Chapter 63 - 62: Getting Scolded

"Uncle Jiang, let me come with you. What if it flips over again?" Li Xiang leaped up and sat on the cover over the tractor’s left rear wheel. This was the fender, made of sturdy, red-painted iron, and installed quite solidly. It even had black handgrips. There were two of them, one on each side, just enough space for two people.

’Yep, the spot on the right is for Jiang Cai’Er.’

Men on the left, women on the right. Li Xiang was quite particular about such things.

"Don’t say that, it’s bad luck. The new year is almost here," Jiang Jianguo chided with a laugh, though in reality, there were still about fifty days to go. He immediately started complaining, "This snow is too heavy. In all my years, I’ve rarely seen anything like it. I thought we’d be fine after putting on the snow chains, but who knew it would still flip over? I just hope the rest of the way is smooth."

Li Xiang sighed in sympathy and quickly reassured him, "It’ll definitely be smooth from here on out!"

He took out a good cigarette, the kind that cost five yuan a stick, and handed it to Jiang Jianguo, though Li Xiang himself didn’t smoke.

Jiang Jianguo drove while puffing away contentedly, growing more and more pleased with Li Xiang.

The tractor couldn’t go fast, and Jiang Jianguo didn’t dare "race" it. Even so, the moment it started moving, the cold wind cut like a knife with a WHOOSH WHOOSH. Going for a spin in the snow... the feeling was indescribably "invigorating." Their faces grew numb, and their noses and ears were frozen senseless.

Li Xiang secretly circulated his Breathing Technique. Not only was he not cold, but his face was flushed and his whole body felt toasty warm, almost like a furnace. From the driver’s seat, Jiang Jianguo could faintly feel the heat radiating from Li Xiang and couldn’t help but marvel inwardly: ’My goodness, this young man is so full of vitality, and in such good shape... Even an old man like me is envious.’

When they arrived at the school, Jiang Cai’Er saw her Brother Xiang and her father coming to pick her up together, and her little face flushed with excitement.

"You must be freezing! Quick, put this on!" Thinking his daughter was cold, Jiang Jianguo quickly took out the overcoat he had brought and draped it over her. Afterward, Li Xiang and Jiang Jianguo went to Jiang Cai’Er’s dorm to help her carry her things.

Girls have a lot of stuff, and on a snowy day like this, it would be a huge inconvenience without someone to help.

Along the way, they saw many familiar faces. They were all students who had previously filmed the short skits with Jiang Cai’Er. They greeted Li Xiang enthusiastically, and Li Xiang naturally returned each greeting.

The way some of the girls looked at Li Xiang was different, and whenever this happened, Jiang Cai’Er couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She was already starting to regret asking these classmates to film the skits. Not only did she get a scolding from her teacher, but it also made these girls get ideas they shouldn’t.

On the path from the dorm to the school gate, Li Xiang and the others ran into Jiang Cai’Er’s homeroom teacher, Teacher Huang.

She was a middle-aged woman, standing imposingly in the snow.

"Teacher Huang!" Jiang Cai’Er immediately greeted her, walking up with a smile.

Teacher Huang nodded, her face stern, and said to Jiang Jianguo and Li Xiang, "You must be Jiang Cai’Er’s father and her brother from the village, correct?"

"Ah, yes, yes. Hello, Teacher Huang." Jiang Jianguo was a bit flustered and felt a little uneasy. ’Don’t tell me my Cai’Er got into trouble at school,’ he thought. ’Cai’Er can be a bit mischievous, but it shouldn’t be bad enough for her teacher to call her parents, right?’

’Judging by the teacher’s expression, this isn’t good news.’

"Teacher Huang, are Cai’Er’s grades still okay?" Jiang Jianguo ventured to ask.

Teacher Huang said, "They’re quite good. But it’s precisely because they’re good that I pay close attention to her, which is why I specifically waited for you here."

"Huh?" Jiang Jianguo was stunned.

Jiang Cai’Er shrugged and hid behind her father. She had already guessed what this was about. ’I thought it was all in the past, but who knew the teacher would still remember after all this time!’

