"Did something happen that I don't know about?"
The professor at the podium folded his arms, bit down on his pipe, and smiled until his eyes narrowed. He gestured for Jiang Yu to return to her seat while glancing around the room. "...Looks like everyone had a very pleasant New Year. Just looking at your faces, every one of you is glowing with health and full of energy. Anyone who didn't know better would think you all got married over winter break!"
A low wave of laughter immediately rose through the classroom.
Zheng Qing could not bear to hear those two words right now.
He felt more and more strange looks being cast toward his seat and knew he had to do something.
"Professor!"
The young publicly funded student raised his hand forcefully, interrupting the professor's small talk from the podium. In a loud voice, he asked, "When we registered today, the class schedule showed that Thursday afternoon's class couldn't be selected... Everyone's asking whether there's a problem with the course selection system."
Dunton scratched his head—this had originally been his job, yet Zheng Qing had somehow snatched it away from him—but it was no big deal. It did not matter who asked.
Old Yao looked at Zheng Qing with an odd expression.
"I can understand anyone else bringing this up, but I don't understand why you're asking." He tilted his head and patted the lecture notes beneath his hand. "Your class schedule is still with me. Which class can't you select?"
If someone had questioned him like that when he had first entered school as a freshman, Zheng Qing would have turned red long ago and started stumbling over his words. But after a year and a half of tempering, his skin had grown thick enough to conceal this