The overseer had spoken very harshly and coldly.
Chen Changsheng stood up and gazed silently at this overseer of the Heavenly Dao Academy. Luoluo was very angry, but seeing that Chen Changsheng did not say anything, she could only maintain her silence—as her teacher had not spoken nor given any direction, she believed that as a disciple, she naturally should not usurp authority by taking a stand.
The visitor had stood at the door of the library and said a few incredibly disrespectful sentences. It seemed to have come out of nowhere, but Chen Changsheng had heard the words 'Ivy Festival' and, connecting it with what Tang Thirty-Six had said last night, understood the reason for this matter.
He had never imagined that the Ivy Festival would have anything to do with him because, just like many others, he had forgotten that the Orthodox Academy was also one of the Six Ivies. However, it was very obvious that not everyone in the world had forgotten this fact, especially after the Orthodox Academy gained a new student in him.
Chen Changsheng shifted his gaze to the middle-aged man dressed in priestly robes standing next to the overseer and realized that he knew him. It was precisely Priest Xin of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education. Although they had not met for many days now, the renovation of the Orthodox Academy had been managed by this priest.
Priest Xin sensed his gaze and nodded his head in greeting, but he seemed rather embarrassed.
Priest Xin turned his gaze to the Heavenly Dao Academy overseer and advised, "In the past, the Orthodox Academy had no students, so it naturally didn't need to attend. Since it now has a student, it naturally should take part. Both the Imperial Court and the Orthodoxy have approved. Education Overseer Peng, let's just quickly carry out the confirmation process and leave."
In the past few years, the Heavenly Dao Academy had been the most important of the Orthodoxy's schools, its status incredibly significant. This overseer from the Heavenly Dao Academy naturally had an extremely lofty status, too high for an ordinary priest of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education like him to contend against. In normal circumstances, if he saw this lordly overseer acting this way, Priest Xin would assuredly have played along, but…he knew more than anyone else that behind this seemingly ordinary and unremarkable youth was an incredibly strong backing which he didn't dare offend. Thus, he could only do his utmost to offend both sides as little as possible.
"You're really sure you want this piece of trash to attend the Ivy Festival?" that Heavenly Dao Academy overseer surnamed Peng said with a cold and gloomy expression.
Priest Xin helplessly replied, "This is a rule; there's nothing I can do either, no?"
"Rules? We have to talk about rules with everything? Then let me talk about rules!"
The Heavenly Dao Academy overseer sneered, "Based on the rules of the past, the Ivy Festival imitates the style and structure of the Grand Examination, divided into a test of composition and a test of martial arts. The students from each academy and those students that passed the pre-examination each pick one to attend. It seems to me that this run-down school only has one piece of trash as a student, so how can it participate?"
Priest Xin was speechless. He recalled that the Ivy Festival really did have this sort of rule. It was just that before coming, he was only thinking about how to minimize conflict between Education Overseer Peng and Chen Changsheng, and had completely forgotten about this clause. He couldn't help but grow somewhat worried, thinking, since this is the case, why didn't you talk about it earlier?
"In order to attend the Ivy Festival, at least two students are required…at present, there's just this one piece of trash. How do you want this official to confirm?"
The overseer had no expression on his face as he spoke, but his voice was brimming with derision. "Your Reverence, did you really believe that this official could not resist the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education's pressure and so made this journey? No, I came just because I wanted to see just how long this joke that is the Orthodox Academy could make me laugh!"
He stood at the door of the library and gazed at the noiseless and tranquil grounds of the Orthodox Academy, repaired but still broken down in a few parts, and coldly sighed, "The Orthodox Academy…back then, it truly had a grand reputation! But now? It's just a dead tomb!
"No matter how much you repair it, it's still just a tomb!"
The overseer's voice grew increasingly cold. "There's been a rumor in the capital recently saying that His Holiness wants to reopen the Orthodox Academy? It's absurd, but even if it is real, you still have to see if we elders agree to it or not!"
He turned to Chen Changsheng, his eyes blazing with a faint fire as he yelled, "I am telling the world, nonsense is nonsense! The useless Orthodox Academy is just a garden of trash! A piece of trash is a piece of trash! Let no one think that they can make an issue of this matter!"
The Orthodox Academy was deathly still. The weeds behind the building that had not been cleaned up yet were pervaded by a cold and desolate feeling.
Chen Changsheng quietly gazed at this overseer from the Heavenly Dao Academy and then suddenly took a step forward.
'Trash'…'joke'…'garden of trash'…'tomb'.
Those words were still drifting about the quiet library.
