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Zhang Pa refused without a second thought: "Don't kid yourself. Even if you don't touch me, if that young master in the capital finds out I don't have the photos, he'd be considered merciful just for throwing me in prison. Look, we both know what's going on, so let's just leave it at that."

Seeing the other party was determined not to cooperate, Miao Zili said, "I can have you thrown in prison right now."

"Does that have any meaning?" Zhang Pa replied. "Even if you lock me up and take my phone, how do you know if I have hidden copies of the photos? And how long could you possibly keep me there? I didn't even take your two million; do you really think I'm afraid of you locking me up?" He smiled slightly. "As for you, or that young master in the capital, are you really willing to have this end in mutual destruction?"

Miao Zili could not allow compromising photos of himself to remain in anyone else's hands, but he couldn't think of a good solution in the short term. With a dark face, he said, "Your phone number."

Zhang Pa smiled and rattled off a string of numbers. "Got it?"

Miao Zili memorized the number and turned to leave. Zhang Chen glanced at Zhang Pa before hurriedly following him.

Zhang Pa let out a soft breath. He had certainly reached a new level of "fighting"—offending three young scions in a row was definitely not a recipe for a quiet life.

As he walked into the teaching building, he saw Liu Xiaomei coming out and asked with a smile, "Are you looking for your handsome husband?"

Liu Xiaomei looked behind him and asked, "What about those people?"

"I scared them off with some nude photos," Zhang Pa replied.

Liu Xiaomei pondered this and said, "I've caused you trouble." That was true; it all started because someone was pursuing her aggressively.

Zhang Pa said, "It doesn't count as trouble. Living in this world, who doesn't run into a few scumbags?"

Liu Xiaomei smiled, thought for a moment, and said, "Maybe I should resign."

"No way," Zhang Pa said. "You're the backbone of this family; you have to work hard to earn money to support me."

Liu Xiaomei, who had been feeling worried and somewhat guilty, was amused by his words. She whispered, "I can still support you if I quit. We could go to the capital to dance, or go south to act, or even go abroad. The world is vast; where can't we go?"

Zhang Pa said, "If those are the things you truly want to do, I support you. But if it's just to accommodate me, then absolutely not."

Liu Xiaomei smiled and replied, "Actually, living anywhere is pretty much the same."

Zhang Pa smiled as well and asked, "Are your classes over?"

"Almost," Liu Xiaomei said. "Wait for me a moment." She went back into the classroom.

The dance class ended quickly, and the two went to the affiliated primary school to continue teaching. On the way, Liu Xiaomei asked again, "Are you really okay? If it's inconvenient, I really should resign."

Zhang Pa said, "There's no rush to resign. Let's talk about it in a few days."

Liu Xiaomei thought about it and agreed.

There was nothing special to report about the class; it was a routine of step-by-step movements, learning, and gradual growth.

Perhaps because the birthday party for little Yezi had been hosted so well last time, another parent invited Liu Xiaomei and Zhang Pa today to a birthday banquet at a hotel next Sunday.

This was mentioned as the class ended. It was Wednesday, so there were ten days until the next weekend. Liu Xiaomei replied, "If we don't have anything scheduled, we will certainly attend. Thank you for the invitation."

Being invited ten days in advance didn't mean the parent wasn't sincere, but with so many children in the class, if someone had a birthday every week, Liu Xiaomei would be driven crazy.

After the parents took their children and left, Zhang Pa practiced alone for over an hour before finishing the day's curriculum.

It was quite late by then, and the sky was completely dark. Liu Xiaomei sat on the floor and asked Zhang Pa, "What do you think of this kind of life, living day after day like this?"

Zhang Pa asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Liu Xiaomei said, then continued, "I used to like this kind of simple, relaxed life. I like dancing, teaching students to dance, and dancing myself. But this life is too monotonous—repeating day after day, and the future seems to be just more of the same."

Zhang Pa sat down beside her. "Girl, let me make my stance clear: whatever choice you make, I will support you." Inwardly, he thought: Before Miao Zili and his ilk appeared, you were perfectly content. Now that you're talking about repetition, you clearly just don't want me to get into trouble.

Liu Xiaomei smiled. "Let me think about it some more." She used a tissue to wipe the sweat from Zhang Pa's face.

Zhang Pa thanked her.

The two sat in the classroom like that, occasionally exchanging a few words. At first, they sat side by side, then Zhang Pa lay down on the floor. After a while, Liu Xiaomei rested her head on his stomach. They lay there like that for a very long time.

Zhang Pa said, "There are many times when I just want to lie down like this, doing nothing at all, but unfortunately, I never can."

Liu Xiaomei said, "So, does me doing this count as fulfilling your wish?"

Zhang Pa replied, "In my imagination, there was no woman there."

Liu Xiaomei chuckled softly and said nothing more.

By the time they had been lying there until past nine, Liu Xiaomei asked, "Are you hungry?"

Zhang Pa countered, "Are you?"

"A little, but I don't want to eat." Liu Xiaomei sat up. "Let's go home."

Zhang Pa hummed in agreement, took a few more minutes to get up, and the two changed their clothes and shoes before heading to the dormitory.

Because it was so late, and Liu Xiaomei didn't want to eat, they went straight home. Once they arrived, Zhang Pa didn't go inside and said his goodbyes.

