The next day, Shi Fa Ke went directly to the school carrying the wooden box.

At this time, Lu Chi should be in class. After waiting outside for a while, Shi Fa Ke saw the little fatty Zhu Li, whom she hadn’t seen for a long time, walk out. He had now completely transformed into a handsome young man.

“Sister Shi?” Seeing Shi Fa Ke, Zhu Li ran over. “Are you here to see Teacher?”

“Yes, are you finished with classes?” Shi Fa Ke looked behind him, but Lu Chi hadn’t come out.

“Yes, but Teacher is inside talking with someone. I’ll go call him.” As Zhu Li spoke, his eyes darted around, and he turned to run back.

“Wait.” Shi Fa Ke stopped him, hesitated for a moment, and asked: “Has anything happened in your residence recently?”

Zhu Li blinked and tilted his head: “Sister Shi, what kind of thing are you asking about? Does it count that my bookworm little brother contradicted Mother over a maid in his room, making Mother so angry that she sold the maid?”

Uh…

Shi Fa Ke felt embarrassed, as if she had inadvertently learned about the Zhu family’s private affairs… though that wasn’t what she had meant to ask about.

“The first branch… no news?” Shi Fa Ke struggled for a moment, then probed.

Zhu Li stared at Shi Fa Ke with wide eyes until she felt uncomfortable, then grinned: “You want to ask about my eldest sister, right?”

“How is your eldest sister?” Seeing that he seemed to know something, Shi Fa Ke quickly pressed him.

“I heard she’s ill again. Today I happened to see eldest sister’s wet nurse mysteriously burning paper in the garden, her eyes all red. Looking at her state of panic, I estimate she’s quite seriously ill.” Zhu Li shook his head like a little adult and sighed.

“With your eldest sister in this condition, what does the Zhu matriarch say?” Shi Fa Ke’s heart tightened as she asked.

“She says she wants to invite a physician from the capital to examine her.” Zhu Li paused, stepped forward, and said quietly: “My eldest aunt is very capable and keeps the household watertight. News she doesn’t want to get out will definitely not get out.”

These words carried some deeper meaning.

“Do you know something?” Shi Fa Ke also lowered her voice and asked conspiratorially.

Zhu Li shook his head mysteriously. He happened to know a little something, but since it concerned his eldest sister’s reputation, he couldn’t speak carelessly about it, not even to Sister Shi.

Seeing he wouldn’t talk, Shi Fa Ke didn’t press further and just nodded: “Then go home. I’ll go find your teacher.”

Zhu Li was startled. Seeing that she had already stepped forward to go in, he jumped up anxiously: “Hey, Sister Shi, wait! I’ll go in and call Teacher out…”

Shi Fa Ke looked at him strangely, feeling his attitude was rather odd today…

“Heh… hehe, I just happened to leave a book behind, so it’s convenient, convenient.” Zhu Li broke into a sweat under Shi Fa Ke’s gaze and laughed awkwardly.

Just then, Lu Chi, completely unaware that his student was desperately trying to cover for him, walked out from inside. Shi Fa Ke glanced at him—after one night, the injury on his face had healed considerably. At least the swelling had gone down, and he didn’t look so pitiful anymore. She smiled, about to speak, when she suddenly saw someone following behind him.

Shi Fa Ke was startled: “Ke Tian? What are you doing here?”

He Ketian snorted lightly and raised her chin: “What, I’m not allowed to come?”

The implication was: only you can come? But in front of Teacher Linyuan, He Ketian naturally wouldn’t be so rude and aggressive, so she spoke quite indirectly.

Shi Fa Ke didn’t think much of it, just found it somewhat strange. So when Zhu Li had said his teacher was talking with someone inside, that person was Ke Tian.

But what was He Ketian doing looking for Lu Chi?

Zhu Li, seeing that all his efforts had been in vain and they had come face to face, covered his face in despair, wailing inwardly: Teacher! Playing two boats will capsize you!

“Zhu Keji, what are you doing?” Lu Chi looked at Zhu Keji, who was being foolish again, and asked coolly.

Zhu Li startled and quickly put down his hands covering his face, standing properly and shaking his head like a rattle drum.

