Zhou Yi Was Murdered!

Uncle Chen set the stacked plates on the small cart beside him, turned around, and smiled with simple honesty. "Didn't you know? I'm your personal chef now."

Tang Wulin's hand holding the cup paused. He blinked. "...Personal chef? Since when did Shrek Academy have a rule like that?"

"It didn't originally." Uncle Chen rubbed his hands together and explained with a chuckle, "Isn't it because you eat too much? One meal for you is enough for dozens of people. After discussing it, the academy decided that rather than having you take up a long table in the Outer Court cafeteria every day, they might as well transfer me to the Inner Court to handle your three meals a day. They even gave me a raise. They said as long as I made sure you ate your fill and ate well every meal, I didn't need to worry about anything else."

Tang Wulin stood there holding his cup for quite a while before lowering his head to look at the gently rippling water inside. The corner of his mouth twitched.

Good grief, eating a lot came with benefits like this?

He set down his cup and nodded to Uncle Chen. "All right, then I'll have to trouble you from now on, Uncle Chen."

Uncle Chen waved it off. "Not a trouble at all. Being able to eat is a blessing. The biggest eater I've ever seen is Elder Xuan, but compared to you, even Elder Xuan's appetite seems refined."

Tang Wulin gave a dry cough, declined to respond, rose to put his stool away, said, "I'm leaving," to Uncle Chen, then lifted the curtain and left the cafeteria.

The sky outside had already gone completely dark. Dim yellow soul-conduit streetlamps shone along both sides of the Inner Court's bluestone paths, their soft halos spilling across the road and outlining the flowerbeds and low shrubs in fuzzy shapes. The night breeze blew in from Sea God Lake, carrying the damp scent unique to aquatic plants and brushing his face with a cool chill.

Tang Wulin followed the streetlamps all the way to the academy gates. From afar, he saw Yan Shaozhe standing before the tall iron gates, holding a list as he quietly discussed something with several Academic Affairs Office assistants.

Outside the gates, the crowd that had begun gathering that afternoon had not entirely dispersed. Commoners and children of minor clans sat or stood in small groups on the open ground, clutching their yellowed expulsion notices and gazing eagerly toward the academy.

When Yan Shaozhe saw Tang Wulin approaching, he immediately straightened up. Before even setting down the list in his hand, he called out, "Little Tang, you came at just the right time. We're counting the students who came with Zhou Yi's expulsion notices. There are already more than twenty. However, some only brought notices from years ago and are already too old to meet the Outer Court's new student admission standards. How do you think we should handle them?"

Before Tang Wulin could answer, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded behind him. A disciple in an Inner Court uniform came running from the administration building, panting and visibly flustered. Before he could even steady himself before Yan Shaozhe, he shouted, "Dean Yan! Something terrible has happened! Zhou Yi... Zhou Yi was murdered!"

The instant those words fell, several people talking quietly together inside and outside the academy gates fell silent.

The list in Yan Shaozhe's hand snapped shut.

Tang Wulin frowned and strode over to the Inner Court disciple. He lightly pressed a hand against the man's shoulder, his voice low and steady. "Repeat what you just said."

The disciple seemed to calm slightly under his touch. After taking a deep breath, he finally managed to speak clearly. "Zhou Yi, that Teacher Zhou who was expelled, was found... murdered tonight in the small courtyard she rented in the western part of the city. Our people just arrived at the scene, but she had been dead for quite some time."

Tang Wulin did not speak immediately.

He removed his hand from the disciple's shoulder, turned around, and looked through the gaps in the iron gates at the faint outline of the city walls in the distance beneath the night sky.

Yan Shaozhe's expression darkened as well. He stepped forward and stood beside Tang Wulin, lowering his voice. "This matter... may be difficult to handle. Although Zhou Yi had her cultivation crippled and was expelled, she was still once a teacher of the academy. She was killed only days after being thrown out. If word gets out, people may assume the academy sent someone to do it."

Tang Wulin turned his head slightly to glance at him, then looked back toward the people still waiting for an answer outside the gates. After several moments of silence, he said, "Investigate. Send people to find out who did it. If it was merely someone Zhou Yi harmed taking revenge, then there's no need to pursue it. Every grievance has its source, every debt has its debtor. The lives she owed must be repaid by her."

He paused, and his voice grew colder. "But if someone is using this opportunity to fish in troubled waters, intending to provoke Shrek Academy through Zhou Yi's death, then kill without mercy. No matter what rank of noble or internal member they are, there will be no leniency."

As he spoke, he took a silver token from his sleeve and casually tossed it to Yan Shaozhe.

Every elder of Shrek Academy had a different token, essentially custom-made, and his clearly carried greater prestige and greater authority to issue orders.

Yan Shaozhe's fingertips trembled slightly as he caught the token. He lowered his head to look at its surface gleaming coldly under the moonlight, then nodded solemnly before turning and swiftly leading the Inner Court disciple toward the administration building.

Tang Wulin remained where he was. The warm yellow soul-conduit light at the gates stretched his shadow long and straight across the bluestone pavement.

The people gathered in twos and threes outside the gates seemed to have heard the commotion as well. Their gazes turned toward him in unison, carrying curiosity and caution, but not one of them stepped forward to speak.

In the shadow of an old locust tree beside the gates, a thin boy in a dusty gray short robe leaned against the roots, clutching an old bundle tightly to his chest. His gaze rested quietly on the upright figure inside the gates.

His face was hidden in the tree's shadow and could not be seen clearly, but his eyes seemed exceptionally bright in the dim light.

Tang Wulin keenly sensed that gaze. He turned his head slightly and looked toward the old locust tree.

The boy in the shadows did not avoid his gaze. Instead, he stood up, brushed the grass clippings from his trouser legs, and bowed slightly in Tang Wulin's direction. Then he turned, leaned back against the trunk, and sat down again, placing the bundle on his knees and lowering his head to examine something.

Tang Wulin withdrew his gaze and did not look in that direction again.

He lifted his head to glance at the moon, half-hidden behind clouds in the night sky. He drew in a breath of the cool night air, then slowly let it out.

Zhou Yi's matter, Fan Yu's matter, tomorrow's Sea God Pavilion meeting, revising the admission rules...

One matter after another piled together, like a chaotic chessboard spread out before him, still waiting to be sorted.

He tucked both hands back into his sleeves, turned around, and headed toward Sea God Island.

Aaargh!

Damn Zhou Yi!

Tang Wulin's heart was filled with fury at the overtime he was about to have to work!