Luoluo returned to the Hundred Herb Garden. Her clansmen knew that her mood today was especially good because she was skipping the entire way back, her agile steps seeming to be treading upon the clouds; because she was humming a small tune, her singing like that of a yellow oriole; and because her brows seemed ready to fly off her face.
Guardian Jin and Guardian Li glanced at each other and hurriedly followed her. They naturally knew the reason for their princess's good mood, but they hadn't been able to see what was going on in the library. Inevitably, they had some questions. Was successfully acknowledging a teacher worth being so happy about? What was good about that Orthodox Academy youth?
Luoluo freshened herself up and changed into a clean dress. She accepted a cup of Jin Mei tea from her maid and took a couple of sips, then returned to the front hall and said to those two guardians, "If you have something to ask, quickly ask it. I have to sleep early tonight so that I can wake up early tomorrow to attend class. I don't dare be late."
(TN: Jin Mei, golden eyebrow, seems to be an expensive variety of black tea.)
Guardian Jin thought to himself, when did Princess become so diligent in attending class? Of course, unspoken criticisms naturally could not be voiced, so he said with a smile, "Arriving a little late won't be anything much, or would that youth dare act against Your Highness?"
"That is my teacher, so don't go saying 'youth this', 'youth that'. In the future…all of you have to call him Teacher Chen."
Luoluo thought of the solemn aura her teacher gave off when reading and cultivating and also about how he almost harshly valued his time. She said with an extremely pathetic look to the pair, "If I'm late to morning class, Teacher will truly be angry. I don't want to suffer from Teacher's lash on only the second day."
Guardian Jin was taken aback by these words, almost not daring to believe his ears! That youth dared to wield the whip against the princess! If this were heard by the people back in the eight hundred li of the Red River, it was highly likely that the capital would be overturned!
Just as he was prepared to give Chen Changsheng a firm lecture, he suddenly felt Guardian Li almost imperceptibly pull on his sleeve. Only then did he notice that his little princess was not the least bit unhappy, her pathetic appearance all pretend, behind it an unconcealable happiness!
Guardian Jin's expression became somewhat dazed. He simply could not comprehend what had happened in these past few days, was utterly mystified as to what that youth called Chen Changsheng…fine, that Teacher Chen, besides bravery and kindheartedness, possessed to actually make his little princess adore and worship him so!
"Teacher is not an ordinary person."
Luoluo naturally understood what her clansmen were thinking, and, prompted by Guardian Jin's vacant expression and Guardian Li's concerned expression, made this statement.
It was inconvenient for Guardian Jin to speak, while Guardian Li was somewhat closer to her and couldn't help but murmur, "Not even succeeded at Purification yet…it can't get more ordinary than this, can it?"
Luoluo said, "The two of you feel that an ordinary person that hasn't even succeeded at Purification can solve a problem that not even my father could solve?"
Guardian Jin hesitated before finally saying, "Perhaps…it's luck?"
Luoluo thought of her experience this afternoon and then proudly declared, "No, the thing Teacher needs the least is luck."
Puzzled, Guardian LI asked, "Since…this Teacher Chen is not an ordinary person, why did he enter the Orthodox Academy? What is he hiding?"
"Silently reading and cultivating, always remaining hidden and concealing, a fish that nobody cares about in a stream that is just waiting for a great storm. When the time comes, this fish will leap over the Dragon Gate and transform into a true dragon, overlooking the entire continent, its reputation ringing throughout the world…"
Luoluo's eyes were getting brighter and brighter, her voice getting louder and louder. "Teacher's way of thinking is truly great!"
Guardian Jin silently gave a bitter smile as he thought, this is the real world, where did all these plot points from stories come from? Princess seems to have matured a lot, but it turns out she's still a child.
On the next morning at five o'clock, Luoluo promptly awoke. Of course, under her normal routine, this girl that was fond of sleep would definitely have failed to get up, but her maids, following her commands, had begun beating on gongs and banging on drums in the yard from four-forty-five, and so she had to get up, even if she didn't want to.
She wrapped some clothes around herself, rubbed her eyes, opened her door, and angrily mumbled, "It's so noisy!"
Those maids that had forcefully suppressed their fear and unease to bang on the gongs and drums, their faces pale, were so frightened by their princess's anger that they immediately groveled on the ground, repeatedly asking for forgiveness.
"I was just randomly commenting."
Luoluo yawned and then indicated that they should rise, saying, "None of you were wrong and you've done well. In a little while, go to Mama Li and receive your rewards of silver…precisely according to the rule I established last night, if you wake me up before five, there will be a reward. If I can't wake up, your pay for the month will be gone!"
The maids all looked at each other and, after confirming that the princess was truly not angry, they fearfully rose and brought over all sorts of tools, grooming the princess and assisting her in her toiletries. Another person came with ten-odd dresses, asking the princess which one she would wear today.
Luoluo picked out the most simple yet elegant dress, casually dined on porridge made from polished rice and a fried pancake with a piece of smoked meat inside. She then opened the already-prepared lunchbox and carefully examined the contents. Nodding her head with satisfaction, she took the lunchbox and walked towards the academy wall.
Pushing open that brand-new door, she ended up going from the Hundred Herb Garden to the Orthodox Academy.
