CHAPTER 336: CHAPTER 334: I WANT TO BE YOUR FAMILY

In front of the building deep inside Zhiquu Alley, there stood two golden wolves, cast in solid gold—gaudy, ostentatious, arrogant. Sunbeams sliced through the leaves and landed on the wolves, reflecting a dazzling radiance that made the whole alley glitter.

These immensely valuable golden wolves were left unguarded out front, yet there wasn’t a single soul in the alley. Anyone who caught a glimpse of that golden shine from the entrance seemed desperate to grow wings and fly away, not daring to linger even a second.

This was because it was the headquarters of the Statistical Department in Yanjing.

Anyone foolish enough to touch those tacky wolves had paid a hefty price for their tastelessness, to the point where the wolves became even shinier and slicker over time, becoming the Statistical Department’s unofficial mascots for prosperity and good fortune.

Very few people would approach this rotten den tucked away within the bustle of Yanjing, a den of evil doing business in broad daylight. So, no outsiders ever heard the roars that echoed from inside the Statistical Department—

"This version isn’t going to work! I want a new version before this afternoon!"

"It’s almost lunch break, we don’t work during lunch. A new version needs six work hours, so you’ll get it tomorrow morning."

"But I want it this afternoon!"

"You can want it, but I can’t give it to you."

"Then work overtime at noon!"

"I’m taking my lunch break."

"Do you believe I’ll fire you?!"

"No, you won’t let Qin Yueshi’s little brother slip out of your hands."

Raccoon Slave leaped onto the desk, glowering at the black-haired young man sitting emotionlessly in front of him, fingers twitching like he wanted to poke through the man’s skull, yet unable to get a word out.

"Tonight you have to join us to review the draft details—"

"You’d better pay double for overtime, or else I refuse, and I want advance payment."

"Tomorrow night there’s a celebration banquet—"

"Not going. I only work eight hours a day."

"Go start prepping the next rankings—now!"

"Fine, but I’m clocking out on time, and I never take work home."

Ding-ling-ling—Qin Yueyang’s pocket watch rang. He opened it, looked down, and said, "Lunch break. Inspector Raccoon, everyone, I’ll see you in the afternoon."

With that, he left the Statistical Department without a backward glance, abandoning Raccoon Slave in impotent fury and the other staffers in stunned silence.

"Inspector." One agent made a slicing gesture and muttered darkly, "Want us to have the boys go take care of him...?"

"I’ll take care of you right now!" Raccoon Slave jumped up and stomped on the agent’s face, pinning him to the floor. He might have been small, but his leap was like a thunderstrike, making the agent cough blood and his ribs creak ominously. "All you know is beating and killing! Is that all you’re good for?!"

"Killing, arson—"

"Who said that?!" Raccoon Slave spun and roared, so the agents all shrank back, silent but feeling a little wronged—of the Four Grand Inspectors, only Raccoon Slave actually killed, burned, extorted, never using any other methods; they were just following his example!

Raccoon Slave swept an angry gaze around the room. "You people, think of a way to mess with that Qin Yueyang! But don’t hurt him—not a single hair on his head!"

"Inspector, can I just ask why?" an agent whispered, "Is this about recruiting him...?"

"Because I swore to that motherfucker, not to hurt his brother!" Raccoon Slave bellowed, "Until that motherfucker gets chopped up and fed to pigs, I forbid it—he has no right to mock my character!"

The agents stared, dumbfounded—wait, our boss has character?

"So you have to get him with methods he can’t complain about!"

Ahhh, well, so that’s what he meant by ’character.’

Although the boss’s standards were as twisted as ever, this new order was a real headache for these blade-happy, brain-dead lackeys. While everyone racked their brains, White Night approached and said, "Inspector, I’ve got good news."

"Qin Yueshi got chopped up and fed to pigs?"

"No, Qin Yueshi is trending."

...

...

Inside the Imperial Academy, before the bulletin board, Qin Yueyang fell into deep thought.

"Who are the Eight Marvels of Silver Blood? Calling for an expert from Dongyang to explain."

[Anonymous: Thanks for the invite, got a dog in this fight, going anonymous. First, apart from the outed marvel Jing Qingfu, Jing Zhengwei must be on the list. Based on my analysis...]

"How do you see that Teacher Qin Yueshi never actually teaches, and just uses students as tools to spread his own beliefs?"

[Catastrophic Butcher: First off, is this even true? Today’s underclassmen don’t even know about class interaction, let alone ’spreading beliefs’... Even if we step back and say he does, the Imperial Academy is supposed to be a forum for all sorts of ideas to clash. If the questioner’s so narrow-minded, he must be from that Glory Division, right?]

[Glory Commander: Bullshit! It’s the guys from Security!]

[Security Phoenix: This flamebait is Catastrophic’s trademark—clearly just a dumbass questioner, but Butcher twists it and blames another division. It’s just Catastrophic setting up their own drama. Don’t fall for it!]

"Isn’t Teacher Qin Yueshi’s ’Surplus Value Theory’ clearly something for corrupt officials and crooked merchants? Do we even need to learn this?"

