The angry roar of Homeroom Teacher Wu deeply reached the ears of every student.

In a sense, the “virtual cosmic war” of the long break had evolved into a real dispute.

And now, Teacher Wu wanted to find the ringleader.

She slapped the podium forcefully several times, each slap feeling like it landed on Class Monitor Dong Sunqi’s face. Dong Sunqi was well aware of Teacher Wu’s strict rule of “no writing novels or drawing comics in class,” yet he had led the participation in the plot creation of the “Exploring the Universe” comic series… At this moment, Dong Sunqi felt enormous pressure.

Teacher Wu brought a chair and placed it beside the podium. She sat on this chair, wanting to have a heart-to-heart talk with the entire class, to educate all students at once.

First, she picked up a note and read it aloud with a straight face: “Respected Earth Leader, we have decided to assign Ruan Jingjing to the Earth people’s base. This is a marriage alliance. Peace forever.”

Ruan Jingjing, sitting in the second row, flushed red. She was enveloped in frenzied anger. She turned around, looked at Dong Sunqi, and rolled her eyes at him.

Ruan Jingjing’s action didn’t escape Teacher Wu’s eye.

According to Teacher Wu’s judgment, Ruan Jingjing probably didn’t know about this. That made things easier.

Teacher Wu loudly questioned: “Who wrote this note? Stand up! How old are you to be playing this kind of game? Writing such notes right under Teacher Wu’s nose? What do you mean by this? Does Class 4(1) not have a homeroom teacher anymore? Can’t I manage you anymore? Each one of you, do you have any sense of propriety left?”

No one responded.

Teacher Wu slapped the podium again: “Who was the ringleader? I’m asking for the last time! If no one admits it! Everyone will have to write an 800-word self-criticism and turn it in to my office by eight o’clock tomorrow morning!”

An 800-word self-criticism!

Self-criticism requires inspiration, requires brewing.

Once a word count is specified, it makes a student lose the original intention of self-reflection.

Moreover, Teacher Wu had adopted a policy of “collective punishment,” punishing the entire class without favor or bias. This move of hers was truly harsh, particularly strategic, worthy of being the homeroom teacher of Class 4(1) at the Provincial Experimental Elementary School.

Jiang Yubai prepared to take all the responsibility. He stuffed his schoolbag into the drawer and was about to stand up from his seat when Lin Zhixia grabbed his wrist.

Lin Zhixia said softly: “Wait! Jiang Yubai, you didn’t write the note…”

Jiang Yubai had already stood up.

He wasn’t afraid of Teacher Wu, nor was he afraid of taking responsibility.

He wanted to show Lin Zhixia what it meant to be accountable, what bravery meant, what it meant to be one man guarding a pass that ten thousand men couldn’t break through!

He would protect Lin Zhixia, take care of Lin Zhixia, not let Lin Zhixia face even the slightest risk of writing a self-criticism or having her parents called in. This is what a real man should do. Without needing the praise and admiration of classmates, he would single-handedly bear all consequences.

He spoke candidly: “Teacher Wu, I in class…”

Before Jiang Yubai could finish, Liu Xingjian suddenly shouted: “I did it all!”

“It was me!” Jiang Yubai hurriedly contended, “I drew the comics, created all the characters!”

Liu Xingjian confronted him head-on: “It was me! I did it!”

Jiang Yubai was somewhat angry: “You’re lying.”

Liu Xingjian resolutely declared: “I’m not lying! I’m telling the truth!”

The “virtual cosmic war” couldn’t be fought anymore, and Liu Xingjian deeply regretted this.

Liu Xingjian was thinking about how to deliver a fatal blow to Jiang Yubai, how to make Jiang Yubai devastated.

Due to Jiang Yubai’s interference, Liu Xingjian had been punished to stand in the corridor for the first time in his life. Liu Xingjian vowed that he would never forget that humiliation, that deep shame engraved in his marrow!

