Yama Reborn
Chapter 55 - 53 [Langya Records]

Chapter 55: Chapter 53 [Langya Records]

Chapter Fifty-three: Langya Chronicles

The bus finally arrived at the foot of Mount Langya.

As soon as they disembarked, the group of teenagers couldn’t wait to race up the mountain... in search of the legendary Zuiweng Pavilion.

Chen Nuo had been here in his past life and strolled leisurely at the back, holding his sister’s hand. He watched as the whole class swarmed up the mountain.

Wow, they’re fast. Youth, it’s wonderful.

But... Chen Nuo turned to look not far from the bus, where there was a decrepit pavilion that didn’t look very remarkable.

Zuiweng Pavilion, actually, is right at the foot of the mountain.

Chen Nuo took out an orange, peeled it, shared half with his sister, and kept half for himself. The two of them didn’t feel like climbing the mountain, so they just sat down on the stone bench beside Zuiweng Pavilion.

Then he saw the modern sedan belonging to the long-legged girl’s family company drive into the parking lot. The Goryeo driver had gotten lost on the way and had just arrived. When he got out of the car, he kept nodding and bowing in apology to the long-legged girl, only to be angrily sent away by her.

The long-legged girl, seeing the No. 8 Middle School’s bus already empty in the parking lot and finding no sight of No. 8 Middle School’s ugly blue-and-white school uniform after looking around, became quite anxious.

This time of year was peak season, with many schools organizing spring outings to Mount Langya. Near the parking lot at the foot of the mountain, there were also many students from other schools.

It was practically a grand exhibition of this era’s ugly school uniforms.

Yellow-and-white, red-and-blue, white-and-green...

They were like different, mutated children from the same mother; the styles were all largely the same, only the colors of the stripes had been switched. All of them wore those bulky zippered sports jackets.

Li Yingwan made a couple of laps around the area without finding anyone, growing increasingly frantic.

She was strikingly attractive, the type who naturally resisted the beauty-lowering "buff" of school uniforms. Soon, her presence attracted a few figures clad in yellow-and-white, red-and-blue, and white-and-green.

A bunch of teenage boys surrounded the Goryeo girl. As soon as they started inquiring, Li Yingwan’s mixed Goryeo and Mandarin speech, along with her pretty face and those long legs under her short skirt...

The boys got excited and hovered around the long-legged girl. Some openly hit on her, while others pretended to help her look for people but were actually hitting on her.

Chen Nuo tossed the last orange segment into his mouth. After some thought, he decided he couldn’t just ignore her.

So he got up, ambled over, parted the crowd, and without a word, grabbed the long-legged girl’s hand and walked off.

"Hey? Who are you..."

The boys were not pleased, but just as someone was about to speak up, they saw that this ridiculously pretty long-legged girl had already happily attached herself to him, wrapping both arms around this poser’s arm, and walked away with him.

Damn... she’s taken.

Chen LSP instantly maxed out his swagger, feeling quite pleased with himself.

So, with the long-legged girl on one arm and holding sister Xiaoye’s hand with his other.

Feeling great.

Let’s go, up the mountain!

Just as they turned a corner, they saw Sun Keke and a few other schoolmates, both boys and girls, standing under a pine tree. School Belle Sun was looking all around, searching for him.

Seeing Chen Nuo coming up with two girls, especially when she noticed Li Yingwan’s arm linked with Chen Nuo’s, School Belle Sun’s expression turned sour in an instant.

Especially seeing Li Yingwan walking while still stuffing a peeled orange into Chen Nuo’s mouth...

Bichi!

School Belle Sun instantly went into battle mode and strode forward to meet them.

Chen Nuo saw Sun Keke coming over with fire in her eyes. His eyes quickly shifted, and he swallowed the orange in his mouth without even chewing. GULP.

He looked around.

Oh no.

The seniors had stayed back at school to cram for college entrance exams and didn’t come on the spring outing.

What does that mean? Zhang Linsheng isn’t here!

Alas, "Chen Yanluo’s Triple Hug with Zhang Linsheng"—such a classic scene! It seems we’ll have to delay its debut for a few more days.

His gaze then turned, landing on his own little sister.

"Hmm? Brother?" Xiao Yezi just looked up.

Chen Nuo scooped up his sister, who hadn’t quite grasped the situation. Smiling cheerfully at Li Pickle and Sun Cabbage, as well as the other students, he exclaimed loudly, "Classmates, let’s have a competition! Let’s see who can reach the top of the mountain first! Charge!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than he took off running with his sister in his arms.

Sun CC and Li Long Legs, both momentarily stunned, looked again for Chen Xiaoguo...

He was already fifty meters away!

Chen Nuo ran around two bends without stopping. Chen Xiaoye, whom he was carrying, patted his shoulder.

