by Feng Yue
Someone scoffed, “He didn’t even know who he was talking to. It’s good that he’s gone. We can stop wasting our time.”
“Whatever, why get hung up on a kid like him?”
Sydney stood up with an unchanging expression, ready to leave. He seemed to not mind Ye Qingxuan’s violation at all. It only proved that the principal was out of luck now.
They had won long ago, and now it was time to collect the fruits.
No one noticed that the old and stiff man had walked from the corner to the stone tablet. Reaching over, he brought out Ye Qingxuan’s data and studied the strange line.
After a long time, he seemed to understand something and snapped his fingers at the stone tablet.
The line on the stone tablet began wavering.
—
—
“Did you fail? Did you fail? Cousin, did you not pass?”
Outside the Academy, under the waning sun, the youth sat forlornly by the fountain. Beside him, Bai Xi asked without restraint. But Ye Qingxuan did not know how to answer.
“Don’t be sad,” Bai Xi murmured, poking his face. “It’s okay. You can follow me and I’ll protect you! Let’s be in the mafia too! It’s easy to make money. Our successful future is already waving at us! Don’t be sad. How does it sound?”
She counted on her fingers. “Look, I’ve already found a really good territory. We can start from the bottom. You’ll be in charge of ideas, I’ll be in charge of the punching, and Old Phil will be in charge of biting. We can steal from thieves. Once we get rid of the Shaman, we’ll be the boss! The kind that earns however much they want…”
As she talked, she ran out of things to say. In the end, she hung her head. Tugging at Ye Qingxuan, she said, “Hey, can’t you laugh, or just smile…What happened to you? There are so many jobs in this world. Why do you have to be a musician?”
“I don’t know.” Ye Qingxuan managed a smile and scratched his head, sad like a defeated dog. “I guess I really don’t suit it.”
Bai Xi fell silent. Watching him, she suddenly went on her tiptoes and hugged him. “It’s okay. They’re blind. Don’t listen to them.”
“Umm, excuse me…” Behind her, a white-haired old man asked quietly, “Is this Ye Qingxuan?”
“Who is it?” Bai Xi craned her neck. She looked from the stiff and awkward face to the steel hand connected to his right arm. Impatiently, she huffed and said, “What do you want? My cousin is in a bad mood. If you piss him off, he might beat you up. He’s really powerful! Have you heard of the word ‘undefeatable’ before? That’s him!”
“I apologize for disturbing you. I am Abraham, a professor from the Academy.” He seemed to not speak regularly, choosing his words carefully. “…Would you like to come to the School of History?”
“Huh?” Ye Qingxuan gaped.
The old man rubbed his white hair in distress, trying to make himself seem more at ease. “I can teach you. Uh, even though I only have one hand, but I can still teach, and uh, I have a lot of experience I can tell you about.”
“…”
Seeing the doubt in Ye Qingxuan’s eyes, he panicked a little. “Uh, even though I’m not dressed well, I’m a musician too. I’ve taught for more than ten years and have researched a lot and…”
“You’re willing to accept me?” The youth’s unsure voice interrupted him.
Seeing his eyes, the old man awkwardly took back his hand. “Of—of course if you don’t want…”
“I do!” Ye Qingxuan grasped his hand. His eyes shone, as if he was grasping his last straw. “I don’t care about anything else, as long as you can teach me!”
Abraham froze in shock. Suddenly he broke into a smile, letting out a breath of relief. Pleased, he said, “That’s just great. I mean…that’s great! Uh, please wait a bit, I’ll be right back!”
The old man seemed to remember something suddenly and ran off somewhere.
“Hey, cousin, are you sure? He doesn’t seem too reliable…” Bai Xi watched as Abraham walked away. “What if he’s lying? And anyway, why did you choose an old man? Couldn’t you choose someone young and attractive?”
“Because he never laughed at me.” Ye Qingxuan watched the old man and remembered everything that had happened. “Not even once.”