At that time, the fourth-grade instructional director was patrolling the corridor and caught a glimpse of Liu Xingjian being punished. The instructional director asked him: “Liu Xingjian, oh Liu Xingjian, does your mother know you’ve been punished by the teacher?”

What shame and humiliation this was!

If this grudge isn’t avenged, he wouldn’t be human!

At this moment, Liu Xingjian had spotted the clue—he discovered that Jiang Yubai was trying to save the situation.

Jiang Yubai didn’t care about Teacher Wu’s criticism. As long as Jiang Yubai took all the blame himself, his status in the class would rise like the sun at midday; he would become the object of admiration and worship for the entire class. Subject representatives would be proud to “receive Jiang Yubai’s homework,” and countless boys would want to team up with Jiang Yubai during physical education and activity classes. The three characters “Jiang Yubai” would become the representative of the fearless spirit in Class 4(1).

Liu Xingjian absolutely would not allow things to develop to that point.

Therefore, Liu Xingjian admitted in an even louder voice: “It was me! I created the ‘Exploring the Universe’ comic! I instigated the entire class! I launched the cosmic war!”

Jiang Yubai was stunned to hear this. He and Lin Zhixia were the co-founders of the “Exploring the Universe” comic series—this wasn’t a simple matter of responsibility. Fundamentally, it was a serious issue of copyright attribution.

Thanks to the influence of his family environment, Jiang Yubai’s legal awareness regarding “intellectual property” was very strong. He calmly listened to Liu Xingjian’s statement and clarified without the slightest retreat: “I organized the entire class to participate in comic creation. I am the true initiator.”

“I am!” Liu Xingjian, dominated by hatred, spoke without thinking, “I had Ding Yan and Tang Leqin draw the terrain map of the war! I divided the entire class into two armies!”

“Enough!” Teacher Wu roared, “You two, come to my office!”

The classroom fell completely silent, the sound of students’ breathing becoming nearly inaudible.

No one spoke. Everyone was watching Jiang Yubai and Liu Xingjian leave, like a group of slaves in ancient Rome watching two gladiators enter the arena, like soldiers of the French Empire watching Napoleon being exiled. People faced reality with silence, using silence as a silent resistance—the scene was quite tragic.

Wei Rongjie was almost in tears.

That draft of the “marriage alliance agreement” was personally written by Wei Rongjie.

Yet, neither Jiang Yubai nor Liu Xingjian had exposed him.

His young and immature heart couldn’t bear such great camaraderie from his classmates.

Before Teacher Wu left the classroom, Wei Rongjie suddenly stood up, puffed out his chest, and proudly declared: “Teacher Wu! The idea of sending Ruan Jingjing for a marriage alliance was mine! Don’t blame Jiang Yubai and Liu Xingjian! Blame me if you must!”

“Wei Rongjie!” Class Monitor Dong Sunqi let out a pained and sorrowful faint murmur.

Wei Rongjie put his hand on Dong Sunqi’s shoulder and said gently: “I’ll be back, Class Monitor, don’t worry about me.”

“Wei Rongjie! You still have the nerve to speak?” Teacher Wu’s anger nearly burst through the classroom, “Come here!”

“Coming!” Wei Rongjie ran toward Teacher Wu with thumping steps.

The long break hadn’t ended yet. Outside the window, the rain was still falling, the raindrops blurry, landing on the corridor railings, making rustling sounds. The sky remained gloomy, dark clouds rolling in clusters, completely covering the sunlight.

The rain on the horizon was like tears in the students’ hearts.

Originally, everyone was looking forward to this cosmic war.

No one had expected that the final result of the war would be—the Earth Legion leader, the Orion Legion deputy leader, and the Orion Legion’s strategist were all taken away by Teacher Wu.

Teacher Wu was the true big villain.

Many classmates ran to Lin Zhixia’s seat and asked her: “What should we do? Will Jiang Yubai’s parents be called in? Should we go to the homeroom teacher’s office door and protest collectively?”

