Yang Wei took great pride in his occupation as a teacher, and the rowdy atmosphere that had arisen irked him to no end. It was more suitable for a streetside show than a classroom! However, he had no choice but to bear with it. The priority was still to deal with Zu An. “Since that’s the case, we shall have the students here bear witness to the proceedings, lest someone refuses to acknowledge the bet later on.”

Zu An raised a hand to forestall him. “Wait a moment.”

“Why? Are you afraid now?” Yang Wei asked with a frown. He was worried that Zu An would back down at the last second.

“Afraid?” Zu An burst into laughter. “No way! I just want to find a witness for our bet.”

Yang Wei gestured to the students around him and asked, “Are these people not enough for you?”

“Of course not!” Zu An replied matter-of-factly. “If you win, these witnesses would be enough for you. However, if I win, I’m afraid that we won’t have enough say to make you fulfill the end of your promise. After all, we’re all of lower standing than you.”

“Are you saying that I’d lose to you?” Yang Wei snorted angrily. 

He might not have excelled as a cultivator, but he was still proud of his expertise when it came to arithmetic. No one was allowed to question his ability in that field.

“Nothing is for certain in this world. If you aren’t willing to do it, let’s just call off the bet.” Zu An shrugged before turning to leave.

Seeing how Zu An was about to back down at the last moment, Yang Wei immediately panicked. It hadn’t been easy for him to lead his prey by the nose so far, and he was just on the verge of ensnaring him. There was no way he could allow Zu An to leave at this juncture.

So, he replied, “Very well then. Let’s find another teacher to bear witness to this. However, I don’t know who would be free at this time.”

Yang Wei had intended to rope in a colleague he was on closer terms with, but at that very moment, a refreshingly gentle voice came from the doorway. “I shall be the witness to this bet.”

The melodious voice immediately caught the crowd’s attention, and all the heads in the classroom swiveled to find its source. In an instant, the previously bustling classroom fell silent.

A woman was leaning lazily against the door frame. Her skin was fair and her lips were crimson. Her dress flowed along her body like silk, vaguely hinting at her beautiful figure. Even though her dress only revealed a small portion of her fair hands and legs, her appearance was more than enough to steal the breaths away from all the men present.

She had a carefree disposition that lent her actions an indescribable grace. Even in her casual, leisurely pose, she still looked as beautiful as a goddess descending from the sky. 

Had it not been for the green wine gourd hanging from her waist, she could have been easily mistaken as an ethereal fairy untouched by the mortal world.

“T… Teacher Shang!”

The brief silence in the classroom was erased by a loud cheering. As one, the students rushed forward to crowd around the woman, excitement painted on their faces.

Even Yang Wei’s breathing hastened as well. 

In truth, he had been reluctant to teach at the academy. His work at the Civil Affairs Department was more than enough to keep his hands busy. Had it not been for the rules of the royal court dictating him to serve as a teacher, he would have never bothered coming to an academy to teach a bunch of immature brats.

However, the first time he held a lesson at the academy, he’d caught sight of this woman’s face, and all of a sudden, his obligation felt less like a chore. In fact, he would find reasons to stay at the academy, in the hope that he would be able to catch another glimpse of her.

Zu An, too, was also surprised by this development. To his astonishment, he had actually met this woman before. They’d spent time playing with a flute in the gazebo back then… Ah pui, pui, pui! I mean we bonded through music! 

He had asked the woman for her name afterward, but she had refused to tell him, saying that they would meet each other again if fate permitted.

Back then, he’d assumed that she was just turning him down. How easy could it be for two strangers to meet one another once more in this massive world? However, with the benefit of hindsight, it seemed likely that she had known he was a student from Brightmoon Academy, and that their meeting again was inevitable.

Zu An was far from a dense protagonist in a novel. With everyone around him addressing her as ‘Teacher Shang’, as well as those men acting as if they were animals in mating season, it was plain to see that this woman was Shang Liuyu, ranked third on the Sweetheart Ranking.

That would explain why the gorgeous principal had asked him if he was acquainted with Shang Liuyu, and why she had helped him alter the records of his aptitude test. All of it was coming together now.

