Chapter 47: The Teacher Has Passed Away

With their father's departure, Feng Dian and Yuan Zhen instantly changed their expressions; apart from the look of impending doom, their faces showed nothing else.

“We’re definitely going to end up as food for the tiger eagle,” Feng Dian muttered, clutching his forehead, unable to look at their teacher. Whenever he glanced at their teacher’s appearance, his confidence in self-deception simply evaporated.

“My heart aches so much. Father must have an illegitimate child somewhere—he doesn’t care if I live or die,” Yuan Zhen cried out in despair, surveying the few people who had come today. The others hadn’t bothered to show up at all.

“Oh, you guys came too?” Returning with the wine, Ye Qin looked at the two, exclaiming with mild surprise.

Even in the face of death, pride must be maintained.

“Ye Qin, what’s the matter? Are you the only one allowed to come? Can’t the two of us be here? Do we look like cowards to you?”

Ye Kun and Ba Wanqing couldn’t help nodding; they did look rather timid...

Ye Qin pursed his lips, then walked up to their teacher, placing the wine flask beside him, and added, “Teacher, the tavern owner said only a blind man would believe in you. This is the last wine; he asked you not to go back anymore.”

“Really? Wonderful! That’ll save me plenty of money on wine. Let’s depart.” With that, Wu Chi stood up, slung the string of wine flasks over his shoulder, and staggered out.

The five children felt this was a bit too hasty—shouldn’t there be some words of caution?

Yuan Zhen and Feng Dian felt dizzy; their teacher was simply unreliable.

“Let’s go,” Ye Kun whispered. Shouldn’t there be a sound from Adi at this moment?

He glanced back, his face instantly melancholy; Adi was chatting with Ba Wanqing, oblivious to everything else.

Once you have a wife, you forget your brothers—understandable... completely understandable...

As the elder brother, he still had to carry things for him...

Soon, a curious sight appeared on the street—a drunkard leading five children out of the city.

Truth be told, this was only Ye Kun’s second time leaving the city; the first was during the celebration festival when he was six.

That was truly “famed in a single battle.”

The group followed Teacher Wu Chi eastward.

Naturally, the children had no doubts; after all, their teacher was leading the way.

Even Ye Kun felt no suspicion, but he overlooked a fatal issue—

Their teacher was drunk and didn’t even know where he was going.

Look at him now, drinking as he walked.

The sun hung high in the sky, and the midday heat was fierce. Sweat drenched the children’s foreheads, especially Ye Kun and Ye Qin, burdened by heavy packs.

But Ye Qin had Ba Wanqing at his side, caring for him and wiping his sweat from time to time, while Ye Kun had no such comfort.

Thus, the benefit of having a wife was evident. Ye Qin felt quite pleased, sure he’d never become like his father, fearful of his wife; just look at how gentle Wanqing was.

No one knew how long they had walked. The group found themselves in a dense forest; sunlight streamed through gaps in the leaves, and strange buzzing sounds filled the air. The temperature dropped sharply.

“Oh my! Teacher has collapsed!” Yuan Zhen shouted in alarm. Ye Kun looked up to see Teacher Wu Chi sprawled in the grass ahead, motionless.

Ye Kun’s face grew awkward—was this a case of teacher leading students, or students leading teacher?

Feng Dian crouched before the teacher, reaching out to check his breath. His face instantly turned pale; he sat down heavily. “Teacher is dead!”

Ye Kun: “...”

Ba Wanqing hurried forward to examine the teacher, her face as pale as paper. She grasped his wrist—there was not a trace of a pulse...

“Wanqing, what’s the situation?” Ye Qin ran over and asked.

Ba Wanqing, bewildered, looked at Ye Qin. “Teacher... is dead...”

Ye Kun felt lost. What on earth was happening—drinking and suddenly dying? Was it Kun’s invisible curse that killed the teacher?

He set down his pack and checked; sure enough, the teacher had passed...

“What do we do now...” Yuan Zhen’s face was unnatural, panic-stricken.

Feng Dian was equally unsettled, but both instinctively looked to Ye Kun.

Ye Qin and Ba Wanqing also turned to Ye Kun. At this moment, Ye Kun became the soul of their group; who else could they trust in times like this but Kun?

Ye Kun’s gaze was conflicted; he leaned weakly against the tree behind him. After a long silence, he said, “Let’s take the teacher’s body back.”

“That’s right. We must hurry home and tell everyone of the teacher’s sudden death,” Yuan Zhen was thrilled at the prospect of going home. With the teacher gone, what was the point of training?

“Listen to big brother,” Ye Qin nodded earnestly. There was no other way.

“Let’s find something to carry the teacher back,” Ba Wanqing suggested, and everyone agreed.

After a while, all they could find were some tree vines. How could these carry him? They could only tie him up and drag him back—there wasn’t even a wooden plank.

With the five children working together, Teacher Wu Chi was finally bound, though it looked rather undignified. Material was scarce; this would have to do.

Soon, another problem emerged. After dragging him for a while, they found they simply couldn’t move him—he was too heavy.

They’d already walked for half a day; now the sky was growing dark, the temperature dropping ever lower, and strange noises occasionally echoed, frightening Yuan Zhen and Feng Dian to their limits.

Although Ba Wanqing was usually composed, she was still a girl; facing such a situation for the first time, she was understandably afraid, clinging tightly to Ye Qin for comfort.

“I can’t go on, I have no strength left,” Feng Dian dropped the vines and collapsed, utterly exhausted.

“Can’t drag him anymore, I’m tired and hungry,” Yuan Zhen protested, ready to give up; at this rate, they’d be dragging him for years, and end up as the teacher’s burial companions.

Ye Kun understood; they were all children, and dragging a corpse was no easy task. The teacher’s passing couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Ye Qin let go of the ropes. “Big brother, what do we do now?”

Ye Kun fell into deep thought. After a long pause, he said, “Let’s bury him here, and tell everyone when we return. Later, we can bring his body back; otherwise, wild animals will devour him.”

Ye Kun’s proposal was met with agreement. They decided to bury the teacher on the spot, then run home to fetch help.

They gathered some small wooden pieces and began to dig...

After all, they had no tools.

But how large a pit could small wooden pieces make?

Eventually, Feng Dian threw aside his wood scrap and declared, “I say we burn him instead!”