Chapter 367: 279, I’m pretty healthy_2
During the conversation, a hurried old man came walking towards Zhi Xin Courtyard from the outside. He was carrying a printed book under his arm and completely ignored Qing Chen and others at the entrance, heading straight into Zhi Xin Courtyard without raising his head.
“Uncle Three,” greeted Li Changqing.
The old man paused for a moment, then squinted at Li Changqing, “Oh, Chang Qing, you’re here to cause trouble again?”
Li Changqing was taken aback. She glanced at Qing Chen, then hastily said to the old man, “What are you saying, Uncle? How am I causing trouble?”
The old man looked up at the sky, pondered for a while and said, “Oh, you have graduated a long time ago. Alright, let’s not talk about this now, I need to hurry and prepare for my lesson.”
“Wait a moment, Uncle. This is the new instructor I brought over. He’ll be working under you from now on,” said Li Changqing to the old man.
The old man’s eyes lit up, “What subject?”
Li Changqing explained, “He’ll be teaching combat. Today, the Martial Arts School at Zhi Xin Courtyard is reopening.”
The old man was taken aback, “Ill-fated.”
As he spoke, the old man turned and entered Zhi Xin Courtyard without saying another word.
Nan Gengchen stood gaping; the old man seemed somewhat foolish, as if he was completely indifferent to social conventions.
Li Changqing explained to Qing Chen, “This is the ‘Mountain Chief’ of the school, my Uncle Three. He’s spent his life uninterested in fame and fortune, focusing only on his books. He holds the position of Mountain Chief only as a secondary duty. When he’s not busy, he just reads books and pays no attention to mundane affairs.”
Qing Chen mused that in the Inner World, probably only the financial groups could afford to cultivate such an indifferent person.
But the question was, why did the old man call it ill-fated…?
Li Changqing thought for a moment, then patiently explained, “When my Seventh Brother first opened the Martial Arts School, he was also the Mountain Chief. After that, Zhi Xin Courtyard faced tumultuous times; my Seventh Brother got into street fights with the gangs, even pulling in an entire school of students to help out. Therefore, Uncle has always held a grudge against the Martial Arts School and also harbors prejudice against knights. Although it was I who personally shut down the Martial Arts School, he’s the one with the greatest distaste for it…”
Qing Chen thought to himself that this made sense.
If it were he taking the position of Mountain Chief, dealing with a master underneath who excelled at causing trouble like his master did, he would also be fed up.
However, as the saying goes, what goes around comes around. This Mountain Chief probably never imagined that the wheel of fortune would bring another knight back around…
If the Mountain Chief knew of Qing Chen’s status as a knight, he’d probably say more than just ‘ill-fated.’
Moreover, it was now clear to Qing Chen why Li Changqing had said that the students were only the first hurdle.
It seemed the second hurdle was the other instructors at Zhi Xin Courtyard.
The sins of the master were ultimately inherited by the disciple.
“Alright, go inside. We will wait for you at Feiyun Courtyard,” having said that, Li Changqing actually took Li Yinuo, Nan Gengchen, and the others onto a hover car and left with a flourish!
Qing Chen stood thoughtfully at the entrance, took a glance at Zhi Xin Courtyard, then quietly stepped inside.
The interior of Zhi Xin Courtyard was bigger than he had imagined. After making his way around the main hall to the back, he was surprised to find a new vista behind the school.
Pavilions, rock gardens, and fish ponds, nothing was missing.
Going further inside, he came upon the place where the instructors prepared and managed their work.
On the way over, Li Changqing had said that together with the Mountain Chief, there were a total of seven instructors at Zhi Xin Courtyard, each teaching different subjects: Chinese, mathematics, geography, physics, political history, chemistry, and biology.
These subjects were not much different from those in the Outer World, except for the absence of foreign languages and the combination of politics and history.
The reason being, the Federation’s history was too scant to stand alone as a fundamental subject.
Moreover, politics and history have always been inseparable.
Politics itself must learn from history, otherwise it is meaningless.
Li Changqing had told Qing Chen that Li’s School only taught basic knowledge. To pursue advanced studies, one must attend Qinghe University within the Federation. For military school, it would be Tinder Military Academy.
At the back courtyard of Zhi Xin Courtyard, there was a middle-aged man sitting leisurely on a bamboo recliner inside the room, flipping through an e-reader as if he were reading the news.
Qing Chen approached politely and asked, “Hello, I’m the new instructor. Can you tell me where the office is, and which desk should I use?”
The middle-aged instructor glanced at Qing Chen with a somewhat indolent tone, “The office is in the next room, but as you’re teaching combat, you probably don’t need a desk, do you?”
Qing Chen considered and said, “Whether I need it or not is another question; I still need a place to settle.”
The middle-aged instructor replied calmly, “Just go to the next room and pick any spot to sit.”
Qing Chen discovered that the instructors at Zhi Xin Courtyard seemed to have little interest in the Martial Arts School. The Mountain Chief thought it was ill-fated, and this middle-aged instructor clearly looked down on those who taught combat.
As the adage goes, all trades are inferior; only the scholarly are esteemed.
Yet Qing Chen did not come to Zhi Xin Courtyard to cause trouble. Starting a commotion as soon as he arrived would not reflect well if it got out.
So he paid no further attention to the middle-aged instructor and went to the next room.
Inside, he saw the Mountain Chief he had just encountered, as well as the other four instructors.
The desks were all occupied, not a single one was vacant.
The few people in the room seemed to have agreed on something, as none of them spared him a second glance.
Qing Chen smiled, found a chair in a corner and pulled it over, then took all the political history textbooks from the shelf and began flipping through them rapidly.