A woman who looked nearly thirty walked toward the siblings with a gentle, intellectual smile. She wore gold-rimmed glasses, a fitted, pure-white lightweight knit top, and black stockings.
Gu Qing turned toward the voice.
The moment he saw the woman, he froze.
There were two reasons for his reaction.
First, a very unusual tag floated above her head-[Beast Taming King].
Second, she was his high school English teacher, a fair-skinned, wealthy beauty who had become famous throughout the school as soon as she arrived for her internship after graduation, thanks to her outstanding figure and looks and her expensive designer clothes.
PS: Holding out my bowl for monthly votes and recommendation votes!
Chapter 24: Blood Essence Enslavement
"Ms. Liu, long time no see."
Gu Qing smiled and greeted Liu Zhiyi.
Liu Zhiyi recognized Gu Qing at once as well. Her smile remained, and her voice grew a little gentler.
"Oh, Gu Qing! Long time no see. Is this your girlfriend?"
Although she had only taught Gu Qing for one semester, he had left a deep impression on her.
After all, Gu Qing had been known throughout the school for his good looks, drawing countless eyes wherever he went.
She had only been in her early twenties herself back then, so naturally, his looks had caught her attention too. Occasionally, she would take a few extra admiring glances at him.
"No, she's my younger sister, Gu Yao. She's in her final year at Haicheng No. 1 High School."
Then Gu Qing asked, a little puzzled, "Ms. Liu, you teach English at No. 1 High School. Haven't you met my sister?"
Gu Yao excelled in the humanities.
Especially English.
She came first in the school on practically every exam.
She had even ranked first in the city.
Since Liu Zhiyi taught English, she should, in theory, have known of and met Gu Yao.
"I stopped teaching at No. 1 High School ages ago."
Liu Zhiyi smiled and explained, "I resigned not long after my internship ended. I haven't spent a single day teaching since."
Gu Qing was a little surprised.
She quit right after her internship?
She even gave up a permanent teaching position?
Just like that?
Had something bad happened to her?
Or was her family rich, and she liked her freedom and simply didn't want to work?
Gu Qing was curious.
"Come, let's sit over here. We can catch up over coffee."
Speaking in a warm, gentle voice, Liu Zhiyi led the siblings to the sofa and made them two cups of coffee.
For the next little while,
Gu Qing and Liu Zhiyi sat and caught up.
Gu Yao wandered around the shop, playing with the little animals.
After chatting for over ten minutes,
Gu Qing had a general idea of what Liu Zhiyi had been through over the years.
Liu Zhiyi had quit her teaching job simply because she disliked being a teacher. There was no other hidden reason.
After resigning,
she had taken the several million in startup funds her parents gave her
and, in Haicheng's busiest shopping mall,
opened a fairly large pet shop.
Her life had been easy and carefree.
Every day had been happy and fulfilling.
Until early last year, when her parents' company went under, leaving the family drowning in debt.
To help pay off her parents' debts, she had been forced to sell her pet shop.
Then her family's fortunes had declined.
In just six months, she had gone from a wealthy beauty everyone envied to an utterly ordinary pretty woman.
After that,
she had used the little savings she had left to open this tiny pet shop, which measured only sixty square meters.
She also ran a personal TikTok account on the side.
She hoped to earn a little money to help with household expenses
and barely keep herself afloat.
After hearing her story, Gu Qing could not help feeling wistful. He comforted her.
"Ms. Liu, things will work themselves out. Your pet shop is really distinctive. It's bound to go viral someday and make you a fortune."
"Let's hope so."
Liu Zhiyi smiled, then added, "Oh, and stop calling me Ms. Liu. I taught you for less than half a year back then, and I haven't been a teacher in ages. Just call me Sister Zhiyi."
Gu Qing had no objections. "Sure. Sister Zhiyi it is, then."
Resting her chin in one hand, Liu Zhiyi looked at Gu Qing with a bright smile. "I never imagined we'd end up fellow alumni of Haicheng University."
"And both from the Foreign Languages College, too."
"What surprised me even more was that this pet shop I opened just a few days ago turned out to be right across from your residential complex."
At that, Liu Zhiyi could not help remarking, "I have to say, we really do seem destined to cross paths."
Gu Qing nodded. "We certainly do."
As soon as he finished speaking, he discreetly glanced at the [Beast Taming King] tag above Liu Zhiyi's head, a flicker of curiosity passing through his eyes.
A tag related to beast taming?
Interesting.
I wonder what attributes this tag could give me...
With that thought,
Gu Qing felt they had more or less finished catching up. There was no need to waste more time chatting.
He immediately changed the subject and got straight to his goal of farming attributes, speaking with measured sincerity.
"Sister Zhiyi, I saw your video on TikTok where you had a cat do a backflip."
"Honestly, I was pretty blown away."
"I'm quite fond of cats myself, and I'd like to learn how to teach one to do a backflip. Could you teach me a few tricks?"
Then he added, "Just charge me the going rate. There's no need for a discount."
In truth, Gu Qing was completely confident that, with the face that had been handsome since childhood, he could get Liu Zhiyi to teach him cat-training techniques for free.
But he would never do that.
With people he knew, he preferred to keep money matters clear, with neither side taking advantage of the other.
That was how relationships lasted.
Liu Zhiyi chuckled. "It's not as if we're strangers. Talking about money is far too formal. It's just a few little tricks. I'll teach you."
"Sister Zhiyi, that wouldn't really be appropriate..."
"All right, enough. Bring up paying me again, and I'll get angry."
Liu Zhiyi put on a stern face, still carrying a little of her old authority as a teacher. Her attitude was firm.
Seeing this, Gu Qing could only smile and say,
"All right, then. I'll take a free lesson from you this once."
"If you ever run into any trouble, just come to me."
"If I can help, I will."
He had also known that Liu Zhiyi most likely would not accept any money.
But knowing that was one thing. He still had to make it clear that he did not intend to freeload.
That was the sense of boundaries adults needed when dealing with each other.
Whether you accepted was your business, but he had to offer regardless. He could not take things for free and leave you at a disadvantage.
Otherwise, the relationship would fall apart sooner or later.
Soon,
Liu Zhiyi brought over a kitten.
It was a ragdoll.
Female.
It looked very cute.
Liu Zhiyi placed the little female kitten in front of Gu Qing and began teaching him with a serious expression.
"Training a cat isn't actually hard. You just need enough patience."
"How do you train one at the start, then?"
"First, we need to learn how to communicate with cats."
"Cats can't speak our language, but they express their emotions through their movements."
"As long as you understand their movements, you can communicate with them and, in turn, train them."
"Here, watch closely. See how I communicate with this kitten."
Liu Zhiyi gently touched the female kitten while guiding him in a soft voice, demonstrating how to communicate with her.
Gu Qing watched intently, imitating what he saw and learning earnestly.
Meanwhile,
seeing how close the two were sitting, Gu Yao raised her eyebrows slightly and instantly sensed something amiss.
Her brother clearly disliked pets, yet now he was actually saying he wanted to learn cat-training techniques.
Wasn't this just an excuse to flirt?
At that thought,
Gu Yao quietly took out her phone, recorded the two sitting almost against each other, and immediately sent it to their private family group chat of four.
[Gu Yao: Video.]
[Gu Yao: Father, Mother, terrible news! Your crown prince wants to become a wayward disciple who makes a move on his teacher!]
Neither of the two nearby noticed what she was doing.
Gu Qing was learning with particular earnestness.
Liu Zhiyi was teaching patiently too.
Without them noticing, time passed.
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