"Brother, stop running. They haven’t caught up."

"Huh?" Chen Nuo stopped, looking at his sister.

"Brother, you can’t keep doing this," Chen Xiaoye said with a pursed smile.

"What do kids know."

"I do know." Chen Xiaoye giggled. "Brother, you’re just like Shancai. Keke and Sister Ouni are like Daoming Si and Huaze Lei; they both like you."

Alright, no more DVDs for this girl.

The recent craze for "Meteor Garden" from Taiwan had swept across Asia. Although it hadn’t been officially released in mainland China, pirated copies were already everywhere.

The most popular topic in school wasn’t "Endless Love" anymore; Qiao Mei and Yuan Bin Oppa had sadly fallen out of favor. The hottest quote now was, "If apologies worked, what would we need police for?"

"By the way, why do you call Long Legs ’Sister Ouni’?"

"Because she told me to call her Ouni."

Mount Langya isn’t very high.

When Sun Keke and Li Yingwan, along with a group of classmates, came over the hill to the other side, they saw Chen Nuo already sitting there munching on an apple.

Chen Xiaoye, too cute for her own good, had already been surrounded by a group of girls from her class. They were feeding her until her cheeks were puffed up like a chipmunk’s; she held a banana in her left hand and a packet of chocolates in her right.

Old Sun and two other teachers were arranging for the students to cook outdoors.

This was an area developed for outdoor cooking. The class monitor had taken some students to rent barbecue grills and cooking utensils, and they had bought several bags of charcoal. Chen Nuo chose a cooking spot by the lake and started to light the charcoal with his sister.

The stove was built with a few bricks and looked very rudimentary. A fire was started with charcoal at the bottom, and a barbecue grill was placed on top to complete the setup.

Many students had brought ingredients for grilling, and anything they lacked could be bought there, along with some marinated chicken wings and meat skewers, among other items.

Chen Nuo lit the fire and started grilling skewers. Xiao Yezi, looking curious, took a small brush and gently basted the roasting skewers with oil.

A few bold students even went out to nearby farmers at the foot of the mountain, negotiated for a while, and actually managed to buy some Chinese cabbage and eggplants to slice up and grill.

With her father watching, Sun Keke ultimately felt too embarrassed to get close to Chen Nuo and could only watch with clenched teeth as Li Yingwan circled around him without any hesitation.

The lunch was smoky and fiery. Most students lacked cooking skills, so the grilled food was mostly charred or undercooked. But being young and in high spirits, everyone still thoroughly enjoyed it. Some boys even took the opportunity to start playfully chasing and running after the girls.

Old Sun initially wanted to stop them, but then thought better of it and let them be.

In just a few months, these kids will be in their senior year, with not many carefree days left.

The outdoor cooking business here was booming. By noon, not only the students from No. 8 Middle School but also those from other schools on their spring outings had gathered here.

Youth being youth, they started off keeping to their own groups. But as they ate, they began interacting, borrowing charcoal and cooking utensils from each other, leading to friendly exchanges.

After the meal was finished, many students from No. 8 Middle School and other schools were already by the pond next to the picnic area, starting to play and frolic.

While they were playing, there were suddenly several PLOPS.

Girls’ screams followed immediately.

"AH!!! Someone fell into the water!!"

"Save them!!!"

In the pond, three students were desperately thrashing about: one from No. 8 Middle School and two unfamiliar ones from other schools. Two girls and one boy.

Teenagers, after all, could be quite foolish.

Moreover, it was clear that most of those present couldn’t swim; even those who could were momentarily stunned.

Chen Nuo reacted the fastest, yelling directly at Old Sun, "Teacher! Save them!"

Old Sun was already rushing to the edge of the pond. As he ran, he quickly took off his jacket and dived into the pond!

Luo Qing, who knew how to swim, recovered from the shock and also started to run over, but Chen Nuo grabbed him.

"Hey? Don’t pull me! I can swim."

Chen Nuo shook his head, not letting go, his tone very serious. "Don’t go in!"

Old Sun had already pulled a girl, who was closest to the shore, out of the pond and shouted amidst the haste, "Students, don’t come down! Move back!!"

After saying that, he turned back and dived into the pond again.

Sun Keke was petrified, running to the shore with a mournful face. "Dad! Dad!! Be careful!!"

Old Sun then pushed a boy onto the shore. Having aged a bit, Old Sun was panting heavily. In the process of rescuing, he had accidentally swallowed a few mouthfuls of pond water.

But looking back at another girl still struggling in the pond, Old Sun clenched his teeth and swam towards her again.

At this moment, teachers from other schools also entered the pond. However, Old Sun was closest to the last girl who had fallen in. After striving to swim over, he scooped her up from behind under her arms and then thrashed backwards to the other side of the pond.

