Renovating the Academy, Repaying All Sides

The morning after the celebration banquet, Shrek Academy's training ground was unusually lively.

Flander had gathered everyone in the center of the training ground. Even several theory instructors who rarely showed themselves had come.

He stood beneath the flagpole with its tattered cloth banner, holding a ledger in one hand. He adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat.

"I called everyone here today to announce something important."

Ma Hongjun yawned. "Dean, what could be so important this early in the morning? Don't tell me you're sending us to the Soul Arena again?"

"No." Flander closed the ledger, his gaze sweeping over everyone present. "Yesterday, you earned a good sum following Yun Tian's lead, and the academy received quite a share as well. I discussed with the other teachers how this money should be spent."

He paused, and a rare, genuine smile appeared on his lips.

"Renovating the academy."

The moment those words came out, everyone froze.

Ma Hongjun's yawn stopped halfway. Oscar rubbed his eyes, suspecting he had not woken up yet. Even Dai Mubai raised a brow and looked around at the rundown surroundings: the crooked fence, the uneven training ground, the single-story buildings that leaked whenever it rained, and the tattered flag that had hung from that pole for three years.

Xiao Wu blinked. "Dean, are you serious?"

"Of course." Zhao Wuji stood nearby with his hands on his hips, grinning. "I've hated this dump for ages. We had no money before, but now that we do, would it make any sense to keep looking this shabby?"

Flander opened the ledger. The expenses had long since been listed inside.

"We'll repave the training ground, replace the fence with a brick wall, repair the dormitory roofs to prevent leaks, replace the classroom windows, and change that rag on the flagpole for a proper academy flag." He paused. "Also, we'll double the size of the cafeteria and hire two real cooks. From now on, three meals a day, with plenty of good food."

The cafeteria expansion excited Ma Hongjun more than everything else combined.

He leaped to his feet on the spot. "Dean, you're my real father!"

"Get lost." Flander laughed and cursed at him. "This won't be finished in a day or two, but we'll try to have everything done within a month."

The renovation work began that very afternoon.

Zhao Wuji personally took people into the city to negotiate prices at construction supply shops. Li Yusong and Shao Xin contacted work crews, while Lu Qibin handled the material inspections.

Yun Tian, Tang San, and the other young, strong students also volunteered to help move things. Bricks, stones, and lumber piled up across the training ground. Saws and axes clanged nonstop, and for the first time, the rundown academy had the vibrant air of a place that was getting better.

After moving bricks all afternoon, Ma Hongjun sat on the steps, panting as he watched the workers stack new bricks one by one. "From now on, we'll be an academy with a proper school wall too..."

"You say that as if we never had one before." Oscar squatted beside him, chewing on a recovery sausage.

"That was a fence before. Even pigs could barge through it. This is a wall now!" Ma Hongjun argued confidently.

Ning Rongrong sauntered over from afar, fanning herself with her little white jade fan. She glanced disdainfully at the mud and dust all over Ma Hongjun. "You're certainly working hard. Don't forget to bathe later."

"Why bathe? A man's sweat is a badge of honor!"

Ning Rongrong rolled her eyes and could not be bothered to answer him.

Besides renovating the academy, Flander did something else.

On the morning of the third day, he led Yun Tian and Tang San out of the academy gates, each of them carrying a sack of gold soul coins on their backs as they headed toward the villages outside Soto City.

Shrek Academy might have been shabby, but its ability to occupy a patch of land beside Soto City and barely survive all these years depended not only on Flander's reputation, but also on the support of the villagers from the surrounding settlements.

The old men who delivered vegetables, the craftsmen who repaired roofs, and the aunts who occasionally came to help with odd jobs were all from nearby villages.

Shrek might have been poor, but it had to acknowledge the favors it owed.

"This money was won by Yun Tian in soul battles. The academy took part of it for renovations, while the rest could have gone straight into our pockets."

Walking at the front, Flander spoke with rare seriousness. "But this academy has lasted until today because of these villagers. Now that we have some extra money, it's time to repay what we owe."

Yun Tian nodded. "It should be."

The three entered the first village.