“No. Don’t go find the homeroom teacher, stay rational, adapt to the situation, don’t let things worsen.” Lin Zhixia advised.

She was very calm.

She stopped a group of classmates who wanted to go to the office and make a big fuss.

Jiang Yubai had been taken away, but Lin Zhixia remained calm and composed. She still kept the original manuscript of the “Exploring the Universe” comic series. This manuscript was the spiritual sustenance for many classmates in Class 4(1).

“I haven’t seen Teacher Wu this angry for a long time,” Dong Sunqi sat in Jiang Yubai’s seat and looked at Lin Zhixia. “Sigh, if Jiang Yubai’s parents are called in, then I’ve failed him. I didn’t stand up and speak a few good words for him.”

Lin Zhixia shook her head slightly: “It’s okay, you don’t need to blame yourself. He won’t be in trouble either…”

The classmates all looked at Lin Zhixia, and Lin Zhixia’s attitude was very gentle: “We need to learn to think about problems from an adult’s perspective.”

Dong Sunqi wasn’t ashamed to ask: “Huh? An adult’s perspective?”

“Yes,” Lin Zhixia patiently explained, “If you were Teacher Wu, and the students in your class were obsessed with a self-made serialized comic, would you be concerned for them? Would you try to get them back on the right track of learning?”

Dong Sunqi firmly said: “I would!”

Lin Zhixia nodded: “You’ve found two ringleaders, one called Jiang Yubai, one called Liu Xingjian, you know what their parents do for work, would you call their parents one by one?”

Dong Sunqi hesitated and couldn’t answer.

Lin Zhixia mused to herself: “When adults do something, they consider risk and return. Just like in our ‘Exploring the Universe’ comic series, the accident probability of mining gold is 3.7%, we calculate the final return based on expected value, and we also consider the risk curve.”

“What do you mean?” Dong Sunqi persistently questioned her, “Will Jiang Yubai and Liu Xingjian be okay?”

“They’ll be fine.” Lin Zhixia concluded.

She took out a string from her schoolbag and happily called Tang Leqin: “Tang Leqin! Tang Leqin! Let’s continue playing the cat’s cradle game!”

Tang Leqin grabbed Dong Sunqi’s collar and pulled him out of the seat.

Then, Tang Leqin took over the seat, wholeheartedly playing cat’s cradle with Lin Zhixia. For a moment, Dong Sunqi believed that Tang Leqin was indeed a spy sent by the Earth people—she wasn’t concerned at all about Liu Xingjian and Wei Rongjie’s safety.

*

In the “Experimental Class Office” on the fourth floor of the teaching building, Teacher Wu was resting with her eyes closed.

On Teacher Wu’s desk was a potted plant, a stack of homework, and a lesson plan. She had one hand on the desk and the other on her leg, her expression subtly revealing a hint of fatigue. She asked: “You draw that kind of comic in class, do you know where you went wrong?”

The three students in front of her eagerly answered: “Yes!”

She opened her eyes and glared at them: “Tell me one by one. Wei Rongjie, you first! What do you mean by sending Ruan Jingjing for a marriage alliance? What is a marriage alliance? Ah, you need to pay attention to your moral thinking, I’m too embarrassed to even mention it in class! I don’t care about anything else; the school is also developing your extracurricular interests, and I’ve been lenient enough with you normally. As your homeroom teacher, I sincerely want you to learn to respect female classmates.”

“I, I saw it in ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms,'” Wei Rongjie stammered, “Sun Quan married his sister Sun Shangxiang to Liu Bei, he formed a marriage alliance with Liu Bei…”

Teacher Wu slammed the desk heavily: “Wei Rongjie, you haven’t understood ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ at all. What does a fictional novel about Liu Bei, Sun Quan, and Cao Cao fighting for the world have to do with you kids? Whatever is written in the book, you immediately bring it to school, bring it into life, how can this work? Teacher Wu has told you before, students should behave like students. In ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ there’s warming wine to behead Hua Xiong, killing Yan Liang and beheading Wen Chou, burning the Red Cliff, shedding tears to execute Ma Su, are you going to learn all of these too?”

