Boss, Please Take Me In!

Only when Chen Fan's figure had vanished completely at the end of the alley did the invisible pressure dissipate.

A muffled sob broke the deathly silence.

Li Wei and the other lackeys jolted as if they had just been pulled from icy water, waking as though from a dream.

They scrambled seven or eight meters down the alley and crowded around Zhao Jie, who lay curled up on the ground.

"J-Jie, are you okay?"

Li Wei's voice trembled, and an unprecedented fear filled his eyes.

He had seen it most clearly: Chen Fan's punch had been light and seemingly effortless, barely stirring the air, yet Zhao Jie had reacted as though he had been hit by a charging iron-armored rhinoceros.

Zhao Jie did not answer.

The excruciating pain in his chest and the pride crushed by a single blow finally broke through his last psychological defense as king of the kids.

"Waaah!"

A loud wail erupted without warning.

Zhao Jie, the boy whose word was law in Grade Four Class One, lay on the ground without a care for appearances, tears and snot streaming down his face as he cried like a three-year-old.

There was pain and grievance in his cries, but more than that, there was bewilderment and despair.

He was still only a nine-year-old child, after all. Faced with something like this, crying was the most genuine response.

Li Wei and the others looked at one another, at a loss.

They had never seen Zhao Jie like this before.

Chen Fan knew nothing of the farce in the alley, nor did he care.

The clash, which in his eyes had not even counted as a warm-up, had not left so much as a ripple in his heart.

After he returned to the old house and ate dinner with his grandfather, Chen Ping, the old man looked at his grandson's calm face, and some of his worries finally eased.

Chen Fan plunged into his room and shut the door. The whole world then contained only him and the blood and qi surging ceaselessly through his body.

Cultivation.

The pure joy brought by every tiny increase in strength was far more interesting than dealing with a bunch of little brats' childish tricks.

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, when Chen Fan stepped into the Grade Four Class One classroom once more, he keenly sensed that the atmosphere was a little strange.

The entire classroom was silent; not even a sparrow could be heard.

Everyone's gaze converged on him at once, like iron filings drawn to a magnet.

But this time, instead of jealousy and scrutiny, their looks held awe, curiosity, and a trace of fear they could not hide.

As he passed, the students ahead of him instinctively stepped aside, making a path for him.

Chen Fan paid it no mind. He walked straight to his seat and sat down, ready to close his eyes and begin cultivating as usual.

But a figure timidly shuffled over and stopped beside his desk.

It was Zhao Jie.

His eyes were red and swollen, like two ripe peaches. He had clearly been crying for a long time, and his face showed a trace of awkwardness and unease.

At that moment, the entire class held its breath.

Was he going to...

Come back for revenge?

But under everyone's astonished gazes, Zhao Jie took a deep breath and abruptly bent at the waist before the calmly seated Chen Fan, bowing a full ninety degrees.

"I'm sorry! I was wrong yesterday!"

His voice was loud and full of determination, echoing through the quiet classroom.

The shout left everyone dumbfounded.

Before Chen Fan could react, Zhao Jie suddenly raised his head. His red, swollen eyes now shone with a mixture of admiration, earnestness, and even a hint of fervor.

"Starting today, I... I want to follow you!"

He gathered his courage and announced it loudly once more.

"You're my boss now!"

"Huh?"

This time, it was not just the other students—even Chen Fan's face, usually as undisturbed as an ancient well, showed a rare trace of astonishment.

Boss?

Seeing the puzzled look in Chen Fan's eyes, Zhao Jie thought he did not believe him, and his face flushed red with anxiety.

He hurriedly explained, "That's how it always happens in the storybooks my dad buys me!"

"Real heroes always get to know each other through a fight! If you lose, you have to acknowledge the other guy as your boss! That way... that way you can learn even better skills!"

"I thought about it all night after I went home yesterday. You must be some peerless prodigy from a hidden sect, out gaining experience, just like in the novels! That punch of yours was amazing!"

"Boss, please take me in!"

Listening to this speech, full of a child's innocent logic, Chen Fan was utterly stunned.

With the soul of an adult inside him, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

The way children thought really was...

Unusual.

Looking at Zhao Jie's utterly serious face, Chen Fan's expression was finally replaced by the faintest smile.

The kid's logic had made him laugh.

He neither agreed nor refused. He merely shook his head gently, as though looking at an interesting object.

"This young man..."

Then Chen Fan shook his head and paid no further attention to the expectant Zhao Jie. He closed his eyes, bent his legs slightly, and assumed the standard opening position of the Five Elements Stance.

Vast blood and qi once more began to circulate slowly through his body.

Cultivation was what mattered.

Left standing to one side, Zhao Jie watched Chen Fan enter a state of cultivation in an instant and pay him no attention. Far from being discouraged, his eyes grew even brighter.

Look!

That's the bearing of a master! His mind is free of distractions, unmoved by outside things!

Boss is... giving his silent approval!

Zhao Jie had found the perfect explanation for himself. He immediately puffed out his chest like a victorious general, turned, walked to the empty seat beside Chen Fan, and plopped down.

Copying Chen Fan, he too assumed the Five Elements Stance, his expression more focused than ever.

From today on, I'm Boss's number one lackey!

From that day on, the whole character of Grade Four Class One became exceedingly strange.

Zhao Jie became Chen Fan's constant shadow.

When Chen Fan cultivated, Zhao Jie stood guard beside him, letting no one disturb him.

When Chen Fan went to eat, Zhao Jie ran ahead to save him a seat.

He even wanted to give Chen Fan the blood-and-qi potions handed out to him, only giving up reluctantly after Chen Fan shot him an indifferent look.

Chen Fan, meanwhile, was completely immersed in the joy of his rapidly increasing strength and paid no attention to the changes around him. At first, he had not thought much of this self-proclaimed lackey, believing the other boy's enthusiasm was only temporary.

But as time went on, Zhao Jie seemed to truly regard him as his boss, and Chen Fan actually grew accustomed to it.

In this peculiar atmosphere, half a month slipped quietly by in the blink of an eye.

That day, during Martial Dao class.

The homeroom teacher, Wang Zhen, walked into the classroom with a solemn expression and clapped his hands.

"Everyone, stop!"

His low shout made all the students who were cultivating immediately stop and straighten up.

Wang Zhen's sharp gaze slowly swept across the room before finally settling on the boy who, even in a crowd, still radiated a distinctive aura.

His gaze was filled with unconcealed fervor and anticipation.

"Today, there'll be no fist practice and no stance training."

Wang Zhen's voice was deep and powerful, reaching everyone's ears clearly.

"I'm going to check your cultivation progress over the past half month!"