Chapter 9

Xun Yi stood in the shade, studying the Maolin Sword Technique with Bai Fu. Liu Zhenying ran over, panting, "Are you okay? Do you need me to get you some medicine?"

"What could happen to me?" Xun Yi came to his senses, looking at the tall, muscular man in martial attire, who was drenched in sweat. The sun cast a shadow that perfectly covered Xun Yi.

Hmm, he’s exactly the type of guy the girls like.

"Relax, I was just thinking. You came at the right time, help me out." As he spoke, Xun Yi led him away.

"Hey, at least let Master Wang know."

Xun Yi casually gestured and mouthed something to the lecturer from a distance.

The lecturer nodded, allowing the two class leaders to come and go as they pleased.

"Master Wang, isn’t Xun Yi too idle?" A big boy, unable to bear the training, sat on the ground, panting. "He just took our class leader away, and you don’t say anything? Favoritism isn’t like this."

Master Wang glanced at him. "When you can defeat me, you can also rest whenever you want. As for Liu Zhenying, Xun Yi will teach him swordsmanship later. Why do I need to do it?"

Even he envied Liu Zhenying’s luck. The Maolin Sword Technique is a famous martial art in the Great Zhou. When can I learn even a fraction of it?

The Maolin Sword Technique is renowned far and wide. Even Xun Yi, with his sword skills, can defeat a martial arts master in ten moves. Although he has only taught Liu Zhenying two moves, it has already put him ahead of his classmates in swordsmanship.

"Besides, Xun Yi’s health isn’t good, and the imperial examinations are about to start. He needs to prepare for the special exams, so he can temporarily pause his martial arts classes." After explaining, Master Wang’s expression suddenly changed, and he sternly said, "Who told you to stop! Since you’re not practicing swordsmanship, practice basic chopping. Each of you, swing your swords three thousand times. Class A and Class B, face each other and count! No one leaves until it’s done!"

In the distance, Xun Yi pulled Liu Zhenying away. Before leaving, he saw the classmates start swinging their swords, smiling brightly and waving from afar, "Take your time." Watching others practice under the sun while he rested comfortably, he felt incredibly relaxed.

"Too bad the sun isn’t strong enough. If it were the dog days of summer, I could drink iced tea and watch them sweat under the sun. That would be truly refreshing." Xun Yi subconsciously looked up at the sky: Come to think of it, it hasn’t rained in May this year. The weather is hot, and the rain is scarce. This seems a bit unusual. It will affect the crop yield, and the farmers will have a hard time. Should we reduce the rent for our tenant farmers by one-tenth?

Xun Yi pondered the bright days his family rented out, vaguely connecting some dots, but quickly dismissed them, deliberately slowing down to lead Liu Zhenying away, enduring various envious and resentful gazes.

The privilege of a good student! The sword practitioners looked at each other, helpless, and obediently swung their wooden swords, counting one by one.

"What a twisted sense of humor." Liu Zhenying kept shaking his head, suddenly catching a glimpse of the evil god pens in Xun Yi’s hand.

"Has Jun De already given them to you?"

"What?"

"Isn’t the red wolf hair in your hand from Li Jun De? Didn’t he say he deliberately found these blessed pens for you because you’re preparing for the imperial examinations?"

"You know about it?" Xun Yi was taken aback. "Where do these pens come from?" It turns out the information was right here?

"These pens are very popular recently. You’ve been busy preparing for the special exams and haven’t noticed. Many students in the academy are using these pens to study. They say the pens contain herbs that can invigorate the brain and clear the mind. I remember Yan Bao has one too."

Yan Bao, who happened to be on sick leave today. Xun Yi suddenly had a hunch. Could it be because of the effect of the evil god pens?

"This morning, Zhang Yuqi lost one of these pens too." Liu Zhenying seemed to recall something and added.

"Oh... then this is getting interesting." Xun Yi stroked his chin, thinking as he walked.

From this, it seems the evil god pens have already taken root around me. It makes sense, as many people in the academy are preparing for the imperial examinations. It’s understandable that they seek divine protection for peace of mind.

Liu Zhenying saw Xun Yi deep in thought and silently followed him. When Liu Zhenying saw the wall Xun Yi was leading him to, he had a bad feeling: "Wait, where are you taking me? On the other side, isn’t it the girls’ academy?"

"So what if it’s the girls’ academy?" Xun Yi was indifferent, not showing any fear. "Give me a hand, help me up."

"Go to the girls’ academy and get caught by those female teachers, and you’ll be dead!" Liu Jun De was terrified of the female teachers, who were all highly skilled in martial arts. Even Xun Yi might not be able to handle them. If they get caught, the whole academy will be notified, and the two class leaders sneaking into the girls’ academy will be a death sentence!

"Don’t be afraid! I have strong luck, and I won’t run into those female teachers." Xun Yi patted his chest, guaranteeing it.

Indeed, Xun Yi’s luck was strong. It was as if he had divine protection. Whenever it was his turn to clean, he would play a coin toss with others and never lost. Thus, Xun Yi had hardly done any cleaning since he started school.

Liu Zhenying was half-believing: "Why are you going to the girls’ academy? What’s so important that you have to do it now?"

"There are people using these pens in the girls’ academy. I want to ask where they bought them." Xun Yi took advantage of Liu Zhenying’s hesitation, ran from a distance, and jumped onto Liu Zhenying’s shoulders, landing on the wall.

