Once again, it was a feast. Zhang Chen and Chengyu indulged themselves, eating heartily until their mouths glistened with oil, then they extinguished the lights and went to bed.
Zhang Chen had been tormented by pain for the last seven days and hadn’t had a good night’s sleep, and as for Xiaodouding?
Xiaodouding, taking care of Zhang Chen, had been staying up day and night for seven days as well, even developing dark circles, naturally not sleeping well either.
Both were now full and content, lying in bed huddled together, Zhang Chen seemed to be holding his own daughter, and he fell asleep soundly.
Time flew by, suddenly the sound of a bell rang outside, startling Zhang Chen awake—this was the morning bell to wake up, but he was too sleepy, feeling dazed and unwilling to get up, so he pushed Chengyu: "The bell for the morning lesson rang, get up and wash up."
"I’m so sleepy, don’t push me, let me sleep a bit more, I won’t wash up this morning, there’s still time," Xiaodouding sleepily slapped Zhang Chen’s hand away and grumbled.
The room fell silent, Zhang Chen didn’t get up either. Last night, he roamed the Dark World, studying the world barriers within it, pondering ways to break them, mentally exhausted and very sleepy.
Uncertain how much time passed, suddenly Xiaodouding kicked off the quilt and sat up abruptly, her voice full of horror: "Zhang Chen! Get up! We overslept."
With those words, she started kicking Zhang Chen’s legs fiercely, then jumped over him, grabbed her shoes from the ground, and started running without bothering to put them on.
Having worked for seven days, her fingers were blistered, and she didn’t want to continue working for another seven days.
"Oh crap!"
Zhang Chen woke up startled, flipped over, and sat up, grabbed his shoes without a second thought, haphazardly dressed, and chased Xiaodouding.
The two ran along, but the Daoist Temple was desolate with no one in sight, their hearts sank, and they sped up anxiously.
Zhang Chen soon caught up, scooped Xiaodouding onto his shoulder, and dashed madly; who enjoys working anyway? Even their martial arts practice got delayed.
Zhang Chen was very fast, racing through the halls like lightning, and in the distance, he saw the senior disciples lined up without having started practicing martial arts yet.
"We didn’t arrive late this time," Zhang Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
"Stop right there!"
Just as he stepped into the martial arts ground, the Law Enforcement Elder called out with a sullen face.
Zhang Chen had to halt, glancing at the Law Enforcement Elder, seeing him looking down at the incense burner on the table before him, the flames inside were nearly extinguished, with just one last stubborn red glow flickering.
"Late!" The Law Enforcement Elder looked displeased at Zhang Chen and Chengyu.
"There’s still a bit of glow," Chengyu remarked briskly, staring at the faint red spot at the Elder.
As her words fell, the remnants were entirely consumed, plunging into darkness.
"It’s extinguished now," the Law Enforcement Elder gazed at the incense, his eyes showing a hint of seriousness: "You won’t attend today’s morning lesson, nor are you allowed breakfast, you’ll be punished with standing until noon."
Hearing this, Zhang Chen felt helpless, leading Chengyu, who looked like a bullied quail, to stand upright beneath the martial arts platform in front of the three thousand disciples.
Feeling speechless, Zhang Chen reminisced about the days of being late for morning exercises in the past, caught by the teacher and punished to stand in front of the podium.
Facing the strange gazes of the three thousand disciples, Xiaodouding gritted her teeth: "The incense was just a tad bit from extinguishing, the Law Enforcement Elder is so unsympathetic."
Then Xiaodouding lowered her head, vigorously rubbing her feet against the ground, seemingly venting her dissatisfaction: "It’s so humiliating! Really humiliating!"
"What’s there to be embarrassed about, so many people in this world, who cares about you? We just need to live for ourselves," Zhang Chen, thick-skinned, comforted Xiaodouding.
Chengyu heard this, angrily stepped on Zhang Chen’s foot, grumbled: "It’s all your fault, messing around till late last night, causing me sleep deprivation."
Zhang Chen squinted at Xiaodouding, feeling her words were somewhat off.
"Didn’t you want to mess around?" Zhang Chen hinted, asking if Xiaodouding secretly wanted to have a meat feast.
Upon hearing, Xiaodouding indeed quieted down, puffing her cheeks, despite the embarrassment of being late, thinking about having meat to chew at night brought a smile to her face.
Just then, the Law Enforcement Elder stepped onto the platform, looked at the three thousand disciples in the martial arts ground, and spoke with a gloomy face: "In the past two months, the Daoist Temple has witnessed two extremely malicious incidents, someone snuck into the kitchen late at night, stole meat not once but twice, even knocked out the disciple guarding the kitchen, leaving him with a bleeding head—absolutely outrageous."
"I know, one of you must be the meat thief, daring not only to steal at night but to injure the guarding disciple, utterly audacious! I have ordered a search in your rooms for evidence, I must see who dares do such a thing. If evidence is found, I’ll break your legs!" The Law Enforcement Elder’s voice was icy.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen was alarmed, not expecting Fox Spirit’s old proclivities to recur.
Xiaodouding kicked Zhang Chen’s ankle at that moment; they exchanged glances, Xiaodouding’s gaze showed worry, but Zhang Chen gave a slight smile, showing his white teeth, which puzzled Xiaodouding: "Zhang Chen, you seem different now."