Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-36

Chen Chang Sheng stood up, looked at the teacher from the Heavenly Academy, remaining wordless. Luo Luo was very angry, but she saw that he did not speak, so she could only remain silent as well – since master did not speak or suggest anything, as his student, she should not do anything on her own.

The man who stood by the library said two very rude and seemingly meaningless sentences. But upon hearing the words “Ivy Festival,” Chen Chang Sheng recalled what Tang Thirty Six had said. He understood the implications of the festival.

He never realized that the Ivy Festival was related to him because he, like many others, forgot that the Tradition Academy was one of the Six Ivies. However it was obvious that not the entire world forgot about this fact, especially after he joined the Tradition Academy.

Chen Chang Sheng looked toward the middle-aged man who was wearing a robe. He was standing next to the teacher of the Heavenly Academy. Chen Chang Sheng recognized the teacher. He was Officer Xin from the Department of Traditional Education. Although they had not seen each other in a long time, the officer was responsible for the rebuilding of the Tradition Academy in the recent days.

Officer Xin sensed his sight and nodded back, but he looked somewhat embarrassed.

He looked towards the teacher from the Heavenly Academy and said, “Before the Tradition Academy didn’t have any students so it obviously didn’t have to participate. Now that it has a student, it should participate in the Ivy Festival. Both the government and the Tradition already permitted its entry. Mr. Peng, please finish your work and leave.”

The Heavenly Academy was the most important school of the Tradition in the recent years. It had a very high status and therefore, the teachers from the Heavenly Academy possessed high statuses. He was simply a Officer in the Department of Traditional Education. If under different circumstances, seeing the teacher behave in such way, Officer Xin would definitely follow up. But in this case…he understood it more clearly than anyone else. The seemingly normal youngster only had hints of a very strong background, how dare would he offend the teacher. Therefore, he had to try his best to find a compromise between the two.

“Are you sure you want such useless trash to participate in the Ivy Festival?” The teacher whose last name was Peng said coldly.

Officer Xin said helplessly, “This is the rule. I can’t do anything about it, can’t I?”

“Rule? Everything needs rules? Then let me talk about some rules!”

The teacher from the Heavenly Academy laughed contemptuously and said, “According to the rules in the previous years, the Ivy Festival modeled the format of the Great Trial. There were two types, civil and military. Two students from each school each have to pick a test to take. Now, this broken school only had this trash, how will it participate?”

Officer Xin was wordless, recalling that the Ivy Festival actually had this rule. Before he came, he was solely focused on how to come up with a compromise between the teacher and Chen Chang Sheng. He had completely forgotten about this. He felt a little anxious, thinking to himself, why didn’t you[Mr. Peng] mention it before?

“In order to participate in the Ivy Festival, at least two students are required…now that there only one trash, how do you want me to give them permission to participate?”

The teacher from the Heavenly Academy said expressionlessly, his voice was filled with contempt, “Officer, do you really think I come here because I can’t resist the pressure from the Department of the Traditional Education? No, I simply want to come and see how long the joke of the Tradition Academy will make me laugh!”

He stood at the door of the library, looked at the silent school which still had some broken places after the repair and sighed coldly, “The Tradition Academy…..back then it had such great fame! But now? It’s simply a dead graveyard!”

“No matter how much you repair it, this is still a graveyard!”

The Heavenly Academy teacher’s voice got colder and colder, “Recently, there is a rumor in the capital saying that the Pope is going to revitalize the Tradition Academy. Not to mention how crazy this rumor is, but even if it’s real, you still have to consider the voice of the elders!”

He turned around and looked at Chen Chang Sheng. There was fire burning in his eyes as he yelled, “I just want to tell people, a rumor is just a rumor! The falling Tradition Academy is just a wasteland! Trash is just a trash! No one can restore this rubbish!”

The Tradition Academy was completely silent, behind the building there were wild grasses that were not entirely cleaned out. A deserted feeling spreaded.

Chen Chang Sheng looked silently at the teacher from the Heavenly Academy and suddenly took a step forward.

Useless trash….joke……garbage land…….graveyard.

These words were still flowing around the silent library.

He did not know why this teacher resented the Tradition Academy and him so much, yet he knew one thing – he was a student of the Tradition Academy — the only student. He did not live here for a long time, but because he was the only student, this entire Tradition Academy was his, the flowers, grasses, trees, bricks, stones, all were his. He worked to revitalize this place, he studied here quietly, here was his fairyland, not wasteland.

