Chapter 11: A Home Visit and a Heart-to-Heart Talk

Liu Jun also felt a spark of curiosity. "Teacher, how is Xu Changsheng doing now?"

"There are less than a hundred days until the college entrance exam. I borrowed money to help Xu Changsheng get a loan for a smart brain. I was initially worried he might have fallen into a cult, reading those four evil books of pulp fiction circulating on the dark web or cultivating some wicked mind, but thankfully, he is just a bit mentally unstable."

Si Anhe’s expression softened; she could not bear to see her student collapse at the very last moment of his senior year.

"And you, kid, don't change the subject. We are talking about you now!"

Si Anhe scolded him with a smile:

"I’ve watched the three of you grow up. You have good aptitude and decent character, and you all have the potential to break through to the third tier. You’ve made it this far, so don't you dare fall at the final sprint."

It was true that she had watched Liu Jun and the others grow up. After graduating from high school, Si Anhe had been assigned to teach at the Rehe Thirteenth Junior High School, where she became their homeroom teacher. From there, she had followed them as they moved up, spending three years in junior high and three years in high school—the most important six years of her students' lives.

"Looking ahead, have you thought about what you’ll do after graduation?" Si Anhe asked. "I have a few letters of recommendation for the Rehe Thirteenth Junior High School here. You could try applying for a teaching position."

Liu Jun was slightly taken aback. Here, once high school students graduated, they had to work for the city, and being a junior high teacher was one of the best jobs available.

"Sounds good, right? High salary, great benefits, and you can invest in the students," Si Anhe said with a triumphant smile. "Most junior high students are at the age where their parents have just passed away. They are isolated, without kin, and at their most vulnerable. As a homeroom teacher, if you guide this batch of students from junior high all the way through high school, you can forge deep connections. That, too, is a form of investment."

"Just like how you guided us back then, Teacher?" Liu Jun asked in surprise.

"Exactly." Si Anhe smiled, a touch of nostalgia in her eyes. "I was just a fresh high school graduate myself back then. I still remember six years ago, leading you little brats. You three had just lost your parents; Li Feng would go play basketball all day to vent, Zou Anmeng would cry her heart out, but you—you were the one who never said a word."

A ripple passed through Liu Jun’s expression as he recalled the past. Si Anhe had indeed been their guardian, and she had been very good to them. The order of this city was quite thorough, after all. Most local students became orphans in junior high, which was exactly when fresh high school graduates turned teachers would move in. Even if it was for the sake of investment, they would take care of these little leeks as if they were family. Large leeks nurturing small leeks—the old leading the new—it was all about the "process."

"It was so exhausting looking after you kids when I was barely more than a child myself," she continued. "But this is indeed a way to invest. Beyond the trio who grew up together, the teacher is the closest person. Once they make it big, they are naturally the best candidates to build a power base. For a teacher, if even one student from their class becomes a Thunder-tier master, their entire life trajectory changes."

Si Anhe might not reach the third tier on her own, but she could invest in those who might. Now, she was spending her own money to recommend a group of students she deemed worthy and promising, hoping to secure them teaching positions. This would expand her own network, and since they would also be teaching students, the probability of success would double.

Her financial situation was currently excellent. The loan for her second-tier smart brain had long been paid off by her parents' generation, and her cultivation had hit a bottleneck; breaking through to the third tier required an epiphany. It might come in the next second, or it might never come at all. The third tier was difficult—so difficult it could drive one to despair. With surplus money and no room for growth in her own cultivation, investment was her only path.

Students like the class representative, Li Chengshan, whose family was not poor, did not need her investment. Her targets were poor students with good grades, character, and morals. Six years of teaching, acting like a parent, and frequent home visits were enough for her to understand a person's character.

She had just visited Xu Changsheng to invest in him, then went to see the school beauty, and finally, after some consideration, came here. Liu Jun might not have the best aptitude among the poor students, but he was the one who needed her help the most right now, as he had fallen ill and asked for leave during this critical time.

"I understand, Teacher. Words cannot express my gratitude." Liu Jun didn't say much more. Although Si Anhe had her own selfish motives, the kindness was real. She knew that her investment was likely to be wasted, yet the students truly benefited from it. Her investment could help them live better lives over the next decade, secure good jobs, and increase their chances of breaking through. In reality, this was a form of charity. To put it bluntly, Si Anhe was likely the only benefactor the students of Class 3 would ever encounter in their lives. Even though Liu Jun had already reached the third tier, he had to accept this gesture.

"Don't get cocky; it's just a recommendation. Whether you pass the assessment is up to you—the screening for teaching positions is extremely rigorous." Listening to the rain against the window, Si Anhe shook her head and sighed. "How many six-year periods does one have in a lifetime? The first six years of my life went to you all. Next, I will return to junior high to teach and spend my final six years there."

Silence filled the living room for a moment.

"I graduated from high school at eighteen, and now I’m twenty-four. By the end of the next six years, I’ll be thirty. This is my last chance. I try to break through myself, I help the first batch of students break through, then the second... even casting a wide net, the hope remains slim."

Si Anhe was under immense pressure—not just because the first group of children she had guided were scattering into society, but because of her own confusion about the future. In this city, people like them were overdrawing their lives every second; they could see the future, yet it remained forever out of reach.

