Chapter 143 The Affiliated School of the National Academy
Su Li was in a daze. Then, she nodded with a smile. For Li Yuelian, she only felt strange in her previous life because her sense of existence was too weak. But, she poisoned the son of Zhu Yan, and that’s the only one stunning thing that she achieved.
In the previous life, Zhu Yan and Su Zipei killed Li Yuelian, while Su Li became a scapegoat for them. Because of the enmity of killing his mother, Su Qingtan abandoned the kindness in his heart and joined the party to fight against her. He thoroughly became a puppet of Su Zipei.
In this life, Zhu Yan and Su Zipei became the marginal people of the Su Family. She and Li Yuelian could see the new yard hand in hand which meant that her efforts were not in vain.
A faint light flashed in Su Li’s eyes. Now, she wanted to see how Yunjing’s people changed in this life.
…
Nothing happened during the whole night.
In the next morning, the Su Family was busy.
Su Qingtan went to the imperial court before dawn. Su Huanli took some silver and began to plan the location for the Baiwei Building. Li Yuelian took care of the household affairs. Mam. Su-Cui was taken home from the temple by Su Qingtan. However, Su Qingtan’s att.i.tude was not good enough to her. She was angry for that, so she didn’t feel like grabbing the power of the family from Li Yuelian.
As for Zhu Yan and Su Zipei, even they were bolder than others, they did not dare to seize power from Li Yuelian. Anyone could see that currently Su Qingtan had the final say on the Su Family.
Su Li called a carter in front of the door and headed to the National Academy. When the carter heard the “National Academy” and saw that Su Li’s clothes and temperament were both extraordinary, a sense of reverence couldn’t help but raise in his eyes. He quickly took Su Li through streets and rushed to the National Academy before the cla.s.s began.
Su Li actually gave him one tael of silver as an honorarium. The carter was overjoyed and left with deep grat.i.tude.
The scene was seen by the guard at the gate of the National Academy. He couldn’t help but sigh with emotions. This miss was generous. One tael silver was enough to cover food expenses for one month in an ordinary family.
While the guard was thinking about this, he saw that Su Li had come over. He quickly stood up straight and stopped Su Li. Then he reached out to her.
Even she was generous, she still needed to be checked.
“You look unfamiliar and you don’t seem a student or teacher of the school. Do you have a token?”
Hearing the guard’s words, Su Li looked hesitant. The guard was quite suspicious. Then she took out the token that Qi Xianqing gave her.
The guard turned it over and over again and felt weird in his heart.
“Su Li? I have never heard of you! Besides, there is no such token in the National Academy. Girl, faking the student of the National Academy is a huge crime. Don’t fool with it.”
For the sake of her beauty, the guard pleaded with tactful words.
Su Li blamed that Qi Xianqing was unreliable secretly, but she had to force a very helpless expression on the surface. She said frankly, “This brother, to be honest, the token is given by one family elder. It must be true. Please have a look again and let me in.”
“Your family elder?”
The guard seemed to hear a very funny joke and instantly laughed. He said, “Girl, this is the National Academy! The token of the National Academy should not be given by your elder. I have already said that this token is false. Go away! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude!”
Then, the guard slightly shook. A breath of acquired sixth hurdle was diffused through his inside. Su Li seemed to be awed by it. She looked pale and went back for several steps.
Looking at her, the guard smiled complacently. He just broke through and reached the acquired sixth hurdle. He wanted to show off. Today, he made a show of authority and would tell his mother later.
“A minute please. Show me the token!”
The old guard on the side could not stand that. The young man was aggressive and didn’t know he should be cautious. He still needed to have a look so as to avoid big mistakes.
The young guard did not dare to disobey. He quickly handed over the jade token. This old guy had deep qualifications. If he had let the old guy lose face, the old guy would made things hard for him.
The old guard took over the jade token and was slightly shocked in heart. He had handled so many superior quality jades and the number of jades he checked were not less than eight thousand. He immediately recognized the quality of Su Li’s jade token. It was in the same level with those of the National Academy’s lecturers.
For a moment, the old guard’s turbid eyes were lit. He carefully distinguished the jade token. The style of the jade token was very old. Fortunately, he was the oldest guard and he soon remembered that it was the unified jade token issued by the National Academy twenty years ago. However, the characters on the back was very new and it seemed that they were carved shortly before…
The old guard looked confused until he saw the two words “Su Li” and the very inconspicuous symbol on the back.
“Hiss!!!”
The old guard’s expression changed greatly. He walked over at once. He gave the young guard a slap and bowed to Su Li. The young guard was dumbfounded for what the old guard did. The latter said respectfully, “It turns out to be Lecturer Su. I am too old to see clearly. I failed to recognize the jade token in time just now. Please don’t blame me.”
She really was a lecturer of the National Academy!
The young guard heard that and looked pale instantly. He rushed to kneel down and apologized again and again, “Lady, I’m a newcomer. I’m as blind as a bat and almost made a big mistake. You are a great person. Hope you can forget my mistake. Please forgive me!”
The old guard snorted in heart but could not bear that the young guard would be sent to suffer the punishment of flogging. So, he knelt down and pleaded for the young guard.
At the moment, other guards who were watching pa.s.sively suddenly saw such the reversal. They didn’t dare to come over and immediately walked far away. They even didn’t dare to look at them due to the fear of getting into trouble.
Su Li’s eyes s.h.i.+ned. She smiled lightly and said, “What are you doing, master? Please get up quickly. No warned, no fault. I won’t blame the young man. But, I just arrive here today. My family elder didn’t tell me what the token represents. Would you mind explaining it for me?”
Seeing Su Li was so affable, the old guard breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t allow the young guard to leave until he held his head to salute for a few times. Then he personally led Su Li into the National Academy.
