89: Chapter 89 Your Highness, is the seat next to you taken?

The curriculum at Four Seas Academy has always been divided into the paths of the Literary and the Martial.

Literary classes mainly focus on the four arts—zither, Go, calligraphy, and painting—as well as poetry and songs.

They also cover basic cultivation theories and the secret histories and legends of various major factions.

In the Great Jiang Dynasty, while the Martial Dao is the absolute mainstream, the Literary Dao is by no means a useless pastime.

When cultivated to a profound Realm, a single zither melody can repel a thousand troops, and a single formation map can trap and kill powerful enemies.

There are even many top-tier geniuses who can trigger the resonance of Heaven and Earth through poetry and song alone!

Take the mysterious Head of Four Seas Academy, for example.

She entered the Dao through poetry and forced her way into the eleventh position on the immortal stele heaven rank, stunning the entire world.

Furthermore, in the various Secret Realms left behind by ancient masters, tests of literary attainment often appear.

Therefore, the status of literary classes in the academy is not at all inferior to that of martial classes.

As for martial classes, they were previously conducted by teachers of the God Life Fire Realm who would personally provide guidance and then have the Martial Artists spar in pairs.

However, the situation is different this semester.

Because the end of the year marks the once-in-a-century full opening of the Academy Secret Realm.

So, even before classes started, rumors had already spread within the academy.

It was said that the content of this semester's martial classes would undergo drastic reforms.

The extremely rare reshuffling and equal redistribution of the Heaven Class further confirmed the truth of this news.

Chen Shanzhi, who was familiar with the content of this eroge game, was naturally well aware of all this information.

At the hour of Chen, in the morning.

The academy bell had just finished tolling.

Chen Shanzhi was humming an unknown little tune.

He strolled slowly into the dedicated lecture hall for the Heaven Class's literary lessons.

Since the Literary Class combined the Heaven Class's A, B, and C divisions in the same large lecture hall...

The hall was already crowded with dozens of people sitting inside.

Just as Chen Shanzhi stepped through the entrance of the lecture hall...

In a seat in the middle row toward the right, the eyes of a rather clean-cut girl lit up.

She quickly nudged the beautiful girl next to her, who was looking down at a book, and whispered with a snicker:

“Lingfu, look! It's that Chen Shanzhi!”

The girl called Lingfu was none other than Shen Lingfu, one of the academy's four great talented women.

She looked up slightly, following her friend Xia Lan's gaze, her eyebrows furrowing almost imperceptibly.

She then quickly resumed her pure and harmless appearance, merely nodding faintly.

Xia Lan leaned into her ear and gossiped with a wink:

“Didn't he used to follow you around like a lost puppy, shamelessly chasing you?”

“This time is different; who knows what kind of dumb luck he had. He made a name for himself at the start-of-term martial demonstration, not only breaking into the hidden dragon ranking but also the academy wind and cloud ranking, stealing all the limelight!”

“Tell me, with how successful and pleased with himself he looks now...“

“Do you think he'll come straight over to this empty seat next to you later...“

“And continue to try and please you just like before?”

Xia Lan covered her mouth and giggled, her tone carrying a hint of flattery:

“After all, our Lingfu is one of the four great talented women recognized by the entire academy. Not only are you beautiful with a sweet voice, but you're also very talented in the Martial Dao.”

“That profligate heir has coveted you for a long time!”

Hearing her friend's praise, a flash of smugness crossed Shen Lingfu's eyes.

But on the surface, she maintained her pure and gentle demeanor.

She gently patted the back of Xia Lan's hand and scolded softly:

“Xia Lan, don't talk nonsense. The Heir Apparent is of noble status; to have his favor is my honor.”

“If he is willing to sit next to me, I would naturally welcome him.”

Despite saying this, Shen Lingfu's slightly raised, delicate chin...

And the casual way she tucked a stray hair behind her ear...

Revealed her inner certainty that 'Chen Shanzhi will definitely come licking over like a dog later.'

On the other side...

Chen Shanzhi stood at the entrance of the lecture hall, his gaze casually sweeping across the tiered classroom.

Soon, about three rows behind Shen Lingfu and her friend, in a corner by the window...

He found Tang Xiaowu sitting there all alone with her head down.

A mischievous smirk curled on Chen Shanzhi's lips; he didn't look anywhere else.

He strode forward with his long legs, heading straight in that direction.

As Chen Shanzhi's footsteps drew closer...

Shen Lingfu, sitting in the front row, had already prepared a perfectly timed, practiced smile on her face.

This kind of smile was neither too warm to lose her dignity...

Nor too distant to make someone retreat.

It was practically a textbook example of facial expression management for 'fish pond' management.

She was waiting for Chen Shanzhi to take the empty seat beside her and then listen to his vulgar attempts to please her.

