Instructor Yan Qingzhi had been hit—and that big lump of dirt striking his face was, in its own way, rather spectacular. Not only was Yan Qingzhi stunned, but Li Diudiu, standing closest to him, was equally caught off guard.
Even though it clearly had nothing to do with Li Diudiu, Yan Qingzhi shot him a fierce glare before striding out the door. He walked briskly over to the garden’s low wall, and there, at a glance, spotted Gao Xining crouched behind it.
“S-Sir.”
Gao Xining laughed awkwardly. “I was digging up earthworms.”
Yan Qingzhi looked at her. “Young miss, why are you digging earthworms here?”
Gao Xining took a deep breath, telling herself not to panic, but she was panicking, and it came out in a stammer. “Digging earthworms is useful, of course—it’s for Grandfather to eat… no, for the fish, for Grandfather’s fish to eat, no, no, for Grandfather’s fish…”
“And did the young miss find any earthworms?” Yan Qingzhi asked.
Gao Xining shook her head like a rattle drum. “N-no, I didn’t find any.”
Yan Qingzhi sighed deeply. “You just dug up one enormous clod of dirt, then.”
“What’s that?” Gao Xining asked.
Yan Qingzhi pointed at his own face. “What’s on my face?”
Gao Xining looked closely and answered, “Did you powder your face, sir? Is that the new powder from Yunzhai Boutique? I’ve never seen that particular shade of yellowish-brown before.”
Yan Qingzhi glared at her furiously, raising a finger to point at her, his hand trembling with anger, but in the end there was nothing to be done. He stamped his foot and stormed off.
Gao Xining let out a long breath, thinking—when he goes to tattle to Grandfather about this, what should she say? Deny it flat out, or admit it before he even accuses her?
Her grandfather wasn’t the type to hit her, of course, but when he puffed out his beard and glared, it could still be a little frightening. Still, she wasn’t afraid—she wasn’t a student of the academy, so Yan Qingzhi had no way to have her expelled.
Yan Qingzhi returned to the classroom and shot another glare at Li Diudiu, who had propped himself up to look outside, trying to figure out who had the nerve to throw dirt at an instructor. Judging by the precision of the throw, it must be someone with practice.
“Go stand outside as punishment!”
Yan Qingzhi pointed at the door. Li Diudiu blinked, thinking—me? Why?
His anger had already reached its very limit, one step away from breaking loose entirely, but seeing Yan Qingzhi’s dirt-streaked face like that, he felt an odd flicker of satisfaction, and the anger dissipated somewhat.
“Yes, sir.”
Li Diudiu bowed and walked to the doorway, standing there, taking a long breath and letting it out slowly.
Right now he still felt like crying, but Master had said he was already grown—what kind of boy cries over nothing. Master had said the two hardest things in this world were parting and hunger.
Even hunger, ranked second, had never made him cry. He couldn’t let himself cry over a little humiliation either.
“Continue the lesson!”
Yan Qingzhi’s roar came from inside the classroom, and the other three students didn’t dare make a sound.
Li Diudiu stood at the door, listening carefully. He had to admit, Yan Qingzhi’s methods for solving mathematics problems were better than his master’s teaching—his master was skilled at everything, but mathematics was his weakest subject.
He listened and committed it to memory. Since he couldn’t write it down, he’d hold it in his mind instead. Li Diudiu learned everything quickly—otherwise his master could never have managed to cram so much knowledge into his head over the years.
Just then he noticed a little girl peeking out from behind the garden wall, seemingly watching him. Li Diudiu’s first thought was that this girl was really quite pretty.
Judging by her hairstyle, she hadn’t yet come of age, and she looked to be only a year or two older than him—a fair, smooth face with a hint of pink, pretty eyes, a pretty nose, a pretty mouth, and all of it together made her prettier still.
“What are you looking at.”
