Chapter Eight: Yu Tang, the Elite Early Childhood Educator

Yu Tang observed as she walked toward the people sitting by the edge of the mud pit, responding absentmindedly to Shen Tianshi, “Yes, yes, good boy. We’re big-hearted, we won’t stoop to their level.” Shen Tianshi was easily appeased and immediately brightened up, nodding vigorously in agreement. Xiao Yufei watched Yu Tang’s demeanor and couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

What a top-tier kindergarten teacher.

An old man dressed in traditional Han clothing sat on a stone bench. Though the day was far from hot, he still held a folding fan, fanning himself. He looked very much like the program’s designated NPC. Next to him stood a stone table, and on it lay a conspicuous card.

Yu Tang approached cautiously. The old man was reading a book of classical poetry.

“Grandpa!” she called.

The old man didn’t react.

Yu Tang glanced at the book in his hand and took a deep breath, steadying herself. Calmly, she tried again, “Sir.”

Finally, the old man raised his head, his face gentle. “What can I do for you, young lady?”

Yu Tang’s mouth twitched involuntarily.

“Is that mission card for us?” she asked.

The old man remained silent.

Yu Tang pondered for a moment, then fiddled with her phone. Whatever she saw there made her expression indescribable; forcing down her embarrassment, she spoke, “Is this mission card here meant for us?”

At those words, everyone present blanked out, faces expressionless. Amusement flickered in the old man’s eyes, his smile barely contained.

Just when everyone thought Yu Tang was about to succeed in obtaining the mission card, the old man shook his head resolutely. “You should leave. There is nothing here for you.”

Yu Tang’s polite smile froze on her lips. Even Shen Tianshi, who had been laughing so hard he could barely breathe, abruptly stopped.

“Old man, what are you talking about?” Shen Tianshi protested. How could this old man lie so brazenly?

Noticing the card under the old man’s hand on the table, Shen Tianshi reached out to grab it. The old man glared at him, displeased—he was the elder here! He tightened his grip and pulled the card closer.

With a ripping sound, the mission card split open.

The old man glared at Shen Tianshi in exasperation. “Look at you! Always grabbing! You just had to grab!”

His annoyance was so great he dropped the archaic speech and spoke in modern Mandarin.

Shen Tianshi immediately let go and ducked behind Yu Tang, scratching his head in embarrassment. “Sorry.”

Yu Tang crouched down, inching forward to the old man. “Grandpa, is there a task we need to complete?”

A gleam sparked in the old man’s eyes as he waved her off. “No.”

Yu Tang narrowed her eyes slightly and, without warning, blurted out, “Rising with a start from illness on my deathbed!”

The old man responded reflexively, his voice strong and clear, “With a smile, I ask where you come from, my guest!”

Shen Tianshi, fuming, fell silent: ...Whose poetic elder is this? Please come collect him.

The old man’s eyes crinkled with delight as he handed the mission card to Yu Tang. “Congratulations, you’ve passed the test and obtained the mission card.”

“Let’s go, Miss Yu, time to change clothes,” someone called. Clearly, special attire was required for the mud pit.

Yu Tang followed the old man with a satisfied grin, Shen Tianshi trailing behind in small steps.

[Yu Tang is so clever.]
[That poetic grandpa, hahaha!]
[I’m dying! Did his lines even match? Go check for yourselves!]
[Shen Tianshi, the disaster magnet, hahahaha!]
[Shen Tianshi: Huh? I don’t know, it just broke.]
[You’re all so naive, this has to be scripted, right?]
[Yeah, how could Yu Tang have come up with that without a script?]

Xiao Yufei and Xie Yi were left dumbfounded. Just now, when they tried to head straight into the field to pick the stalks, they’d been stopped. So there was a mission after all?

Xiao Yufei walked over to the old man by the cornfield. This old man wore punk clothes, sported sunglasses, had an electric guitar by his feet, and was rapping into a microphone.