Lu Chi snorted lightly, walked to Shi Fa Ke’s side, and smiled: “Miss He got a painting and asked me to help examine it.”

Shi Fa Ke nodded knowingly: “It’s Teacher Linyuan’s painting, right? Ke Tian loves Teacher Linyuan’s work the most.”

Saying such words in front of Teacher Linyuan himself, He Ketian’s face immediately turned red. She secretly glanced at Teacher Linyuan, but found he wasn’t looking at her at all—he was still smiling at A’Ke. She couldn’t help but be stunned. Could it be… she quickly shook her head. How could that be possible? Shi Fa Ke was a matchmaker.

She had even been matchmaking for Teacher Linyuan before. How could Teacher Linyuan possibly take a fancy to the matchmaker who was arranging marriages for him? That would be too absurd.

“Ke Tian, did you get another new painting by Teacher Linyuan?” Shi Fa Ke asked curiously.

After all, Ke Tian had said before that Teacher Linyuan’s paintings weren’t cheap.

He Ketian stiffened slightly. Where had she gotten any new painting? She had just brought the “Forest Sea” painting her brother had given her earlier. The examination was naturally just an excuse—mainly she couldn’t swallow her pride. If Shi Fa Ke wouldn’t help her get close to Teacher Linyuan, couldn’t she help herself?

Moreover, she had heard that yesterday when Shi Fa Ke went to propose marriage, the Zhu family matriarch had actually thrown her out.

Teacher Linyuan’s marriage with the Zhu family had fallen through, showing they had no fate. If she didn’t come now to comfort the disappointed Teacher Linyuan, when would she?

But of course she wouldn’t tell Shi Fa Ke any of this.

She hadn’t forgotten that day at Gold Full Tower, when Shi Fa Ke would rather help Zhu Yanyan than side with her, when even Shen Tongyun knew to protect her!

But what was Shi Fa Ke doing looking for Teacher Linyuan now?

However, He Ketian was always clever. She naturally wouldn’t ask such questions outright. Moreover, matters concerning Teacher Linyuan needed to be approached gradually—she couldn’t be too hasty. She needed to gradually change her willful image in Teacher Linyuan’s mind.

Right now, Shi Fa Ke was obviously here to see Teacher Linyuan about something. No matter how curious she was, staying longer would seem tactless and ignorant of proper timing. So she ignored Shi Fa Ke and smiled at Teacher Linyuan, curtsying: “Thank you for today, Teacher. Ke Tian will take her leave now.”

“Don’t mention it.” Lu Chi nodded.

He Ketian turned and left without even glancing at Shi Fa Ke.

Shi Fa Ke twitched her lips. She really was thoroughly angry.

“Did you two have a fight?” Lu Chi raised an eyebrow.

Weren’t these two good friends? If not for that, he wouldn’t have reluctantly examined the painting for her… Speaking of which, that was from his early work, and looking at it now, he found it unsatisfactory everywhere.

“Yes, we had some conflict at Gold Full Tower the other day.” Shi Fa Ke said casually.

Seeing she didn’t want to elaborate, Lu Chi naturally wouldn’t pry further. He just smiled: “What made you think of coming to the school to find me today?”

The implication was: you haven’t come to the school to find me in many days.

Of course, Shi Fa Ke couldn’t possibly understand such subtle implications. She just nodded: “Today, isn’t Aunt Lu going to visit the Zhu residence? I planned to go to your place to wait for news, and also… to return this to you.”

She handed him the wooden box she was carrying.

Lu Chi could tell what it was at a glance and waved his hand: “Things my parents and elder brother gave out—I wouldn’t dare take them back on my own.”

“But one shouldn’t accept rewards without merit. These things are too valuable; I absolutely cannot keep them.” Shi Fa Ke suddenly remembered her third brother’s words and felt somewhat strange inside. Could it really be that Big Brother Lu had taken a fancy to her and wanted to marry her as his wife?

“It’s fine, my family has money.” Lu Chi waved his hand dismissively.

He looked just like the foolish son of a wealthy landlord.

Shi Fa Ke twitched her lips.

After hesitating, she still felt it was wrong to accept other people’s things without reason, so she probed: “These meeting gifts are really too generous, and there are ruyi items… could it be that…”

Ruyi items weren’t given casually.

