The night was young and it was unusually lively at snowy-light-peak tonight. Disciples called it the night of freedom. And as to tomorrow night, it would be the most special one of the year....the night of lantern festival....And this one also had a nickname given by Jianyu sect's disciples - the night of run and catch game.....
The name was given like this due to some extraordinary rules at that night. There would be two parties for this game, of course, they would be a party to chase and another party to run. The game was personally invented by a certain someone for some disobedient disciples. Finally having a night to spend as they wished, some disciples had naughty thoughts like this. Wouldn't it be a shame just to waste it for the festival alone? Why not do something fun as well?
Such mischievous disciples would sneakily slipped away and run to nearby restaurants attempting to have a jar or two of some wine which was absolutely against the rules of Jianyu Sect. Though it was mentioned as "some", the practical number was far beyond this,of course.
To be exact, almost sixty percent of the sect's male disciples made such effort to commit this crime. So when the next morning came, many disciples had to serve their punishment.
Punishing that many disciples on the very first day of a new year.....it sounded really ugly just to listen to, didn't it?
So elders thought of a way to reduce the amount of disciples who would be serving their punishment.They couldn't just choose to bias among disciples either, so even after wracking their brain, no one could ever come up with a possible solution. And that was when a certain genius suggested a way for this problem.
And guess who would be that genius? It was no other than little master, Wang Li Jie. The game was a little childish but it did solve the problem elders were facing.
Here were the game's rules invented by little Wang Li Jie when he was twelve. At the night of lantern festival, a certain number of head disciples would not have a chance to enjoy the night unlike others. And they had to chase naughty fellow disciples who dared do something against the rules.
The very special part of the game started there. In such situation of running and chasing, none of the parties was allowed to use their power. It would only be a pure game related to one's strength and intelligence. When a head disciple caught his fellow violating the rules, they couldn't just report it to elders and solve the problem.
They had to chase....chase and catch them using a particular sort of talisman given by their masters.....talismans that could make one admit his mistake automatically once it was stuck to them.They could not tear or destroy it either. Only with the command of a certain elder could they free from it.
So what if head disciples couldn't catch and stick that talisman on certain disciples who had violated the rules? Head disciples knew who they were or what crimes they committed. Were those disciples going to get disciplined as well?
The answer was no, of course. It was the purpose of this game in the first place. Such disciples would be free from their punishment absolutely. If they managed to run and make their escape successfully from the hands of head disciples, they would be regarded like innocent ones who didn't do nothing at all other than participating in the festival.
Like this, the amount of punished disciples reduced a lot.....And when compared with the past years, only half the number got punished. And for those chosen disciples who had to play as the chasing party in this game would also get rewards from masters according to the number they managed to chase.
In other ways, this was a win-win situation, right? Those who wanted to do something mischievous would also have a chance to escape from their punishment. Meanwhile, the chasing parties also got their rewards. What a perfect solution.....
But now Wang Li Jie didn't even have a chance to play the game this year. Immortal Wang had already given him the last warning not to do anything against the rules. And if he did, then it would be just game over for him.... no additional part of the game like chasing and catching was required. Of course, if the game applied to him, then who in the sect could ever catch this little gifted troublemaker anyway?
The witness could just report it to his father and his dead sentence would automatically come out. It was really unfair.
You see, being a son under the management of a strict father was no easy thing. Lucky that his mom was there to spoil and pamper him otherwise this little troublemaker would not even know how to breathe and survive all these hardships.
"We need an urgent plan! "
Wang Li Jie's urging voice came out followed by a loud bang on the table. And there were his three bros... well, it's four now though Wang Li Jie was still unsure of whether he could trust this prince brought along by Prince Rong.
Just because of Prince Rong's guarantee, he let this prince also join their confidential meeting in his white lotus chamber. Despite it being said like join, that prince didn't really look like he was interested in their discussion either. Eating and tasting desserts on the table, that prince was really quiet as though he was in his own little world full of sweet things... as though he was not in this chamber to begin with.
Okay now, let's get back to our original point. So there were three bros of his sitting on a wooden couch just in front of him, carefully listening to their buddy's speech.
They also felt troubled by immortal Wang's restrictions over Wang Li Jie. They already had a plan since last year to go for a drink at some nice restaurant in a certain village. But the immortal had to come in their way and give them a problem, making them stress like hell.
One might ask it was not a problem for all of them anyway. Those severe rules only applied to Wang Li Jie, right? They could just say "sorry" to him and go by themselves.
But this logic didn't apply to these loyal brothers. As good buddies as they were who had gone many battles and faced problems altogether, such lowly thoughts like "dumping one's buddy in his lowest times" was not in their dictionary, and thus the result of this emergency discussion.
"Ah.... my brain just can't think of any solution. We can't just hide you the whole night nor we can't guarantee no one would recognize you neither. What're we going to do? " asked Huang Guiren, scratching and bumping his head at the wall beside in vexation.
"Your striking appearance that keeps standing out in public was the main problem..... what about we make him hideous? Wouldn't it be funny and solve our dilemma as well? "
With his arms crossed, Li Qing gave this brutal suggestion which earned a "Thanks but no thanks" from Wang Li Jie.
"Hahaha...how can this prince's little friend's brain be full of such brutal thoughts? This prince's little Qing is indeed very unique, "
said Prince Rong in a teasing tone, propping up his cheek with one hand on the table that was just banged by Wang Li Jie .
"You'd better focus on the discussion and quit calling me little Qing lest you don't wanna get beaten up by me. "
"How are you sure that you can beat this prince? Are you forgetting whom your friend is? "
And at this query, Li Qing snorted and said something which stabbed right through Prince Rong's heart.
"Have you ever won over me? "
Li Qing was right. He had never defeated this buddy of his. But it seemed like his little friend here was misunderstanding something. The fact that Prince Rong never defeated him didn't mean he was more powerful than the prince.
Prince Rong just let him win because if he didn't, then this friend of his would kept nagging him to do constant competitions every time they met which Prince Rong found really annoying. This was the lesson he learned since the two were very little. So Li Qing probably might not recall such things. By giving Li Qing the first place, his friend was satisfied and Prince Rong also got his peace. It mutually benefited for both of them anyway.
But now his bro was ridiculously mistakening it big time and Prince Rong couldn't do nothing about it either.
"Guys, focus. "
Huang Giren urged which had the two buddies' sense back to their discussion. And that was when someone jumped through the window of chamber they were in. Again, it was Wang Li Mei.
"Gege, it's so exciting to jump through your chamber's window.... hahaha"
Everyone looking at the intruder alert with their swords unsheathed "... "
Wang Li Jie "Li Mei! You're going to break it at this rate. "