It was bound to be a rowdy morning. w.a.n.g Ling"s safe return became No. 60 High"s newest topic of discussion, and it directly reinforced w.a.n.g Ling"s ident.i.ty as a "mascot." He heard a lot of stories, and felt that man was forever the type of creature to never know how to cherish something until it was gone.He had been doing his best all this time to stay low-key and diminish his existence, but once people heard the grievous news about w.a.n.g Ling, all of his schoolmates at No. 60 High, whether they knew him or not, had felt like there were fishbones stuck in their throats.
Some of the girls in his cla.s.s who were normally very carefree had cried with grief yesterday.
The person who surprised w.a.n.g Ling the most was Teacher Pan, who had taken leave today and hadn"t come to school. She had reportedly cried herself hoa.r.s.e yesterday and her mental state wasn"t very good, so she had been forced to ask Director s.h.i.+ for leave.
A mental blow would forever be the most dreadful thing. Old Pan had taught for so many years, and had never encountered a situation where a student of hers was involved. Thus, after hearing about this incident, she had been dealt a heavy psychological blow. Although there normally were times when she would lose her temper with her students over their studies, in Old Pan"s eyes, every student was actually like her own child.
w.a.n.g Ling had always thought that this was just a saying, so his heart sank when he learned the news and the reason that Old Pan was taking leave today.
He should have given it more thought when he had made a move yesterday. For example, if he had left a clone in school, perhaps things wouldn"t have developed to this extent now.
But at that time, he had already sensed President Bai"s murderous aura from the cla.s.sroom, and w.a.n.g Ling hadn"t thought too much before stepping out of the school gate to meet the challenge head on. If he had been any later, the s.p.a.ce trap hidden at the school gate would definitely have sucked in other students.
This had been an unforeseen mishap this time, and it was obvious that President Bai had devised this plan on the spur of the moment, since w.a.n.g Ling"s early eyelid warning hadn"t given him any sign beforehand.
Sometimes, you really couldn"t guard against this type of impromptu behavior. However, there was a saying: "for every fall into a moat, you gain a measure of wisdom." After his experience in managing the crisis this time, w.a.n.g Ling felt he should be a lot more knowledgeable now when he ran into trouble again in the future.
Hm…
Wait…
Why had he said "again"…
...
Not long after w.a.n.g Ling left for school that morning, the w.a.n.g family"s small villa received a guest.
A robust-looking middle-aged uncle with a st.u.r.dy build and wearing a well-ironed suit stopped the car by the villa"s gate.
"Come get me in the evening," the middle-aged man said.
"Yes, sir." The driver nodded his head, and drove off right away after the middle-aged man got out of the car. This already wasn"t the driver"s first time here, so he knew the nearby roads very well. The closest restaurant to the villa was Midnight Dining Hall; although Boss Tan wasn"t officially open yet at this time, and was only offering newly released summer refreshments, it would be enough to kill time with.
This was a frequent visitor to the w.a.n.g family"s small villa, but w.a.n.g Ling had never seen him before because this uncle always came on a weekday.
Hearing the activity at the gate from inside the villa, Mother w.a.n.g hastily went to open the door. "Welcome, Your Excellency, come in, come in!"
This was a big figure they couldn"t afford to slight!
When the middle-aged man entered, Mother w.a.n.g took out a pair of slippers from the shoe cupboard, specially prepared for this uncle.
"Is Brother Situ still writing upstairs?" the middle-aged uncle asked after changing into the slippers.
"Mm, he"s already written a lot today."
"Great! More chapters to read!" the middle-aged man laughed like a kid.
Mother w.a.n.g: "What would Your Excellency like to eat for lunch?"
"Anything is fine! I"m not here to eat, after all! But it would be best if it isn"t broccoli… I"ve realized that every time I come here, there"s always broccoli. I"m a little tired of it!" said the middle-aged man.
Mother w.a.n.g: "Very well, Your Excellency…"
...
Elsewhere, General Yi, who had already made up his mind to check out the situation at the w.a.n.g family"s small villa, was making preparations. Making inquiries was one thing, but he still needed to follow protocol.
Hence, it was very important to find a suitable excuse.
By the time General Yi arrived in Songhai city, his former subordinates had already arranged everything.
In fact, it wasn"t just in Songhai city, but General Yi had former subordinates in every province throughout Huaxiu nation. Before he retired, all of the sword cultivators in Huaxiu had had to abide by his arrangements. These sword cultivators had been deployed as SWAT teams, and after General Yi"s retirement, these former subordinates had then moved up to become leaders.
So even though he was already retired, the current leaders.h.i.+p all still had the utmost respect for their old leader.
Logically speaking, calling on the student who had been the focus of the news and his parents was something that the education department should be informed of, but General Yi didn"t want to alert the Alliance of Ten Thousand Schools this time, so everything was done secretly.
"Everything has been prepared accordingly? What name are we using this time?" Sitting inside the office at Songhai city"s police hall, General Yi flipped through the news on w.a.n.g Ling.
He had initially wanted to look up personal information on this student called w.a.n.g Ling, only to discover that there was so little information on him in all the newspapers it was pathetic. There wasn"t even a photo of him, whether in the newspapers or online.
He was now more and more curious; who on earth was controlling the whole situation behind the scenes?
"Yes, teacher, everything has already been arranged. This time, we"ll be going in the name of the Poverty Relief Foundation." A provincial leader stood respectfully in front of General Yi; this was the head of the police hall. Quite a number of police personnel wore amazed expressions when they saw this scene through the windows as they pa.s.sed by the office.
It was said that every thing had its weakness, and no one had expected this irascible provincial head to have such an obedient side.
"Poverty Relief Foundation?"
"Yes, this student previously received aid through the poverty relief plan jointly carried out by No. 60 High and the General Administration of 100 Schools."
"Hm, what did this child ask for? An energy-replenis.h.i.+ng pill? A Foundation Establishment pill? Or a spirit-gathering pill? Or even… money?" General Yi nodded his head as he continued asking questions.
He had mentioned several types of pills in one go; these were the commonly used supplementary pills required for cultivation at the Foundation Establishment stage in order to help speed up cultivation.
"No matter what this child wants, we can"t go bare-handed since we"re going in the name of the Poverty Relief Foundation. No matter what aid was given to him before, we need to give him double the amount this time," General Yi said very earnestly.
In the end, this provincial head shook his head. "No, no, no, teacher, this student asked for crispy noodle snacks…"
Hearing this, General Yi was blank; suddenly, he felt a little old and a little muddle-headed.
Crispy noodle snacks?
Was this a new type of pill?