He did not like to get humiliated by others and more so, he did not like it when others humiliate the Tradition Academy.

He recalled the humiliation he encountered after arriving at the capital, recalled Shuang Er who had just left and decided to do something.

“I will participate in the Ivy Festival.” he said.

He looked at the teacher from the Heavenly Academy and said, “I don’t know why you have to have such a big resentment against me and my school, but if you want to prevent me from going to the Ivy Festival, I can tell you that you will not succeed because of your impolite attitude.”

The teacher from the Heavenly Academy said coldly, “In order to participate in the Ivy Festival, you need two students, or …two trashes. Even if you are dare to participate, I can tell you that you will not succeed because in the entire continent, there won’t be anyone, besides an idiot like you, that is willing to go to the Tradition Academy.”

Officer Xin did not say anything, but he knew that the teacher’s words were true, no one would dare go to the Tradition Academy. Chen Chang Sheng was probably placed here by someone of very high status or he was responsible to something. There won’t be another person like him.

The library was very silent.

Chen Chang Sheng looked at the black and bright floor and suddenly asked, “Do you still insist?”

An immature but determined voice came up, “I insist.”

“I can’t teach you much.”

“You already taught me a lot.”

“As a student of the Tradition Academy, you probably will face a lot of hate from others.”

“Master, I am very good at contempting others.”

“You probably…will have to bare a lot of humiliation.”

“Master, no one dares to humiliate me.”

This conversation was over.

Chen Chang Sheng smiled, looked at the side and said, “I still don’t know your name.”

Luo Luo’s eyes were extremely bright, her left hand tightly grabbed to his sleeve. She was very worried that he would regret his decision and said, “Master, my name is Luo Heng.”

Chen Chang Sheng held her left hand, then looked at the teacher from the Heavenly Academy, “You see, now we are two people.”

Luo Luo felt a bit shy, leaned on his right arm and repeated like a parrot, “We are two people.”

Officer Xin was dazed.

The teacher from the Heavenly Academy became extremely angry and yelled in disbelief, “How dare you! How will such a broken place get another student! Who do you think who you are! You think just because you say she is a student here, she is?!”

Chen Chang Sheng ignored him. He indicate to Luo Luo to take out a roster, a brush and ink.

He wrote Luo Luo’s name on the roster very seriously.

Luo Luo lifted up the document and turned it towards the sun. She breathed in air and blew on the document very hard to dry it up quickly.

Under the sunlight, the roster shined very clearly. There were only two names, but two names were enough.

“I have the roster. Anyone can be the Tradition Academy’s student, as long as I write their names up.”

Chen Chang Sheng pointed to the roster, looked at the Heavenly Academy teacher and said, “Even if you are the Pope, you still can’t change this fact.”

——————————————-

Officer Xin quickly tried to smooth out the situation and speak soft words into the ears of the teacher of the Heavenly Academy, however, at the same time, Xin also requested him to give Chen Chang Sheng and Luo Luo permission to join the Ivy Festival. The teacher fell silent for a long time, and finally left a stamp on the scroll for Officer Xin.

But the business was not finished yet.

The teacher looked at Chen Chang Sheng and Luo Luo and said expressionlessly, “The students who passed the Semi Trial are permitted to join the Festival of Ivies. Many of them are from different places all over the continent. Garbage like you are trying to join as well, are you trying to put shame on the Zhou Dynasty?”

Chen Chang Sheng thought for a moment and was ready to say something.

Just this moment, Luo Luo pulled on his sleeve and asked shyly, “Master, can I say something?”

Chen Chang Sheng said, “You are now a student of the Tradition Academy, of course you can.”

Luo Luo looked at the teacher of the Heavenly Academy and asked seriously, “But, what does it have to do with you?”

The teacher of the Heavenly Academy wasn’t a teacher of the Tradition Academy, how was he qualified to teach the students of the Tradition Academy? Luo Luo looked like a young girl of eleven or twelve years old. She spoke boldly and her words were naive, but her question has pointed out the problem directly. The teacher heard this and was stunned, although he was at the brink of his angry, he didn’t know how to reply.

“Good! Good! Good!”