55 Long-awaited Reunion
Bai Xi rolled her eyes. “But I still think he’s unreliable. Musicians are all rich, but his clothes are so old, and he only has one hand. It seems weird. What if he can’t even play a complete piece? A musician like that is basically trash. You’re going to live a hard life with him!”
“Bai Xi, didn’t you promise to respect other people?”
Grudgingly, Bai Xi said, “Okay, fine, I won’t say anything else.”
After a long time, Abraham finally came back, trying to catch his breath. There was something in his hand.
“I’m back. Thank you for waiting. This is for you…” He handed them three ice cream cones. “This is the academy’s specialty. It’s very famous. Try it!”
He seemed to have run for a long time. Panting, there was sweat on his forehead too. But when he gave them the cones, his eyes were smiling.
Ye Qingxuan looked at the cones decorated with fruits, honey and cream and felt a little bad. “Sorry, it must have been expensive.”
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.” The stiff man smiled, full of happiness. “Congratulations on joining the School of History. It’s been a long time since anyone was willing to come.”
“Did you poison this?” Despite her words, Bai Xi began eating without shame. Ye Qingxuan knocked the side of her head, reminding her about manners before she remembered to say, “thank you.” Ye Qingxuan felt speechless.
“Bai Xi, when will you become a good girl?” he thought.
In the long afternoon, Ye Qingxuan and the old man sat by the square, quietly watching those passing by. Sometimes there would be an awkward silence, but he felt comfortable.
Silences when they ran out of things to say could be joyful too, he realized. But if they did think of something, they could easily strike up a conversation.
“Teacher, they don’t seem to want me to enter the academy. Would you get in trouble for accepting me?”
Abraham’s expression became unreadable at the youth’s question. After pausing, he shook his head. “I actually have a lot of trouble…they’ll give me trouble even without you.”
“Can I really enter if I didn’t go through the usual process?”
“No problem.” Abraham chuckled. “No one signed up for the School of History, so the principal gave me the power to accept students based on my own discretion this year. I can accept whoever I want, as long as I don’t go past the establishment.”
“Oh.” Ye Qingxuan nodded, but beside him, Bai Xi’s eyes brightened with a mischievous idea.
“Teacher, Teacher, do you still need students?” The girl scooted over to Abraham’s side. Fluttering her lashes, she said in an overly sweet voice, “I’m smart and talented. Why don’t you take me as the senior brother [1], and he can be the junior under me?”
“Uh, this…you need to pass the test.”
“No problem, I can still do it now.” Bai Xi took the aether ball from Ye Qingxuan’s pocket. “I just need to make this light up, right?”
“Well yes, but…” Before Abraham could even finish, the crystal in Bai Xi’s hand lit up with a piercing light.
She did not even need to make a sound, move, or create music…the clear aether ball suddenly shone silver just by being in her hand.
The rays of light were like soldiers under command, flashing and changing in the aether ball. They joined, creating Ye Qingxuan’s angry face, or Old Phil’s head, or at times, even a middle finger. Bai Xi looked as if she was playing with a toy.
Beside her, Ye Qingxuan’s eyes almost fell out of his sockets.
He had always thought that having a man run naked at night in Avalon was already illogical. But he never thought that there would be someo
ne even weirder next to him. And so well-hidden too!
“Bai Xi, what did you eat when you grew up?” Ye Qingxuan asked dumbly.
On the other side, Abraham’s mouth was open wide enough to stuff two ice cream cones in.
“Strength, execution, spirituality, and sense all meet the qualifications. No, it’s above average…” he mumbled, not sure what to say.
“Hehe, then I guess there’s no problem.” Proudly, Bai Xi glanced at Ye Qingxuan and then fluttered her lashes at Abraham. “Teacher, Teacher, can I be the senior?”
“…”
After a long silence, Abraham finally collected hismself.
“Uh, my apologies. I’d love for you to join the School of History, but any school would want talent like you. There’s no reason for you to come here.”
“I don’t care. I want to be at the School of History! I want to be this guy’s senior!”
