These refugees hadn’t paid attention during the lesson at all. Faced with such detailed questions, they simply couldn’t answer.
A heavy silence fell over the room. The refugees desperately wanted the seeds but had no way to get them. Even the once-lively live chat grew quiet under the oppressive atmosphere—
【Oh man, this is so intimidating (trembling in fear)】
【Suddenly I’m back in my school days, being called on by the teacher…】
Only Du Hong, who had listened attentively from start to finish without distraction, stood up in the silence and answered: “Soak in water at fifty-five degrees for ten hours. When planting, it’s better to plant deeper rather than shallower, bury the seeds ten centimeters into the soil…”
Lin Yi nodded in satisfaction and generously handed Du Hong a large handful of seeds.
Du Hong carefully cradled the seeds and sat back down. Lin Yi continued: “Next question, what is the purpose and method of cold water soaking?”
“I know this one! Cold water soaking is to help crops bloom properly later—” Before Lin Yi could finish, the raspy-voiced refugee excitedly shouted out again.
But this time, no one had time to mock his voice. The other refugees watched wide-eyed as the raspy-voiced man received a handful of precious vegetable seeds, their eyes burning with jealousy.
At that moment, those who had been slacking off were filled with deep regret.
But regret was useless. Faced with Lin Yi’s remaining questions, they could only stammer and stare blankly at each other, unable to answer a single one.
Some tried their luck, standing up to give random answers, but aside from a gentle reprimand, they received nothing and slunk back to their seats in shame.
After going through the motions of asking the last question, Lin Yi looked at the refugees with feigned regret: “Still no one knows? What a pity.”
He pointed at the still-bulging package. “There are so many seeds left. I was planning to give them all out today. I suppose they’ll have to wait until next time.”
The moment he finished speaking, the previously frustrated refugees perked up with excitement. Someone boldly asked, “There’s a next time?!”
“Of course. I said from the very beginning, this is only the first lesson. There’s plenty more content to come.”
“Great! Wonderful!” The refugees grew excited in unison. “We’ll definitely come next time!”
Perhaps feeling that their eagerness was too obvious, they quickly added, “Xiao Xin… Teacher, your lessons are excellent. We’ll come listen again next time!”
Lin Yi couldn’t help but laugh. Come to listen to the lesson? More like come to get free seeds. In the refugees’ minds, he was probably already seen as some kind of naive fool with money to burn.
But he didn’t bother arguing with them. With a wave of his hand, he shooed the noisy refugees out of the room, and only then did the lesson come to an end.
Oh, and he almost forgot, there was still one more group of people—
Lin Yi forcibly turned the camera back toward himself and waved at the lens.
Too exhausted to bother, his voice carried a hint of perfunctoriness: “Alright, that’s all for today’s stream. Thank you all for your support. You’re welcome to come back to my live broadcast room and… watch the lesson.”
The next second, the screen went black.
After several streams, his long-time fans had grown accustomed to his abrupt style of ending. Even with the camera off, the viewers continued chatting in the darkened live room as if it were perfectly normal.
As they chatted, someone suddenly brought up:
【If I remember correctly, just a month ago, the streamer was pitifully clearing land all by himself… How did he fast-forward to teaching everyone?】
【Not just teaching, he also killed a mutant beast along the way.】
【And got a few trending topics while he was at it.】
【And taught everyone a recipe.】
Finally, one comment ended the discussion—
【Hiss, this streamer is terrifying…】
…
The next day, Lin Yi arrived at the teaching site twenty minutes early as usual to set up his streaming equipment.
The day before, at this same time, the room had been completely empty, so empty that Lin Yi had wondered if he’d come to the wrong place.
But today—
Before Lin Yi even stepped through the door, he was startled by the dark mass of people inside.
There were roughly forty to fifty people in the room, nearly every single refugee from the area. Old and young alike, they had all turned out in full force.
The moment Lin Yi set foot inside, everyone’s heads swiveled toward him in unison, their eyes blazing with the kind of fervor usually reserved for a walking money bag.
