Book 13: Chapter 85

The weather was fickle today, clear after noon and then raining a while later. The wet black and white walls were sticky to the touch.

w.a.n.g Zi entered the cla.s.sroom in a gloomy mood, saluted her teacher and then took a seat. Even the worst behaved students of the academy wouldnt dare to raise their voice when speaking to Professor Kong, but it was hard for Wu Dayongs small group not to notice the usually energetic girl was unsettled despite her burying her head in her book. Unsurprisingly, as soon as Professor Kong wasnt paying attention to her, she whispered to s.h.i.+ Weiliang.

Upon seeing s.h.i.+ Weiliangs reaction, from behind, Wu Dayong asked, Whats the matter?

s.h.i.+ Weiliang almost turned around to shoot Wu Dayong a glare. In the end, though, taking into consideration they were in Professor Kongs cla.s.s, she covered her face behind her book to whisper to him.

After he picked up his jaw, Wu Dayong turned around the back to pa.s.s on the news. I heard Su Xiao has been hurt bad.

Someone hurt Su Xiao bad.

Someone hurt Su Xiao bad. He jumped off a building.

Su Xiao jumped off a building and landed on Sir Bao from Shuntian Prefecture. Sir Bao wants his life now.

After listening to the message he received, He s.h.i.+ repeated back, A bull crushed Su Xiao and Sir Bao when they were shepherding cattle in the west? He looked to Wu Dayong and mouth, Really?

The source of this content is Freeeb(n)vel.cm.

Wu Dayong mouthed back, Why are we talking about Sirius?

Wu Dayong: Nerds sure function on a different plane.

He s.h.i.+: Why is he asking me why Im asking, Serious? Who else should I be asking?

Dont whisper.

Wu Dayong and He s.h.i.+ whipped their heads back, but they didnt dare to look Professor Kong in the face.

As he swept his gaze over the two, Professor Kong chided, Hmph, some students are like their names, destined to be useless. Some other students think they are all that over a small accomplishment. Theyre also destined to never achieve anything worthy of mention.

He s.h.i.+ and Wu Dayong rose up and applauded with giddy expressions. You are absolutely right!

You would second guess if elephants could climb trees if a professor wasnt telling off a student from their cla.s.s, let alone be surprised that a rock-bottom placer and a student with a problematic att.i.tude were having their ears chewed off. It certainly wasnt the first time the two had copped earfuls.

You are wasting my time! Sit down! What do you think youre doing?! thundered Professor Kong.

Despite Professor Kongs scolding, Wu Dayong had already rolled up a sheet of paper into a ball and boldly tossed it to He s.h.i.+.

He s.h.i.+ sat down to read, Su Xiao has been hurt badly and is currently at the physicians place. He looked up again to see all of his teammates wearing grim looks. He, too, scribbled onto a sheet and then pa.s.sed it to Zhou Teng, who was closest to him. After Zhou Teng finished reading, he pa.s.sed it to the next person and so forth until it reached their last teammate w.a.n.g Zi. She opened it to read, Lets go visit him.

Even though all of them had their eyes on Professor Kong, they all bobbed their heads in synchrony. Mistakenly thinking he said something wrong, Professor Kong cleared his throat and switched books for his lecture.

As amused as He s.h.i.+ found everyones reactions, he was equally concerned for the reason that they still had a long time before school was out. Professor Kongs cla.s.s alone still had two hours to go. Fortunately, looking at his teammates gave him an epiphany. He scribbled onto another sheet, rolled it up and subsequently threw it to Wu Dayong while Professor Kong wasnt paying attention.

Whats the matter? questioned Professor Kong.

What a strong ominous breeze, remarked He s.h.i.+, standing up awkwardly. He took big strides to reach Wu Dayongs side and, in an extremely slow motion, bent over to pick up a book. Smiling, he added, The wind is not literate. Why thoughtlessly open a book?

Catching on quick, Wu Dayong used his book to cover his mouth, then whispered, You have an idea?