He did not know why this overseer from the Heavenly Dao Academy held such deep-seated hatred for the Orthodox Academy, and for him, but he knew of one fact: he was a student of the Orthodox Academy, the only student. Although he had not lived here for long, because he was the only student, this Orthodox Academy was his. Every flower, grass, tree, brick, roof tile, and rock, it was all his. He saw life reappear in this place, he quietly studied in this place; this place was his paradise, not some garden of trash.
He did not like being humiliated by others and liked even less the Orthodox Academy being humiliated.
He thought of those humiliations he received right after entering the capital, thought of the just-departed Shuang'er, and he decided to do something.
"I will attend the Ivy Festival."
He stared at the overseer and said, "I do not know why Sir has such great objections against me and my academy, but if Sir plans to bar me from the Ivy Festival, I can only regretfully tell Sir that Sir will not succeed, because Sir's attitude is far too disrespectful."
The Heavenly Dao Academy overseer replied with an indifferent expression, "Attending the Ivy Festival requires two students, or…two pieces of trash. Even if you have the courage to attend, I can only regretfully tell you that you will not succeed, because in the entire continent, there is no one willing to enter the Orthodox Academy, other than an idiot like you."
Priest Xin said nothing, but he knew that the overseer had spoken correctly: no person was willing to enter the Orthodox Academy. Perhaps Chen Changsheng had been exiled to this place by some powerful figures, or perhaps he was bearing some sort of responsibility, but there would not be a second of this sort of person.
The library was very quiet.
Chen Changsheng gazed at the shiny black floorboards in front of him, then suddenly asked, "Do you still insist?"
An immature but firm voice declared, "I insist."
"I can't teach you much of anything."
"Teacher has already taught me a lot."
"If you become a student of the Orthodox Academy, many people might view you with contempt."
"Teacher, I'm very skilled at viewing others with contempt."
"You might…have to suffer all sort of humiliation and suppression."
"Teacher, no one dares to humiliate me."
This dialogue concluded.
Chen Changsheng smiled and looked to his side, saying, "I still don't know your name."
Luoluo's eyes were extremely bright, her left hand tightly grasping his sleeve. Worried that he would renege, she said, "Teacher, my name is Luoheng."
Chen Changsheng extended his hand to grasp her left hand and then turned to the Heavenly Dao Academy overseer, declaring, "You see, now we are two people."
Luoluo was somewhat bashful. Leaning against his right arm, she repeated like a parrot learning words, "Yes, two people."
Priest Xin froze.
Wrathful beyond belief, the overseer rebuked, "Ridiculous! When did this shabby place get another student! Just who do you think you are! You think that if you say she's this place's student, she's a student of this place!?"
Chen Changsheng, ignoring him, indicated that Luoluo should bring the register and a brush from the side room.
He wrote Luoluo's name on the register with great dignity and solemnity.
Luoluo raised up the register into the sunlight, swelling her small cheeks and hardily blowing on it, hoping it would dry as quickly as possible.
Under the sunlight, the register was illuminated crystal clear. There were only two names, but two names were enough.
"The register is right here. Whatever name I add is a student of the Orthodox Academy."
Chen Changsheng pointed at the register and said to the Heavenly Dao Academy overseer, "Even if you are His Holiness the Pope himself, you cannot change this fact."
...
...
Priest Xin quickly worked to smooth the situation, doing his best to say soft words and give the overseer a way out of this embarrassing situation, at the same time asking him to confirm that Chen Changsheng and Luoluo had the right to attend the Ivy Festival. The Heavenly Dao Academy overseer was quiet for a long time before finally stamping his private seal on the scroll in Priest Xin's hand.
The matter was not over.
The overseer gazed at Chen Changsheng and Luoluo and expressionlessly said, "In this Festival of the Ivies, every single one of the students that passed the pre-examination is qualified to attend, and many people are coming from every place of the continent. Are pieces of trash like the two of you going to shame my Great Zhou?"
Chen Changsheng thought it over and prepared to speak.
At this moment, Luoluo pulled on his sleeve and timidly asked, "Teacher, can I speak?"
Chen Changsheng replied, "You are also a student of the Orthodox Academy now. Of course you can."
Luoluo turned to the overseer and seriously asked, "But, what does it have to do with you?"
An overseer of the Heavenly Dao Academy was no overseer of the Orthodox Academy, so what concern of his were the students of the Orthodox Academy? Luoluo looked like a girl of eleven or twelve, and though she spoke seriously, her words carried a childish tone brimming with a naive happiness, yet her words struck at the very essence of the issue. The Heavenly Dao Academy overseer was momentarily stunned, and then extremely angry, yet he did not know how to respond.
"Good! Good! Good!"
