Behind the inner door was another courtyard, neatly lined with several large carriages. Strangely, the beasts pulling the carriages were not ordinary horses, but several tall deer. Their antlers were as white as snow, and most remarkably, their fur shimmered with rainbow-like iridescence, extremely dazzling and beautiful.
Xiao Bang Chui, seeing such strange and beautiful animals for the first time, couldn’t help but stare for a while. Suddenly, she heard a burst of mocking laughter from not far behind her, and a voice neither big nor small jeered, “Where did this beggar come from? I can smell the stench from far away.”
Laughter erupted, and Xiao Bang Chui turned around to see several young boys sitting in a small pavilion in the courtyard. They were all neat, with rosy lips and white teeth. They were staring at her and laughing, whispering, and making faces at each other. It was clear they weren’t saying anything nice.
Having wandered with her master for years, she had seen the warmth and coldness of human nature and always adhered to the principle of not causing trouble. These boys were dressed in fine clothes, obviously children from wealthy families. Thinking it better to avoid conflict, she pretended not to hear and turned back to continue looking at the deer.
“Country bumpkin, never even seen a rainbow deer before. Look, his eyeballs are about to fall out.”
The mocking snickers continued behind her. Xiao Bang Chui silently moved in another direction to avoid them. There was no one in the northwest corner, so she went over and sat on the ground, letting out a long sigh.
About a dozen children had gathered in the courtyard. The youngest looked only six or seven years old, while the oldest girl was a head taller than everyone else. These must all be the ones who passed the initial test. Xiao Bang Chui thought of the bustling crowd outside. So many people and only this many were selected. If the initial selection was this difficult, what would the second selection be like?
She remembered the hoarse voice that had appeared in her ear during the initial selection. It sounded like an old man. Was he still following her now?
“Old sir… Old sir? Are you there?” she called softly. “Thank you for reminding me earlier.”
There was no answer.
Xiao Bang Chui looked around but couldn’t find any suspicious figures. She spoke again: “Old sir? Are you gone? What did you mean by telling me to hold my breath? Old sir?”
Still, no one answered. Xiao Bang Chui scratched her head, wondering if she had imagined the voice earlier.
Suddenly, the black inner door opened, and this time three dust-covered children came in. They looked about her age, with patched clothes. Though cleaner than her, they weren’t much better off. Two girls walked in front, with a boy following behind. They seemed to know each other, and one of the girls was chattering non-stop.
“Ah!” The chattering girl suddenly cried out and ran to the rainbow deer, excitedly exclaiming, “Could this be the legendary celestial beast?! Sister! Look!”
This exaggerated behavior was mocked again by the rich boys in the pavilion. A boy in green clothes imitated her in a strange tone: “Sister! Look! Wow, I’ve never seen this before! A celestial beast!”
The girl’s face turned red from embarrassment. Her lips quivered as if she wanted to retort, but the boy next to her gently pulled her aside and said softly, “Don’t mind them.”
The three turned and saw Xiao Bang Chui in her tattered clothes sitting in the corner. They were stunned for a moment, probably not expecting to see someone as ragged as themselves here.
“Are you alone?” The girl smiled and walked over. “Can we sit together?”
Xiao Bang Chui nodded and used her sleeve to wipe the bricks beside her. “Sit down.”
“My name is Bai Li Gelin, I’m ten years old. This is my sister Bai Li Changyue, she’s twelve. Oh, and he’s our brother, called Ye Ye. Funny name, right?”
Changyue, Gelin – parents who would give their daughters such refined names were unlikely to be ordinary farmers. Moreover, the surname “Bai Li” was quite rare. She seemed to have heard it somewhere… Why did these sisters look so down and out? And they said the boy was their brother, but perhaps not by blood? Even their surnames were different…
Xiao Bang Chui silently observed the three. Although the sisters were in tattered clothes and covered in dirt, their features were beautiful, and they carried themselves with a certain grace, unlike ordinary girls. The boy called Ye Ye also had clear features, distinctly different from the coarse village children.
“Who’s your brother?” Ye Ye gave Bai Li Gelin a look. “I’m a year older than you, you should call me brother.”
