The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix’s Novels Also Desires Happiness

Chapter 48, Results

“Over?”

In the sunlit classroom, Mu En looked at Professor Plang in a daze.

It was as if he had just woken from a great dream; the content of the exam flashed by like the credits of a movie, now blurred and unclear, yet he felt as if he had let go of something, feeling light and free.

“Yeah, it’s already over. Mu En Campbell, you did well, better than I expected.”

Professor Plang’s gaze swept over the exam paper in front of Mu En, his expression showing no discernible change, but his words seemed much gentler.

He patted Mu En’s shoulder and urged:

“Hurry up and leave, don’t dawdle.”

“Oh.”

Mu En nodded blankly and stood up in a daze.

He didn’t know how he walked out of the classroom, how he crossed the crowd of onlookers, or how he returned to his dormitory.

When he came to his senses, he was already sitting in front of his desk, staring at his reflection in the mirror for a long, long time.

“What should I do next?”

After a goal pursued with great effort came to a brief end, Mu En instead fell into a profound emptiness.

It felt as if something was missing in his heart, leaving it hollow.

—

But he quickly regained his composure.

“Is there still a need to think about such questions?”

Mu En murmured softly to himself.

In his sapphire-blue eyes, the old flames had just faded, and new ones were rekindling.

“My goals are still far from being achieved, aren’t they?”

Thus, consciousness sank into darkness.

In the darkness, an assassin clad in a maid outfit appeared alongside a bare man.

“It’s been a month; I even miss you.”

Mu En snapped his fingers, “How about we change this long-awaited reunion to a more festive setting?”

And so, the darkness dissipated, and the sun shone brightly.

Mu En bathed in endless radiance, wielding twin blades.

He grinned, smiling:

“Come, let’s see how much I’ve regressed in this month!”

……

……

“Finished the exam? Hurry and let me see!”

After the exam, Professor Plang returned to his office with the test papers, only to find it packed with a crowd of teachers eager to watch the spectacle.

Even Professor Cade, who usually scoffed at matters of magic, lingered in the corner, curiously awaiting the results.

Gossip and a taste for drama were not solely the domain of students in this academy.

Professor Gran, upon seeing Professor Plang, immediately rushed over to snatch the test papers from his hands.

“Can you all at least act like teachers!”

Professor Plang swatted away Professor Gran’s hand, exasperated:

“Those students are one thing, but you all are just as nosy—what’s the deal?”

“Someone even personally went to supervise the exam; do you still have the face to criticize us?”

“I just wanted to ensure the fairness of the exam!”

“Oh, should we expect you to personally supervise every exam from now on?”

Professor Gran whistled, unfazed by Professor Plang’s anger, and took advantage of his distraction to snatch the test papers.

“Let me see, Mu En Campbell, Campbell…”

Gran quickly counted through the papers, then precisely pulled out Mu En’s exam and handed it to the seemingly robust Teacher Fran beside him.

“Teacher Fran, hurry, grade it! I want to see the results!”

—

“This… seems a bit inappropriate.”

Teacher Fran hesitated slightly, glancing at Professor Prang beside her.

Although grading in advance wouldn’t affect the outcome, it was still somewhat against the rules…

And Professor Prang was always quite strict; such rule-breaking matters…

“Go ahead and grade it.”

Unexpectedly, Professor Prang relaxed his stance.

“There’s no need to get hung up on such trivial matters.”

“Hmm?”

Even Professor Gran was taken aback, staring at Professor Prang in suspicion for a while:

“What’s wrong with you after proctoring? Are you in a bad mood? Did that kid Mu En provoke you again?”

“Did he?”

Professor Prang shot him a blank glance.

“Of course he did. The old you would never be so easy to talk to.”

“If I wasn’t easy to talk to, would you listen to me?”

“Heh, that’s true.”

Professor Gran didn’t press further, as his attention was quickly drawn to Mu En’s exam paper.

“Hurry, Teacher Fran, hurry and grade it. Prang has already agreed.”

“Oh, okay!”

Seeing that Professor Prang had relented, Teacher Fran had no reason to hesitate and immediately picked up Mu En’s paper to start grading.

The other teachers also gathered curiously around.

Professor Gran, especially, couldn’t help but exclaim as the grading progressed.

“Wow, he actually got all the first five questions right? That kid has some skills.”