Lu Chi thought this silly girl had finally caught on. His lips curved slightly upward, he coughed lightly, and his eyelashes fluttered: “Since they’re given to you, just keep them.”

This attitude of tacit approval… could it be that his elder brother really had taken a fancy to her?!

Shi Fa Ke’s eyes widened: “Is it really for your elder brother to court me?!”

Lu Chi was startled, then understood. His face darkened immediately. So she still thought the one who had been engaged to Zhu Yanyan was him! That would leave only his elder brother among their brothers!

“Don’t worry, my elder brother hasn’t taken a fancy to you.” Lu Chi ground his teeth as he spoke.

There was a distinctly tooth-grinding quality to his words.

Shi Fa Ke coughed lightly, feeling as if she had been presumptuous, and felt quite embarrassed. But her heart relaxed somewhat—after all, she really had no thoughts about Big Brother Lu.

Zhu Keji, who had been ignored by his teacher, heard this exchange and almost couldn’t hold back his laughter. He quickly covered his mouth, feeling like he had heard something incredible. Realizing he should disappear before it became inappropriate, he was planning to quietly slip away when he saw his teacher’s sharp gaze already fixed on him. He quickly straightened up and gave his teacher a very fawning smile.

Then he heard his teacher say coolly: “Still not leaving? Is your homework not enough? This teacher knows you’re studious, so copy today’s assignment one more time. Consider it handwriting practice.”

Zhu Keji immediately burst into tears. His teacher was a good teacher, and he had to obediently listen to the teacher he had acknowledged, even through tears, because disobedience would only make things worse… The first time his teacher said this, he had talked back, saying his handwriting was already good and didn’t need more practice. After all, he had been practicing calligraphy since childhood, and if nothing else, he was very confident in his handwriting.

Then his teacher had coldly written eight characters for him:

“There are heavens beyond heaven, people beyond people.”

These eight characters were graceful as a startled swan, elegant as a swimming dragon, absolutely breathtaking. They made his own writing look like a pile of dog excrement by comparison. When he recovered from the brilliance of these eight characters and recognized what they said, he felt even more ashamed, as if his face had been swollen from slapping.

Weren’t they just “heavens beyond heaven, people beyond people”? Recalling his previous boastful words, he felt like a frog at the bottom of a well, only capable of seeing a small patch of sky, yet smugly thinking he owned the entire sky.

Such examples were countless.

No wonder even his grandfather sighed and told him to study well with his teacher, saying the teacher was truly talented.

Of course he was talented—grandfather didn’t even know that his teacher had great talent not only in literature but also in martial arts! Eh, where did this inexplicable sense of pride come from?

Could it be that he had already been beaten senseless by his teacher?

“What, still not enough?” Seeing him standing there motionless, Lu Chi raised his eyebrow even higher: “Then…”

“Enough, enough, enough!” Zhu Keji didn’t dare think randomly anymore and said repeatedly, quickly scurrying away.

His speed was as if his bottom was on fire.

Shi Fa Ke found their teacher-student interaction quite amusing and momentarily forgot her embarrassment, couldn’t help but laugh: “You’re quite a strict teacher.”

“Strict teachers produce outstanding students.” Lu Chi said with a straight face, then walked away without another word, looking like a master who was very unhappy.

Shi Fa Ke didn’t know where she had offended him again and hurriedly followed: “Are you going home?”

“Yes.”

A simple, concise word with no unnecessary talk.

“Then we’re going the same way! Second Brother Lu, wait for me!” Shi Fa Ke, being short with little legs, trotted after him on her small legs.

Hearing “Second Brother Lu,” Lu Chi suddenly stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face. Fortunately, with his martial arts skills, he steadied himself without a trace, then looked at Shi Fa Ke with complete bewilderment: “What did you just… call me?”

“Uh… Second Brother Lu?” Shi Fa Ke grinned foolishly, practically radiating silliness. She scratched her head somewhat embarrassedly: “Aunt Lu told me to call you that. She said since I had already acknowledged Big Brother Lu, I should call you Second Brother Lu too.”

Lu Chi twitched his lips. So he had been tricked by his mother!