Little Fatty, of course, wouldn’t give the White Tiger to Tang Fei.
Tang Fei also knew that Lu Siyu wouldn’t give the White Tiger to him.
The reason he proposed wanting the Mechanical White Tiger was to start with high demands and end with agreeing on his true intention of learning mechanical knowledge and skills from Lu Siyu.
Better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.
If he acquired this tiger, he’d only have this one. But by acquiring the knowledge and skills to make a Mechanical Tiger, he could have countless ones.
Like an endless lineage descending from generation to generation.
Under Huang Tianmu’s firm insistence, Lu Siyu had no choice but to accept the condition.
She glared at Tang Fei with ferocious eyes and said, "If you dare ask me questions again while I’m sleeping, I’ll kill you..."
"Lu Siyu..." Huang Tianmu was still standing by, scolding her, "How can you talk to a classmate like that?"
"It’s fine, it’s fine." Tang Fei hurriedly played the peacemaker, "I respect student Lu Siyu’s personal preferences and special living habits, and I’m willing to agree to all her demands."
He respected talented people. If you teach me the mechanical craftsmanship, it’s no problem at all to stay silent while you’re sleeping or even to sleep alongside you.
Tang Fei was a man who knew the importance of respecting his teachers and their teachings.
"Alright, both of you step back," Huang Tianmu said with a headache caused by these two, "And, the two of you have destroyed a large number of public facilities and office equipment in the school... The logistics department is currently tallying it up, and they will send you the bill."
"Teacher, I had nothing to do with this, right?" Tang Fei said with a wronged face, "I was just forced to flee for my life."
"Just bill me," Lu Siyu said without any expression, looking very wealthy and generous.
Huang Tianmu also knew the Lu family was wealthy and were good at making money.
He nodded and said, "Then let student Lu Siyu be responsible for paying compensation. After all, the main responsibility falls on your Mechanical Tiger."
Tang Fei and Lu Siyu left the homeroom teacher’s office. Lu Siyu turned and headed outside.
Tang Fei called out, "Student Lu Siyu, where are you going?"
"Do I need to report my whereabouts to you?"
"That’s not necessary. It’s just that I have a question for you," Tang Fei said.
"But I want to know the answer now."
Lu Siyu stared at Tang Fei for a while, then turned towards the direction of the classroom and walked over, saying, "You have ten minutes."
"Thank you, Teacher Lu," Tang Fei said happily. "I want to resolve the power source issue for the Mechanical Beast."
Tang Fei presented his little bird to Lu Siyu, "It’s this little bird. If I replace the wood with steel, what should I use for its power source? And what kind of power source would be the most stable and enduring? One that could support the bird to fly high and even to farther places?"
Lu Siyu looked at Tang Fei and asked, "Haven’t you tried the ’Heart of the Useless’?"
"What’s the ’Heart of the Useless’?" Tang Fei asked curiously.
Lu Siyu’s eyes scanned Tang Fei’s face with suspicion for a moment and said, "I’ll only do this once, so watch closely."
Then, Lu Siyu sat down at the workbench, found a bunch of mechanical parts and quickly began assembling them.
Tang Fei stood by Lu Siyu’s side, watching intently without blinking, not missing any detail.
Lu Siyu’s movements were fast, very fast, so fast it gave one the feeling of not being able to catch up.
In many places, Tang Fei even felt he hadn’t seen clearly, but magically, this didn’t affect his understanding.
He felt he understood every movement, even feeling a sense of déjà vu.
Very quickly, he understood why he was able to understand.
Wasn’t this the standard procedure for installing a power device on the little bird on the Old Land?
The technique that the old man had taught him, why did Lu Siyu know it too?
Or was it the standard procedure on New Star, something every Mechanical Department student knew?
"The Heart of the Useless?"
Tang Fei pondered in his mind.
Was this technique called the ’Heart of the Useless’?
Clearly useful, so why call it useless?
Tang Fei didn’t have time to think more about it. He just focused his gaze, noting each of Lu Siyu’s procedural movements and even her unique little habits.
Until Lu Siyu completed assembling a small black box, inserted it into the steel little bird’s belly, made some adjustments and modifications, and then the mechanical little bird began to creak into motion.
Lu Siyu handed the mechanical little bird to Tang Fei, "You try."
Tang Fei then, as he had done previously, gently twisted the spiral spring at the tail end of the mechanical little bird, causing the belly to make a clicking sound.
This was a sign that the bird was wound up.
After a few more twists by Tang Fei, the little bird in his hand began to buzz and vibrate.
He twisted it a few more times, then placed the body of the bird in his palm.
The little bird then shot up with a ’whoosh,’ heading straight for the sky...
The body of the little bird hit the ceiling overhead, then quickly descended, and just when Tang Fei thought it was going to crash to the ground again, it flapped its wings with a series of clicks and flew towards another corner of the classroom.
Tang Fei looked at the little bird in shock. Was it really that simple?
Did the little bird finally take to the sky?
After so many attempts on the Old Land, year after year, the little bird could never fly.
Now on New Star, after switching the wood for steel, just a casual tweak from Lu Siyu, and the little bird could fly?
Old man, can you see this?
My little bird has taken flight.
My steel little bird has taken flight.
