Whenever he suffered harm, Yun Ye would hurry back to the academy and hide in his small office to lick his wounds. This had become a habit—only here could he feel his own strength.

Compared to the demons and monsters in the capital, Yun Ye deeply missed those peaceful days on the grasslands. A sexual encounter that was purely physical, devoid of emotional entanglement, now hung around his neck like a noose. What had once been just a body he couldn’t forget now possibly harbored his own flesh and blood, suddenly tilting one end of the scales high into the air.

Wandering through the academy like a walking corpse, he tried to push open a classroom door, only to find it unexpectedly heavy. He had to use almost all his strength to open it. Inside, the classroom was completely silent—twelve students stared at him in unison, seemingly waiting to see his reaction to the door.

Li Tai’s face bore a faint mocking smile, his superiority as an honor student clearly visible. Li Ke seemed to be avoiding Yun Ye’s gaze—he must have done something guilty. Huozhu looked nervous, constantly glancing sideways at the smug Yuchi Baolin. Clearly, he was the one who had made the door so heavy. Behind the door hung a rope attached to a crossbar, latching the door shut. To open it, one had to lift the weight hanging from the other end of the rope. Yun Ye peered out the window and saw that the other end of the rope was tied to a wooden bucket.

The design was rather interesting. To open the door, one needed to pull a full bucket of water up along a diagonal line and pour it into a trough. When closing the door, the bucket would return to the water pool to refill, waiting for the next person to lift it again—a continuous cycle.

“Baolin, did you make this?” Yun Ye was surprised by Yuchi Baolin’s sudden enlightenment.

“Teacher, I made it. Huozhu helped me with many ideas. I saw the old man who waters the garden coughing himself half to death every time he carried water, so I came up with a way to spare him from having to carry it.”

No wonder Li Gang liked Yuchi Baolin so much, sometimes even showing favoritism. Yuchi, with his silly grin showing his buck teeth, had his own endearing qualities. Having compassion for the weak—this alone was enough for Yun Ye to view him differently.

“Very good. You’ve been able to apply what you learned actively, though it’s still crude. But you’ve taken the first step, and this step is important. One day we’ll make water run into houses by itself. This is a systematic project, and solving it will bring you endless honor and wealth. I’ll give Baolin an extra five points on this year’s major examination. Everyone work harder—grades don’t come from exams alone.”

“Teacher, this thing that Yuchi Baolin designed—I believe everyone in this room could make it, even make it better. For instance, it’s too strenuous. Just add two sets of gears and you could solve the problem. This almost idiotic approach is beneath my contempt. He got extra points too easily. When did our grades become so worthless?”

Li Tai stood up furiously, accusing Yun Ye of favoritism toward Yuchi Baolin.

“Qing Que, you’re completely right. Why didn’t you do it then? If you had made it and perfected it, you would have gotten ten bonus points. Not doing it yourself while criticizing a classmate who did—that’s wrong. Those who don’t take action have no right to criticize those who do, because he’s gone further than you, so it’s natural he gets rewarded.”

“Physics is a highly hands-on discipline. Converting knowledge into tangible things is the essence of this field of study. Otherwise, it’s just garbage cluttering your brain.”

This was Yun Ye’s favorite part. The conversations here were closer to those of later generations. Watching himself gradually transform these teenagers into another version of himself filled him with joy from the bottom of his heart.

These twelve had completely mastered the understanding of force, especially when it came to friction. Li Tai had fallen into deep contemplation—he was pondering his water wheel again.

Now all sorts of strange and bizarre things kept falling from the sky. A pig had even crashed through a window and landed on Master Li Gang’s desk. Li Tai was no longer the only one interested in parachutes. The day Meng Butong descended from the sky with a parachute, the old master completely exploded. Poor Meng Butong, who had scared himself into wetting his pants, was expecting a reward from the academy but instead received a severe ten strokes of the rod.

The academy had become difficult to manage. Li Gang worried until his last few black hairs turned white. Yushan Academy was different from other academies—none of the students were docile and well-behaved. Li Daliang’s eldest son, Li Pengcheng, had been at the academy for less than seven days and was already shouting and running wildly on the ball field every day, knocking over countless opponents. Even after being beaten with the rod, he remained incorrigible.

He used to be such a good child—modest, courteous, refined and cultured. Although he had a slight speech impediment, it didn’t prevent him from having a heart that sought learning. When he was placed in the same dormitory as Duan Meng, Cheng Chuliang, and the others, Li Gang had worried this disabled child would be bullied. Who would have thought that Li Pengcheng would become the academy’s greatest troublemaker? When Duan Meng couldn’t stand his speech and wanted to beat him, he made it clear beforehand: “I’m not beating you because you stutter—I’m beating you because a real man who can’t even control his own tongue is too pathetic.”