Yes.

What is it?

Feigning illness.

Will it work?

When he asks you, just read out whats on the sheet of paper.

Easy.

Well all be able to leave afterwards.

Leave it to me, brother.

With the sheet now in Wu Dayongs hands, He s.h.i.+ jogged back to his seat.

Professor Kong shook his head whilst sighing. This cla.s.s truly is beyond saving.

Professor Kong always took pride in teaching the advanced cla.s.ses. Unfortunately, due to Professor Xie taking sick leave, he had to stand in for Professor Xie. Not once did he leave their cla.s.sroom on a positive note.

Professor Kong!

Now what?! Professor Kong was once again agitated due to the sudden cry. He looked to Wu Dayong and questioned, What?

Im not feeling well!

Whats wrong? Though strict, Professor Kong was a teacher who genuinely wanted the best for his students, so he couldnt bear to scold Wu Dayong.

I Wu Dayong glanced down to the sheet of paper and, before he could process what he was reading, blurted, am on my period.

Whilst the students burst out in hysterical laughter, Wu Dayong slowly looked over his shoulders to He s.h.i.+ for answers. He s.h.i.+ flicked up a thumb.

Wu Dayong: Stick that thumb up your rear!

Y-you are on your period?

Wu Dayong looked back at He s.h.i.+ again. He s.h.i.+ shook his head, pointed to the rear of a portly cla.s.smate.

Wu Dayong: Big?

He s.h.i.+ drew a big circle with both hands in the air.

Wu Dayong: Picture? Oh, big picture!

Wu Dayong inhaled deeply and, on shaky legs, replied, Y-yes. Are you being s.e.xist?!

N-no. In that case

He s.h.i.+ jumped up. Dayong! Why didnt you tell us?! Zhou Teng, give me a hand. Lets take Dayong out to rest.

Zhou Teng and He s.h.i.+ grabbed Wu Dayong and bolted out.

Stop right there!

He s.h.i.+: Professor, a life is at stake. It takes two of us to support someone as heavy as Wu Dayong.

I dont mind that, but why are the two girls following you?

w.a.n.g Zi exclaimed, Have you had a period before?! Do you know what to do about it?!

This old one

We know. Without someone knowledgeable providing instructions, what happens if something goes wrong?

Only one person needs to accompany them, then.

Our bodies are different. My body is different to Weiweis, so we can provide different viewpoints. Weiwei may not look like it, but every nearby village knows shes the expert on periods, right, Weiwei?

s.h.i.+ Weiliang, face as red as a ripe tomato, muttered under her breath, Yes

In the end, Professor Kong had to concede. Once they were out of his view, the five turned their walk into a run before Professor Kong caught on. They, however, didnt notice a group stealthily tailing them once they left the academy grounds.

Glossary

Serious and Sirius I tried to get as close as I could for the h.o.m.ophone gag. It worked far better in Mandarin.

The wind is not literate. Why thoughtlessly open a book? Its a throwaway phrase here, but it was a poetic line in the Qing dynasty, one that, during the eighth year of Emperor Yongzhengs rule, was a phrase that caused a huge stir in the imperial court. Im going to condense this as much as possible.

Xu Jun was accused of harbouring treasonous motives for writing the phrase, leading to his eventual execution. The phrase itself is innocent. The catalyst that turned it into a malicious phrase was the intent of the readers, resulting in speech crime. At the time, all eyes were on Emperor Yongzhengs moves to eliminate his brothers from the picture, so you could say it was internal strife. Xu Jun wasnt part of the imperial court. To create a common foreign enemy for the imperial court (and their ethnic group), despite knowing it was a harmless phrase, Yongzheng pursued the matter to get the heat off him.

A b.u.m and a circle b.u.m = Chrysanthemum. Big = big. Circle = Surrounding. Translated literally like that, it shares the same p.r.o.nunciation as Prioritise the bigger picture. Its with great regret that this joke doesnt translate to English.