On the little yellow duck air mattress, the blonde, blue-eyed mermaid sat on the edge and dipped her tail in the water. Her tail fin slapped the water dishonestly, stirring up strings of water droplets.
Beside his hand lay a pure white three-tailed fox with a cold expression. Occasionally, when the little mermaid put her hand on the fox's head and rubbed its furry ears, he did not get angry, but just stood there and let the little mermaid do whatever she wanted.
This was the heartwarming scene Yan Jue saw as he entered the swimming pool. The joy in his heart reached his lips, but before he could even smile, he froze in place when he saw the mahogany fruit, a specialty of Tianchen Continent, in Noel's hands.
Speaking of which, Zhuo Feng's favorability towards him has reached 65, but until now, Zhuo Feng has never shown any intention of giving him any gifts.
This isn't a real game; each cub isn't necessarily stuck in a routine, tied to a certain level of affection. The naive Noel firmly believes that if you like someone, you should express your feelings through gifts. But the hard-working Zhuo Feng doesn't necessarily share this sentiment.
But, it doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't exist. Didn't you see that he has been unable to stop since he gave Noer a gift? Yan Jue often saw Noer holding him, saying that he ate mahogany fruit to drink, which is good for cubs.
Yan Jue didn't have to get a gift of Tianchen Continent's specialties from Zhuo Feng. What he cared about was the meaning of the word "gift" itself. Even if Zhuo Feng was willing to give him a fox hair, he would be happy. At least it showed that Zhuo Feng had him as a teacher in his heart. His efforts to get into the cub's heart and heal him were not in vain.
Zhuo Feng didn't agree with the teacher-student relationship, but at least they could be friends. Otherwise, Yan Jue felt a sense of unreality as he watched his favorability steadily rise while looking at Zhuo Feng's noble and cold face, as if it were a fox that kept him at arm's length.
Well, there's also a feeling of heartache.
Ever since he got busy, Yan Jue had a vague feeling that he was abandoned by his two cubs. His identity as a "teacher" had become increasingly insignificant, and Zhuo Feng was about to replace him.
Although it is inevitable that Noel is super cute and loved by everyone, but Zhuo Fengzi, can you look back at your lonely and empty-nest teacher Yan, remember that you are also a cub, and don't steal his job?
Yan Jue was secretly melancholy, and it took Noel calling him twice to bring him back to his senses and let him run away from home.
"Noel?" Yan Jue apologized, "I'm sorry, I was distracted just now."
"Teacher, are you still busy? Is it very tiring?" Noel frowned and said earnestly, "Teacher, please take care of your health. My mother told me that humans are very fragile. You must take good care of yourself."
Zhuo Feng said nothing, but his tail, which had been motionless behind him, twitched a little impatiently. Yan Jue did not overlook this small detail.
"Thank you, Nuoer and Zhuofeng, for your concern. Teacher, I'm fine. I've got a clue about things on my end, and I think things will be back on track soon. I shouldn't be so busy in the future."
Because of the mental potions and Atlantis seafood, his points had been draining away quite quickly. And just in case, and to alleviate his anxiety, he wanted to save more points. Besides that, he was also preparing to bring Zhuo Feng back into reality.
Is there anyone who understands spiritual energy better than Zhuo Feng? No.
Now that Zhuo Feng has come to his dimension, he naturally cannot ignore Noel. The two cubs require a lot of handling fees, and the urgency of scoring has increased again.
Of course, Yan Jue didn't intend to tell them about this before they were fully prepared.
Many thoughts flashed through his mind, and Yan Jue collected his thoughts and asked the question that had puzzled him the most: "Why did Noel get up so early today?"
"Ah." Noel paused while biting the straw, then said in annoyance as he remembered something. "I almost forgot. Father and the others have already agreed to the trade. But they said that if you, teachers, can agree to one of our requests, the deal can begin."
Yan Jue was surprised: "Agreed? What are your requirements?"
A red gift box with the words "Noel's Gift" on it suddenly appeared on the screen.
Noel scratched his cheek sheepishly and whispered, "Father gave me something last night so I could have time to deliver it to the teacher. I remembered that, so I came to the kindergarten right after I woke up this morning, intending to hand it over to the teacher myself. I was just, just a little delayed."
"I don't know what the request was. Father told me many times not to peek." Noel's face showed a hint of pride. "I did it."
"Noel is awesome!" Yan Jue praised her without hesitation. "The teacher has to leave for a while to deal with this matter. You two can play by yourselves, okay?"
The accident came too suddenly and he didn't dare to delay.
"Goodbye, teacher." Noel had no objection and nodded obediently, waving his hand in the air. "Teacher, please take care of yourself."
Zhuofeng raised his tail and wagged it as a farewell.
Fortunately, he didn't tell the two kids that it was raining today and that he had time to play with them. Otherwise, it would have been too awkward and cold to just turn around and leave after making such a boast. After exiting the game, Yan Jue breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the item in his hand.
The gift box contained a roll of yellowish parchment, which felt slightly heavy in the hand due to its material. There was a circular stamp on the seal of the roll. Yan Jue touched it and, upon closer inspection, discovered that the stamp was made of some kind of seaweed, retaining a plant-like texture.
