Gazing out at the wild grassland, which was bathed in a rosy sunset glow and appeared as if it were on fire, as the servant and master faded away into the distance. Situ Yilan placed her hand on her hip and mumbled, “He is a really interesting man!”
However, Ning Que had found nothing interesting. It was totally meaningless and a waste of time to argue and quarrel with this flock of wimpy kids. The curriculum of the Academy provided the students with a lot of free time and what he cared more about currently was finding a way to spend that time in a meaningful fashion, like making money, or killing a man, and the like.
Laying on his bed at Old Brush Pen Shop, he looked at the name written on the oilpaper and asked, “Do you get all prepared?”
Sangsang was greasing the podao blade after its recent grinding, and thus answered without raising her head, “The new sets of clothing and the old clothes are ready, but young master, what hairstyle do you plan to wear this time? Still the style from the Yuelun Kingdom?”
Ning Que shook his head and replied, “Such trivial details will depend on you.”
Hearing the answer, Sangsang lifted up her head, asking, “When will we begin the assassination?”
“That guy is now living in the Eastern City, not far away from here. We can go anytime we want.”
Looking at the characters “Chen Dongcheng” on the oilpaper, Ning Que read below them some brief information about him and then explained, “I am not even sure about when to kill him. Thus even if the government wants to find the murderer, they won’t get any clue from the time of killing since it bears no regularity.”
“Originally, there is no regularity in this world, but as more are killed, the regularity will naturally form.”
Sangsang inserted the gleaming podao back into its sheath and walked to the head of the bed. Staring at Ning Que’s face she earnestly said, “This is what you have taught me since I was a kid. No matter how well you hide yourself, the government is sure to find the reason for your killing through the identities of those deaths.”
“The General’s Residence was wiped out. The village of Yan territory was slaughtered. No one survived either situation.” Ning Que answered with a grin, “even if the imperial court was to find that the two cases triggered the killing, how could they prove I’m involved?”
“Perhaps they can’t. But the imperial court may predict the type of person who will be killed next, allowing them to take precautions to protect the intended targets, or even use them as bait. If this happens, will you give up killing them since they are under the protection of the imperial court?”
Ning Que silently looked into her eyes. Suddenly he burst out into laughter, saying, “You rarely think about so many things.”
“I am usually just too tired to think about so much, I am not stupid.” Sangsang mumbled. Perhaps even she herself couldn’t figure out why she would like to think about these things she usually considered troublesome.
But Ning Que understood, so his eyes became tender and he looked at her with a smile, then said, “I promise, after killing another two or three, I will take a break temporarily and begin to study hard at the Academy.”
Sangsang smiled, a look of relaxation eventually appeared on her darkish face. She then replied, “You’re right. The Academy is a fine place, and you could make acquaintance with many other talented youth of the same age. So, young master, you should cherish this opportunity.”
Ning Que thought it was strange for Sangsang to suddenly change into a sentimentalist and he couldn’t help to roll his eyes towards the ceiling. Stretching, he played with the quilt and thought that the so-called same age was actually not correct. He was, in fact, seven or eight years older than his classmates.”
…
…
School began on the next day, so Ning Que and Sangsang got up early again, and after washing and eating breakfast, Sangsang stood at the door of the shop to see Ning Que off as he entered the horse carriage alone. This two were now rich, with a wealth of more than two thousand silvers. Although, they remained thrifty, they still chartered a yearlong horse and carriage despite its luxury.
At daybreak, the south gate of Chang’an opened. A dozen horse carriages, emblazoned with the conspicuous Academy logo, filed out of the city. The low number of carriages indicated that most of the students in the Academy chose to board at the school rather than travel back and forth.
Along the official road, Ning Que headed southwards under the shade of willow trees, while appreciating the beautiful scenery. There were flowers, vast farmlands, and tranquil streams along the way. When he lifted the curtain, the steep mountain, along with the meadow, and the flowering trees that covered the foot of the mountain came into view again. Although this was not his first time seeing this, he still felt appreciation: It really was a God-given gift to have such a fairly enchanting scene in man’s world, especially in the suburb of the prosperous and bustling Chang’an City.
More than a dozen black horse carriages crossed the green meadow, and soon they reached the main gate of the Academy. The students got out of their carriages in succession, greeting each other with a bow by folding hands in front. Many boarders of the Academy had taken the entrance exam with them yesterday and they crowded around the unimpressive and simple stone gate to welcome them. The peaceful and quiet gate was suddenly abuzz with the sound of talking and chatting.
All of these young students were wearing indigo robes from the Academy, which acted as their uniform. Boy students wore black scarfs, while girls tied their hair into buns with ebony scarves. Those outfits contrasted with the green meadow and the simple stone gate, looking especially refreshing. This contributed to the appearance of vitality to the youngsters under the newly-risen sun from the east, forming an atmosphere of youth.
Ning Que tied his indigo Academy uniform and fetched out a small bronze mirror that Sangsang had put in his baggage last night to see if he had worn the black scarf properly. After all, these things had to be done before he stepped out of the horse carriage.
