Of course, Ge Zheng would not actually let Pei Lin repeat the year. The Murphy family's young lady had a decent level of metal skills, with her grades ranking in the top thirty of the class. His exam work had reached a good level, and Ge Zheng was only scaring Viola, but he would still judge fairly and let Pei Lin pass smoothly.
But now, there was a headache in front of Ge Zheng: the Fourth Prince's work.
The task required a level seven magic weapon, and based on Ge Zheng's understanding of the Fourth Prince, this question was a piece of cake for him. However, the work submitted by the Fourth Prince was a level six magic weapon.
Looking at the row of magical texts displayed by the appraisal art, Ge Zheng was almost certain that the Fourth Prince did this intentionally. He wanted to repeat the year, to spend another year at the Eastern Victory Academy.
After some thought, he picked up the work and went to the next room.
After Master Aquila saw it, he sighed helplessly, "Forget it, let him repeat the year. I really don't understand, such a simple task, and he couldn't finish it. Although he entered midway, the royal education shouldn't have such low standards."
Ge Zheng felt a sense of frustration.
Upon returning from Master Aquila's room, Ge Zheng soon figured it out: What am I afraid of? Even if Elonhos stayed at the Eastern Victory Academy for thirty years, he wouldn't be able to win me over.
...
The Imperial Prime Minister's residence was in chaos these days. The old Prime Minister loved two women the most in his life: his daughter and his granddaughter. Now his daughter was crying nonstop, like the rain in the royal city in autumn. His granddaughter had already smashed four sets of furniture and showed no signs of stopping.
The old Prime Minister comforted his daughter and granddaughter. Originally busy with the events of the Atto Empire Expo, the old Prime Minister was now even more exhausted.
Finally, the old Prime Minister got angry, "Who caused this? Captain of the Guards, go and bring that person to me!" The old Prime Minister had always been fair, and never let the handle of pressing others with power fall into the hands of his political enemies. Today he was really furious.
"No, Grandpa!"
"Dad, no..." Viola cried, intermittently saying, "I want to reclaim my pride myself!" There was a hint of fierceness in her tone. Pei Lin hugged her little aunt, "Grandpa, you can rest assured, we won't let that boy off easy!" The old Prime Minister sighed, shaking his head, "Ah, do you know what you're doing?"
Viola of course knew. She knew she was going to repeat the year. Her father, stationed at the northern front line of the empire, wasn't as kind as her grandfather. If he found out his precious daughter was repeating the year, even though Viola was already seventeen this year, she wouldn't escape being punished.
It's all because of that damn guy! Viola clenched her fists in anger, if he were in her hands, he would have been crushed by now.
The old Prime Minister paused, "Precious granddaughter, when did you get a mole on your hand?" He didn't mention it for good, but this question ignited Viola's anger. She burst out, smashing several valuable porcelain vases, and muttered to herself, "Forget it, I won't bother anymore. Fortunately, I still have some family fortune. If it were someone else's family, it would have been ruined by you prodigal descendants..."
Viola suddenly had a thought, "Little niece, don't worry, Auntie still has a way."
The two heads leaned in close, and after whispering for a while, Viola was startled, "This is too dangerous. If I'm caught, I'll..." Her aunt waved her hand, "I'll go, I won't let you go. What are you afraid of?"
"Auntie, can we really do it?" Viola still wasn't very sure.
Viola's aunt, three years younger than her, patted her chest with an "old before her time" air, "Don't worry, everything is on me."
...
The most comforting place on a winter morning is the warm bed, but Ge Cheng couldn't enjoy it now. He stepped out, and a gust of cold wind blew, causing Ge Cheng to wrap his warlock robe tightly around him. Fortunately, his internal energy cultivation had progressed, and he was now able to withstand the harsh cold.
As he entered the academy, he greeted the professors he knew along the way, and accepted the greetings from the students coming and going. Ge Zheng started his work at the academy in a good mood.
When he reached the door of his office, he couldn't help but furrow his brow. He leaned against the door and listened, wondering why there was snoring coming from his office!
Carefully, Ge Zheng pushed the door open and was startled by the scene before him: the spacious office was a mess, and a person was tied up with a thick magic light rope, hanging upside down from the ceiling. And that person was sleeping soundly, not a care in the world.
"Assistant Viola!" Ge Zheng exclaimed, "How did you end up here? How did you end up hanging like this?"
Viola rubbed her eyes and looked at the face in front of her upside down, slowly recalling the series of events: she had climbed in from the window, intending to tamper with Pei Lin's grades. Due to her lack of magical skills, she rummaged through the place in the dark, eventually found Pei Lin's grade sheet, but didn't know what to use and ended up being tied up by this damn light rope. What was even worse, the rope was incredibly flexible, and she couldn't break it even after trying everything...
Viola shivered. Hanging for a long time had tired her out, and she had actually fallen asleep!
