Note: Everything above this is an announcement by Creative Novels. It"s not written by me (Reika). So if you read something like "I"ve been sick" that isn"t me. That"s the owner of this Creative Novels.
*********Never Marry A Man With Two Tintins
Chapter 32
Inside, Zi Qing was impatient at the wait, muttering, "The service is so slow." When Lu Zhen heard this, he frowned and glared at Cheng Nuo.
Cheng Nuo quickly put the pastry plate in front of Zi Qing and smiled. "There are a lot of customers right now but I will go to the kitchen to ask the chef to quickly cook a few dishes for the young lord as soon as possible."
Zi Qing was a little surprised to see that the pastries had already been served. He took one and put it in his mouth.
Cheng Nuo was relieved, but as he was leaving, the other two began to express their concern solicitously. With worried expressions, they stopped him from eating more. "Shidi"s const.i.tution is weak. If you eat too much of this pastry, you will get a stomach ache. You should eat it later after you"ve had some soup."
The other banged his fist on the table and said: "We"ve been waiting for so long, when will get something to eat?"
Cheng Nuo knew that these two were just trying to make Lu Zhen lose face. He was just about to say a few words when Lu Zhen struck Cheng Nuo"s face. Lu Zhen was a cultivator so he was quite strong. Cheng Nuo"s face immediately became red and puffy.
Lu Zhen complained, "Why are we being served by a waiter like you? Call your manager!" He was venting his anger on Cheng Nuo because the other two had scorned and ridiculed him.
Zi Qing whispered, "It"s just a meal, why is Lu Zhen Shixiong being so harsh?" He didn"t look at Cheng Nuo as he pulled on Lu Zhen"s robe.
Lu Zhen sat down and glared at Cheng Nuo. "What are you doing? Hurry up and serve the food!"
Cheng Nuo"s ears rang. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, gnashing his teeth. When had he ever had to suffer such humiliation before he transmigrated into this world? However, even if these disciples killed someone, it wouldn"t be considered a major crime. Cheng Nuo has to learn to swallow his anger and endure it.
He restrained his reaction and left. Suddenly, he remembered Liu Guang was downstairs, but when he looked, he saw that Liu Guang was no longer there. He must have gone to the kitchen to eat.
Cheng Nuo breathed a sigh of relief. The bookkeeper frowned at the palm print on Cheng Nuo"s face. Knowing that Cheng Nuo was always diligent and careful, he didn"t blame Cheng Nuo for it. It"s just that it"s not good for a server to wait on customers when his face was swollen. The bookkeeper told Cheng Nuo to go to the backyard so that old Uncle w.a.n.g can put ointment on his cheek. He also urged the chef to finish those people"s order as soon as possible.
His face still smarting, Cheng Nuo went to the backyard. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Liu Guang squatting in the yard, eating. He quickly turned his face so that his swollen cheek couldn"t be seen.
It was too late. Liu Guang had already seen it. He immediately threw his bowl on the ground and ran towards Cheng Nuo. Liu Guang"s large eyes opened wide as he glared at Cheng Nuo"s wounded face. "What happened? Who did that to you?"
Cheng Nuo was embarra.s.sed. He laughed and shook his head. "I"m all right. You should continue eating."
Liu Guang was ready to explode from anger. Raising his hand, he gently touched Cheng Nuo"s face then gnashed his teeth. "Was it that group of four who did it? I"ll show them!" Liu Guang clenched his fists and impetuously stormed towards the back door of the restaurant.
Cheng Nuo hugged Liu Guang"s waist and tried to coax him out of his anger for a long time. Liu Guang was fuming, but when he thought about it, he realized that those people were from Qinghua Sect, which means that when he enters the sect, he will have many opportunities for payback. This thought calmed him.
He watched as Cheng Nuo smeared the medicine on his face then went to the kitchen to get Cheng Nuo a soup and two pancakes. Only then did his anger abate.