Lin Yi: …
Although he had anticipated this situation, he still felt somewhat uncomfortable under the overly enthusiastic stares. Unlike the previous day, today the room was packed to the brim with people, a sea of heads below, hardly an empty spot in sight.
Lin Yi squeezed through the crowd with difficulty and set up his streaming equipment.
Despite being watched by so many people, his voice remained calm and steady: “Hello, everyone. Welcome to today’s lesson.”
Seeing that everyone’s eyes kept drifting uncontrollably toward the bag of seeds, Lin Yi had no choice but to quickly add, “The Q&A session is at the very end. Only those who answer correctly can receive seeds. So please listen carefully to the lesson first.”
Hearing this, the distracted refugees snapped to attention and focused intently on Lin Yi, afraid of missing any piece of knowledge.
If one didn’t know any better, they might have mistaken them for a group of eager, knowledge-thirsty students.
At last, he had achieved the effect of keeping people focused. Regardless of how it was achieved, it was ultimately a good thing.
Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Lin Yi flipped to the page for today’s lesson: “Yesterday, we covered seed sowing and germination. Today, we’ll talk about soil selection and land preparation…”
This time, the lesson went unexpectedly smoothly. Everyone listened quietly. Even if someone occasionally caused a disturbance, they were immediately shushed into silence by the rest of the refugees.
Without constant interruptions, Lin Yi’s teaching went much more smoothly. Soon, they reached the long-awaited Q&A session.
Almost everyone eagerly vied to answer questions. A few who had been distracted and couldn’t answer could only watch enviously as others received their rewards, silently vowing to pay even closer attention next time.
Finally, when nearly everyone had a handful of seeds, Lin Yi spoke up: “For those who received seeds, I have one condition. You must plant them using the methods I taught.”
The seeds Lin Yi gave out as rewards were not random. He had carefully selected them to match the content of each lesson.
For example, last time he had taught seed soaking, so he distributed seeds that required soaking to improve survival rates, such as celery, radishes, and peas. This time, he had taught methods for enriching soil and increasing yields, so he gave out legume seeds that had the effect of fertilizing the soil.
Learning and planting side by side allowed the refugees to quickly master the material while also using their newfound knowledge to increase their harvests, two birds with one stone.
Thanks to Lin Yi’s reward system, the refugees had memorized everything he had taught. So they didn’t find this condition difficult at all and readily agreed.
After the refugees left, Lin Yi checked the live stream as usual and noticed that the number of bullet-screen comments had dropped significantly. The chat seemed rather quiet.
Understandable, he thought. I’ve been busy teaching lately and haven’t had time to interact with the viewers. The content might be a bit boring for netizens on the Star Network… Wait?
Lin Yi suddenly realized that the number of viewers had only increased, it was just that there were barely any bullet-screen comments.
So where did everyone go?
Lin Yi scrolled through the Star Network, puzzled, until he suddenly came across a picture posted by a fan:
【Thank you, Teacher Lin, for making this middle-aged auntie relive the fear of being dominated by the classroom again…】
The title was self-deprecating, but the content of the picture was anything but. A sheet of paper was densely filled with handwritten notes, so meticulous that it put the refugees’ efforts to shame by several times.
What astonished Lin Yi even more was that beneath this picture, many fans were comparing their own class notes. Some were on paper, some digital, but each one was more serious than the last.
Lin Yi: …I never expected these viewers to actually start taking the lessons so seriously. How terrible.
He wanted to say that instead of taking notes so earnestly, they could just post a few more bullet-screen comments to liven up the chat. But after thinking it over, he decided not to dampen their strange enthusiasm for learning.
Still, while his real-life students required all sorts of threats and bribes to pay attention, a large group of special “students” had suddenly appeared on the Star Network, leaving Lin Yi not sure whether to laugh or cry.
In the fields…
The raspy-voiced refugee hoisted a hoe over his shoulder, happily clutching the seeds he had received, ready to plant them. As he passed by Du Hong’s field, he casually glanced over.
That one glance made him freeze.
The next second, he shouted at the top of his lungs: “Hey, eldest son of the Du family, what’s going on with your field?!”
His voice was incredibly piercing. At his shout, the refugees working nearby straightened up one after another and looked over.