Chapter 81: You Doing This Makes Me Wide Awake

Wei Suo was stunned, wondering how he was supposed to respond. He quickly changed the subject, asking about something else that interested him: "Oh, by the way, what color stockings was Principal Jiang wearing today?"A vision of Jiang Luofu's shapely, straight legs, shimmering with a translucent glow, appeared in Zu An's mind. He subconsciously replied, "Flesh-colored~"

Wei Suo swallowed hard. "Ah, she truly is the goddess in my heart. I'm so envious of you! You've had two close encounters with her in just a few days, and I haven't had any chance at all."

Zu An couldn't help but laugh. "You've never even met her, and you're so infatuated?"

"You wouldn't understand," Wei Suo said, looking utterly smitten. "Distance makes the heart grow fonder. I caught a fleeting glimpse of Principal Jiang once by chance, and I was instantly captivated by her mature charm. My mind and body have been utterly devoted ever since."

Zu An scoffed inwardly. "Mind and body devoted? More like mind, yes, but body? You're dreaming."

"By the way, who is that arrogant teacher?" Zu An took the opportunity to inquire.

Wei Suo, living up to his reputation as a little master of information, immediately replied, "His name is Yang Wei. He's the Minister of Revenue for Brightmoon City, in charge of agricultural and tax matters. He also teaches arithmetic at the academy."

"Oh, a math teacher," Zu An mused.

"Zu An, get to the back and stand!" Just then, Yang Wei's roar echoed from the podium.

The shout was like a clap of thunder, jolting many students who had just woken up and fallen back asleep. They flinched, some nearly losing bladder control."What in the world is going on? Can't a person get some peaceful sleep?"

Everyone looked curiously at Zu An, wondering what he had done to incur such divine wrath and infuriate the teacher. Many even felt a strange admiration for him. Since his enrollment, the school hadn't had a peaceful day, and in such a short time, he had managed to provoke teachers to a furious rage twice.

Zu An frowned. He had long sensed the man's deep animosity towards him but didn't expect it to surface so quickly.

"Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me tell you to go to the back and stand as punishment?" Yang Wei had already descended from the podium and was waiting for him, his face grim.

Zu An sneered inwardly. Yang Wei hadn't contributed any "rage points," so his furious demeanor was clearly an act. Zu An calmly replied, "Teacher, if I may ask, why are you punishing me?"

"You weren't paying attention in class, chatting with your classmate. As a teacher, shouldn't I punish you?" Yang Wei said with an air of superiority. This was the advantage of his position; a teacher could easily find a reason to punish a student, and no one could fault him.Besides, the fellow hadn't been listening anyway, which saved him the trouble of fabricating a charge.

Zu An frowned. The Yellow Class comprised the academy's worst students. How many of them actually paid attention in class? From his observation, a third were sleeping, a third were secretly chatting, and a few in the back were even playing cards.Yet, Yang Wei ignored all of them and came straight for him. Zu An recalled that he and Wei Suo had been discreet while talking precisely to avoid giving Yang Wei an excuse, but it seemed the teacher was determined to make an issue of it.Since Yang Wei was brazenly targeting him, Zu An saw no reason to hold back either.

"I don't understand that," Zu An said calmly. "I was listening attentively the entire time and didn't speak to anyone. Do you have any evidence to support your claim that I was whispering and not paying attention?"

Yang Wei's breath hitched. He had thought it would be simple to deal with a student: find a random excuse to punish him, then use it as leverage to expel him from the academy. Without the academy's protection during the day, those influential figures would find him much easier to handle.But he hadn't expected the student to directly contradict him. In this world, given the academy's unique status, teachers were always highly respected. Such direct defiance was virtually unheard of in the academy's history.However, instead of alarm, a sense of delight filled him. He had been struggling to find a solid reason to expel Zu An, as he was only an ordinary teacher. While punishing students was fine, expelling them was beyond his authority.But if the student openly clashed with a teacher too severely, it would provide a perfectly legitimate reason to remove him from the academy.

"I clearly saw you brazenly chatting with the person next to you just now. Are you saying I was mistaken?" Yang Wei snorted.

Zu An found this strange. "If you saw us chatting, then you should have told both of us to stand up. Why did you only call on me? Teacher, are you deliberately targeting me?"

Yang Wei quickly explained, "I didn't know that student's name at the moment, which is why I only called on you."

Zu An immediately smiled. "That's truly odd. I didn't introduce myself when I came in, and I'm a student who only arrived at the school a few days ago. This is also my first time in your class, yet you clearly know my name. It's hard not to conclude that you are deliberately targeting me."

At his words, everyone in the class shifted their gaze. No one was foolish; this situation did seem rather strange.

Although most students didn't particularly like Zu An, they also had no special fondness for teachers as a group, especially Yang Wei, the greasy, scrawny middle-aged man, who possessed no charm whatsoever.If it were true that a teacher was deliberately targeting a student, wouldn't everyone else be at risk?

