Chapter XX: The Master Said

One big and one small harvested a wonderful dinner, and then, after the little girl Qin Sanyue's clumsy and "peace through breaking" dish-washing journey, the two of them sat with bloated bellies under this pear tree.

The little girl Qin Sanyue cherished her new clothes, deathly afraid of grazing them against anything, and sat rigidly straight before looking up at the sky.

As for Ye Fu, he leaned his back against the pear tree and looked up at the sky in the most comfortable posture.

These two, one big and one small, couldn't match on anything else, yet they reached a tacit understanding precisely on this looking up at the sky.

"Sanyue, tomorrow clear out the main hall on the left. I'm going to run a private school there."

"Is Teacher Ye going to start teaching books?"

"Of course. Otherwise, our three meals a day won't have a landing place."

"But Teacher Ye is so amazing at making clothes. Working in Master Zhong's shop, you'd definitely have very good treatment."

"Heh, you think magnificent me at one-eighty centimeters would do labor in a place that's a house full of women?"

"Then your cooking is so delicious, you should... I don't know either, but you should be able to be a head chef in a restaurant."

"How heavy is the oily smoke in a restaurant kitchen? It's very harmful to the skin, alright? Besides, your teacher is a cultured person, so naturally I should do some things with culture."

Qin Sanyue understood half-understandably. She didn't understand what magnificent one-eighty centimeters meant, nor what harming the skin meant, but she knew Teacher Ye was a cultured person. Because... because, because he looked very cultured. So thought Qin Sanyue.

"There's also one more matter. You broke two plates and one bowl just now; it will be deducted from your wages."

"Ah!"

The next day.

What woke Ye Fu wasn't the "alarm clock" he set for himself, but the pear tree in the courtyard.

The sun had just poked out a sharp tip when a Qi vortex rose above the pear tree in the courtyard, its whistling sound directly waking Ye Fu.

He crawled over to the window and saw that a huge Spiritual Qi vortex had gathered above the pear tree. The Spiritual Qi, dense to the point of being nearly tangible, plunged straight into every single flower on the pear tree's branches, resembling a giant dragon twisting and soaring.

The pear blossoms that originally only emitted a faint glow now flashed with a brilliance comparable to the giant sun.

"Cultivating immortals makes such a huge commotion; this is outrageous!"

Ye Fu hurriedly reached out and waved. A vast and ethereal Qi bearing poured out, instantly forming a barrier that enveloped the pear tree, shielding this horrifying sight.

The pear tree seemed to realize that the commotion it caused was a bit too big, and it dropped a sprouting branch to lightly stroke Ye Fu's bangs to gain forgiveness.

To use a word to describe it: act spoiled.

What kind of experience is it to have a tree act spoiled toward you? Ye Fu thought inexplicably. He smilingly patted this sprouting branch. "It's fine, go ahead and cultivate with peace of mind. With me here, no one will discover you."

The sprouting branch rubbed against Ye Fu's forehead again before retracting.

When Ye Fu was just planning to pull his head back in from outside the window, in the blink of an eye he discovered that the little girl Qin Sanyue had widened her eyes and was pointing at the pear tree with a terrified expression as she looked at him. She was so terrified that she couldn't say a single word.

Ye Fu was stunned for a moment, then immediately put on a kindly smile. "You didn't see anything, and you don't know anything."

Qin Sanyue let out a startled cry, hurriedly closed her eyes, and turned to run away stumbling. She hadn't even gone three steps before she crashed into a pillar, flipped backward to fall to the ground, and then squatted on the ground with a wronged expression, rubbing her nose.

Ye Fu didn't tease her anymore either, saying with a smile, "Sanyue, remember not to be surprised in the future no matter what strange things you see on me."

Qin Sanyue turned her head sideways, her clear eyes looking at Ye Fu, and she pitifully nodded.

"There's also one thing. You go find a carpenter to order tables and stools-just the kind from an ordinary schoolhouse will do. As for the quantity, order five sets for now. Today, our courtyard is going to change its name."

Qin Sanyue briskly climbed up, carrying a look of delight, to do this first errand handed to her by Teacher Ye.

Ye Fu watched from behind, smilingly saying to himself, "If those laborers on Earth all had your kind of enthusiasm, any money would be easy to earn."

He got up and washed up.

After finishing tidying up, Ye Fu found a wooden board in the storehouse and traced his fingers across it a few times. A regular long wooden board with no jagged edges was complete.

He picked up a carving knife, his manual craftsmanship maxed out. Knife after knife landed on the board, and before long-

Four upright and impressive characters were laid out on this long wooden board.

He walked to the courtyard gate, fixed this wooden board onto the door frame, and then looked it over all around. He was extremely satisfied and said with a smile:

"From now on, this place is the Three Flavors Study."

Chapter Twenty: The Master Said ###

Taking the name Three Flavors Study was simply Ye Fu reminiscing about the time he spent studying in junior high school in the past; that article by Master Lu had left a deep impression on him.

Taking advantage of the time when Qin Sanyue went out to order tables and chairs, Ye Fu made a trip outside to understand the procedures required to run this private school.

The person he asked was, naturally, the innkeeper from earlier. Only then did Ye Fu mutually exchange names with that keeper.

The keeper's surname was Hu and given name Zhifu.

Learning that Ye Fu was going to open a private school, this Innkeeper Hu, who originally wanted to get on good terms with him, bustled about. Running back and forth, he quickly handled and set up the procedures for Ye Fu.

Because this Black Stone City didn't favor studying, there weren't many rigid requirements for things like private schools and schoolhouses. Fulfilling the goal of a "permit to operate" was pretty much the end of it, which was equivalent to a business license.

Ye Fu naturally didn't fuss over much; being able to be simpler was naturally better.

Once the matter of this private school was nailed down, Hu Zhifu brought up his request.

Ye Fu originally thought it was to help with some favor, but the result turned out to be Hu Zhifu very decisively enrolling his own child right here with him. Then he also asked Ye Fu to teach his child well, guaranteeing to Ye Fu that he should just look for him if there were any matters in the future, and hastily paying the tuition fees.

Hu Zhifu's fussing like this made it seem as though his child was some heavy burden he wanted to dump off.

However, Ye Fu only guessed at it. Someone coming to enroll to study was naturally a good thing; at least it wouldn't fall into a desolate and lonely state.

Then Ye Fu went to understand what was taught here for schooling. After strolling around inside a bookstore, he discovered that most were literary books, with basically no research of the mathematics and physics variety.