“Ah, how could he get the sixth question wrong when it’s so simple…”

“The thirteenth question seems a bit difficult for that kid; he must have spent quite some time on it.”

“Whoa, he didn’t even attempt the last big question. Smart move.”

With a perfect score paper, the content was not extensive, so the grading finished quickly.

That score naturally appeared before all the teachers soon.

The office fell into silence.

Because everyone was silent.

Silently staring at that score.

Until a long while had passed, a teacher finally sighed and shook his head.

“Surprisingly… seventy-nine. What a pity.”

That’s right.

Seventy-nine.

This is the number currently printed at the top of the exam paper.

Bright red and clear, so eye-catching, yet so real.

Only a one-point difference from that line, yet ultimately unable to cross it.

A slight difference, forever more lamentable than a vast distance apart.

Even Professor Gran couldn’t help but suppress his smile when looking at that number.

“Can we only say… it was bad luck?”

Because a score of seventy-nine certainly cannot be said to reflect a lack of ability.

From three to seventy-nine.

Just the enormous difference between these two numbers allowed all the teachers present to clearly feel the hardships and efforts that the boy had put in during this short month.

He had created this miracle, which almost everyone considered impossible, with his hard work and sweat.

But the more so, the more it made one feel regret.

A one-point difference seemed like a small joke played by the god of fate on that boy.

“Give me the exam paper.”

Just as everyone was immersed in the regretful emotions for that boy, Professor Plong suddenly reached out to take the exam paper.

His gaze quickly swept across the paper, and then, as if confirming something.

Pointing to a certain spot on the paper, he said:

“Here, it was graded incorrectly.”

“Eh?”

Teacher Fran blinked, her eyes scanning the area where Professor Plong was pointing.

Her beautiful eyes widened, and her pretty face instantly turned crimson.

“Ah, really, I… I’m so sorry, it was indeed graded incorrectly. I might have been a bit nervous being watched by so many people while grading for the first time…”

“Correct it.”

Professor Plong remained expressionless, seemingly without any intention of blaming her.

He simply watched silently as Teacher Fran corrected that question, and then recalculated the score.

Actually, there was no need to calculate.

Seventy-nine plus one, even a street-side beggar could figure out the result.

Eighty.

An excellent level.

In the office, silence fell once again.

They had just been lamenting, but when that number appeared before their eyes, they couldn’t help but feel shocked.

As teachers at St. Maria, they were all elites in the education field; what kind of students had they not seen?

Some shone like bright lights, only to suddenly face unexpected setbacks or willingly fall from grace, their grades plummeting.

Or there were the wayward sons of decent families, who suddenly awakened, turned back in realization, and ultimately climbed step by step to success.

However, to see a golden-haired boy, in just one month, crudely rise from a three to an excellent standard of eighty…

To be honest, it was unheard of.

“It can be called a miracle in the education field, right?”

One teacher couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Truly, Mu En Campbell deserves his reputation; whether good or bad, he never fails to astonish.”

“So, Mu En Campbell has done it, hasn’t he? Those words he spoke a month ago,” another teacher responded, clicking their tongue in wonder:

“I heard the odds were twenty to one. Tsk, tsk, I’m afraid many students will be standing on the rooftop now. Should we quickly install barbed wire on the railings?”

“No—”

Even more teachers lamented in despair:

“My bonus, without you, how am I supposed to live?”

“…”

Professor Plang glanced at the wailing Teacher Cade, his expression unchanged as he said:

“Submit a hundred thousand words of reflection to me tomorrow, and your bonus for this semester is gone too.”

Thus, the wailing grew even more tragic.

However, after a brief uproar, everyone fell silent once again.

Dozens of eyes quietly glanced at Professor Plang.

He hated that Mu En Campbell so much; at this moment… he wouldn’t be angry, would he?

No, perhaps he was already angry; just look at how miserable Teacher Cade was, crashing into his line of fire!

If they continued to stay here…

“Um… I’m feeling a bit unwell, so I’ll take my leave first.”

Teacher Fran was the first to excuse herself.

“Right, right, I’m also feeling a bit under the weather…”

“I forgot to turn off the gas at home…”

“My wife is about to give birth…”

A whole bunch of teachers, as if their memories had suddenly improved, one by one recalled urgent matters at home and quickly slipped away.

In the end, only Professor Gran was left, staring at the ever-expressionless Professor Plank in the quiet office for a long time, finally unable to hold back and said:

“I think, as a professor, you really don’t need to be angry with a child.”