Seeing him staring so brazenly, Gao Xining muttered those four words, then turned and walked off. Walking with her hands clasped behind her back, she moved just like her grandfather, though the simple ponytail bound at the back of her head swayed with each step, making her look all the more striking.
In the state of Dachu, women weren’t permitted to attend academies—even as the granddaughter of the great scholar Gao Shaowei, she was no exception. But she loved learning, wanted to learn everything. While other girls her age were still being coddled, she sat quietly beside her grandfather reading books. At only thirteen, she had already worked her way through most of the books in Gao Shaowei’s study.
Gao Shaowei couldn’t send her to study at the academy, but he could teach her himself. She was his only family, so whatever she wanted to learn, he taught her—even obscure, difficult subjects like the art of strategy and political maneuvering, which she listened to with great relish.
But no matter how much she learned, she was still only thirteen, still an age for mischief and play. As they say, a true prodigy is one who plays just as much as anyone and still learns more than everyone else.
Gao Xining, who had already walked some distance away, suddenly remembered something and turned back, sauntering over to stand in front of Li Diudiu. She held her hand up first to measure his height—he only came up to her forehead—and seemed quite satisfied with that.
With the air of someone far older than her years, she said to Li Diudiu, “That instructor in there doesn’t teach well. If you don’t understand today’s math lesson, come to the pavilion over there after class today and I’ll teach you—but in exchange, you have to show me some of your martial forms.”
Li Diudiu said, “Why should you teach me? The instructor’s problem today had seven different solutions, and he only explained four of them. Do you know the rest?”
Gao Xining’s eyes lit up at that. “You actually know this problem has seven solutions?”
Then she caught herself. “Wait, are you looking down on me?”
Li Diudiu didn’t answer that. Instead he asked, “Was it you who threw the dirt clod at the instructor?”
Gao Xining said, looking down at him, “You should thank me.”
“Why?”
“Because I got revenge for you.”
“Hm.”
Li Diudiu said seriously, “Whatever grievances I have, I’ll settle myself, in my own time.”
“Pfft!”
That answer infuriated Gao Xining. She lowered her head to look him in the eye. “People like you deserve to be bullied. And talking back to a girl like that—you’re such a stubborn mule.”
Li Diudiu said, “My master says the same thing.”
Gao Xining turned to leave, clearly displeased. “Your master isn’t a girl.”
Li Diudiu said, “There’s no such thing as a woman being someone’s master.”
Gao Xining, already walking away, spun around at once and stared straight at Li Diudiu, enunciating every word. “Let’s make a bet. If I can’t get you to call me ‘master,’ then I’ll call you ‘master’ instead from now on.”
Li Diudiu said, “That won’t work. If I were your master, I’d have to support you.”
She meant nothing by it, but he took it the wrong way.
Li Diudiu had simply meant that his own master had supported him all these years—maybe not lavishly, but supported him nonetheless—and this girl, seemingly out of nowhere, wanted him to be her master. What a thought.
Gao Xining, having never been made this angry by anyone before, bit her lip and turned. “You’re not just a stubborn mule, you’re a pigheaded mule too, you’re a… you’re a shameless little scoundrel.”
She left after saying that, walking so briskly she no longer resembled her grandfather at all—only her ponytail swung even more wildly than before.
In fact, though their voices hadn’t been loud, Yan Qingzhi inside the classroom had heard every word. He didn’t come out to interrupt. After Gao Xining had flounced off, swinging her ponytail, he stood at the door for a moment, feeling an odd sense of vindication.
“That’s all for today. Go home and review properly.”
Yan Qingzhi waved a hand. “You’re all dismissed.”
Zhang Xiaolin, worried the instructor might have forgotten their arrangement, quickly stood. “Sir, in a bit, in a bit…”
Yan Qingzhi nodded. “I know.”
He walked out, glancing at Li Diudiu on his way with an expression of pure distaste.
Inside the classroom, Sun Rugong said curiously, “That girl talking outside just now—I have no idea who she is. I peeked, and she looked pretty decent.”
