Chapter 461 - 176: Xiaocheng Hall (3)
Chapter 461: Chapter 176: Xiaocheng Hall (3)
"This isn’t the first or second time you’ve gone back on your word..."
Mr. Sun jumped aside and grabbed Zhao Jing’s arm, wanting to persuade him further, but Zhao Jing’s mind was already made up.
Zhao Jing said, "I’ll go to Xiaocheng Hall, but on my terms. You have to give me five days off every ten-day period, and you must grant me free access to the Book Collection Pavilion. Also, prepare a private room for me in the dormitories."
Before Yin Xichen could respond, De’an, who had been caught in a circle of instructors, keenly picked up on something. His eyes flew open and he leaped out from the crowd.
"What are you doing, Jing? Why aren’t you living with me anymore? You’ve gotten tired of me, haven’t you?"
"It’s not that. I’ll be staying up late more often from now on, and I’m afraid I’ll disturb your rest."
"It’s not that serious..."
"It is. Once I’m gone, you’ll have a room all to yourself..."
De’an grumbled a bit, but then he considered that living alone was indeed more comfortable than sharing a room, so he said no more.
Zhao Jing then turned to Yin Xichen. "Those are my demands. If you agree, I’ll move to Xiaocheng Hall right now."
Yin Xichen was so exasperated he laughed. He pointed a finger at Zhao Jing from a distance. "You little rascal, give you an inch and you take a mile. But what can I do? Your literary talent is exceptional, and your essays are masterful. Fine, you win. Go pack your things. You’ll start classes in Xiaocheng Hall this afternoon."
On his own merits, just two days after enrolling, Zhao Jing successfully jumped from Yueli Hall to Xiaocheng Hall.
This was a sensational event for the entire prefecture academy.
It wasn’t that students hadn’t been promoted in a short period before. It was just that for them, advancing from a lower-level hall to a higher one took at least half a year.
And Zhao Jing?
It only took him two days!
Those two days barely even counted.
Had he taken the entrance exam the moment he joined the academy, he probably would have been placed directly into Xiaocheng Hall.
To have the skills of a Xiaocheng Hall student upon enrollment—what did that mean?
It meant his abilities were truly outstanding. He hadn’t even participated in this year’s autumn provincial examinations. If he had, he might already be a scholar.
’What a shame, what a shame.’
While Zhao Jing was promoted to Xiaocheng Hall, De’an didn’t transfer to another hall.
He was a creature of habit. He felt he had grown familiar with the students of Yueli Hall and developed an attachment, so he was reluctant to move.
The main reason was that the few halls that had extended an olive branch to him had students and instructors of a level not much different from Yueli Hall’s.
’If that’s the case, why go through all the trouble? It’s not worth the effort.’
"Listen to you talk," Wang Jun said. "If Xiaocheng Hall and Youzao Hall wanted you, would you have actually gone to one of them?"
"Of course! Man strives for greater heights, while water flows to lower depths. The instructors over there are far better than our Mr. Sun. If they wanted me, I’d be over there in a flash."
"Heh, too bad they don’t want you."
"It’s better that they don’t. This way, I can still hang out with you and strengthen our bond."
Pfft.
Pfft.
Two soft laughs from a pair of young women were heard. De’an turned his head, and sure enough, he saw Sheng Saya and Zhang Lingxin.
Zhang Lingxin was shy by nature and always stood, intentionally or not, half a step behind Sheng Saya, letting her friend shield half her face from view. She rarely spoke in Yueli Hall, as quiet as a shadow, always silently going about her own business.
Sheng Saya, in contrast, could be graceful when the occasion called for it, but when she was forthright, she was truly bold.
She was also very opinionated, even daring to argue with Mr. Sun in the middle of class over a difference in interpretation.
Most other young women would rather seek out Mr. Sun at the Professor Bureau after class to have their questions answered than dare to challenge him openly, but she did. Not only did she dare, but her differing interpretation led to a lively back-and-forth debate with Mr. Sun that was truly a sight to behold.
It was because of that incident that De’an no longer dared to treat the Magistrate’s daughter as an ordinary young woman.
He wouldn’t go so far as to say her skills surpassed his own, but she was clearly well-versed in the Four Books. Her courage was even more astonishing. ’There was a good reason the Lord Prefect allowed her to enroll in the academy, after all.’
Sheng Saya was smiling as she looked at De’an, who, for some reason, suddenly felt a little awkward.
He gave a light cough, removed the arm he had draped over Wang Jun’s neck, and clasped his hands in a polite gesture. "We were just fooling around. I hope we haven’t made a spectacle of ourselves, miss."
"Just call me Sheng Saya. We’re classmates, after all. It wouldn’t do if, years from now, you still had no idea who I was when my name came up."
De’an replied with righteous indignation, "How could an unrelated man possibly use a young lady’s name..."
Sheng Saya waved a dismissive hand, cutting him off. She turned and left with Zhang Lingxin, tossing a final remark over her shoulder. "You’re more old-fashioned than my own father."
De’an: "..."