Chapter 45: Poaching in Front of My Face
“Jiang Ning,” Zhou Yuanshan opened his mouth, his tone neither happy nor angry.
“It’s me,” Jiang Ning quickly replied.
“Tell me, how did you do it?” he sighed.
“I was trying to test my ability here, but I didn’t expect to lose control,” Jiang Ning explained.
“If you want to test, go to the ability training room to test. The school has clear regulations. Didn’t you read them?” Zhou Yuanshan frowned. “If everyone is like you, casually testing their abilities in the school, then our school would have been destroyed by you long ago.”
Jiang Ning silently raised her hand and interrupted, “Excuse me, teacher, where can I find the school rules?”
From enrollment to now, the only material she had was a notice, but besides the admission information, there was nothing else on the notice.
“Didn’t you receive the ‘Semir Student Code of Conduct’?”
“No,” Jiang Ning shook her head.
Jiang Ning’s righteous reply made Zhou Yuanshan choke. He turned his head. “Teacher Fang Li, would you like to explain?”
Fang Li was the teacher who had handled the enrollment for her and Xia Shi that day.
“I just forgot,” Fang Li said with a sheepish smile.
“There are only two people in our department, and you can still forget?” Zhou Yuanshan held his forehead.
Fang Li waved her hand. “I’ll just make it up later.”
While Fang Li and Zhou Yuanshan were bickering, the fire-type teacher was circling around Jiang Ning.
“Your ability should be plant-based. How did it get involved with fire?” Feng Yanzi felt that this student was a bit interesting.
Jiang Ning turned sideways to let the few of them see her chili tree clearly. She released her psychic energy, trying to recreate the scene for them.
Under the nourishment of her psychic energy, the second chili pepper also gradually matured.
Jiang Ning picked it from the tree. In a short while, the scorching temperature in her palm made her unable to bear it again. This time, she aimed for a direction and, just before it exploded, threw the white-smoking chili pepper into the middle of the lake.
‘Bang—’
A sound came from the surface of the lake, and water splashed up from the lake where the chili pepper had sunk.
Feng Yanzi raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes.
“The power is quite great,” Feng Yanzi said. “But your ability has a bit of a flaw.”
Feng Yanzi crossed one arm and held her chin with the other, as if she were seriously thinking. “How about this, you transfer to our fire elemental power department, and I’ll take a serious look for you.”
“Poaching in front of my face?” Zhou Yuanshan kicked Feng Yanzi away and stared at her, gritting his teeth. “Do you really think our plant department has no one?”
Her abacus was clattering loudly.
Sigh.
Zhou Yuanshan silently glanced at Fang Li.
It was lamentable that he was now facing internal and external troubles. His teammate was useless, and even his only two students were being coveted.
Zhou Yuanshan suddenly recalled that day when the principal had told him about restarting the plant department, saying that Semir Academy could not continue to decline like this. All majors had to develop in a balanced way, and they were planning to let Semir return to its peak.
Thinking about it now, it would be difficult for the principal’s wish to be realized.
Hearing his words, Feng Yanzi did not get angry but laughed instead. “If you hadn’t said it, I would have really thought the plant department had no one.”
“Get lost, get lost. Go back to your fire department quickly. Don’t affect my teaching,” Zhou Yuanshan said with a blank expression.
“Heh, if I hadn’t helped put out the fire just now, your plant department’s building would have been burned down long ago. What? You’re just going to throw me away after using me?” Feng Yanzi’s eyes narrowed.
“Zhou Yuanshan, are you that heartless?”
“It’s not the first day you’ve known me,” Zhou Yuanshan glanced at her.
Jiang Ning silently ate her melon on the side. She keenly smelled the subtle emotions between the two.
She hadn’t expected that the next second, Feng Yanzi would turn directly to her.
Feng Yanzi patted Jiang Ning’s shoulder. “Classmate, if you can’t stay in the plant department, you can come to the fire department to find me anytime.”
“Hurry up and go,” Zhou Yuanshan made a move to invite her to leave.
Feng Yanzi slipped away and flew off in a flash.
“That person just now was…” Jiang Ning’s gaze turned back from Feng Yanzi’s back.
“Feng Yanzi, a teacher from the fire department. Stay away from her in the future,” Zhou Yuanshan said.
“Okay,” Jiang Ning nodded.
Teacher Feng’s behavior and temperament were very flamboyant, and her enthusiasm was a bit excessive.
“Teacher Fang Li, please call classmate Xia Shi over as well. By the way, send the electronic version of the ‘Student Code of Conduct’ to the two of them first,” Zhou Yuanshan said to Fang Li.
The faculty of the plant department was not like other academies. Not only were there only two students, but there were also only two teachers.
Fang Li and Zhou Yuanshan, one was responsible for the department’s administration, and the other was responsible for daily teaching. Their division of labor was clear.
“Okay,” Fang Li replied. She opened her Star Brain, first sent two copies of the code of conduct to Jiang Ning and Xia Shi respectively, then controlled her perception and, like Feng Yanzi, flew to Xia Shi’s dormitory at an incredible speed.
In less than ten minutes, Fang Li brought Xia Shi over.
“Yo! Who did this good deed? They actually dealt with all the weeds,” Xia Shi said in shock as soon as he arrived, looking at the large empty space at the entrance of the plant department.
He saw two gazes staring at Jiang Ning in unison.
Jiang Ning: “…”
Fang Li: “That’s good too. It saves a lot of cleaning fees.”