With all his strength, Old Sun managed to drag the girl to the shore but somehow, half of his body slipped, and with a roll, he fell back into the pond.

Right at that moment, a hand reached out from the shore, grabbing Old Sun’s arm. He felt a strong force pulling him directly up!

Looking up, he saw Chen Nuo’s smiling face.

Chen Nuo exhaled, helped Old Sun up onto the shore, and then looked around at his classmates who still hadn’t reacted.

Chen Nuo’s eyes darted around. Suddenly, he lifted Old Sun’s arm high and, using his full lung capacity, shouted loudly.

"Teacher Sun is awesome!!!"

After a few seconds of stunned silence, the students all reacted.

"Teacher Sun is awesome!!!"

"Teacher Sun is awesome!!!!"

"Teacher Sun is so incredible!!!"

"Long live Teacher Sun!!!"

Chen Nuo handed Old Sun over to Sun Keke. Sun Keke and several other students came over. They helped the clearly exhausted Old Sun to the nearby picnic shop to change clothes.

The students who had fallen into the pond were also rescued. Except for one who had swallowed too much pond water and needed time to recover, the other two coughed for a while and were fine. They were taken care of by their schoolmates and teachers.

Luo Qing walked up to Chen Nuo and asked with a frown, "Why didn’t you let me go in just now?"

Chen Nuo patted his shoulder, not saying a word.

Sigh... you almost stole the show, brother.

Chen Nuo didn’t spell it out.

Although he had stopped Luo Qing from going into the pond to save people, Chen Nuo actually felt confident that things would be okay.

After all, with Chen Yanluo here as a safety net, it was impossible for anything truly serious to happen.

Old Sun was shivering from the cold.

Although it was late March, the season still brought chilly mornings and evenings, and the pond water was cold.

At this moment, Old Sun’s clothes were soaked through, his hair was wet, and he was wrapped in a blanket borrowed from the picnic site’s vendor.

Chen Nuo came over with several articles of clothing and handed them to Old Sun. "Put these on. I bought them from a farmer’s house. Take off your outer clothes and change into these dry ones. Um, you can skip the underwear for now."

Old Sun exhaled a few breaths, took the clothes with a nod, and turned to go inside to change.

Chen Nuo turned around, went outside, and found Li Yingwan.

"Do me a favor."

"Ah?"

"Your family’s company invests and does business in the district. You must have connections with some local media..."

「The matter brewed for a day.」

「The next day, the parents of the student from their school who had fallen into the water came to the school.」 The parents found Old Sun and thanked him profusely; the mother, in particular, almost knelt before him on the spot.

「On the third day, the two rescued students from the other school also came to visit.」 Their parents grasped Old Sun’s hand, expressing endless gratitude, and one family even brought a commendatory silk banner.

「On the fourth day, a local newspaper published an article titled, "Heroic Teacher Risks Life to Save Three Drowning Students!"」

Upon seeing this, the district education bureau faced three choices.

First, pretend it didn’t happen. — Unacceptable; that would be negligence and dereliction of duty!

Second, hold the school accountable for inadequate management leading to students falling into the water. — Also unacceptable; wouldn’t that be stirring up trouble for themselves?

Third, highly commend the teacher who bravely rescued the drowning students.

Was there even a question? Of course, the third option was chosen.

「Thus, on the fifth day, reporters from the district TV station arrived with cameramen.」

There’s no doubt JN District has its own TV station.

JN District used to be a county and was only restructured a few years ago to become a district, now included as one of the main urban areas of Jinling City.

So JN District used to have its own county TV station, which remained as the district TV station after the change. Moreover, for local cable TV subscribers, the district TV station is channel number one in their lineup.

This is unique among the several urban districts in Jinling City.

Other districts don’t have their own TV channels.

A publicity campaign, not large in scale but quite impactful, was launched with official intervention, unfolding with much fanfare.

No. 8 Middle School immediately reinstated Old Sun’s position and duties.

The District Education Bureau immediately included Old Sun in the list for the annual commendation of outstanding educational talents, and a nomination for Excellent Teacher was also internally reserved for him.

The education company approached Old Sun again. This time, it wasn’t the vice president but the person in charge of their Jinling operations. They offered Old Sun a high salary plus performance-based bonuses tied to student promotion rates. They also promised that after the school’s restructuring, Comrade Old Sun would directly become the homeroom teacher of a graduating class and the grade level leader. Furthermore, he would oversee the high school department’s teaching and research, and hold the title of Assistant to the Principal (equivalent to Vice Principal).

The contract was ready and could be signed at any time.

The District Education Bureau also notified Old Sun about several scheduled speaking engagements, requiring him to give speeches and promoting him as an exemplary teacher.

In his forties, Old Sun suddenly found himself at the pinnacle of his life.