacher.” Qiao Zhiya obediently greeted. In the real world, his ears twitched nervously. Thankfully, his avatar’s ears didn’t move at all.

Qiao Zhiya understood the reason why the popularity of this classroom was so low despite the excellent quality. The teachers in other popular classrooms all made themselves handsome and beautiful. This teacher… was unique in his appearance, to say the least. He looked intimidating, for one.

This must have looked unpleasant to the majority of students, which were children.

The old man put down his textbook, scrutinizing him, then nodded his head. He stood up and asked, “You come to try my class?”

His voice was hoarse, not too pleasant to the ear. But his attitude was gentle.

Qiao Zhiya relaxed, smiled at him, and replied, “Yes, I do. I’m going to trouble this teacher.”

“Which lesson do you want to learn?” The old man didn’t talk much. He opened the textbook and asked directly.

Qiao Zhiya hurriedly talked about his current learning progress, especially explaining that he needs to catch up with the progress now, and it was best to teach at a fast pace.

“Fast pace?” The old man glanced at him, got up suddenly, and pressed the button on the podium. He pointed to the three virtual materials that suddenly appeared in mid-air, and said, “The trial class lasts for a quarter of an hour. If you can follow along before the end, then I will continue to teach you.” After finishing speaking, he picked up a part of the lesson, and started to teach while operating the hologram.

Qiao Zhiya did not expect that he would start teaching directly, so he was caught off-guard.

Honestly, he was confused. Seeing the system, he should be the one who chose the teacher, right? So why was this old man said that he’s the one who chose him instead?

If you can, please support me by donating on my ko-fi~ For every 2 ko-fis, I’ll release an additional chapter ^^

1爷爷 “yéyé”; paternal grandfather.2姑姑 “gūgū”, father’s older sister.3表弟 “biǎodì”, younger male cousin from your aunt. In this case, this particular Aunt’s son.4of his younger brother, not from his younger brother, to be clear.