Wei Rongjie shook his head vigorously.

Three years of school life had taught Wei Rongjie a principle—when listening to a teacher’s criticism, one must be attentive, respectful, and once the teacher’s anger subsides, the matter will be lightly passed over.

Compared to Jiang Yubai and Liu Xingjian, Wei Rongjie had more experience in dealing with teachers.

Teacher Wu suddenly asked again: “This comic of yours, how long have you been doing it? Teacher Qian said that Liu Xingjian is very resistant to Earth people. Is that content from your comic? At your age, you’re most easily influenced by those unrealistic comic stories. Ideological quality, children! You need to train your ideological quality! Read more about truth, goodness, and beauty, read about warm and touching things. The Elementary Student Code of Conduct clearly states that you should develop comprehensively in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor. Even the gentlemen in ancient China knew about ‘being gentle, kind, respectful, frugal, modest, courteous, benevolent, wise, and trustworthy,’ what about you lot? Whose idea was it to fight with Earth people?”

Wei Rongjie revealed without hesitation: “It was Liu Xingjian’s idea.”

“Liu Xingjian!” Teacher Wu angrily called out Liu Xingjian’s full name.

Liu Xingjian stood at attention, his hands tight against the seams of his pants.

Teacher Wu educated him: “Liu Xingjian, Liu Xingjian, what a good name. In ‘The Analects of Confucius’ there is a saying that goes ‘To dwell in reverence and simplify in actions, to govern the people, is this not acceptable?’ Do you remember what this means? Your actions, your thoughts must live up to your name, okay? Liu Xingjian?”

Liu Xingjian’s gaze fell, like withered wood, staring lifelessly at the floor.

“And you, Jiang Yubai,” Teacher Wu turned to face Jiang Yubai, “You need to focus your energy on the right path. You organized the entire class to participate in the comic, very good, this shows you have organizational ability, leadership ability. But is this the right thing to do? No. Your behavior will create small cliques in the class, along with fighting scenarios, which is what Teacher Wu least wants to see. You will influence other students. Even Liu Xingjian has been led by you all to go crazy…”

After saying the words “go crazy,” Teacher Wu suddenly realized: “Jiang Yubai.”

Jiang Yubai stepped forward.

Teacher Wu bent her index finger, the knuckle tapping on the desk: “Jiang Yubai, tell teacher the truth, that ‘Exploring the Universe’ comic, was it Lin Zhixia’s idea? Was it her?”

Jiang Yubai insisted firmly: “It wasn’t her.”

He glanced sideways at Wei Rongjie.

Wei Rongjie also said: “It wasn’t her.”

It wasn’t her.

Jiang Yubai drew the first stroke of the comic, Lin Zhixia was just the architect of the background concepts.

However, Teacher Wu said, “Lin Zhixia often ponders very advanced things. Teacher Wu understands her and gives her more freedom, but I don’t want her to influence other students. She is a good child, most of the students in our Class 4(1) are good children, we can’t let our class’s reputation be damaged because of a small episode. You must have a sense of collective honor! Good things don’t spread beyond the door, bad things travel a thousand miles. If you make a joke in class, the whole grade will know.”

Homeroom teachers always compare with each other, and Teacher Wu particularly values the “class spirit.” She pondered for a moment and asked in a low voice: “Jiang Yubai, do you want to change seats?”

Change seats?

Jiang Yubai shook his head like a rattle drum: “No.”

Although after becoming deskmates with Lin Zhixia, Jiang Yubai had been afraid of going to school for a period, he felt that he had completely adjusted now.