“Alright, you two, come with me,” Zhou Yuanshan said. “I’ll take you two to get familiar with the academy’s environment first. When the class schedule is out, we will officially start classes.”
Almost every academy today had arranged an ice-breaking session between teachers and students.
Zhou Yuanshan had not planned to rush the ice-breaking today.
But due to the unexpected event, he could only adapt.
“My name is Zhou Yuanshan. For the next four years, I will be responsible for your teaching,” Zhou Yuanshan paused. He emphasized, “Me alone.”
“In addition, this is Teacher Fang Li,” he turned slightly to the side and introduced Fang Li.
Fang Li smiled and greeted the two of them, “Hello.”
“For all matters other than teaching, you can find Teacher Fang Li,” Zhou Yuanshan said.
Zhou Yuanshan continued to walk inside.
“Our plant department has a total of five teaching areas, corresponding to the different attributes of plants. Healing, attack, defense, control, and purely ornamental or purely practical,” Zhou Yuanshan led the two of them through the five rooms.
“Wait?” Xia Shi raised his hand. “Isn’t the plant department just about summoning plants? Either ornamental plants or practical plants.”
He had understood the last one, but he was completely at a loss about the first four.
“Indeed, after years of development, in the current teaching system, the plant department only has the last category left. But in the earliest plant department system, the classification was diverse, and it was not the bottom-tier ability that people think it is now,” Zhou Yuanshan explained.
He looked at Jiang Ning. “Like the chili pepper you just summoned, it belongs to the attack category.”
Jiang Ning had been studying her ability all along. Now, the more she listened to Zhou Yuanshan’s introduction, the clearer her thoughts became.
It turned out that it wasn’t that her ability had a problem, but that in the long river of history, there had been a gap in the information about the plant department, which led to most people not knowing what was going on.
And now, Semir Academy still retained the old-fashioned teaching method. She had also stumbled upon the right major by mistake.
“In the future teaching, I will teach you how to control and use these abilities,” he said.
Zhou Yuanshan led the two of them on a rough tour of the plant department building. It was already noon when they returned to the entrance. He said, “That’s it for today. You can go back now.”
The two bid farewell to Zhou Yuanshan and Fang Li and prepared to go to the school cafeteria.
Along the way, the two of them were discussing what to eat.
The food in the first cafeteria was the cheapest, but the taste was terrible. The second cafeteria had regional specialties. Only the third cafeteria had a better taste, but the price was a bit more expensive.
However, none of them who were in the plant business in the interstellar space were poor.
Jiang Ning and Xia Shi reached an agreement and prepared to go to the third cafeteria to eat.
It just so happened that Simon had also finished class. Jiang Ning took the opportunity to call her.
【Working Hard Today Too: You guys go ahead. I’ll eat at the first cafeteria.】
She didn’t have much living expenses, and she had given a part of it to Jiang Ning to rent a room, so she had even less money on hand.
So she could only be frugal.
Simon planned to find a part-time job near the school in two days.
【Little Jiang Loves Farming: My treat.】
Simon still refused.
In the end, she couldn’t resist Jiang Ning’s soft persuasion and agreed.
The school cafeteria used a card-charging system. Jiang Ning directly deposited ten thousand star coins into it.
Like a hungry ghost entering a city, she ordered a large pile of dishes.
After paying the bill, she handed the meal card to Simon, signaling for her to order whatever she wanted.
Simon only ordered a little.
Although it was Jiang Ning’s treat, she was still embarrassed to order too much.
“You’re only eating this little?” Jiang Ning looked at Simon’s bowl in surprise.
Simon rubbed her nose. “I have a small appetite.”
“You’re still in the growing stage. You should eat more,” Jiang Ning said, giving her a portion of the dishes in her bowl.
The two of them were both around eighteen years old, but Simon looked very petite sitting next to her.
“Thank you…” Simon didn’t know what to say.
During the entire meal, Jiang Ning noticed that Simon’s mood had been low. She asked, “Is something bothering you?”
“During class today, our teacher said that there will be a new student ability competition for the entire academy in a month. The competition will use an elimination format. The top ten from each academy who remain will also represent the school in the annual Federation Ability Competition,” Simon said.
“Top ten?” Xia Shi said in surprise. “Then isn’t our plant department a sure win? There are only two of us.”
Simon: “Um, your plant department doesn’t seem to be on the list of departments for the new student ability competition.”
Xia Shi: “…”
Damn it!
“So you’re worried about this?” Jiang Ning raised an eyebrow.
“Yes,” Simon nodded. “The new student ability competition represents the honor of each academy. With my ability, I’m afraid I’ll bring shame to our psychic department.”
“Your ability is?” Jiang Ning asked.
Simon had only said that her ability belonged to the psychic department, but she had not revealed what it was specifically.
“Illusion.”
“Illusion!?” Xia Shi said in surprise.
Jiang Ning was also a little surprised. She looked at Simon with suspicion. “Are you sure you’re not humble-bragging?”
Her ability was to create illusions, and she still thought it was shameful?
Below A-rank, she could basically walk sideways.
Simon was afraid that the two would misunderstand. “No, there are many S-rank ability users among the new students this year, and even SS-rank and SSS-rank geniuses. My rank is not enough to be seen.”
“And, my ability is not as powerful as it sounds. It’s not always effective and very unstable.”
Hearing her words, Jiang Ning suddenly felt a sense of camaraderie. Her ability was also very unstable.
She comforted Simon, “It’s okay. There’s still a month until the new student ability competition. With the guidance of the teachers at Semir Academy, I believe you can definitely master how to use it.”
She was saying this to Simon, but also to herself.