High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 254: Chapter 178: Round Table Conference at Lunch_1

If one were to say, then the morning sunlight is like sweet rice wine, fresh and subtly elegant; the noon sunlight is like a refreshing strong liquor, spicy and tantalizing; then the afternoon sunlight is like a mellow old wine, rich in flavor, profound in meaning.

Of course, this is what literature enthusiasts would say.

To put it bluntly, the morning sunlight is bright but not very hot; the noon sunlight is dazzling, and it burns the skin to the point of pain; the afternoon sunlight after a day’s fermentation, has turned the earth into a steamer. Even though the power of the sun is gradually fading, the sweltering heat is everywhere, making it hard to breathe.

Especially by the lake.

The heat carries the moist mist, heavily accumulated together, like a piece of fluffy cotton firmly pressed on your head, or like a steamer that has just begun boiling, full of steaming heat.

And the wizards who are laboring to turn over the lawn by the lake are like dumplings and prawns in a steamer, being roasted till they drip with sweat and look flushed.

Zheng Qing panting heavily, straightened his back and stretched his aching back.

Pearlescent mist rose faintly from the distant lake, veiling his vision.

Not too far away, the old hunting dog, Sir May, laid listlessly with its tongue hanging out in the grass, hardly lifting an eyelid — even though Zheng Qing couldn’t quite discern where his eyelids were among the folds on his face.

Close by, a few of his buddies, whom he had roped into this, were sweating profusely, their faces turning a burnt shade of red, looking somewhat like they were on the verge of losing their cool.

Zheng Qing pondered over how to shift the blame off his back.

”The schools work committee is too stingy,” he muttered in a voice just loud enough for his buddies to hear, ”They make people work in an open space in this hot weather, and they don’t distribute some ’Frost Talismans’ or give some ’Refreshing Potion’...Such stinginess!”

No one paid him any mind.

Zheng Qing coughed awkwardly twice.

”If you have any complaints, you can feedback them to Old Ferna.” Xin Fat Man, jiggling his chubby body, spoke irritably with his butt stuck out and his head hidden under the shadow of his body, ”Telling us is pointless.”

Zheng Qing was taken aback and obediently went to find Old Ferna.

If he didn’t want to be ambushed on his way back to the dormitory at night and be beaten up by his buddies, he’d best find some benefits for these guys who are currently working as laborers.

”You want Frost Talismans?” Old Ferna leaned on his long staff, his eyebrows raised high, stretching out a good deal of the wrinkles on his face.

”The Refreshing Potion will do as well.” Zheng Qing replied with a smile, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

”These youngsters these days...can’t take a little hardship.” The old janitor muttered, took a deep breath, and firmly shook his head, ”No!”

”This is a violation of the ’Labor Law.’” Zheng Qing quietly reminded him.

”What law?” The old man lifted his chin, stared with wide eyes, and shouted, ”You bring me that law to see! These days, those kids who sit in chairs don’t do anything productive, they’re all about these unconventional tricks.”

Zheng Qing was dumbfounded.

He had just said it casually, he wasn’t familiar with whether the wizarding world had labor laws or not.

”Remember, using any magic, including but not limited to spells, talismans, or magic potions is strictly prohibited when cleaning up the scene.” The old man jabbed his staff forcefully into the ground, admonishing, ”Otherwise the magic fluctuations will destroy many valuable clues...What are you young ones learning in class these days? You don’t even know this!”

Blame me, huh!

I’m not a forensic science student.

Zheng Qing grumbled to himself and walked away dejectedly.

But he didn’t walk far before he turned around and ran back.

”Uncle,” he said panting, ”We’re working; you should provide food, right?”

With that, he took out his silver pocket watch, pointed at the time, and complained, ”It’s now one-thirty in the afternoon, we haven’t even eaten lunch yet...Even the emperor doesn’t starve his soldiers...If anyone faints from exhaustion under the sun, it won’t look good for the janitor committee.”

”You haven’t eaten yet?” the old janitor was stunned and then picked up a bamboo basket from the root of the tree with his staff, took out a few lunch boxes from it, and stuffed them into Zheng Qing’s arms, ”Sooner rather than later for these things...I’m giving you half an hour for lunch, take a break, we still have around a thousand meters of open ground that needs to be turned over.”

Zheng Qing was overjoyed, he held the lunch boxes under his arms and ran off like a sprinter towards his buddies.

...

”Is there some Chinese perch flavor added to the rice? Smells so appetizing!”

”Are these red fruits hawthorn berries... I heard eating them can make you super strong, is that true?”

”And there’re shrimps. What variety are these transparent shrimp? They look like crystals, do you know what they are, Doctor?”

