Chapter 030
Author: Feast of Masks
Raws: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=3185016
Translated by Pill Bug
Edited by Gumihou
The two heaping bowls of side dishes, which were piled up like little mountains, were ultimately left unfinished.
None of the three were from wealthy backgrounds, especially Li Datian who was used to a frugal life. After cleaning up his own bowl, he moved the leftover side dishes into his bowl and told them that they could have this with their evening meal. Mao Badou had a disdainful look on his face, but, when he thought of the coming tasteless dinner, he refrained from speaking too much.
When they returned to the dormitory, they found Chen Jian was still studying. Xue Tingxiang recalled not seeing him in the dining hall at all. However, since they were not familiar, it was difficult for him to say anything to the youth.
The three then went to the bathroom to fetch some water to wash their hands and faces and returned to the room for an afternoon nap.
After sleeping for about half an hour, they got up, and Chen Jian was still studying.
From this alone, Xue Tingxiang felt like he had gained some understanding of this person. Regardless of his situation, his diligence was the real thing. Was it due to a poor family background?
For some reason, he thought of his former self in his dreams.
That afternoon, all the students gathered in the lecture hall.
The lecture hall itself was fairly large, divided into two sections, left and right, with windows on three sides. The side without windows was the side with the lecture stage.
There were no desks or chairs in the hall; everyone sat on the floor, each with a low table. Since there were large windows on three sides, the lighting was excellent, giving people a sense of a bright and clean space.
Class B had more than twenty students, accounting for nearly seventy percent of all students at Qingyuan Academy. The remaining ten or so students, naturally, were in Class A, were situated in the hall right next to them.
On the stage stood an elderly man in his fifties. He was lean and serious-looking with grey-white hair. His speech was concise as he instructed the students to collect their books before leaving the hall.
Two students were in charge of distributing the books. They seemed to be senior students and appeared familiar with many people.
Xue Tingxiang had asked Mao Badou and Li Datian about the school resources before and found out that Qingyuan Academy also distributed free books to their students. Not only that, the set of books they lend out was very comprehensive. Each student will receive a set of the Four Books as well as a set of annotations for each of the Four Books in detail, which describes and analyses the sentences and paragraphs in the books. However, students were not allowed to take the books home and had to return the books to the academy at the end of the year when the academy closed.
The senior students received their books first. Because they had used them the previous year, they all took back their previous sets. When it was the new students’ turn, only old and worn-out books were left. Even if they wanted to choose, there was no other choice available.
Xue Tingxiang stood close to the end of the line.
Mao Badou and Li Datian had already collected their books. Seeing how tattered Xue Tingxiang’s books were, with some pages even falling out, Mao Badou couldn’t help but speak up, “Aren’t there any other books? Can we exchange these?”
The student in charge of the books shook his head with an air of self-righteousness, “It’s not like this is your first day at the academy. No exchange. These are all we have.”
Mao Badou glared at him, “He Ming, could it be that you have some grudge against me? Even so, one can’t abuse public power for personal revenge! I can see with my own eyes that there is a newer set in that box!”
“What do you mean by abusing public power for personal revenge?” Student He Ming smoothed down his sleeves and smiled at Mao Badou. Although he tried to act indifferent and above ‘petty argument’, a trace of contempt showed on his face. “What personal grievance would I have against someone who had studied here for three years and has yet to make it into Class A? Hehe, me? Abuse public power for personal revenge? Hehe!”
Although the nearby students tried to hold back their laughter to preserve their comrade’s dignity, some still could not help but snicker, causing Mao Badou’s round face to turn red.
“I, He Ming, have always endured criticism while carrying out my duty. That set of books in the box already has an owner, and the owner is him!”
With He Ming’s words, everyone’s gaze shifted to Chen Jian, who had been standing silently in the back.
Chen Jian was thin and pale, and very inconspicuous in his patched grey short coat. More than inconspicuous, his entire person appeared somewhat shabby due to his dingy clothes, which looked like they had never been given a proper wash. Not to mention, he never looked at anyone in the eye, which gave off a very uncomfortable feeling.
Feeling everyone’s eyes on him, Chen Jian looked up in confusion.