He nodded at Xiao Bang Chui as a greeting. “I met them a year ago. We all had nowhere to go, so we decided to stick together. We can look out for each other.”
“What’s your name?” Bai Li Gelin sat next to Xiao Bang Chui, familiarly linking arms with her.
“Xiao Bang Chui, I’m also ten.”
“Pfft…” Bai Li Gelin burst out laughing. “Xiao Bang Chui? How can anyone have such a name? What’s your surname?”
Is this name funny? Xiao Bang Chui pulled back the arm Gelin was holding. “I don’t have a surname. I was picked up by my master, and he gave me this name.”
Bai Li Gelin quickly apologized: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any harm…”
“See? Sharp-tongued and always offending people,” Ye Ye lightly tapped Bai Li Gelin’s head, then said, “She always speaks without thinking. Don’t take it to heart. Do you have a master? Does he teach you celestial arts?”
Xiao Bang Chui nodded: “Yes, my master taught me magic, but unfortunately, I’m not talented enough and didn’t learn well.”
“Don’t be modest,” Ye Ye smiled. “Anyone who can pass Chu Feng Academy’s initial selection must have good talent.”
Initial selection… She didn’t know how she had passed the initial selection… Xiao Bang Chui touched her head, thinking again of that hoarse voice. It couldn’t have been her imagination. Who was he? And what was the reason for telling her to hold her breath?
Perhaps because their laughter was getting louder, the rich boys in the pavilion started mocking again: “Beggars gathering together, what a grand scene. Planning to beg together?”
Bai Li Gelin’s pretty face showed disgust as she said softly, “So annoying, these people.”
“Why bother with them?” Ye Ye squatted beside her. “They’re probably children from powerful families. Let them run their mouths. Maybe none of them will pass the second selection.”
“Do you know what the second selection is like?” Xiao Bang Chui asked, seeing that he seemed knowledgeable about these things.
Ye Ye shook his head: “Think about it. Even a small place like Lu Gong Town has selected so many people. How many would there be from all the places in our Central Plains? Each year, only a few dozen can enter Chu Feng Academy. Isn’t that like selecting one out of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands?”
Just as he finished speaking, a black shadow suddenly shot from behind, hitting the back of his neck. Ye Ye groaned in pain and fell to the ground. Something rolled down beside him – a five-tael silver ingot. The boys in the pavilion made faces at them, laughing: “A reward for you! A bunch of beggars mumbling, why don’t you kneel and thank us?!”
This was too much. Xiao Bang Chui frowned, about to stand up when she saw Bai Li Changyue, who had been silent all along, bend down to pick up the silver ingot and walk step by step towards the pavilion.
“Changyue!” Ye Ye grabbed her. “I’m fine, don’t go.”
“You were hit,” Bai Li Changyue said with a slight frown, her tone cold, opposite to her lively and talkative younger sister.
“It doesn’t hurt, don’t cause trouble!” Ye Ye held onto her.
As they were talking, the black inner door opened again, and a beautifully dressed, stunningly pretty young girl entered. All the children in the courtyard couldn’t help but glance at her. The girl had a haughty expression, her back straight as an arrow, looking straight ahead as she walked in, like a little phoenix. The boys in the pavilion quieted down, and soon a boy in yellow clothes ran out, said something to her, and invited her to sit with them in the pavilion.
“This one looks like she might be the daughter of some noble or royal family,” Ye Ye smiled through his pain, pulling Bai Li Changyue back to sit beside him. “I’m fine. With your explosive temper, if you had gone over there, a fight would have broken out. Why cause trouble?”
He snatched the silver ingot and threw it far away, not even looking at it.
“Does it hurt?” Bai Li Changyue gently rubbed his neck. “It’s swollen.”
“It’s not broken,” he shook his head. “See? I’m fine.”
Bai Li Gelin giggled and made a face at him: “Thick-skinned!”
Perhaps because there was now a little beauty in the pavilion, the children didn’t want to upset her, so the rich kids quieted down for a while. Gradually, as Ye Ye had said, more and more children passed the initial selection. As the sun was setting in the west, the initial selection was about to end. It was said that these rainbow deer-drawn carriages would take those who passed the initial selection to another place for the second selection, and those who weren’t chosen would be taken home by carriage.
