I Got Together With the Fake Heiress - Chapter 24

The vacation lasted five days. Subtracting the time spent on traveling back and forth, Wen Yunqing and Wen Yimeng stayed at the resort for a total of four days.

After a series of activities—including a BBQ buffet, bonfire party, hot springs, and mountain hiking—Wen Yunqing’s phone album became much thicker, and the relationship between the two girls underwent a subtle change.

“Wen Yunqing, when did you send the photos to Mom?” On the way back, Wen Yimeng had just finished compiling a nine-grid collage. As soon as she posted it on her Moments, she noticed that her photos with Wen Yunqing were among the likes and comments.

“Mom just asked if we took any photos, so I just sent her a few random ones,” Wen Yunqing said. “Don’t worry, the photos I chose were all taken by Zhou Jun, not the ones I took myself.”

Wen Yimeng silently looked at her mother’s Moments. She distinctly remembered that their poses were very normal when the photos were taken. Why did they look so strange after being photographed? If she hadn’t been the person in the photo, she would have thought the one in the middle looked like a pre-kissing pose!

“Did I choose problematic photos?” Wen Yunqing asked.

Wen Yimeng shook her head. “No, it’s my problem.” It was all Wen Yunqing’s fault for constantly whispering things into her ear, making her overthink everything.

The vacation was over. Upon returning to school, it was time to sprint toward the final exams.

Although Ruihua was a private school, it placed great importance on final exam results. It decided to hold a joint examination with the three best key high schools in the city, with all four schools using the same set of papers.

As the results and rankings were now public, Wen Yunqing clearly sensed that the teachers were much more serious in class. The subject teachers, who used to arrive and leave right on time, had started dragging out the lessons.

“Students, there are only two weeks left until the final exams. The school feels that our class’s weakest subject is Physics, so the school has specially hired a top graduate from Peking University’s Physics Department to help improve everyone’s scores.”

Lou Youpeng’s expression was slightly strained as he spoke. After all, he was the physics teacher for Class One. The school making this decision clearly implied a lack of confidence in his teaching ability.

“Peking University’s Physics Department? That must be amazing!” The students’ curiosity was immediately piqued. “Mr. Lou, when will the new teacher arrive?”

“The last period of these final two weeks will be canceled, and the new teacher will be here to supervise your self-study. As your homeroom teacher, I will also be in the office with everyone.”

Lou Youpeng paused, then continued, “Students can also come and ask me if you have any questions. Although the new teacher is very good at physics, they might not be familiar with test-taking techniques.”

So what if she was a top graduate from Peking University? Although he didn’t graduate from there, he was still from a key university, and his resume wasn’t much worse than hers!

Lou Youpeng tried hard to save face, but the students in the class were unconvinced. His usual performance was simply too weak. At best, everyone only showed respect for his position as homeroom teacher, not paying much attention to his presence.

To the students’ anticipation, the tall new teacher, dressed in a gray wool coat and holding a physics textbook, walked up to the podium with a serious expression.

“Ahem. I am your amateur—no, your after-school tutor. I will be here during the last period every day. If you have any questions about physics, I will try to help you solve them,” Lu Zhiming stood upright at the podium and spoke in a serious, measured tone.

After speaking, she picked up a piece of chalk, wrote her name stroke by stroke on the blackboard, and then took a seat on the chair.

“Teacher Lu, I heard the homeroom teacher say you graduated from Peking University?” Seeing the new teacher, some boys in the class started getting restless.

The reason was simple: Lu Zhiming was remarkably beautiful, and the previous lethal aura she possessed was gone. Due to her makeup, she looked much softer, appearing, at first glance, like a recent university graduate who might be easy to tease.

“Yes,” Lu Zhiming replied, her gaze briefly sweeping over Zhou Jun and Wen Yimeng before settling on Wen Yunqing.

“Teacher Lu, do you have a boyfriend?” the sports representative asked, his voice a little excited. “If not, how about considering me?”

“You?” Lu Zhiming averted her gaze and scrutinized the sports representative up and down. “Not very suitable. You’re too weak.”

“Teacher Lu, I’m the sports representative! I can do thirty pull-ups in one go!” The representative said, taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves to show off the muscles on his arm.

“Is being able to do thirty very impressive?” Lu Zhiming raised an eyebrow. “I usually start at a hundred.”

“No way, no way. Teacher Lu, you can reject me if you don’t like me, but doing a hundred in one go is too exaggerated,” the sports representative said with a chuckle, asking other questions amid the cheers of his classmates.

Lu Zhiming was quite friendly toward these students who hadn’t entered society yet. As long as the questions didn’t touch upon confidential matters, she provided relatively clear answers.

Wen Yunqing propped her chin on one hand, her gaze toward Lu Zhiming filled with scrutiny.

If she remembered correctly, wasn’t this Lu Zhiming the Taoist priest she encountered at the resort? Why was she at Ruihua, and as a top physics graduate?

Had the threshold for cultivation in this world also increased? Did one need to attend a good university before practicing magic?

Wen Yunqing wasn’t the only one who recognized Lu Zhiming. Zhou Jun and Su Ning, the other two people involved in the incident, also recognized the new teacher.

“Zhou Jun, is Teacher Lu here because of us?” Su Ning whispered. “I asked students from other classes at noon, and it seems only our class got an extra after-school tutor.”