“Lecturer Su, the National Academy is the most advanced school in the entire Dahan Country. It is also the most desired place where all the students in the world are eager to enter. The emperor is wise and farsighted. He established the National Academy in the west of the Imperial City. It covers an area of thousands of qings (1 qing≈6.67 hectares). He also built the National Book Tower to bless the future generations.”
The old guard gossiped with her. Then he laughed and said, “With your token, you can go to the National Book Tower. Besides, you are leisure in daily life and there are not so many courses for you.”
“You are really a raconteur.”
While they were talking, they walked to the front of a vermilion door. The door was closed. The doorframe was hung askew with a plaque.
“Affiliated School?”
Su Li looked confused. She knew nothing about the National Academy.
Seeing that Su Li even didn’t know the Affiliated School of the National Academy, the old guard had to explain in a low voice, “There are too many aristocracies in Yunjing. Their playboys have neither learning nor skills and aren’t admitted to the National Academy. Aristocracies feel embarra.s.sed. The National Academy also has too much pressure. Therefore…”
“The Affiliated School of the National Academy was built, wasn’t it?”
Su Li suddenly realized. She faintly understood why Qi Xianqing didn’t tell her. It turned out that he was too embarra.s.sed to tell her the truth. He would rather than keep secrets!
In this way, was the Affiliated School the gathering place of playboys in the entire Yunjing?
Su Li looked sullen immediately. The old guard smiled and comforted,
“Miss, don’t worry. You have the lecturer’s token of the Affiliated School. That group of young masters will not dare to bully you even if they can directly access to the highest authorities. This is the rule of the National Academy. Even if in front of the emperor, the emperor can’t help them. You can say that your family elder gave a token to you and it can protect you when you are learning independently in the school. There were many people like you in the past twenty years, yet few people learn here in recent years. The style of your token is quite old. Therefore, the new guard didn’t recognize it.”
Su Li thoroughly understood that Qi Xianqing satisfied all her requirements without any flaws. The only fly in the ointment was—
“Old master, how about the reputation of the lecturers of the Affiliated School?”
Su Li suddenly asked. The old guard immediately was at a loss. He awkwardly laughed and didn’t dare to answer Su Li’s question.
“I see.”
Su Li smiled and said. She did not make things difficult for the old guard. She gave him some silver as reward and let him leave. Then she pushed the door of the Affiliated School.
As soon as she entered the door, she smelled an extremely repulsive stink.
Su Li’s eyebrows twitched. She bypa.s.sed the stone folding screen and went in. Even if her mood was steady, the scene heaving in sight made her felt a bit cold.
An unknown yellow material was boiled in a large pot. A big fat man who had fainted due to the stink was bound over the large pot. Under the pot, a group of servants were covering their noses and adding firewood. A group of well-dressed playboys jammed the corners on both sides. There seemed to be no lady here. They were pointing at the pot in the yard as they whispered and laughed.
Su Li popped up and made everyone here stand in amazement. Even the servants who were ordered not to stop adding firewood stopped their action and stared at Su Li.
How could such a beautiful girl with delicate features appear in the Affiliated School?!
“Wow!! Unexpectedly, a lady comes to the Affiliated School. Which family is this lady from?!”
“Does the sun rise in the west?!”
“Which family is such a doughty lady from? Couldn’t her family control her? Is it necessary to send her here?”
“Why does she look so unfamiliar?”
“…”
“Get out of my way!”
While they murmured, a strong and rich playboy with a lewd face pushed away other people on his way and walked to Su Li with a sinister smile. He said,
“Which family are you from? You are so bright and beautiful. You make my heart itch. Let’s spend the night together. I promise I will let you enjoy the ecstasy. How do you think?”
As he said, the strong playboy reached out and was about to hold Su Li’s slender waist. Other playboys looked at him with jealousy. However, they didn’t dare to prevent him. Such a stunner was in Ma Ling’s hands actually. His favorite thing was to abuse woman. When it was their turn, she would have died already!
Su Li looked panicky. She seemed to stumble and fall to the ground, but she skillfully escaped Ma Ling’s pounce.
Looking at Su Li’s pathetic face, Ma Ling was so excited that his body trembled. He said, “b.i.t.c.h, if you are sensible, get your b.u.t.t over here! Even if you are an official student at the National Academy, you will never escape from my hands!”
“Ah!”
Su Li screamed and closed her eyes. She took out a token and said, “I am a lecturer of the Affiliated School!”
Bam!!
Ma Ling stopped pouncing at once. He was so scared that he staggered and fell to the ground. He looked no longer lewd and his face was as pale as a piece of paper, as if Su Li’s words were the most horrible story in the world.
“You, you are actually…”
Ma Ling stared at the token and scrutinized it carefully. When he saw the symbol under the name, he was frightened out of his wits. He even did not say a word before he quickly fled away from the yard, as if he ran for his life.
Others had long been stunned. When they saw Su Li looking at them, they immediately saluted her one after another like well-behaved little babies. Then, they left the yard soon like Ma Ling, as if they would like to have two more legs.
“Is the token so powerful?”
Su Li was confused for a moment. Then she packed up the token and put the fat man bound over the iron pot down. Next, she poured the things in the iron pot out. She had already figured out that the things in the iron pot were not excrement and urine. That group of young masters had nothing to do, so, they boiled a pile of herbs and tried hard to make the stink smell like the excrement and urine. It was non-toxic. When the temperature was low, the stink would dissipate.
It’s just…
Su Li indifferently glanced at the fat and smelly man on the floor. She couldn’t help but step back a few steps. Then she entered the room and left him alone. She had to find out why this group of playboys feared her so much and why they avoid her just like avoid a snake and scorpion. She was quite curious about what had happened.