12 I am a dandy prince
◎Not a great writer◎
Ping An heard this and nodded in agreement: "Yes, Master has not accepted any disciples for many years, and this time he accepted a disciple who was taught by him personally. I really don't know what kind of magic potion Bai Yu had fed Master?"
"What kind of magic potion? I think it was the Marquis of Anping who gave it to the teacher as a gift!" Jixiang said angrily, "How could the teacher, with his status and talent, be interested in that little playboy? Our talent is far better than that playboy's!"
Hearing this, Ping An seemed to recall some memories. He angrily said, "Do we still call him teacher? Is he qualified to be a teacher? This hateful old man has been ordering us around for so many years, and what he taught us were all nonsense!"
"Yes, you and I obviously have the talent to be the top scholar, but you choose to learn martial arts from this old bastard. Why don't you take the examination properly? Why take the martial arts examination?" Jixiang agreed.
"You old bastard, I've been serving him tea and water for so many years, but I haven't gained any benefit at all!" Ping An said.
······
The two of them talked to each other, as if they wanted to pour out all the "grievances" they had felt over the years.
When he got excited, Ping An slammed the table and stood up, but he used too much force and strained his sore muscles.
"Hiss——" Ping An cried out in pain.
Seeing this, Jixiang asked, "I haven't asked yet, how did you do this?"
"It's done in horse stance." Ping An learned his lesson this time. He held onto the tea table and sat down slowly and carefully.
"What?" Hearing this, Jixiang stood up excitedly, "You actually trained secretly behind my back. Didn't we agree to slack off together?"
"What training? Do you think I am willing? I was punished by that old man for his precious disciple." Ping An said unhappily.
"Calm down, calm down." Jixiang smiled awkwardly, "I am just too shocked. Since the teacher...oh! no! The old man asked us to supervise each other's training, we haven't practiced since then."
Jixiang continued, "Why did the old man punish you? Although that guy looks as hard as a rock, he is quite nice to us in private!"
"Hmph..." Ping An snorted coldly and said, "When the tea was served, the cup was only a little hot, but the dandy boy couldn't stand it. He kept crying out in pain to the old man, saying that he was burned and wanted to die. The old man felt sorry for him and asked for a doctor and gave him some ice."
Hearing this, Jixiang couldn't help but speak, but he was a little surprised and said, "This ice is rare. Now there is a limit on the amount of ice you can use."
"Alas..." Ping An continued, "After that playboy left, I was punished to do horse stance."
"Bai Yu is such a hateful guy. He even pretended to be sick to get ice. Ice is a rare commodity." However, Jixiang was not concerned about his companion's misfortune. His attention was all on the ice. "Ping An, if I pretended to have a burn, would I also have ice?"
"What do you think?" Ping An asked sarcastically.
"Uh..." Jixiang shook his head awkwardly, "Go on, go on."
"I won't be able to get rid of the hatred in my heart unless I let Baiyu suffer a little!" Ping An said viciously.
"Are you crazy? He is the son of Marquis Anping, who we can't afford to offend!" Upon hearing this, Jixiang hurriedly advised. He thought Ping'an had been blinded by anger.
"Are you stupid? Why don't we just not let him know it was us who did it?" Ping An said proudly.
"So you have a plan?" Jixiang asked, ignoring Ping'an's ridicule. After all, dealing with Bai Yu was the top priority at the moment.
Ping An waved to Ji Xiang, motioning him to come closer to his ear, and said, "In a moment, we'll do this... or that..."
As he listened, the smile on Jixiang's face gradually grew wider, and finally he laughed out loud.
From the small house, evil laughter continued to be heard, which frightened the sparrow that was perched on the branch outside the window and made it fly away with a flutter of its wings.
On the small road
Bai Yu was walking on the road with a few books in his arms, preparing to return to his room. Four or five days had passed since Zheng Qiuren accepted him as his apprentice.
