Chapter 120 Conflict
"What bad luck! We ran into them as soon as we got back!" Liao Yunfei and his group had just returned to the academy when they bumped into the same group that had previously encouraged Mao An to visit the brothel.
"Say less," Zhou Chengyu said, seeing that there were several of them and fearing a conflict, since they had no chance of winning.
Just as they were about to ignore them and walk past, another group had no intention of letting them go.
"Oh my! Isn't this the talented Liao? Weren't you seeing Mao'an off? You're back so quickly. It seems your friendship wasn't all that great before!"
"Mao'an was lucky to be released, but now he's slinked away to the countryside to hide. He still has some shame!"
"What a shameless thing to do! We've already sold the house. If you don't get back to the countryside, you'll starve to death. Why pretend you have no money? You insisted on going to brothels with us. Now you've lost a fortune!"
"Looks like we need to go and comfort Miss Yue!"
The men got more and more excited as they talked, their faces smirking with lewd smiles that hardly matched the long robes they wore.
"What are you all doing? Gathering a crowd to cause trouble? I could hear your voices from far away, what kind of nonsense is this! All of you, get over here right now!"
Just as Zhou Chengyu and his men were about to make their move, a furious shout came from behind.
Zhou Chengyu and his group, along with the troublemakers, were all taken to the admonition hall and made to stand obediently.
"Speak, why did you cause trouble just now?" Master Ling was increasingly dissatisfied as he watched them still glaring at each other on the ground.
"Master, we took leave to see Mao'an off, and we just returned when we encountered them speaking rudely..." Zhou Chengyu stepped forward to explain, thinking that since they hadn't done anything, they shouldn't be implicated.
"Hmph! Master, those guys say bad luck whenever they see us, do they really think we can't hear them? We only said a few harmless things, are we going to be punished for that?"
"Hu Xuan! It's you again! You've only been at the academy for a few days this month? Can't you just stay quiet for a bit? None of you are going anywhere today. Copy the academy's rules fifty times!" Master Ling was furious when he saw Hu Xuan and those students who were standing there lounging around. This time, he had no intention of letting them off the hook.
"Master! We barely spoke a few words to them, why are we being punished? Those guys go to brothels every day, and the academy hasn't punished them at all!" Liao Yunfei was not satisfied with the result.
"Master Liao is dissatisfied with Master Ling's teachings! If you're so capable, go talk to the academy's dean instead of throwing a tantrum here!" Hu Xuan was fearless and had no intention of copying at all.
"Enough! Since you show no remorse, then copy it a hundred times. You can go back when you finish copying it," Master Ling interrupted them directly, increasing the punishment.
Seeing this, Zhou Chengyu quickly pulled Liao Yunfei back. The group took paper and pens and found a place to copy down the academy's rules. There were more than fifty rules in the academy, and if they didn't copy them down, they wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
Their appearance changed Master Ling's opinion of them quite a bit, but when he saw Hu Xuan and the others who hadn't yet started writing, his brows furrowed again.
Before it even got dark, someone came over to ask questions.
“Master Ling, what has my son Hu Xuan done to anger you? I apologize on his behalf, but it's getting late, and his mother is getting impatient. She asked me to take him home. What do you think…”
The speaker was none other than Master Hu from the academy. Zhou Chengyu never expected that this man was Hu Xuan's biological father.
Master Hu was quite well-known in the academy; his lectures were humorous and engaging, and he was well-liked by the students. How could he have raised such a son...?
Before Zhou Chengyu and the others could figure it out, Hu Xuan shouted, "Dad! I won't leave alone. My good brother is still suffering here. How can I be a deserter!"
"You brat! You're always causing trouble, and now that you've been caught by Master Ling, you still don't know how to repent! Just wait till we get back, I'll teach you a lesson! Master Ling, tomorrow is your maternal grandfather's sixtieth birthday, please do me a favor and release these children!"
While Hu Fuzi was lecturing Hu Xuan, his words were full of threats. Ling Fuzi also knew that Hu Xuan's maternal grandfather was the academy's dean.
"Since Master Hu has said so, how can I stop him? But Hu Xuan usually takes these good-for-nothings to brothels. You have to do something about this, otherwise the atmosphere of our academy will be ruined!"
Knowing he could no longer detain them, Master Ling had no choice but to let them go back. However, before Master Hu and his men left, he gave them a word of advice.
"Alas! It's my fault for not disciplining him properly. His mother has spoiled him. He does all sorts of unruly things all the time, but he has a good heart. I'll keep a close eye on him when we get back!" Master Hu said helplessly.
Even if Master Ling knew it was just a perfunctory response, there was nothing he could do.
"Alright, you lot, stop copying. Next time you see them, stay away. You're all young and hot-blooded; you'll get what's coming to you sooner or later!" Master Ling said, then left without looking at Zhou Chengyu and the others.
"No wonder Hu Xuan was able to commit all sorts of misdeeds at the academy without being expelled. It turns out his father is Master Hu. No, how could such a good person as Master Hu raise such a son?"
Liao Yunfei could no longer hold back his wailing. To be honest, this Master Hu's mathematics was his favorite subject, and now he was deeply disappointed.
"Who is his maternal grandfather? Logically speaking, if Ruoruo is just Master Hu, Master Ling shouldn't release him so easily. In this academy, Master Ling is quite forceful, and apart from the headmaster, probably no one would dare to ask someone for a release from him..."
"Could it be..."
"Ah! Heavens, why are you doing this to me!" Liao Yunfei cried out again.
"Let's stay away from him for now. We're powerless and have no influence. If we go against him, we might not even be able to stay at the academy," Zhou Chengyu had already accepted reality and packed up his inkstone to go back.
"No way? Is the dean unreasonable too?"
"You want to try? We can't afford to gamble!"
After suffering several setbacks in one day, even the most resilient people couldn't shake off the feeling of despair. The group suffered from insomnia for once and spent the night chatting idly.
"What were you all doing last night? Why are you all so distracted today?"
"It's nothing, Senior Brother Shen. Did you copy down the key points the teacher taught today? Could we borrow them to copy?" Zhou Chengyu was a little embarrassed. He had barely slept yesterday and was too exhausted to listen to the teacher's words.
"This is a one-time exception. If you get distracted again, I won't let you copy anymore."
"Thank you very much, Senior Brother Shen!"
When Zhou Chengyu took the book from Senior Brother Shen, he felt as if his eyes had been cleansed. As expected of the academy's trump card, the handwriting was far superior to theirs.
"Zhou Chengyu! You actually managed to borrow Senior Brother Shen's book! Well done!" Liao Yunfei only dared to come over to take a look after Senior Brother Shen left.
“If Senior Brother Shen hadn’t been observing mourning, he would probably have been on the list of successful candidates long ago. He wouldn’t have been taking the imperial examination in the same year as us.”
Zhou Chengyu listened attentively as the people around him talked about Senior Brother Shen.
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