In the very first class of the new term, Zheng Qing deeply felt what the "academic pressure" the upperclassmen had mentioned last year actually meant.
There was none of the pleasantries and buildup from the start of the previous school year. In the very first class, Old Yao had adopted the same attitude he had during the final exam crunch last year. The lesson was dense and complicated, and afterward, he not only assigned a mountain of homework but also told everyone to prepare for the next class. It felt as though someone were standing behind them, fiercely cracking a long whip.
At the thought of the whip snapping through the air with a sharp explosive crack, the young publicly funded student could not help shuddering and unconsciously quickened his pace.
He needed to get to the library and claim a seat before lunch.
"Are you sick? Has your Magic Power Backlash Syndrome flared up again? Do you need me to go to the hospital with you?" Fatty Xin, walking beside him, noticed Zheng Qing's shiver and immediately leaned closer with concern. He held a half-eaten cake in his hand and spoke unclearly through a mouthful of food.
The young wizard shot the fat man a sidelong glance.
"Could you not wish bad things on me?"
He angrily kicked a little pebble in front of him away, while mercilessly crushing one of the Fat Wizard's hopes. "And even if I were hospitalized, you'd still have to do your homework!"
The pebble struck the bushes beside the path, knocking down a red leaf hanging from a branch. The leaf drifted and swayed in the breeze, taking a long time to settle—until a passing Three-tailed Squirrel stepped on it and pressed it into the mud.
The Three-tailed Squirrel was clutching a chestnut