Just as the gatekeeper finished speaking, a teacher stepped in from outside.

The gatekeeper immediately stood straight and greeted him respectfully, “Master Zhang.”

Master Zhang’s eyes were half-lidded, as if not fully awake.

He glanced lazily at Qian Chunhua and her son. “What do you want?”

The gatekeeper quickly replied, “Master Zhang, they’re here to enroll a child in the private school.”

Master Zhang sneered, then looked Qian Chunhua and her son up and down with a blatant, disrespectful gaze that made Chunhua uncomfortable.

She was wearing the clothes left by the body’s original owner, which were patched and worn, making her look like a typical poor person—hardly someone who could afford private education.

Qingsong’s clothes were decent but ill-fitting; he was wearing Zhao Qingyun’s clothes, and they were clearly too big, making him look like a child sneaking into an adult’s wardrobe.

Being scrutinized like this filled Chunhua with a mix of embarrassment and anger.

She regretted not preparing better clothes for herself—people judge the clothes before they judge the person.

But more than that, she was angry at Master Zhang’s rudeness.

Still, for the sake of her child, she decided to endure it.

Master Zhang chuckled with disdain and mocked, “You two want to attend school? If you have money for tuition, wouldn’t it be better spent on clothes?”

His words were harsh—and to make matters worse, his breath reeked of alcohol. The stench hit Chunhua like a wall.

Clearly, Master Zhang had been drinking since morning.

Chunhua was instantly disillusioned with the school.

She held her breath to suppress her nausea and snapped back:

“I came here admiring the school’s reputation. But after seeing you, Master Zhang, I now understand the real standard of Chengxi Private School.

With a drunken teacher like you so early in the day, are you planning to raise all your students to be drunkards?

A teacher may or may not have talent—but whether he has virtue is clear to see. A teacher without virtue—I dare not entrust my child to be ruined by you.”

It was the first time Master Zhang had ever been publicly reprimanded like this by a parent.

He was stunned and stammered, “You… You… Women and petty men are the hardest to deal with!”

Qian Chunhua was not about to let that slide. “If not for women, you wouldn’t even be in this world. And without a woman to raise you, you wouldn’t have grown up, little man.”

She had already made up her mind not to send Qingsong to this school—there was no need to tolerate anything further.

She added coldly, “You snob with dog eyes.”

Then she snatched the wine jug from the gatekeeper’s hands and left with Qingsong.

From a corner of the street, Zhao Yongqiang saw the whole scene.

He spat on the ground. “That damn woman. Still dreaming big, thinking she can send that brat to school?”

Zhao Yongqiang hadn’t given up.

He was still scheming to get back the two hundred taels of silver he had handed over to Chunhua—he couldn’t let her spend it freely.

But since they had just severed family ties and the matter was still sensitive, he didn’t dare act rashly.

Qian Chunhua, unaware of Zhao Yongqiang’s presence, had already decided: the West City school was no good.

She would try the one in East City.

Crossing the entire county of Nanzhou took about fifteen minutes.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a large county, and East City wasn’t far.

When they arrived at the East City school, Chunhua was even more disappointed.

It wasn’t that she looked down on people with disabilities—in her eyes, a leg impairment didn’t even count as a real disability.

But this scholar, Mr. Xiao, was a bitter cynic.

Every word he spoke was filled with resentment about the unfair system, the state of the world, and his own misfortunes.

Chunhua worried that if Qingsong studied under such a man, he would grow up to be another angry, resentful youth.

Given Qingsong’s complicated identity, if he were influenced by Mr. Xiao’s worldview, would he one day blame Chunhua for the baby swap?

Would he grow up full of complaints and resentment?

Just thinking about it gave her chills.

No. This place wouldn’t do either.

Still, out of respect—since Mr. Xiao hadn’t looked down on their simple clothes—Chunhua decided to leave the wine jug here as a gift.

“Thank you for the introduction, Mr. Xiao. I’ll go home and think it over with the child,” she said politely.

Then she left with Qingsong.

Having been disappointed by both schools, Chunhua was in a sour mood.

It was already lunchtime, and she decided they should eat before returning home.

Fortunately, she had told her mother earlier that she wouldn’t be back for lunch.

She led Qingsong to a small noodle stall to grab a quick meal.

They ordered two bowls of noodles: one clear broth for Qingsong, and one spicy and numbing for herself—with extra chili and Sichuan pepper.

Each also got a fried egg.

Before time-traveling, Chunhua had been from Sichuan, and she loved spicy food.

Though she’d cut back due to age and health in her past life, this young new body could handle it just fine.

As for Qingsong—he was still a child, so she didn’t let him eat spicy food yet.

While waiting, Chunhua looked around.

The noodle stall was bustling. Every table was full.

At the center table, four men were chatting as they ate.

“You guys only see me eating meat. You didn’t see me getting beaten. Honestly, being alive and seeing you all again—I must be lucky,” said a short, chubby merchant.

“Brother Zhang, was it really that scary?” a tall, thin man asked, chewing his noodles, clearly skeptical.

The chubby merchant snorted. “Don’t believe me? The world’s already in chaos. Yongning Prefecture is one of the lucky ones. I’m done after this trip—staying alive is more important.”

A dark-skinned man scoffed, “You’re just scared for your life.”

The chubby merchant shot back, “Scared? If I were scared, I wouldn’t have spent years traveling! But this time—it’s different. Really different…”

He trailed off, thinking of the horrors he’d seen, which made his hair stand on end.

Chunhua’s ears perked up—she rarely got news from outside.

Huanghualing was too remote and cut off.

The dark man teased again, “If you’re not scared, why hide at home and never go out again?”

The chubby merchant couldn’t take it anymore. “You haven’t seen it! Those bandits are inhuman. Blink and someone’s head gets chopped off—one slash, one death.”

The tall man asked curiously, “What about the government? Don’t they do anything?”

The chubby man sneered, “Do what? There are bandits everywhere—more than the local officers. The government isn’t even paying salaries anymore. The constables have all gone back to farming.”

The dark-skinned man looked skeptical, but stopped laughing. “Is that real? Or are you just making excuses?”

The chubby man raised his voice, “You don’t believe me? I’ll give you ten taels of silver—go run a trip to Bingzhou for me!”

The dark man immediately rejected him. “Ten taels to risk my life? No thanks!”