"If only you could see this," Tang Fei thought to himself.
Whenever he or Little Fatty achieved even a little, their thought was: if only the old man could see this.
Moreover, the mechanical bird’s power seemed endless.
It circled the classroom again and again, as if it would never stop.
Tang Fei turned to Lu Siyu and asked, "How do I get it to stop?"
"I don’t know," said Lu Siyu.
"You don’t know?" Tang Fei’s eyes widened, and he said, "How can you possibly not know?"
"You just asked me to help with the power device; you didn’t ask me to set up a retrieval system."
After saying this, Lu Siyu turned and walked out of the classroom.
Tang Fei stared at the little bird, circling round and round...
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he took out a Dog Leg Knife from his pocket and stabbed at the mechanical bird’s body.
The bird’s steel body was hit squarely by the Dog Leg Knife, and it wobbled toward the ground.
The other students all looked on in amazement, gathering around Tang Fei.
"Tang Fei, you’re amazing. You’re the only one who disturbed the class leader’s beautiful dream and she is still willing to teach you her craft..."
"That’s right, she should have thrown you out of the window..."
"Lu Siyu is a mechanical god, known as the first genius of the Mechanical Department since its establishment... With the guidance of such a deity, Tang Fei’s mechanical manufacturing skills will surely soar..."
"Tang Fei, don’t forget to bring us along when you take off."
Tang Fei humbly chatted with everyone for a while, then spoke up, "Classmates, do you know what ’Useless Heart’ is?"
"What Useless Heart? Never heard of it."
"Yeah. Is that a mechanical trick? It sounds pretty useless..."
"Maybe it’s some mechanical god’s unique skill... All we learn is the public version of mechanical knowledge from textbooks..."
"Lu Siyu might know, I heard she’s a descendant of Lu Ban... Our Mechanical Ancestor..."
Tang Fei fell into deep thought.
The old man had taught him a skill that, it turns out, a girl named Lu on New Star also possessed.
He thought it was a well-known mechanical trick, but none of his classmates had ever heard of it.
If Lu Siyu wasn’t the old man’s illegitimate daughter, it made no sense at all...
But then, why did Lu Siyu also say she didn’t know the old man?
What was the real truth? Who was lying, the old man or Lu Siyu?
Or maybe, both of them were lying?
After taking a cold shower, putting on a shirt, donning a suit, and tying a tie...
Tang Fei appraised his reflection in the mirror, what a refined young master of the troubled world he made.
Little Fatty came over and praised, "Bro, you look quite handsome."
"Anything else that needs improvement?" asked Tang Fei.
"No," Little Fatty shook his head and said, "I don’t think it can get any handsomer."
"That’s good," said Tang Fei. "At this kind of event, we only need to make a small effort to create a big impression..."
He went over and helped Little Fatty pull his shirt collar out from his suit, saying, "If you feel uncomfortable, you can change into other clothes."
Little Fatty was quite chubby and thus didn’t like wearing suits.
Little Fatty shook his head and said, "Bro, it’s fine. I can bear it... Everyone else is wearing suits; I’ll be laughed at if I don’t."
He wasn’t afraid of being laughed at, but he was afraid that it would reflect poorly on his big brother.
He knew that people in New Star always looked at others with prejudice, and he didn’t want his brother to be ridiculed because of his failure to fit in.
"It’s okay, you’re the favorite disciple of Dean Shang Xiulin; if anyone dares to laugh at you, just slap them hard."
"Bro, can I really slap them?" Little Fatty asked, surprised.
"Of course," said Tang Fei. "And when you do, you should say ’I am the favorite disciple of Shang Xiulin’... In this way, maybe they’ll go easier on us for the Dean’s sake."
"Mhmm," Little Fatty nodded solemnly, adding, "Bro, I’ve got it."
Tang Fei patted Little Fatty’s chubby cheek and said with a smile, "Just kidding. We’re going to Sister Phoenix’s birthday party today, and it’s all very impressive people there... and their kids. So, no one will laugh at us."
"Besides, the person celebrating their birthday just wants to be happy, so let’s not make trouble if we can avoid it, or stay quiet if possible... Anyway, there’s no one we know tonight, so we two can just find a corner to sit for a while."
"Bro, I heard people on New Star eat birthday cakes, and I’ve never had a birthday cake before."
"Right, we’ll have some birthday cake, give our gift... and then head back quickly. We still have ten thousand swords to practice today."
"Bro, what gift are you giving to Sister Phoenix?" Little Fatty asked.
Tang Fei felt a bit embarrassed and said, "Why do you keep asking that?"
"I don’t know what to give her... Can your gift be from both of us?" Little Fatty looked pleading.
"No," Tang Fei refused firmly, saying, "A gift represents personal sentiment. Sister Phoenix is so good to you, and you didn’t prepare a gift. Gong Shulei, doesn’t your conscience hurt?"
"It hurts," Little Fatty admitted. "But I really can’t think of what to give Sister Phoenix. She seems to have everything, nothing she lacks."
"Then just give her a birthday blessing," suggested Tang Fei.
"Yes," said Tang Fei. "A heartfelt blessing is enough."
"Oh," Little Fatty nodded, then began to ponder how to wish her.
That seemed like no easy task...