On the kitchen table sat that familiar earthenware jar. Lu Chi turned around to fetch a bowl and ladled out a bowl of still-steaming porridge from the jar, handing it to him, “Eat.”

“Thank you, Teacher.” Zhu Li gratefully hugged the bowl, thinking that his teacher was indeed a good teacher who was tough on the outside but soft on the inside!

Driven by hunger, he quickly lowered his head to taste the hot, fragrant porridge in the bowl. He found it deliciously savory throughout. Though it was just a bowl of porridge, its contents were extremely rich—he could taste dried scallops and dried shrimp, making it very delicious.

However… Zhu Li couldn’t help but feel curious and secretly glanced again at the very familiar earthenware jar on the table. Where did this porridge come from?

“Miss Shi sent it,” Lu Chi said lightly, as if seeing through his confusion.

At this moment, though Lu Chi appeared calm on the surface, he was extremely frustrated inside. This porridge was indeed delivered daily, but the person who delivered it… he hadn’t seen her for several days.

He had even deliberately not returned the jar, but the next day there would still be a jar of porridge delivered to his door. Now his kitchen shelves were already filled with several such earthenware jars… Speaking of which, just how many jars had A’ke bought? How could she never run out?

The first time he saw the jar at the courtyard gate, Lu Chi felt delighted.

The second time he saw the jar, though he found it strange why it was a new jar, he was still delighted, because at that time he was worried that she was angry and ignoring him. Yet she was still willing to send porridge, although the taste was different from the previous meat porridge, as if many ingredients had been added, but it was still delicious.

But when he saw this jar for the third time… he started getting a headache.

The most frustrating thing was that he could never catch the person delivering the porridge.

He even darkly wondered if A’ke was deliberately retaliating for his previous stubbornness about insisting on eating meat porridge, so she was sending it daily to let him eat his fill. After all, no matter how delicious something was… one couldn’t stand eating it every day. Now when he smelled this porridge, he already felt somewhat full.

Though thinking this way was somewhat unfair to A’ke, he really had no appetite!

Hearing that this porridge was actually sent by Sister Shi, Zhu Li was stunned for a moment, then smiled ingratiatingly, “Sister Shi’s cooking skills are really good.”

But inwardly he began to struggle. He had promised to test whether the teacher knew martial arts for Sister Shi. Now the answer was obvious, but… he had previously promised the teacher not to betray his trust.

What should he do?

Thinking while eating, before he knew it, the bowl of porridge was empty.

Lu Chi glanced at him and ladled another full bowl for him, “If you like it, eat more.”

These days he had been drinking porridge daily until he was almost sick of it… today he finally had someone to share the burden. Taking on this student wasn’t entirely useless after all.

“Teacher, you’re so good.” Zhu Li had no idea about the small dark thoughts in his seemingly noble teacher’s heart and was very moved at the moment. This emotion made him instantly decide, “Teacher, actually I’ve been hiding something from you…”

“Hmm?” Lu Chi raised an eyebrow.

“Sister Shi once asked me about whether you know martial arts.” Zhu Li immediately sold out Shi Fa Ke, saying somewhat shamefully, “I previously promised to test this for her…”

“Oh? Since you already promised Miss Shi, why are you telling me about this now?” Lu Chi looked at him with a half-smile, but his heart became alert at once. He remembered the plate that A’ke had broken before. At that time, he felt her movements were very deliberate, so he hadn’t made a move. Now thinking about it… was she testing whether he knew martial arts?

Combined with her previous mention of Feiqiong Stronghold at Thousand Cliffs Mountain in front of him, could it be that she already suspected his identity?

…At least for now, his identity couldn’t be exposed.

Hearing the teacher ask this, Zhu Li became even more ashamed of his previous wavering. He put down his chopsticks and said seriously, “Because this student cannot betray Teacher’s trust.”

After all, the teacher had exposed his martial arts skills to save him.

“Your teacher is very gratified.” Lu Chi nodded, but then his tone changed, “But breaking one’s word is inexcusable. Are you finished eating? If so, go do horse stance.”

This change of expression came completely without warning.

Zhu Li was stunned at once, “Why… why do horse stance?”

Usually wasn’t the punishment copying books?

“Don’t you want to learn martial arts?” Lu Chi smiled slightly, tempting him.

Zhu Li’s eyes immediately lit up, “Teacher… you’re going to teach me martial arts?”

“To learn martial arts, you must practice the basics solidly. Start with horse stance.” Lu Chi said mysteriously.

Zhu Li was fooled into wiping his mouth and willingly went to do horse stance.

However, after just a short while, Zhu Li was already swaying and couldn’t support himself. On this warm spring day, he was already sweating profusely… And his teacher? He was leisurely sitting to one side, reading a book while eating washed green jujubes and grapes, infuriatingly comfortable.

Only now did Zhu Li belatedly realize—had he been fooled by his teacher again? Now that he knew the truth about the teacher’s martial arts, the teacher would have another method to punish him in the future!

Just as Zhu Li was suffering through his horse stance, he suddenly heard someone knocking at the door.

“When there’s work, disciples serve their teacher. Student will go open the door!” Zhu Li’s eyes lit up as he spoke hurriedly.

“Squat properly.” Lu Chi glanced at him coolly, shattering his little scheme, and got up to open the door himself.

As they say, speak of the devil and he appears. Standing outside the door was none other than Shi Fa Ke, who had just been completely sold out by Zhu Li.

Shi Fa Ke had been quite busy these past few days. Zhu Yanyan wanted to talk with her, He Ketian complained that she was neglecting old friends for new ones, and then she had met with Madam Zhu. She could be said to be dizzy with busyness and unable to be in multiple places at once. After meeting with Madam Zhu, Shi Fa Ke felt confident—the Zhu family was now completely sincere about this marriage proposal. Now the problem lay with Young Master Lu… after all, he had previously seemed not very enthusiastic about this marriage.

So Shi Fa Ke came to Willow Leaf Lane once again.