Yang Wei’s face lit up with what he thought was his nicest smile. “Teacher Shang, what brought you here today?”

Shang Liuyu returned his smile and said, “I just happened to be passing by. I heard a commotion, so I came in to take a look.”

Her smile was so potent that Yang Wei felt his heart melting. However, his face immediately heated up as he recalled the situation facing him. He quickly explained, “Sorry you had to bump into something like this. This student is simply too obstinate, so I’m hoping to teach him how to respect his elders.”

Shang Liuyu threw a glance at Zu An, and the corners of her lips inched upward. “I happened to overhear that the two of you are intending to make a bet against one another. Why don’t I be the witness for your bet?”

“Sounds good~”

“Teacher Shang, you’re the best~”

“Teacher Shang, you’re my idol!”

Loud cheers broke out in the classroom. Clearly, Shang Liuyu was awfully popular.

“This…” Yang Wei was a little hesitant to accept Shang Liuyu’s offer. It should have been easy enough for a teacher like him to deal with an unruly student. If another teacher were to get involved too, there could be unexpected complications.

“Am I not welcome here?” Shang Liuyu looked at Yang Wei quietly with her beautiful eyes.

This was the first time Yang Wei was interacting with her in such proximity. The image of her perfect face hit him right in the chest—a critical strike!—leaving him short of breath. “T-that’s not what I mean! You’re more than welcome here!”

Yang Wei quickly convinced himself that it was no big deal. I never get a chance to interact with Shang Liuyu, and this is the perfect opportunity to display my talents before her. While I might be lacking in terms of cultivation, there’s no one in Brightmoon City who can match me when it comes to arithmetic!

His skill at arithmetic was difficult to flaunt. He couldn’t possibly walk up to Shang Liuyu and start reciting all sorts of mathematical equations—she would think that he was insane! It was unlikely that he would ever get another opportunity to impress her with his skill.

“Teacher Shang, this way please.” Yang Wei guided her toward the podium obsequiously.

Zu An clicked his tongue at his subservience. Surely, this was the epitome of ‘simping’.

Shang Liuyu casually took a seat before smiling at the students. “Alright, let’s quieten down so as to not interrupt their match.”

Her words seemed to contain some sort of sorcery. The classroom that had been as noisy as a wet market a moment ago fell utterly silent. Zu An nodded slightly, impressed by her charisma.

Yang Wei rolled up his sleeves, motivation pumping through his veins. He was determined to prove his worth to his goddess. Using all the knowledge he had accrued over the past few decades, he crafted out twenty highly difficult questions. He was confident that none of these students would be able to solve them—even he himself would stumble on them if he got distracted for a moment!

He could already imagine what was about to happen. Zu An would nibble on his brush in frustration as he found himself utterly stumped by the questions. He would shamelessly claim that these questions were unsolvable. Then, before the respectful eyes of the students, he, Yang Wei, would slowly decipher every single question, leaving all who witnessed it in awe of him.

Maybe Shang Liuyu will look at me with glittering eyes too. This might just be the start of a blissful relationship!

Just thinking about it was more than enough to make his cheeks quiver from laughter.

No, no, no, I have to calm down. A lot of eyes are on me right now. I need to take care of my image!

Mindful of his demeanor, Yang Wei coughed softly before passing the test paper to Zu An. “It is not too late to back out now. If you can’t even do a single question, you’ll have to leave the academy.”

He was only saying those words in front of Shang Liuyu to create the impression that he had no intention of cornering his student; it was the student himself who insisted on it. Of course, given the current, heated atmosphere, there was no way Zu An could back out easily.

In response, Zu An chuckled softly and said, “You’ll be the one leaving the academy if I get everything right.”

Not just Yang Wei, but even the other students in the classroom felt that Zu An had a screw loose in his head. Shang Liuyu merely watched the scene with an enigmatic smile on her lips, as if she knew something that the others didn’t.

“Ignorant and arrogant!” Yang Wei flew into a furious rage. “You shall pay the price of being so full of yourself!”

