Chapter 96: GETTING USED TO STANDING OUT

Li Yan raised his head from his folded arms and looked toward the teacher, his eyes still heavy from sleep. The pain around his waist had not improved either, so he remained seated for a moment before straightening his back and rubbing his eyes. "I am sorry, Teacher. I will focus now."

The teacher did not accept the apology. He looked at Li Yan with a displeased expression before asking, "Since you have been sleeping through my lecture, can you tell me what I was discussing?"

-_-

Li Yan glanced toward the front of the classroom before answering honestly, "I was not listening, so I do not know what you were discussing. However, if you ask me a question about the topic, I might be able to answer it."

The hall was filled with new outer disciples since Apothecary was a compulsory subject, so Li Yan’s answer quickly attracted the attention of everyone around him.

Mo Lang sat among the other disciples with several members of his clique, and the moment they heard Li Yan admit that he had not been listening, Mo Lang laughed under his breath before saying, "He ranked first in the examination, yet he cannot even tell the teacher what the lecture was about. Perhaps he only knows how to sleep after all."

One of the disciples beside him covered his mouth while laughing. "He probably thought ranking first meant nobody would dare question him. It seems the teacher has other ideas."

Another disciple glanced toward Li Yan and added, "Maybe the mountain test exhausted him so badly that he has not recovered yet. If he is going to sleep through every class, his ranking will not help him much."

Li Yan heard them, but he did not turn around. He had no interest in arguing with Mo Lang or wasting his energy responding to people who had nothing useful to say. His attention remained on the teacher, who seemed even more irritated by his calm response.

"Since you ranked first in the written examination, and finished the mountain test before every other disciple, are you too big now that you can sleep through my lecture?" the teacher said, his voice becoming sharper with every sentence.

"Do you think being first gives you the right to disregard your lessons? You are a new outer disciple, yet you have the nerve to sleep while I am teaching. If you believe you are so capable, why bother attending this class at all?"

Li Yan listened for a while before deciding that continuing the exchange was pointless. He was tired, his injuries were hurting, and the teacher seemed more interested in lecturing him than asking the question he had originally demanded. He pushed himself out of his seat and looked toward the front of the hall. "If you do not want to ask me the question, then tell me to leave. Why are you wasting my time and the other students’ time?"

Judging from the man’s irritable attitude, Li Yan doubted he was a good teacher.

The teacher’s expression changed immediately. "Fine. Since you think you can answer anything related to this lesson, I will ask you a question. Let us see whether your confidence is justified."

He turned toward the medicinal samples arranged beside the teaching platform and selected a question from the subject being discussed rather than choosing something outside the lesson. "What are the symptoms of the Three Breath Deathleaf?"

Li Yan considered the question for a moment before recognizing the herb from his studies with Fu Hanzheng. It was also one of the herbs he had encountered during his first herb-identification lesson with his master and Anyu, when he had been taught how to distinguish dangerous medicinal plants from those that could be safely handled.

The information had remained in his memory, so he had no trouble recalling the symptoms.

"The person will first experience blurred vision before the throat begins to tighten, making it difficult to breathe," Li Yan answered. "Their limbs will gradually become stiff, and their breathing will weaken as the poison spreads. If they are not treated quickly, their breathing will stop after three breaths."

He continued without waiting for the teacher to prompt him again. "The victim should remain as still as possible while the proper antidote is prepared, since unnecessary movement will make the breathing difficulty worse. Once the antidote is administered, the tightening in the throat will gradually ease, the stiffness will disappear, and their breathing will return to normal."

The teacher stared at him for several moments, unable to find an obvious mistake in the answer. Li Yan had identified the symptoms correctly and explained the appropriate response without needing any hints from the teacher or the material in front of him.

The teacher finally gave a dissatisfied scoff and said, "Since you know the answer, then listen properly. Do not fall asleep again."

Li Yan nodded before sitting down again. The lesson continued with herb identification, covering the characteristics and properties of medicinal plants that every new apothecary needed to recognize.

The material was meant for beginners, so there was little in the lecture that Li Yan had not encountered before. Since Fu Hanzheng had begun teaching him, he had memorized information on more than three hundred herbs, including their appearances, properties, uses, dangers, and methods of identification, which left him with very little difficulty following the teacher’s explanation.

Xiaoxiao’s voice soon sounded inside his mind as she watched the situation unfold. "The more popular you are, the more people will want to probe you. To them, you are the intelligent Li Yan who ranked first in the written examination and finished the mountain test first. They want to see just how smart you are. This is the burden you will have to bear."

Li Yan sighed as he listened to the lecture, his gaze remaining on the medicinal samples at the front of the hall. He had never sought the attention brought by his examination results, yet his ranking had made him someone people wanted to challenge, question, and measure against their own expectations. If this was what came with standing out, then he could only endure it while making sure that his ability continued to match the reputation others had given him. "I suppose I will have to get used to it."