Chapter 1871 - 1851:

Chapter 1871: Chapter 1851:

When they got back to the small courtyard, the old man was already there, even lounging on the recliner with one leg crossed over the other, face full of displeasure as he looked at the three who’d returned late: "Been out fooling around, huh?"

But in the next second he caught sight of the kraft paper bag swinging in Qhianqhian’s hand, which even seemed to be still steaming...

"You came back pretty early today, huh, sir? Didn’t we bring you dinner? Or should we have Shiliu make you another pot of soup?" Qhianqhian looked completely calm, certain that once the old man saw food he wouldn’t lose his temper, especially food that smelled this good.

"Mm, then hurry up." Sure enough, just as Qhianqhian expected, the old man answered quickly.

He Wenyu was utterly speechless as well. You’re this much of a glutton you’ll even swallow your temper? This is almost beyond comprehension, okay?

But Mo sat down calmly and said to Qhianqhian, "You two go take care of it."

Qhianqhian knowingly chose to follow He Wenyu into the kitchen. Even if she couldn’t actually help, she could at least keep He Wenyu company, right?

Watching the two leave, the old man raised an eyebrow at Mo: "So?"

"The dwarf tribe will help us make the badges. Later the Seventh Elder will come by the academy to go over the details with you." Mo’s face was calm; he didn’t reveal at all that the Seventh Elder was coming because he’d been lured over by He Wenyu.

Of course, he also wasn’t going to mention that the Seventh Elder had made a Weapon for He Wenyu.

That sort of thing should count as a delivery fee, shouldn’t it?

"That’s good." The old man let out a sigh of relief. "Then next, how do we handle the selection? Got any good ideas?" But his brows quickly knitted tight again—too many things had been piling up lately, forcing him to worry about them one by one.

"Nothing special, but we definitely can’t take anyone too powerful. So limiting their strength to a certain range is necessary. It’s just that some people can hide their strength, and then there’s nothing we can do." Mo couldn’t help feeling a headache coming on. "On top of that, we have to make sure our chosen people all get in, don’t we?"

"Isn’t the easiest way to cheat just drawing lots?" Qhianqhian and He Wenyu came back out and, hearing Mo’s words, Qhianqhian said, "If we use a lottery, we can also make sure our people get in."

"Making sure our people get in is one thing, but guaranteeing their strength..." The old man sounded full of helplessness. Then he turned to look at the two of them and noticed their hands were empty. His eyes went round at once: "Where’s my soup?"

"It’s cooking, what are you in such a rush for?" Qhianqhian muttered, curling her lip. At a time like this, is soup really the most important thing?

He Wenyu nodded as well. "It’s already in the pot, it’ll be done in a bit." She wasn’t about to admit she’d just dumped in two packets of soup mix and cracked in some eggs, nothing more.

Qhianqhian felt that this kind of thing really didn’t need to be overthought.

"Back on Star Path, didn’t they have those talent Detection Stones? So is there also a strength Detection Stone?" Qhianqhian suddenly asked.

Mo froze, then gave her a strange look, because... he was not one of the people who’d gone to Star Path.

"There is, but if someone deliberately suppresses themselves they can still fake the results." Mo still answered; even if he hadn’t used Star Path’s Detection Stone, he’d used regular Detection Stones before.

"And we’d better have a talent Detection Stone too, and make it a non-public one—let them go out and communicate among themselves. Keeping it non-public is to make sure our people all get in." Qhianqhian’s eyes lit up and she chuckled. "Most importantly, we use our people as the benchmark for strength. If it comes down to it, have them fight each other, but don’t talk about wins or losses as the admission criterion. Anyone who beats our people is ’too strong’ and gets eliminated. Anyone who loses to our people, we’ll say they were being too deliberate, leave them totally confused. And we can arrange opponents by drawing lots so our people never run into each other."

"Right, and we can add a few extra days of all sorts of random tests, then say ’this person is too violent and might threaten the academy’s peace’ and eliminate them. When we post the announcement we just add one line: ’All...’" He Wenyu spoke up, face full of excitement.

"’All rights of final interpretation belong to the academy.’" Qhianqhian smoothly picked up the sentence, and the two of them burst out laughing.

"...Isn’t this a bit much?" The old man ducked his head, conflicted, but quickly looked up again. "But I like it! Go bring the soup, I’ll go talk to the dean later and see if he’ll sign off."

Qhianqhian happily went off with He Wenyu to carry the soup.

After eating and drinking his fill, the old man grabbed a few leftover meat pies and left.

"Whoa, there’s actually some left?" He Wenyu stared at the old man’s back in utter disbelief.

Qhianqhian curled her lip. "I’m guessing he’s worried the dean will complain, so he’s taking them over for the dean to eat?"

Mo felt that she was absolutely right!

Over in the dean’s office, the dean was happily eating a meat pie, paying no mind to the five people around him radiating longing as he said, "So... you only brought these few?"

The old man had spent ages describing things, and when he heard that, his eyes bulged.

"No, no, I mean, these were the ideas those kids came up with?" The dean didn’t look the least bit embarrassed as he polished off another meat pie in two or three bites. "Then just go draft it with Laoer. Honestly, if you hadn’t taken in a few students, then..."

"Then what?" The old man glared at the dean, his eyes blatantly saying: You’re making me unhappy—next time I’m not bringing you anything tasty!

"Then we wouldn’t be getting to eat all this good stuff, would we?" The dean swallowed and hurried out the words.

The old man nodded in satisfaction. "All right then, I’ll go work it out with Fu Qing. You guys share those, don’t hog them all yourself." With that, he leisurely dragged Fu Qing off with him.

The moment they closed the door, wails and the sounds of a scuffle erupted from inside...

"Tsk, the older they get, the worse they behave." The old man shook his head helplessly, only to notice Fu Qing had stopped walking, staring straight at him.

He couldn’t help but laugh. "All right, all right, here you go." He took out a few more meat pies as he spoke. "Good thing I knew it’d end up on us in the end."

"Otherwise you’d have eaten them all yourself, huh?" Fu Qing brightened up as he took the small meat pies.

The old man rolled his eyes. If he wasn’t worried Fu Qing would get upset and go on strike, he wouldn’t have left any, okay?

"Let’s work at your place. My place is basically those kids’ turf now." The old man sighed. Anyway, before He Wenyu moved in, his little courtyard was basically deserted. It was only because of the delicious food that he’d stayed over there so long.

"Mm." Fu Qing ate as he walked, without a single objection.

"There should be breakfast tomorrow," the old man remarked.

Fu Qing’s eyes lit up immediately, and his steps quickened.

The old man’s lips curled in smug satisfaction. Like this, it looked like he could get away with doing absolutely nothing tonight.