After asking the expert group for their opinions, Yan Jue opened the scroll directly in the confidential room.
"The teacher is gone, and his aura is gone."
"Really?" Noel threw the redwood fruit in his hand, which had long been empty, into the trash can, and then fell on Zhuofeng's back.
Where was he now, the lively and calm person he had been when Yan Jue had seen him just now? His chubby little face was wrinkled into a ball, and while sighing, he didn't forget to pinch Zhuo Feng's big ears into various shapes, and his tail fin irritably slapped the water surface, stirring up waves.
"Brother, what should I do?" Noel rubbed the fur on Zhuofeng's back. "What did you just say? Tell me the first half of the sentence, I kind of forgot..."
Obviously, before Yan Jue arrived, the two cubs were having some secret discussion unknown to others, and even tacitly cooperated to fool Yan Jue.
Zhuo Feng stretched his head forward, freeing his ear from Noel's clutches. "I told you to let nature take its course. You don't need to prove yourself to your family right now. You can stimulate the power within your body in other ways."
Not only Yan Jue, Zhuo Feng was also shocked when he received the reminder from Noel in the morning inviting him to the swimming pool.
When he arrived, before he could even open his mouth, the little fish pulled him aside and started complaining. Bringing a letter to his father was just a side note; the content of the little fish's words was the main reason he had gotten up early.
The reason was that Noel's mother taught him to sing two days ago and discovered that her son was tone-deaf.
It's true that Noel is still in puberty and isn't even qualified to go to school, but that has nothing to do with her ability to sing. Mermaids are born with power, and it grows stronger with age. Once they can speak fluently after the first seven days, even those who struggle will instinctively hum a few words.
When Noel's mother was bored and humming a song to her son and encouraging him to sing along, she suddenly discovered that her son had a defect.
In fact, Noel was a little caught off guard when he spoke.
How come, after being reborn, he's still so unlucky and tone-deaf? He thought he'd have a new, healthy voice. But having found a solution, he wasn't overly panicked, but rather remarkably calm, as if the tuneless arias that came out of his mouth weren't his own, had nothing to do with him.
In contrast, Noel's mother was not calm.
She hurriedly comforted Noel and left on the pretext of going to find her husband and the high priest. After her mother left, Noel realized that not being able to sing was a disaster for a mermaid.
This devastating disaster once surrounded him, and it was his teacher who saved him.
Looking at the quiet and deserted bedroom, Noel almost subconsciously wanted to catch up with his mother's leaving trajectory, hold her and tell her not to worry, he can inspire strength by reciting poems.
But after swimming less than a meter, Noel stopped.
He couldn't explain how he'd discovered it. Even with a teacher from another world, he couldn't explain how he, a newborn, had gotten his hands on a collection of poetry published by a bard. Would the palace have such things? He didn't know. Even now, he didn't know the exact size of the palace.
The existence of the kindergarten cannot be exposed.
Noel stayed in his own bedroom, feeling extremely helpless.
Just at this moment, he suddenly remembered the excerpt from "Atlantis Notes" that Teacher 91 read to him when he had not found a way to stimulate his power.
"Because I can't sing, I was abandoned by my parents, discriminated against and ridiculed by my fellow tribesmen, and can only survive by hiding near the habitats of various ferocious fish..."
As the prince of Atlantis, he would surely be disappointed and ridiculed if he couldn't sing. Would his father and mother abandon him just because he couldn't sing?
"Is Zhuo Feng asking me to hide this from Father and Mother?" Noel wondered, "But they've been so kind to me, I don't want to lie to them."
"My mother hugged me and cried, saying it was all her fault. She didn't give birth to me properly and didn't give me enough nutrition, so I couldn't hatch from the egg for a long time. After I did, I had physical defects and couldn't sing. My father also assured me that no matter what I was like, I was their favorite child and told me not to worry too much."
"How can this be Mom's fault?"
"And I just realized I didn't hatch in time, but stayed inside the egg for several extra months." Noel exclaimed in amazement. "Wow, if only I had been more diligent and studied harder to graduate from kindergarten earlier, and been born earlier, I could have saved several months from adulthood."
Today, Noel still wants to become an adult sooner.
Zhuo Feng's body froze, and he turned his head slowly, looking at Noel and repeating, "You mean, you only emerged from your shell in reality after graduating from kindergarten?"
He had always thought that Noel was chosen to enter the kindergarten after breaking out of his shell. So, could this little fish have entered the kindergarten while still in its shell? If it hadn't been born, it would have been insane. So how did Noel get in without a mind?
Zhuo Feng's head was buzzing. Noel's experience contradicted all the common sense he had learned, but the existence of the magical kindergarten made everything make sense.
He squatted down and scanned Noel's innocent face several times. After a long while, he said weakly, "Don't you feel something is wrong?"
Noel wouldn't think that the mermaid was "alive" just like usual when she was in the egg.