Ge Zheng looked at the grade sheet under Viola, chuckled, and said, "So Assistant Viola came for this. Well, this isn't a big deal after all..."
Viola was overjoyed, "Are you going to let me go?" "I'm going to hand you over to the dean!" Viola's face instantly turned bitter.
Ge Zheng didn't care, saying, "Anyway, it's not a big deal. All you did was sneaking into my office and tampering with the grades. The dean won't hold it against you, at most just dismiss you. You don't need to worry too much..."
Viola pouted, "So I don't need to worry? If my master finds out that I've been expelled, he will scold me to death."
"However, if you're not willing to see the dean, as long as you pay a price, I can pretend this never happened." Ge Zheng looked at his fingers, sighed lightly, as if it were nothing.
Viola glared at him angrily, "You're threatening me!" Ge Zheng turned and walked away, calling out, "Dean, there's something new today to tell you..."
"Stop!" Viola hurriedly stopped him, puffing out her cheeks and said, "Fine, what price do you want?" Ge Zheng grinned, squinted his eyes as he looked her up and down. Unfortunately, Viola had no response, still pouting and looking at him angrily. He instantly felt a sense of defeat. Forget it, this little girl's mind was as simple as a blank sheet of paper, she wouldn't understand anything even if he threatened her.
"Well, I only have two servants at home, and conveniently one of them is a maid. You can have the honor of this glorious position." Ge Zheng spoke as if granting a favor.
Viola exclaimed, "Are you out of your mind? I'm the daughter of the Prime Minister, the apprentice of the War God! You want me to be a maid!"
"Will you do it or not?" Ge Zheng didn't dwell on it, just asked.
Viola hesitated for a while. Although it was embarrassing, as long as no one saw it at Ge Zheng's house...
Seeing Viola's hesitation, Ge Zheng was secretly delighted, but didn't expect Viola to suddenly change her expression. "No! You need to make a different request, or else I'd rather be expelled by the dean!"
Viola suddenly remembered the day she saw her brother punishing his maid, Alisa, through a crack in the door. The slender Alisa was stripped and looked like a lamb, screaming in pain under her brother. The scene had scared Viola away. Being a maid might lead to punishment, which was too scary.
Viola recalled Alisa's terrifying screams and immediately refused.
Ge Zheng looked at Wei Xi who was sitting on the ground rubbing her head, "My request is simple. From now on, both you and your niece must listen to me obediently in the academy."
Wei Xi snorted twice, "Of course, I can, but Pei Lin..."
Ge Zheng interrupted, "That's your problem, not mine."
Wei Xi put away her dragon steel drumstick, "I'll give it a try, but my precious niece is not easy to deal with." Ge Zheng had a bright idea – to sweeten the pot to use discipline effectively.
"Wei Xi, if you can make Pei Lin become a well-behaved student, I can create an exceptionally good dragon steel drumstick for you."
Wei Xi's eyes lit up, "Really, like the weapon you used to defeat Allenke?" Ge Zheng boasted, "Close enough."
After Ge Zheng had shaved a drumstick into iron shavings, leaving a knot in Wei Xi's heart, she happily agreed, "Deal, I promise to make her a well-behaved student!"
Ge Zheng chuckled to himself: indeed, children are easily persuaded.
...
At the Imperial Prime Minister's residence, Wei Xi was sitting in front of a mountain of fruits and pastries while Lin was serving attentively. "Aunt, what's the result!" she asked anxiously.
The fireplace was burning warmly, and Wei Xi, wearing only a loose skirt, revealed her fair legs. She gestured towards a plate of oranges on the table, "I want that one."
Lin hurriedly brought it to her and peeled it for her. Wei Xi chewed and pointed to another fruit, "That one..."
The huge pile of fruits slowly disappeared into her mouth, surprising everyone at how she managed to fit so much in her small belly.
Finally finishing, she leaned back in the chair, patting her slightly bulging stomach, sighing, "Phew, finally full after last night's scare..."
She had slept hanging upside down all night, not knowing what had frightened her.
Lin was becoming impatient, "Aunt, what's the result?" Wei Xi snorted, "I didn't sleep all night. Let me rest, then I'll tell you."
"Aunt!" Lin shouted, making Wei Xi jump up, grinning, "I was just teasing you." Lin quickly asked, "So tell me the result."
Wei Xi shrugged, "The result is, after going through countless hardships, I finally found your report card, but the grades were good. I wanted to change it to excellent, but accidentally triggered a magic trap and was left hanging from the ceiling all night."
Lin was surprised, "You mean he gave me a good grade?" Wei Xi nodded. "And then he just let you come back?" Wei Xi hesitated but nodded again.
Lin couldn't believe it, "How is that possible, such a good opportunity, why would he let it go..." She thought to herself: perhaps this guy isn't as bad as I thought...
Wei Xi wanted to say, "Even if you get a good grade, you still won't pass this class," but the promise of the new weapon made by Ge Zheng made her swallow her words.