Zhang Xiaolin said, “So what? What’s the point of talking to a girl anyway?”
Sun Rugong said, “Isn’t talking to a pretty girl fun?”
Zhang Xiaolin: “You actually want to play around with girls? Disgusting!”
Sun Rugong had no time to argue with him about it. He pointed at Li Diudiu. “Is he about to leave?”
Zhang Xiaolin hurried over to block Li Diudiu’s path. “You haven’t forgotten, have you? We’ve still got a fight to settle today.”
Li Diudiu glanced back—Yan Qingzhi had already walked far off—and nodded. “Let me finish cleaning the classroom, then I’ll drop my books off at my room and come find you in the woods. Don’t be scared.”
Zhang Xiaolin snorted. “If I were scared of you, I’d be a pig.”
He waved a hand. “Come on, let’s go wait for him!”
Li Diudiu gathered his things, then swept and mopped the floor. The room had already been quite clean, with only the four of them using it, but he swept it thoroughly from back to front anyway, and wiped down every desk and chair.
Carrying his books back to his room, Li Diudiu washed his face, thought for a moment about whether he should even go, and finally got up and headed for the woods.
In the woods, Zhang Xiaolin and Sun Rugong had already been waiting a good while, growing impatient. Sun Rugong said, “When Li Chi gets here, remember—make sure the instructor sees him hit you. I’ll wait at the edge of the woods to keep watch, and I’ll signal you when I see the instructor coming. Until then, you can go ahead and hit him.”
Zhang Xiaolin said, “Don’t worry, I asked our family’s martial instructor how to counter those moves of Li Chi’s. He said speed beats everything under heaven—go for the face first.”
Just as he said this, Li Chi arrived, rolling up his sleeves as he walked. “If we’re doing this, let’s make it quick—I still need to go eat at the dining hall after.”
“You won’t be eating today.”
Zhang Xiaolin, seething at the sight of him, threw a punch right away. Li Diudiu leaned aside to dodge it, grabbed Zhang Xiaolin’s wrist with his left hand, and with his right hand gripped his elbow, twisting it outward. Zhang Xiaolin, in pain, went sprawling with the momentum.
Li Diudiu sat down on top of him, looking utterly bored, and waved his fist around near Zhang Xiaolin’s face a few times without any real force behind it.
There, there, there, and there again.
He said these words with a thoroughly unimpressed air the whole time.
Just then Sun Rugong came running over, making the agreed-upon signal—meaning the instructor was coming!
Pinned beneath Li Diudiu, Zhang Xiaolin, undaunted, bellowed, “If you’ve got the guts, really hit me!”
Li Diudiu said, “You mean it?”
Zhang Xiaolin shouted furiously, “You don’t dare? You don’t dare really hit me, you coward, you poor wretch, you don’t dare!”
Li Diudiu sighed. “The way you’re begging me to hit you is really quite something.”
And then he hit him.
Li Diudiu flipped Zhang Xiaolin over and delivered a few solid punches to the fleshiest part of his backside.
Zhang Xiaolin panicked. “Would you dare hit my face!”
Li Diudiu: “???”
After a moment, Li Diudiu stood, tucked his hands behind his back, and walked off. Zhang Xiaolin lay on the ground crying. Sun Rugong ran over and looked at his face. “What are we going to do now? When we get back, don’t say we were fighting—say you fell, all right? Look at you, crying and everything.”
Zhang Xiaolin said, “Where’s the instructor?”
Sun Rugong crouched there, sheepish. “He… passed by. Didn’t stop. Left already…”
Across the lake from where they stood was a cluster of pavilions, among them a wooden tower that served as the academy’s library, called Shulin Tower—the Book Forest.
Yan Qingzhi stood outside Shulin Tower, looking around.
They’d agreed to meet at the Book Forest, hadn’t they? So where was Zhang Xiaolin? Hadn’t he said there was something urgent to discuss at the Book Forest?