After Lin Yu finished speaking,
Tang Yimian showed no surprise at all.
Instead, she nodded repeatedly with a smile:
"Maomao can come with us, no problem."
"She actually approached me to discuss it privately before returning to her room earlier."
"What a thoughtful and polite girl—so adorable!"
Lin Yu: "???"
Maomao had sought her out privately after learning they’d be traveling with her senior?
So her emotional intelligence was always on point… except when dealing with him?
At least it saved Lin Yu the trouble of explaining.
"Senior, Maomao and I will be waiting for you at the gate on time."
"I’ve prepared everything on the checklist you sent me."
"For this three-hour trip to the West Suburb Zoo, I’ll cooperate fully."
"Don’t hesitate to ask if there’s anything I can do."
Tang Yimian clenched her fists excitedly in front of her chest:
"Thank you, Junior Lin Yu! I hope you’ll enjoy it too. I’ll go pack my bag now!"
……
8:45 AM.
The trio arrived punctually at the entrance of Pingchuan Tenth Primary School.
At that moment,
by the door of a 55-seater bus,
a girl in a blue-and-white tracksuit was directing the arriving students to board and find their seats according to their numbered tags.
During the taxi ride, Lin Yu and Tang Yimian had "talked" the entire way.
Of course,
it mostly consisted of her endlessly detailing the specifics of today’s summer camp outing.
But thanks to Tang Yimian’s meticulous explanations,
Lin Yu, an outsider, now had a thorough grasp of the situation.
The participants were students from two of Tang Yimian’s third- and fourth-grade classes who had voluntarily signed up.
With 45 children in total, one bus was enough.
For two experienced teachers, managing a bus full of kids wouldn’t be too difficult.
The problem was, Tang Yimian was a young teacher.
And her partner was a rookie who had just graduated a month ago.
No wonder Tang Yimian was so nervous.
After getting out of the taxi, Tang Yimian handed Lin Yu and Maomao red vests printed with "Tenth Primary School."
Lin Yu’s fit perfectly.
As for Maomao’s…
Lin Yu: "Pfft!"
Maomao looked down at the vest that barely reached above her knees: "…"
Paired with her striking hair color,
she looked like some aloof delinquent girl… crouching on the ground!
Too ridiculous!
Tang Yimian frowned apologetically:
"Sorry, Maomao. Since I only found out you were coming last minute, I didn’t have a vest prepared for you. This is the only spare we have. Mine is the yellow one for teachers, so I can’t swap with you. I’m really sorry…"
And so it began—
Elder Tang’s endless stream of apologies!
Lin Yu quickly pulled Maomao forward and said,
"It’s fine! She looks adorable, doesn’t she?"
"Besides, it’s Maomao’s fault for suddenly insisting on joining."
Maomao immediately bowed formally:
"I should be the one apologizing, Sister Tang. I’ve caused you trouble."
Tang Yimian waved her hands frantically, straightening Maomao up:
"No, no! You’re my younger sister—no need to apologize. Taking care of you is my responsibility…"
Just then,
the sporty teacher who had been organizing the students approached them.
She wore a neat high ponytail and had a sharp, slender face.
Her most distinctive feature was a tiny beauty mark above her left eye.
The sporty teacher stopped in front of them and… smiled.
Just smiled.
Maomao: "…"
Lin Yu: "…"
That’s it?
No words?
She looked like she was about to greet them,
but then just stood there silently!
Lin Yu’s instincts screamed—
This woman… is trouble.
To break the awkwardness, Lin Yu introduced himself first:
"Hello, teacher. I’m Lin Yu, and this is my friend Maomao."
"On the way here, Senior kept referring to you as ‘Xinran.’ May I know your full name?"
The sporty teacher shook his hand with a smile:
"My surname is Fan (first tone). Fan Xinran."
Lin Yu: "???"
Instantly,
his brain went into overdrive.
Fan? As in "flip"? Or "sail"?
Was this some obscure surname?
Or…
"Teacher, do you mean ‘Fan’ with a first tone, or is your surname ‘Fan’?"
Lin Yu tested carefully.
Tang Yimian opened her mouth to explain, but the sporty teacher added:
"Fan as in ‘fan xian.’"
Lin Yu: "…"
Now he was sure—it was her accent!
Fan… Xian…
"Oh!!"
"Fang as in ‘direction’? Fang Xinran, Teacher Fang?"
Lin Yu had an epiphany.
Fang Xinran finally nodded:
"Zhen shi (That’s correct)."
Lin Yu: "…"
He had no idea where this accent came from.
Her enunciation was crisp, yet her pronunciation was so off.
"Jie, I just realized on the way here that I left my hat in the dorm."
Tang Yimian gently took off her cap and placed it on Fang Xinran’s head:
"It’s fine. This is just a summer outing—no need to be too formal. Wear mine."
Fang Xinran didn’t refuse. After adjusting the cap, she glanced at Lin Yu.
Lin Yu chimed in:
"Forgetting things happens to everyone. I do it all the time."
Immediately,
Fang Xinran said in an eerily calm tone:
"Among Alzheimer’s patients… five percent are young people."
Maomao: "!!!"
Lin Yu: "!!!"
Fang Xinran: "Luckily, I’m not one of them."
Maomao: "…"
Lin Yu: "???"
Wait… sis?
Are you for real right now?
That one sentence nearly sent Lin Yu into an existential crisis.
For a second, he thought he’d accidentally touched on a sensitive topic.
Before he could recover,
Fang Xinran suddenly slumped, as if all energy had drained from her:
"That joke… was very… very lame, wasn’t it…"
Her expression wasn’t acting—
The sheer dejection radiating from her was palpable.
It was like her entire being had dimmed.
"Haha, witty! A dry sense of humor—took me a second to get it."
Lin Yu hurriedly played along to avoid further awkwardness.
"Really?!"
"Lin Yu, you actually found my joke funny?"
Fang Xinran did a complete 180, lighting up instantly.
Lin Yu: "Of course… I did!"
He really should’ve studied exorcism.
His ability to "revive" people’s spirits was top-tier.
Tang Yimian seized the opportunity:
"Should we board the bus first? We should do a headcount."
"The ride will take about half an hour—we can chat more on the way."
Lin Yu suddenly felt his ears were in for a rough time…
Between a chatterbox senior and a deadpan jokester,
this bus ride was going to be a long one.
……
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