Teacher Huang looked at Li Xiang. "You’re Brother Xiang, right? Pretty famous online now, are you?"

"Not at all, not at all. I’m just an unknown pastoral blogger. You can just call me Xiaoli," Li Xiang said humbly.

"Your fans have grown to almost 200,000. That’s no small number!" Teacher Huang’s words had a sharp edge.

Li Xiang felt that he really shouldn’t have come. ’What a mess.’ After a moment of contemplation, he adopted a very sincere attitude and said, "Teacher, if you have any feedback, please feel free to share it. We will fully cooperate. We’ll correct any mistakes and take your advice as a reminder to be vigilant."

"Your attitude is pretty good." Teacher Huang nodded with a hint of satisfaction, then sighed. "Normally, since she’s only a sophomore, I wouldn’t make things so tense. But studying is like rowing a boat upstream; if you don’t advance, you fall back. I was hoping Jiang Cai’Er would aim for a top-tier 985 university. But you had her filming those short skits, getting involved in all that nonsense, and you even got a lot of her classmates to fool around with her. Her grades have clearly dropped, and her mind isn’t on her studies. If this continues, I don’t even know if she’ll be able to get into a regular 211 university."

Li Xiang immediately felt ashamed. He took a deep breath and promised, "Teacher, please rest assured, it won’t happen again."

He decided he had to help Jiang Cai’Er catch up on her schoolwork to make up for lost time. ’Hmm, I still have three Tier One Bamboo Swallow’s Nests in the system warehouse. When I get back, I’ll stew them for Grandma and Cai’Er to eat.’

A Tier One Spirit Grass Bamboo Swallow’s Nest might not increase intelligence, but with a healthier body and more vigorous energy, one’s learning efficiency would be higher.

The short skits were actually quite popular, but for now, the only option was to put them on hold. They could film the sequel after Cai’Er finished her college entrance exams.

’Sorry, fans. There’s nothing to be done about it.’

If this affected Jiang Cai’Er’s college entrance exams, the loss would far outweigh the gain.

’Even though the Apocalypse is coming, that’s precisely why going to college—and a good one at that—is even more important.’

The transmission of knowledge, the continuation of the flame of civilization, the construction of bases—all these things required talented people in every field. Energy, medicine, military affairs, Underground City agriculture, and civil engineering for building underground Shelters or even bases on other planets... there were so many practical fields of study.

Li Xiang once had an idea, inspired by the "base trade" tactic of the Instructor. Since Demon Fiends could invade Earth, and Earth’s "Endless Night" was unsuitable for survival, why couldn’t humans pass through those "spatial nodes" and enter the world of the Demon Fiends to survive?

After all, Earth was already full of dangers; the world of the Demon Fiends might not necessarily be any more perilous.

But in the world of the Demon Fiends, the environment and materials would all be different. It would likely require specialized professionals to figure out how to design buildings. The declining, traditional field of civil engineering might find a new purpose.

In his past life, Li Xiang had suggested this idea to his superior, but that superior was a conservative and thought it was too bold and too risky. In this life, he felt that if the time was right, he could try it himself.

While a thousand thoughts raced through his mind, Li Xiang repeatedly apologized to the teacher and offered his assurances. Jiang Jianguo also sincerely promised that he would supervise Cai’Er’s studies at home and absolutely would not let her fall behind.

In reality, how could the two of them possibly control Jiang Cai’Er at home?

For one thing, Jiang Cai’Er could just pull out a test paper and say, "Can you two solve this? If not, I’m going to go ask Brother Xiang for help."

Could Jiang Jianguo and his wife stop her then? Of course, more importantly, the couple didn’t dislike Li Xiang. He was their own nephew, someone they knew inside and out. Although things hadn’t reached *that* stage yet, it wasn’t so bad that they wouldn’t even let him tutor her.

Those city folk had to pay a lot of money for an hour with a private college student tutor. They had a perfectly good, free nephew right here—why wouldn’t they use him?