Volume 12 Chapter 09 Waking Early to Attend Cla.s.s

By the time the first ray of sunlight entered my room, I was already out. As an ambitious young man, I had a habit of rising early.

Leader. Leader, wake up.

Ah?

You have dozed off eight times while I worked on this report.

Can you not come here when Im sleeping? I wiped my drool. From now on, no reports until after noon. This is h.e.l.l.

Were you not the one who insisted on meeting me at the teahouse in the morning because you have to attend cla.s.ses today?

I did?

Wipe your face. You have tea on it. Leader, I have something to say, but I am not sure if I should say it or not, but I really want to say it.

Go ahead.

First and foremost, attending Academy may not be a bad thing.

What makes you say so?

In your current state, you will be in trouble if you b.u.mp into any old enemies while on a case, which is very likely.

I had a sip of tea. Thats you.

Leader, we are not that much different. I am much luckier than you considering how many enemies you have.

Can you not sound so sincere about that?

Elite guards under the imperial courts employment patrol Daren Academy, and the average man from the pugilistic world wouldnt dare to barge in. You can take refuge in there for a year or however long it takes for you to recover. As he spoke, Hong Jiu dusted my shoulder in an annoying way. Once you have recovered, you will be back to my das.h.i.+ng leader.

I das.h.i.+ngly touched my chin. Thats true. Anything else to tell me?

Ah, yes, please sign this.

Easy. I drew two turtles on the white sheet Hong Jiu pa.s.sed me. Whats this?

Just a contract for your three hundred thousand taels debt. Your debt is due.

Youre selling your brother out for riches?! Pa.s.s the sheet here!

Let me explain. When I went to take a wee last night, I crashed down the neighbours door and th-

Get to the point! Also, pa.s.s me the sheet!

I am getting there. I was going to shop for nails to repair their door, but I go lost, so I considered asking for directions.

Why not? Why sell me out?

Well the person I asked happened to be Black and White Reflections treasure trove

Are you possessed by something?! I had to be so cautious so that they wouldnt realise I had fled back to the capital, but you You moron!

Didnt I tell you not to speak to strangers?! What did he say?

He said that, if you do not pay back your debt in one month, they will broadcast your secrets to the whole world. He also asked me to bring him a contract, or he would plug you full of holes right away. So, this is the contract. Meanwhile, you should prepare the money. I shall take my leave now.

You better pray I dont get my hands on you!

Hong Jiu made a lousy front flip landing from the second floor, leaving a dent in the ground, but he got up and sprinted as if he was a wanted criminal. I made sure to watch which direction he fled whilst ruminating how to take revenge when he next appeared before me.

On my way to Daren Academy, I mulled over the points Hong Jiu made. Although he made a blunder, his opinions werent wrong. While expecting me to pa.s.s the scholar exams was plain lunacy, hiding at the inst.i.tute was within the realm of prudent moves. If I was lucky enough to avoid my enemies, there were still all omy s.h.i.+fus enemies. Word of mouth was a real threat, and I was in a defenceless situation. Swapping the blade for the brush for a while was a wise idea.

I arrived earlier than I was supposed to primarily because I wanted to check out the place. I went up the lake and cast my gaze at the firmament to relish the tranquillity. While I was there, I espied two scholars meeting at the pavilion.

Brother Ouyang.

Brother Li.

The cold and quiet days in the study make yearning feel painfully long. It has been a long time since we met. I miss you, brother.

You entered my dreams three nights in a row. It has also been a long time since I saw you. I missed you, brother.

At twilight yesterday, I composed a musical piece for you.

I prepared a go manual for our meeting in the company of dew.

Brother.

Brother.

Brother.

Brother.

Together: After you.

The two made their way into the doors hand in hand.

Someone bring me two blades! This scholar spirit is overkill, no?! Its become corrosive! What are we studying here?! How to bend over?!

I was too creep-ed out to be aware of my surroundings until a heavy sensation on my shoulder snapped me back to reality. I looked behind me to see an angry face atop a clean set of white clothes.