His features were very ordinary, the kind that would be lost in a crowd. Even so, he had a pair of striking phoenix eyes with corners that slanted upwards and bright dark pupils that looked like they hid many dark secrets.
“Chen Jian is a senior student, so naturally, he should be given priority. This is our academy’s rule, have you forgotten?”
Upon hearing that, everyone understood. There indeed was such an unwritten rule in the academy.
As Qingyuan Academy gradually declined, it relied solely on the tuition fees collected from students to cover its expenses each year, which inevitably included things like new books. The head of the academy sympathised with impoverished students and didn’t want to accept high fees, which left the academy quite destitute.
Back in its heyday, Qingyuan Academy distributed books printed at the academy’s own printing workshop. At present, they didn’t have such means, so most of the books were hand-copied. Even so, after years of use, these books had become very old.
With so many students, there were always times when resources were unevenly distributed. Thus, an unwritten rule had formed: new books went to Class A students first, then to Class B students. Also, senior students could use new books, while new students had to use old ones.
Chen Jian had always been ostracized at the academy. The specific reasons weren’t worth mentioning, but he was never considered among the ‘senior students’ and had always used the oldest and most tattered books. This time, it was unclear how he had caught He Ming’s eye and been promoted.
However, if one thought about Mao Badou’s claims, one could see traces of He Ming’s actions. Perhaps, that person really was abusing his public position for personal revenge!
Mao Badou, always ready to fight for justice, was more than eager to argue with He Ming. However, Xue Tingxiang pulled him back, “Forget it, it’s good enough to have books to study. There’s no need to fight over this.”
He packed the books into his book bag, pulled Mao Badou along, and walked away. Li Datian followed.
Once outside, Mao Badou finally spoke, “Tingxiang, why did you pull me back? He was clearly abusing public power for personal revenge against me! Not only that, he’s taking out his grudge against you and even dragging Chen Jian into this scheme to incite discord among us dormmates.”
“If you understand that much, why bother arguing with him? Besides, if that rule really exists, we would look like the unreasonable ones arguing with him.”
“But Chen Jian has always used the poorest and most tattered books!”
“Why is that so? Surely no one should be treated that way!” Xue Tingxiang was wearing a faint smile, but there was a hint of agitation in his voice.
Xue Tingxiang recalled his dream. In that dream, ‘he’ had always been ostracised and bullied when he first entered Qinghe Academy.
At that time, in order to send him to the academy, Zhao’er spent all the money she had on hand just for the tuition fee, so there was naturally no leftover money to make clothes or a book bag for him. Without those things to improve his appearance, other people gave him the side-eye when he entered the academy. Because he had no money, he initially only dared to eat steamed buns and rice at the academy, not even daring to order a single side dish, which made people look down on him even more.
This poor treatment was not only due to poverty but also because Xue Juncai who had entered the private school before him had already formed a group of close friends among his classmates. People knew about his child fiancée, how he had been so unfilial to his grandparents that they actually fainted. Everyone spurned him, despised him, and even saw his poverty as the root of his poor and despicable character.
As Zhao’er’s business improved, he gradually no longer lacked money, and his hard work and diligence made his studies gradually excel. However, this ostracism never changed until he left Qinghe Academy.
Xue Tingxiang found himself empathising with Chen Jian without even realising it. From the moment he saw Chen Jian, he couldn’t help but give him a few more glances. It turned out, it was because Chen Jian resembled a version of himself that he had seen in that dream.
The same gloominess, silence, and even inferiority.
“You don’t know…”
Mao Badou was about to say something when he suddenly stopped. That was when Chen Jian happened to pass by them with his stack of books. Chen Jian had his head lowered, but Xue Tingxiang caught the moment when Chen Jian looked up.
The youth immediately looked away, the movement caused the hair near his temple to slide away and Xue Tingxiang caught sight of a red scar hidden just under his jaw. It was a chance sight.
One that unexpectedly startled him.
He recalled a person.
There was a prominent person who had once appeared in his dreams. Back then, his dream self was going through a big change moving from a small border town to the capital. It was also his lowest point in life. At that time, the other person was a world-famous Zhuang Yuan [1]! In short, an Imperial Examination top scorer! Not only that, he was the son-in-law of Prime Minister Xu. Talk about enjoying all the glory and success of riding the coattails of a strong father-in-law figure!
