LBRDI Chapter 82

Cheating

The dragon’s childcare centres have six grades in total. Qiming Childcare Centre had insufficient teaching staff and was currently only open for grades one to four, with only one class for each grade. Although the number of classes was small, it’s enough as only five students had transferred to the school semester and they’re all in one class.

Under normal circumstances, the number of dragon cubs in a childcare centre class was around fifteen. If there were more, the teacher wouldn’t be able to take care of them.

The little dragon cubs who had transferred were all in grade one. After all, if the cubs had been attending a different childcare centre for a long time, their parents will not choose to transfer them to another centre, unless it was under special circumstances.

Shen Mian taught the second grade class and there were five little dragon cubs currently attending. The rest of the childcare teachers were assigned to other grades and for the time being, teachers without dragon cubs were allowed to offer elective classes. After the dragon cubs finished their mandatory subjects, they could choose to attend a class they liked.

So now the centre had gardening, cooking, combat and music classes. These classes weren’t mandatory and as long as the times didn’t clash, they could apply for several classes.

Shen Mian did the maths and it was impossible to make a profit. It was an absolute loss upfront and the cubs didn’t pay enough school fees to cover their salaries. Luckily, there was enough money in the centre’s account and he still had the income from live broadcasting, so he wouldn’t lose money if he waited until more cubs entered the school this semester.

And there were a few nursery teachers who didn’t have classes, so they needed to be paid out a little less- the salary of the Dragon Empire childcare teachers was divided into three parts, one was the base salary, the second was the class fee and the third was a bonus.

It’s the default rule that childcare teachers who have classes could only get the base salary. The daily paid leave was the base salary as well. And while Qiming didn’t cover food, it did cover lodging, saving a fortune on accommodation. For a fresh graduate, the treatment was not bad. After all, most of the other childcare centres don’t cover lodging.

……

On the first day of school, the centre’s normally closed doors opened. Rod and Lucas began their jobs; one moved their desk and chair and sat at the gate, while the other watched the surveillance from the security room.

Today was registration day and none of the non-childcare centre staff were allowed to enter unless they brought a little dragon cub.

Many of the adult dragons who didn’t work in the surrounding residential area also gathered around the entrance to the centre, all of whom had cubs that were about to go to school at home, so they were particularly concerned about the nearby childcare centres. The parents had a chance to chat with Lucas through the gate.

The barracks-born Lucas almost had to duck back into the security room facing the enthusiastic parents, sitting stiffly in his chair, barely maintaining his calm composure and answered their questions as gently as possible.

The parents asked a round of questions, carried out a shakedown of everything Lucas knew and left satisfied.

Lucas breathed a sigh of relief at that.

The parents who brought their little dragon cubs over to register followed the arrows posted on the floor into the first grade classroom and entered to find three teachers sitting inside.

The teacher for the first grade class was Wen Yan and the assistant was a very stable woman named Teng Luo.

While the two dragons were talking, Wen Yan heard footsteps.

The woman holding the hand of a little dragon cub entered the classroom. She was a honey dragon of the Aquatic dragon genus. She was a small dragon and her human form was only about 1.4 metres (about 4ft6) tall and very slender.

Wen Yan stood up. “Are you Ms Chen? Please come in.”

The little dragon cub hiding behind the woman maintained its dragon form. It was beige all over, with a pair of long ears on top of its head, with dark eyes and small short arms holding its mother’s clothes. Its lower limbs almost sunk into the flesh of its dangling belly and from a distance, it looked as if it had no legs.

The little dragon cub had three rows of soft barbs on their backs, which were brightly coloured and gave the cub an extra fairytale look.

If Gian looked like a chibi¹, then this little dragon was a real chibi- honey dragons had no scales and their whole bodies are covered by a layer of extremely flexible soft skin. 

The little dragon cub shrank back in fear at the sight of so many adult dragons.

Wen Yan came over. “This is Xi Yuan, right? Hello Xi Yuan, I’m your teacher. My name is Wen Yan and you can call me Teacher Wan.”

