When the hour of the Rabbit was half over, the Sword Discourse Teacher entered the classroom, and the sword students trickled in as well. Most were familiar faces. Some looked as though they had just practiced their swords in the morning, others had clearly only just woken up, and some still had grease glistening on their lips.
"I'm talking about you, Zhu Shishi!"
The girl, who had been walking past the seats with her eyes fixed straight ahead, stopped short and stared blankly at him, a chicken foot still clutched in her hand.
Pei Ye narrowed his eyes at her. After a moment, the girl hesitantly, rather reluctantly, offered the chicken foot to his mouth.
"Class is about to start, and you're still eating!"
Pei Ye bit off a piece of chicken skin, but Zhu Shishi stuffed the foot into his mouth and actually abandoned the whole thing. As though she had heard nothing, she fished a fresh one out of her bag and went on gnawing away.
Just then, Ning Shuhong came up from behind and spotted the boy with a chicken foot in his mouth, looking pleasantly surprised. "Young Hero Pei, long time no see!"
"True Disciple Ning, long time no see. I've missed you all quite a bit."
"Sweet talk." Ning Shuhong smiled, then looked at the boy with a somewhat complicated expression. "Young Hero Pei, we haven't seen you since last year's Vermilion Bird Gate Sword Wager. Brother Wang said that if there was still no word from you, he was going to cut ties with you."
"Empty threats."
"Haha." Ning Shuhong had been heading for the back rows, but now he brought Zhu Shishi over and sat beside Pei Ye. "We never see you practicing, Young Hero Pei, yet you just keep getting better... Do