And changing seats would undoubtedly be a sign of weakness. Jiang Yubai, as a growing young man, would not complain about heaven and blame people, would not be timid, and would certainly not surrender to a weak will.

Teacher Wu closed her eyes again. Her fingers tapped on the desktop intermittently, producing heavy, muffled sounds, like an old clock in disrepair, disturbing the flow of time.

“Go back, you three,” Teacher Wu instructed, “Each of you write me an 800-word self-criticism and turn it in to my office by 8 a.m. tomorrow. Considering this is your first offense, I won’t call your parents. If there’s a next time, I absolutely won’t let you off lightly, understood?”

The three students nodded repeatedly.

Jiang Yubai, Liu Xingjian, and Wei Rongjie walked out of Teacher Wu’s office one after another. They quietly traversed the corridor, with a slanting breeze and fine rain drifting in from beyond the railing, dampening their clothes and pants.

Several classmates from Class 4(1) poked their heads out of the window, letting out strange roars at the three of them—this was the special way classmates expressed their concern. Jiang Yubai could understand.

Some students from the neighboring class, having heard the news, also came to peek at them. The short distance of a few dozen meters from the teacher’s office to the classroom of Class 4(1) was walked by Jiang Yubai with a feeling of solemn triumphant return.

Class Monitor Dong Sunqi stood at the classroom door with his hands behind his back, his eyes slightly moist: “Jiang Yubai, Wei Rongjie, you’re both back?”

“Mm, we’re back,” Jiang Yubai responded.

Dong Sunqi asked again: “Were your parents called in?”

“No,” Jiang Yubai truthfully said, “Just need to write an 800-word self-criticism.”

Dong Sunqi clenched his right fist and struck his left palm: “Damn! Lin Zhixia is prophetic!”

He grabbed Wei Rongjie: “I am Sun Quan, you are Zhou Yu, Jiang Yubai is Liu Bei, Lin Zhixia is Zhuge Liang!”

Jiang Yubai had no time to chat idly with Dong Sunqi. He quickly walked back to his seat, noticing that Lin Zhixia’s expression was as usual. Jiang Yubai’s brief departure seemed not to have affected her peaceful life.

The window had been pushed open slightly by Lin Zhixia, misty vapor clouding the glass. Lin Zhixia was writing on the glass. She wrote down Fermat’s Last Theorem’s expression x^n+y^n=z^n.

Through Fermat’s Last Theorem, she continued to gaze at the world in the rain.

Until Jiang Yubai called her: “Lin Zhixia.”

She turned around: “You called me?”

Jiang Yubai sat down: “I need to write an 800-word self-criticism.”

Lin Zhixia sat beside him: “Can’t you write it?”

How could that be possible?

How could he possibly not be able to write it?

Jiang Yubai opened his pencil case, tore off a draft paper, and seriously set up his posture: “I write self-criticisms quickly. While you’re lost in thought, I’ll finish the self-criticism.”

Lin Zhixia propped her cheek with one hand: “Really?”

Jiang Yubai promised solemnly: “Really.”

Having eaten too much breakfast, Lin Zhixia was a bit drowsy. She simply laid her head on the desk to sleep. After about ten minutes, the long break ended, and the harsh class bell woke Lin Zhixia up. She got up in a daze, only to find—there wasn’t a single word on Jiang Yubai’s draft paper.

Jiang Yubai maintained the posture of holding his pen, still deep in thought, carefully weighing his words.

“Let me write it for you,” Lin Zhixia suggested.

Jiang Yubai coldly refused her: “No need, thank you. My affair, I will complete it independently.” Under various stimulations from Lin Zhixia, Jiang Yubai finally had a bit of inspiration.

He put pen to paper and wrote: “First time writing a self-criticism…” a total of six characters.

After finishing these six characters, Jiang Yubai again fell into a state of wordlessness. He was gazed at intensely by Lin Zhixia, feeling like an illiterate who had never learned Chinese phonetics.

