Just as Xiao Yi's slow push-ups had the senior students from Jia Nan Academy groaning in misery and drenched in sweat, a cool female voice with a hint of authority rang out.
"What is going on here? Why all this noise?"
Before her words had faded, a graceful woman in a pale purple instructor's robe approached, her features lovely and refined. It was Instructor Ruo Lin.
Her brows drew together slightly as her gaze swept the scene. When she saw several of the academy's students sprawled miserably on the ground doing push-ups, while an oddly dressed, bald middle-aged man stood beside them with his hands behind his back, holding a thermos and "supervising," a flicker of confusion and displeasure crossed her clear eyes.
Instructor Ruo Lin's arrival instantly silenced the scene. The senior students looked as though their savior had arrived, yet they were also afraid of being caught bullying the newcomers. Their expressions were complicated.
Xiao Yi, meanwhile, seemed not to have expected the person in charge to appear so suddenly. The hand holding his thermos paused almost imperceptibly, but he still struggled to maintain the serenity of a "reclusive master."
Ruo Lin's gaze finally settled on Xiao Yi, whose bearing stood out most sharply. She stepped forward slowly, studying this utterly unfamiliar "middle-aged man."
"And you are, sir...?"
Although her voice was gentle, it carried an unmistakably scrutinizing edge. She was certain the academy had no such person, much less anyone who would "instruct" students in this manner.
Xiao Yi's eyes darted about. He straightened his back and put on even more airs, just about to offer some grand excuse along the lines of, "I was passing by and could not bear to see young people with no respect for the rules, so I took it upon myself