Xiao Bang Chui tightly gripped the evil-repelling fragrant beads on her wrist. If she didn’t pass the second selection, where would the carriage take her? Her master was gone, she no longer had a home. If she couldn’t pass the second selection, she might never have the chance to find her master and Senior Brother. What would happen to her master? What would happen to her? Would she have to wander alone for the rest of her life?
As she was lost in thought, the black inner door opened again, and a timid little boy walked in. He looked seven or eight years old, also in tattered clothes and covered in dirt. Unlike Bai Li Gelin and the others, he wasn’t casual or bold. He walked into the courtyard with hunched shoulders, not daring to lift his head, constantly bowing and apologizing if he accidentally bumped into someone – he must have suffered greatly.
Xiao Bang Chui suddenly felt a wave of sadness. If she didn’t pass the second selection and no longer had her master, she might become like this too – knowing nothing, having no means to make a living, forced to live alone with a fake smile, oppressed by life, cowering and afraid of everyone.
The little boy timidly found a corner to huddle in. After a while, probably noticing the beautiful, well-dressed girl sitting in the pavilion, even he couldn’t help but look up a few times. His timid appearance was too eye-catching, and the rich kids in the pavilion couldn’t sit still. One child jumped up and shouted: “Hey! What are you looking at with those dog eyes of yours?!”
The little boy suddenly cried out “Ah!” and pointed at the pretty girl.
“You… you…” he stammered, his face turning red, seeming both angry and anxious, his whole body trembling slightly.
“Do you know him?” a boy in white clothes in the pavilion couldn’t help but ask.
The pretty girl frowned in displeasure: “How could I know such a beggar! This beggar is so bold! How dare he point at me!”
The boys in the pavilion erupted in a buzz. Someone picked up a stone and threw it, shouting: “Get lost!”
The fist-sized stone hit the little boy’s forehead, immediately causing blood to flow down his face. He cried out in pain, wailing heartbreakingly.
However, the more he cried, the more stones were thrown at him. In no time, he was covered in blood from head to toe, crouching on the ground with his cries getting weaker and weaker.
“This is too much!” Bai Li Gelin was furious. “Isn’t anyone going to stop this?!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Xiao Bang Chui had already run over. She grabbed the sobbing boy and angrily said: “What are you crying for?! You’re so useless!”
Startled by her shout, the boy cried even harder, his face a mess of snot, tears, and blood.
Hearing the wind behind her head, Xiao Bang Chui nimbly dodged the stone thrown at her. She turned around and coldly looked at the boys in the pavilion.
“Today, I’ll teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents,” she said, rolling up her sleeves and blowing on her palm. She bent down to pick up a stone and threw it hard. With a “pah” sound, one of the boys in the pavilion was immediately hit in the face by the stone. He covered his face and screamed.
Everyone was stunned. No one had expected this little beggar to dare hit the children in the pavilion, who were either from wealthy families or the children of nobles!
Xiao Bang Chui moved extremely fast. While she wasn’t good at magic, her martial arts skills were indeed impressive. She was accurate with every stone she threw, each hitting squarely on the face. Soon, the pavilion was filled with cries and screams. The boy in white clothes who seemed to be the leader was so angry he was stunned, pointing at her with a trembling hand, unable to speak clearly: “You… you have some nerve… Do you… do you know who I am?!”
“Here’s your silver back!” Xiao Bang Chui picked up the five-tael silver ingot they had thrown earlier. With a flick of her wrist, the silver ingot hit the white-clothed boy’s face with a loud “pah,” leaving a clear mark. Even more impressive was that after hitting his face, the silver ingot didn’t fall but bounced up and landed perfectly on top of his head.
In the pavilion, except for the little beauty whose face had turned green, no one was left standing. Everyone was covering their faces or holding their heads, wailing. Xiao Bang Chui dusted off her hands, waved her fist towards the pavilion, and sneered: “Feels good, doesn’t it?”