Ningxing Academy was a very prestigious academy in the capital. It was filled with the children of officials and wealthy young masters. Rumour had it that the youngest student was fifteen years old, and the oldest student was nearly thirty.
At that time, no academies for both men and women had been established. So generally, the young masters who entered Ningxing Academy were either future court ministers or from well-known families.
Wen Chan was an exception. He was the only heir to the emperor who had entered an academy of the common folks to study.
Being woken up from the warm bed by Ah Fu early in the morning, Wen Chan was so sleepy that his eyelids were fighting.
He was going to ride a chariot to leave the palace and go to the academy. So he had to get up an hour earlier than the others. Dawn had just broken in the east, and the sound of chickens came from a distance, highlighting the tranquility of the palace.
After he washed his face, rinsed his mouth, and changed his clothes, Ah Fu came in, bringing the breakfast, and said to Wen Chan, “Your Highness, His Majesty has given a special order not to allow slaves to follow Your Highness to serve. This slave has put the pens, ink, papers, as well as inkstones and the books to be studied in the academy into the book bag. If Your Highness needs anything else, this slave will prepare them now.”
When he heard that he couldn’t bring Ah Fu, Wen Chan’s still drowsy eyebrows frowned slightly and then relaxed a little, “You find a food box and pack some pastries for me to take with me.”
Ah Fu listened to the order, packed the pastries, and put them in the book bag. He then found a cloak for Wen Chan to wear and urged from both sides. After all that, Wen Chan went out of the palace hall unhurriedly.
The carriage at the door was already waiting. After Wen Chan got into the carriage and took the book bag, he said to Ah Fu, “When you have nothing to do in the palace, teach Hua Hua a few more words. It can’t speak a word it learned before.”
Hua Hua was the parrot sent by Liang Yanbei. During the five months when Wen Chan was away, the servants in the palace took good care of it wholeheartedly. When he came back yesterday, he found that it had gained a lot of weight and had become lazier. It didn’t make a sound, even when Wen Chan teased it for a long time.
“This slave accepts the order.” Ah Fu bowed his head and saluted.
Wen Chan nodded and lowered the curtain, “Let’s go.”
All the way out of the palace, there were already pedestrians coming and going on the street, and many shops were already open, welcoming the first rays of the morning sun.
Wen Chan retracted his hand into the cloak, shrank his neck, and fell asleep while being muddle-headed by the shaking of the carriage. But he didn’t sleep for long before he was awakened again.
Although Ningxing Academy was not in the centre of a bustling street, it was not in a remote place. The carriage passed a few streets and drove brazenly to the gate of the academy.
There were many people who had come for the morning class, but everyone knew the rule: You can’t drive the carriage to the gate of the college.
This was something that the fuzi1Master (old form of address for teachers, scholars) of the academy had especially emphasised as he was afraid of congestion. However, Wen Chan, who had just arrived, did not know that the literary teacher, who came very early every day, happened to see this arrogant carriage.
After being awakened, he picked up the book bag that was put aside and subconsciously put it on his back. After putting it on his back, he felt a little stupid. He then wanted to take it off and carry it in his hand. But he felt that it would be even more stupid. So he got out of the carriage with it on his back.
As soon as the curtain was lifted, he saw the entrance of the academy. When he came down, he found a few people standing on the side who seemed to be talking about him.
After standing still, the carriage left. Wen Chan carried the bulging book bag on his back, straightened his robes like a well-behaved student, and looked up at Ningxing Academy.
The academy was built with funds from the emperor. He had also come to see it in person. The gate alone was very well-built, with four large characters written by the emperor’s royal pen hanging above it, which reflected power and nobility.
Although Ningxing Academy did not allow poor children and women to enter the school, it was still prosperous in the capital for more than ten years. It was not until the Zhong family rebelled and smashed up the academy that the reputation of Ningxing Academy came to an end.
Wen Chan collected his thoughts and was about to step in through the gate, but was stopped by someone.
“The student in front, dressed in wooden yellow clothes, don’t go yet.”
Wen Chan looked down upon hearing it, and coincidentally, he was wearing wooden yellow.
Just when he looked back, he saw a man in his fifties walking up, with a white moustache on his chin, a book in his hand, and wearing a pale white robe.
