13

Chapter 13: “Returning to the Academy”

Early the next morning, Sima You Yue climbed onto the beast carriage that would bring her to the academy. This carriage was similar to those carriages in her past life, except that the ones pulling it were not horses but were Spirit Beasts.

Sima Lie had arranged a wolf carriage for Sima You Yue and standing before the carriage, were four majestic and magnificent Storm Wolves, every single one of them a fifth low-ranked beast.

Low-ranked spirit beasts, sought by many as a contract beast, however, it was used to pull a carriage for Sima You Yue instead. This had garnered a lot of attention as people could only smile wryly at this luxury.

“Fourth Brother, where’s Third Brother?” She could not help but ask as she looked around the massive carriage and saw that it was only the two of them that were seated in this spacious and comfortable carriage.

“Oh, he went out earlier to meet with his classmates to do a mission today, so he had left earlier before dawn.” He casually replied.

“Went out on a mission?” Sima You Yue asked in a surprised tone as she look wide eyed at her Brother, imploring him to explain further.

Sima You Le closed the book that he was reading as he looked up and patiently explained. “The Academy is not only a place for studying theory, it’s also a place to gain some experience. The Academy occasionally arranges some missions for students to accomplish. They have various missions catered to different levels and these missions are usually not too difficult. This time, he’s gone out for a field Mission so it would take him some time to complete it. I don’t think he will be back anytime soon.”

“That explains it…” Sima You Yue nodded with a satisfied expression, it seems life at the Academy won’t be so boring after all!

“I forgot to tell you last night that the Academy is holding their entrance selection for two days and it just started yesterday, so if you are interested you can go and have a look. I’ll be busy the entire morning as I’ve a prior engagement with my Master so I’m afraid that I do not have the time to accompany you. If you want to go and have a look, can you wait till after lunch? I can meet you then and we can have a look together.” Sima You Le said.

“Don’t worry so much, no need to trouble you, if you are busy don’t let me hold you up. If I’m interested, I can just head over on my own.” She shook her head and and refused.

She knew that her Brother was concerned about her and was worried that she’d be bored or someone may find trouble with her. But she could not rely on him all the time, at such an age, she was already old enough to be independent, moreover the soul was more mature than the body.

“Yue Er has really grown up!” Sima You Le could not help but looked at her warmly as he smiled in appreciation.

Cold sweat.

Sima You Le’s comment made her speechless, he was only three years older and yet the way he spoke was as if he was much older than her! She quickly cast her gaze outside the window to cover the awkwardness she felt. Outside, the street was hustling and bustling with activity, as Sima You Le had mentioned earlier, it was time for the selection for the Academy hence the capital was particularly lively this time of the year.

The wolf carriage brought them directly to the front gates of the Academy and Sima You Le brought her to her classroom and repeatedly nagged and fussed to make sure she had no problems before leaving.

The moment she entered the classroom, the was a moment of silence. The appearance of Sima You Yue made everyone stare in shock, seconds later, jeerings were heard as whistles and boos were thrown in the mix.

“Why is the trash in our classroom?”

“Haha, maybe he’s here to check out the freshman! I’ve heard that this year’s selection have quite a few handsome men!”

Another voice cried out in exaggeration.

Boisterous laughter filled the classroom as more voices chimed in.

“I’ve heard that he had harassed Murong An to the point that his followers almost killed him!”

“No wonder he’s been missing for so long, he was actually recuperating at home!”

“He should just kill himself! A useless trash that shames the entire family! Such a Grandfather is wasted on him.”

“……..”

Sima You Yue was calmly listening to all the insults thrown at her, as she silently swore in her heart, whoever spat those words at her, she would pay them back with interest. She made her way to an empty seat at the last row and turned to look out the window, completely ignoring those ignorant fools.

Thinking back, one couldn’t blame the previous Sima You Yue for her actions. Since she could not cultivate, she had naturally lost all interest in learning. She had no interest in studying as she could not cultivate. She liked handsome guys – she was after all a young girl, this was also understandable. However her obsession was a little excessive. However, looking at her prominent background, she didn’t misuse her identity and bullied others, unlike some other rich nobles who went around with their servants in tow whose past times were based around oppressing the poor and the weak.

Everyone around Sima You Yue continued their discussions until they saw that he had no response, the chatter slowly died out as the topics began to hover about the new freshmen in the selection trials.

However some gossip mongers couldn’t keep their mouths shut and continued digging out stories and the topic soon steered to how a complete trash could actually enter the Academy, making Sima You Yue the first trash that could actually enter its prestigious gates.

Along the beautiful lake, there were pavilions built along it and there was a group of youths discussing the matter on Sima You Yue appearance at the Academy.

“Murong, don’t tell me that trash is actually stalking you?” One of the youths asked Murong An who was the centre of attention.

Murong An indeed had a dashing appearance, if put into modern context, he would be a movie star that ranked amongst the top. Hearing what that youth said, Murong An couldn’t help but furrowed his brows.

“Yes, I think that it may be true, perhaps that waste couldn’t take it anymore and followed you to the Academy!”

The girl sitting beside Murong An was the very same one who had watched together with Murong An while Sima You Yue was being thrashed and beaten. When she heard that Sima You Yue was coming back to the academy, she could not help herself but ask: “Murong, what would you do if she continues to stick to you?”

Murong An clasped the girl’s hand in his and said: “Don’t worry, I will not give him the opportunity to do that.”

Sima You Yue had just been sitting in the classroom for a little while when she was summoned into Master Mu’s office. When she entered, she saw Master Mu sipping tea with a rather young, scholarly and elegant man. Dressed in a white long robe, that man gave people the feeling of being unapproachable and was a no nonsense kind of person.

Seeing her come in, Master Mu’s eyes almost dripped with disgust but his face very quickly changed into one full of smiles as he said: “Sima You Yue, this gentleman here is the teacher for the new first years, Feng Zhi Xing.”

Sima You Yue offered a greeting to Feng Zhi Xing. “Master Feng.”

Feng Zhi Xing turned to look at Sima You Yue, and there was not a single trace of disgust or displeasure on his face as he said: “You are Sima You Yue? Make sure you study diligently or Master will still punish you as well.”

Sima You Yue was getting rather confused by Feng Zhi Xing’s words and she looked in puzzlement at Feng Zhi Xing and Master Mu.

“Cough cough….. It’s like this. As you have never attended classes before, we considered the fact that you might not be able to keep up with the other students in your classes and I went to speak with the Headmaster about it. It so happens today is the selections for new students and I thought you should go learn together with the freshmen. That might be better for you. So, from now onwards, you will be Master Feng’s student.” Master Mu explained.

Sima You Yue looked at Master Mu’s deeply concerned face, and although he was trying his best to hide it, she could still detect that suppressed glint of joy in his eyes.

With a student who was the epitome of worthlessness in his class, Master Mu had always been utterly ashamed of that embarrassing fact. Now that he was finally able to be rid of her, his heart could not help but sing with joy. No one would understand just how disgraceful it was to have a completely worthless and utterly useless student like her! And only the Heavens knew from where the Headmaster managed to dig up a teacher that would accept a student like that!