"Huh?" The fox pillow slipped away, and without support, Noel fell onto the air mattress, looking up at Zhuo Feng blankly, "Why do I feel like I've heard this question somewhere before?"
Looking at Noel's expression, Zhuo Feng sighed, "It's nothing, I'm just thinking too much." No way.
Whatever happened to Noel, it was inextricably linked to 91. He was saved from his death by 91 and given a new life, so it wasn't surprising that Noel had a similar experience. As long as the current outcome was good, he didn't need to get to the bottom of it.
Let's get to the bottom of it. Is 91 willing to let him hit the casserole?
There's nothing wrong with letting this little fish be carefree.
Zhuo Feng put away his worried expression and brought the conversation back to the right track: "Let's continue talking about your troubles."
"Since your parents don't mind your tone-deafness and they've promised to take good care of you, just let it be and live your life. This is just a temporary concealment, not a lie."
Noel, distracted, stopped caring about the previous question. He lay sprawled on the air mattress, one hand supporting his chin while the other held one of Burning Wind's tails in his arms. He said gloomily, "But I don't want to see my father and mother's worried and guilty expressions. Every time I see them, my heart aches. It's so strange."
Zhuo Feng glared at him: "Why don't you ask the teacher? I'm not good at this either."
He knew that he had almost no sensitivity to human relationships.
"No," Noel shook his head. "The teacher is so busy. When he came to see us and talk to us a few days ago, I felt like he was almost fainting from exhaustion. He was so tired. The teacher has already helped me solve the problem of not being able to inspire strength through singing. How can I bother him with such a small matter?"
If he wanted to ask the teacher for his opinion, why did he hide it just now?
When Zhuo Feng heard this, his eyes moved slightly.
"Brother, Zhuofeng, please help me think about this." Noel hugged the fox tail in his arms and acted coquettishly, "Is there any way for me to tell my parents that I can use my powers without revealing the existence of the kindergarten?"
"No," Zhuo Feng said bluntly, "Either you tell the truth now, play dumb until your parents ask you questions, and then you'll be fine once they stop asking. Or you can just hold it in until you hear someone mention a bard or a collection of poetry, show interest, and then pretend you've made a surprising discovery."
"It's a choice between the two. That's all I can think of."
Noel was stroking the fox's tail anxiously, and as he was thinking, he unconsciously put the tip of the tail into his mouth. Zhuo Feng saw this and quickly pulled the tail back.
"Okay." Noel nodded reluctantly, "I choose the second option. Thanks for helping me, brother."
"You're welcome." After Zhuo Feng finished speaking, he stretched out his paws and used the pads of his flesh to dig at the air mattress. He lowered his head slightly, and his tail behind him shook wildly.
Noel rubbed his eyes and said in a hazy voice: "The matter is resolved, then I will go back to sleep. I got up too early today..."
"Wait!" Zhuo Feng suddenly looked up and called out to Noel, "Noel, I want to ask you something."
Noel blinked his eyes and tried to wake himself up: "Brother, tell me."
His younger brother finally asked him for help again, so he had to do a good job.
"Exactly. I want to ask, do you know what the teacher likes?" Zhuo Feng felt his cheeks getting a little hot, but luckily the fur blocked his view. "I want to give the teacher a gift. Do you know what he'd like?"
He had this idea in mind after confessing his story, but due to some subtle emotions and not knowing the teacher's preferences, he had not been able to implement it. As Noel said, the teacher had been working hard during this period, and it was reasonable for him to give the teacher a gift to make her happy.
"Gift?"
Nuoer's eyes lit up. He knew this! He grabbed Zhuo Feng and confidently told him, "Teacher said that gifts are about showing the thought, and he'll love anything. But I've secretly observed him, and he has a little bit of a unique hobby."
"Teacher, he just likes ugly ones!"
Zhuo Feng: "...Is this true?" Could it be that she was dissatisfied with his previous proposal and was deliberately trying to trick him?
"Really? I'm not lying. The uglier and weirder something looks, the more the teacher likes it."
To prove his point, Nuoer returned to the dormitory and retrieved the Peppa Pig and Screaming Chicken that Yan Jue had given him. After squeezing the strange-looking, long, yellow chicken until it made a shrill noise, Nuoer thrust the object toward Zhuo Feng and exclaimed, "Look! This is the gift my teacher gave me. Isn't it ugly?"
"If the teacher doesn't like ugly things, then why does he have two ugly and weird toys? Brother, I know it's hard for you to accept this fact. It took me a long time to prepare myself mentally before I decided to respect the teacher's preferences."
Mermaids are a race that values beauty.
Afterwards, Noel asked Teacher 91 to help him condense the images of Running Fish and Thousand Silk Grass. After he described in detail Yan Jue's reaction and what he said to him after receiving the two gifts, Zhuo Feng finally believed it.
Although the teacher's hobbies are hard to describe, he's a very understanding fox. Isn't it just that he likes ugly things? There are so many strange and ugly things on Tianchen Continent.
After seeing Noel off, Zhuo Feng returned to the dormitory and began to carefully select.
The author has something to say:
Yan Jue: I won’t tell you who cheated me.
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