He angrily smiled and coldly said, "I'm really interested in seeing how the Orthodox Academy reverses its fortunes! On the Ivy Festival, when you pieces of trash from this garden of trash are humiliated and become the laughingstock of the entire continent, don't blame this official for not warning you today!"
With this final warning, he left with the sweep of his sleeve.
Priest Xin did not follow. He walked to the library and whispered a few explanations to Chen Changsheng.
Only then did Chen Changsheng understand that the management of the Ivy Festival was passed between the Six Ivies. This year, it just so happened to be the Heavenly Dao Academy's turn, with this overseer from the Heavenly Dao Academy responsible for finalizing who would be taking part. It had been many years since the Orthodox Academy last had any students attend the Ivy Festival, so it had gradually been forgotten. However, this year's situation was different. Of course, this was definitely not the reason for the Heavenly Dao Academy overseer's nasty behavior and his attempts to shame him. The primary reason was a certain law of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
This law stated that if a school failed to recruit a student for many years, its teaching credentials and policy protections would all be canceled. The Orthodox Academy had already failed to recruit students for many years, and if it failed to do so for one more year, it would vanish into the endless river of history. Yet who could have imagined…that on exactly the last year, the Orthodox Academy would gain a new student called Chen Changsheng.
"Just because of this?" Chen Changsheng asked.
After a moment of silence, Priest Xin explained, "That year during that incident involving the Orthodox Academy…three of Education Overseer Peng's senior brothers died here."
Chen Changsheng fell silent, thinking, if it were me, I would also hope that the Orthodox Academy would close its doors and disappear, and if someone like me were to suddenly appear, a student that changed the fate of the Orthodox Academy, my attitude would also be rather awful. I'd want nothing more than for that student to quickly depart.
"But there's no need to worry too much. In any case, as long as you don't enter a match in the Ivy Festival, Education Overseer Peng and those other elders have no means of getting ahold of you."
Priest Xin consoled him with a few words, glanced at Luoluo quietly standing by his side, then patted him on his shoulder and chuckled, "You're pretty good."
...
...
What this comment meant, Luoluo did not understand. Nor did Chen Changsheng.
After all, the two were both only fourteen, and Chen Changsheng was still under the impression that Luoluo was a girl of eleven or twelve.
Chen Changsheng gazed at Luoluo's small face and suddenly felt some hesitation, because it was only at this point that he noticed that this girl was actually quite pretty.
Luoluo tightly grasped his sleeve and said, "Teacher, you can't have any regrets."
Chen Changsheng helplessly shook his head. After thinking for a long while, he choked out a sentence, "You…have you eaten yet?"
Luoluo opened her eyes wide, her voice suspicious. "Didn't I eat wontons with Teacher this morning?"
"Yeah…it's already noon."
Chen Changsheng glanced out the window and said, "It's time to eat lunch."
Hearing this, Luoluo clasped her hands together and made a slight bow as she said with extreme warmth, "I'll make Teacher lunch."
"Let's buy," Chen Changsheng said.
Seeking instruction, Luoluo said, "Wontons?"
Chen Changsheng contemplated what to do, then said, "Besides wontons, there's also a place that sells noodles in the lane. The taste isn't bad. That's right, ask them to put in less bean sprouts and more peppers."
Luoluo ran off, laughing and cheering the entire way, her two ponytails bobbing behind her.
On the wall, Guardian Jin and Guardian Li looked each other in the eyes.
"Is this fine?"
"It looks pretty fine to me."
...
...
After the noodles had been eaten, it was already afternoon. The wind of late spring seemed to have a natural aroma. Smelling it was intoxicating and immediately made one want to sleep.
Chen Changsheng looked at Luoluo and said, "I only asked you for your name today. I'm sorry."
Luoluo chuckled but said nothing more.
"Take the Night Pearl and those other items back, I really can't accept them."
"Teacher, you're not planning on backing out, are you?"
"Of course…not."
"Then…how can you return the gifts I gave to acknowledge you as my teacher?"
"Didn't you buy me a bowl of noodles just a while ago?"
Luoluo's smile faded as she lightly brought up her dress and slowly prostrated herself on the jet-black floor.
After a moment of silence, Chen Changsheng prostrated towards the direction of Xining Village, and then prostrated to her.
The spring sunlight was gentle, the scenery bright and beautiful, the lake quiet like a mirror. Occasionally a breeze would blow through the building and curl around the bookshelves before resting on their temples.
Chen Changsheng straightened his body and helped Luoluo up.
Luoluo said, "Thank you."
Chen Changsheng didn't know what to say. After thinking for a while, he also said, "Thank you."