Several elderly people basking beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance recognized Flander and came up to greet him.

Flander exchanged a few cheerful pleasantries with them before opening the cloth sack and distributing money from house to house.

When they reached Auntie Li's home, Flander gave her several extra coins. He said Uncle Li had helped repair the academy roof when it leaked last year, without taking any payment.

"Brother Flander, what are you doing?" Auntie Li looked at the gold soul coins in her hand, and her eyes immediately reddened. "When we brought vegetables before, we never expected payment..."

"That was then, and this is now." Flander stuffed the money into her hand. "Take it. Buy something nice for the family. Once the academy improves, I'll still buy the vegetables you bring."

Auntie Li gripped the money, her lips trembling several times before she managed to speak. "You, Flander... You're so stingy normally, but when it matters, you don't hesitate at all."

"Of course." Flander answered righteously.

Tang San and Yun Tian followed behind, watching Flander go from household to household, giving money to each one.

The dean who was usually greedy and slippery was exceptionally patient and gentle before the villagers. He knew every household's circumstances: whose family had too little land, whose child was ill, whose wheat harvest had been poor the previous year.

He asked about each matter one by one, always slipping a few extra coins to them when he handed over the money.

The three spent the entire day walking through several villages. By evening, the cloth sacks were empty.

On the road back to the academy, Flander walked ahead humming a tune, his steps far lighter than they had been that morning.

The evening wind swept over the wheat fields by the roadside, and golden waves of grain rose and fell beneath the setting sun.

"Dean." Yun Tian spoke suddenly from behind him. "Did you know all those villagers today?"

"Of course." Flander did not turn around. "The academy has been open for so many years. Which villager from the villages around our gates do I not know? Believe it or not, when the academy was at its poorest, those villagers took turns bringing us rice and vegetables so we wouldn't starve to death. Back then, I couldn't even scrape together a single silver soul coin. We survived entirely on their help."

He paused, and his tone lost some of its usual casualness. "So now that we have a little money, they should be the first to receive a share. People can't forget where they came from."

Tang San had walked in silence the whole way. At that moment, he softly said, "Dean, I learned something from you today."

Flander glanced back at him and smiled. "Stop flattering me. When we get back, tell Ma Hongjun and the others to keep moving bricks tomorrow."

The renovation work continued at a feverish pace.

The surrounding wall grew taller each day. Fresh soil was spread smooth across the training ground. New tiles were laid on the dormitory roofs, and the classroom windows were scrubbed until they shone.

Every evening after work, Ma Hongjun would run to the middle of the training ground and stomp on the newly paved ground, sighing, "We're an academy with a proper training ground now."

The cafeteria expansion was finished the fastest. The cook they hired was a capable middle-aged woman surnamed Sun, and on her first day of cooking, she conquered everyone's stomachs.

Ma Hongjun ate three large bowls of rice, then leaned back in his chair with a hand over his belly. "This life is more comfortable than Heavenly Fragrance Tower."

Watching from afar, Flander stood with his hands behind his back, the corners of his mouth raised so high he could not suppress them.

Half a month later, Shrek Academy had taken on a new look.

The brick walls were neat, the academy gates had been rebuilt, and the sign reading "Shrek Academy" had been replaced with a new one. Though Flander had still carved the words himself, the fresh paint gleamed brightly.

The flagpole on the training ground was replaced with a straight one, and a newly made flag fluttered atop it. On its white background was embroidered a green monster, distinctively ugly, drawn by Ning Rongrong herself.

That evening, everyone stood on the training ground and watched the new flag unfurl in the evening breeze.

Xiao Wu looked up and sighed. "Our academy finally has a respectable flag."

"Who do you think drew it?" Ning Rongrong lifted her chin proudly.

"It's a little ugly, but it has character." Ma Hongjun gave his honest assessment.

Ning Rongrong chased him around half the training ground, trying to hit him.

Yun Tian stood at the back of the crowd, looking at the newly paved training ground, the newly built walls, the new flagpole and flag, and the noisy figures running about beneath the setting sun. The curve of his smile remained from dusk until nightfall.

The academy was still small, but it finally felt like home.