At Huo Yuhao's words, everyone from Shrek was surprised—even Bei Bei and Tang Ya.
Everyone knew that ever since the Heavenly Screen exposed Zhou Yi's harsh treatment of her students, her reputation had become practically rotten.
Even her husband, Fan Yu, had pressured her to resign quickly so she wouldn't drag him into it.
The students across the continent whom she had bullied and expelled, along with the Shrek students she had taught in previous years, had almost nothing good to say about her.
The people from Shrek had assumed that Huo Yuhao, who had stood up to Zhou Yi for his classmates on the Heavenly Screen and was ultimately forced to switch classes, must have hated her.
Yet when they mentioned that Zhou Yi had been fired, he had actually defended her?
Their first thought was: Was Huo Yuhao just saying that to be polite? Or was he too embarrassed to take pleasure in a teacher's dismissal, so he was simply brushing them off?
But when they met Huo Yuhao's clear, bright eyes, all they saw was sincerity shining within them.
Apart from Bei Bei and Tang Ya, everyone present was a high-ranking official of Shrek Academy or a city lord. They believed a child couldn't hide his true feelings from them.
So the boy had meant every word!
At that moment, they couldn't help feeling a little ashamed.
That was right. Yuhao was such a good boy. The Heavenly Screen alone had shown his kindness and gentleness.
It was perfectly reasonable for such a good child to not want someone punished for something they hadn't yet done. And yet they, the adults with their complicated thoughts, had doubted his sincerity. They really shouldn't have done that!
After reflecting on themselves, the people from Shrek felt no anger toward Huo Yuhao for disagreeing with them. If anything, they liked him even more.
After all, who didn't like a good person? Even bad people wanted good people around them.
Unless those good people harmed their interests.
And Huo Yuhao clearly wouldn't harm their interests. On the contrary, he might even bring endless benefits to them and the academy!
As for Huo Yuhao himself...
To be honest, he wasn't putting on an act. On the contrary, he thought Zhou Yi was a truly unusual person.
What made her unusual was that she could do bad things with good results!
In the original story, Xuan Zi had said that since the founding of Shrek Inner Court, nearly a thousand Inner Court graduates had passed through its ranks. They were the ones who truly counted as Shrek people.
At first glance, there was nothing wrong with that. It showed that Shrek Academy upheld high standards and strict requirements.
But if you thought about it carefully, you'd realize something terrifying!
At its peak, the Inner Court had fewer than a hundred students. Supposedly, that was because Shrek's Surveillance Missions were dangerous, and many Inner Court students died carrying them out.
Shrek Academy had existed for ten thousand years. Even if only one student from Shrek Outer Court entered the Inner Court each year, that would make ten thousand Inner Court students in total!
And yet nearly a thousand had graduated.
What a terrifying death rate?!
From that perspective, Shrek City Academy really did throw itself into the fray whenever trouble came! No wonder they were always talking about Shrek's Glory.
With a death rate like that, anyone without faith, a fanatic's zeal, and a spirit of sacrifice wouldn't dare enter the treasure land that was Shrek Inner Court.
Everyone who made it in was among the continent's top talents. Then, after one deadly mission after another weeded them out, those left behind were mostly fanatics utterly devoted to Shrek.
From that perspective, Shrek Academy was more like a religious sect than Spirit Hall had been ten thousand years ago. The only difference was that this sect didn't worship a god, but the so-called Shrek's Glory.
Setting that aside, just looking at the Inner Court's death rate, Zhou Yi's habit of expelling students might actually have saved their lives!
Take Tang Ling, the god incarnate from the original story. If Zhou Yi hadn't expelled him for failing to run a hundred laps, who knew whether he would have died on some Surveillance Mission after entering Shrek Inner Court?
So, from another angle, Zhou Yi's actions had successfully preserved quite a few geniuses for the Douluo Continent.
That hadn't been her intention, of course. She was simply hot-tempered.
In Huo Yuhao's view, Zhou Yi was easy to understand. She had a domineering, self-centered personality. It wasn't even like some fanfiction novels claimed, that she expelled students to improve the academy's advancement rate.
After all, in the original story, because of Dai Huabin's attitude, she had been perfectly willing to send Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu packing to another class.
And if the New Student Assessment had already ended and Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu hadn't been Core Disciples, she probably wouldn't have merely sent them to another class—she would have expelled them outright.
She was absolutely capable of that!
Huo Yuhao also knew that with the Heavenly Screen around, Shrek definitely wouldn't put him in Zhou Yi's class. Since he had no personal stake in the matter, he didn't feel much negativity toward her.
He even felt like laughing when he thought of Tang Ling, whom Zhou Yi had expelled.
Of course, Huo Yuhao wouldn't say any of these thoughts aloud. So, in the eyes of Shrek's high-ranking officials, his stance was that of a kind young man standing up for justice.
However, after Mu En smiled with relief, he gently explained, not wanting Huo Yuhao to hold any resentment:
"Actually, the things shown on the Heavenly Screen aren't the only problem with Zhou Yi. She's done similar things before."
"And with so many people across the continent watching what happened on the Heavenly Screen, the new students certainly won't want her as their teacher. That's why we made this decision."
"Child, not everyone can think about things as rationally as you do."
Huo Yuhao nodded. "I understand, Old Mu."
Mu En smiled faintly. "All right. We won't keep you children any longer. Yuhao, have Bei Bei take you to register. We've already arranged a place for you to stay, so you can settle in and study here."
Mu En added pointedly, "Your circumstances are special, so you won't need to stay in the dormitory. The place the academy has arranged for you is quite spacious. Your mother can live there with you when she comes. The academy is very safe."
"Thank you, Old Mu, and thank you, teachers!" Huo Yuhao thanked them politely, then left with Bei Bei and Tang Ya.
This time, the positions of the three had changed subtly.
During the several days they had traveled together, Tang Ya had always walked in the middle, with Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei on either side of her.
But now Huo Yuhao was the one walking in the middle, like a thick wall separating Tang Ya and Bei Bei.
Bei Bei didn't notice that Tang Ya was no longer beside him. Cheerfully, he led Huo Yuhao to register.
Huo Yuhao had noticed, but after glancing at Bei Bei, he said nothing.
They hadn't known each other for very long, and the original story contained some contradictions, so he couldn't yet make an accurate judgment about Bei Bei's situation.
Although, based on the few days they'd spent together, Bei Bei seemed like a decent person, Huo Yuhao had no intention of actively bringing the two of them together.
That was because, when he read novels, what he hated most was the protagonist actively matchmaking other people.
And what he hated even more was when the protagonist was single and went around matchmaking others, even helping them build harems, then stood off to the side feeling touched by his own selflessness.
Before you continue