Why did you provoke me?

"Stop thinking about these upsetting things. Niannian has already learned it, and they haven't, that's their problem. What does it have to do with you?"

"I bought some groceries. I'll have Changji cook something nice for you later. Cheer up and don't let those idiots make you angry." Jiang Mingfeng is getting better and better at talking.

Dali glanced at him sideways. "Who have you been with lately? I feel like your way of speaking has changed."

"Don't wrong me. I spend all my time in the mountains. There are only a few people in the group. Do you know them all?"

"Really?" Dali's skeptical tone drove Jiang Mingfeng crazy.

He knew that Dali was taking her bad mood out on him, but he didn't dare to say anything. He looked at Yu Hai with a frustrated expression, signaling with his eyes, "Come and save me!"

Yu Hai stretched out his hands and shrugged, "I can't help you either. That's my sister, she's born to suppress her brother, how could he dare to object?"

Niannian sat on the chair watching the fun, smiling at Jiang Mingfeng like a little adult.

Jiang Mingfeng playfully clutched his head. "I confess, I admit it, I did practice secretly. Wasn't I just trying to make you happy?"

Yu Hai pointed at him, "Brother-in-law, you're amazing, you can even do this."

"Hmph, what do you know? You'll understand how difficult this is when you have a wife."

The older woman leaned on the counter, looking at Jiang Mingfeng, "You're being so wronged. Should I let go and let you be free?"

"No, please don't. I'm wild and untamed, and I need someone like you who can keep me calm at all times."

Yu Hai and Niannian both made a gesture of disdain.

Jiang Mingfeng cupped his hands to Dali, "Please let me go."

The older sister smiled and said, "Alright, you passed."

"Oh, sis, that's all?" Yu Hai exclaimed in surprise. "That's a bit too easy."

Jiang Mingfeng glared at him angrily, and Xiao Niannian immediately complained, "Big sister, brother-in-law glared at little brother, he was so fierce."

Jiang Mingfeng closed his eyes. "Little brother, little Niannian, please let me go." Niannian looked at him and smiled.

Jiang Mingfeng wiped away imaginary sweat and sighed, "This is too hard for me."

Secretary Wu frowned and knocked on Yu Meng's office door.

"Come in." Yu Meng didn't look up. She was looking at some information about bone painters left by Granny Hua. There were her own cultivation insights, as well as some ideas and experiments. Yu Meng flipped through it casually, and she felt novel about many of the ideas.

The human brain is truly a strange organ. It can ignite your fighting spirit, or it can leave you dejected and disheartened. It can make you joyful over something, or sorrowful over a single word.

"Sir, Wang Qiang, who is in charge of the trainees, sent a message. He said that the trainees' learning progress is not good. So far, only one person has mastered the technique of peeling off the dough, but he is not yet familiar with it. Teacher Yu asked if it is possible to practice it? That way, the trainees might learn faster."

Yu Meng frowned. "You haven't learned any of them? Are they that difficult?"

Secretary Wu glanced at Yu Meng cautiously, "There is one child who has learned from Teacher Yu, but that child seems to be too young."

"You mean that little kid named Niannian?" Yu Meng asked.

"Yes."

"That's our sect's youngest disciple. She's also our little sister." Yu Meng didn't shy away from the fact that Niannian was her little sister.

Secretary Wu's mouth dropped open, and it took him a long time to utter a sound. "Niannian is the chief's sister?"

Yu Meng smiled, "To be precise, she's Sister Xiu's biological sister. My adopted sister."

Secretary Wu gave a thumbs up. "Your sect is truly something else."

"As for the students not being able to learn, that means they lack talent. We can just bring in the next batch." Yu Meng didn't procrastinate. Some people just can't learn, no matter how you teach them. In that case, just give up and don't force it.

Secretary Wu wanted to say something, but after glancing at Yu Meng, he nodded in agreement. He hadn't expected everyone to learn the skills and become their slaves. It was just that this first batch of candidates was carefully selected, and unexpectedly, they all failed.

Wang Qiang received a notification. If they couldn't learn it within 10 days, this batch of trainees would be eliminated.

Wang Qiang told Dali the news, but Dali didn't quite understand. "If they can't learn it, they might get it with more practice. Why set a time limit? Does that mean their trip here to learn is destined to end in failure?"

Wang Qiang did not explain the reason, but simply told Dali that the next batch of trainees would arrive soon, and she just needed to be prepared.

Dali returned home feeling dejected. She felt she had tried her best, but why couldn't people understand what she was saying?

Watching Xiao Niannian run around pulling a teacup along the ground using her own lines—sometimes the teacup even seemed to float in mid-air—Dali suddenly felt relieved. It wasn't that she hadn't tried hard enough; perhaps their talent was truly lacking. How did Xiao Niannian manage to learn that?

When the first batch of trainees left, these 10 people were devastated. They never imagined that as film makers, they would be eliminated because of a simple skill like peeling off a face mask.

Dali decided that the person who seemed alright stayed. "Teacher Yu, may I audit the class? I can pay you the tuition."

Dali shook her head. "Your fate is not something I can decide. I have a set of rules here. If you don't meet the minimum requirements, you will be eliminated."

My job is only to teach you skills. Whether you can attend my second batch of classes is beyond my control.

The film maker approached Wang Qiang again and said the same thing, but Wang Qiang refused again.

"Teacher Yu's energy is limited; she can only teach 10 students per class. If I open this door for you, countless people will come to me in the future. To avoid future trouble, I definitely won't make this exception."

The woman in her early twenties was sobbing uncontrollably. She knew she might never be able to go to the base or become a bone painter in her lifetime.

Dali was unaware that these students who were expelled would no longer be qualified to become bone painters.

When the second batch of students arrived, Dali devoted herself even more diligently. She even broke down each movement and explained it step by step, wishing she could teach them everything herself. Xiao Niannian only attended one of her classes and never came back.

It turns out that no matter how much effort you put in, you won't necessarily achieve great results. Only one student from the second batch barely passed.

Secretary Wu looked at the information of the film-making technician handed to her and sighed inwardly. Was it really that difficult? These were carefully selected talents from each city; how could this be the result?

Yu Meng was also surprised. They were both senior film-making technicians, how could their skill level be so low? She looked at Secretary Wu, "Xia Xuan and Chu Qinghe are film-making technicians in this city. I didn't give them any special treatment. Why were they able to learn it so well?"

Secretary Wu wiped the sweat from his brow. "Is there some shady dealing involved?"

Yu Meng sighed. "Should we have someone investigate? If they don't want to come to the base, we won't force them, but don't try to pass off inferior goods. We really don't have time to waste on this."