Noticing the students' gazes, Yang Wei became quite uncomfortable. He hastily said, "Who in Brightmoon City doesn't know the famous Zu An now? You clashed with a fifth-grade senior in the academy, and outside, you won 7.5 million taels at the gambling house. How could I not know who you are?"He had heard that this fellow had a sharp tongue but hadn't expected him to be so formidable. He almost fell into Zu An's trap. Realizing this, he grew inwardly wary, thinking he needed to be more careful and avoid repeating the Silver Hook Gambling House's mistake.

Zu An nodded. "Even if you know who I am, I still wasn't speaking to anyone just now. Don't falsely accuse me."

"Nonsense! I saw you talking to your deskmate with my own eyes. Do you think I, a teacher, would falsely accuse you?" Yang Wei had initially been pleased that he wouldn't have to fabricate a charge, but he never expected the student to lie so brazenly.

"You never know; it's a big forest, and all sorts of birds fly in it." Since the other party was clearly targeting him, Zu An saw no reason to be polite. "You claim my deskmate and I were talking in class. Do you have any evidence? Otherwise, I could accuse you of slander."Rage points from Yang Wei +666!

Yang Wei almost fainted from anger. He was used to fabricating charges and always getting away with it, but today, he had caught the student red-handed and still couldn't deal with him.What kind of evidence could there be for something like this? There were no recordings; it was just his word against theirs.

"You want evidence, do you?" Yang Wei, unwilling to give up, glared directly at Wei Suo, who was standing beside Zu An. "Tell me, were you talking to him just now?"

Wei Suo blinked. "No, Teacher, I wasn't."

Zu An secretly gave him a thumbs-up. He had intended to subtly prompt Wei Suo, but who would have thought the guy was so quick on the uptake? He truly lived up to his name and had great potential.

"I..." Yang Wei nearly choked on his breath. "The morality of people truly has declined! Students nowadays are getting worse and worse."However, he had come prepared and wouldn't be stumped by such a minor issue. This fellow was just good with words. He would soon show him that older ginger is spicier.

"Hmph, I have another way to prove what I said," Yang Wei took a deep breath to compose himself. "You claimed you were listening attentively. So, do you understand everything I just taught?"Many students on the side felt this was unfair. Arithmetic was already a difficult subject, and even attentive listening didn't guarantee full comprehension. Wasn't this clearly a trap?Someone was about to speak up, as there was never a shortage of hot-blooded youths among students, but Zu An readily agreed: "Of course, I understand all of it. What you taught was very simple."

While cultivation in this world was indeed miraculous, other fields were clearly far behind his original era. What a joke; as a university student who had endured the rigor of college entrance exams, the arithmetic problems of this era were simply a dimensional strike.

Hearing this, Yang Wei couldn't help but be overjoyed. "There's a path to heaven, but you refuse it; a gate to hell, and you barge right in." Fearing Zu An might back out, he immediately said, "I've never met such an arrogant student. How about this: I'll give you twenty questions. If you can answer just one... er, no, if you answer three correctly, I'll consider that you weren't lying and truly were listening attentively. How does that sound?"He was confident Zu An wouldn't be able to answer even one question. However, remembering the unexpected outcome at the Silver Hook Gambling House, he decided to be conservative. Perhaps Zu An might get one right by sheer luck, but there was no way he could answer three.

Wei Suo's face instantly clouded with worry. Yang Wei's classes were notoriously difficult. While legal precedents could be memorized, and students could earn some points by writing down any answers, arithmetic was either right or wrong. Once, when Yang Wei made the questions slightly harder, not a single student in the class passed. This time, he was intentionally targeting Zu An, so the questions would undoubtedly be the hardest. Not just the Yellow Class, but even the Heaven Class would probably struggle to answer them.Just as he was about to warn Zu An, the latter nonchalantly agreed: "Sure, no problem. But what if I answer all of them correctly?"

"Answer all of them correctly?" Yang Wei burst out laughing, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. "If you can answer all of them correctly, I'll resign directly from the academy and let you take my place as the arithmetic teacher!"

Zu An's eyes lit up. "Then it's a deal!"

"It's a deal!" Yang Wei sneered inwardly. Was this guy stupid, thinking his questions were easy? He had dedicated decades to arithmetic and served as Minister of Revenue, combining theory with practice. No one, not just in Brightmoon City but in the entire prefecture, could surpass his expertise.Zu An's confidence probably stemmed from having seen his past exam papers, but Yang Wei usually gave the simplest questions. This time, he would unleash his true power and show Zu An the terror of arithmetic!

"And what if you can't answer three questions?" Yang Wei looked at him with a provocative sideways glance.

"Since the teacher is willing to stake his position at the academy, I naturally must match it," Zu An said calmly. "If I can't answer three questions correctly, then I, too, will leave the school."

Yang Wei was immediately overjoyed. He had been hoping for precisely this; since Zu An was voluntarily jumping into the pit, he couldn't be blamed.

Sensing the tense, sword-drawn atmosphere between the two, the entire Yellow Class immediately erupted in excitement. People in any world love a good show, and few in the Yellow Class were genuinely interested in studying anyway. What class could be as entertaining as this wager?So, those who were sleeping woke up, and those playing cards stopped. Everyone gathered around.