The Cultivator's Reborn to 1970s-Chapter 162 - 135

Having obtained the address, the two spoke for a while longer, with Mr. Mo doing most of the talking and Lan Tian listening. After hanging up the phone, Lan Tian went up to the second-floor tea room.

The tea room was empty except for Lan Tian, with no one else around. She took out two cans of ordinary mutated tea leaves from her Sleeve Universe and brought them down to give to Grandpa Lin, along with the Beijing address of Mr. Mo, asking him to help send them. Then, she went back to the tea room on the second floor, picked up the acupuncture book from the tea table, and continued reading where she had left off.

On the first day of school, Grandpa Lin arranged for the family driver to take Lan Tian, but she refused. She was already grown up, not needing anyone from home to accompany her, unlike when she was younger.

From elementary to the end of middle school, Mo Yuanle had always taken Lan Tian to register at the start of each term, never missing a single time. At each school opening, her classmates would spot her from afar and shout, "Lan Tian, your uncle accompanied you to register again!" which caused the other students to burst into laughter. Lan Tian’s refusals were futile; Mo Yuanle would still take her, and eventually, Lan Tian gave up resisting. Zhao Li would tease her, "Ah, Tiantian, let’s see if your uncle will still take you when you’re in university."

Granny Lin worried about her getting lost without someone to accompany her or about the safety of a young girl carrying money outside; what if someone took notice?

Truly endless worries.

"Granny Lin, it’s really not necessary. I’ve always gone to school by myself since I was young. A few days ago, Lin Dage already took me to see the school. Don’t worry, I won’t get lost nor bullied. I am quite capable."

Entering the campus, Lan Tian admired the school’s scenery while experiencing an atmosphere completely different from middle school.

The campus gathered many students from all over, diverse and grouped in threes and fives, mostly familiar upperclassmen, laughing and frolicking as they passed by; there were also students who came on bicycles, who sped through, causing quite a bit of chaos, the wind they kicked up messing up many people’s hairstyles, and even blowing up girls’ skirts, provoking a wave of cursing.

There were also those from well-off families, driven in cars directly to the teaching buildings. Yet, most students arrived at school on foot, like Lan Tian.

The campus was vast and spacious, with a design based on a triangle. Each grade occupied one vertex; together, they formed a triangle with the library, the sports field, training room, academic affairs office, entertainment garden, and other facilities in the middle.

School pathways were lined with signposts, and the grass was adorned with various signs reminding everyone ’Do Not Step on the Flowers and Grass’ and ’Do Not Spit at Will’, among other slogans.

Lan Tian followed the signs to the new students’ academic affairs office. The queue at the tuition payment window was long, with some accompanied by parents and most coming on their own; however, most students accompanied by parents were female.

Lan Tian looked around and chose one of the shorter queues to join—there were already twenty or thirty people ahead, all new students unknown to each other, standing silently, bartering under the scorching sun; by the time it was Lan Tian’s turn, half an hour had passed.

After paying tuition and receiving her textbooks, she followed the signs toward her class.

Lan Tian’s class was Class A of the Humanities, room 302. When she arrived, many students were already seated. She found an empty seat and sat down, and the student next to her said nothing. Unlike in middle school, where spots were claimed and desks and chairs were marked with names, anyone sitting in the wrong spot would be punished.

Life returned to its previous monotony, with Lan Tian attending school, practicing cultivation, and being picked up by Mo Junhua to return to the military base on Saturdays and then dropped back at school on Mondays. Occasionally, she would hear from Tian Xianghua about Zhou Yuwei hassling Mo Junhua—when and where it happened and who witnessed it.

After Mr. Mo went to Beijing, he never came back. Lan Tian called him once a month. Mr. Mo was as delighted as a child when he received calls from Lan Tian, mentioning that he had received the tea she sent and drank it every day. He even shared a can with a friend and now, running out, hoped Lan Tian would send more.

Lan Tian pretended not to hear and continued sending two family letters home each month. Life at school remained uneventful except for a Teacher Dai, who never saw Lan Tian and insisted on persuading her to switch her major to the sciences, which Lan Tian always ignored.

Autumn gave way to winter, and in the blink of an eye, the winter vacation arrived. After finishing her exams, Lan Tian didn’t go back to the Mo Mansion first; instead, she went treasure hunting on Antique Street with her pack on her back.

Sometimes Mo Junhua was busy with military duties and couldn’t pick her up; Lan Tian would then stay in Shanghai, wandering around, looking for the few types of metals she needed on Antique Street. Whenever she had free time, Lan Tian would go out—she was only one metal short for the Storage Basin, and once she found it, she could start refining it.

Winter in Shanghai wasn’t that cold, at least much warmer than in Mo Village. With the end of the year approaching, there had been only one snowfall that barely reached the calves, and within a few days, there was no trace of snow on the streets.

It was in these past two days that the weather suddenly changed, and a heavy snow fell, the trees by the roadside burdened with a thick layer of snow, causing the branches to bend. In the corner of the walls were piles of snow that had been swept up.

Lan Tian wrapped herself tighter in her downy wool coat, flipped up the collar, pulled up the red scarf to cover half of her face, and wore a wide knitted hat that covered her entire forehead. Clothed like this, only her eyes were visible.

Lan Tian had Spiritual Energy to protect herself from the cold, but she still dressed like an ordinary person, without skimping on any winter garments.

"Lan Tian, wait for me, I’ll walk with you."

As Lan Tian approached the school gate, she heard Huanhuan calling out from behind, but Lan Tian kept walking without turning her head.

After a semester, Lan Tian maintained a lukewarm, neither close nor distant relationship with her classmates. They all knew each other but were not very close. The female students paid attention to Lan Tian’s attire, while the male students were interested in her lifestyle and routine—grades seemed secondary.

Of course, not everyone liked Lan Tian. There were students who didn’t. Some local Shanghai girls from the class came from well-to-do families, being picked up and dropped off by family cars, which made the majority of the classmates cast envious glances at them—except for Lan Tian.

She walked past them without a sideways glance, making them feel like jesters. Another point of envy was Lan Tian’s stunning beauty, which was acknowledged by all the boys in the grade, not just her class. Everyone knew about the girl in room 302, a beauty who could topple empires, the one boys vied to please and whose fashion sense was emulated by the girls.

She never associated with her classmates, always carrying an air of lofty and cold beauty. Behind her back, her classmates referred to her as "Princess," a moniker unknown to Lan Tian.

The only person she had any interaction with was Huanhuan from room 303. Huanhuan lived in the mansion opposite the Mo Mansion, and they didn’t know each other originally; it was hard to meet during school commute as well.

Huanhuan used to be driven to and from school, which was more convenient—leaving the alley, it only took about ten minutes to reach the school, and leaving late, she could still make it to morning classes without being tardy. On the other hand, Lan Tian walked, so she had to get up early, leave early, and naturally wouldn’t bump into her.

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