A group of foodies circled around, holding the lunch boxes brought back by Zheng Qing, picking out food with their chopsticks, exclaiming with admiration.

”So lavish,” Duan Xiao Jian asked somewhat anxiously, ”This meal must have cost a silver coin or two, right?”

”One or two silver coins?” Xin Fat Man scoffed, picked up a cake from the lunch box with his chopsticks, and reprimanded, ”See? Only two kinds of desserts! Forget about the ingredients for this turtle jelly, just these two honey puffs alone would cost you a silver coin at the cafeteria... What on earth do you usually eat? You don’t even know this!”

”Don’t worry, it’s fine.” Zheng Qing’s mouth was stuffed with food, his cheeks smeared with grease, he mumbled, ”These are the assistants’ meals. Uncle Ferna just said that they are going to check the university’s Protection Array, they have to stay up all night... If we don’t eat it, it’ll be wasted.”

”Oh, the wicked privileged class,” Duan Xiao Jian sighed, stuffing a fat shrimp into his mouth resentfully, shaking his head incessantly, ”This is exactly what ’While the rich dine, the poor freeze to death’ means...”

”Get out of here!” Zhang Ji Xin tore apart a chunk of beef nonchalantly, grumbling, ”The real privileged class are probably enjoying the cool breeze right now, sitting cross-legged on rush mats, playing chess with cold fruits.”

”I have a feeling you’re talking about an emperor who digs the earth with a golden hoe.” Zheng Qing swallowed the food in his mouth and sighed quietly.

”Speaking of His Majesty,” Xin Fat Man leaned towards Zheng Qing, and looked at him seriously, ”Didn’t Augustus give you a set of white clothes? Who are you planning to take?”

”Who to take?” Zheng Qing looked at him blankly, ”There’s only one set of clothes, obviously I’ll go myself... Besides, I haven’t even decided whether to go or not.”

”I think you’re not a scholarship student, you’re a lonely student.” Xin Fat Man rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his lunch box.

”You must go!” Zhang Ji Xin clenched his fists and pounded heavily on the grass, shouting, ”If you don’t go, it shows you’re not magnanimous... It would make those treacherous hypocrites look down on us Jiuyou People.”

”Also, it’s a matter of courtesy,” Duan Xiao Jian also nodded emphatically on the side, ”You must go!”

Zheng Qing felt a bit dizzy listening to all this.

What has any of this got to do with the pride and self-respect of the Jiuyou People?

”I just remembered this morning’s history lesson,” Seeing the topic sliding into an unpredictable direction, Zheng Qing desperately tried to steer the conversation, ”When mentioning that philosophical theory, Mister Sima asked us to ask Old Yao before next Wednesday.”

”Theory of Silence!” Duan Xiao Jian raised his hand to correct.

”Right, Theory of Silence, Theory of Silence.” Zheng Qing nodded repeatedly, ”Speaking reasonably, we have philosophy class this afternoon. Why do we have to wait until next Wednesday to ask? Do you think she already knew that this afternoon’s philosophy class would be canceled?”

This sentence suddenly chilled the atmosphere of the discussion.

Everyone frowned, thinking carefully about this possibility.

”It’s just a possibility.” The cold voice of Xiao Xiao suddenly rang out, ”But in my opinion, the main reason is, she doesn’t think you guys would be able to understand a profound theory like the Theory of Silence in an afternoon... Maybe she just wanted to give you enough time to go to the library and research it for yourselves.”

Zheng Qing tilted his head, looking at the eloquent Doctor Xiao. His gaze was somewhat strange.

Out of all the questions, you only chose to speak up on this one.

Tsk tsk.

He gave the others a meaningful look.

The others all had a look of ’so it is’ on their faces.

”I always feel that when Professor Sima answered the question of ’whether Su Daji is alive’, she gave a very detailed answer.” Zheng Qing tried to throw out another topic.

”Indeed,” Xin Fat Man looked at Zheng Qing with disdain, but sneaked a glance at Xiao Xiao, ”As a fan of Beautiful Lady Sima, how could you not know about her most famous paper in ’Peer into the Fog of History’?”

”What paper?” Zheng Qing genuinely did not know.

”’On the Historical Basis of the Death of Su Daji’,” Xiao Xiao’s indifferent voice rang out again, ”This is her historical paper published in full in the 1352nd issue of ’Peer into the Fog of History’, third edition. The nominator was the famous magic historian Qian Zhiji...”

”Also,” Xiao Xiao turned his head and looked at Xin Fat Man expressionlessly, ”I’m not her fan... I just like her, that’s all.”

”Finally, it’s out!” The others sighed with relief, exhaling deeply in unison.