Zhong Xingwen's face immediately darkened. "You brat, if you continue to be disrespectful, I don't mind teaching you a lesson on behalf of your father."
"Thank you, Uncle Zhong, but I don't think it's necessary. After all, you don't even have a daughter, so you probably can't teach well."
Mi Xue'er skipped down the stairs and headed straight for Duan Chen's Corolla.
"Brother Duan Chen, let's go, or I'll be late," she said with a bright and cute smile.
Heh, this little girl.
Duan Chen chuckled inwardly, opened the car door for her like a gentleman, and turned to nod goodbye to Zhong Xingwen and Li Wei.
"Duan Chen, when did you and Mi Xue'er..."
Li Wei felt extremely uncomfortable seeing their affectionate display.
The man she had dumped was now with the CEO's daughter from the Zhong family in the blink of an eye?
Duan Chen ignored them and drove off in the Corolla.
Zhong Xingwen slapped Li Wei hard on the backside, making her blush instantly.
"Ah—"
"Bitch, control your gaze. If I see your ex-boyfriend again, I'll kill him." A strange fierceness flickered in Zhong Xingwen's eyes.
In his pupils, a dark, towering tree could be vaguely seen, disappearing as he blinked.
Meanwhile.
Inside the car, Mi Xue'er pouted, grumbling, "Didn't my mother give you enough money? Brother Duan Chen, why didn't you buy a nicer car? Look at Zhong Xingwen's face, it's disgusting."
Duan Chen glanced at her in the rearview mirror. The young girl's sulky look was quite endearing.
"Your family relationships aren't very harmonious."
"Actually, he's not that annoying normally. He restrains himself in front of my mother. I don't know why he's so fired up today," Mi Xue'er pouted.
"Maybe because I'm Li Wei's ex-boyfriend."
Duan Chen's casual remark immediately piqued Mi Xue'er's attention.
"What? Brother Duan Chen, you're that woman's ex-boyfriend? It's a good thing you broke up."
Mi Xue'er's pretty eyes darted, and she tested the waters. "Do you... have a girlfriend now?"
"No, I'm too busy with work to even think about having a girlfriend," Duan Chen sighed, shaking his head.
Mi Xue'er cheered inwardly, heh heh heh, here's my chance!
While waiting at a red light, Duan Chen turned and handed Mi Xue'er a Jianbing Guozi. "I grabbed you some breakfast on the way."
"Just this? How can a beautiful girl eat Jianbing Guozi? Uncle, no wonder you can't find a girlfriend."
"Try it," Duan Chen smiled slightly.
Mi Xue'er grudgingly took a small bite, chewed it carefully, and her eyes lit up with a strange glow.
"...It's really delicious."
She devoured the Jianbing Guozi.
As soon as the car pulled into the school parking lot, Mi Xue'er opened the door and got out. Watching her with her backpack, Duan Chen couldn't help but reminisce about his own school days.
At that moment, a security guard approached.
There had been quite a few incidents at the school recently, and security measures had been tightened. New vehicles had to be registered.
Duan Chen got out of the car cooperatively, thinking he could ask the guard for some information. To his surprise, the guard looked increasingly familiar.
A plain gray coat, plain black-rimmed glasses, a plain notebook in his arms, and a plain stun baton at his waist—
"Wu Suowei?!"
Duan Chen removed his sunglasses and exclaimed.
"Yo, we meet again," Wu Suowei replied with a plain smile.
"Register."
Duan Chen suspiciously took the pen and notebook. "Aren't you delivering food anymore?"
"Temporary deliveryman."
"And now you're a security guard at the school?"
"Temporary security guard."
"..."
So you're a handyman, showing up wherever you're needed.
Duan Chen locked the car and walked into the school with Wu Suowei. On the way, they briefly discussed the Siren and the Misty Mirror City, but Wu Suowei seemed uninterested, adopting an "you're the boss, I'll do as you say" attitude.
"You suspect Teacher Liu? He's here today and should be in class now," Wu Suowei said, flipping through his notebook. "Once I'm done with my work, I'll join you."
"Okay."
Duan Chen nodded in agreement.
Just then, another car arrived, and Wu Suowei eagerly went to register it.
Duan Chen suddenly remembered that Zhong Yu had mentioned someone had gone missing from the security office. How coincidental that Wu Suowei had shown up.
Last time, he had delivered food with him for a day and gotten two orders. Now that he met him at school, could it be...
Beep beep beep!!
Duan Chen quickly pulled out his detector and pointed it at the teaching building. A colorful glow flickered and soon settled on orange, accompanied by a signal sound—
【Beep ~ Detecting demonic energy.】
【Spiritual Energy Index: B-class】
"Heh, sometimes, you just have to believe in the mystical," Duan Chen shrugged and quickly rushed towards the teaching building.
Ring ring ring~
The bell for class rang.
In Class 10 of Senior Three, the students were diligently studying. Because their homeroom teacher had suddenly disappeared, the class had been turned into a self-study session.
Mi Xue'er was absentmindedly poking her math test paper with her pen cap.
Duan Chen's ex-girlfriend Li Wei is Uncle Zhong's fiancée. After they get married, I'll have to call Li Wei my sister-in-law.
So if Duan Chen and I get together, wouldn't he essentially become his ex-girlfriend's brother-in-law?
Wait, Brother Duan Chen has always been single. Could he still be thinking about Sister-in-law?
They live under the same roof and see each other every day. If they rekindle their old flame...
"Hey! Mi Xue'er, what are you spacing out about?" Her deskmate suddenly nudged her arm.
Suddenly, her deskmate, as if discovering a new continent, grabbed Mi Xue'er's test paper. "Wow! Who is this? So handsome!"
"Our school beauty Mi Xue'er has her first crush!"
It turned out that while Mi Xue'er was daydreaming, she had inexplicably drawn a handsome man in a suit on her test paper.
Mi Xue'er's cheeks flushed crimson. "Give it back to me quickly!"
The commotion alerted the students around Mi Xue'er, and soon, the paper with the drawing was passed around.
In a corner, a boy with a black earring looked up from his book and silently watched Mi Xue'er's back.
"Who did Xue'er draw? It doesn't look like anyone from our class, more like a celebrity."
"I think it looks like Gojo Satoru."
"I think it looks like Zhong Li."
"Maybe it's Zhuge Liang. That skin with the golden ratio, I have it too."
"Xue'er, who exactly did you draw?"
Everyone chimed in with their guesses. Mi Xue'er, blushing, snatched the test paper back and crumpled it into a ball. "None of your business!"
The students burst into laughter.
The boy with the black earring seemed to relax as well. He fiddled with an antique bronze coin in his hand and buried his head in his studies.
Just then, Gao Lele needed to go to the restroom, and Mi Xue'er immediately got up, offering to accompany her, practically fleeing the classroom.
As they walked towards the restroom together, Mi Xue'er suddenly felt a sense of unease, a bad premonition.
She lightly touched the sword-shaped pendant on her chest. This action brought her a little peace of mind.