There was no wooden basin here, and so there was no naturally no bathing youth either. His past encounter had engraved far too deep a memory on Chen Changsheng's mind. After dinner, the first thing he did was to bring the wooden basin inside the house. At the same time, he did not forget to add a lock to the house and to also draw closed the curtains of the bathroom.
Changes noiselessly occurred in the Orthodox Academy.
Because this place no longer had solely Chen Changsheng.
The Orthodox Academy now had two students.
...
...
Reading and then cultivating.
This remained the theme of the Orthodox Academy.
Besides no longer being able to bathe outside or sing when he was on the toilet…Chen Changsheng felt that the greatest change in his life was that the quality of his meals had improved enormously. From the second day after Luoluo had acknowledged him as her teacher, he began to eat the breakfast, lunch, and dinner she brought over from the Hundred Herb Garden.
He was extremely satisfied with the three meals made in the Hundred Herb Garden. Whether it was the variety of dishes; the pairing of vegetables, grain, and meats; the nutrition; or the taste; he felt that they all surpassed his finest imagination. In Xining Village's old temple, it was always his senior that cooked the meals. Although nutrition was no problem, the taste was truly very ordinary.
He was very satisfied with these meals, but he was even more satisfied with Luoluo's expression. Essentially, these meals and her diligence were her expression, her kind intentions.
Luoluo was very close to him, wanting to spend every moment by his side. The moment his attention strayed, this girl would hug his arm and bury herself in his chest, constantly sniffing. She was just like a cute kitten, and if he did not so firmly insist, she would not even go back to the Hundred Herb Garden to sleep.
Chen Changsheng was only fourteen years old and was not at all used to the respect and dependency Luoluo displayed. Although he even now mistook her for being around ten years old, even being so close to a female child was inevitably rather embarrassing. However, he thought this sort of feeling was very good, so good that he was willing to endure it all.
But there had still been no progress in his cultivation. Many days had already passed and he had constantly been drawing in starlight for Purification, yet his body still had not undergone any transformation. Even someone with as resolute a will as him began to doubt himself, or at least feel that his luck was seemingly not very good.
He did not know that Luoluo had once said to her clansmen that he was a person that needed luck the least.
Luoluo's luck was extremely good, and if one were to speak in terms of destiny, her destiny swept away all others before it—none could obstruct it!
From the night she became acquainted with Chen Changsheng to acknowledging him as her teacher, and then in these several dozen days, the late spring had still not come to an end. Chen Changsheng had helped her find three paths of circulating true essence, and she had managed to grasp seventeen moves of the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong!
Just as it was beginning to feel like summer, the pre-examination to the Grand Examination also concluded.
The grand streets and small alleys of the capital were all lively, crowded with countless students from various places across the continent, in ecstasy or in sorrow, celebrating with wine or drowning their sorrows in it. The restaurants were all packed and though it wasn't even night, those famous brothels had already hung up their colored lanterns.
Because of his recent problems with cultivation, Chen Changsheng's mood was rather downcast. He knew that being constantly tense was not a good thing, that he needed to relax his mind somewhat. Consequently, he finally emerged from the Orthodox Academy, taking an extremely precious half day of time to go see the sights. Interestingly, or perhaps in his way of rendering others speechless, he did not go to the Li Palace to see those ivies which seemed to be in eternal spring, nor did he go the Bridge of Helplessness to count the stones. Rather…he took Luoluo to the entrance of Hundred Flowers Lane and sat by the well under the eaves to gaze vacantly at the activity on the street.
Luoluo had always obeyed every one of his orders. No matter what he decided, she had always followed without a single complaint. She believe that any choice he made was correct. No matter how absurd, there was undoubtedly some deeper meaning behind it that she had yet to grasp. Only today was she finally upset.
"Teacher…"
She sat on a stone step, looking at the moss growing on the edge of the well as she pouted, bored to death, and kicked around a small leaf at her feet. She had originally planned to grumble a few phrases, yet she couldn't. She felt that since they had finally managed to come out for a stroll, shouldn't they go a little farther? Walking the streets with her teacher was quite an interesting proposition.
"What's wrong?"
Chen Changsheng, holding two ice pops, said, "You don't want to eat it? If I eat two, it'll upset my stomach."
Luoluo thought to herself, Teacher still loves me. As a result, she grew happy again and took the ice pop from his hand. Seating herself by his side, she vacantly gazed at the sea of people on the street.
Licking the ice pop, she asked, "Why is it so lively today?"
With a crunch, Chen Changsheng took a bite out of his ice pop and said in a muffled voice, "Just now when I was buying ice pops, I heard somebody say that the pre-examination for the Grand Examination just ended."
Luoluo opened her eyes wide and exclaimed, "Ah!"
Chen Changsheng turned his head to look at her, asking, "What's wrong? Is it too cold?"
Luoluo turned to him and said uncertainly, "I just feel like we've forgotten something."
Chen Changsheng began to seriously recall, his brow twisting tighter and tighter and then finally relaxing.
"I've remembered, we have to represent the Orthodox Academy in attending the Ivy Festival."
Yes, the pre-examination for the Grand Examination had concluded and summer had come.
The Ivy Festival was about to begin.
Luoluo asked, "Do we have to go?"
Chen Changsheng thought it over, then replied, "We should go."
Luoluo asked, "But it seems that no one has come to notify us."
Chen Changsheng replied, "If the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education has forgotten, then we can just not go."
Luoluo took a satisfied lick of her ice pop and said, "Yeah, whatever Teacher says."