“I’m not angry.”

“Nonsense, look at you.”

“I’m not angry.”

Professor Plank emphasized, then suddenly raised his hand and, to Professor Gran’s shock, smashed his beloved antique desk with a single blow.

Gran was stunned, and after a long pause, he finally reacted, trembling as he said:

“Well… actually, at that time, I thought you were joking.”

“But I wasn’t joking.”

Professor Plank picked up a piece of wood, hesitated for a moment, then put it in his mouth.

He chewed.

Then swallowed.

“I never joke.”

Next, he picked up another piece and put it in his mouth.

With his robust physique, he was not one to be unable to eat a bit of wood.

However, this expensive mahogany, while carrying a natural fragrance, tasted quite bitter.

And it hurt.

“I’m not angry.”

Professor Plank reiterated, as if to emphasize:

“How could I be angry?

As an educator, as a teacher, watching my students find their way back, a wayward son return to the fold, isn’t that the most joyous thing?”

“I’m just a bit ashamed, ashamed of my own inadequacies, ashamed of my lack of insight. I prided myself on being a seasoned educator, yet it was only during the last exam that I truly saw what was hidden in that boy’s eyes.”

“—What a blazing flame it was, like a lion roaring in the sunset!”

Professor Plank suddenly clenched his fist, crushing the corner of the desk, and continued to shove it into his mouth.

He gritted his teeth, chewing the mahogany with force, as if trying to squeeze out tears to cleanse his murky, unseeing eyes:

“That boy, Mun Campbell, he is not the spoiled rich kid we think he is; he is the true son of a duke who can inherit the Campbell name!”

“No, I have a feeling that his future achievements will even surpass those of his father!”

“Surpass Duke Campbell? That lion king?”

Professor Gran couldn’t help but widen his eyes in surprise; he never expected Professor Plang to suddenly hold such a high opinion of Mu En Campbell.

It should be noted that Long En Campbell is among the most distinguished of all the Campbell Dukes throughout history.

“Isn’t that a bit too difficult?”

“Difficult?”

Professor Plang did not refute him, merely countered with a question:

“Do you know whose eyes I last saw that kind of gaze in?”

“Whose?” Professor Gran was taken aback.

“Someone you have met before.”

Professor Plang lowered his eyelids, his tone growing somber:

“My other foolish student, controlled by the God of Love.”

Saint Jingyi.

That great saintess who had been missing for twenty years, yet still had numerous statues standing tall, still had many followers devoted to her.

That strong girl who never yielded to the God of Love until her death.

“……”

Professor Gran fell into silence, even more shocked.

After a moment, he asked seriously:

“Are you saying… Mu En Campbell will also become a saintess in the future?”

“……”

Professor Plang’s expression stiffened, nearly choking on his words.

But Professor Gran patted his shoulder with a playful grin:

“Alright, alright, stop blaming yourself. No matter how excellent a teacher is, it’s impossible to see through all their students.

At least, you didn’t hold him back, did you?”

“But he is a genius who can score eighty points in a month, yet last semester he only learned one lighting spell under my guidance,” Professor Plang replied gloomily.

“……”

Professor Gran’s expression also stiffened, then he indignantly said:

“Well, you still say you’re not angry!”

“I’m not.”

Professor Plang continued to chew on the corner of the table, saying:

“And even if Mu En Campbell doesn’t score eighty this time, I will still keep my promise.”

“Mm?”

“Did you forget? At the beginning of the semester, I said the same thing: if Mu En Campbell really changes, I’ll eat this desk.”

Professor Plang sighed:

“So, from the moment the exams ended, I knew that no matter what the score was, I had to eat this desk.”

……

……

After actually consuming the entire desk, Professor Plang hurriedly left, not knowing what he was off to do.

Only Professor Gran remained in the office.

As if recalling something, he picked up Mu En’s exam paper again and examined it closely.

In the end, on the question that Professor Plang had just pointed out as incorrectly marked, he faintly sensed a trace of weak magical energy.

“Ha, I knew it. Teacher Fran, despite her level, wouldn’t make such a rookie mistake, especially not with so many eyes on her.”

Professor Gran stroked his chin, squinting his eyes in delight as he smiled:

“That old stick-in-the-mud Plang, who would have thought he’d occasionally pull such little tricks?”