Homeroom Teacher and Class President

In the car.

Ye Qing rested his cheek on the knuckles of his right hand as the elbow propped against the trims of the open window. Although he did live in Hainan Province, this was Ye Qing's first time visiting Haikou City, the capital of the province, in the truest sense of the word.

He only knew that his father had issues in the family's company, and most of the inheritance was distributed among his uncles after the old grandpa passed on. Since then, his father moved to Hainan and settled down.

These were events from twenty years ago when his father had been a young man in his early twenties. Perhaps if he was a more mature and less of a rash person, he wouldn't have escaped all the way to an island.

Ye Qing liked to believe that of all his father's bad habits, the one passed down to the former was the intuitive ability to escape and run away from complicated problems.

It was this mindset that trapped Ye Qing's father in this tropical island and it was also this mindset that almost cost Ye Qing his very life. With that thought, Ye Qing turned his head to give Madam Ye a faint glance through his curtain of black bangs.

Ye Qing asked. "Will everything be okay with the auction today?"

Madam Ye glanced over from the corner of her eye. "You know about the auction house? If you really want to help me, your best option is to grow stronger and control the shady business that goes on in the dark. I'll handle everything else."

Ye Qing furrowed his brows. "I saw the official website and the traffic is very low, not to mention most of your sold items are from your stock, limiting the profit margin greatly. You're probably losing out, have you thought about why?"

Madam Ye said, "The answer is clear as day, these people are limiting traffic and buying my items with rigged pricing. I know about it, which is why I brought you into the picture."

She focused on driving while talking, "We have rules in our circles, we can't actively target ordinary humans unless it was done in self-defense. If you're caught proactively causing trouble by an arbiter, even I wouldn't be able to help. However, this also means that no matter how brazen these people are, at the very least, they won't target us personally."

Ye Qing wanted to say something, but the car had already entered the school grounds and was about to park. Knowing that this wasn't a topic to discuss at length in such an environment, Ye Qing sighed and kept silent.

"If you're that worried," Madam Ye said after a bit of hesitation. "You can come to the auction house with me at7 PM, I'll pick you up after school."

Ye Qing looked over in shock. "I'm not ready to take over as Kaiser yet; at least not looking like this…"

"Relax," Madam Ye rolled her eyes. "You can't join the South Side just because I said you can; you'll have to meet with Al-Father first, he supervises the dark world of our society while Nun Abigail supervises the cultivators in this province, together with her arbiters."

Ye Qing started to feel a bit restless now. However, that's only because no matter how much Madam Ye tried to explain, she always focused on the important details while assuming Ye Qing had a clear understanding of the little details.

Trying to understand Madam Ye's explanations is like listening to a lecture articulated in a foreign language.

As for Ye Qing, even if he wanted to inquire for details, he wouldn't know where to begin with his questions and inquiries. Thus, he could only stare blankly while nodding his head.

Madam Ye nodded, pointing with her chin. "That's your homeroom teacher together with the class president, they'll accompany you through the motions of applying to the school, where you'll register for supplementary classes throughout January to make up for what you've missed from the season."

Since school would start in early February, Ye Qing would have an entire month to catch up on the material of the class. Apparently, Madam Ye pulled some strings for the homeroom teacher together with the class president to come over and supervise the enrollment.

Looking over, Ye Qing noticed a vivacious young girl standing next to a solemn-looking middle-aged woman.

The former was well dressed in the mandatory school uniform despite the holiday season, while the latter had a professional three-piece fitting of a black skirt, white shirt, and a black jacket. She, too, wore tight leggings and high heels.

The teacher looked over toward the Maserati while fixing her rectangular glasses. Her lips moved, Ye Qing assuming that she addressed the young girl by the side.

As expected, the young girl's eyes swiveled over to spot the car as it parked. Then, she enthusiastically bolted over with light steps, hugging a stack of papers and books to her chest.

Ye Qing knew how little Madam Ye cared about ordinary humans and since he didn't want things to get awkward for this young girl, who at first glance, gave the impression of a social butterfly… Ye Qing took the initiative to say his goodbyes before alighting from the car.

"Just pick me up from school, I'll spend my time walking around or going through the library." Ye Qing spoke to Madam Ye through the open window and turned around.

"Alright," Madam Ye responded and drove away with the roaring of the engine. After she left, the young girl had finally jogged her way over, a hint of displeasure and disappointment flashing in her eyes as they lingered on the distant vehicle.

She stomped her feet. "Ouf! Why didn't you ask her to wait a little? I came running all over for nothing!"

The once enthusiastic expression quickly switched to a darker, borderline notorious mask of distress, shocking Ye Qing even as he stood there. What happened?

"She's… busy?" Ye Qing struggled to find the words as he was caught off guard by the sudden shift.

"What happened to your manners, Rumeng? If Madam Ye saw how you're acting right now, do you think she'd allow you to take part in one of her live auctions, much less becoming an auctioneer?" A cold voice joined the conversation, and Ye Qing quickly realized that the teacher was already standing nearby.

She looked over at Ye Qing. "I'll be your homeroom teacher in the future, as well as your supervisor during the supplementary classes. You can call me Teacher Xue, you don't need to know my full name for now."

Then, Teacher Xue pointed at Rumeng. "She's the top student in my class and the elected Students Council President, Zi Rumeng, you can call her President Zi."

Teacher Xue then pointed at Ye Qing. "This is our new transfer student, Madam Ye's adoptive brother, and his name is Ye Qing. Be nice to each other in the future."

Ye Qing looked over at this president once more, though it must be said that he had lost all good first impressions at this point. Likewise, Zi Rumeng only noticed Ye Qing now, particularly after being introduced as Madam Ye's adopted sibling.

"I'm pretty sure my relationship with Madam Ye is a classified secret," Ye Qing leveled a confused, otherwise displeased eye at this homeroom teacher. He understood that she was hinting for Zi Rumeng to use him as a medium to get closer to Madam Ye.

Did she take him for a fool just because he couldn't get into a high school without connections? Or did she think he was a lost puppy found by some street corner and was oblivious to the ways of the world?

Teacher Xue's expression faltered, not having expected Ye Qing to speak out of turn.

"It was a slip of the tongue," she clarified herself. "It won't happen again."

"It had already happened," Ye Qing didn't relent, choosing to start walking ahead as he said, "I've recently learned that life is a game of multiple choices, and so, no decisions ever made are a mistake; stop lying to yourself and learn to go through with whatever decisions you make, teacher."

Since they wish to get in his good books to get closer to Madam Ye, he wouldn't stop them, but he wouldn't make life easier for them either.

Whatever the relationship between these two was, Ye Qing didn't care one bit.

Zi Rumeng stomped the ground with her foot, exasperated. As for Teacher Xue, her brows locked together for a moment as her estimation of Ye Qing's acumen increased a little.

"The situation is salvageable, he would still need your help to go around the facilities and recover the notes of this season. However, you can't pull up a shallow or superficial act now since you've exposed your volatile temperament."

Teacher Xue knew how headstrong yet capricious Zi Rumeng's temperament can be. This wasn't necessarily good or bad, not to mention that Ye Qing voiced his displeasure at one of them, not both.

They had yet to realize that Ye Qing's first impression about them wasn't his concerns about their ambitions or temperaments, but the fact they've proved themselves untrustworthy.

Trust is a very rare commodity to earn nowadays, especially when lost once already.