Inside the room, Si Xiu had already walked over to the sofa, leaning slightly forward to tap on the control panel of the treatment device.
“Mm, I know.” Si Xiu quickly scanned the data on the panel, “Eles already told me.”
Following Si Xiu’s movement, some of the long hair tied back behind him slid down his shoulder.
Xie Shi’an remained lying on the sofa, his attention falling on the long hair sliding down Senior Si Xiu’s shoulder, and he seemed to catch that scent of wood again.
He had noticed that many people at the school used perfume.
Xia Zuo smelled like desserts, Senior Eles smelled like flowers, and even Professor Arnold carried the scent of books and ink.
As for Senior Si Xiu, he had a very faint woody scent.
Every time he caught a whiff of this scent, he felt like he was about to have points deducted.
Nearby, Si Xiu uploaded the treatment data to the school system and slowly spoke: “The school doesn’t have your allergen information on file. I’ve uploaded this treatment record, so the system will remind you to avoid allergens next time.”
Xie Shi’an thanked him: “Thank you, Senior.”
Soon, the lounge fell silent; neither of them spoke. One lay on the sofa receiving treatment while the other adjusted the panel data on the treatment device.
Holding his light-screen to browse the forum, Xie Shi’an occasionally glanced sideways at the person next to him and asked, “Senior, how long will it take for this to fade away?”
“It should take another hour or two.” Si Xiu noticed Xie Shi’an’s movements—he kept checking the time, seeming to have somewhere urgent to be. “Do you have other plans tonight?”
“Not really.” Xie Shi’an tapped on the forum’s homepage to check a post discussing the Crown Prince. “I saw people on the forum saying the Crown Prince is coming to the banquet, and I’m afraid of missing it.”
Si Xiu withdrew his gaze and calmly said, “The Crown Prince won’t be coming to the banquet.”
“He won’t come?” Xie Shi’an looked at him in confusion.
Si Xiu: “If members of the royal family at the school have a scheduled itinerary, the Disciplinary Department will receive a notification.”
The Imperial Crown Prince held a noble status; if he had any public itinerary, the school administration would definitely step up security, and the forum homepage would be flooded with new discussion posts.
However, the school’s Disciplinary Department had not received any notifications, and even the forum only had a vague discussion thread.
Si Xiu had finished modifying the panel settings on the treatment device and said, “Eles’s automatic mode isn’t very convenient, so I readjusted the data. If the allergy hasn’t faded after an hour, just press the switch again.”
Xie Shi’an: “Sorry to trouble you, Senior.”
Si Xiu left the lounge, and Xie Shi’an continued to stay in the room using the treatment device until, an hour later, the allergic marks on his neck had faded away.
Xie Shi’an logged onto the forum to check, and the homepage still had no new posts regarding the Crown Prince, confirming that the Crown Prince would not be appearing tonight.
Xie Shi’an got up, tidied his formal attire, and brought the treatment device downstairs, planning to return it to the senior first.
The banquet on the first floor was still ongoing. Xie Shi’an searched the banquet hall and the garden once but couldn’t find Senior Eles or anyone else wearing the Disciplinary Department uniform.
With no other choice, Xie Shi’an brought the treatment device back to his dorm, and the next day, he brought it with him on a trip to the Disciplinary Department.
The Disciplinary Department office was a bit far, located near the senior students’ teaching area. Xie Shi’an walked all the way through a small forest path, bypassed a palace, and saw a three-story small villa built by the lakeside.
The front door of the villa was wide open. As Xie Shi’an followed the stone path to the entrance and peered inside, he saw two seniors wearing dark red formal attire sitting at a long table, drinking tea and chatting.
Before the two seniors on the first floor could say anything, a male voice came from upstairs: “Darling, it sounds like someone is calling my name.”
Footsteps sounded, and a golden-haired boy walked down the stairs, humming softly as he came to the door.
“Good morning, darling.” Eles smiled gently, a pair of attractive peach-blossom eyes full of amusement, “I’m so glad to meet you again. I didn’t get a chance to properly introduce myself last night; my name is Eles.”
“Thank you, Senior Eles. I’m Xie Shi’an from the first year, and I’m here to return the treatment device.” Xie Shi’an handed over the device.
Eles tilted his head slightly and said, “Darling, this is Si Xiu’s treatment device. I only borrowed it from him yesterday.”