Prime Minister Xu was a sworn enemy of his mentor [2], even back then, his dream self knew that he would one day clash with this young scholar.
In the end, they really did clash.
Furthermore, this person later became one of dream!Xue Tingxiang’s greatest enemies for the first half of his life.
However, that person was not called Chen Jian, but Chen Huanzhi. [3]
Xue Tingxiang recalled that in his dream, that someone at court had once jokingly said that the two were actually from the same hometown, but he had never paid attention to this. He had looked into this person’s background before and found that this Chen person was born under an unlucky star. That person had actually lost his entire family to a fire.
Chen Jian, Chen Huanzhi, it had to be him!
“…Tingxiang, you have no idea what he had done!”
Immersed in his thoughts, Xue Tingxiang only heard the final bit of the rant and instinctively asked, “What has he done?”
Mao Badou stomped his foot. “Enough. I did not want to gossip since there is no merit in talking about other’s faults, especially when there is no evidence, but there is no way I can bear to keep you in the dark any longer. Last year, three of us stayed in this dorm with one other person called Wang Qi. That fellow didn’t attend the academy this year… anyway, although Li Datian, Wang Qi and I could not be considered rich, we are still quite well-off.
He came from a poor family and often owed the academy for tuition and food money. Well, that was not the point. The point is, the three of us started losing meal tickets. At first, we did not pay much attention, but Datian had just exchanged some new meal tickets and kept them in his cupboard. That was when a few of his tickets mysteriously went missing! That was when we realised there was actually a thief among us in the dormitory!”
It went without saying that this thief must be Chen Jian, or at least that’s what Mao Badou implied.
“I wanted to confront him at the time, but Datian said that such an accusation was too serious. The headmaster has valued the moral character and conduct of the students. If this matter were exposed, he would surely be expelled. Given his poor family background, it must have been difficult for him to attend school here. After that, we secretly observed him closely. Since he did not revert to his old ways, the three of us just endured this slight and stopped talking to him.”
Xue Tingxiang paused for a moment before suddenly asking, “How are you sure that it was him who took those tickets?”
“If not him, then who could it be?”
Mao Badou’s logic wasn’t wrong. Among the four of them, Chen Jian was the poorest, often owing fees and food, and he was aloof and kept to himself. If not him, then who else?
“Didn’t you notice that we didn’t see him in the dining hall at noon? He only eats two meals a day and skips lunch,” Mao Badou added.
Xue Tingxiang smiled faintly. “At any rate, I do not believe it was him.”
“Why not?”
“Just a feeling.”
It really was just a feeling. Perhaps that inexplicable sense of comradeship he had felt from that dream?
Mao Badou tried to persuade him further, but had to drop the topic when he saw someone passing by.
The three returned to the dormitory and found the familiar sight of Chen Jian bent over his books again.
Both sides said nothing to each other. In fact, there was barely any conversation as the rest of them busied themselves putting their ‘new’ books away. They would need these books for the coming classes, these were precious resources that must not be misplaced.
“I’m used to that set of books. If you find them too old, I’ll exchange them with you.” A very unfamiliar and hoarse voice suddenly said. It was Chen Jian.
He looked at Xue Tingxiang earnestly, he seemed sincere in his offer.
Xue Tingxiang had been sorting through that old set of books and found that though the pages were old and worn, with some barely held together by the string that had once bound them long ago, he was quite pleased with them.
This was because the books were filled with dense annotations, some old, some new, clearly left by previous owners. When Xue Tingxiang looked through them earlier, he found many unique insights. After all, Chen Jian was the top scholar as a Zhuang Yuan, while Xue Tingxiang, even in his prime, had only managed to reach second-class status at twenty-first place.
“No need, I think these books are quite good.”
Xue Tingxiang felt no guilt about taking what others had poured effort into. After all, if Chen Jian was the one who had written in the margins of the books, he could write them out again. Right now, he, Xue Tingxiang, was a new student who was just starting out. Even though he had some rudimentary understanding after digesting the memories from his dreams, he still lacked many things.