“It’s possible she’s here because of us, but it shouldn’t be anything bad,” Zhou Jun said, slightly frowning. She still clearly remembered that there was a scent of blood on Lu Zhiming when she appeared that day.

“That’s true. She’s an official person, after all,” Su Ning said, but she quickly grew nervous again. “Zhou Jun, if she’s not here to cause us trouble, maybe she’s here to protect us? Have we been targeted by something strange?”

Zhou Jun was silent for a moment before speaking. “I think your imagination is running wild. There shouldn’t be anything strange at school, right?”

Though Zhou Jun claimed disbelief, her body was very honest. She stood up with her workbook and walked toward the podium, intending to test the waters.

“Teacher Lu, I don’t know how to do this problem. Could you teach me?” Zhou Jun asked. She chose a challenging, high-value problem whose prompt alone was over two hundred characters, making it difficult even for ordinary teachers.

Lu Zhiming looked up at Zhou Jun, then lowered her head to look at the problem. She quickly began, “This one concerns magnetic fields. Based on what you’ve learned, you can start by analyzing the forces involved…”

Zhou Jun was startled at first, then she followed Lu Zhiming’s line of thought. Her eyes brightened as she watched the teacher’s neat and insightful solution process.

She had originally intended to use the question to probe Lu Zhiming. She hadn’t expected Lu Zhiming to be truly knowledgeable, and at a very high level, too.

“Teacher Lu, what about this problem?” Zhou Jun immediately flipped the book to the back and asked about a question she couldn’t even begin to tackle.

“Let me see.” Lu Zhiming read the problem seriously, thought for about twenty seconds, and then quickly formulated a solution. “For this problem, you can first look at the body of the question…”

Zhou Jun listened and nodded, her pen moving rapidly in her hand, completely forgetting that she had come to ask questions for the sake of gathering information.

After asking three long-standing problems in one go, Zhou Jun returned to her seat with satisfaction, picking up her scratch paper to review the solution process.

“Teacher Lu, I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.” As soon as Zhou Jun left, Wen Yunqing also came up with a practice book, lowering her voice. “Shall we talk outside?”

Lu Zhiming put down her pen and stood up without saying a word, walking straight out of the classroom.

Wen Yunqing followed her without a word, holding her practice book.

“Are you here for me, or for the school?” Wen Yunqing asked straightforwardly.

Lu Zhiming leaned against the railing and exhaled. “A bit of both. I received an order from my superior to enter Ruihua under the guise of a teacher, and at the same time, discreetly investigate your background.”

Wen Yunqing raised an eyebrow. “You’re just going to tell me your mission like that?”

Lu Zhiming nodded. “The regulations didn’t state that I couldn’t reveal information to the target of the mission.”

“Do you mean there’s also a problem here at Ruihua?” Wen Yunqing hadn’t expected Lu Zhiming to be so straightforward. But that was fine; it meant she wouldn’t have to waste spiritual energy probing for information.

“Haven’t you heard?” Lu Zhiming straightened up slightly and said, “About a month ago, a piece of news came from the Association that a rare treasure would emerge in the South, causing many Association members and ghosts to flock here.”

“The Association projected five locations, three of which are in An City,” Lu Zhiming said, pausing and shifting her gaze toward the empty field outside. “Two of those locations are in relatively remote suburbs, and the remaining one is right here at Ruihua.”

“To be precise, Ruihua’s location within the designated area is very close to the center. Many people are eyeing this place, so I was sent over. My mission is to prevent Association members and ghosts from causing trouble here.”

Wen Yunqing’s expression turned serious. “Aren’t you part of the Association?”

“Huh? Didn’t you look at my badge? I’m an official person,” Lu Zhiming asked, a question mark appearing above her head. “You don’t even know what the Association is?”

“Do I need to know?” Wen Yunqing retorted.

Lu Zhiming mused for a moment. “Strictly speaking, no. The Association is just an organization formed by those sects who consider themselves the ‘righteous and famous ones,’ separate from the official government body.”

“But there is one thing you must remember: do not trust the people in the Association too much. They might share hardship, but they will absolutely not share fortune,” Lu Zhiming warned. “Be careful when dealing with them.”

Wen Yunqing: “By your tone, have you suffered losses at their hands?”

Lu Zhiming nodded. “However, afterward, I made them repay my losses twofold. So, I didn’t actually lose anything in the end.”

Wen Yunqing affirmed Lu Zhiming’s post-settlement behavior and grudgingly acknowledged her existence. “Thank you for telling me this information.”

“I’m just buying myself insurance,” Lu Zhiming said with a smile, her attitude very candid. “I can sense that you are much stronger than me. If I encounter a difficult problem, I might need to ask for your help.”

Wen Yunqing also smiled. “I rarely meet people who speak as directly as you. If you ask, I will assist within my capabilities.”

“I’m somewhat like you. The official companions are all good people, but they are exhausting to talk to,” Lu Zhiming said, unable to resist complaining. “There are too many rules, too—this thing can’t be done, that thing can’t be interfered with. It makes doing things feel very constrained.”

“If you don’t like it, why don’t you leave?” Wen Yunqing asked, confused.

Lu Zhiming thought for a while and said, “Probably because they are too foolish.”

Sometimes, even when they knew that great danger lay ahead, they would still rush in without hesitation. Even when severely injured, they would strive to pull their comrades back from the brink of death.