Tie Ci hadn’t noticed the two beauties upstairs or their conversation about her.
She was busy counting money and taking out a ledger to register students interested in becoming long-term customers, indicating she could expand into delivery service—not just meal pickup, but delivery to designated locations. However, the price would be higher: two coins for pickup, five to ten coins for delivery depending on distance.
Most students at the academy weren’t short of money, but academic pressure was high, and the third and fourth-rank dormitories were too far from the dining hall. Being able to save time while eating hot food couldn’t be better.
After this news spread, even first-rank students came to inquire—after all, lazy people were the majority in any era.
After discovering this demand was extremely popular, Dan Shuang and Chi Xue didn’t have enough manpower, so they temporarily recruited helpers. Helpers were easy to find—they simply targeted those students who scavenged for rice and leftover food in the dining hall after meals.
Tie Ci was about to go to class and instructed her two maids to quietly recruit people, offering generous compensation.
After all, she wasn’t doing this to make money.
Setting up this business served three purposes: first, to help these students who couldn’t get proper meals; second, to unite the academy’s disadvantaged groups; third, to use this opportunity to infiltrate the student body. Since the academy was full of factions with many officials’ children, there would surely be information she needed.
Class would start in a quarter-hour. This morning was classics interpretation and mathematics, taught by reportedly very strict instructors who wouldn’t tolerate lateness.
Tie Ci rose from the surrounding crowd and looked back at the dining hall, which had already begun clearing meals—there was nothing left to eat.
Normally, Chi Xue, the all-capable chief steward, would have prepared everything, but today Chi Xue was also too busy to eat.
Tie Ci rubbed her stomach, preparing to find some water to fill up on, when suddenly something dark fell from the sky. She instinctively reached up to catch it—it was warm to the touch, wrapped in lotus leaves.
Opening it, she found glutinous rice wrapped around something, with faint traces of deep red meat texture showing through, emanating the fresh fragrance of lotus leaves.
It looked somewhat like glutinous rice chicken, but the aroma was more refreshing. She broke it open to see tender, delicate meat inside—deboned turtle and chicken meat.
Turtle meat could be fishy if not prepared properly, but this glutinous rice turtle had rich, mellow flavor with overflowing fragrance. Tie Ci inexplicably thought of that bastard from last night who had asked her to take the blame.
He actually kept his word—the promised turtle stew with chicken had become glutinous rice turtle chicken.
Looking up, she noticed the dining hall had a hidden second floor, probably where teachers dined. It was empty now.
Had that guy thrown it down from the second floor? Was he a teacher?
Thinking about his behavior of fishing at midnight and then jumping in to catch turtles when that failed, if he were really an instructor, wouldn’t he mislead students?
Tie Ci divided the glutinous rice turtle chicken into three portions to share with Chi Xue and Dan Shuang. After wiping her mouth, she hurried to class.
After she left, Murong Yi emerged from behind the corridor. The glutinous rice turtle was something he had just finished making in the kitchen, originally wondering when to deliver it, but coincidentally this fellow was setting up a stall downstairs this morning.
Last night’s trick of making her take the blame was also out of anger—when he disappeared, this heartless brat didn’t even cry and shout while searching everywhere for him, but leisurely went to school instead!
But ultimately, this was the dog he had fed and trained himself. Seeing her hungry made him feel somewhat unable to bear it.
It wasn’t appropriate to do anything in front of Rong Pu, so after Rong Pu went to class, he threw down the lotus leaf package. Inexplicably in a good mood, he leaned on the railing watching Tie Ci walk out of the dining hall while taking a book from Chi Xue and casually tucking it under her arm.
It was a very ordinary action, yet he watched with great amusement for a long time, until a teacher who had finished breakfast passed by, saw his back, and greeted: “Rong Wei, good morning.”
Murong Yi turned his head and smiled: “Good morning.”
…
Tie Ci hurried to the lecture hall, only to discover that the enormous hall had a central courtyard with countless rooms on both sides belonging to different dormitories. Due to population differences, dormitories might be further divided into different halls. For instance, the first-rank dormitory was divided into male and female halls, with the male hall further split into superior and good halls. There was no inferior hall—inferior students were directly demoted. A very simple and brutal classification system.
Because of this, Tie Ci spent quite a while finding the good hall where she belonged.
Before even entering, she could hear loud discussions inside about her.
“…That one with Teacher He’s recommendation letter was carrying a sign at the dining hall this morning to fetch meals for others. My god, could he be from a merchant family?”
