Having the genes of a demon king, I never intended to be a kept man.

"Well, that's pretty much it."

Ye Ge came to her side with satisfaction and patted her head.

Then he looked at the notebook in front of her and the mess of experiments all over the table: "What kind of experiment did you do? It looks like it failed?"

Yu Li twisted her fingers together: "I..."

"Xue'er said you seem distracted while doing experiments lately." Ye Ge picked up a test tube and casually fiddled with it in her hand: "Tell me the truth, what's going on?"

Yu Li hesitated for a long time, stammering. Ye Ge looked at her calmly, waiting for her to tell the truth.

Yu Li couldn't withstand Ye Ge's gaze. In the end, she told Ye Ge everything...

After speaking, Yu Li lowered her head deeply, covering her eyes with her white bangs, not daring to look at Ye Ge's expression.

Young Master Yege... you must be very disappointed in me, right?

How will he criticize me?

"You actually dared to try and tamper with my potion recipe? Ha, how naive of you! Yu Li, you don't think you're so great just because you've concocted a few potions, do you? You were just following the techniques and recipes I taught you step by step!"

Or... instead of mocking, they might use an even more angry tone!

"You actually want to tamper with my potion recipe?! So you mean you think my brewing recipe and method aren't perfect?! Don't you even know your own limitations! What you're doing is an insult to me!"

Yu Li: (＞﹏＜。)...

Woo...

Ruined......

Yu Li closed her eyes tightly, trembling.

"So that's it..."

After a moment of silence, Ye Ge's calm and even voice slowly came over: "I thought it was something serious."

“...Huh?” Yu Li opened her eyes in surprise and slowly raised her head.

Young Master Yege...aren't you going to criticize me?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ye Ge asked, puzzled.

"I..." Yu Li clutched her clothes, saying shyly, "I thought you would..."

Night Song gave him a meaningful look.

Yu Li quickly changed her tune: "I thought my brother would scold me, thinking I was overestimating myself... that someone of my low level would dare to modify your research results without my permission, which would be an insult to you..."

After saying that, the girl bowed deeply to Ye Ge: "I...I'm so sorry!"

"...Huh?" Ye Ge was speechless.

It seems this child's low self-esteem has really reached the point where it needs proper treatment...

Ye Ge reached out and pinched Yu Li's fair face hard with two fingers.

"Well...!"

Yu Li winced in pain, her watery eyes looking at him with a pitiful expression: "It hurts..."

Ye Ge said coldly, "Serves you right, this is your punishment."

Yu Li: "I...I'm sorry!"

“You seem to have misunderstood,” Night Song said. “I’m not punishing you for altering the potion-making method without authorization.”

Yu Li's eyes flickered with confusion: "...Hmm?"

"I'm asking you something." Ye Ge released her hand, his calm gaze fixed on her eyes, and asked, "Do you think that professor knows anything about potions?"

“…” Yu Li paused for a moment, pondered for a few seconds, and after careful consideration, slowly shook her head.

Professor Li probably doesn't even know what a magic potion is.

After all, this concept was proposed and invented by Ye Ge, not a conventional medicine found in textbooks.

Before this, probably no one could have imagined that ordinary people could awaken into extraordinary beings through magic potions!

"So do you think that professor understands potion-making better than you do?" Night Song asked again.

Yu Li thought for a moment: "This..."

In the realm of other potion-making, Yu Li knew she would be no match for Professor Li. After all, Professor Li was a top-tier alchemist, while she was merely an intermediate-level one.

But when it comes to potions... Yu Li should still have some confidence.

After hesitating for a long time, Yu Li slowly shook her head.

Night Song: "So what are you doing here all alone, being all emo?!"

Yu Li: "......"

The girl shrank back in fright, for she had never seen Ye Ge speak so fiercely before: "I... because he's a professor... a senior, I think what he said might..."

"Listen, Yu Li." Ye Ge put on a stern face, staring into Yu Li's eyes with a serious expression that Yu Li had never seen before: "In the future, you will definitely encounter a continuous stream of people who clearly do nothing about what you are doing, but are very confident in pointing fingers and giving advice based on their own imagination and hearsay."

"This situation will not only occur with your elders and teachers, but will also occur with your peers, your classmates, your friends, and even people younger than you, as well as complete strangers and online commentators."

"They will confidently show off their half-baked, hearsay knowledge to you, and teach you how to do things, in order to make themselves feel superior."

"If your behavior doesn't meet their expectations, or if you don't handle something in the way they consider smart, you're bound to be attacked by them. Because in these people's minds, only the path they themselves have is the only smart and correct one. They can't accept that other people's opinions are different from their own, nor can they acknowledge the changes of the times."

Yu Li looked at Ye Ge with a surprised expression.

Throughout the empire and even within the academy, whether in academic or other extraordinary fields, the emphasis has always been on respecting teachers and valuing their teachings.

In this day and age, Ye Ge's viewpoint sounds rather heretical...

“But you must remember,” Ye Ge paused, then pinched her cheek again, and said seriously, word by word, “What you need to do is not to meet any of their expectations. After all, none of them will take responsibility for their casual comments.”

"..." Yu Li glanced at Ye Ge secretly, thinking to herself, 'But I want to meet your expectations...'

Ye Ge, of course, couldn't hear what Yu Li was thinking, and continued seriously, "You need to have your own judgment and understanding."

"While maintaining your confidence and ignoring those 'ignorant, arrogant show-offs,' you must recognize your true level and reflect on your mistakes and errors."

You can be introverted.

"But you must never hesitate because of a few words from others in your own professional field."

After Ye Ge finished speaking, he reached out with his other hand, pinched Yu Li's other cheek, and vigorously rubbed her collagen-rich face from both sides: "Did you understand?!"

"Waaaah..." Yu Li: "(＞﹏＜。) I...I understand..."