Think back to when he was in Singapore, how many people praised his Chinese? How many times in life do past wounds hurt? Who knows about past events?

“How many times in life do past wounds hurt” comes from Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi’s “Reminiscing on West Barrier Mountain.” Thinking of this, Jiang Yubai simply wrote these seven characters into his self-criticism. This way, his self-criticism now had 13 characters; he only needed to write 787 more characters to complete the task. He was one step closer to success.

Lin Zhixia burst out laughing with a “puchi” sound. She mercilessly ridiculed him: “You struggled for so long and could only write 13 characters!”

He responded steadily, neither hurried nor impatient: “Yes. I am trying hard.”

This answer, though brief, was dignified and didn’t leave room for his competitor to continue mocking him.

But he didn’t expect that Lin Zhixia would flip through his homework placed on the desk. Lin Zhixia took his “Chinese Language Workbook” and very seriously examined several pages.

Then, Lin Zhixia took out draft paper, wrote the title “Self-Criticism,” and signed it “Jiang Yubai.”

Jiang Yubai was extremely shocked. Because now Lin Zhixia’s handwriting was the same as Jiang Yubai’s. She had only spent ten seconds observing his homework and could successfully imitate his every stroke, every dot and dash.

And he, as the imitated subject, couldn’t pick out even the slightest error.

Lin Zhixia wrote quickly: First time writing a self-criticism, the phrase “How many times in life do past wounds hurt” suddenly appeared in my mind. “Life” is the world, and also the school. I “hurt past events,” feeling dejected about the mistakes I’ve made. I’m sorry, Teacher Wu, this morning, I realized my mistake…

Lin Zhixia used Jiang Yubai’s 13-character introduction and expanded freely; her writing speed was like flying.

She didn’t have a moment of mental blockage, used Spring and Autumn Annals style to downplay the seriousness of the event, while conveying through the lines a strong sense of remorse, a light dignity, and a deep sense of responsibility. It was not simply a self-criticism but Lin Zhixia’s modern Chinese language teaching class.

Jiang Yubai wanted to kneel before her.

Before he could recover, Lin Zhixia had already concluded.

Jiang Yubai wanted to take her as his teacher.

In the conclusion part, Lin Zhixia summarized: This self-criticism is my reflection, my introspection, and also my opportunity to correct. I will abide by the “Elementary Student Code of Conduct,” be a student who develops comprehensively in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor…

Jiang Yubai interjected: “In the office, Teacher Wu mentioned morality, intelligence, physical fitness, and aesthetics.”

“Yes,” Lin Zhixia earnestly told him, “Teacher Wu loves to mention morality, intelligence, physical fitness, and aesthetics. When you write a self-criticism for her, you must include this sentence. If it’s not written well, with an improper attitude, she might make you rewrite it.”

“Rewrite?” Jiang Yubai found it hard to believe.

This class was originally physical education, but due to the weather, it was temporarily changed to a study hall. Classmates whispered and chatted secretly, and the physical education teacher didn’t care at all.

The physical education teacher sat beside the podium, holding a magazine, immersed in reading his magazine, oblivious to the outside world.

Initially, Jiang Yubai planned to use the opportunity of the study hall to write a self-criticism letter of his own. He calmly stated his reason: “The trouble I caused, I should bear it myself. I can’t accept your self-criticism letter. I should write a new one. Even if tomorrow morning, Teacher Wu makes me write another one, I accept it.”

However, Lin Zhixia said to him: “Jiang Yubai, if you write a new one, this one in my hand will be wasted. Do you want me to give this self-criticism letter to someone else? If I give it to Liu Xingjian, Liu Xingjian will think I look down on him. If I give it to Wei Rongjie, Wei Rongjie will be very grateful to me. So I’ll just give it to Wei Rongjie…”

Jiang Yubai said nothing, tore up his 13-character self-criticism on the spot, and carefully kept Lin Zhixia’s ghostwritten version.