Mimicking Yu Tang’s approach, Xiao Yufei tentatively began, “Chopping wood and burning charcoal in the southern mountains?”

The old man raised an eyebrow behind his shades. “What? What are you talking about? I don’t get a word! How about you join me for a song?”

His hip-hop tone left Xiao Yufei dizzy, but she wasn’t ready to give up yet.

“How about, ‘Unstained by the mud from which it springs’?”

The old man ignored her and kept singing. Xiao Yufei wanted to try another poem—maybe he just didn’t like these, perhaps he preferred the Book of Songs?

Xie Yi stopped her, his eyes landing on the electric guitar by the old man’s feet. He picked it up, tuned the strings, then listened to the old man’s rhythm and accompanied him, leaving Xiao Yufei at a loss for words.

When the song ended, the old man grinned and handed them the mission card. “Well done, you’ve completed the task. Here’s your mission card.”

Xie Yi accepted it obediently and passed it to Xiao Yufei. Her confusion quickly turned to pride—what a good little brother.

[Oh my god, I’m dying of laughter. Where did the program team find these old men?]
[Seriously, that one rivals Yu Tang’s poetic grandpa, hahaha!]
[Xie Yi is such a good boy.]
[Am I the only one who thinks Xie Yi’s contrast is so cool? He can play electric guitar!]

[Everyone should get to know our Xie Yi, a rising young actor~]

Xiao Yufei and Xie Yi read the mission card together.

[Within sixty minutes, you must pick five hundred ears of corn and flatten the stalks.]

This was practically an impossible mission. Xiao Yufei opened her mouth, ready to bargain with the old man. Xie Yi noticed a timer nearby and gently tugged her sleeve, pointing at it.

Swearing under her breath, Xiao Yufei hurried into the field, Xie Yi following close behind.

When Yu Tang and Shen Tianshi had changed and emerged, they saw the other two already in the fields. Both Yu Tang and Shen Tianshi couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the sight of each other.

“Yu Tang, you look so ugly in that outfit,” Shen Tianshi snorted.

Yu Tang grinned, her white teeth dazzling. “Right back at you. You’re no beauty yourself.”

Shen Tianshi: ...Hurting you a thousand hurts myself eight hundred.

Fuming, he stomped straight into the mud pit, and the feeling of sinking a foot in made him shriek, “Yu Tang! Help!”

Yu Tang sighed. “Don’t move, just stay there.”

She quickly stepped into the mud herself.

The old man watched the scene unfold with the expression of a subway elder watching a smartphone. Such a grown man—was he not ashamed?

[You’ve become cannon fodder, eventually turning dark. After that, you show no respect for the old or love for the young, often making rude remarks to the elderly, who in turn despise you as someone good for nothing except insults.]

[Now, here’s your mission: Make the old man look at you with new eyes and shower you with praise.]

[Mission reward: a pair of gloves.]

The system’s voice sounded again.

Yu Tang paused absentmindedly.

The rewards from this system grew more useless by the day—what good would gloves do?

Before she could think further, Shen Tianshi’s ghostly wailing pierced the air. Yu Tang turned, unable to suppress her laughter.

Shen Tianshi was now sitting in the mud pit, caked in mud, eyes brimming with grievance. Seeing Yu Tang looking his way, he complained, “Yu Tang! This lotus root bit me!”

It turned out that when Shen Tianshi tried to pull up a lotus root, the root was too strong for him, and he ended up falling straight into the mud.

Yu Tang quickly stifled her laughter and coaxed him as if he were a child, “Alright, alright, let’s hit it, shall we?”

Shen Tianshi didn’t find her attitude odd in the slightest; instead, he grinned broadly.

“Okay.”

[Yu—the top-tier kindergarten teacher—Tang]
[Why is the young master not being sharp-tongued for once?]
[Yu Tang has such a good temper. If it were me, I’d have smacked him by now…]