De'an muttered, "I wonder which family that girl is from. She seems so unassuming, but she must have some powerful backing."
He mused further, "Why didn't Wang Jun and Wang Xiao's sister pull some strings and get into the academy too?"
"It's not that they don't want to. It's that they can't."
The one who said this wasn't Zhao Jing, but Mr. Sun.
De'an was so engrossed in his muttering that he hadn't even noticed when Mr. Sun had come up beside him.
His pockmarked cheek drew near, startling De'an so badly his heart hammered in his chest and he nearly jumped out of his skin.
But he didn't complain about Mr. Sun. Sensing a kindred spirit, De'an ignored the age difference and the usual respect for a teacher. He threw an arm around Mr. Sun's neck and asked in a chummy tone, "What do you mean by that?"