The two entered the small dark room behind the classroom, and Li Pengcheng emerged victorious. Though his eye sockets were blackened, his nose bleeding, he kept shouting “satisfying!” His speech flowed smoothly in a continuous stream. From then on, he fell in love with all activities related to violence and remained stubbornly incorrigible.

The academy students never attacked people’s weaknesses—they specifically challenged your strongest points. Li Tai could leave them eight streets behind academically, but in martial classes, he’d be beaten until he howled just the same. There weren’t many opportunities to abuse Li Tai at the academy, so every opponent assigned to him would go all out. Usually, at this moment, Li Ke would have just completely defeated his opponent and would avenge his younger brother, beating Li Tai’s opponent to a pulp. This would provoke collective anger, and immediately some burly fellow would jump out to fight the injustice—like Duan Meng—grab Li Ke and give him a thorough beating. As for Duan Meng, his excellent performance would attract Li Pengcheng’s interest…

The Li Tai and Li Ke brothers would return to the palace with bruised lips and tell their father the emperor and mother the empress about their glorious achievements of massacring all sides. Boys never talk about how many punches and kicks they took—they only describe how miserably they pummeled others. As for the bruises on their lips, those were completely accidental or from sneak attacks.

Every move they made was written into reports for Li Er. How could Li Er not know they’d been beaten? Hearing them praise each other, he didn’t expose them but smiled and listened until the end. Then he entrusted the twelve-year-old Li Yin and Li You to them, having them take the boys back to the academy together. The reason was that these two brothers had already shown signs of poor character.

Among Li Er’s sons, Li Chengqian resided alone in the Eastern Palace, while Li Tai and Li Ke stayed at the academy for extended periods. These three sons each had their own affairs to attend to, and all were doing quite well. This was what Li Er found most gratifying—the three brothers currently had no conflicts of interest, each going their own way, seemingly drifting further and further apart.

Li Yin and Li You had already turned the palace upside down with chaos, even molesting palace maids. Li Er looked at his two spirited older sons sitting beside him, then at his younger sons kneeling below, timid and trembling with fear. Rubbing his temples, he privately worried—could it be that his method of educating his sons was too different from the academy’s?

“Li Yin, Li You, from tomorrow you will both attend Yushan Academy. As for the rules, your two elder brothers will inform you. This semester, you shall not return to the palace without cause.”

Yang Fei knew that once Li Yin went to the academy, he would face endless hardships. Li Ke was manageable—he’d been sensible since childhood and put her mind at ease when away. Especially this past year, he’d begun to show the dignified bearing of a prince. In less than two years, he would go to his fiefdom. She had confidence in her eldest son—he would be a good prince in the future. But Li Yin—something was wrong with him. He’d been incorrigibly mischievous since childhood, playing countless tricks on the palace tutors, who would shake their heads at the mention of him. Now he was mixed up with Li You, worrying her even more. Perhaps with his elder brother looking after him, he might reform his stubborn nature.

“Elder brother, what fun things are there at the academy? We brothers will join forces, sweep through the academy, make those spoiled rich kids bow and scrape, and have them献上 all their gold and silver treasures to us.” Li Yin was ambitiously planning to reign supreme.

“Xiao Yin, have I not told you that a prince’s title doesn’t work at the academy?” Li Ke smiled bitterly at his younger brother. With this temperament, he’d be lucky not to be abused to death at the academy. Reign supreme? Dream on.

“You mean they dare hit me?” Li Yin’s eyes widened.

“Where do you think the bruise on my lip came from? At the academy, you have to do everything yourself. Get up before dawn every day, fold your bedding, dress yourself, carry water, get your meals—you need to do it all yourself. Before, there were audit students to help you, but now all those audit students have been converted to regular status, so you must do your own work.”

“I’m a prince. I’d rather die than do work that only lowly people do.” Li Yin looked stubborn.

“There are at least ten princes and young princes at the academy, and they’re all honestly doing their own work. Will the academy make an exception for you? Xiao Yin, let me tell you something—with your temperament, you absolutely won’t escape punishment. Remember one thing: better to take the rod than be put in solitary confinement. Remember that.”

“I’ll be beaten with the rod?”

“With your temperament, absolutely. Never touch solitary confinement. The Crown Prince, Yun Ye, Cheng Chumo, Li Huairen, Zhangsun Chong—they’ve all suffered there. Elder brother absolutely doesn’t want you to be dragged out like that. Duan Meng’s martial skills are better than even elder brother’s, but after just four days in solitary confinement, he couldn’t even walk. Remember this well.”

Li Yin swallowed audibly. Hearing that even the Crown Prince hadn’t escaped the academy’s clutches, he knew this time he was likely doomed. Fearfully grabbing his elder brother, he said, “I’ll live with you.”

“Impossible. The academy won’t let beginning students live in advanced students’ dormitories. Most likely you’ll room with new students—four to a room.”