Cheng Quandao was utterly dejected.
Everything that day had been so cruel to him. He had already planned how to "teach a lesson" to Vaughan Weasley, that British bastard with his smoke and mirrors, but the moment he saw the fog blanketing the sky, that tiny spark of unrealistic ambition vanished.
The irony was especially bitter: yesterday, he had been bristling with aggression, yet now a setback had frightened him into such a panic that he had not even noticed Vaughan Weasley had used magic to pose a test-and make a declaration.
For a wizard, especially a Chinese wizard just beginning to encounter international magical society, who needed above all to observe carefully and proceed cautiously, this was utterly unacceptable.
The fog was drifting right before my eyes. I even breathed it in. Why didn't I notice the trick hidden inside it?
Cheng Quandao took a deep breath of the cold, damp, moisture-laden fog and brooded.
Of course he knew why. Jealousy had blinded him, and shortsightedness had indulged his arrogance.
The realization made his cheeks burn.
Beside him, Li Nanyu, who had offered neither judgment nor a lecture until now, finally spoke. "Have you seen the gap between yourself and Weasley? I don't mean in magic. It may sound a little cruel, but I never expected your magic to match his in the first place-I told you long ago to read more of his papers. Otherwise, you would never understand how far he has traveled down the path of magic."
Had his teacher "belittled" him like this yesterday, Cheng Quandao would certainly have argued his case. Now, however, he merely hung his head without a word.
As though he had not noticed his student's dejection, Li Nanyu continued, "The gap I wanted you to see was in your mindset