In another world, Lu Mingfei is learning card making.

"I came to listen to the lecture and also to see how you study." The magical elf gently touched Lu Mingfei's hair. "Your hair looks better when it's long; a buzz cut looks pretty bad on you."

"Study hard, and don't look down in class."

"But I don't want to listen to the lecture—can I go out and play?" Lu Mingfei puffed out his cheeks.

At least when he's with his magical spirit, he doesn't maintain a polite expression; he still has the liveliness of a child his age—oh, not that he's not lively when he's with Rong En, it's just that Rong En is usually the one who's 'lively,' and compared to him, Lu Mingfei feels he's quite composed...

Moreover, his friends all seemed to believe that "the son of a hero should be polite," and Lu Mingfei was unwilling to break the glorious image he had in the eyes of his friends.

"No." Looking at Lu Mingfei's head slumping down again, the red-robed monk thought for a moment. "Alright, you can go out and play as you please during English class, but you have to pay attention in all other classes. If I hear feedback from the teachers that you're not paying attention in class, then I'll have to bring you to my house and supervise your studies."

Lu Mingfei nodded, straightened up, and assumed a serious listening posture. The red-robed monk glanced at the surrounding students, ignoring them, and spoke only to the teacher on the platform:

"Alright, it's nothing. I was just passing by and saw him not studying properly, so I chatted with my child. You guys continue with your class, I won't disturb you any longer."

The red-robed monk quietly left, leaving Lu Mingfei to receive the stares of the entire class—the teacher was no exception, though he remembered his duty and tapped the blackboard:

"Alright, students, let's focus on the lesson—we reviewed yesterday's topics on positive numbers, negative numbers, rational numbers, and irrational numbers. Today, we're going to talk about the 'number line'..."

Lu Mingfei felt the attention from those around him, but simply raised his pen and drew a standard straight line on the white paper.

The good news was that the second period was the one the red-robed acolyte had explicitly stated was a period where students could "go out and play as they pleased," so Lu Mingfei readily left the classroom and headed straight for the principal's office—

He had already made up his mind yesterday to ask, regardless of whether today's incident occurred or not. And since he could skip the second period with the "principal's permission," why not?

This would also allow him to avoid the overwhelming curiosity of his classmates. Lu Mingfei had no doubt that if he had chosen to stay in the classroom during the break, he would have been surrounded by a barrage of questions and doubts.

Even though school has only been in session for a few days, what happened last Friday has already made him the focus of attention among the students. If it weren't for the fact that the teacher might have had a last bit of kindness and decided to let both sets of parents meet on Sunday, he might not only be the focus of his classmates, but also the focus of the entire school.

...After all, it's his aunt—maybe she's no longer his aunt, but Lu Mingfei still can't change his way of addressing her—that kind of personality wouldn't make him spend a few hundred yuan more on medical expenses just because many people are watching.

She might even force Lu Mingfei to kowtow a few more times, just to reduce the medical expenses.

"Tsk." A shadow crossed Lu Mingfei's eyes. Even though the matter was over, this scar would probably remain for a long time.

The teachers were in a hurry along the way, and no one noticed that Lu Mingfei quietly walked to the principal's office and even knocked on the door.

The door wasn't locked; it opened with a knock. Lu Mingfei walked to the desk and gently sat down in the boss's chair—he'd been curious about this kind of boss's chair when he watched TV dramas before, and how bosses liked to lean back in it and turn halfway around when someone came in…

What's it like to sit in this boss's chair?

"It feels...so-so." Lu Mingfei patted the leather seat of the chair. "It's not as good as the bed I had at St. Mary's College. At least that one was really soft."

"Why is this chair both soft and hard? Doesn't it feel strange to sit on?"

Despite saying that, Lu Mingfei still kicked the side of the desk, the reaction force causing the chair to spin lightly. The scene before him was dizzying, and Lu Mingfei's eyes instantly lit up; he raised his foot and kicked again.

"Hehe, this is fun!"

No wonder bosses like to spin halfway around in their chairs before looking at the newcomers; it turns out that spinning around in a boss's chair is so much fun.

Once the boss's chair had dissipated its momentum, Lu Mingfei slowly stopped. He pulled the chair towards the table and then began to examine the various items on the table—

Okay, the first thing you see is a sticky note.

"Go home now that you've had enough fun. Next class is history, so pay attention."

History class is a very important class; you are not allowed to skip it, or I will come back and drag you to class.

At the very bottom of the note was a simple drawing of a little figure with four spider-like limbs on her back, with red lines drawn to represent her red clothes. She raised one hand and pointed directly at Lu Mingfei's nose, beyond the surface of the paper.

"Okay, okay, we agreed, we'll only skip one English class." Lu Mingfei folded the note twice, pinched his nose to stop the inexplicable sour taste from getting into his eyes and making him cry.

—Of course, this wasn't the first time. Back at St. Marian Academy, after she learned that Lu Mingfei wasn't some cold, mechanical deity, they became accustomed to communicating through drawings on paper.

For example, after morning training, the red-robed acolyte would very cleverly prepare two meals: one for Lu Mingfei and the other for Rong En. The two meals were, of course, identical, but she would always include a sticker with a picture of a red-robed figure feeding someone, subtly indicating, "This one is for Lu Mingfei..."

Whether it's psychological or not, Lu Mingfei always felt that the food delivered like this always tasted better than Rong En's meal.

Perhaps it's because Rong En always has that envious, jealous, and hateful expression on her face?

Folding the sticker up and putting it in his shirt pocket, Lu Mingfei continued examining the items on the table. There was a red inkpad and a stamp; the inner circle bore the school emblem, and the outer circle had the words "Shilan Middle School" written on it.

"Okay, this isn't fun."

Pushing the red clay seal aside, Lu Mingfei opened another document: "Regarding the Development of Shilan Education Group into..."

"It's not fun either."

After checking it over and over again, Lu Mingfei couldn't help but sigh:

"Is the principal's office so boring? There aren't even any games."

He had expected to find some kind of intellectually stimulating board game like chess or Go. He still remembered how, when he was in elementary school, his father would drop him off at the security guard's booth as he went to work.

Back then, the elderly security guard could pull out several sets of chess pieces from under similar tables—Chinese chess, Go, animal chess, military chess…

He thought there were chess pieces on similar tables.