Although Mr. Milly abandoned the use of a Truth Serum in favor of a feather pen with the ability to discern lies, this ultimately was a form of compromise.
The Yellow Flowered Cat twitched its ears and chose to accept this outco.
After all, it’s just a small mouse, and even if it works at Zheng Qing’s store, there’s no need to argue with the old wizards of the Alliance for it or that big liar, the Rat Immortal.
Thinking of this, the Flower Cat flicked its tail, turned around, and disappeared into the sunlight, in an instant returning to the next room’s next room, landing gracefully on the windowsill of the San You Bookstore.
Everything in the store remained as it was when it left in the morning.
Even the store owner’s snores kept their usual rhythm, as if nothing, not even the collapse of the sky, could wake him. The Yellow Flowered Cat leaped discontentedly, transforming into a yellow streak and landing heavily on the man’s chest.
Bang!
The light dust stirred by its leap blood in the morning light, and the air surge, stirred by the Flower Cat, rushed in all directions but was quickly smoothed out by the store owner’s long breath, as if a pair of invisible hands had turned the rolling air into gentle breezes wafting around.
Failing to topple a single bookshelf.
rely rustling a few book pages, a few robe hems.
The Yellow Flowered Cat snorted in frustration, lifted its paw, and stomped heavily twice on the man’s chest, roaring:
"Your student is close to depression, and you’re still here sleeping?"
The snoring paused.
The store owner raised a hand, removing the book covering his face, and then flicked the Flower Cat into the air, looking at it with full exasperation: "Then what do you want to do? The forest hardly understands what mushrooms need."
"But the forest originally grew from a single mushroom... you must have a way!" The Flower Cat lifted its paw, wiping its greasy mouth, and slightly raised its chin:
"He’s your student, not mine."
"If you agree, I can use magic to brand his soul with optimistic thoughts, or purify it to eradicate negative emotions with chanical will, allowing him to escape those troubles. But this thod is too extre and severely damages the integrity of the soul, stripping away further potential... no one would choose to drink poison to quench thirst unless necessary."
"Have you no skills beyond magic?"
The Yellow Flowered Cat raised its tail with agitation, whipping the air into eerie howls: "He’s still a child, unlike you old immortals who can coldly observe everything happening in the world."
"Give him so ti, and he will recover."
The gentleman soothingly stroked the Flower Cat’s back fur: "Youth cos with endless possibilities... a heartbeat is not akin to the ticking of a clock hand, nor is emotion akin to the noise of gears shing."
"You could go and talk to him!" The Yellow Flowered Cat finally couldn’t hold back, voicing the thought that had been circling in its mind for a long ti: "Talking to him might make him feel better... Aren’t you worried the Forbidden Curse will grow twisted?"
Mr. Wu was silent for a mont, seeming moved.
At this mont, he seed to notice sothing, turned his gaze towards the school hospital, and after a short while, a hint of a smile appeared on his face:
"It’s indeed a good idea... but it seems, chatting with him might require getting in line."
"Getting in line?" The Flower Cat raised its tail, following the gentleman’s gaze.
But all it saw was the school hospital, originally clear, shrouded in dazzling starlight, stinging its eyes but revealing nothing.
"Did a legend pass by?" The Yellow Flowered Cat raised its body in surprise: "Who? That little girl Shi Hui or the old man If foolish? Surely not the Sea Demon King!"
The bookstore owner glanced at it sowhat speechlessly.
"You’re quite the Big Wizard yourself; could you think before you speak?" He put the book back over his face, speaking in a muffled voice: "Xiangliu finally beca an Ancient One, why would he co to this island in despair..."
The Flower Cat tapped its fluffy paw, calculating for a while before uncertainly guessing: "It definitely can’t be the Rat Immortal, nor could it be the Dark Beast or Professor Emma... Haven’t heard of either advancing to legend... could it be Old Yao? Has he succeeded?"
Turning back, the bookstore owner had already resud his long nap.
The Flower Cat raised its paw, as if wanting to thump him a few more tis, hesitated for a mont, but ultimately gave up on the thought. Getting him to wake up and say a couple of sentences was already quite a feat.
He had beco increasingly distant from this world.
...
...
The Yellow Flowered Cat’s divination was correct.
The legend now entering the school hospital was indeed the dean of Jiuyou Academy, Professor Yao.
When Professor Yao walked into the ward, Zheng Qing was sitting on the hospital bed, staring blankly out the window.
He didn’t even notice soone had walked in.
The professor did not speak either, putting down the fruit basket, sitting beside the boy, looking out the window alongside him, watching as the bright morning sun painted the sky, the distant mountains, and treetops, seeing early birds catch worms, and a few stars dimly visible on the horizon.
After a long ti, the professor stretched lazily, patted the boy on the shoulder, and casually asked:
"What are you looking at?"
"The sunrise."
Zheng Qing answered numbly, turning his head, only after a long ti did he realize a guest had entered the ward, he widened his eyes in surprise, trying to get up to greet, but Professor Yao reached out and firmly pressed him back onto the bed.
"No need to get up, no need to get up. This is just fine, just comfortable." The professor smoothed his glossy, mirror-shiny back hair, looked at the young man with a smiling face as usual, patted his shoulder, then pointed outside the window:
"A beautiful scene, right."
"Yes."
Zheng Qing muttered, his mood suddenly sinking a lot: "But it makes more confused... after experiencing so many terrible things in the Black Prison, I can still sit here appreciating the beauty of the world... it just feels like sothing is off."
"Fear and beauty, though contradictory, are not mutually exclusive. Awakening, finding life’s beauty again, and feeling life’s aning after waking is very good... much better than I expected."
Saying this, the dean of Jiuyou Academy blinked and added in a low voice: "Especially with the flowers from Su Councilor and Student Jiang Yu on your bedside table... oh, and a pot of Death Cap? That makes for an interesting gift."
The Death Cap, also known as the Poisonous Fly Agaric, is a deadly mushroom. Old-school wizards like to cultivate this magical plant using corpses as a dium to obtain more exquisite poisons, while new-generation wizards prefer extracting its venom as a catalyst for various newly developed magic reagents.
Regardless of the use, wizards rarely give such mushrooms as gifts—especially not to patients—obviously, it’s not intended as a blessing.
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