During the academy entrance exams yesterday, besides Xie Chengyun from the South Jin Kingdom and the other two students, it was he, the unexpected winner, who had tamed that big black horse, which was most impressive. When the students who were exchanging greetings at the Academy gate saw him, they came over to greet him enthusiastically without any intention to avoid him out of jealousy. Then another round of self-introduction and description about recent development began.
When the bell deep within the Academy melodiously rang, the students stopped talking and walked up the stairs in the morning light. Along the way, their indigo robes, scarfs, and buns drifted with the morning breeze, somewhat revealing a sense of immortal.
Ning Que slowed his steps, purposefully lagging behind the others. Under the morning sunlight, he raised his head and looked at the scene before his eyes, his heart stirring slightly. But, instead of quickening his steps, he took a more careful look at the simple main gate of the Academy which was decorated with three columns, and he observed the ordinary decore around the lawn up those stairs.
Yesterday, the Emperor had visited the Academy. Therefore, there had been tightened security, and what’s more, along with his examination engagement, he needed to check the results, so he hadn’t spared any time to carefully examine the Academy – The atmosphere here gave off a strong sense of a fairyland, and the big mountain, partly hidden in the clouds, gave others an intense feeling of suppression. However, as of yesterday, until now, he had found nothing special.
In the past, Ning Que had no idea about what he wanted to study at the Academy. What he was skilled in was how to recognize animals from the flavor of their piss and how to figure out the flying track of an arrow. He began to learn things about the Academy such as its brilliant history and numerous sages only after general Ma of the City of Wei had helped him to apply for the entrance exam.
For some reason, he believed that the Academy wasn’t as ordinary as it appeared and that it should shoulder more significant responsibilities beyond a mere institute that cultivated workers for the Tang Empire. Perhaps what he saw and heard along his trip from the grassland had made him think so.
“An abandoned student of the Academy that unexpectedly becomes a Great Sword Master and the elder man Lyu Qingchen, as well as the princess, also showed great respect to the Academy. However, why those in here had the same feeling with me and found it no particular?”
He slightly helped the black scarf back up, while mumbling to himself.
He, alone, had passed through the main gate of the Academy, crossed the lawn and walked away from the main building, and he was now walking in a lane way that had not seen the morning sunlight. A few paces ahead was the boisterous study room, where he could hear the exciting buzzings of discussions and greetings. In contrast, inside this lane way, it was extremely quiet.
Unexpectedly, a voice was heard in the silent lane way.
“There are actually no special places in this world. The royal palace, the Divine Hall of Haotian, as well as the Unknown Places are no exceptions. So, why would you still expect the Academy to be special?”
When he heard the voice, Ning Que was quickly on alert and his right hand inside his sleeve tightened. He was ready to fetch the big black umbrella if anything dangerous occurred. The abominable living environment he experienced while growing up had conditioned him to believe any incident was a dangerous one.
This was when he noticed a scholar stood in front of him.
With straight brows and wide eyes, this scholar looked simple and amicable. He wore an old cotton robe which appeared to be too thick in Spring and he was wearing a pair of well worn straw shoes, both covered in dirt and they looked as if they had not been cleaned in years. Oddly, even so, the scholar didn’t give off the appearance of untidiness.
He was extremely clean from his appearance to his heart.
The scholar held a roll of books in his right hand and he had fastened a wooden ladle to his waist. Ning Que glanced alternately at the roll of books and the wooden ladle, and finally, his eyes set on the scholar’s face, during which his left hand inside the sleeve gradually relaxed.
This was the Academy, where nobody in this world dared to do illegal things, in addition, despite the dirt all over his wearings, the scholar looked as clean as a new-born baby. Whoever saw him would like to be on intimate terms with him, feeling what he said or did deserve to be trusted.
Ning Que was still quite nervous even though he appeared to be relaxed, because he felt he could totally trust this suddenly-emerged scholar. As a person who had a life and death struggle as a child, he eventually trusted nobody. This sense of immediate trust was a frightening thing.
He was unable to muster any hostility in his heart, and even more horrifying was, he felt that if he took out his big black umbrella from his back, he would still be unable to brandish it at the scholar.
That scholar, in his cotton robe, slightly smiled and finally, his sight came to rest on the cloth covering on Ning Que’s back, as if his eyes could penetrate the cloth. He then tenderly patted his wooden ladle and asked, “Your umbrella is good, wanna trade?”
How did he identify that it was an umbrella under the cloth? Ning Que’s mouth felt extremely dry and he was suddenly thirsty. Losing his ability to speak, he shook his head after a long moment of silence.
The scholar sighed with pity and then passed by him with that roll of books, without another look at Ning Que. Finally, he stopped at a desolate side-door of the Academy.
Outside the side-door parked a lonely ox cart.
The scholar approached the cart and solemnly made a deep bow toward the carriage, and then he sat on the shaft, taking up the bullwhip.
The voice of an ordinary elderly man, accompanied by a strong aroma of wine came from the carriage, “He refused to do the exchange?”
The scholar shook his head with a smile and waved the bullwhip to drive the ox, slowly moving the carriage forward.
In the Spring of the thirteenth year of the Tianqi era, the Headmaster of the Academy started another tour away from the Empire with his eldest disciple.
Nobody knew how many jugs of wine he would consume during the tour.
And how many plums he would pick from unknown mountains.
…
…