What Shen Yuan had been thinking about this morning finally happened.

By afternoon, the rain had failed to curb the summer heat. As the temperature climbed, the school buildings transformed into saunas.

The air conditioning had been on during the midday nap, but by the time the first afternoon class was halfway over, even with the ceiling fans cranked to the max, it was impossible to fight off the muggy heat.

Open the windows, and all the cool air saved up from naptime would escape, making the classroom’s temperature skyrocket.

But keep them shut, and it was just plain suffocating.

It was a catch-22, and it was absolutely miserable.

Shen Yuan turned his gaze to Li Zhi. "Even Gatekeeper Xiaoguo’s little booth has air conditioning, but we students of Jiyang First Middle School have to rely on fans in the summer?! What kind of outrage is this!"

If Ah Jie were here, he’d surely be the one to raise his arm and cry out.

"Revolution!"

Ah Ze would immediately follow up, mimicking a fox’s cry, "Jiyang will prosper, and Shaojie will be king!"

Then, under the watchful eyes of all, he would sign the "Chalk Dust Charter" with the Dean of Students at the lectern, achieving complete autonomy for Class 15!

But alas, Shen Yuan was talking to Li Zhi.

And how did Young Master Li feel about a revolution?

Li Zhi was, in fact, all for it.

The weather was so muggy that Li Zhi had already pulled out his secret little electric fan, aiming the WHOOSH of air at his face.

Like most people, he could endure simple heat; you could get through it with just a fan.

But not mugginess.

Hot and muggy was like being slowly steamed alive. It was completely unbearable.

’There’s a central air conditioner in the classroom that doesn’t run in the summer and doesn’t run in the winter. So it’s just for decoration, is it?’

"Why don’t we just turn it on in a bit?" Li Zhi said. "It’s way too muggy. I really can’t stand it."

Shen Yuan stroked his chin and glanced at the class schedule.

Next up was Eldest Female Cousin’s class.

An idea struck Shen Yuan. "I’ll go have a word with my cousin."

With that, Shen Yuan left his seat and slipped over to the teachers’ office.

His Eldest Female Cousin was currently preparing her teaching materials, fiddling with a portable voice amplifier.

She looked up to see a sneaky-looking figure slip in through the office doorway and slink over to her side.

"Holy shit! What are you doing?"

Yang Yishui barely had time to react before she saw Shen Yuan start to bend his knees. Startled, she quickly shot out a hand to grab his arm.

"Worthy brother, do you seek to put your dear sister in a fatal position?"

’Bro, aren’t you an English teacher?’

Shen Yuan quickly played along. "To be perfectly honest, Your humble servant-brother has come with a matter of utmost urgency to report."

"Let it rip."

Shen Yuan froze. "What does that mean?"

"Spit it out already!" Yang Yishui’s patience had reached its limit.

Shen Yuan nodded, then surreptitiously glanced over at Old Zhou’s desk.

Zhongdeng was over there, happily scrolling on his phone.

"Can we turn on the air conditioning?"

Yang Yishui went, "Huh?"

’This dumbass kid goes through this whole grand gesture, just to ask about turning on the AC?’

’Then again,’ she thought, ’this issue is probably worthy of such a solemn bow.’

While Eldest Female Cousin was pondering this, Yu Yue, the English representative for Class 15, knocked and entered the office.

The moment she stepped inside, she felt like she never wanted to leave.

It was so cool and refreshing.

But very quickly, Yu Yue wasn’t feeling so cool anymore.

’What’s going on here?’

Seeing Yang Yishui holding Shen Yuan’s arm, the girl panicked.

’So nowadays when you see a teacher, you don’t address them, you just kneel?’

’Should I kneel too?’

’To demonstrate the proper etiquette between ruler and subject?’

Yu Yue nervously walked over to Yang Yishui’s desk and performed a deep curtsy.

"Greetings, Teacher."

Eldest Female Cousin was completely dumbfounded.

’Has your whole class gone mad from the heat?’

"Fine, fine, I’ll let you turn it on! Now get up, both of you!"

Yu Yue stared blankly at Shen Yuan.

’On? Turn what on?’

Shen Yuan looked at his cousin’s adorably clueless class representative and, for a moment, didn’t know what to say.

