Chapter 354: Chapter 352: You’re late too?
Even someone like Li Ying, who doesn’t bother with academics and just loves sleeping and having fun, has noticed that the atmosphere at the Imperial Academy is a bit off lately.
In recent days, Lin Xue and Qian Yuya have almost stopped hanging out with them, acting all mysterious as if they’re planning something. And Kui Nianruo, being the seasoned student she is, is either in class or reading in the White Box, not hanging out with Li Ying at all.
Suddenly abandoned by her besties, Li Ying realized that nothing in this world stays with you forever; even your shadow can be missing on a cloudy day.
But money won’t leave you. Even if you spend it, money will just transform into another form and stay by your side—Li Ying wholeheartedly agrees with this famous saying from the Youth Daily.
She’s been closely following the newly opened ’Steam Chamber.’ On the morning the Unrivaled List was just released, Li Ying happened to encounter the sale while she was out for breakfast, having skipped class by sleeping in. She even witnessed someone opening an epic card on the spot.
She instantly recognized the collectible value of the epic card, decisively purchasing it for two gold coins, then went around to two Unrivaled List stores in Yanjing, spending over a dozen gold coins to buy six epic cards, and by the afternoon, she had sold one, breaking even immediately.
She then hoarded the cards for three or four days, selling them off one by one, earning over six times her investment. In the end, she kept one for her personal collection. Although the ’Steam Chamber’ claimed they would reprint the epic card "Zhan Jiang Lanyan," who knows when that will happen, and it’s uncertain how long the ’Steam Chamber’ will even last. The price of epic cards might continue to rise, making it a worthwhile investment to hold on to them.
The ’Steam Chamber’ backs into Yanjing, and the products they sell have high speculative value, making them the best investment target for second-hand dealers like Li Ying, who don’t have much personal capital.
She’s unsure if it’s just her imagination, but she feels the ’Steam Chamber’ has a grudge against Lanyan. Though releasing classic Lanyan cards may just be a cash grab, Li Ying herself has a collection of the Lanyan cards and keenly notices their suggestive nature. For instance, the defiance of "Chenfeng Lanyan," the cunning of "Statistical Department Lanyan," and the arrogance of "Zhan Jiang Lanyan" are practically signs saying: ’This person is a mad dog, must kill quickly.’
Li Ying is naturally delighted at this. Though she hasn’t asked White Night directly, the news she’s picked up over the past few months has already led her to suspect what’s happened in Star Engraving County. However, she hasn’t acted out, continuing to read, attend school, and sleep as usual, at most secretly cheering when Lanyan suffers misfortune and buying several more copies of the Unrivaled List.
Some people view hatred as nourishment, using themselves as a vessel, with their hearts fermenting a cup of sweet yet poisonous wine; others see hatred as poison, harmful to the body and soul, becoming severely ill before letting go.
Not everyone has the mindset and ability for revenge. Li Ying knows she is the latter. She’s aware that Kui Nianruo is also the latter. Living well is their best revenge, which is also what her father and White Night hope for.
"Oh!"
Waking from a hazy nap, Li Ying suddenly remembered something, startling her awake—Kui Nianruo had asked her to help attend the "Fall of Silver Blood" class that morning!
Apparently, a third-year senior that Kui Nianruo is acquainted with suddenly had something important, and compared to an elective class, receiving guidance on practicing Wolf Eagle Fist from Senior Sima is way more crucial. However, Kui Nianruo thought that Qin Le Yin wasn’t an easy teacher to deal with, so she asked Li Ying to attend class and sign in for her.
If it were Lin Xue or Qian Yuya, even if they were skipping class, they’d never ask Li Ying to do such a self-deceiving act. It’s only because of hanging out with Li Ying that Kui Nianruo came up with this idea.
Li Ying, having copied Kui Nianruo’s homework every day recently, was too embarrassed to refuse and agreed readily. Now realizing she’s going to be late, she hurried to change clothes and head to class.
Although she’s usually unreliable and often late or misses appointments, she rarely makes promises she doesn’t keep. Being late is a problem of ability, but not showing up is a matter of attitude.
By the time she ran back to school, the class had already been going for fifteen minutes. She was so anxious that she turned circles in the courtyard, realizing she didn’t even know where the classroom was—she never intended to take this class, so of course, she hadn’t noted the classroom location.
The Imperial Academy has four faculties, who knows under which faculty this elective class, in Gewehr, Tianshi, Tianzai, or Nightmare, is held?
It was class time, after all; the afternoon was hot, and there wasn’t a single person in the courtyard. Li Ying wanted to ask someone but couldn’t find anyone to ask.
Just as she was frantically thinking about how to apologize to Kui Nianruo with a back rub and an ear massage that evening, she suddenly spotted a peculiar person wearing a hooded coat about to cross the courtyard and quickly rushed up to ask, "Hey, do you know where the ’Fall of Silver Blood’ class is held?"
The hooded guy glanced at Li Ying. She noticed he wasn’t only wearing a hood but also a mask, with only his eyes visible. If it were a different time and place, Li Ying probably couldn’t resist using the Lingxu Step to escape while screaming.
But when Li Ying looked closely, she found his eyes were very bright, and judging from his eyes alone, he was definitely a handsome guy. So, Li Ying calmed down immediately.
"You’re supposed to be in class now, right? You’re late?" he asked.
"I’m not actually late; it’s just that time arrived earlier than I did," Li Ying shrugged and said, "I didn’t want to be late on purpose, but reality didn’t allow it."
The hooded guy nodded, seemingly unconvinced by Li Ying’s nonsense: "But why don’t you even know the classroom? Without looking at the room, how did you pick this course?"