He was so angry that he started laughing and then yelled coldly, “I’ll just see how the Tradition Academy will try to reestablish itself! When the Ivy Festival arrives and garbage like you from a ruined academy are shamed by the public and the entire world, don’t blame me because I have warned you!”

After saying this, he left the building quickly.

Officer Xin didn’t leave with him. He walked into the library and explained to Chen Chang Sheng in a low voice.

Chen Chang Sheng now knew that the Ivy Festival was planned by one of the Six Ivies each year and this year it was Heavenly Academy’s turn. Since Traditional Academy didn’t join the Ivy Festival for many years due to lack of students, it was gradually forgotten by everyone. But this year’s situation was different. Of course, it wasn’t the reason that the teacher of the Heavenly Academy was so angry and had such a bad attitude. The true reason was due to a certain rule of the Zhou Dynasty.

In that law, if an academy was unable to successfully recruit a student, its teaching certificate would be abolished and the school would shut down entirely. The Tradition Academy didn’t recruit any students for many years and if it still didn’t obtain any new students this year, then it would silently disappear into history. But who knew…right at the last year, the Tradition Academy got a student named Chen Chang Sheng.

“Just because of this?” Chen Chang Sheng asked.

Officer Xin was silent, “That year when the incident occurred in the Tradition Academy, three of Professor Peng’s seniors died here.

Chen Chang Sheng was silent. He thought that if he were Professor Peng, he would for sure want the Tradition Academy to be shut down and disappear forever and his attitude towards the student who appeared out of nowhere and changed the destiny of the Tradition Academy wouldn’t be too good either. He would love for the student to leave and shut down the school.

“But don’t think about it too much. You don’t have to participate in the Ivy Festival, and Professor Peng and the likes couldn’t bother you either.”

Officer Xin comforted Chen Chang Sheng and looked at Luo Luo who was standing beside him quietly, then laughed and patted on his shoulder, “You are good.”

—————————————

Luo Luo didn’t understand this comment, neither did Chen Chang Sheng.

Both of them was only fourteen years old, and Chen Chang Sheng still thought Luo Luo was a little girl of eleven or twelve years old.

Chen Chang Sheng looked at Luo Luo’s face and hesitated. It wasn’t until this moment did he notice that this little girl was really pretty.

Luo Luo grabbed his sleeve and said, “Master, you can’t regret now.”

Chen Chang Sheng scratched his head reluctantly and thought for a long while, finally said a word, “You….ate?”

Luo Luo opened her wide eyes and was confused, “Didn’t I eat dumplings with Master in the morning?”

“Yes……but it’s noon now.”

Chen Chang Sheng looked outside of the window and said, “It’s time for lunch.”

Luo Luo heard this and her hands came together before her and she bowed, “I’ll make lunch for Master.”

“Go buy something to eat.” Chen Chang Sheng replied.

Luo Luo asked, “Dumplings?”

Chen Chang Sheng thought for a moment and said, “There is a noodle shop beside the dumpling shop on this street. It doesn’t taste too bad. Also, don’t add too much bean sprouts, add more noodles.”

Luo Luo ran out and laughed all the way, her hair was flowing in the air.

Sitting on the wall, Officer Jin and Officer Li looked at each other.

“This is fine?”

“I think so.”

——————————————-

After eating noodles, it was afternoon. The spring wind’s fragrance made people both drunk and sleepy.

Chen Chang Sheng looked at Luo Luo and said, “Sorry, I only knew your name today.”

Luo Luo smiled and didn’t say anything.

“Take the Night Pearl and other things back, I really can’t accept them.

“Master, are you regretting about this again?”

“Of course……not.”

“Then…….how could you decline the gifts of a student.”

“Didn’t you buy a bowl of noodles before?“

Luo Luo’s face turned serious and she lifted her dress lightly, then slowly kneeled on the hardwood floor.

Chen Chang Sheng was silent for a moment. He bowed towards the direction of Xi Ning Village and then gestured toward Luo Luo.

The scene of spring was bright and the lake was as calm as a mirror. Rarely, a breeze blew through and around the shelf and hair of people.

Chen Chang Sheng straightened his back and lifted her up.

Luo Luo said, “Thank you.”

Chen Chang Sheng didn’t know what to say, he thought for a while and also said, “Thank you.”