Volume 12 Chapter 09 Waking Early to Attend Class
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 I’m sleeping?” I wiped my drool. “From now on, no reports until after noon. This is hell.”
“Were you not the one who insisted on meeting me at the teahouse in the morning because you have to attend classes 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 bump into any old enemies while on a case, which is very likely.“
I had a sip of tea. “That’s 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 court’s employment patrol Daren Academy, and the average man from the pugilistic world wouldn’t 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 dashing leader.”
I dashingly touched my chin. “That’s true. Anything else to tell me?”
“Ah, yes, please sign this.”
“Easy.” I drew two turtles on the white sheet Hong Jiu passed me. “What’s this?”
“Just a contract for your three hundred thousand taels debt. Your debt is due.”
“You’re selling your brother out for riches?! Pass the sheet here!”
“Let me explain. When I went to take a wee last night, I crashed down the neighbour’s door and th-”
“Get to the point! Also, pass 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 Reflection’s treasure trove…”
Are you possessed by something?! I had to be so cautious so that they wouldn’t realise I had fled back to the capital, but you… You moron!
“Didn’t 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 don’t 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 weren’t wrong. While expecting me to pass the scholar exams was plain lunacy, hiding at the institute was within the realm of prudent moves. If I was lucky enough to avoid my enemies, there were still all omy shifu’s 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?! It’s 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 hell are you?! How dare you bump 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 attitude gave off the rich-thanks-to-my-old-man-snotty-brat.
Sneering, he replied, “Zhao Tiankui.”
I recoiled.
Your father is called “period”? Damn, your grandpa must’ve 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 don’t tell me.”
Is this guy some nutjob who forgot to take his meds?
The guy pulled out a dagger from his shirt.
“Come on, man. You don’t need to pull a dagger out on me over something so trivial, do you?”
“Nobody 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.
“I’m 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. Let’s have some tea when you’re 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 shirt 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 principal, never tell him my name. If he does find out my name, tell him he’s wrong.”
“Why…?”
The elder frowned. “One can never be too cautious when a life is on the line.”
“Und-understood.”
Hmm… I think I’ve 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. “It’s 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 Fu’s 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 isn’t a queer sentiment at all. To put this all into perspective, it’s the equivalent of Eula’s teachings on how nobles speak in Genshin Impact.
“You entered my dreams three nights in a row.” - Taken from Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu’s 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 Bai’s exile to Yelang (now western Guizhou province).
Tiankui and Yuejing - This is a joke based off archaic terminology. Tiankui meant “a woman’s period”. Since Tiankui is the previous generation’s word for “period”, Ming Feizhen, whether deliberate or not, guesses “Yuejing” since it’s the next generation’s 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, I’d bet primogems on it being a porno.
Huang Yuzao and Ming Feizhen’s conversation - The two of them actually speak in fob English sort of like the Wan Tushui and Sui Tuwan jokes.
