Feng Ruoxing dragged me up. "There's something I need you to take care of right now!"

Actually, I was also curious about what trouble Xiao Kui had gotten into. I casually asked, "What is it?"

Feng Ruoxing handed me her phone. "Check the class group yourself."

I looked at it, and there was a message from Xiao Kui's homeroom teacher: "Please don't let your children wear smartwatches to school. Today, a very inappropriate incident occurred because of a smartwatch. I'm exhausted!" Followed by a face-palm emoji.

I looked further down: "Parents of the student(s) involved, please come to the school tomorrow."

I lit a cigarette and took a puff. "What exactly happened? And an 'inappropriate incident'? How inappropriate can a bunch of kids be?"

Feng Ruoxing said helplessly, "Some of the kids with smartwatches created a group chat, and today, one of them took a picture of a boy's private parts while he was in the restroom and sent it to the group."

I was stunned. "Xiao Kui did it?"

"No!" Feng Ruoxing shook her head. "But Xiao Kui is the group owner. The group's name is 'Protecting Goddess Xiao Kui.'"

I almost choked on my cigarette. "How old are these kids? What do they know about goddesses? I'm not going. I'm afraid of being lectured by the teacher. I was afraid of that when I was a kid. I'm not going! Not even if you kill me!"

Before I could finish speaking, a message came in the class group: "Are Xiao Kui's parents available? I'd like to do a home visit after school today."

Crap!

She's coming to our door!

I immediately threw the phone back to Feng Ruoxing. "Get Ye Yang back. Xiao Kui's last name is Ye. If I receive the teacher, she'll think I'm her stepfather. That won't do. It's not good for Xiao Kui's development."

I was about to run, but the girls grabbed my waist, pulled on my clothes, and yanked my neck, almost putting a cleaver to it. "If you don't receive the teacher today, Wang the Butcher will be stewing human meat tonight. It's up to you!"

Have these girls gone crazy?

What are they trying to do?

I couldn't reason with them, so I had no choice but to resign myself to fate and wait for the teacher to arrive.

Before dinner, Xiao Kui came into Liangjie Hall holding the hand of a young girl.

As I looked the girl up and down—dressed in sportswear and full of youthful energy—she reached out her hand to me. "Hello, my name is Xia Mengying. I'm Xiao Kui's homeroom teacher."

I sat still. "Should I call you Teacher Xia, or Fellow Daoist Xia?"

This teacher was not only a shushi (occult practitioner), but also came from the Confucian school.

Some say that seventy percent of all shushi come from the Three Teachings (Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism), twenty percent from the Wu (shamanistic) tradition, and only ten percent from miscellaneous schools.

This ratio may not be accurate, but it's certain that many shushi have connections with the Three Teachings. Among them, those who come purely from a certain sect are bound to be the best in the art.

Confucian shushi are not weak scholars, nor are they just pedantic academics.

They either excel in the Six Arts of the Gentleman, or cultivate a spirit of righteousness. When they actually fight, many famous experts are no match for them.

Xia Mengying smiled and cupped her fist. "Wouldn't this be more in line with the style of Liangjie Hall?"

After returning the gesture, I raised my voice. "Prepare a feast to welcome our fellow daoist."

On the surface, I was welcoming a fellow daoist, but in reality, I was wary of her.

This Teacher Xia originally said she was coming for a home visit, but now she's come to Liangjie Hall as a shushi. Could it be that she's discovered Xiao Kui's identity?

If that's the case, today's matter might not end well.

Although I've never had contact with the Confucian school, I've heard that they're extremely hostile to unorthodox and evil practices.

Xia Mengying's aura of righteousness is very obvious, indicating that she holds a high position among Confucian disciples, but everyone in my Liangjie Hall is involved in unorthodox practices.

There has always been a rule in the art that shushi can keep ghosts, but they cannot let ghosts approach the living. My sending Xiao Kui to school is a great taboo.

If this Teacher Xia has really come to question us, a great battle will be unavoidable today.

After I led Teacher Xia into the dining room, Wang the Butcher quickly set up a table of food, and according to the custom of the Northeast bandits, it was a table full of meat. There wasn't a single pair of chopsticks on the table, only daggers placed according to the number of people. The drinking vessels were also large white porcelain bowls that could hold half a jin when filled.

I gave Wang the Butcher a look, and he picked up a wine jar more than half a meter tall and filled the wine bowls one by one.

I picked up a wine bowl and said, "It is my great honor to have Teacher Xia visit my humble abode. I will drink this bowl first as a sign of respect."

Without waiting for her to speak, I picked up the wine bowl, tilted my head back, and drank it clean, showing her the empty bowl.

In the Northeast bandit tradition, when the host offers a toast, the guest must drink it. If they don't, it's a sign of disrespect, and there's nothing left to talk about.

The moment I showed the bowl, Feng Ruoxing and the others quietly reached under the table.

In the next second, whether we drink or draw our knives depends entirely on Teacher Xia's attitude.

Teacher Xia picked up the wine bowl and drank it down in one gulp. She picked up the wine jar herself, refilled the bowl, and smiled. "Thank you, Hall Master Li, for your hospitality. I'll use this to make an offering to the two leaders."

After Teacher Xia drank another bowl, she refilled the bowl again. "This bowl, I offer to the sisters present."

Teacher Xia drank three bowls in a row before sitting back down.