Even though Chen Ping'an had a thin and frail-looking body, he wasn't struggling at all as he carried the locust branches on his shoulder, making his way down Clay Vase Alley as if there were nothing more than a feather sitting on his shoulder. Li Baoping was trailing along behind him, and she was astonished to see this. If it weren't for her insistence, Chen Ping'an would've taken the locust branch on her delicate shoulder as well.

At the entrance to Clay Vase Alley stood a little girl with her hair arranged into a pair of braids. Her cheeks were bright red from the cold winter air, and upon spotting Li Baoping swaggering her way down the alley, a displeased look appeared on her face as she complained, "Li Baoping, didn't you say you were going to come to school with me after dropping off the locust branch? 

“Grandpa Ma is acting really strange today. He's dressed up like Mr. Qi, and he says that he'll be taking us on our excursion to Mountain Cliff Academy. If Grandpa Ma gets mad at us, then we'll all pin the blame on you."

Li Baoping didn't take her words to heart at all, and she pulled one of the green locust leaves that Chen Ping'an had given her out of her embroidered pouch, twirling it gleefully in front of the other girl with an expression that said, "You don't have any of these, do you? I have a load of them!"

The little girl with the twin braids was very bemused, perplexed about why Li Baoping was showing off a leaf to her. However, she was very disgruntled by Li Baoping's gloating expression, and she really wanted to slap that smug...