However, in the next second...

The perfect smile on Shen Lingfu's face instantly froze.

Under Xia Lan's 'ready to watch the show' gaze...

Chen Shanzhi looked straight ahead, not even giving Shen Lingfu a glance from the corner of his eye.

He just walked right past their seats...

And kept going!

Like a gust of wind, he went straight to that corner not far behind them!

The smile on Shen Lingfu's face bit by bit solidified, replaced by a flash of ill-concealed astonishment and annoyance.

She secretly gritted her teeth, turned her head, and followed Chen Shanzhi's back with her eyes.

She saw Chen Shanzhi walk to the seat by the window...

And very naturally sit down in the empty seat next to Tang Xiaowu.

Feeling the light beside her dim, Tang Xiaowu looked up in confusion.

When she saw it was Chen Shanzhi, two blushes instantly bloomed on her exquisite face.

She shrank inward like a startled rabbit, but she didn't say anything to drive him away.

Chen Shanzhi gave a chuckle and leaned most of his body over.

His right hand expertly reached under the desk...

Unerringly grabbing Tang Xiaowu's soft, boneless little hand, he began to knead and play with it wantonly.

Tang Xiaowu struggled twice in shame and indignation, but finding she couldn't pull it out at all, she could only lower her head like an ostrich with a red face, letting him do as he pleased.

Seeing this scene...

Xia Lan, sitting in front, was so shocked her mouth could fit an egg.

She was stunned for a long while before she seemed to suddenly react.

She leaned into Shen Lingfu's ear, whose face was already as dark as the bottom of a pot, and whispered:

“My god... I didn't expect the rumors going around the academy these past two days to actually be true!”

“This Chen Shanzhi actually managed to pursue that Tang Xiaowu!”

“But he... he didn't even look at you! This is too much!”

Hearing her friend's words, which felt like adding insult to injury, Shen Lingfu was so angry she almost tore the book in her hand.

She naturally knew who Tang Xiaowu was!

Although they were both ranked among the academy's four great talented women...

In Shen Lingfu's eyes, Tang Xiaowu was nothing more than a low-born commoner from a humble background!

How could she compare to someone like her, the legitimate daughter of the Treasure Pavilion, which had branches all over the Great Jiang Dynasty?

Furthermore, what was Chen Shanzhi's status? The Heir of the Marquis of Zhenguo!

Although, due to the awkward position of the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion in the court...

She could never truly get too close to Chen Shanzhi or establish a relationship to avoid suspicion...

That didn't stop her from taking for granted Chen Shanzhi's bottomless flattery and 'simp' behavior towards her!

It was like he was the fattest fish she kept in her pond.

Even if she didn't plan to eat it, she absolutely wouldn't allow anyone else to fish for it!

“This Tang Xiaowu... a commoner brat, how dare she touch someone in my pond?”

A cold, dark light flashed in the depths of Shen Lingfu's eyes.

This kind of special possessiveness was sometimes even more twisted than that of a real girlfriend.

She took a deep breath and quickly adjusted her facial expression.

Under Xia Lan's astonished gaze, Shen Lingfu stood up and walked gracefully toward Chen Shanzhi and Tang Xiaowu.

...

In the corner of the back row.

Chen Shanzhi was leaning comfortably back in his chair, his left hand propping up his chin, while his right hand played with Tang Xiaowu's slender fingers under the desk.

He was mentally planning where to take this girl for an extra meal after class.

Just then...

A faint fragrance, like gardenias mixed with some high-end perfume, suddenly wafted over from the side.

Chen Shanzhi looked up in confusion.

He saw a petite and lovely girl standing by the aisle.

She was wearing a goose-yellow ruqun that complemented her skin perfectly.

Her features were as delicate as a porcelain doll, and her hair was tied into two pigtails that made her look extremely lively and cute.

The most striking thing was that on her petite and slender frame...

There were two extremely exaggerated, massive waves that were completely out of proportion to her build.

A child-like face with a massive chest.

These two traits were perfectly fused in her body.

For any male with a specific fetish, this was an existence with explosive lethality.

This girl was none other than Shen Lingfu, one of the four great talented women!

She was also the 'goddess' whom the original owner of this body had shamelessly simped for for three years...

Without even getting to touch a single finger.

Seeing that Chen Shanzhi had finally looked at her...

Shen Lingfu tilted her head slightly, a sweet smile curling on her lips, revealing two beautiful dimples on her cheeks.

With the motion of her tilting her head, the grand sight on her chest...

Caused a surge of extremely exaggerated waves, as if they were ready to burst from her clothes at any moment.

She blinked her large, seemingly innocent eyes.

In a crisp, sweet voice that sounded like it could drip water, she asked softly:

“Heir Apparent...”

“May I ask, is the seat next to you taken?”