These days, Zheng Qiuren adopted a laissez-faire approach towards him. Apart from asking about his daily study and life, he was mysterious and nowhere to be seen at other times!
"You live a more carefree life than me!" Bai Yu shook his head, sighed to himself, and continued walking forward.
As I was walking, I stopped beside a large cluster of bamboos. I moved my eyes downward and saw that it was raining and several bamboo shoots had grown.
They are crooked and blocked by more weeds, and some of them only show the tips of bamboo shoots, and the whole picture cannot be seen.
Staring at these bamboo shoots, Bai Yu began to recall the various bamboo shoot products he had eaten in the past few days.
This Songzhu Academy, apart from other things, has so many delicious foods. He only ate there for a few days and he felt like he had gained weight!
As Bai Yu was thinking this, the meals she had eaten flashed through her mind one by one, and she felt like drooling.
At this time, several students came over from a distance, and when they saw Bai Yu's expression change instantly, they chose to bypass him on the spot. Some others walked past him whispering to each other, looking back at him as they spoke.
Bai Yu was not surprised at all. He calmly raised his feet and continued walking forward. This kind of thing had happened many times in the past few days.
At first, Bai Yu was a little confused, but later he figured it out. Isn't that my personality? It seems that my reputation as a playboy has finally spread from outside to this academy.
Until Bai Yu's figure disappeared, the bushes behind the path he had just walked through began to twist in a disorderly manner.
"No sound, have you left?" A voice came from behind the bushes, asking cautiously.
"Let me take a look." Another voice said as it quietly poked its head out.
Seeing that there was no one outside, the man quickly turned around and said, "It's gone, it's gone. Come out quickly!"
The two of them quickly emerged from the bushes, bringing with them good fortune and peace.
Jixiang slapped himself angrily and said, "Ping An, what kind of place did you choose? There are too many mosquitoes!"
Ping An replied unwillingly, "Just bear with it, it's all for the sake of dealing with that little playboy!"
"Then you don't have to choose this place to stay. Can't we stay in other places?" Jixiang said.
"I picked this out by tracking Bai Yu's movements these days. That's why I brought you here," Ping An said with obvious pride. "This road leads in all directions, and there are many students and teachers coming and going. Hiding here, we can not only observe other students' reactions to Bai Yu, but also take the opportunity to check how our plan is being implemented."
Thinking of the attitude of the students towards Bai Yu, Jixiang couldn't help but admire: "Spread rumors about Bai Yu in Songzhu Academy and let all the teachers and students help us. In this way, no one can find out about us. Don't tell me, your plan is really despicable..."
At first, Ping An was listening happily, but he couldn't help but interrupt him in the end: "Stop, stop, stop, what are you talking about? Do you know how to speak? This is obviously wisdom, okay?"
"Oh, yes, yes, then let's go quickly. We're attracting attention if we stay here for too long!" Jixiang said perfunctorily. He had already seen several people walking this way.
Ping An was not someone who didn't know how to see things. Hearing this, he nodded quickly, and the two of them left in a hurry.
After the two left, the path became quiet, with only the sound of leaves rubbing against each other in the bamboo bushes.
After a while, the students that Ping An and his friends had just seen came over chatting, their voices coming closer and closer:
"Does the Anping Marquis' Mansion really have such great power? Can it even bribe Mr. Zheng Qiuren?" someone said in disbelief.
"He is a marquis, there is nothing he can't do." Another voice sounded, saying nonchalantly, "That Zheng Qiuren, it seems he is just pretending all the time!"
"The version I heard is different from the one you heard. I heard from others that it was Bai Yu who threatened Mr. Qiu Ren to accept him, saying that if he didn't, he would die." Another voice sounded.
"No, no, Mr. Zheng Qiuren is not someone who would be threatened. Don't forget that he was famous for not fearing the powerful!" At this point, his voice became much quieter. He said softly, "It is said that it was because of this that Mr. Qiuren came here to be a teacher."