He took a few steps towards Wen Chan, “This little Young Master, the academy has long emphasised that you don’t need to take a carriage to the academy gate. Why did you violate it?”
Wen Chan was stunned, “I didn’t know.”
“Look, which one in the academy lacks a carriage? Who hasn’t parked theirs on the other side of the bridge? Even as a master, I came here by foot. So why do you have to be special? In the academy, no matter what identity you have, whether you are royal or noble, once you come here, you are a student, and you have to be the same as everyone else. And it is the same even if the prince comes here.”
The fuzi with the small moustache spoke slowly, both seriously and old-fashionedly.
After a string of words, Wen Chan had already recognised where he was wrong, and he admitted his mistake quite positively, “Fuzi, it’s my fault. This student will never make the same mistake again next time.”
“En…… As is said by ancient people — —” Seeing him so well-behaved, the master planned to say a few more words to clear up the matter but was suddenly interrupted by a voice from the side.
“Your Ninth Royal Highness!” That voice was neither loud nor soft, but it was just loud enough for the people in front of the door to hear clearly.
Wen Chan turned his head in confusion and saw that the people who came were Xie Zhaoxue and an unfamiliar young man. He was surprised and said, “Young Master Xie?”
Then he realised it belatedly and noticed that the person who called him was not Xie Zhaoxue, but the young man next to Xie Zhaoxue.
The young man had an ordinary appearance, was slightly dark-skinned, and was dressed in a blue satin brocade robe. He walked a few steps to greet the fuzi and then said to Wen Chan very familiarly, “Your Ninth Royal Highness, two days ago I heard the rumours that you would come to the academy. Unexpectedly, you actually came.”
When the fuzi heard this, his face changed slightly.
Wen Chan was taken aback, and couldn’t find the identity or a name corresponding to the face in front of him in his mind.
Seeing that he was unresponsive, he hurriedly winked, making his common face look even uglier.
“I heard that Ningxing Academy gathers the pillars of society2a person of great ability and tremendous potential under the sky. So I specially asked Emperor Father to let me come here to study.” Wen Chan replied calmly.
At this time, the fuzi completely believed in Wen Chan’s identity. After all, no one would pretend to be a prince in the Imperial City. He looked panicked and knelt down immediately. “This worthless one3lit. grass person, fig. commoner have eyes but didn’t recognise Your Ninth Royal Highness. I was very disrespectful just now, and I hope Your Highness will not blame me.”
He studied for decades and failed the imperial exam dozens of times. He finally got the post of fuzi at Ningxing Academy with great difficulty. He could not be dismissed because of a word from His Ninth Royal Highness.
Wen Chan hurriedly helped him up, “Fuzi didn’t do anything wrong just now. Since I came to the academy, I am a student. The fuzi blamed me, and I listened to it humbly. How can I blame you?”
“Fuzi, His Highness has always followed the rules and etiquette. And he is magnanimous and generous. So he doesn’t mind these.” Xie Zhaoxue also said.
Wen Chan and the young man helped the fuzi up together, “Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness. Your Highness has met your old friend. This worthless one will not disturb you and will retire first.”
He nodded slightly and let the master go first. He then looked at the young man in front of him carefully, “Who are you, sire?”
“Let’s go in.” The young man did not answer him, but called Xie Zhaoxue and took Wen Chan into the academy.
The academy was also very spacious. It was divided into two small courtyards, one was “Courtyard A” and the other was “Courtyard B”, which separated the powerful from the rich.
The young man took him to a remote place and lowered his voice, “I am Zhong Wenjin.”
Wen Chan was taken aback and took a closer look at the face again. His eyebrows, eyes, lips, and nose were not as handsome as Zhong Wenjin’s. He cast a puzzled look at Xie Zhaoxue.
Xie Zhaoxue nodded, “When we left Wuyue Island three months ago, Young Master Dan gave him a stack of human skin masks. He has been like this since he returned to the capital.”
“Dan Ke?” He was very surprised, “He can do disguises?”
“You didn’t know?” Zhong Wenjin was even more surprised than him, “Dan Ke is the rumoured Young Master Qianmian of Jianghu. His disguises are simply a mystical art.”