Hearing the name Si Xiu reminded Xie Shi’an of last night’s events—no wonder Senior Si Xiu had come to the lounge to check on him; it was his treatment device, after all.
Eles said with a hint of regret, “What a pity, though. Si Xiu isn’t here today; he went off to handle matters for the charity bazaar.”
Xie Shi’an didn’t have Senior Si Xiu’s contact information, so he said, “Then I’ll just leave it here. Could you help me pass it on to him, Senior?”
“I’d be more than happy to, darling.”
Xie Shi’an handed the treatment device to Senior Eles, then thought of something else and quickly asked, “Senior Eles, I’ve been getting quite a few point deductions lately. Can I sign up for volunteer activities to clear the records?”
“You can, but volunteer work is quite tiring, and you can’t cancel tasks once you accept them.” Eles pulled up the light-screen system and logged into the backend, “Darling, let me check your point deduction record…”
The Disciplinary Department had high clearance and could view every student’s archival records, including daily point deductions.
“Darling, you’ve had three points deducted this week.” Eles was slightly surprised.
For the graceful aristocratic students in this academy, having three points deducted in a single week was already quite a lot.
Xie Shi’an replied earnestly, “I just transferred here and am not very familiar with the school rules yet. I definitely won’t get any points deducted in the future.”
“Darling, of course I believe you.” Eles brought up the management interface on the light-screen, “I’ve helped you submit the volunteer application. Once the system approves it, you’ll be able to pick up tasks in the backend yourself.”
After leaving the Disciplinary Department, Xie Shi’an returned to his dormitory.
As soon as he got back, Xie Shi’an saw a parcel box placed right outside his door, with his name written on it.
Xie Shi’an picked up the parcel and looked at it. The label read “Heless Teacup”—it was the customized teacup from their last tea culture class.
Back in his room, Xie Shi’an placed the parcel on the desk and unpacked it. Inside was a set of blue and white tea utensils.
He put the tea set away and headed downstairs to the communal kitchen, planning to find something to eat.
There was a snack cabinet on the first floor containing snacks prepared by Butler Owen. Xie Shi’an took a box of cookies from the cabinet and, as he passed the side door, heard voices coming from the courtyard.
“Those booths all belong to Senior Lance. Should we go over and buy something?”
“But Senior Iderson has been hanging out with Senior Lance lately. If we go over there, we might run into Senior Iderson.”
Several boys were sitting around a small round table in the courtyard, discussing something together.
Xia Zuo, with his shock of red hair, was sitting in the middle, looking down in thought. When he inadvertently raised his head and noticed Xie Shi’an by the side door, he invited him over: “Shi’an, want to come over and have some tea?”
Xie Shi’an agreed, walked over to sit at the small round table, and saw that besides teacups and desserts, a light-screen was glowing right in the middle, displaying a map covered in dense, tiny annotations.
Xia Zuo explained thoughtfully, “The upperclassmen are holding a charity bazaar today, and we’re planning to check it out, so we’re doing our homework in advance.”
Xie Shi’an nodded, picked up a piece of cake from the tray, and quietly ate his food.
The others continued discussing the bazaar. The booth information for the school charity bazaar was public, making it an excellent networking opportunity.
However, choosing which booths to buy things from turned out to be quite a complex science.
“We can also go to Senior Tu Yi’s booth. The Tu family moved over from the Federation, and recently the Federation and the Empire have been talking about a lot of cooperation.”
“These stalls are good to visit, too; their families are all neutral parties.”
The group earnestly analyzed the bazaar layout map on the light-screen. Meanwhile, Xie Shi’an quietly ate his food on the side, feeling completely lost and unable to understand why a simple charity bazaar had to become so complicated.
After half an hour, the group finally finished their discussion and agreed on which booths to visit.
Xia Zuo looked at Xie Shi’an beside him and asked, “Shi’an, are you coming with us?”
“Okay.” Xie Shi’an agreed and set off with his classmates.
The charity bazaar was located in the southern garden plaza of the school. Before long, the group arrived at the garden, where various booths had already been set up across the plaza.
To be precise, the booths were built in the shape of small houses, each with a completely different design style, standing in rows across the plaza—
A colorful candy house selling desserts, a vintage clock house selling handmade goods, a library house selling private collections.
These little houses each had a unique style, presenting a lively and bustling scene at a glance.