[Security King of Will: If the bad guys know it, the good guys need to know it more—how else are you gonna beat them?]

"Hey everyone, I’m Teacher Qin Yueshi’s wife."

[Nightmare Twin Carp Empress: How old is your little sister? Ever go to school? On meds?]

"Heard Shuiyun Palace Master dragged Teacher Qin away on the spot—is Teacher Qin a player or what, anyone can drag him off? Anyone know where he hangs out?"

[Nightmare Twin Carp Empress: I’m involved here, going anonymous, Shuiyun came back to the dorm real late last night.]

[Glory Blue as Painting: I’m involved, going anonymous, Shuiyun came back super late and hit the showers as soon as she got in.]

[Security Yin-yang Poetry: Whether Teacher Qin’s a player or not, could the questioner at least say what gender they are?]

This wasn’t Qin Yueyang’s first time at the Imperial Academy. Every few days he came in to make a report to his elder brother, stopping by the bulletin board to pick up some intel.

Usually, the bulletin board was full of campus chatter—stuff like study group invites, hiking trips, martial arts club recruiting, challenge notices, looking for friends, national news discussions... all sorts of youthful, trivial topics.

But today, every section was abuzz about Qin Yueshi and his class from yesterday. No matter whether they’d attended, everyone was hotly debating his teaching and love life—normally, teachers were almost never the subject of such gossip. Respecting teachers was something built into everyone’s DNA—you’d at least show them some courtesy, even if their lectures were garbage.

But Qin Yueshi had upended all that. His image, his style, his distance (or lack of it) with students, even his rumors—students subconsciously ignored the teacher-student barrier and gleefully swapped stories about him.

Originally, nobody cared about Qin Yueshi’s class. If the Radiant Celestial Maidens hadn’t realized he’d once dressed as a woman to prank them, they probably wouldn’t have attended either.

But in just one day, all of Imperial Academy knew about this maverick teacher, Qin Yueshi, and sign-ups for "The Destruction of Silver Blood" elective soared. Qin Yueyang quirked an eyebrow—he knew for a fact his older brother had only prepared a single trial lesson, meaning his material had totally run out.

"Second Brother?!"

Qin Yueshi looked at Qin Yueyang in surprise. "What are you—came to see Big Brother?"

Qin Yueyang immediately noticed the shift in Qin Yueshi’s tone, but said nothing. "Yeah."

Seeing her brother checking out the announcements, Qin Yueshi giggled, "Bet you didn’t see this coming—turns out Big Brother’s a born teacher. Just one trial lesson, and now everyone’s buzzing about him. All the students can’t wait for next class like fans waiting for a new Chapter."

"No, I did see it coming." Qin Yueyang said calmly, "Big Brother always knew how to sway people’s hearts."

Qin Yueshi had no retort for that, so she changed the subject. "By the way, he’s not in his room now, you’ll have to wait a bit."

"Where’d he go?"

"He went to see one of my classmates... Because of some reasons—she overheard me talking to Big Brother and found out he killed Jing Zhengwei..."

"No need to trouble Big Brother, you could’ve just told me." Qin Yueyang put on a pair of gloves. "I’m good at cleaning up messes."

Qin Yueshi hurriedly stopped him, "No, no, it’s fine! Big Brother can handle it. My classmate’s smart—she won’t make things hard for him..."

...

...

"I thought you’d show up with the White Night Walker to settle things with me."

In the pavilion by the academy’s rock garden, only Le Yu and Qian Yuya were present. Since they were outdoors, Le Yu didn’t care what people might say; he was openly chatting with a female student, nothing shady about it. Even if others saw, they’d just sigh that handsome guys might get stalked by girls, but at least they didn’t have to deal with the ugly ones.

"Why, is it because my brother Qian Yuliu is the White Night Walker?"

Le Yu smiled, "So, what did you want from me? Planning to trade my secrets for something?"

After a sleepless night, Le Yu realized he didn’t need to worry about rumors of Jing Zhengwei’s death. First, Qing Lan was never going to believe it—hell, if a guy wrote like Jing Zhengwei, used his quirks, and spun stories like him, then he must be Jing Zhengwei.

Second: White Night might want him dead for this, but as long as Le Yu was inside the Imperial Academy, he didn’t think they’d dare try anything. Even if Cha Huan allowed the White Night to run wild here, she’d never let them commit outright murder.

Besides, Le Yu’s own strength wasn’t low—who’d be confident enough to assassinate him? Unless it was the white-haired Assassin or someone at Peak of Perfection. But Le Yu figured, as likely as the White Night sending a Perfection-level killer after him, it was just as likely his neighbor next door was the white-haired Assassin.

So Le Yu came to meet Qian Yuya, totally relaxed—it was basically like coaxing a little sister.

"Teacher Qin, you know so many secrets I wish I knew."

"Hm, is that so? Even if it is, what you’ve got to bargain with isn’t nearly enough for all my answers."

"I know, so I’m not here to trade secrets."

Le Yu’s interest was piqued. "So what do you want to trade, then?"

"Teacher Qin." Qian Yuya gazed calmly at him. "I want to..."

"Be your family."

Le Yu blinked.

Qin Yueshi, danger!