Chen Jian hesitated but said nothing more. He lowered his head and continued to read his book.
It was soon time for dinner. The academy’s schedule was very regular, its routine starting with the rising sun and ending at dusk. Therefore, before the sky darkened, it was time for dinner.
Dinner was noodles made with a mixture of buckwheat and sorghum flour. There were also some multigrain steamed buns on the side. These were for growing students who could not bear hunger in the middle of the night.
This time, Chen Jian also went to the canteen. He got his food and found a corner to sit and eat, not speaking to anyone the entire time.
After dinner, they returned to the dormitory. Before Xue Tingxiang could settle in, a servant came to the door and called his name.
“Someone sent you something. It’s the same person who brought the lock this morning.”
Xue Tingxiang accepted the small basket of eggs from the servant and Mao Badou suddenly appeared with a suggestive smile on his face, “Yo yo yo~ isn’t this your little fiancée again, eh? She even sends eggs to you~”
“Alright, stop messing around.”
Xue Tingxiang carried the basket into the dormitory, with Mao Badou trailing behind, clamouring and making a fuss about wanting to eat the eggs sent by ‘the little fiancée’.
Dinner had been noodles and buns, eaten with the leftover side dishes from lunch, which had been picked clean of meat that afternoon. Not even Mao Badou could afford fancy side dishes at every meal despite his greed. When he caught sight of the fresh chicken eggs nestled neatly in the little wicker basket, he started making a fuss as a joke but soon started to actually salivate over the prospect of eating them.
Xue Tingxiang was not stingy either, “Fine, the only question now is how to eat them.”
“Don’t you worry about that.”
Xue Tingxiang picked out ten eggs, which Mao Badou carefully wrapped in a spare shirt and hurried out, shouting about how they could have these with porridge in the morning.
It did not take him long to return, and Xue Tingxiang learned that he had taken the eggs to the waterhouse [4] and asked one of the servants to boil the eggs for him.
The freshly boiled eggs that had been soaked in cold well water after boiling felt cool against the touch at first, but soon warmed up when kneaded. Although Mao Badou acted familiar with Xue Tingxiang, he was not greedy either, taking only one egg and returning the rest to Xue Tingxiang.
Xue Tingxiang gave one egg to Li Datian, took one for himself and was about to store the rest in his cupboard when a sudden thought occurred to him. He took out another egg, walked over to Chen Jian who was still studying by an oil lamp, and handed the egg to him.
The white egg with just a touch of pink looked very smooth and glossy. Under the dim yellow light, it appeared even more charming.
Chen Jian instinctively reached out his hand.
By the time his consciousness returned, Xue Tingxiang had already turned around and walked away.
Perhaps it was because Chen Jian had offered to exchange books with Xue Tingxiang earlier, neither Mao Badou nor Li Datian said anything.
The room was very quiet. Chen Jian said nothing, just lowered his head and continued studying.
But he kept kneading the egg in his palm.
[Gumihou: I love it when these pitiful poverty-stricken souls make such fuss over eggs]
Pill Bug TL Notes:
[1] 状元 Zhuang Yuan, the top scorer in the Imperial Exam [2] 座师 “Chair teacher”, like a chairman. A respectful title given to the chief examiner by the Ju Ren (people who passed the provincial exam) and Jin Shi (people who passed the Imperial Exam) in the Ming and Qing dynasties.Gumihou: it could also mean ‘mentor’. Gumi decided to go with this interpretation since it makes sense.
[3] 陈焕之 “Chen the Brilliant” There’s a pun here, 焕 “brilliant” is made up of 火 “fire” and 奂 “excellent” which is pretty ironic considering how Chen the Brilliant’s family died in a fire… [4] 水房 Ancient Chinese people had a room specifically for boiling water, to be used in daily activities like drinking, cooking, washing and other daily activities. It’s not just a kitchen. From: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B0%B4%E6%88%BF/1412877
Kitchennovel.com has a Membership System!!
Please click on the table below to check it out~
Naturally, you can also choose to support us through Patreon or tip us via Kofi~!
Don’t forget to leave a comment at novelupdates too!