“He lives in the fifth-rank dormitory. I heard when his bundle opened, pearls and jade scattered everywhere, even tempting dormmates to steal, causing a commotion half the night.”
“If this sort becomes Teacher He’s final disciple, where would our dignity be?”
“Don’t worry. I heard it’s because he’s a distant nephew of Teacher He’s wife that he got the recommendation letter—nobody said he’d definitely be the final disciple. Teacher He probably gave the recommendation out of family obligation. Whether he becomes a disciple depends on talent, right? Do you think our first-rank dormitory is so easy to stay in? Setting aside everything else, our major and minor exams are a hundred times harder than what outsiders study! How could he pass!”
“That’s true. Even excellent students from other academies couldn’t handle our pop quizzes.”
“So we don’t need to do much—just quietly wait for him to fail every subject and pack up to leave. Three excellent quiz results mean promotion; three failures mean demotion. The other dormitories are already betting on whether he’ll be promoted or demoted within three attempts! Ten-to-one odds!”
“That betting setup is wrong—they should bet on how many ranks he’ll drop within three attempts! Excellent grades are rare even over a whole year. Could he get three in a row? I wouldn’t believe it even if you cut off my head!”
“Someone actually suggested he could be promoted, so the betting changed. I say those people have money to burn.”
“Which idiots bet he could be promoted?”
“Those few from the first-rank superior hall, and there’s even one…” The rest was drowned in commotion mixed with shouts that the teacher was coming.
Tie Ci stepped into the hall.
The indoor chatter stopped abruptly.
Tie Ci looked around.
All seats were taken except one in the very back. The back center section of the room had apparently been raised with bricks due to water damage, making it higher than elsewhere with a single desk and chair positioned to overlook the entire hall, facing the teacher’s lectern from afar.
It was a position that would make most people feel awkwardly prominent sitting there.
All the students looked at her with schadenfreude, wanting to see this newcomer squirm in that chair.
Shen Mi sat in a corner by the wall, his eyes showing slight concern, but constrained by Tie Ci’s instructions, he couldn’t come forward to say anything.
All eyes were burning with excitement.
Tie Ci smiled, walked forward, and sat in the chair. As the chair tilted slightly, she kicked away a stone wedged under the chair leg, swept her robes, and settled in steadily. She leaned back slightly, crossed her arms over her abdomen, propped up her legs, smiled, and looked down at those below.
Everyone: “…”
She sat high above with a composed, noble bearing.
They looked up from below, inexplicably feeling as if a sovereign sat above waiting for their obeisance.
Under her smiling gaze, their legs trembled as they felt their discourtesy.
Tie Ci snorted.
She had previously faced magnificent halls with heavy ministers bowing and calling out like planted onions.
These weaklings were beneath her notice!
She raised her chin and said melodiously: “What are you looking at? Don’t you know class has started?”
The students turned around mechanically to open their books in confusion.
Tie Ci spoke again from behind them: “That person who said I couldn’t win three excellent grades in a row or you’d cut off your head—which dear friend was that?”
A male student turned around: “That was me. What about it?”
Tie Ci was somewhat surprised.
This person had a refined face with fair skin, a high nose bridge, gentle features, but an aura of proud coldness.
It was Qi Yuansi, who had played mahjong with her for several days without acknowledging her!
Right, the former almost-fiancé who had been selected but then broke off the engagement. Hadn’t she heard he was beaten over the broken engagement?
Looking at his high nose bridge, Tie Ci indeed saw some injury marks. She wondered who had done this good deed anonymously.
But wasn’t this person supposed to be academically excellent? Why would he be in the good hall?
During mahjong, they had maintained mutual non-interference, but now the hostility was much heavier.
Her mind raced with thoughts, but her mouth didn’t slow down.
“What if I win?”
“Heh heh.” Qi Yuansi’s smile was full of mockery.
“I won’t ask you to cut off your head—how about livestreaming eating excrement in the latrine?”
“…Vulgar!”
“What? Scared?”
Surrounding laughter erupted as someone said: “Young Master Qi, bet with him—you definitely won’t be the one eating it anyway!”
Qi Yuansi said: “Since we’re making a bet, what if you lose? Will you also eat it?”
“I don’t have such a good appetite as you all.” Tie Ci smiled. “If I lose, I’ll do as you wish and voluntarily withdraw from school.”
“It’s a deal!”