You have successfully trolled Yang Wei for 541 Rage points!

He didn’t take being insulted in front of his goddess too well, especially by a mere student.

Ignoring the outburst, Zu An shrugged leisurely and took the test paper.

Without warning, he exploded with laughter. “Is that all you got?” 

To be honest, he hadn’t been certain that he would be able to answer all of the questions. After all, he wasn’t too sure how far mathematics had developed in this world. However, when he saw the questions on the paper, he realized that he had been overestimating Yang Wei’s ability.

“I advise you to focus your efforts on answering the questions instead of letting your mouth run. If you can’t finish the paper before class comes to an end… Heh…” Yang Wei didn’t finish his sentence, but his implied meaning was clear enough.

Shang Liuyu spoke up. “There isn’t much time before the class comes to an end. Isn’t that too much of a rush? Why don’t we do this instead? Since I’m taking the next class, I’ll allocate half of the lesson to you so that you can take things slowly.”

Yang Wei was taken aback by the proposal. However, he didn’t think that Shang Liuyu had proposed this to help Zu An. After all, the two were not related in any way, so there was no reason for her to look out for him. 

My goddess is probably just pitying Zu An and wants to give him a chance. She must also be worried that others would accuse me of bullying the juniors, and she’s doing this with my reputation in mind. How touching. 

Yang Wei was so moved that tears were about to leak out from his eyes. He quickly nodded in agreement. “Yes, what Teacher Shang makes perfect sense. Zu An, I’ll give you another half a class to answer the questions then.”

Arithmetic is a subject where either you get it, or you don’t. If you don’t understand the question, I can give you all the time in the world, and it will do you no good.

Zu An had given up on responding to Yang Wei. Instead, he started reading the first question.

‘3 people drink 3 buckets of water in 3 days. How many buckets of water do 9 people drink in 9 days?’

Wei Suo’s eyes lit up right away. “This is such an easy question! Even I can answer that! If 3 people drink 3 buckets of water in 3 days, it should go without saying that 9 people would drink 9 buckets of water in 9 days!”

Most of the spectating students nodded in agreement. Only a small minority felt that there was something wrong with the answer Wei Suo proposed, but they couldn’t put their finger on what it was. 

Yang Wei smirked at Wei Suo’s confident statement. Do you think that I would come up with such an easy question? Of course, he didn’t bother putting a halt to the discussions going around. He would love more than anything for these people to mislead Zu An.

Zu An, meanwhile, shook his head in disappointment. 

Even elementary-schoolers would be able to solve such a question easily. 3 people drink 3 buckets of water in 3 days, which means 3 of them drink a bucket of water each day. Multiplying it proportionately, 9 people should drink 3 buckets of water each day, and 27 buckets of water in 9 days!

Zu An wrote down the answer, and Yang Wei’s eyes widened in disbelief. How could this be possible?

The first time he had seen this question on an ancient record, he had ended up falling for its trick and answered wrongly. Afterward, he posed this question to many of his colleagues, and most of them would instinctively answer ‘9 buckets of water’. How did this fellow solve it so easily?

Then again, this question wasn’t too difficult. It was possible that Zu An had just gotten lucky.

Hmph, this is the easiest question of the lot! The difficulty will only increase with each passing question. I don’t believe that you can remain so lucky!

Now that Zu An had managed to answer a question, though, it would probably be more difficult to chase him out of the academy. If only I had known that this would happen, I wouldn’t have set the bar so low.

You have successfully trolled Yang Wei for 9… 9… 9… 

Seeing the inflow of Rage points, Zu An was surprised by how well Yang Wei lived up to his name. Even his Rage points dribbled in, instead of flowing in a steady stream.[1]

He moved on to the second question.

‘A farmer’s wife is washing bowls by the river. Passers-by ask her why she has so many bowls to wash. She answers that she had just hosted a number of guests. Every 2 people would share a bowl of rice, every 3 people would share a bowl of soup, and every 4 people would share a bowl of a side dish. All in all, there are 65 bowls. How many guests did she host?’