After having his anticipated thesis topic rejected by Doctor Duzem, Zheng Qing, with a bit of dejection, left the Abnormal Life Research Institute carrying a glass jar with three sleeping sprites inside.

When leaving, the big tiger with golden eyes and white fur on the talisman board did not give him any more trouble.

Of course, this might also be related to Doctor Duzem seeing him out the door.

On the way back to school.

Zheng Qing continuously pondered over his thesis topic, listing potential candidates for his advisor.

He had already discussed the topic with Jiang Yu last night, and the witch gave him two suggestions. One was to confirm the thesis topic first and then find a suitable advisor based on it; the other suggestion was to find an advisor with a lower rank but more diligent and responsible, which would be very helpful for a clueless beginner graduate like Zheng Qing.

According to Jiang Yu’s advice, unquestionably, Zhang Huaigu from the Talisman Studies class should be the best candidate — given her appreciation of him, she would surely be delighted to be his thesis advisor, and involving Talisman Studies, the related thesis topic wouldn’t be too difficult.

The only issue is whether Old Yao would allow him to ’water down’ a simple thesis to graduate.

One must know that the reason he suggested graduating early was mainly to have him stay at school post-graduation to act as his ’agent’, and a watered-down thesis overseen by a registered wizard would hardly reassure the elders at the school.

The other subjects — like Professor Li of Potion Studies, Professor Yi of Divination Class, Sima Yangyun of History Class, and Professor Montreya of Magic Script Class — probably none of these candidates would refuse to be his advisor, but Zheng Qing knew himself well; the professors are busy with their daily work, and his grades in Potions and Divination are not outstanding, making it hard to find a suitable research direction; Sima Yangyun’s situation is similar to Zhang Huaigu, insufficient advisor weight and no help for his future role as ’agent’.

Only Professor Montreya seems very appropriate from every angle.

And this was also the optimal choice Zheng Qing thought of yesterday.

Of course, given that Professor Montreya is now the deputy dean of Edge Academy and Doctor Duzem just mentioned that a major project is underway there, Zheng Qing doubted whether the professor has the time to guide him through the thesis.

If all else fails, just go to Su Shijun for help.

Living people won’t be trapped by urine!

He thought a bit self-destructively, suddenly realizing a lot of noise around him. When he looked up, he was surprised to find himself in front of the San You Bookstore.

Diagonally opposite San You Bookstore is the Wandering Bar.

Today is the Lantern Festival, and the Wandering Bar might have some special offers, so it’s bustling in front of it. The big frog responsible for distributing the door cards on regular days seemed to have turned into a frog-shaped lantern, radiating a faint green light with each card given, drawing exclamations from the young wizards.

Zheng Qing just glanced and then shifted his attention back to San You Bookstore.

He didn’t know why he didn’t return to school immediately but circled around to the bookstore entrance. Or rather, he subconsciously didn’t want to know why he did this.

Similar to the few visits to the bookstore after the new year, through the window display, he could clearly see today’s San You Bookstore still looked desolate and dilapidated, as if lifeless for a long time.

Dust-covered tables and chairs were placed randomly in the open space, the red mud stove’s hearth was open, revealing some residual ashes inside, and the empty bookshelves had neither books nor anything else — but Zheng Qing knew that the sir or the Yellow Flowered Cat was definitely inside right now, perhaps the Flower Cat’s round face was pressed against the glass, mocking his inability to see anything.

With this certainty.

Zheng Qing, relying on distant memories in his mind, let his gaze slide over to a certain bookshelf. Then, as if his sight was stung, he pulled back instinctively and glanced at the two adjacent stores.

Next to San You Bookstore is a charm store opened by an old Daoist named Mu Mingzi, and next to it is D&K.

At this time, D&K had already closed, but through the window, there was still a hint of orange-yellow light.

Zheng Qing hesitated a bit, not immediately going to knock on D&K’s door.

Instead, he placed the glass jar on the ground, pulled out the tuning fork box given by Doctor Duzem from the grey cloth bag, opened the lid, took out the tuning fork that produced a sound of five hundred and twenty-eight hertz, and tapped it gently.

Buzz!

The deep and pleasant sound instantly spread out, but Zheng Qing stared unblinkingly at the bookstore, seeing no reaction. This situation was not unexpected, yet it left him a bit disappointed.

The young man angrily kicked the corner of the bookstore wall.

Besides inducing sharp pain in his toes, there was no other effect.

Perhaps it was because it was separated by a glass window, and maybe nothing could be heard inside. Besides, the sir probably wouldn’t be ignorant of the benefits of this frequency for dormant consciousness — he comforted himself inside, picked up the glass jar on the ground, turned, and knocked on D&K’s door.

"Closed!"

Came the slightly sharp voice of Dangdang Ears from behind the door.

"It’s me."

Zheng Qing replied calmly.

Inside was quiet for a few seconds, faintly hearing two small voices conversing rapidly.

"It’s the boss!"

"Should we call him Teaching Assistant Sir now?"

"He’s still the boss!"

"Should we call him Teaching Assistant Boss? Or Boss Teaching Assistant?"

Whoosh!

Before Zheng Qing could hear Ears Brother’s conclusion, the door of D&K was opened forcefully from the inside, revealing a slightly aged, narrow fox face. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

It was Hank, the shopkeeper, and the financier sent by Qingqiu back then.

He looked at Zheng Qing in surprise.

"Good evening, young master." Fox Five quickly opened the door wide, saluting the warlock respectfully: "I didn’t know you came to the shop so late for any particular reason? As it happens, tonight’s accounts have just been settled..."

"I’m not here to check accounts." Zheng Qing waved his hand: "Such matters can just go to Xiao Xiao."

While speaking, Ears Brother also ambled before the young man, bowing front and back, muttering something about ’Teaching Assistant Boss’ and ’Boss Teaching Assistant’, making one chuckle.

"Call me boss in the store, and teacher at school." He corrected his two old acquaintances’ wording, then turned to Fox Five: "There’s a favor I need to ask... you two needn’t come with me, go and preview your lessons."

A moment later.

Zheng Qing and Fox Five stood in front of San You Bookstore’s window showcase.

"Do you see that shelf?"

The young man pointed to a certain empty bookshelf in the bookstore, then showed the tuning fork in his hand, looking sternly at his shopkeeper: "Remember to buy a five hundred and twenty-eight hertz tuning fork tomorrow, and every morning when opening and evening when closing, come to the bookstore and tap it once in the direction of that shelf... not much, just once is enough. Also, the cost of the tuning fork should not be put through the public account; you can deduct it from my bonus."