“But I already have a student before you.” Abraham scratched his head. “He’s not very reliable and always gets into trouble, but…he’s still a good person.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay, you can be the second senior!” Ye Qingxuan tried to comfort Bai Xi. “That’s good too!”
“…Get out. I don’t want to be the second.” Bai Xi’s face changed, turning a bit angry. “Okay, I’ve decided that you’ll be the second and I’ll still be the senior! Where’s the original guy? Get him here and I’ll beat him up.”
“Uh, let’s not fight. That’s not good.” Distressed, Abraham urged quietly, “He’s suffering from insomnia these days and likes running around after getting drunk. But when you get to know him, you’ll see that he really is a good person.”
Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan got a bad feeling. “Teacher, this senior…” Pushing down bad memories, he asked with twitching facial muscles, “What does he look like?”
“I look like this today! Attractive, right?” A bright voice sounded behind him, causing the hair on the back of Ye Qingxuan’s neck to stand up.
In Ye Qingxuan’s strange silence, a blonde youth popped up out of nowhere and sat down by Abraham.
This young man was probably two years older than Ye Qingxuan. When he saw them together, he smiled, bright like the sun.
It was hard to deny that he truly was attractive, with distinct features, and bright eyes. Unlike Hermes’s weird coldness, he seemed innocent and harmless.
“Ah, Teacher, why didn’t you call me for the cones?”
Seeing the ice cream cones, his eyes flashed and drool almost dripped from his mouth. “I haven’t eaten in so many days. Teacher, this isn’t fair!”
“Charles, calm down.” Abraham sighed and gave him the untouched cone. “Where did you go? I can never find you.”
“Ah, so many debtors are looking for me so I had to hide. Teacher, don’t tell them you saw me!” He had probably been starving for a long time. He stuffed his face with the ice cream. “I’m starving. Ah, this is delicious!”
“…” Abraham did not know what to say. “Since you’re here, just stay and eat dinner with everyone. Let me introduce you all. These are your juniors. You have to act like a senior.”
“Okay, okay, hello juniors!” He scooted over and shook Ye Qingxuan’s hand like a dumb chicken. “Please take care of me, take care of me!”
“…”
“Brother, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you talking? Is there something dirty on my face?” Charles rubbed at his face, a little embarrassed. “Don’t just stare at me. I’m shy.”
“…”
“Hey cousin, what’s wrong?” Bai Xi looked at how he was in a daze and nudged him. “You don’t have to be so hurt just because he’s more attractive than you.”
“…”
Ye Qingxuan could no longer hear anything. He was still wrapped in the pain of almost going crazy again.
He looked at this familiar man and finally remembered where they had met before!
In just a moment, that night came back! The strange feeling of his perspective on the entire world changing came flooded his mind once again.
The night, singing, running, vomiting, naked man…those keywords flashed through in his mind.
Finally, his thoughts turned into the naked backside of the drunkard running under the moon. He ran and ran, running under the moon.
“Hoho hoho!” The chime-like laughter came back, along with the smell of vomit in the wind.
“You’re that midnight psycho, the naked guy with bird nest hair! How dare you appear before me?!” Ye Qingxuan grabbed Charles’s collar, and yelled, “—Give me back my notebook!”
[1] In China, students of the same teacher call each other senior/junior brother/sister. The senior brother has the highest status.
56 Logic of Success
“Hey! Are you still not finished shining my shoes?!”
In the room, an impatient voice yelled, “Housekeeper! Housekeeper! Is that lazy b*stard slacking off again? I told you before that these beggars are like donkeys. They don’t work unless you whip them.”
“Young Master, please do not worry. There’s still a while before we reach land.”
“I don’t care. Just prepare everything and make sure I have the best formalwear when we get there.” The annoyed kid burped loudly. “Housekeeper, get me some more desserts. I want the lemon and honey kind. This stupid boat doesn’t have any food. All we get is fish every meal.”
“Yes sir.” The housekeeper walked out and gently closed the door. His face changed dramatically and kicked the boy beside him, glaring at him.
“Hurry up, kid. If you ruin things for things for the young Master, you’re in for it!”