You all right? I stretched a hand out to offer help. Seeing him inflate his cheeks, I retracted my hand as fast as I could.

After missing with his saliva-made projectile, he brayed, Who the h.e.l.l are you?! How dare you b.u.mp into me?! Do you know who my father is?!

Uh Who is your father?

It was unlikely he wanted to milk the situation to swindle me given his att.i.tude gave off the rich-thanks-to-my-old-man-snotty-brat.

Sneering, he replied, Zhao Tiankui.

I recoiled.

Your father is called period? d.a.m.n, your grandpa mustve hated your old man.

You know how it is in the pugilistic world. Hence, I offered a hand salute and responded, I have admired him for the longest time.

Know who I am now?

Uh, Zhao Yuejing?

You would dare

Well, tell me, then. How am I expected to know your name if you dont tell me.

Is this guy some nutjob who forgot to take his meds?

The guy pulled out a dagger from his s.h.i.+rt.

Come on, man. You dont need to pull a dagger out on me over something so trivial, do you?

n.o.body will dare to make a sound even if I kill you.

As he charged straight at me, I took one step back, strafed to the side and stuck a leg out in his path while I was at it. He tripped and disappeared into the lake, leaving only bubbles on the surface.

Im a student here starting today. I held my hands over my mouth to amplify my voice and, in a loud voice, said, The name is Hong Jiu. Lets have some tea when youre free.

Whilst heading to the entrance, I took out the items I pinched from him one by one. I threw away the pocket knife since I had no use for it. I kept the seal in case it came in handy. The three thousand taels in paper notes were probably what I dropped.

A volume of Sp-Spring Palace? Scholar, my foot. This is blasphemy to Confucius. This is so toxic to my eyes that I refuse to look. I shall stash it in my s.h.i.+rt and criticise it later.

I entered whilst shaking my head in disappointment.

A man in his early forties - I think - said to an individual around my age, The new student is arriving today. Feign ignorance. If he asks about the princ.i.p.al, never tell him my name. If he does find out my name, tell him hes wrong.

Why?

The elder frowned. One can never be too cautious when a life is on the line.

Und-understood.

Hmm I think Ive seen the old guy somewhere before Ah.

I approached the elder and asked, Are you Unkou Huang (Are you Uncle Huang)?

Yesu, Ai amu Mr. Huang. Ander you? (Yes, I am Mr. Huang. And you)?

I smiled. Its me, Ming Feizhen.

Huh?!

I checked both ways, but there was nothing around. I never understood why Uncle Huang looked as though he saw a ghost whenever he saw me.

Glossary

The cold and quiet days in the study make yearning feel painfully long. - Taken from Tang Dynasty poet Du Fus poem Remembering Li Bai in Winter to describe how the days were long in his study, making his mind wander to Li Bai. For your information, this isnt a queer sentiment at all. To put this all into perspective, its the equivalent of Eulas teachings on how n.o.bles speak in Gens.h.i.+n Impact.

You entered my dreams three nights in a row. - Taken from Tang Dynasty poet Du Fus poem Dreaming of Li Bai - Two. It comes from a three part poem - before dreaming, in his dream and after waking - to describe how he felt when he first met Li Bai, how he saw Li Bai in his dream and his sympathy for Li Bais exile to Yelang (now western Guizhou province).

Tiankui and Yuejing - This is a joke based off archaic terminology. Tiankui meant a womans period. Since Tiankui is the previous generations word for period, Ming Feizhen, whether deliberate or not, guesses Yuejing since its the next generations word for period just as the guy is the next generation after Zhao Tiankui.

Spring Palace - Spring is often a synonym for anything lecherous, such as brothels. In this case, Id bet primogems on it being a p.o.r.no.

Huang Yuzao and Ming Feizhens conversation - The two of them actually speak in fob English sort of like the Wan Tushui and Sui Tuwan jokes.