Qian Yuhan: My Air Force? Haters Gonna Hate!

No wonder your Bright Capital Soul Engineer Academy, as a top-tier institution of the Sun Moon Empire, can maintain a success rate that defies the norm and leaves others in the dust, despite having far fewer applicants than schools of the same caliber!

With the perseverance and resilience to wake up at four in the morning and engage in a life-or-death struggle with breakfast in the cafeteria, you people would succeed at anything you set your minds to.

At this moment, Xu Yan had completely abandoned his plan to find a way to make Qian Yuhan change his application.

Only one thought remained in his mind: he must absolutely not let Qian Yuhan come to the Bright Capital Soul Engineer Academy!

What if this future Guardian Douluo ended up eating himself to death in a cafeteria that felt more like a construction material market?

Wouldn't he become the greatest sinner in the thousands of years of the Sun Moon Empire?

He would be cast into a metal statue by the old Emperor, forced to kneel in the ancestral temple courtyard, and slapped in the face by every generation of the royal descendants in turn!

Likewise, Li Huaimin would likely never forget the scene he witnessed in the cafeteria that day:

After a bun with a hardness approaching concrete made a hissing sound upon contact with the porridge, two hot tears streamed from the corners of Xu Yan's melancholy peach-blossom eyes.

He thought that he might never forget those melancholy eyes of Xu Yan...

But then again, tears aside, why was he stuffing steamed buns into his pockets?

Taking leftovers to go?

Was his house under renovation, and he needed to bring this stuff home as building material?

"Don't worry, I will definitely do my best to help you solve your problems!"

Having said that, Xu Yan bolted as if afraid Li Huaimin would make him finish his meal before leaving, leaving Li Huaimin sitting there dumbfounded, lost in a brainstorm:

What problem is he going to help us solve?

It wouldn't be asking His Majesty for funding to renovate our academy and overhaul the cafeteria, would it!

While funding is a good thing, for us right now, the most important thing is to make sure that little grandmother Xu Tianzhen and that group of second-generation heirs aren't sent to our school to ruin the atmosphere!

Marquis of Xiyang Mansion.

Qian Yuhan, who lived with extreme self-discipline, had already finished his evening cultivation and was practicing swordplay alone in the courtyard of Xu Yan's residence, while near the pond not far from him.

The Rakshasa Phantom had scavenged some scrap material from who knows where to fashion a beggar-tier fishing rod, stealthily targeting the fat koi in Xu Yan's pond that were so plump they no longer looked like fish.

"Hoo—"

Exhaling a breath of stale air from his throat, Qian Yuhan put away the practice sword, which was forged from heavy metal and possessed a truly impressive weight, and looked up at the wide-open balcony door of Xu Yan's room, seemingly curious as to why Xu Yan was playing a game of mysterious disappearance for no reason.

'Finished practicing?', the Rakshasa Phantom tilted his head to glance at Qian Yuhan, keeping his gaze fixed on the motionless float on the water's surface, and muttered: 'It's truly hellish, how are the fish in this pond even craftier than those in the wild, they just won't take the bait!'

Qian Yuhan walked slowly to the side of the Rakshasa Phantom and said in a deep voice, "There is an automatic feeder by the edge of this pond. Do you really think those fish will care about the half-worm on your hook after they've already eaten their fill?"

'Tch, boring! Since you're free, I'm going to rest.', the Rakshasa Phantom rolled his eyes, brushed the non-existent dust off his backside, and turned to vanish into the shadow beneath Qian Yuhan's feet.

Taking the fishing rod the Rakshasa Phantom had tossed to him, Qian Yuhan sighed helplessly. Just as he intended to put the rod away, he heard a sharp, explosive cry from behind him:

"Ah!! What are you doing! The fish I keep in my pond are koi, not food fish! Koi are for looking at! Not for catching!"

Xu Yan, who loved his fish like his own life, rushed to Qian Yuhan's side like a tornado. Just as he was about to say something, he looked down and saw the empty fish basket at Qian Yuhan's feet.

Good grief, with the density of koi in my pond, you couldn't even catch a single one? So, you usually keep a low profile, but you're actually a veteran of the "empty-net" club?

Well, what else can I say!

Go ahead and fish if you want!

You won't catch anything anyway, hahahahaha.

Feeling that he had finally found one of the few flaws in the peerless genius Qian Yuhan, Xu Yan felt inexplicably balanced in his heart. He had only just begun to rejoice when, in the next second, he saw the hook Qian Yuhan cast out drag his favorite fat fish directly out of the water and toss it into his arms.

Yes, not fishing, but directly snagging the hook onto the fish and dragging it out of the water to throw it at him.

"Hmph!", Qian Yuhan gave a light snort, turned to put away the fishing rod, and raised his eyebrows in an expression that said: 'Talk now, hater.'

Qian Yuhan: "?", Hmph, when This Seat went fishing by the sea with the first Sea God, your ancestors didn't even know where to play with mud!

"No~~! My Flower-Flower!"

Heartbrokenly returning his favorite precious koi to the water, Xu Yan suppressed the urge to hit someone with the steamed bun in his pocket—which could theoretically shatter the skull of a soul beast—and gritted his teeth:

"You probably haven't had breakfast yet! Let's go, I'll take you out to eat."

"Fine."

Upholding the principle of 'don't initiate, don't refuse' taught to him by the Rakshasa Phantom, Qian Yuhan nodded and agreed to Xu Yan's proposal, even though he wasn't hungry.

On the way, Xu Yan lamented over his precious koi while discussing the day's itinerary with Qian Yuhan, striving for a win-win situation.

"After we eat, I'll take you to the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy in the morning to get familiar with the environment, and then we'll go to the Princess Mansion in the afternoon."

"Fine."

Seemingly afraid that Qian Yuhan wouldn't react, Xu Yan added a very thoughtful remark:

"I originally wanted to take you to the Princess Mansion in the morning and visit the academy in the afternoon, but my princess usually sleeps until noon."

At this moment, Xu Yan had transformed into a gambler, going all-in!

He was betting that Qian Yuhan's precocious personality would lead him to habitually ask a question, and then, he could use his own wit to steer the topic off-course, thereby getting Qian Yuhan to step in and persuade Xu Tianzhen, hopefully changing the little princess's temperament—and ideally, her choice of school as well.

Qian Yuhan slowly formed a question mark above his head: "?"

Why are you telling me this? Do I look like the kind of person bored enough to care about someone else's daily routine?

However, thinking about it again, if we tour the academy in the morning and pay a visit to that princess in the afternoon, wouldn't that mean spending half the afternoon escorting the princess around the academy?

At this thought, Qian Yuhan finally fell straight into the verbal trap Xu Yan had long since laid, and he said: "Does that mean I have to tour the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy all over again in the afternoon?!"

Aha! You asked, you finally asked!

Hahahaha, you finally took the bait!

Suppressing the wild joy in his heart, Xu Yan laughed maniacally to himself, yet on the surface, he maintained that same calm and collected expression. Xu Yan shook his head and said:

"Not at all, not at all. The place we are visiting this afternoon is not the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, but the Bright Capital Soul Engineer Academy!"