Chapter 17: Annual Gathering
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Yu Huang taking the initiative to reveal her family’s situation was not her impulsive action.
She had her own plans. These things would be discovered by her cla.s.smates sooner or later. Instead of waiting for them to find out and discuss it in private, she might as well tell them honestly.
In her previous life, Yu Huang’s mother was the King of Doomsday Mercenaries. Her mother was a woman with great leadership skills. Under her mother’s teachings, Yu Huang had also learned how to win people’s hearts.
She understood this principle very well. If she wanted to gain the trust and respect of others, she had to first show her sincerity and frankness.
As expected, after they heard Yu Huang’s confession, the students’ expressions changed. This was because they knew that not everyone could openly talk about their embarra.s.sing family situation.
Most of the poor youths felt inferior inside. They were afraid of being ridiculed and looked down on, and they would wish that they could hide the existence of their poor and crippled father.
Yu Huang’s frankness and courage were admirable, and she had won the respect of the entire cla.s.s! From this moment onwards, Yu Huang was no longer that high and mighty celebrity. She was only an 18-year-old girl, a part of their cla.s.s!
The handsome and tall cla.s.s monitor was the first to stand up. He took the lead and said, “Yu Huang! Your current appearance is indeed not very pretty, but it’s also not frightening. Moreover, we all know how beautiful you originally looked. In addition, we are all civilized people who have decency. We will definitely not laugh at laborers! So please rest a.s.sured that no one will look down on him, nor will they laugh at him!”
The others chimed in as well. “That’s right! He will be our uncle from now on. We’ll mess with whoever laughs at him!”
Yu Huang looked at this group of energetic young people. She knew that they had already opened their hearts to her and completely accepted her.
Anna Tao had moved to a seat by the window. Her desk was empty now. Yu Huang carried her book to the table and sat down. She had just finished arranging her books when a cla.s.smate came over to talk to her.
A pretty girl walked over and placed a hand on Yu Huang’s shoulder. Her tone was very gentle as she said, “Yu Huang, can you send us the link to your mask? The weather is hot and the sun is poisonous. A mask of your type is the most practical.”
The girl’s name was Vivian, and she was also a campus belle in school.
Her att.i.tude towards Yu Huang was very complicated. In the past, Yu Huang was beautiful, and her beauty was famous throughout the whole country. She was the girl that all the men secretly admired. With a bright moon hanging in the sky, who would notice the existence of a star?
Originally, Vivian was jealous of Yu Huang. She was jealous of Yu Huang’s beauty, jealous of how she became famous at a young age and had countless fans, and even more jealous of how she was liked by the young master of the Xuanyuan Clan.
However, after seeing Yu Huang’s face under the mask, Vivian suddenly felt a little sorry for this girl. As a beauty herself, she sympathized with Yu Huang’s difficulties more than anyone else.
Hearing Vivian’s suggestion, the surrounding students also nodded and said, “Yes, yes, I’ve been sunburned this year. Yu Huang, your mask must be very sun-proof. We’ll wear this in the future.”
Yu Huang understood that they were not really afraid of getting sunburned. They wanted to send her a message by wearing the same mask—
She wasn’t an outcast. They wouldn’t ostracize her.
Yu Huang’s heart was filled with warmth. This was the first time she had been protected by so many people since she came to the alternate world. As Yu Huang put on her mask, she said, “I won’t send the link. I still have a lot at home. If everyone really needs it, I’ll bring one for each of you tomorrow!”
“That’s great! How much is one? We’ll pay for it!” They couldn’t just freeload.
“It’s not expensive. I do wholesale. It won’t cost much.”
“Alright then!”
It only took Yu Huang one day to befriend her cla.s.smates. After cla.s.s, when she went to the bathroom, there were girls who went with her. They held her hand and shielded her in the middle, not giving the other cla.s.smates any chance to peek at her.
Seeing that school was about to end, the homeroom teacher, Li Shi, walked into the cla.s.sroom with a bag in his hand. Li Shi was handsome and strong, while his biceps were hidden under his thin T-shirt, as if they could burst his clothes at any time.
He looked mighty and the students in his cla.s.s were afraid of him.
Seeing Li Shi walk into the cla.s.sroom, the students who had already packed their bags and could not wait to get home from school immediately quieted down.
Li Shi waved the bag in his hand as his deep voice resounded throughout the cla.s.sroom, “From tomorrow onwards, our city will be holding an annual and three-day Beast Tamer Awakening Ceremony! All people above 10-years-old but not yet 20 will be heading to the Purifying Spirit Academy for the examination!”
The Saint Spirit Continent respected the strong. The performance of a country depended on the number of beast tamers in that country. Beast Tamers were too precious. For the Divine Moon Empire, the more beast Tamers, the better.
Because of this, the Divine Moon Kingdom held a Beast Tamer Awakening Ceremony every year.
“This is not the first time everyone is partic.i.p.ating in the Awakening Ceremony. I will keep it short! This is everyone’s number plate. Whoever I call will come up to receive it! The number you receive cannot be changed! You cannot lose it. If you lose it, it will be invalid!”
“Su Lingyu!”
“Jiang Shangfeng!”
“Vivian!”
…
“Yu Huang!”
Yu Huang received her number plate and saw that it read ‘1832’. When she lowered her head to look at the number, she heard Li Shi say, “Yu Huang, you missed the awakening ceremony a few years ago.”
Yu Huang raised her head and stared at Li Shi. She replied, “I was filming. I didn’t have time.”
Li Shi frowned and his voice was filled with condemnation as he said, “The Beast Tamer Awakening Ceremony is an important event that happens once a year! You shouldn’t be absent!” Thinking of how intimidating Yu Huang’s inhumane adoptive parents were, Li Shi felt that his tone was too harsh. “In short, you can’t be absent this time. Yu Huang, you should be responsible for your own life.”
Yu Huang immediately promised, “Teacher, don’t worry. I will attend the awakening ceremony on time.”
“Yes.” Li Shi changed the topic and asked again, “When was the last time you partic.i.p.ated in the Beast Tamer Awakening Ceremony?”
Yu Huang thought for a moment before replying, “When I was 13.”
This was because most Beast Tamers would awaken their beast form between the ages of 10 and 13. According to the laws of the Divine Moon Empire, everyone had to partic.i.p.ate in the test during these three years and no unexcused absences were allowed.
No matter how much Yu Rufeng and the others enslaved Yu Huang, during those three years, they didn’t dare to delay Yu Huang’s awakening ceremony. If they delayed it, it would be a crime!
But in fact, the youngest beast tamer in the Divine Moon Empire awakened his beast form when he was only nine years old. The latest one awakened his beast form when he was almost twenty years old. The former was Sheng Xiao, the number one genius of the Sheng family. The latter was Prosperous Capital’s leader, Lu Yubei.
Since then, the Divine Moon Empire had relaxed its policy and allowed everyone under the age of 20 to undergo a beast form test every year.
Thus, Yu Huang, who was already 18 years old, could at most partic.i.p.ate in two more rounds of tests.