“Ming Feizhen, we’ve designed a plan. Come have a listen…”
“Right away!” I raised my hand, visually measured the distance between us, retreated roughly three metres, then said to Miss Wang Zi, “We’re not that close, so let’s keep some distance between us. It’s better to not have any misunderstandings arise.”
Miss Wang bashfully replied, “Wh-who’d want to have a misunderstanding with you?!”
“Exactly. Exactly, so keep some distance between us.”
“Weirdo.” Miss Wang rolled her eyes at me and, keeping a distance as I requested, informed, “We have two plans. Do you think we should try to actively seize the lead or be cautious at the competition?”
I firmly answered, “Cautious, for sure.”
“So, act carefully and keep a low profile?”
“No, protect your posts. Do not take a single step out of the classroom. If it calls for it, forfeit, withdraw and protect our lives.”
“You think we’re going to war?!”
“Life is a war. We must remain on high alert and be prepared at every hour, every minute, every second…” I scanned the classroom’s interior and exterior once with my ears, then finished, “… to run.”
Stumped for a retort, Wang Zi slowly walked away.
I continued surveying my surroundings for hostiles whilst reflecting on what Uncle Huang just told me. The first thing I did upon arriving at the academy was visit Uncle Huang. After all, he’d miss me after my long absence.
“You walking disappointment! You just say you’re not attending and then skip three days! What do you think this academy is?! The market?!”
He was just a little aggressive in expressing himself.
I discussed the various happenings in the capital recently with Uncle Huang. For starters, over the last few days, people in the martial world had been entering the capital daily, and there were more of them entering each successive day. His Majesty’s special exam arrangement could explain the crowd; thing was, almost half of them were from unorthodox factions.
The problem wasn’t that the capital discriminated against unorthodox factions; the martial arts community in the capital was practically unregulated to begin with. Historically, the Seven Champion White Princes acted as a security detail for the capital when there were large gatherings of martial artists in the capital, rendering it painfully difficult for unorthodox sects to even show their faces in the capital, let alone try anything. To put it into perspective, they had maintained a ratio of one to nine, where the one was the unorthodox factions. In order to reach the capital and make a name for themselves, they’d have to fight their way through the White Princes’ territories. Even I’d feel sorry for them. Given how skewered the ratio was, the only way to explain the now-nigh one to one ratio and the speed at which it happened was that, besides Black Robe Brotherhood and Luo Sword Manor, the other five White Princes were countering the imperial court’s first move. This counter of theirs didn’t require them to do anything special; they just needed to not do anything.
All the five White Princes had to do was let the unorthodox factions enter the capital and give them free rein. In just days after they began entering, the imperial court was already scratching their head for a strategy to keep them in line. By extension, it was a tough scenario for Liu Shan Men to handle. If anyone from the unorthodox factions were to cause a fuss in the capital, the office currently in charge of security in the capital would be held responsible first. In this case, it was Liu Shan Men.
Liu Shan Men was already spreading itself incredibly thin to live up to Boss Shen’s demands and arrangements. Given manpower was a constant challenge in normal times, Liu Shan Men wouldn’t have the manpower for this situation even with four times the number of hands on deck.
Uncle Huang’s told me that five emissaries from the White Princes had come to the capital – likely to plot something – and wanted to win the idol competition. The one conclusive conclusion we could draw from that was that they were targeting Liu Shan Men, and it was easy to see why.
Qilin Guards and Emperor’s Entourage had a member in The Ultimate Three each. Who’d pick a fight with them? Liu Shan Men, on the other hand, was in a developmental phase. Seeing as Uncle Huang could tell the five harboured ulterior motives, I doubt they were even trying to hide their intent. I just couldn’t figure out their motive for targeting Liu Shan Men.
I bobbed my head whilst musing, all while maintaining a four-and-a-half metre distance.
Uncle Huang inquired, “Why aren’t you speaking today?”
“Uh, I can speak, but can you answer three questions first?”
Once he heard my questions, Uncle Huang amiably responded, “Get out!”
Understand why I was brooding in the classroom now?
All the aforementioned problems aside, the more people in the martial world there were in the capital, the higher the likelihood someone with a grudge against me was around. Be it friend or foe once they found out I was defenceless, my life would be in their hands.
A bamboo basket suddenly landed on my table. I looked up to see Miss Shi Weiliang with her chin up.
“For you.”
I was going to turn down the offer when I smelt a profound aroma that linked up with my heart. I furrowed my brows and asked, “This is?”
“A serving of braised pork shoulders in soy sauce. My dad prepared it for you.”
“Why?”
“My dad said he’s worried you’re angry about what happened last time since he hasn’t seen you in a while, and he heard Liu Shan Men has been busy. He woke up early to prepare this specially for you.”
“I am grateful from the bottom of my heart. Miss Shi, when you go home, please pass on a message for me: tell him I will treat him to the best wine later.”
“I don’t understand how an official is so close with my dad. Got it. But the money you owe m-”
“Put it on my tab for now.”
Miss Shi poked her tongue at me, then left.
One may never find a soul mate in their lifetime, yet I have. Mr. Shi, I shall finish this to pay my respects to you!
I had only taken my first bite when I heard, “Is Ming Feizhen here?” I looked up to see a couple of students stroll up to our classroom door. They came straight for my table, so I could only surmise they had seen my portrait or had a description of me.
“You’re Ming Feizhen?”
“Get out,” I responded.
“Ah, sorry for the intrusion.” They took a few steps toward the exit before racing back. “Wait! Why should we leave?”
“How should I know? Ask yourselves.”
They looked to each other and complained.
“Why did you apologise to him?”
“It wasn’t intentional. I’ve never seen someone react so arrogantly when he’s being picked on, so…”
“We are friends of Ironhead Palace’s owner, Young Master Che. We want to have a word with you.”
I picked up my basket and inwardly sighed. “Let’s take this somewhere else.”
Their leader sneered. “You wouldn’t have the nerve to try anything… All right, we’re here t-, where is he? Hey, he ran!”
Glossary
Martial world VS martial arts community – Although they share the same characters in Chinese (Literally translated as “martial forest”), I distinguish them in English, or it gets messy. Martial world refers to all the martial arts communities across the land (i.e. Central Plain, the Western Regions…). Martial arts communities are, as you may have worked out by now, smaller communities that make up the martial world. As you saw in this chapter, they do categorise these “communities” by cities, and there can always be different ways of grouping. Where need be, we can separate this by bigger or smaller regions, orthodox or unorthodox and the list goes on. Thus, I believe it’s imperative to make this distinction in English.
