Cherishing You As Always - Chapter 19

Although I had deep questions in my heart, I wasn’t in a hurry to ask. There was plenty of time, and I didn’t have to worry about not getting answers eventually.

As I entered the academy hall, just as I had expected, everything seemed to come to a halt. Every move the academician made pulled at the hearts of many students. He walked to where the teacher was standing and then said to everyone:

“This is our new student, Song Lanlou. From today onward, she is an official student of Lingyun Academy.”

An ordinary-looking, short, and stocky old man, wearing the same attire as the female teacher I saw the other day, stood to the side. He then said, “Oh. So, a new student.”

The academician smiled slightly and pointed to the old man, saying to me, “This is Teacher Zhou Yun. Lanlou, this is the most senior teacher in our academy.”

I quickly bowed to the old teacher. “Student Song Lanlou greets Teacher.”

Unlike the female teacher from before, no one dared to move or make a sound during this old teacher’s class. The whole hall was so quiet you could almost hear the heartbeat. Though I didn’t like teachers much, this old teacher gave off a kind of pressure that made one uneasy.

The old teacher didn’t even smile and spoke plainly, “You’re late on your first day, Song Lanlou. Although it’s your first offense, I always judge by actions, not excuses. Let’s do this since you’re new, your punishment is to copy the Standards for Being a Good Student and Child once. Tomorrow, when I give my lecture again, hand it in. If not, copy the Four Books.”

My heart trembled. Father, what kind of wonderful academy did you find for your daughter? I hadn’t even sat down yet and was already being punished with copywork… this…

Didn’t Zihui say being late today would be fine? How come I still have to copy stuff? I hate writing with those soft, floppy brushes. It’s so hard!

In my mind, Father’s stern, hell-king face popped up again. It was as if I could hear him say, “If you don’t listen to your teachers, you have two choices  one, get out of the house; two, marry into the frontier.”

Oh no. I definitely don’t want either of those. So I quickly responded, “I dare not disobey the teacher’s orders…”

The academician stood awkwardly to the side, seeming a little guilty. After all, he was the one who said I could be late he didn’t expect I’d still be punished.

I didn’t even look at him. Forget it. Punishment is punishment. Who’s afraid of whom? Just don’t let me find any of your weaknesses, teacher. If I do, punishing me won’t be so easy.

The old teacher gave a slight smile, seemingly having a better impression of me now. Obedient students are easier to teach.

The academician finally bowed his head and pointed to the desk near the third door. “Song Lanlou, sit over there.”

I quickly bowed to him, showing off my flawless model-student demeanor. “Thank you, Academician.”

But my eyes had already killed him several times. Seeing my fierce gaze, he awkwardly looked away.

As for the old teacher, even this young academician had to show him some respect. Naturally, my status couldn’t compare, so I had to endure the injustice.

I gave a small huff and walked to my seat. As I passed each student and finally sat down, I turned my head  and saw Yin Yunchi sitting next to me?

No way such a coincidence? I quickly rubbed my eyes, then clearly looked at the person beside me.

She had her head down, wanting to peek at me but didn’t dare to. Lips pursed slightly, clearly nervous  who else could it be but her?

The academician then smoothly went into a speech about how everyone should help each other, not bully the weak, not abuse power, and so on just a bunch of clichés.

Holding my new textbook, I wasn’t moved by these tired old phrases. My mind was on my own matters. With just a glance, I could see her.

I really wanted to ask that brainless academician whether it was on purpose or coincidence that I ended up sitting next to her.

Lost in confusion, the first lesson came to an end. The morning classes were over, but it wasn’t quite noon yet.

Most of the students had scattered. I followed the flow of people outside and stood for a while in the courtyard, watching them play childish games like kids who hadn’t grown up.

So, I walked back into the hall. Before I even entered, I saw a thin figure inside moving back and forth seemingly busy with something. Who would be in the hall when no one else was around? Could it be a thief?

I quickly stepped in, and before the person noticed me, I shouted loudly, “Who dares sneak around here?!”

My shout clearly startled the figure. Her small body trembled, and she slowly turned around. A not so beautiful face appeared.

“Yin… Yin… Yunchi?”

I was stunned. What was she doing here? Stealing?

When she saw it was me, she stopped trembling and slowly patted her chest, clearly frightened by my sudden outburst. She softly said, “Miss Song, you startled me.”

Of course I knew I startled her. I scratched my head and walked back to my seat, replying, “Sorry, I thought someone was sneaking around. Didn’t expect it to be you.”

She saw me sitting without moving and continued her work carefully organizing the books on each desk and wiping off ink stains with a cloth. Watching how seriously she did these tasks, I wasn’t sure if I should interrupt her. Then I remembered I still had that copywork to finish. So I quickly spread out some paper, ground ink, and took out a copy of Standards for Being a Good Student and Child to start copying.

“Ugh. I hate calligraphy brushes.”

My writing got uglier as I went. The brush in my hand just didn’t feel right, and I had no idea how to make the characters look good. It started off okay, but got thicker and more distorted as I went. I gritted my teeth and cursed under my breath.

Frustrated, I threw the brush far away and angrily crumpled the messed up paper into a ball and tossed it. The inkstone almost tipped over from my flailing. I quickly reached to stop it, only to spill ink all over my hands and sleeves disaster after disaster.

Annoyed, I wiped my hands with some paper, then grumpily asked the girl who was picking up my brush for me, “Hey. Is there any water nearby? I need to wash my sleeve.”

Seeing how flustered I was, Yin Yunchi gave a soft laugh. She placed the brush back on the inkstone and said, “Just because your handwriting is bad, doesn’t mean you can throw things around. Look at you, spilling ink everywhere. You’re so careless.”

Her slightly reproachful eyes and tone carried a trace of girlish playfulness. That gentle voice brought a kind of warmth to the heart making it easy to forget that she was actually scolding me. If it were Zihui saying those things, I’d definitely talk back. But this girl in front of me  I just couldn’t argue.

So I stupidly said, “Well… I got upset and lost my head. Sorry for the trouble.”

Since when have I ever apologized to someone like this? And over something so small? I must be going crazy.