Chapter 104: How Are You Going to Compete With Me?
Wait a moment! Isn’t that person on the podium Zu An?
Shi Kun rubbed his eyes, fearing that he was seeing things.
There were many people who shared the same thought as him. Almost every single student in the room was staring at Zu An with eyes widened in disbelief.
“How did that fellow make his hairdo? It looks pretty cool. Should I give it a try someday too? Also, what’s with the music? It really makes my heart pump fast,” murmured Xie Xiu softly.
“Now that I’m taking a closer look at him, he’s actually quite good-looking. He looks much more imposing in this dress-up than his casual look,” added Zheng Dan.
“Why does this fellow look much more pleasing to me than before? My gosh, I must be going mad!” Wu Qing harrumphed coldly.
Chu Chuyan also only started to recover from the initial shock at this point. She realized that she really wasn’t seeing things and that the person on the podium was no other than her husband. Even with her usual cold personality, she felt her face burning up. Had there been a hole right beside her, she might have just leaped in without a second’s hesitation.
“What are you doing?!” She transmitted her voice secretly to Zu An anxiously.
Zu An shot a glance at her, but he didn’t respond to her question.
Chu Chuyan bit her lips and carried on, “Stop messing around and go back!”
She had never felt so embarrassed in her entire life before. All her life, she had always been the one in control. Even in the academy, she was a lofty existence that no one dared to mess with.
But at this very moment, she felt like she was sitting on a bed of needles. She felt like everyone was directing weird stares at her, waiting to make a laughingstock of the Chu clan.
Meanwhile, Zu An had already gotten into position and had turned over to face the students before him. Upon noticing the furiously blushing Chu Chuyan, he put on a stern expression and said, “That student over there, please be reminded that we’re having a class over here. You should stop sending messages secretly to your teacher in the midst of the lesson.”
“Ohh~”
A commotion broke out within the class as they figured that Zu An was addressing Chu Chuyan over here. Considering their married status, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what they were whispering to one another about. A little bit of drama here and there was always welcomed.
However, not everyone was taking this well.
“Acting all chummy in public, don’t you have a sense of shame?” Wu Qing clicked her tongue in annoyance as she clutched the hems of her clothes tightly.
Zheng Dan also frowned at the remark too. “It looks like the two of them are closer than I thought. It might get a bit troublesome…”
Meanwhile, Chu Chuyan felt an urge to cover her own face. She had never felt so embarrassed in her entire life. What in the world is wrong is that fellow’s mind?
Wait a moment, did he just say ‘teacher’?
Shi Kun also bore the same doubts in mind, so he gestured at his underlings. Unexpectedly, his underlings averted their gazes, not responding to him at all. Left with no choice, he could only step forward himself to challenge Zu An. “Take a look at your surroundings closely. You’re in the Sky class right now. This isn’t a place where someone from the Yellow class should be.”
It looks like these people are really inept. They sure don’t know how to read the situation! I really should find myself new underlings soon!
“Oh? Did you just say that this isn’t a place where I should be?” Zu An looked at Shi Kun with a playful look in his eyes.
“Of course. A person should know his place. There’s nothing wrong with you being in the Yellow class; you’re simply born with inferior talent. However, it would be a grave mistake if you try to forcefully overstep your boundaries in hopes of breaking into higher grounds.”
Shi Kun was determined to trample Zu An all the way into the ground before everyone else. He wanted to see if the Chu clan would still accept that wastrel even after he was being humiliated before so many people.
“Look at what you’re doing. What’s with that earlier melody and your hairdo? All your desperate attempts to raise your standing look no more than a joke before prodigies like us.”
He gestured to the people around him as he spoke, only to frown right after. He noticed that the atmosphere in the room had suddenly gotten weird, and everyone else was looking at him peculiarly. Even Yuan Wendong had a hesitant look on his face.
What’s going on here?
Shi Kun suddenly felt a terrible premonition, as if something really bad was about to happen.
Chu Chuyan rose to her feet and looked at Shi Kun coldly, “Young master Shi, Zu An is my husband. Regardless of his level of competence, it’s not your place to criticize him.”
She might not be fond of Zu An, but she couldn’t bring herself to sit still while others were putting down her husband right before her eyes.
Chu Chuyan’s act of standing up for Zu An only further stoked Shi Kun’s fury. However, he didn’t allow his emotions to show through, still maintaining the perfect smile on his face. “Young miss Chu, you have misunderstood my words. I don’t mean to criticize the Chu clan. I just think that someone as outstanding as you should have married an equally competent man. That fellow over there isn’t worthy of you at all.”
“Marry an equally competent man?” Chu Chuyan burst into laughter. “Such worldly standards bear no meaning to me. I think that Zu An is perfectly fine as he is.”