The honey dragon’s mother patted the little honey dragon’s hand, her voice very soft, “Xi Yuan, say hello to Teacher Wen.”

Xi Yuan softly said, “Hello Teacher Wen.”

Wen Yuan crouched down to say a few words to Xi Yuan and led the timid Xi Yuan over to the other teacher in the class so she could register them.

Xi Yuan was the first little dragon cub to sign up today.

The honey dragon’s mother held Wen Yan’s clothes and whispered, “Teacher Wen, can I have a word with you alone?”

Wen Yan nodded.

The two dragons went to the corner of the classroom, and while the little dragon cub’s attention was on the female teacher, the mother of the honey dragon became embarrassed. “Teacher Wen, my Xi Yuan is short of words and shy, so please pay more attention to him.”

Wen Yan nodded gently. “As teachers, we will definitely pay attention to the physical and mental health of each cub.”

The honey dragon’s mother hesitated for a while. “It’s like this, Xi Yuan is currently in his developmental stage and Teacher Wen definitely knows that us honey dragons don’t have much offensive power and move slowly. As he is in his development stage, there will be some spots on his body… his former classmates were always pulling on those spots and his reactions were slow, so now he’s a bit traumatised.”

Those barbs on the back of Xi Yuan were spotted protrusions, which looked especially conspicuous because of the accumulation of pigment taken from food. In times before civilization was established, honey dragons often protected themselves with these spots, which could be detached from their bodies to attract predators.

Wen Yan wasn’t surprised- not every little dragon cub could contain their childishly cruel innocence and there were indeed many cubs who would do things to hurt other cubs because of their curiosity.

Dragons have many magical and odd racial instincts, some of which make their cubs more aggressive, while others are just defences that may not be very useful. Honey dragons, for example, have slight toxins in their spots, but these needed to enter through the mouth to be useful and even if a dragon cub could pull them off, they wouldn’t be affected by the toxins.

The childcare teachers in childcare centres, sometimes tired of dealing with other cubs, don’t really notice and think it isn’t a big deal, indulging in this cruelty.

Wen Yan nodded. “This is negligence on the part of the childcare teacher. Don’t worry, our centre has a small class. There are only five cubs in a class so we will pay attention to every dragon cub.”

The honey dragon’s mother nodded gratefully and after saying goodbye to Xi Yuan, she hurried off to work.

Not long after Wen Yan returned to his seat, a father walked into the classroom with a fire-eating dragon cub belonging to the flame dragon genus.

The little dragon cub had a misanthropic look on his face and when Teng Luo spoke to him, the cub put one hand in his pocket and coolly popped out a few words, not even bothering to say a whole sentence.

The third little dragon cub was a little girl, a jade dragon of the gem dragon genus, who came with a small light sign² with the Dean’s name on it in her arms. According to her parents, she was an avid human-loving dragon.

The fourth little dragon cub was also a little girl, a cotton dragon under the velvet dragon genus, as pink as a doll. If the fire-eating dragon cub was cool, she was completely silent, quieter than Xing Fei.

The fifth little dragon cub was a boy, a six-horned dragon under the aquatic dragon genus, who had pulled Teng Luo into a conversation since he entered, chattering on like he was holding a class meeting.

The little honey dragon, who came first, shivered.

Wen Yan sighed in his heart: When he watched the dean’s live broadcast before, he thought that each of the dean’s dragon cubs was different, giving the dragons a headache but also love. Now, he suspected that there was some kind of magic spell on the dean and all the dragon cubs he invited had special personalities.

……

There were no classes on the first day of school. The dragon cubs just needed to familiarise themselves with the childcare centre’s environment and choose their elective courses.

These little dragon cubs were all day students, but all three meals were eaten at the centre and lunch was of course taken care of at the centre. The two hired nutritionists were very good; the side dishes were cooked to the cubs’ liking and the robots ended up with empty plates.

In the afternoon it was time for selection and the several childcare teachers who had gone to Shen Mian to apply for elective classes sat behind a table waiting for the cubs to pick.