Looking at Si Anhe, with her exquisite makeup, Liu Jun suddenly felt a sense of sorrow. He had reached the third tier today, while his homeroom teacher, and countless others in Rehe City, were struggling and sinking. His breakthrough was enough to make many grovel, a foundation for a family legacy that could last hundreds of years, attracting countless followers. Truly, a transmigrator without a golden finger is just a beast of burden!

"By the way, have you done your reading today?" Si Anhe was clever. Genuine emotion could bridge gaps, but it shouldn't be overplayed. She had to show her students the cruelty of society while giving them enough confidence. This was the philosophy of teaching she had summarized after buying courses online.

"I haven't read yet today," Liu Jun replied.

"Then that’s perfect. Teacher will take you to read. A private tutoring session for today’s lesson—you must listen carefully."

Si Anhe’s smart brain was a decent model, a second-tier device that had once belonged to a nobleman from modern history. It had been buried in a special way to preserve the body, which was later unearthed by modern grave robbers and archaeologists.

The private session began. Through the lesson, Liu Jun experienced a slice of modern history, living through the 103-year life of this Marquis—a life of splendor, wealth, and grand turbulence. This autobiographical book was rich in content. In this dream of a lifetime, Liu Jun experienced the glory, the high-spirited career of a general, and the hubris of armies standing in confrontation.

When Liu Jun opened his eyes, only a short lunch break had passed. This life had been grand and long, but compared to the short dozen years of the Phoenix Butterfly, it lacked a sense of reality. This book was dead knowledge, whereas the Amber Phoenix Butterfly was a living saint growing within the fungal soup world.

"That’s all for today’s lesson," Si Anhe said. "The poor have no shortcuts. We lack the capital to travel thousands of miles and become wanderers of the world, meeting all sorts of people, and we have even less qualification to undergo trials to seek enlightenment or clarify our minds. We are bound by school and work, trapped in a tiny space under our feet. The only shortcut to breaking through these cognitive limits is to read more."

"To experience the wisdom of a saint's entire life just by spending a little time reading—isn't that a great deal?"

"We live in a better era now; books are no longer just flat text. You can experience the sorrows of life and death more vividly and condense your own spirit! I hope you don't fall into evil paths, don't read the four evil books, and remain a person with a bottom line."

Si Anhe continued to warn him.

...

Downstairs, Si Anhe raised her umbrella and stepped into the curtain of rain.

"Liu Jun has always been steady. It seems he didn't slack off at home this time; he kept studying diligently and even managed to improve his cultivation slightly," she thought with a touch of satisfaction. "I noticed back in junior high that he naturally had a strong spirit and a mature demeanor for his age; it's a shame about the lack of resources. Someone like Li Chengshan, who seems fast in the beginning, only does so because he has enough resources, but he is too restless. One must remember that the ten years of earning money after graduation is the true marathon."

"If money were all it took to break through in this world, Thunder-tier masters would be as common as fleas."

In her eyes, Liu Jun was good material for a scholar. But everything relied on his own conscious cultivation; reading to nourish the spirit was, at its core, a matter of mindset. For this batch of students, this was all she could do.

"Helping others is also helping myself," she mused. "Read, and seek only a clear conscience."

She looked at the rain in the sky and vaguely felt her thoughts clearing, taking a step closer to that threshold. She wore a wry expression: "A clear conscience really does cost money!"

Who in this world doesn't want to be a good person? Who doesn't want to be a well-read scholar with a clear mind? But you need money to earn the right to do so.

...

After bidding farewell to Si Anhe, Liu Jun’s life returned to its peaceful rhythm. He had expected her to urge him to return to school, but instead, she had brought good news and arranged a good job for him—even though it meant nothing to him now. Still, it was touching that a young teacher genuinely treated her students as friends and went out of her way for them.

Liu Jun could vaguely guess her motives; as a teacher, one’s first class always carried a bit of a "first love" sentiment. If it were a jaded, veteran teacher... well, there were no such elderly teachers in Rehe City. Everyone died in the prime of their youth and struggle, so there was none of the mid-life anxiety about being laid off that existed in his past life.

"I performed well during the lesson, and she didn't push me to go back to school, even implying I could continue self-studying at home." To him, the school was already like a cage. Having updated his "Vanishing" talent, Liu Jun was confident that, aside from the very top echelon of the city, no one could see the secrets of his body.

"Next, I can stay home and continue tending to my mushroom soup."

"If I can hang up and gain a mushroom talent in a few days, I believe that in two months, I will be able to sweep through all the major companies, unrivaled."

"However, I might get mobbed if I'm alone. That’s where the value of the fungal soup comes in. I can raise a mushroom-soup world within it, breed an army—not to counter-attack humanity, but to ensure my own survival!"

He didn't truly want to be an anti-social demon bringing plague and disaster to the world. But his mushroom army could go unused—that was fine—but he could not be without it!

His thoughts drifted back to the fungal soup, and he suddenly flashed a look of surprise. "Wait, wait, why is the [Intermediate Wisdom] mushroom in my soup gone again?"

Instinctively, he looked toward a certain dazed butterfly.

"You again, you little mushroom-thief? Have you started growing a brain?"