The next day!

The rain had stopped!

Early in the morning, Lang Bo ordered people to bring the carriage to the academy entrance and load everything onto the vehicle one by one.

Master Yu also rose early and personally saw them off.

At this time, in Lin Shu’s room.

He got up from bed with a pale face, one hand pressing on his shoulder and the other supporting his waist. These two places hurt so much that his facial features were twisted together.

Walking to the table and sitting down, just as he was about to pour himself some water to drink, someone ran in from outside the door.

“Lin Shu, I brought something good for you.”

It was a short man!

He had a sneaky appearance, hiding his hands behind his back, then sat down with a grin and said, “I brought something good. I guarantee it’ll be useful.”

“What is it?”

The person extended his hand and placed a jug of wine in front of him.

Seeing it was wine, Lin Shu immediately wrinkled his nose and frowned. “Wine? What are you bringing this for?”

“Weren’t you bitten by a snake? Although it was one raised in our academy, what if it’s venomous? I saw your complexion wasn’t good, so I thought I’d find some medicine for you. This wine—I soaked it with medicinal herbs from my hometown all night long. If you apply it to your wound, I guarantee it’ll be effective.”

“Take it away, take it away.”

Lin Shu was very disdainful.

“But you were bitten by a snake. This medicine is very effective. Just apply some. This is good medicine from my hometown.”

“I already said it’s fine. It’s just a snake bite—am I going to die from it? Besides, wine isn’t allowed in the academy. It’ll be terrible if the teachers find out.”

The person laughed. “The teachers don’t have time to care about us now. Those people are about to leave, and the teachers are seeing them off. They can’t be bothered with us.”

With that, the person opened the wine jug’s stopper and reached out to apply the medicine to Lin Shu.

Lin Shu pushed his hand away!

The two pushed back and forth. Suddenly, the wine jug fell to the ground with a “bang.”

The wine spilled out!

Both of them were stunned.

Immediately after, Lin Shu covered his nose and bounced two meters away.

Just at this moment, Muruo appeared at the doorway. He looked at the scene before him with great interest and smiled. “Didn’t your Master Yu establish a rule that wine isn’t allowed in the academy? Who would have thought that someone would still secretly drink wine. How interesting.”

“What are you talking about? We weren’t drinking wine.” The short man quickly crouched down to pick up the ceramic shards, flustered beyond measure.

“Alright, alright, don’t be nervous. I won’t tattle. In this life, if you don’t indulge in some wine, you might as well have lived in vain.” Muruo stepped inside and placed what he’d brought on the table, saying to Lin Shu, “This is medicine, specifically for treating all kinds of snake venom. I even prepared extra for you in case you decide to pluck hair from a tiger’s head again in the future.”

Sarcastic!

Lin Shu’s face turned green.

But he covered his nose and mouth, unable to speak.

Muruo sneered coldly, turned to leave, then secretly glanced back. In the end, he said nothing and left anyway.

At the academy entrance!

Master Yu leaned on a walking stick to see them off.

Jingrong bowed to him. “Master Yu, there’s no need to see us off. If there’s another opportunity in the future, I’ll come visit again.”

“Young Master Jing, on this journey, you must be extra careful.”

“Yes.”

He bowed respectfully once more!

In the carriage, Tang Si rubbed her knees and complained, “This is the first time in this young lady’s life that I’ve knelt for so long. What kind of broken academy is this? In the future, I’ll definitely smash this place.”

Ji Yunshu: “Miss Tang, you knelt before the Sacred Ancestral Masters. Bowing and kneeling to them more can only bring benefits and no harm.”

“They’re not Buddhas or gods. Why should I bow to them? Can they bless me with a hundred years of life?”

“Suffering a loss is a blessing. Having suffered this loss, next time you should learn your lesson and restrain your temperament a bit.”

Tang Si had no retort!

Ji Yunshu looked at her knees and softened. “Later I’ll talk to Muruo and have him take a look at you.”

“I don’t want that!” She huffed and turned away.

This child!

Suddenly—

“This is terrible!”

Someone shouted loudly, the voice traveling from far to near, reaching the academy entrance.

Hearing this, Ji Yunshu lifted the curtain to look outside and saw a student covered in sweat running over, stammering as he spoke to Master Yu. “Teacher, this is terrible! The back mountain… in the well at the back mountain…”

Master Yu never liked people making a fuss. He frowned and asked, “What about the well?”

“In the well… someone died!”

Uh!

Someone died?

Everyone was in an uproar.

It seemed they wouldn’t be leaving today.

Soon, the sound of the great bell being struck rang out again and again throughout the academy!

Everyone gathered at the well on the back mountain.

The back mountain was rarely visited by people normally. This place had long been desolate, surrounded by towering trees, fallen leaves, and scattered branches. A penetrating cold wind swirled through, making it very shady and eerie. In the middle position surrounded by the large trees was a mottled, abandoned well. The area around it was piled with withered leaves and all sorts of miscellaneous debris. A wooden basin lay fallen beside it, and next to the basin were scattered some disorderly… bones.

Yes, bones!

But to be precise, human bones!

At a glance, there were two ulnae, one radius, two intact femurs, several ribs, and some scattered toe and finger bones…

But the human skull was nowhere to be seen!

Beside the human bones sat a collapsed person—it was none other than the chubby Lu from last night who had been driven away from the hot spring pool. At this moment, his face was pale, his eyes vacant, clearly displaying an expression of utter terror.

When everyone saw that pile of white bones, they were all so shocked they quickly retreated to both sides.

Those students who only knew how to study—where would they have seen such a thing?

Master Yu, however, was quite composed, though his expression tightened slightly. After pondering for a while, he looked at the chubby Lu who was being helped up.

He asked solemnly, “Zhou Lu, what exactly happened here?”

The chubby Lu trembled, his eyes full of fear. After a very long time, he finally opened his mouth and spoke. “I… I don’t know.”

He shook his head vigorously!

He stammered for a while longer, then continued, “Last night there were too many people bathing, so I came here to bathe. But when I drew up the water and looked, I discovered there were bones in the wooden basin. I was so frightened that I… I passed out.”

He pointed at that pile of incomplete white bones!

The person who had just gone to notify others also chimed in. “I just passed by there and heard Zhou Lu cry out, so I quickly came over to look and discovered…”

He didn’t continue!

Master Yu nodded in understanding and summoned the young attendant beside him. “Quickly go report to the authorities and have the officials come.”

The young attendant was also quite frightened but nodded in agreement. “Alright!”

And hurried off.

Next, Master Yu said again, “Come, a few people, clean up those white bones and bring them to the front, wait for the officials to arrive.”

A few bold ones stepped forward, removed their outer garments, and prepared to wrap up the white bones.

At this moment—

“Wait!”

Someone emerged from the crowd.

Ji Yunshu walked to the pile of white bones and said, “These human bones have already been damaged. They cannot be moved a second time. Even if they need to be moved, it cannot be done the way you’re doing it.”

Master Ji?

Someone objected. “They’re just a pile of white bones—why can’t they be moved? Should we just leave them here like this? Waiting for the officials to come get them themselves?”

She said in a bland tone.

“This pile of white bones has been here for at least a year, soaked in water for a long time. The bone matter has been lost, making them very fragile. If you casually move them like this, you’ll damage them. Moreover… this is not a complete set of white bones.”