We're Innocent!

"Uh—" In the silence, Ji Jue squirmed twice in his seat, then swallowed hard. Figuring that extending his neck was death and pulling it back was death all the same, and that it was better to die quickly and painlessly, he hemmed and hawed for a while before finally speaking up. "I feel like... it's passable, isn't it?" "It certainly is passable." Professor Ye gave a nod, her face devoid of expression. "Barely promoted from unburnable trash to ordinary trash. I honestly don't know how you had the nerve to submit it. "When I received it a few days ago, I even checked the date to see if it was April Fools' Day. "With your standard, how long did it take you to make this thing?" She asked, "Five days? Three?" "About... about that." Ji Jue kept his head down and mumbled for quite some time, never daring to confess that he had only spent four hours on it. Abandoning any further excuses, he pulled his medical record booklet from his pocket and presented it with both hands. "Something came up midway. I got hit by a car and was stuck in the hospital for a while." To be fair, while he knew the pile of papers was slapdash, it was not truly *that* terrible. With a bit of polishing, it could still pass as an undergraduate thesis. But if all Professor Ye wanted was work of that caliber, why would she have sought him out in the first place? There were so many student workhorses out there—wild ones, free-range ones, penned-in ones—all plump, juicy, and bringing their own coffee for all-nighters. Could she not have roped in just any one of them to do it? The medical record lay on the desk, entirely ignored by Professor Ye. She glanced at Ji Jue, verified that all four of his limbs were intact and that he was present in one piece, then pointed at the stack of papers on the desk. "Aside from the framework and data sections, rewrite the rest. Especially the arguments and evidence—don't scrape together scraps from before to make up the word count. If I see any more nonsensical fever dreams like 'a big banana has a big peel,' pack your things and get lost." "Ah? Oh, yes, ma'am!" Ji Jue blanked for a second, not expecting Professor Ye to show such mercy this time around. Back in the project group, plenty of poor student workhorses had been chewed out mercilessly over a single misplaced symbol or the wrong font size. Snapping back to his senses, he hurriedly took the paper back. Yet the thickness took him by surprise. He had not written nearly that much. Opening it, he found dense margins covered in notes and questions. Quite a few of them were scathing critiques like *complete rubbish*, *pointless filler*, and *zero practical value*, but the vast majority consisted of rigorous inquiries and revisions that made Ji Jue break into a cold sweat. Naturally, what stood out the most was the front cover. In the slot for the secondary author, a name was circled in bright red ink, flanked by a question mark that occupied nearly half the page. —*Ye Chun*. Evidently, she had seen right through his underhanded trick of dragging an upperclassman down with him now that he was doomed. Ji Jue wiped off his cold sweat. "Ah, that was just fooling around. A joke, just a joke." "I know." Professor Ye blew gently on her tea leaves, her tone nonchalant. "The piece of trash she handed in listed you as the second author, too." "..." For a moment, Ji Jue sorely wanted to call the police. Sure enough, every steamer of shaomai, fried dumpling, and oat bun bought by fate had secretly been marked with a price... Skipping out on work together was one thing, but how could she drag him down as her scapegoat, too?! No wonder she had been so attentive today. Truly, unprompted courtesy hid wicked designs! "All right, off you go. Aren't you supposed to take your family on a tour around Tianmen?" Professor Ye placed the lid back on her teacup and waved a dismissive hand. "Remember to drop by again this afternoon. I still have tasks to give you." "..." In the silence, Ji Jue hesitated, parting his lips to speak. Professor Ye looked up at him. "What is it?" "Professor, this afternoon..." He stammered for a second, then explained, "I have something to take care of." It was not that he wanted to slack off; Wen Wen had warned him several days prior to clear his afternoon schedule no matter what, threatening him with dire consequences otherwise. It seemed to be something genuinely important, leaving him with no way to back out. "Hm?" In