Chapter 448 - 172: Prefectural School (Part 3)
Chapter 448: Chapter 172: Prefectural School (Part 3)
The delicate-looking girl shook her head and said a bit bashfully, "No. I left home late today, so I was half an hour late getting to the prefectural school. I rushed straight to the classroom the moment I got out of the carriage."
This delicate-looking girl was the daughter of the Vice Prefect. Her name was Zhang Lingxin.
She was the youngest legitimate daughter in her family and had been doted upon since birth. She was good friends with Sheng Saya, the Magistrate’s daughter, so when Sheng Saya enrolled in the prefectural school, she followed suit.
The young lady had a shy temperament and wasn’t a social butterfly. Since she was speaking to a man she didn’t know, she became even more reserved.
She stepped aside to stand next to another young lady dressed in lotus-purple robes.
Together with another girl named Zhu Caiwei, they flanked the lady in lotus-purple, forming a protective cluster around her.
As expected, the girl in purple had to be Mr. Sheng’s daughter.
This girl had straight-cut bangs and a pair of almond-shaped eyes. A smile revealed two deep dimples.
’That familiar face... isn’t she the girl I’ve already met twice before?’
’If she just had a butterfly hairpin in her hair, she’d look even more familiar.’
’This is Mr. Sheng’s daughter?’
’Mr. Sheng is nearly sixty, and he has a daughter who’s only fourteen or fifteen?’
’Heh, what am I even thinking? If Mr. Sheng can have a five-year-old son, then having a fifteen-year-old daughter is no big deal at all.’
’When this girl was born, Mr. Sheng was only in his forties, right in his prime. What’s one daughter? Having eight or ten wouldn’t have been a stretch.’
De’an wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but he felt that the young lady from the Sheng Family was giving him a look that was somewhere between a smile and a smirk.
’Could she have realized I was just badmouthing her dad in my head?’
’No way. It’s not like she has the Mind Reading Technique, right?’
Despite his reasoning, De’an still chickened out.
He subtly shuffled closer to Zhao Jing, looking at the sky, the ground—anywhere but at the girl.
Sheng Saya, however, had no intention of making small talk. She simply gave a slight nod of acknowledgment before leading Zhu Caiwei and Zhang Lingxin out of the dining hall.
Only after the three of them had disappeared from view did De’an let out a huge sigh of relief and step out from behind Zhao Jing.
"Jeez, that scared me to death."
Wang Jun looked at him in surprise. "What scared you? You mean those three young ladies? Don’t worry, they’re just from high-ranking families, but they’re pretty good-natured. Once you’ve been around a while, you’ll see they aren’t hard to get along with... Not that we usually have any reason to interact with them. But if some conflict ever does arise, we just have to be the ones to back down."
After rambling on for a bit, Wang Jun remembered the matter at hand. "So, are we eating lunch or not?"
"Yes, yes, let’s eat! I was up at the crack of dawn today and barely had any breakfast. I’m starving! If I don’t get something to eat soon, you’ll have to carry me back to the Jingshai dormitory."
The Jingshai was the student dormitory at the prefectural school. Most rooms were shared between two people, but students from exceptionally wealthy or influential families could pay extra Silver Coins to have a private room.
"Where do those three young ladies stay? They don’t live in the Jingshai too, do they?"
"In your dreams. They’re the daughters of high-ranking officials. It’s already a huge concession for their families to let them attend school; they would never be allowed to live on campus. They commute by carriage every day and leave as soon as classes are over."
De’an clicked his tongue. "Sounds like a hassle. They don’t have to take the imperial examinations, so why come to the prefectural school to suffer like this? If their families just want to find them good husbands, they could observe the students from a distance. Why throw their daughters right into the mix? It seems like way too much trouble."
"The officials must have their reasons. It’s not our place to worry about it."
Because Zhao Jing and De’an had enrolled late, there weren’t many vacant dormitory rooms.
Fortunately, all the rooms were identical and were regularly renovated, so there was little difference between them.
There was no reason to be picky. The two of them simply followed Mr. Sun’s instructions and moved into the room next to Wang Jun’s.
Two students had lived in this room previously; they were even from the same hometown, apparently. But then one of them stole the other’s Silver Coins. The thief staunchly denied it, and the two got into a massive brawl. One ended up with a broken leg, the other with a broken arm.
The incident was so disruptive that they were both expelled from the prefectural school. They only just packed up and left a short while ago.
"The school rules are extremely strict. The most important one is that you can’t get into fights or cause trouble."
De’an’s eyes widened in realization. "Oh, so that’s why! No wonder you didn’t do anything when those two guys in the dining hall were running their mouths about you earlier. You were afraid of getting expelled."
"Exactly," Wang Jun said. "Mr. Min is famously strict. If anyone dares to break the rules right under his nose, he’ll punish them without hesitation."