"I"ll take a look at them inside." Seeing that Cheng Nuo was eyeing him suspiciously, Liu Guang exasperatedly said, "Don"t worry, I won"t fight with them today! I"ll do your work for you."
He wanted to look at those people so that he could remember their faces!
The four people ate very slowly. Liu Guang waited for them to come down, and then carefully memorized their faces one by one. He didn"t know which one hit Cheng Nuo, but he will surely take care of him later.
As the four walked down the stairs, one of the teenagers smiled and said, "Lu Zhen Shixiong, you were really cool earlier, but beating up an ordinary mortal isn"t very interesting, is it Zi Qing Shidi?"
Lu Zhen’s face reddened and he hurriedly said, "Wasn"t that because he neglected to serve Zi Qing Shidi properly? I don"t normally do that sort of thing."
Liu Guang’s ears trembled. His green eyes stared at Lu Zhan fiercely, memorizing his appearance.
Lu Zhen was, after all, a cultivator. He sensed that someone was giving him a malicious look but when he turned to look, no one was there. He didn"t worry about it too much.
Liu Guang and Cheng Nuo worked for another ten days until it was finally the day when Qinghua Sect recruits disciples.
The bookkeeper knew that the two of them wanted to join the sect. He had very generously given them more than 30 energy coins and allowed them to live in the restaurant temporarily. After all, if these two were admitted into the sect, that would bring honor to the restaurant. Cheng Nuo thanked him profusely. "We might not be accepted into the sect. If I fail the test, I"ll come back and work here as a waiter."
Liu Guang pulled at his sleeve discontentedly and said, "Why wouldn"t you pa.s.s the test? Are you like those embroidered pillows who can"t get admitted into the sect?"
(TN – " embroidered pillows" 绣花枕头 xiù huā zhěn tóu – a person who is good-looking but ignorant)
Fortunately, there were no people around them to hear. If anyone had heard Liu Guang say this, they would have been in trouble.Cheng Nuo smiled in an embarra.s.sed way at the bookkeeper and tapped Liu Guang"s head. He really needed to teach Liu Guang how to behave properly in front of other people.
Qinghua Sect"s registration fee was 100 primary energy coins. Luckily, they had arrived in town early. If they had arrived just in time, wouldn"t they have missed it because of lack of money?
The two of them received two metal cards inscribed with their names, ages, and their registration number. Apparently, hundreds of people had already registered. The number of people who would be accepted was not fixed since it depended purely on the abilities of the current batch of applicants.
Cheng Nuo didn"t know how old his body was so he said he was fifteen years old. Liu Guang didn"t want to be too young, but as he was going to say he was thirteen, Cheng Nuo interrupted him. Smiling at the disciples, he said, "He"s twelve." Liu Guang was so short and thin that if he said he was ten, people would believe it.
Because of this, Liu Guang was depressed for a long time. He planned to get married at the age of fifteen. Wouldn’t this make it a year later?
Cheng Nuo didn"t know what was going on in Liu Guang"s little mind, but he guessed that Liu Guang wanted to grow up faster and couldn"t help but laugh. How can Liu Guang be so cute? Once people are older, they cease to care about growing old faster.
The lifespan of the average person in this world was about one hundred years, but cultivators could live for around three to five hundred years and they didn"t look much older after they reached the age of twenty. Although this wasn"t as exaggerated as the Xianxia novels he used to read, this was still an unexpected surprise.
On the second day, they went to partic.i.p.ate in the test. Cheng Nuo"s heart was heavy because it was said that the test was extremely difficult.
They went early in the morning. There were thousands of people queuing up to take the entrance test. Their ages ranged from young teenagers to people in their thirties. There were also a few females wearing skirts and with their long hair bound up. Well, they never asked his gender. Cheng Nuo was still wearing pants.
Soon the gates to Qinghua Sect opened. The applicants were divided into several groups and were directed to follow the disciples in charge to the open s.p.a.ce in front of the hall where various test instruments had been set up.
