Shrek Academy Recruitment Preparations

Time flew by, and it was once again time for Shrek's annual recruitment.

"Do you think our Academy will be able to recruit any new students this year?"

As he moved chairs, Oscar asked Le Bai, "We've been here for almost eight years, right? So far, there are only four students—me, you, Hongjun, and Boss Dai. There isn't even a single girl. Lately, I've been thinking of going to other academies to meet some girls."

"If you want to go, I won't stop you."

Holding a table in one hand, Le Bai casually spoiled things as usual. "This year, not only will the Academy recruit new students, it'll recruit four of them. And among those four, three will be very pretty girls."

"One would already be nice, let alone four!"

Oscar did not believe him at all. "But seriously, if any pretty girls really get admitted, I'll definitely go after them!"

"What if you like someone, but she doesn't like you?"

Le Bai reminded Oscar, "Look at that beard on your face, paired with those clothes. It wouldn't be strange if people mistook you for an uncle."

"Un—"

Oscar felt like he had choked. "Th-that can't be right... No matter what, I'm the most handsome one in our Academy!"

"That's assuming they can see your face clearly."

Le Bai reminded him again. "First impressions are important. And haven't you noticed that when we train lately, all the girls in the village have their eyes on Boss Dai? Back before you grew that beard, they were all looking at you."

"Tch!"

Oscar rubbed his beard irritably. "Once we're done moving this stuff, I'm going back to shave it off!"

"And change into some new clothes while you're at it. Speaking of which, I've given you new clothes every year for the past few years, yet you never take them out to wear them! Keeping new clothes tucked away won't make them give birth to little new clothes."

Le Bai reminded him a third time. "Look at Boss Dai. He wears new clothes almost every day."

"Does he?"

Oscar tried to recall. "Why do I remember Boss Dai wearing the same outfit for seven or eight days in a row?"

"That's because he has seven or eight identical sets."

Le Bai pointed at his own clothes. "Did you think I'd been wearing this set for nearly half a month too? Don't be stupid. With how much we train, if we don't change for a day, we'll stink. I change every day; the styles are just all the same. Come to think of it, Boss Dai learned it from me. And by the way, Hongjun does the same."

Oscar: "???"

What was wrong with you people? You never told me about something like this? So after all this, I was the only sloppy one?

"I've reminded you many times."

Le Bai said helplessly, "Every time, you said you knew, but in the end, you never actually did it."

"Stop talking!"

Oscar looked deeply regretful. "Once we're done moving all this, I'll go back and change and wash up!"

"That's more like it."

Le Bai nodded. After taking two steps, he asked, "When recruitment begins the day after tomorrow, are you planning to sell Sausages like last year?"

"Uh, yeah. How did you know?"

Oscar complained, "It's not like I can forge Iron and make Soul Tools like you. Right now, I just scrape by on the ten Gold Soul Coins Spirit Hall gives out every month."

"Don't make ten Gold Soul Coins sound like it's so little!"

Le Bai sensed something was off. "What did you spend the monthly subsidy you received on?"

"Well..."

Oscar's gaze began drifting everywhere. "Buying stuff, eating meals... it was pretty much gone after that!"

"O-s-car, my dear classmate~"

Le Bai wore a kindly smile. "Please look into my eyes and say it again. Where did the Gold Soul Coins you collected from Spirit Hall every month go?"

"Ah, I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything!"

Oscar could not stand being questioned under Le Bai's stare. "I gave it to my dad! Every month after getting the money, I kept one Gold Soul Coin and had someone send the rest back to him!"

"Your dad?"

Le Bai asked curiously, "After I started earning money from forging Iron, I had someone take my extra money back to the village for him every month. The money from all these years should have been enough to make him the richest man in the village. Didn't he tell you?"

"Eh..."

Oscar froze. "What did you say?"

Seeing Oscar's expression, Le Bai roughly understood what had happened. He patted Oscar's shoulder with one hand. "Well, he's your dad. It doesn't exactly count as wasting it."

Only after Le Bai had walked more than ten meters away did Oscar's furious roar sound out behind him. "You—stinky—old—man!!"

Meanwhile, in Meat Fragrance Village a thousand miles away, Oscar's father, who was living an extremely comfortable life off the Gold Soul Coins his two sons had people send back every month, suddenly sneezed.

"Dear, what's wrong? Did you catch a cold?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine! It must be the two kids talking about me!"

"They've been gone for years now. Why do they only have people bring you money? Why don't they come back to see you?"

"Exactly! Leaving me all alone, what a lonely old man I am..."

"Dear, you still have me!"

"That's right! You're the best!"

"You're here. Le Bai, just put the table by the entrance. Be careful not to block the way."

Shrek's gate was the first hurdle for enrollment, and Teacher Li Yusong was guarding it this year. "Oscar, put the chair behind the table, and place the other chair to the side."

Le Bai and Oscar arranged the tables and chairs.

"Done."

Oscar clapped his hands. "Le Bai, I'll leave the rest to you. I'm heading back to the dormitory to clean up first!"

"Go on, go on."

Le Bai waved him off. Once Oscar had run far away, he asked Li Yusong, "Teacher Li, did the Dean leave any other instructions?"

"Yes."

After thinking for a moment, Li Yusong pulled a slip of paper from his pocket. "The beds and sheets in our Academy dormitory have gotten old over the past two years. The Dean said we should replace them with better ones this year, but we don't have enough money, so he asked Rose Hotel in Suotuo City for some secondhand goods they had phased out. Even those are better than what we use now. I was originally planning to have Mu Bai make the trip, but since you asked, I'll leave it to you."

Just as Le Bai reached out to take the list, Dai Mubai arrived. "Teacher Li, sorry to keep you waiting! Oh, Le Bai is here too!"

"Mu Bai, you're here!"

Li Yusong looked from Dai Mubai to Le Bai. "How about you two go together?"

"No need, Teacher Li!"

Dai Mubai immediately understood the situation and patted his chest. "It's such a small matter, I can handle it! Didn't we agree from the start that I would go?"

"Boss Dai, it's fine."

Le Bai said with a smile, "I happen to have something to do in Suotuo City, so we can go together."

"Alright."

Dai Mubai did not refuse again. "Since you say so. Do you know the exact location of Rose Hotel? I've never been there, so I'm not familiar with it."

"Wait a moment, I vaguely remember."

Le Bai briefly went over his memories. "I remember now. It's a couples' hotel, and it's quite famous in Suotuo City. I heard its facilities are very good. They probably replace things like sheets frequently. Thinking about it that way, it isn't hard to understand why the Dean asked them for secondhand goods."

Dai Mubai's expression stiffened. "Le Bai, once we get there, maybe the two of us shouldn't go inside together?"

Le Bai nodded. "I was just thinking the same thing."