"What are you staring at? Go back and turn on the air conditioner!"

At the mention of "air conditioner," Yu Yue’s eyes immediately lit up.

"OK!"

Watching her class representative bounce away, Eldest Female Cousin felt her energy drain.

"Whatever. Since she’s gone, you can take these back for me."

Shen Yuan glanced at the stack of English homework on the desk. No problem.

A teacher who allowed them to turn on the AC was no less than a savior.

When Shen Yuan returned to the classroom, arms full of English homework, Class 15 had already erupted into a sea of cheers.

"Long live Sister Shui!!"

"WOOHOO!! Sister Shuishui is the greatest!"

"Close the windows! Quick! I can’t wait to feel the breeze from Sister Shuishui."

"Damn! You pervert!"

Shen Yuan placed the English homework on the lectern and silently returned to his seat.

"Mission accomplished."

Hearing this, Ji Ningning pretty much figured out why the air conditioner was suddenly on.

In truth, his Eldest Female Cousin had always been one of the more reasonable teachers in Class 15.

When it came to things like turning on the AC, she was the one who gave permission most often.

The next most permissive was Old Zhou.

The only problem was that sometimes the AC would only be turned on after class had already started. By the time the room finally cooled down, you’d only get to enjoy about half a period of comfort.

And that didn’t even account for the teachers who insisted on turning it off.

You could directly gauge a teacher’s popularity with the student body by their policy on the air conditioner.

When his Eldest Female Cousin walked into the classroom, the air conditioner hadn’t been running for long, and the room was still hot.

It was so hot and muggy, you really couldn’t stand it.

Yang Yishui let out a hot breath, dropped her things on the lectern, and promptly slipped out.

The teachers’ office, with its AC blasting, was much more comfortable than the classroom.

Leaving the cheers of those dumbass kids behind, Yang Yishui returned to the office and started chatting with her work bestie.

"It’s so hot today."

Zhou Ruolan nodded. "I know, right? You can’t even go outside. I feel like I start sweating the second I move."

Yang Yishui said, "It’s even hotter in the classrooms. I just popped my head in and the heat drove me right back out."

"And the administration still says we can’t turn on the AC unless it’s over 30 degrees. Honestly, the students are about to suffocate."

August temperatures were high, but it was already the end of the month. Combined with the earlier rain, the temperature today wasn’t actually going to reach 30 degrees Celsius.

Yang Yishui glanced at her phone. "It’s 31 degrees today!"

A recently hired teacher looked up. "Huh? My phone says it’s 29 degrees."

Eldest Female Cousin shrugged. "So just change your location to somewhere that’s 31 degrees."

’You can do that?’

The young teacher was flabbergasted.

"Honestly, sometimes it’s simple. If you’re brave enough to let them turn on the AC, they’ll be brave enough to take the fall for you. If someone from the administration sees it, the most they’ll do is chew the kids out a little."

"The remote is in the lectern. Don’t the students have hands? See? They turned it on themselves during the noon break."

Eldest Female Cousin smiled. "On during the break, off when class starts. So considerate of them."

"But what if they don’t cover for you?" the young teacher asked, still worried.

"Then you take the chewing out from the administration, and from then on, the first thing you do when you walk into class is turn off the AC. Then you say the air is stale and you need to open the windows for ventilation."

The young teacher had learned another new trick.

The bell for class rang, and Eldest Female Cousin strode back into the classroom on her long legs.

By now, the air conditioner was starting to have an effect.

At the very least, the classroom was no longer muggy.

Quite a few students in the class were already starting to look like they’d been revived.

The dumbass kids had long since developed a tolerance for heat, but they couldn’t stand the oppressive humidity.

"All right, the air conditioner is on. Now it’s time to pay attention."

"You can count on us, Sister Shui!" Ah Jie declared, thumping his chest.

Yang Yishui glanced at Zhou Shaojie. "Let’s see you score a 70 on a test first, then we can talk."

The class erupted in laughter.

After class, Eldest Female Cousin paid a visit to the neighboring Class 14.

And soon, cheers could be heard coming from Class 14.

Clearly, Eldest Female Cousin had gone to farm some popularity points.