"Actually, I didn’t choose this course; I’m attending it for a friend," Li Ying answered casually, then suddenly asked, "Do you know me?"
The hooded guy thought for a moment, "I think I might have seen you more than half a year ago."
"Then you definitely don’t know me. More than half a year ago, I was still in Star Engraving County!" Li Ying was instantly relieved and brazenly said, "My friend is always like this, asking me to take care of things, but I’m used to it. After all, I’m such a good friend who always thinks about others."
"Oh, is that so?" The hooded guy was slightly taken aback and said, "I was just heading to the same class; you can come with me."
"Haha, you’re late too?" Li Ying laughed immediately.
But she stopped in her tracks and suspiciously looked at the hooded guy, "But why are you dressed like this during broad daylight when it’s not even cold?"
"I’d rather not say," the hooded guy said reluctantly. "Right now, I’m not in a position to let anyone see what I look like."
"I get it." Li Ying nodded sagely like a caring older sister, "Nowadays, not many people have public morality like you do. A lot of people don’t even bother hiding it if they’re ugly."
The hooded guy chuckled awkwardly, walking ahead to lead the way, while Li Ying asked from behind, "So why were you late too?"
"Laziness," the hooded guy replied, "Plus, I have a perfectly legitimate reason for being late, not being late would be a waste."
"What reason? Share it with me!" Li Ying got excited immediately, "Is there really such a secret technique in the Imperial Academy?"
"You’ll find out soon," the hooded guy smiled mysteriously, "You said you didn’t choose this course, why? Isn’t this course quite popular? Also, because so many students have chosen it, the academy specifically prepared a big classroom for it."
"Well, how should I put it..." Li Ying pondered, "Maybe because the teacher is very handsome?"
The hooded guy was taken aback, "Is that a disadvantage? Do you prefer someone uglier?"
"Of course not! Don’t get any ideas!" Li Ying quickly responded, "I just don’t fancy those famously handsome guys, feels like they solely rely on their looks. Teachers like Teacher Wei, who are both handsome and have substance, I’m very fond of. I attend every one of his classes on time."
"But you haven’t attended any of Qian Yuya’s classes, how do you know he lacks substance?"
"And what if he’s both handsome and substantive?" Li Ying retorted, "Does attending his class mean he’ll propose to me and insist on marrying no one else in this lifetime?"
"That certainly wouldn’t happen."
"You rebutted so fast!" Li Ying playfully patted the hooded guy’s back, "At least hesitate for a moment at times like this, or else it feels very disrespectful!"
The hooded guy was at a loss for words, "But even if you attend Wei Weimei’s class, would Wei still want to be your lover?"
"Who knows?" Li Ying shook her head, "But I just feel Teacher Wei is better than Teacher Qian."
"Why?"
"No reason, I just don’t like Teacher Qian." Li Ying raised her chin, snorting, "Any teacher who holds class right after nap time isn’t a good teacher."
The hooded guy thought about it and said, "Could it be because everyone says Qian Yuya is great, so you dislike him because expressing your liking for someone everyone likes doesn’t hold any special meaning, and makes you seem like you’re just following the crowd, lacking in taste? On the other hand, if you express your dislike for someone everyone likes, it sets you apart, making you seem distinctive and unique?"
Li Ying blinked, looking at the hooded guy, and suppressed her smile, "That’s not the reason."
"Then what’s the reason?"
"Why should I tell you? Are we that close?" Li Ying was visibly annoyed, turning her head away, "You, just someone who’s late, questioning my taste?"
The hooded guy was momentarily taken aback—do you, being late and substituting class, really have the right to say such things?
The two walked in silence for a while. Li Ying, thinking of something, suddenly chuckled and couldn’t help but say, "Oh right, do you know what happened on the notice board yesterday?"
"No, what happened?"
"Someone anonymously posted saying Cha Huan has bad taste and dresses like an old peacock displaying its feathers. Then dozens of people commented on it, and someone even drew a picture of an old peacock displaying its feathers, attracting hundreds of students to watch."
"And then?"
"Then because the principal couldn’t find who posted the comments, he rounded up all the onlookers and spanked them, since surely the poster was among them watching. The artist was found easily because the drawing style was recognizable; the principal found him and spanked him after taking his pants off, which amused all the others who were spanked."
Talk about ’rather wrong than missed’, no more blah blah, straight offline real-life blocking; all those who commented, liked, shared, and forwarded deserved punishment... the hooded guy couldn’t help but laugh, "The principal is so ruthless."
"Though domineering, even defaming the principal like this, he just spanks them and lets it go, with no other punishment," Li Ying laughed, "That makes the notice board very free, you can say anything on it, with no worry, at most you’d get a spanking from the principal. I often sneak out during class to see what comments are on the notice board, and occasionally post myself. If I see someone reply to my post, it makes me very happy."
Not bad, surfing forums during class.
The hooded guy suggested, "If you like getting replies, you can make a fishing post."
"What’s a fishing post?"
"For example, pretend you’re a girl from the Nightmare department, dating a guy from the Calamity department, but find that he’s not responsible and always has wandering hands, makes you pay for everything when going out, but he’s a great kisser, which you really enjoy, so you ask everyone if you should continue this relationship..."
Li Ying just imagined it and felt an urge to reply sarcastically, lighting up at the thought, "I’ll try it out later!"
Although Li Ying was embarrassed and angry earlier when the hooded guy exposed the truth, she quickly got over it. She’s the type who can’t keep her mouth shut, and couldn’t help but chat with the hooded guy.
She found the hooded guy quite interesting, so she asked, "By the way, I’m Li Ying, a freshman in the Guardian department, what’s your name?"
"Me..."