the brief hush, Professor Ye studied him, her brow arching slightly in apparent surprise. Soon, as if something had dawned on her, she nodded in realization. "So that's it." She asked out of the blue, "Are you seeing someone?" "No, no, no, no, no, not at all!" Ji Jue almost jumped right out of his chair in fright, waving his hands frantically as though terrified Wen Wen might hear from hundreds of kilometers away and drive a dainty little fist through his chest. "It's purely a friend who needs me for something. I owe her a massive favor, so I really can't flake on it." The professor pressed no further. She simply waved her hand, dropping the demand. Stashing his paper, Ji Jue bolted from the room, sweating bullets. As expected, he failed to catch that woman Ye Chun, who had made her escape long ago. After searching several rounds to no avail, he could only vent his impotent fury via text, sending a few toothless threats along the lines of *you'd better pray I don't run into you on the streets of Tianmen*. Ye Chun replied with a laughing dog-head sticker pointing mockingly at the screen. He spent the morning escorting Lu Ling around half of Tianmen. After seeing her counselor and classmates and finishing lunch at the cafeteria, his phone rang with an incoming call from Wen Wen. "Where are you?" The roar of a motorcycle engine sounded over the line. "Are you washed up and dressed? Don't drag your feet—get out here, fast!" "Where else could I be? Tianmen," Ji Jue sighed. "Sister Wen, my semester starts today." "Great, perfect timing. Stay right there." The call clicked off. Less than ten minutes later, Ji Jue caught the familiar roar of an engine by the roadside. The motorcycle brazenly cruised right onto campus grounds, its flame-like fiery orange streaking along the school road and drawing countless pairs of eyes. Then, just before Ji Jue could sense danger and flee, it screeched to a halt right in front of him. "Isn't this a bit over the top, big sister?" Ji Jue was baffled. "What is this even about?" "Didn't I tell you I'd set you up with something good? I found an in!" Wen Wen pulled off her helmet, her face beaming with excitement. "Celestial Chosen of other Virtues might get away with running wild and living at the mercy of luck, but Embers? Without a guide and a legacy, you won't make it a single step. Hand you a matrix and you wouldn't even know how to use it. "I'm introducing you to one of the few true master alchemists in all of Yacheng. Word only got out recently that they're planning to take on an apprentice. God knows how many people are desperately trying to get in line without even managing a single meeting. "It took a massive effort on my part just to secure today's chance. Mind your manners later—whether this works out or not is entirely up to you!" "Huh?" Ji Jue was dumbfounded. His paper had just been rejected and sent back for a complete rewrite, and now Wen Wen was enrolling him in some extracurricular tutoring class for the Celestial Chosen? Instinctively wanting to decline, he mumbled, "I haven't written my paper yet..." "You can write it tonight just the same. Move it, move it!" Wen Wen tossed him a helmet and pointed at the pillion seat. "Get on!" With a single tug of her arm, Ji Jue found himself hauled onto the back of the bike against his will. Fumbling to fasten the helmet, he barely had time to notice the familiar scent of perfume inside before the motorcycle surged forward. All he could do was hold on for dear life. "Where are we going?" "Not far! Just around the corner." The motorcycle skirted the lakeside, crossed the main avenue, shot up an incline, and wove through lush greenery on either side. Yet the further they rode, the more uneasy Ji Jue felt, a prickly sensation crawling across his scalp. This direction... "Wait a second, Sister Wen." Trailing her into the main hall and stepping into the elevator, Ji Jue tried to stop her. "Hey, don't be scared. Just watch me." Wen Wen flashed a confident grin, raising a brow. "No, wait, I..." "Relax." She waved her hand to cut him off. "Just wait for my good news!" With that, she marched forward in great strides, chest out and head held high as she swept down the corridor. And right before Ji Jue's horrified eyes, she pushed open... the door to Professor Ye's office! Ji Jue froze in his tracks. His vision went completely black. So, uh... was it too late to run? From his dazed shock, through the crack in