Zheng Qing wrapped up his fourth teaching assistant session in a daze.

He couldn’t remember what he talked about during the class or how it ended.

All he recalled was the strange flicker in his peers’ eyes when they looked at him from below the podium—an eerie green, as if a pack of hungry wolves had spotted a cream puff, or like clear lakes reflecting back at his own ghastly green face.

Every second on the podium felt like standing on a pile of dynamite with lit fuses, anxious that the new transfer student might unreservedly blurt out "I want to give you a colt" amidst a roomful of spectators.

Thankfully, the worst-case scenario never materialized.

Luna Huisu stood obediently at the back of the classroom near the Half-Giants, not uttering a word the entire lesson.

As soon as the class ended, Zheng Qing fled the classroom in a hurry, not even leaving a homework assignment, and dawdled until midnight before returning to the dormitory.

As expected, nobody was asleep.

"Yo? You’re back? Qing Jie’er?"

Xin Fat Man was cradling Tuan Tuan, grooming it while sarcastically greeting Zheng Qing. The Fat Cat lazily raised its paw, indicating it was in a good mood tonight.

"Your little Sprites’ envelopes seem to have become a bit more transparent," Xiao Xiao commented while pretending to examine the three little sleeping Sprites over the desk.

Zheng Qing ignored the fat man’s provocation.

He cleared his throat.

"Uh...I noticed that this morning, it shouldn’t be a problem."

The young assistant played along with Doctor’s small talk, took the hot towel offered by a Sprite, and placed it on his face. The hot steam conveniently covered his embarrassment, making him feel as if nothing he said now mattered: "Oh, right, I left the class quickly due to something urgent and forgot to assign homework...but I asked Hilda, and he said it’s okay to occasionally skip it...anything else happen after I left?"

He tried to act nonchalant, though a hint of urgency slipped through his tone.

"Yes, Jiang Yu slapped Luna," responded Xin Fat Man lazily.

Zheng Qing instantly felt the blood drain from his heart. He lowered his head abruptly, the towel falling with a plop, exposing his pale little face.

The nearby Sprite Hehe slipped gracefully through the air, catching the towel just before it hit the ground, and then flew back to Zheng Qing, hands on her hips, sternly scolding the Warlock.

Zheng Qing brushed the little creature aside.

"What did you say?" His voice was dry.

"Jiang Yu slapped Luna?!"

The Fat Wizard feigned innocence, raising his head with a malicious grin: "You ran so fast, you let a gadfly into the house, and it landed on Luna. Jiang Yu saw and helped clear it off... Luna thanked him very earnestly. I must say, she’s a well-mannered child... She even taught me a word in Huisu language—Xi Xiyu—which means hello."

He mimicked a horse’s neigh quite vividly.

For a fleeting moment, Zheng Qing felt an urge to draw his Charm Gun and blow the fat guy’s head off.

"You could’ve been clearer about it." He paused, took the toothbrush handed over by a Sprite, and started brushing vigorously.

"If you weren’t in such a hurry, there’d have been plenty of time to explain," Xin Fat Man retorted, lifting Tuan Tuan’s paw in a mock bow, implying something more.

"Anything else?" Zheng Qing pretended not to catch the hidden meaning, he turned to Xiao Xiao, his voice muffled by toothpaste foam.

Perhaps it was his imagination, but Zheng Qing noticed out of the corner of his eye that the Fat Wizard was smiling more wickedly.

He felt a twinge of anxiety.

As if he were standing on the podium from the afternoon class all over again.

"Yes."

Xiao Xiao seemed to have been waiting for this question for a while, immediately moving his gaze from the three Sprites to Zheng Qing, though he spoke sluggishly: "Shortly after you ran... well, I mean left, Su Ya came over saying there was a letter from Su Councilor for you... Hmm, Jiang Yu happened to be nearby at the time, they both know you well, so she took the letter for you... You know, Su Ya’s not the most careful, so when Jiang Yu offered to take it, it wasn’t really our place to stop her..."

He prattled on as if he hadn’t reached the worst part.

Zheng Qing swallowed involuntarily.

A cooling sensation slid down his throat, settling in his stomach.

He couldn’t be bothered about the consequences of swallowing toothpaste.

"And then?" he asked with a glimmer of hope.

"Before I answer that, let me clarify something." The Doctor’s pace slowed a notch, glancing at the grey cloth bag hanging from Zheng Qing’s waist. He raised a finger: "We are merely observers in this entire affair, unaware that Su Councilor had simply folded the letter before handing it to Su Ya... So when Jiang Yu took it, the letter was open..."

One golden star after another flickered in Zheng Qing’s peripheral vision.

He finally understood the phrase "seeing stars."

He felt as though his heart had stopped beating.

"So the letter..." The Warlock’s voice was faint, his eyes devoid of light.

"That’s right, Jiang Yu read the letter and added a note for us to pass along to you," Xiao Xiao quickly confirmed.

Highs and lows, as apt as any description.

His heart, resuming its beat vigorously, pumped blood that nearly tinged Zheng Qing’s eyes red.

"Where’s the letter?"

His tone turned a bit irritable.

The Doctor swiftly retrieved a card from his pocket, flipping it to Zheng Qing with a hint of sympathy: "...All in all, things are not as bad as you imagined... so why did you dash out after class?"

Why did he run? Don’t they know?

Zheng Qing’s mind brimmed with chaos, too preoccupied to banter with Xiao Xiao. He snatched the letter, opening it to find no lengthy passages, merely a simple sketch—

A little stick figure with four tails hugging a matchstick figure, looking quite enthusiastic, though Zheng Qing couldn’t shake the feeling that the matchstick figure’s limbs were unnaturally twisted, making him shiver involuntarily.

Beside it were two sentences.

One from Su Shijun, bold and flamboyant—Don’t mind the noise; there’s no problem a hug can’t solve!

The other from Jiang Yu, a single word, neat and proper—Goodness.

The young Warlock exhaled deeply, shaking his slightly dizzy head, trying to dismiss the terrifying images that momentarily flashed in his mind.

The Doctor was right; the situation was indeed better than he’d imagined.