CHAPTER 1801: CHAPTER 22: SECOND ACADEMIC YEAR BEGINS EARLY

Poseidon was ultimately taken back to the Greenhill Mansion by Su Ya.

The little fox didn’t have the courage to skip class and wanted to use Zheng Qing as a shield; but it didn’t know, the young law student didn’t have the courage to interfere with Su Shijun’s education of it either.

After all, he wasn’t a Big Wizard yet.

So after walking out of the shaded path, at the next intersection, Zheng Qing handed Poseidon solemnly to Su Ya, admonishing: "How can you not have finished your homework? Be good, since you’ve started school, you should study diligently and make progress every day, understand?"

The little fox was stunned for a second, suddenly realizing it had been abandoned, chirping, struggling hard to escape the clutches of evil. But Su Ya swiftly grabbed the back of its neck, thwarting its escape attempt.

"You know your priorities." The little fox girl glared at the warlock, then snuggled Poseidon tight, shook her ears, and left proudly with her fluffy big tail.

Zheng Qing watched her petite figure disappear behind the bushes, sighed deeply, turned around, and walked dejectedly towards Dormitory Hill.

He decided to avoid the Greenhill Mansion for the time being, because he had reason to believe that after today, there would be no one or fox there welcoming him.

The melancholy of young people comes and goes quickly.

When Zheng Qing stood in front of the iron gate at the foot of Dormitory Hill, and saw Grandpa Niwu squatting in the middle of the gate puffing smoke, the little fox’s chirping complaints were left behind.

"Grandpa Niwu, long time no see!" The warlock greeted with a smile, casually pulled out a few smoke balls from his pocket, and stuffed them into the Bronze Beast’s mouth.

Although by standard time calculations, it had only been a little over a month since Zheng Qing last left the dormitory, during which he first ventured into the Dreamland and then participated in a shocking battle in the Black Prison World, so seeing Grandpa Niwu leisurely puffing smoke again always gave him a sense of another lifetime.

The Bronze Beast in the gate hole chewed the smoke balls, lifted its eyes, glanced indifferently at the beaming boy, and impatiently raised its chin. Zheng Qing was stunned for a few seconds then reacted, hurriedly pulled out his student card, and held it to Grandpa Niwu.

The Bronze Beast’s eyes flashed red, yawned and patted the ball under its paws.

Click.

A crisp sound came from the iron gate behind it, then with a creak, it slowly opened.

Behind the door was the familiar silver corridor.

Zheng Qing took a deep breath, quickly walked into the corridor, and opened the dormitory door at the end — indigo carpet, the four-cornered six-pillar bed, the central classroom’s ochre-yellow desk, and the four black swivel chairs surrounding it, familiar colors, familiar smells, familiar scenes, although Zheng Qing felt something was missing, it didn’t stop him from feeling content.

"Meow! Meow!"

A gray shadow like a gust of wind rushed out from under the desk, crashing into the warlock’s arms, nearly knocking him to the ground.

Zheng Qing regained his senses, only to realize that the one who crashed into his arms was a dog.

"Furry Bean?!"

The young wizard exclaimed in surprise, "What are you doing here!"

"Because this place smells most like you, so it stayed here all along." A familiar voice came from the balcony, startling Zheng Qing: "...Before it even went to D&K for a while, nearly sold by Fox Five as stray dog."

As they spoke, a stout figure squeezed into the dorm from the balcony.

It was Xin Fat Man.

Zheng Qing instinctively calculated the time, today was August 23, the fourth of the seventh lunar month, a Sunday, and there was still a week until the start of school on September 1, why did the Fat Man arrive so early?

Then, he remembered about last school year shifting the freshman trial to before the second-year start.

So that’s how it was.

No wonder the school hospital let him out so easily.

"Yo, Mr. Zha, long time no see!" The Fat Man greeted the boy cheerfully, the Fatty Cat on top of his head, wagged its tail lazily at Zheng Qing as a gesture of greeting.

Zheng Qing’s surprise hadn’t even fully shown before being shattered by the Fat Man’s form of address.

His expression was so twisted that the Fat Man couldn’t help but glance at him a few more times: "Your expression... is it facial spasms? Side effects from magic power backlash?"

Zheng Qing tugged on the top of Furry Bean’s head out of reflex, giving it an unwarranted misfortune, and the dog whimpered pathetically, even stopping to wag its tail.

"You call me that name one more time, I’ll flatten you!" The law student flushed red and gritted his teeth warningly.

The Fat Man immediately raised both his hands and laughed heartily: "Don’t blame me... I wasn’t the first to call you that nickname, I saw Jiang Da Headmaster call you that with great gusto, why don’t you give her a beating too?"

Hearing this, Zheng Qing immediately wilted like a frostbitten eggplant.

The Fat Man also decided that was enough teasing, he turned and squeezed back into the balcony, continuing to tinker with something clanging loudly.

"What are you doing?" Zheng Qing tore open his tent, slapped the dust off, and asked stuffily while pinching his nose. Furry Bean obediently crawled under his bed.

"Sorting out last semester’s books and magic materials." The Fat Man answered, "The place is small, too much stuff, have to make room for the new arrivals."

"How do you plan to handle it?"

"’Sell whatever you can, there’s always a suitable market’," The Fat Man hollered: "That’s something Shakespeare once said, can’t be wrong."

"Shakespeare said that?" Zheng Qing expressed doubt while lighting a few Cleaning Charms to dispel the dust, mold, and dirt inside the tent.

"Close enough." The Fat Man chuckled it off without giving a precise answer.

Zheng Qing couldn’t help but smile; if Xiao Xiao got doubted similarly, he’d certainly report the exact citation, even the page and line number from related editions, never passing over it so vaguely.

Once the tent was clean and the bed neatly made, Zheng Qing lay on the soft bed on his back, looking at the tent’s meticulously woven canopy, finally realizing what he’d been missing all along.

"Where’s my sprites?" He flipped up from the bed and shouted at the Fat Man.

"In the shop." The Fat Man’s voice drifted from the balcony: "The Doctor’s already gone to fetch them... and audit the accounts. Did you not visit the shop all summer? Fox Five’s complaining paper cranes have filled all our drawers!"

Zheng Qing inexplicably felt a bit embarrassed.

But he had a good reason, too.

"I was hospitalized the whole time, to prevent emotional fluctuations, the therapist banned me from contacting outside too much." He explained: "You should know this situation..."

"Of course, otherwise, do you think this summer would’ve been so tranquil for you?" The Fat Man snickered, poking his head back into the room from the balcony: "By the way, you’re OK now, right, able to use magic normally?"

Fatty Cat atop his head wobbled slightly, then raised a paw to pat the Fat Man’s head, and he obligingly tilted his head to make Fatty Cat more comfortable.

"Shouldn’t be an issue." Zheng Qing thought of the yellow cow he’d roped, confidently patted the Law book beside him.