She was outstanding enough as she was anyway; she didn’t need her husband to be capable too. On the contrary, it wouldn’t be a good thing if her husband was too competent.
Zu An felt deeply moved to hear those words.
I didn’t think my stone-cold wife could actually be this warm. Ah? What’s with this sudden influx of Rage points?
To his confusion, Zu An realized that he had received a huge wave of Rage points on the system. He turned to look at the students before him, only to see all of the male students glaring at him with infernos of rage burning in their eyes.
“Did he save the world in his previous life or something? How in the world did someone like him win the fancy of our goddess?”
“I finally understand why I couldn’t catch the attention of the goddess. It turns out that I was too outstanding all this while!”
“Who could have known that our goddess would have such an unusual taste? Instead of outstanding men, she prefers those who are average.”
“Tsk! You claim yourselves to be outstanding, but aren’t the rest of you nothing much before Chu Chuyan too?”
“Then what about young master Shi then? He should be outstanding enough for you, right? Yet, have you ever seen Chu Chuyan showing any interest in him before?”
The whisperings amongst the students in the classmate made Shi Kun’s eyelids twitch intensely. This woman actually put me down in public!!! But why don’t I feel angry at all? Instead, it only makes her feel different from the other women I have met in my life.
Hmph! Anyway, it’s all Zu An’s fault! Just what right do you have to enjoy Chu Chuyan’s affection?
Seeing that the situation had ripened enough, Zu An cleared his throat. He was perfectly fine with hiding behind his wife’s back, but this Shi Kun guy was really getting on his nerves.
“You said that I look no more than a joke before you people. May I know which group of people are you referring to here?”
Shi Kun was delighted to hear Zu An’s response. Chu Chuyan’s earlier interference had left him with no space to continue his attack, but this fellow was actually foolish enough to speak up at this juncture. Hmph, looks like he’s truly a good-for-nothing who can’t possibly accomplish any big. Just a small victory, and he lets it get over his head.
“Naturally, I’m referring to those of noble birth or possess outstanding aptitude for cultivation.” Shi Kun glanced at the crowd in the classroom. “To everyone in this room, you’re just a joke.”
With the standing and reputation of the Shi clan, he felt that there was no way those in the classroom would refute his words, especially not for an insignificant wastrel.
“Is that so?” Zu An turned to Xie Xiu and prompted him, “That male student who looks like a girl over there. Stop looking around, I’m talking to you. Do you think that I’m a joke?”
Xie Xiu looked stifled to be implicated in this mess. Why the hell are you dragging me down with you? He shot a glance at the livid Shi Kun before turning back to Zu An. In the end, he sighed deeply and said, “Of course not.”
In the first place, King Qi’s faction, which the Xie clan was in, was at loggerheads with the empress’ faction that the Shi clan was in, so there was no reason for Xie Xiu to defer to Shi Kun in the first place. On top of that, Zu An was a teacher of the academy, which gave him even less reason to side with Shi Kun.
Satisfied with the answer, Zu An allowed Xie Xiu to sit back down before pointing out another student. “That beautiful female student sitting on the front row, do you think that I’m a joke?”
Zheng Dan was rather pleased to be complimented ‘beautiful’ before the class, but being forced to stand against Shi Kun in public left goosebumps all over her arms. She could only give a vague response, “How could that be?”
Her fiancé was Sang Qian, who belonged on the same side with Shi Kun at the moment. However, considering Zu An’s current standing as the academy’s teacher, there was no way she would dare to openly label him as a joke.
That Shi Kun looks quite sharp-witted, so why is he so dull-headed right now?
Zu An nodded in satisfaction before moving his gaze toward Wu Qing. “Young miss Wu, do you think that I’m a joke?”
Wu Qing gritted her teeth. She was very tempted to nod her head, but after getting done in earlier on this very issue, there was no way she would foolishly leap into his trap once more. Besides, Xie Xiu had already made a stance earlier. There was no way she would oppose her big brother Xie Xiu in public. So, she could only indignantly harrumph, “I dare not to.”
Chu Chuyan’s eyes widened in bewilderment. What’s going on today? Why are these people all speaking up for Zu An?
Furthermore, some of them were on bad terms with her, making it even more ridiculous in her view that they would actually side with Zu An.
All of a sudden, she thought about the inexplicable words that Wu Qing had uttered before her earlier, and a thought arose in her head. It can’t be that that fellow has managed to hook up with Wu Qing, right?
It wasn’t just Chu Chuyan who wasn’t able to make sense of the situation. Shi Kun was utterly dumbfounded too. He couldn’t figure what was wrong with these people. Why are they going against me over mere trash?
After questioning a few students, Zu An finally reined in his smile to look at the flabbergasted Shi Kun. With an authoritative voice, he ordered, “Go and stand outside the classroom.”