the door, he heard a voice that was excruciatingly familiar. "Ms. Wen, I'm sorry to have troubled you to make the trip. To be frank, I have already decided on an apprentice. Although he leaves much to be desired, I don't intend to replace him for now." "Come now, Master Ye, there's no harm in taking a look! I brought the boy with me—sharp, capable, brimming with talent, and willing to work like a beast of burden. You can hitch him straight to a millstone and drive him like cattle! Why not at least have a look at him?" As if terrified the master might change her mind, Wen Wen shoved the door wide, reached out, and dragged Ji Jue—who was already desperate to curl into a ball and scurry away—straight inside. Shoving him before Professor Ye's desk, she slapped him hard on the shoulder. "See? What do you think? "Ji Jue, go on, introduce yourself." *Show her your stuff!* *Bust out a trick! Do a backflip!* "Ah... er... um..." In the silence, Ji Jue hemmed and hawed for ages, not daring to lift his head, let alone perform a backflip. He merely offered a feeble greeting. "...Good afternoon, Professor Ye." Wen Wen could not resist secretly kicking him under the desk. What was wrong with this boy? Why was he getting stage fright now of all times? Where had all his usual smooth-talking flair gone? If eyes could speak, Ji Jue could have delivered a fifty-thousand-word essay. He knew how to talk smooth, but he didn't have the guts! Especially now, as the expression in Professor Ye's eyes shifted from bewilderment into utter amusement. She looked at Ji Jue, then glanced at the frustrated Wen Wen beside him, and suddenly asked, "So this is... having something to take care of this afternoon?" "Yes, ma'am." Ji Jue nodded with utmost obedience, his face practically buried in his chest. "...Not seeing someone?" Professor Ye asked again. Ji Jue shook his head like a madman. "Really, not at all! As pure and innocent as the driven snow!" Professor Ye fell silent. Or rather, having lived for over forty years, she genuinely had no idea how to handle a situation so preposterous and awkward. Her own designated research workhorse had used an excuse to slip out the door, only to be branded as an export and paraded right back inside on a leash. Only then did Wen Wen's thick-skinned nerves finally register that something was amiss. She gave the two of them a puzzled look, slowly drifting into confusion. "You two are...?" "..." Amid the brief silence, Professor Ye cleared her throat twice. Her habitually cold, stern expression twitched faintly as she strove to sound calm. "Ms. Wen, allow me to introduce him... The young man standing beside you is a researcher in my New Phlogiston Power Structure project group here at Tianmen University, as well as the prospective apprentice I am taking into my workshop—Ji Jue." Wen Wen slowly turned her head. She looked at Ji Jue, then back at Professor Ye, the air practically humming with the scent of an overloaded brain. "Which is to say..." "Yes, precisely." Professor Ye nodded and said bluntly, "You recommended my own apprentice to become my apprentice. I must say, you have quite an eye." And so, an agonizingly long silence descended. In that suffocating, deadly awkwardness, Ji Jue watched the specks of dust drifting down from the ceiling corner, straining with every fiber of his being to shrink his presence down to absolute zero. He could practically hear the sound of a three-bedroom apartment being furiously dug out beneath the office floor. And once the three bedrooms were finished, an adjoining six-hundred-square-meter back garden was built, complete with a complimentary football pitch and a sports arena—all to contain the boundless embarrassment and suicidal urges, along with the grave of a certain someone named Ji Jue! "...Pardon the intrusion." Wen Wen lowered her head and politely slipped right through the newly excavated crack in the floor. A moment later, the door swung open again. She poked her head back in, grabbed Ji Jue by the collar, and offered Professor Ye a polite nod of departure. "Pardon us, borrowing him for a bit." "Remember to shut the door." Professor Ye turned her head away, completely ignoring Ji Jue's pleading gaze, and looked out the window. The weather was bright and beautiful, without a cloud in sight. The weather really was getting more and more delightful. She lifted her teacup, took a sip, and, unable to hold it in any longer, burst into laughter.