Teng Wan was a female omega tree dragon, whose staple diet was vegetarian. She had painstakingly studied the Empire’s Plant Book collection to analyse how to grow all the delicious plants because of her immense interest in her own food. She was a childcare teacher who specialised in gardening (growing vegetables), her elective course being gardening.

Another childcare teacher, Lian Yan, was an exceptionally virtuous female alpha who was an excellent cook and even worked with the nutritionist at lunch, cooking up several side dishes that were well received by the cubs.

The third childcare teacher, Cato Blanco, was a gentle male beta who offered music lessons.

The three childcare teachers sat in a row, smiling and exchanging glances, invisible sparks flickering when their eyes met.

While the childcare teachers were secretly fighting, the sound of footsteps gradually approached. The teachers sat upright and under the gaze of three pairs of expectant eyes, the centre’s dean pushed through the door, followed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

His Royal Highness has also come?
The teachers had met the Crown Prince several times, but every time they saw him, they still had a sense of unreality- My Lord, they actually stayed in a centre with the Crown Prince and they could see him every day at meals.

This was a hero of the Empire, a marshal with a distinguished record and also a respectable and lovable dragon.

Under the admiring gaze of the row of teachers, He Xing smiled, walked behind an empty table, sat down and flipped around the sign on the table that read “Combat Class”.

The other childcare teachers, “?”
You, a marshal, came here to snatch work from us?

Forget it, cute dragon god ancestor.
The childcare teachers turned their heads and concentrated on the manuscripts on their bellies. In a while, they must win over a few dragon cubs to join their class.

After both Shen Mian and Wen Yan came in, a string of little dragon cubs followed one after the other inside, which resembled a little tail.

There were ten cubs in the centre, standing around four tables, waiting for the teacher to speak.

Dean Shen, as a human dean, attracted the little dragon cubs in a fascinating way. After having lunch with the new dragon cubs, the five little dragon cubs were already reluctant to leave Shen Mian.

Shen Mian explained to the little dragon cub who cast a glance at him, “In addition to the compulsory subjects, the centre also has some after-school recreational classes that do not require exams and take place in the afternoon.”

Wen Yan also nodded cheerfully. “These classes will all be held in the afternoon at different times, so you’re free to go wherever after class.”

Shen Mian instructed the childcare teachers to begin their own admissions speeches.

Teng Wan smiled. “Hello children, I am Teacher Teng Wan and my class is a gardening class, which involves taking care of plants. All the plants I take care of grow exceptionally well, especially the edible ones. I like to pick them when they are ready, blanch them and serve them cold. They are delicious. Would you like to share them with me?”

Lian Yan, “Hello, I’m Teacher Lian Yan and I have a baking class. I’m good at baking little snacks and of course, I’m good at making side dishes, were the side dishes for lunch delicious? Come to my class and you can eat a lot of good food.”

Cato pushed down his glasses and softly murmured, “I have music lessons and I can develop the inner temperament of a dragon cub. A dragon cub who learns to sing won’t be too bad at dating.”

Cato coughed softly and suddenly performed a high note, gradually rising in pitch. Seeing him going towards ultrasound, Shen Mian coughed with one hand against his lower lip. Cato suddenly stopped and smiled at the little dragon cubs. “Learn from me and you can do it too in the future.”

The little dragon cubs, “…”

The new first grade cubs found it very cool.

But the second grade cubs were lost in thought: Don’t you bully me just because I haven’t learnt much. You can sing that high because you are a dragon that can make ultrasonic waves.

Finally, it was He Xing’s turn and the dragon cleared his throat, “Combat class. There’s nothing much worth introducing… you can see the dean if you take my class.”

Shen Mian, “…”

The other childcare teachers, “!”

Marshal, that is cheating!

sauced

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1. Q弹 (Q dàn) – literally q-bomb. Same meaning as chibi.
2. Like the kind of light signs used by bars or restaurants, the led ones.

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sauce chan and i are on holidays next week so i hope the chapters will be edited lmao

remember spam begins next month!

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Shallotnoodle

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