“Yes, yes. Sir, don’t worry. It’ll be done in a minute. Just a minute!” Victor squeezed out a smile as his hands scrubbed at the leather shoes. “Look, it’s almost done.”
“Be careful! That’s high grade calfskin!” The housekeeper kicked him again. “You can’t pay for these boots even if you work your entire life!”
“Yes, yes!”
After scolding him some more, the housekeeper stalked away.
Victor’s smile faded as the housekeeper walked further away. Touching the bruise on his face, his eyes turned cold.
He had already been on this boat to the Burgundy Empire for ten days. In the beginning, he had been squeezed in the storage cabin with bankrupted businessmen and jobless commoners. He was ready to put everything in to dig for gold in Burgundy Empire’s new colony. He would gamble his life to get rich.
But a few days ago, he used his fists to win the opportunity to be a temporary servant for the young Master in the ship’s first class. The little fatty was irritable and the housekeeper was cruel, but at least he would not have to eat and sh*t in the pigsty under the ship. He would get two more cups of fresh water every day too. Eating leftovers was better than drinking that swill.
And…this could be the chance.
“Hey, you said there will be a chance to true success? Did you mean being a slave for this pig?” The Rain Artist in a small bottle in Victor’s pocket was getting impatient. “Are you a man? You willingly let that pig ride you like a horse yesterday!”
“So what?” Victor retorted. “What should I do? Kill him? On this boat with no escape? And then get hung on the mast? All you’ve been giving me these days are horrible ideas.” He continued, “Old guy, you’re not a scary and important person anymore. You’re a slave now, just like me. Except I’m on a boat and you’re in a bottle.”
“What are you thinking now?” the Rain Artist asked.
“You’re being dramatic. All I want is my wages.” Victor glanced at the door and murmured, “…But my wages are a little high. The old man has more than enough money though, so I think he can afford it.”
Hearing Victor’s resentment, Rain Artist could not help but sigh. “That’s how the world is. You can work your entire life, but still be nothing to a b*stard an elite conceived while drunk. Too bad you don’t have the talent to be a musician. Otherwise, with your person
ality, you’d be better off than me.”
“Anyone with a brain would be better off than you.” Victor said mockingly, “Is what you think? That being a musician would put you above everyone? That being a musician would make you equal with the elites? That’s just because elites need a dog to bite people. You’re the type of easy guy who falls for any girl who looks at you.”
Rain Artist fell silent. He did not defend himself because Victor really had hit his insecurities.
Before becoming a dark musician, he had always been played by an elite woman like a clown. But he had realized too late, and pleased that woman by becoming a musician, and even made sacrifices to Satan.
After that first wrong step, every step afterward was wrong too. He had been reduced to this state, but that woman had married a rich man and became a true elite.
“It’s never wrong to be fierce. What do you plan to do?” Reminded of the past, his voice turned poisonous.
“Just wait until we get to the port.” Victor wiggled his fingers, reminiscing on when he used to work at the pier. “I saw that the housekeeper has a few hundred thousand franc money orders, and many jewels…We can do something big.”
“You want to take out the kid and housekeeper?” Rain Artist asked excitedly.
“Dumb*ss, losing money and losing a life isn’t the same. It’ll cause too much trouble if we take them out,” Victor scolded in a low voice. “Don’t forget that he has an entire family behind him. Do you want them to all come after me?”
“I think it’s pretty much the same.” Rain Artist scoffed. “You’re just scared of killing, right?”
“…” For a rare moment, Victor fell silent.
Rain Artist had the upper hand in the argument and chuckled, but stopped talking.
“Victor! Victor! Where the f*ck are you? Get over here!” In the room, the impatient duck voice sounded again. “I want to ride the horse!”
“Yes, young Master, I’m coming,” Victor replied with a smile.
Pushing the door open, he entered the room and was met with a slap.
In the luxurious room, so different from the storage cabin, the fat kid gave him two loud slaps without a word. “What are you doing? Why are you so slow? I told you not to slack off!”