Wen Chan suddenly remembered that five months ago, when he arrived in Feng City, he met three strange people while standing on the street watching the excitement, one of whom was Liang Yanbei.
It should be Xie Zhaoxue who was standing next to Liang Yanbei, and the short boy who took the initiative to talk to him was most probably Dan Ke. At that time, he said that the Young Master Qianmian’s qinggong was not good, and Dan Ke’s qinggong was indeed not very good.
No wonder he was so sure that the Young Master Qianmian would not show up at that time.
“So this is the method Liang Yanbei talked about,” Wen Chan said slowly. He fixed his eyes on Zhong Wenjin’s face, which did not show any flaws, and praised, “It is indeed a good method.”
“It is good, but this human skin mask is really ugly4Well, I think it should at most be ordinary.……” This is something Zhong Wenjin has been brooding about for three months.
“It’s good that you even have one.” Xie Zhaoxue chuckled when he heard it, “The more inconspicuous it is, the more useful it is.”
“He is right.” Wen Chan said, “It’s best for you to be like this. No one will notice you. You are 100% safe.”
Zhong Wenjin naturally knew this truth. That’s why, after complaining once, he didn’t say anything more. Instead, he asked, “Why did you suddenly come to Ningxing Academy to study?”
“I sneaked out of the palace. After I came back, the Emperor Father gave me two choices. One was to start a family, and the other was to come here to study. I naturally chose the latter.” When he mentioned this, Wen Chan felt slightly disheartened. Obviously, neither of these two were what he wanted.
Zhong Wenjin smacked his lips and said, “It’s so nice to start a family. If it were me, I would have chosen the former.”
After speaking, Xie Zhaoxue gave him a glance, “Do you think everyone is you?”
Zhong Wenjin had a violent temper and had never been able to bear hearing implied sarcasm towards him. As soon as Wen Chan heard Xie Zhaoxue’s words, he knew that the two were going to quarrel again.
However, Zhong Wenjin said, “I should say this. You have already made an engagement, so you don’t have to worry about no one marrying you.”
When did his temper get better? Wen Chan was very confused.
He felt that it was normal for Zhong Wenjin to get red in the face from anger and jump around at this moment.
Xie Zhaoxue smiled helplessly after hearing this, shook his head, stopped talking about this topic, and said to Wen Chan, “Your Ninth Royal Highness, you should take a scroll test for your first visit. I am letting you know in advance so you can prepare early.”
“Yes, yes, yes, this academy is full of such nonsense.” Zhong Wenjin grinned and hugged Wen Chan’s shoulder, “I’m waiting for you in A5.”
Xie Zhaoxue knocked on Zhong Wenjin’s head casually, with a warning in his eyes.
Zhong Wenjin obediently took his hand off.
Wen Chan didn’t pay attention to this, and asked in doubt, “A5?”
“The test separates students into different academy levels. If you get an A grade, you will be in A1, but if you get the lowest grade, you will be in A5.” Xie Zhaoxue explained and then added, “Brother Yanbei and I are both in A1.”
“Liang Yanbei is also here?” Wen Chan keenly grasped the key point.
Xie Zhaoxue nodded, “He just entered the academy two days ago.”
Wen Chan was thoughtful, and then, when he turned his head, he met Zhong Wenjin’s hopeful eyes, and he couldn’t make up his mind for a while.
Liang Yanbei was in A1, so he naturally wanted to go to A1.
But Zhong Wenjin looked pitiful, and everyone knew that the Ninth Royal Highness was lazy and never willing to study hard. So if he entered A1, it would be wrong.
And now was also the time to hide his sharp point.
So Wen Chan reluctantly handed in a mostly blank sheet of paper in the scroll test in exchange for an A5 academy card.
When he went out, he found Liang Yanbei standing outside the door, and who knew how long he had been waiting.
His long hair was tied high, and he had changed into a white robe, full of a scholarly aura. His handsome eyebrows relaxed the moment he met Wen Chan’s gaze, and his face caught a smiling expression.
However, that smile became a little complicated when he saw Wen Chan holding the A5 academy card in his hand.
“Your Highness is really hiding your light under a bushel5to conceal one’s talents.”
Translator’s corner
What does he know?
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