When Pei Yan arrived at the classroom, Cheng Yue was already inside teaching the lesson.
Through the slanted window, he saw Pei Yuning listening attentively to the lecture.
However, his complexion did not look very good.
After all, he had been startled by what just happened.
When Pei Yuning was overly frightened, he was prone to running a fever.
Pei Yan did not know whether he was running a fever or not.
For someone like Pei Yuning, who suffered from congenital deficiencies, a fever was extremely dangerous.
Thus, he knocked gently on the door.
Hoping that this time Cheng Yue would let him in.
If he refused entry, he would simply have to commit the discourtesy of barging in himself; whether it meant criticism or corporal punishment, he cared nothing for it, praying only that Little Daddy remained safe and sound.
“Enter.”
Unexpectedly, Cheng Yue actually allowed him in.
Not daring to waste a single moment, Pei Yan hurried inside.
Thinking that Cheng Yue would inevitably unleash his venomous tongue and criticize him a few times.
Cheng Yue narrowed his brow and glared at him: “Class is in session.”
Pei Yan blinked his eyes, a flash of surprise flitting across them.
Suddenly, he felt that Cheng Yue was not entirely devoid of human warmth.
Following that, he took a seat beside Pei Yuning.
Pei Yuning turned his eyes toward him.
Knowing that Pei Yuning was worried he had been bullied by the Zuo father and son.
Pei Yan shook his head, softly comforting Pei Yuning: “I am fine. They were the ones who bullied others first, and they were in the wrong. Xiao Jing’an is somewhat reasonable and disciplined Zuo Qi.”
Pei Yuning glanced at Cheng Yue, who was in the middle of a lecture, and mumbled in a lowered voice: “But you were injured, it must hurt terribly.”
“It is fake.” Pei Yan’s brows and eyes curved into smiles, revealing a childlike air in front of his own Little Daddy: “These wounds on my face were faked using rouge.”
Pei Yuning finally let out a sigh of relief.
Pei Yan reached out a hand and felt his forehead.
He let out a sigh of relief as well: “Thank goodness you are not running a fever.”
Pei Yan’s simple gesture of checking Pei Yuning’s forehead temperature appeared far from simple in the eyes of the others in the classroom.
Coupled with the scene when Pei Yan first saw Pei Yuning outside the gates of the Imperial Academy after his rebirth.
Rumors had already begun to sprout within the Imperial Academy.
Especially among the classmates in the classroom.
At this moment, not a single one of them had any mind left for studying.
Their attention was entirely focused on these two individuals.
Pairs upon pairs of eyes remained fixed right upon them.
Chapter after chapter of colorful romantic fiction was born on the spot.
Pei Yan had always surveyed the six directions and possessed razor-sharp perception.
Before Cheng Yue’s knife-like gaze could slice over, he had already sat up straight and proper, wearing a serious expression with clear, limpid eyes staring fixedly at the poetry Cheng Yue had written on the ink board directly ahead.
Pei Yuning, on the other hand, buried his face guiltily into his textbook.
Unable to catch Pei Yan red-handed, Cheng Yue could only glare at him with a warning look.
And severely reprimand the students in the hall: “Listen to the lecture properly.”
With that, he turned around and continued writing poetry on the ink board.
In his past life, Pei Yan had already figured out the routine Cheng Yue used to discipline and manage students, so he was not nervous in the slightest. He leaned over once more to check on Pei Yuning, asking with concern: “If you feel uncomfortable anywhere, you must tell me.”
“I am fine.”
After speaking, Pei Yuning quietly glanced at the surrounding pairs of eyes staring at them.
“Classmates are all looking at us, I suppose we have been misunderstood.”
Pei Yan softly comforted him: “Rest assured, I will explain it to them.” He added a moment later: “Listen to the lecture, I will not disturb you anymore.”
Right at that moment, as if rising from the dead, Cheng Yue whipped his body around sharply, his piercing gaze striking directly at Pei Yan.
Yet Pei Yan was already sitting properly, his spine straight as a ramrod, looking straight ahead.
As if “discovering” Cheng Yue staring at him, his bright eyes slowly shifted toward him, and he parted his lips to flash him a sunny yet polite smile.
“Hm.” Cheng Yue let out a muffled hum and turned back around once more.
Pei Yan stopped conversing with Pei Yuning, pondering how to explain the misunderstanding to his classmates during the upcoming break.
“Hey? What on earth is your relationship with Yuning?”
Zhou Hezhao leaned over sideways.
Pei Yan kept his eyes straight ahead, looking straight forward without paying him any mind.
With a loud smack.
A roll of books slammed into Zhou Hezhao’s head.
Immediately followed by Cheng Yue’s stern reprimand.
“Zhou Hezhao is disrupting classroom order, get out and stand in the corner for punishment!”
With that, because he failed to catch Pei Yan in the act, Cheng Yue glared at him with lingering resentment.
Lin Zhaoru stared fixedly at Pei Yuning, the deep malice in the depths of his eyes almost overflowing.
With that scapegoat Zhou Hezhao sent outside, the classroom quieted down for a moment before beginning to buzz with agitation once more.