As he rode his bike home, he thought about what Liu Xiaomei had said. That girl thought she had brought the trouble upon him, but in reality, he had brought it upon her. Zhang Pa pondered the situation chaotically. Dealing with a second-generation official like Miao Zili made resolving the conflict extremely difficult.

When he got home, the five "monkeys" were drinking. He thought to himself that these guys were living better and better. He chatted for a bit, then went to his room to rest.

The next day at work, the students of Class 18 were as cooperative as ever, with full attendance. As usual, Zhang Pa continued his ideological education lessons, spending ten minutes on a bunch of heart-to-heart talk before returning to the office.

He wanted to hurry up and start a new book.

After waiting in the office until past 9:30, he sent a message to his editor, politely asking if they had seen the six story openings he had sent over the past two days, and if so, which one could be signed.

The editor was his boss, so maintaining a good impression required polite language. It was also true that he was afraid of bothering the editor.

He had to think carefully before speaking to the editor to avoid any misunderstanding in tone or word choice.

It is not easy to please someone, but it is extremely simple to offend them—just say one useless thing, and you can easily invite hatred.

Hatred is hard to forget; in fact, it doesn't even have to be hatred—if you just make someone unhappy, they will easily remember you.

Zhang Pa always kept a very low profile when speaking to his editor.

Now, he cautiously sent his inquiry and waited for a reply. But there was no message until he went to teach a Chinese class and returned, only to see the editor's reply: "Sorry, I haven't seen them yet. Looking now."

Zhang Pa sighed softly. If they hadn't seen them, so be it; at least they said they were looking now.

He checked the time and decided not to pester the editor for the time being, leaving it until the afternoon.

He didn't have to wait until the afternoon. Just past eleven, the editor sent a message with three simple words: "None of them work."

Zhang Pa's heart went cold instantly. Out of six openings, not a single one had passed. He wanted to ask why, but after thinking about it, he didn't know what to say. He could only reply: "Thank you, I will keep writing."

So, he kept writing. He skipped lunch and wrote until the end of the day, finishing another opening.

If you only look at the speed, writing an opening seems very simple—for instance, those first six openings were written in two or three days of desperate effort. But it wasn't actually that simple.

For all six of those previous openings, some drew inspiration from movie scenes, others played with a literary style; each one had been carefully planned and thought over repeatedly before sleep. It was very time-consuming.

The one he was writing now was the same; he just had to think more and write more.

Because his train of thought was interrupted, the new opening took several days to write.

In his spare time, he would ponder why none of the previous six openings had passed.

To briefly explain the submission process: the laziest method is to write thirty thousand words and send them over. A detailed submission should have an outline and a content summary.

Zhang Pa had chosen the lazier method. Relying on his past works, he had been lazy with this submission. The requirement was thirty thousand words, and not a single opening had reached that length.

Actually, it was imaginable that if he had to write thirty-thousand-word openings, writing three a day... that kind of speed would be praised by other writers as superhuman.

Zhang Pa wrote very little, averaging about ten thousand words. Perhaps that was the reason for the rejection.

Therefore, the new opening had to reach thirty thousand words.

Typing was very time-consuming. Since he couldn't finish the task in a day or two, he stopped rushing. Especially since he wanted to write an extra one; calculating by time, it would take at least a week.

For the past two days, the monkeys had been quiet, just spacing out during school hours.

Zhang Pa couldn't manage too many people at once, nor could he control everyone at the same time, so he followed his plan to break through one by one. Today's targets were Luo Chengcai and Liu Yue.

When Liu Yue transferred schools, there was a gentleman's agreement with her father: no truancy without cause after transferring, and final exam grades had to be passing.

The first condition was being met well, but the second showed no signs of being fulfilled. These two geniuses would sleep as soon as class started or pass notes to each other.

Zhang Pa called them out of the classroom and got straight to the point with Liu Yue: "We agreed that you both had to pass your final exams, but you two don't study at all day after day. How can you possibly pass?"

Liu Yue glanced at Luo Chengcai and said nothing.

Zhang Pa continued, "It was agreed that if you don't pass, your father will take you to the capital."

Liu Yue said, "I will pass." Zhang Pa asked, "By cheating?" He then added, "I would rather you fail than see you cheat."

Liu Yue fell silent again.

Zhang Pa said, "Anyway, that's it. Just a reminder. Nothing else." He turned and left.

That night, Long Xiaole called him again to go drinking.

Zhang Pa was puzzled. "Is the issue with ABC still not resolved?"

Long Xiaole sighed. "It's resolved, that's why I'm asking you to drink."

Zhang Pa said he wouldn't go and told him to get some sleep since it was late.

Long Xiaole wasn't in high spirits and said in a low voice, "Come on, I'm here in the Xingfuli area."

Since the guy was so sincere, Zhang Pa had no choice but to agree.

It was the same barbecue place. Long Xiaole ordered two plates of meat and just sat there in a daze. Zhang Pa biked over, sat down, and asked, "So, you're no longer friends?"

Long Xiaole blinked. "Us? No longer friends... oh, I see. You mean them."

Zhang Pa was asking about the three people, A, B, and C, two of whom were Long Xiaole's friends. Once the matter was settled, the two friends were no longer friends.