The first round of testing was quite simple. It merely tests the physical fitness, strength, speed, etc. of the examinee and whether they have an elemental ability. The examinee merely had to put his hand on the test instrument and his fitness will be judged according to the instrument"s reaction.
The result of Liu Guang"s test was that he had an affinity for fire. His speed, strength, and reflexes were excellent. Thus, he easily pa.s.sed the first test. Raising his head, he gave Cheng Nuo a smug look.
Cheng Nuo smiled. The test result he got was what he had expected. Although his physical abilities were far below Liu Guang"s, he had an elemental wood ability. Thus, he was able to pa.s.s the first test by the skin of his teeth.
After the test, the applicants queued up and left from the side door. Everything was in good order.
In the afternoon, a disciple loudly called out the registration numbers of those who had been selected, which was around 200 people out of the thousands who had applied. Both Cheng Nuo and Liu Guang were among the chosen. Cheng Nuo sighed in relief. After pa.s.sing two tests, he could enter as a level four disciple of the sect. Liu Guang rarely laughed, but he did this time and held Cheng Nuo"s hand.
However, after the recitation of numbers was over, the head disciple called out some names and asked them to come out now. Cheng Nuo was shocked because his name was among the seven or eight that were called!
Liu Guang was also suspicious at this turn of events. Cheng Nuo patted his back to rea.s.sure him and whispered "wait for me at the restaurant" then walked forward with the others.
The disciple was quite polite. Cheng Nuo and others were in a daze as they followed him inside the grounds of the sect until they stopped in front of a garden.
"You are my Shidi," said the smiling disciple. "You can call me Ran Yang Shixiong. You all have the rare wood ability so in the future you will be a.s.signed to Bai Cao Yuan. You won"t have to partic.i.p.ate in the next entrance test. I should also warn you that the Bai Cao Yuan disciples are also divided into four levels. Regarding which level you will be able to achieve, that depends on your individual abilities."
Cheng Nuo"s eyes widened in surprise. He always thought that his wood elemental ability wasn"t very useful. Now that they were singled out instead of the fire or light ability users, does it mean that wood abilities are rare? And based on what this Ran Yang said, all of them here now were exempted from the following tests, meaning they were already accepted into the sect?
He was surprised but also a little worried because this meant that Liu Guang would have to take the next test alone. Ever since he transmigrated into this world, he and Liu Guang have never separated. There was undoubtedly still a combat test. How could he not worry about that child partic.i.p.ating in it alone?
Ran Yang smiled and said, "I will arrange for one of my Shidi to a.s.sign rooms to you and distribute a few items to everyone. Of course, there"s no need to rush. You can do whatever you need to do tonight then report back the day after tomorrow."
Cheng Nuo and the others quickly said, "Thank you, Shixiong."
It looked like Bai Cao Yuan treated their disciples quite decently. There were rows of small rooms that were the size of a standard hotel room. They were given a set of bedding, a washbasin, two sets of level one disciples" clothing, waist token, and so forth.
Here, unlike the other sections of the Qinghua Sect, new disciples are treated as equals, but must start at the bottom and work their way up in rank.
Cheng Nuo put everything away except for the waist token. Liu Guang should be at the restaurant now and was probably quite worried.
*******
Reika Notes:
- "He always thought that his wood elemental ability wasn"t very useful." – The raw said "… was a chicken rib." 鸡肋 jī lèi – literally "chicken ribs." Since chicken ribs have very little meat, it means something that is of very little value or interest.
- "Waist token" – 腰牌 a sort of medal or pendant that hung from the waist. It normally serves as a token that identifies the person"s rank.
- Nice, I’m glad Cheng Nuo was able to enter the sect without any problems.
- What do you think Liu Guang will do to that person who struck Cheng Nuo???
- Thanks for reading! Happy Holidays!