Zhao Ding, the classmate sitting right in front of Pei Yan, seized the moment while Cheng Yue was writing on the ink board to turn around, saying with a deadpan, serious expression: “Pei Yan, tell me honestly and I will never breathe a word of this to anyone else, are you secretly in love with hisp.?”
Cheng Yue grabbed Zhao Ding by the ear and kicked him right out of the classroom.
Pei Yan twitched the corners of his mouth.
The instructors of the present day possessed far more volatile and fierce tempers than the elderly instructors of his past life.
Judging by this, by the time they reached old age, they probably wouldn’t even have the strength to kick anyone out.
The students in the classroom were just like cats, they were all going to be killed by curiosity.
One after another, they were expelled from the classroom by Cheng Yue to stand outside in punishment.
To prevent anyone else from breaking the rules and getting kicked out, Pei Yan had no choice but to stand up and say: “Instructor, I will voluntarily go outside for punishment.”
Cheng Yue’s beard twitched as he glared at him: “You stinky fish actually have a bit of self-awareness, get out.”
Yet a pot of soup was still ruined by a single drop of tainted water.
Even though Pei Yan was already standing out in the corridor.
Students still filed out one after another to serve punishment.
Zhou Hezhao asked in puzzlement: “Pei Yan is already out here, why are you guys still getting kicked out by the instructor?”
Hearing this, two students spoke up in succession.
“Our minds have already flown away, where would we find the heart to study?”
“That is right, that is right, our hearts are completely filled with whatever is going on between Pei Yan and Pei Yuning.”
Shaking his head helplessly, Pei Yan explained: “I am of a branch lineage of the Pei clan, and Yuning is my kinsman. You all must not let your imaginations run wi-”
Suddenly, the person stopped talking, and Zhou Hezhao turned his head to look.
The spot where Pei Yan had been standing was completely empty.
Had he, slipped away?
Yet why would he want to slip away?
Rubbing his chin while pondering this out of sheer curiosity, Zhou Hezhao heard a voice by his ear.
“Have you seen Pei Yan?”
After finishing his question, Sheng Dong grew curious as well, muttering: “Just a moment ago I caught sight of him, how did he suddenly vanish?”
He and Sheng Nan had originally planned to wait until the end of class to call him over, but upon seeing him standing outside for punishment, they thought to seize the opportunity to summon him away.
Sheng Nan said nothing, deep in thought about something.
Zhao Ding was still massaging his ear as he shook his head and replied: “Didn’t see him.”
Before Sheng Dong could ask further, he was yanked away by Sheng Nan.
After the two of them left, Zhou Hezhao asked Zhao Ding: “Why did you say you didn’t see him? Pei Yan was right beside us just now?”
Zhao Ding pointed toward the two departing figures: “Pei Yan is purposely dodging them.”
Indeed, Pei Yan knew far too well what those two were looking for him to do.
Because of the Zuo father and son incident, that tyrannical ruler believed he had been played and was currently fuming with anger.
Anyone sent to find him right now was bound to settle scores with him.
He had no desire to ride the wave at its peak.
He would wait until the tyrant’s anger blew over before showing up.
Therefore, he would dodge wherever he could and evade whenever possible.
Pei Yan hid himself inside an empty classroom, planning to stay put until classes ended and he could venture back out.
There was still some time left before the Imperial Academy dismissed classes for the day, and the tyrant couldn’t possibly wait that long.
When they met again later, he would have a hundred excuses to gloss over this disappearance.
Pei Yan had already locked the door from the inside.
With a touch of leisurely comfort, he lay down across a desktop.
Intending to catch some sleep.
Half-asleep, he heard someone shouting outside the door that “Pei Yuning has fallen ill.”
Abruptly, Pei Yan snapped his eyes wide open.
“Little Daddy is sick!”
Leaping swiftly off the desk, he dashed to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open… only to see Sheng Nan and Sheng Dong standing right outside the threshold.
Sheng Nan made a polite gesture inviting him to proceed.
Sheng Dong thought to himself: “His Majesty’s trick truly yields instant results!”
Pei Yan was left laughing through his tears.
Truly, when virtue rises one foot, vice rises ten.
This time, he was done for.
Resigned to his fate, yet under the weight of absolute power, Pei Yan had no choice but to follow the two men.
In the afternoon, the sun hung high.
Bright enough to make people squint their eyes.
Yet, the moment Pei Yan stepped into the bedchamber where Xiao Jing’an resided, a sudden, unexpected wave of darkness instantly swallowed up his vision.
The room was pitch black, resembling a bottomless black hole.
The windows were sealed tight with heavy blackout curtains, letting through only the faintest trickles of light.
Pei Yan instinctively blinked his eyes, struggling to adapt to the pitch-black surroundings as he tried to make out the scene around him.
“Pei Yan, this time you have truly infuriated me.”
With murder sharpening the depths of his eyes, Xiao Jing’an materialized behind him like a phantom, his complexion as gloomy and dark as ink.
“I must give you a punishment you will never forget in this lifetime, to teach you how to behave.”