Following Xia Zuo, Xie Shi’an arrived at Senior Tu Yi’s booth, where quite a lot of people had already gathered.
“Good day, Senior Tu Yi.” Xia Zuo placed one hand on his shoulder and bowed slightly in greeting.
“Welcome, juniors.” Senior Tu Yi poured a cup of tea for each of them, “Apologies, I’m a bit busy and might not be able to entertain you properly just yet.”
Xia Zuo smiled and said, “It’s no problem at all. This gives us a chance to rest here for a bit.”
Senior Tu Yi’s booth was a coffee-themed house. The aroma of baked cookies and coffee blended together, and the resting area was already packed with people, all there to socialize with Senior Tu Yi.
Xia Zuo and his classmates continued to drink tea, chat, and wait. Standing in a corner, Xie Shi’an got bored and slipped away on his own to wander around.
There were countless booths at the bazaar, with colorful little houses lined up side by side, decorated everywhere with balloons and ribbons like a miniature fairy tale town.
Xie Shi’an walked and stopped along the way until he reached the very edge of the plaza, where he discovered a small treehouse. At the entrance stood a display rack made of tree branches, hung with a row of leaf-shaped small pendants that reflected tiny specks of colorful light in the sunlight.
Xie Shi’an walked up to the branch rack, wanting to reach out and take a closer look, but afraid of damaging it, he quietly pulled his hand back.
“You can take it down and look at it.” A familiar male voice rang out.
Xie Shi’an looked up and finally spotted the figure inside the treehouse. He performed a greeting and said, “Senior Si Xiu.”
Inside the treehouse, the boy with long black hair put down the carving knife in his hand, walked slowly down the steps, and asked, “Is your allergy better?”
“It’s fully recovered. Thank you for the treatment device, Senior.” Xie Shi’an expressed his gratitude, and as he looked up, he noticed Senior Si Xiu was wearing black casual formal wear.
It wasn’t the Disciplinary Department’s duty uniform, which meant no point deductions.
Xie Shi’an relaxed a bit and said, “I left the treatment device at the Disciplinary Department and gave it to Senior Eles to pass on.”
“Mm.” Si Xiu took a leaf pendant down from the rack and handed it to Xie Shi’an.
Xie Shi’an carefully took it and asked, “Is this made of gemstone?”
The leaf in his hand was extremely thin, sparkling even more brilliantly in the sunlight like some kind of precious gem or amber.
Si Xiu turned back to his workbench, picked up the carving knife on the desk again, and said, “It’s gilded wood leaves. After processing, they can be made into bookmarks.”
“Leaves?” Xie Shi’an leaned closer to the workbench, seeing many semi-finished carved works on the table alongside a box piled full of raw leaf materials.
The gilded wood leaves were quite thick, and at a glance, they looked more like a pile of golden gemstones stacked together.
Xie Shi’an had never seen such leaves before; they sparkled even brighter than gems, and he exclaimed, “This is my first time seeing gemstone leaves.”
“Gilded wood has high environmental requirements and a low survival rate.” Si Xiu’s tone remained as flat as ever, devoid of emotional fluctuations, as he lowered his head to carve the semi-finished piece in his hands. “There’s one tree in the school botanical garden.”
Xie Shi’an’s gaze fell onto Si Xiu’s hands, noticing that what Si Xiu was carving was a miniature silvery-white snake.
The carving process was nearing its final stages. It wasn’t until Si Xiu completed the very last step that Xie Shi’an spoke up: “Senior, are you finished?”
“Not yet, I’m short on materials.” Si Xiu lowered his eyes, placing the semi-finished white snake ornament aside—it was still missing a base.
Xie Shi’an couldn’t tell the difference and asked, “What material is missing?”
“Silvery-white leaves of the gilded wood. They’re not very easy to collect.” Si Xiu frowned slightly, somewhat troubled by the issue of raw materials.
Xie Shi’an didn’t quite understand; he hadn’t even seen gilded wood before today and had only just learned that such a tree existed.
Lowering his gaze to look at the bookmark in his hand again, he rather liked it, so he asked, “Senior, how much does this bookmark cost?”
“No charge, I’ll give this one to you.”
“Thank you, Senior.” Xie Shi’an thanked him sincerely.
As long as Senior Si Xiu wasn’t going to deduct his points, the senior was actually a pretty nice person.