"You are really good at hiding things! Why didn't you tell us this gossip earlier?" A person nearby laughed after hearing it.
Hearing this, the other people could no longer bear it and started to denounce.
"Haha..." the man laughed, "I don't think I'll have a chance to talk about this."
A few people let him go and returned to the previous topic.
"No matter whether Zheng Qiuren is truly guilty of shameful personal conduct or is being coerced by others, Yi Baiyu, the son of Marquis Anping, is nothing but a dandy and shameless boy!" As soon as the words fell, voices of approval came one after another.
At this moment, the bamboo bushes they had just passed by began to sway violently. Everyone looked at them in confusion. Then a man came out from inside. He walked out awkwardly, muttering, "Ouch, my old waist!"
"Dean!" Everyone was surprised to find that the person in front of them was the dean of Shochiku Academy.
Everyone rushed forward and helped the dean back.
As if he saw the confusion on everyone's faces, the dean raised the bamboo shoots in his right hand and said, "I saw a few good ones, so I went in and dug a few."
Seeing everyone's nervous faces, the dean waved his hand and said, "I'm fine. If you have something to do, hurry up. I still need to walk around for a few more laps."
After much persuasion, these students were finally sent away.
Dean Songzhu stood there, looking down at the bamboo shoots in his hands, and muttered to himself: "Qiu Ren's skills in teaching his apprentice are not yet up to par!"
Coincidentally, he went in to dig bamboo shoots and turned on a small stove in the kitchen. Just as he found a cluster of bamboo shoots that were growing attractively, he saw Jixiang and Ping'an following closely and entering the bushes.
The dean still had some impression of Zheng Qiuren's disciples.
Quietly restraining his aura, the mischievous dean wanted to play a trick on them, but he never expected to stumble upon this conspiracy.
"Alas, I haven't asked about the affairs of the academy for a long time. Have you become so impatient?" lamented the dean.
However, he did not intend to take any action on this matter.
He believed in Yi Baiyu and believed that he could solve the problem.
When he was hiding in the bamboo forest just now, the dean thought he was hiding well by lying on the ground, but he saw Yi Baiyu always looking in his direction, and several times, their eyes even met!
It couldn't be that he was looking at the bamboo shoots next to his face. How could it be such a coincidence? Yi Baiyu stopped specifically just to look at the place where he was lying, blocking the bamboo shoots.
The dean thought it was impossible. He definitely wasn't looking there for no reason. He must have discovered him.
Even he discovered it, so Yi Baiyu must have noticed the two people who were hiding even worse than him. As for why Yi Baiyu chose to stay put, the dean said he couldn't see through it.
The dean sighed and raised his leg, preparing to go back to his own yard. Unexpectedly, this lift of his leg pulled his sprained waist, so he had to limp along.
As the dean walked, he complained about Jixiang Ping'an. He muttered in a low voice: "Really, he is almost thirty years old, but he is still so ignorant. He made me lie down for so long! And he is so slow in speaking and doing things. Can't he be faster..."
The mumbling sound gradually became inaudible, and the dean limped away into the distance and disappeared.
I don’t know if it was a coincidence or intentional, but I passed by Bai Yu’s place.
Looking back, the dean saw the treetops protruding from the low wall.
The trees planted in the school buildings in Songzhu Academy are not actually pine trees, but some trees that correspond to the names of the schools.
Yes, the dormitories here all have names, for example, Xinghuashe, Guihuashe, Taohuashe and Meihuashe...
That tree is a plum tree.
The branches are bare and somewhat shabby, and no one would have imagined that it has such charm in the snow.
The dean stared at the tree in a trance, and could not help but sigh: "Only the plum blossoms that have experienced the washing of winter snow can bloom with proud colors. Let me wait and see what kind of scene you will create in this era, and live up to your unparalleled talent! Yi Baiyu!"
【Author’s words】
①: Paraphrased from "The fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold" in "A Warning to the World"
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