Shi Kun laughed at the sheer ludicrousness of the situation. “Who do you think you are? How dare you order me around?”
Chu Chuyan was equally confused too. What’s going on? This fellow is acting all weird today. No, it’s not just him but everyone here!
Zu An sighed softly and said, “The rules of Brightmoon Academy dictates that students who talked back to their teacher during class are to be severely punished. In the worst-case scenario, they can even be expelled from the academy. Do you think that my words are just for show?”
Actually, he knew that there was only so much the rules could do. The academy couldn’t possibly expel the Sixth Young Master of the prominent Shi clan over such a minor issue. However, if it was a minor punishment, the academy wouldn’t say anything much about it.
“You, a teacher?” It was as if Shi Kun had heard the most hilarious joke in the world. He was just about to say something when Yuan Wendong anxiously pulled his sleeves to stop him.
“He really is the new arithmetic teacher of Brightmoon Academy.”
Shi Kun’s first thought was that Yuan Wendong was out of his mind. However, he soon saw a few other people nodding in agreement with a look of sympathy on their faces, and his smile immediately froze over.
“Bloody hell, why didn’t you say it earlier?!”
Shi Kun was so enraged that he broke out of his usual gentleman persona and cursed out loud.
“You didn’t ask us!”
Yuan Wendong felt wronged as well. There’s no one in the academy who doesn’t know about this matter. Don’t you have a powerful intelligence network? How am I to know that you hadn’t heard of this?
Shi Kun felt so suffocated that he could spurt blood. Why didn’t Snow or Mei Chaofeng tell me about this? They made me embarrass myself before the entire class! It’s no wonder why the atmosphere in the class felt a little off.
Fortunately, with his sharp wits, it didn’t take him long to find a way out of this quandary. “I just transferred over today, so I’m still ignorant about the affairs of this academy. Besides, you didn’t introduce yourself when you entered earlier, so I don’t think that I should be blamed for this misunderstanding.”
Zu An nodded in agreement. “You’re right. I reckon that you would feel indignant if I punish you just like that too. Well, since that’s the case, why don’t we resolve this problem through arithmetic instead? I’ll conduct a test today, and anyone who can’t answer the question correctly will have to stand outside the classroom. Does that sound fair?”
Those words immediately shocked almost every student present in the class. The sight of Yang Wei failing to answer even a single question correctly was still fresh in their minds.
Oblivious to the reactions of his classmates, Shi Kun was stunned for a moment before accepting the offer right away. “Yes, that sounds fine by me.”
He prided himself in being competent in both his cultivation and academics. He didn’t think that the questions Zu An came up with could possibly stump him. Besides, the bet involved not just him but everyone else in the class. He was confident that no one else in the class would be able to answer a question that even he couldn’t answer. Surely Zu An wouldn’t go to the extent of sending everyone out of the classroom, right? His wife was amongst the crowd after all!
“Alright, listen carefully.” Zu An began posing his question.
“This question involves two people, A and B. A only speaks lies whereas B only speaks the truth, but the two of them can only answer questions through nodding or shaking their heads. One day, you’re faced with two diverging roads, Road One and Road Two. One of them leads to the capital whereas the other one leads to a small village. It just so happens that A and B are standing before you at this very moment, but you don’t know who is A and who is B, and you don’t know whether nodding means yes or no. Right now, you have to ask them a question and figure out which road leads to the capital. Given so, what’s the question that you’ll ask?”
The students in the classroom gasped upon hearing the question. As expected, it was indeed a tough question!
Shi Kun was dumbstruck by what he was hearing. Even after hearing the question in full, he was still having difficulties trying to comprehend what was going on. A long time later, he finally answered with a reddened face, “I don’t know. However, I don’t believe that any of the other students can answer the question either. I dare you to test her too!”
He pointed his finger at Chu Chuyan. He felt that even if he were to get punished, as long as Chu Chuyan was by his side, that would be pretty much a blessing in disguise. If you really want to send your wife into my arms, I’m more than happy to take her.
Hearing those words, Zu An walked over to Chu Chuyan’s side and looked at her quietly. At this very moment, Chu Chuyan’s mind was in a fluster. She was still having difficulties trying to snap out from her earlier shock, and the question Zu An posed earlier had stumped her as well.
One must know that she was famed as the number one prodigy of the academy for many years now, respected by all of the other students. If she couldn’t even answer a question correctly here and ended up getting punished for it, her reputation would fall into shambles!
Zu An could see her panic through her eyes, and a smile crept onto his lips. “Are you ready? I’ll be posing you a question now.”
“Go ahead.” Chu Chuyan had never felt so nervous before. Her mind had gone completely blank as her mind short-circuited from trying to figure out how the earlier question was supposed to be solved.
Then, right before everyone’s eyes, Zu An asked, “Your question is what does 1+1 equate to?”