"Didn’t Li Jun De buy them for you?" Liu Zhenying said, but he also climbed up, following Xun Yi’s extended hand.

"Jun De doesn’t know these things. He must have asked someone to buy them. I want to order more, so I’ll go through the right channels." On the other side of the wall was a dense flower bed. The two hid in the flowers and looked around. "So it’s up to you. Your sister is in the girls’ academy. Ask her to help find out."

"They’re in class now. Why are we coming here? Besides, my sister took a few days off and hasn’t returned yet." Liu Zhenying lowered his voice, grabbing Xun Yi. "Let’s go back. We can wait for them at the gate after class."

"Then, you’ll have to sacrifice your charm to attract the girls in the girls’ academy. I hear you’re quite popular there, Liu Dajuren."

Liu Zhenying took the imperial examinations two years ago and became a juren. Moreover, he was mature for his age and was very popular in the girls’ academy.

"Why don’t you sacrifice yourself?"

"Me?" Xun Yi pointed at himself, eyes wide. "I have a fiancée! Why should I sacrifice myself?" He patted Liu Zhenying’s shoulder, feigning seriousness. "But you’re different, a fine young man in the prime of your youth. If we get caught, we’ll say you sneaked in to spy, and I tried to stop you but was dragged along. Don’t worry, I’ll plead for you! Given your popularity in the girls’ academy, I’m sure the girls won’t cause you trouble. They might even find you a good match. Then you won’t have to thank me as a matchmaker; just reduce the dowry by half."

"You always find me for no good!" Liu Zhenying’s lips curled into a bitter smile. Meeting this troublemaker was truly his bad luck.

Staring ahead, he slowly moved along the window: "Hey, it’s not too late to turn back."

"To the martial arts field." Xun Yi ignored Liu Zhenying’s advice, seeing no one around, he bent down and moved along the windows to the martial arts field.

"The martial arts field? Their martial arts field is right next to ours. Instead of going through the martial arts field, you run back to the school area and climb over the wall? Are you deliberately trying to get me in trouble!" Liu Zhenying cursed under his breath, following Xun Yi. At this moment, he could only rely on Xun Yi’s strong luck.

"Master, there are five in this classroom."

"This Class 4B has eight. There are many more evil god pens in the girls’ academy than in the boys’ academy!"

Xun Yi deliberately came to the school area to identify the locations.

"Is it because they like these blessed things more?" Xun Yi muttered to himself, making Bai Fu note the positions of the evil god pens and the girls’ appearances, then followed the path to the martial arts field.

Just as they reached the edge of the martial arts field, they saw two girls in red dresses resting.

"Such good luck!" Seeing one of the girls, Xun Yi was delighted. "Zhang Miao!" He whispered, plucking a leaf and flicking it to vibrate the nearby rose.

...

Zhang Miao and Hu Xiaoman were resting at the edge of the martial arts field.

Although the girls’ academy also had horseback riding and swordsmanship, more emphasis was placed on ball games, as long as they weren’t sickly. The current dynasty did not favor sickly beauties.

However, Hu Xiaoman had not been feeling well for the past two days, so Zhang Miao had taken a leave to accompany her.

Suddenly, the nearby rose moved. Zhang Miao looked around and saw Liu Zhenying waving at her from a corner. Liu Zhenying’s expression seemed somewhat helpless, and someone was hiding behind him, shaking his hand.

"Better you than me. If something goes wrong, you take the blame, and I’ll retreat!" Xun Yi whispered, shrinking further and escaping to a dead corner of the school area.

"Calling me brother now." Liu Zhenying was helpless, knowing his childhood friend’s nature well, but he also believed in his luck. Seeing Zhang Miao and Hu Xiaoman approaching, he led them to meet Xun Yi.

Xun Yi immediately asked about the origin of the red wolf hair pens.

Seeing the red wolf hair pens, Hu Xiaoman’s expression changed slightly, then returned to normal. She asked Zhang Miao as if it were a casual question, "I remember these are from the Wenqu Temple?"

"Not from the temple itself. It’s said that when Lan Ya went to the temple to pray for a blessed pen, she didn’t get one. But there were people selling these pens outside the temple, so she bought a few. Later, she found them effective, and they became popular in our girls’ academy. What, does Xun Dasha need this for his literary talent?"

"Better safe than sorry. These red wolf hair pens—"

"These pens are not called red wolf hair pens. Their original name is Luoru pens." Zhang Miao interrupted and corrected him.

"Luoru, a tree in the mountains. It looks like bamboo but has pods. It signifies literary fortune and the appearance of virtuous scholars." Liu Zhenying stroked his chin. "Luoru flowers?"

Xun Yi quickly asked, "Luoru flowers signify the literary fortune of the nation, and they are extremely rare. You say these pens are Luoru pens. Could they be related to the legendary sacred flowers of literary fortune?"

"They are said to be made from the branches of Luoru flowers."

"Branches?" Xun Yi sneered. "Luoru flowers look like green bamboo and are extremely rare. Using their trunks for pen handles isn’t easy. How many pens can one tree make? I see we have dozens in our academy. Could they have found a way to cultivate Luoru flowers? It’s just a gimmick, and some people believe it?"

Zhang Miao was unhappy with this: "Why wouldn’t people believe it? My brother bought a few pens and said they were good."

"Right, your brother’s pen was stolen today." Liu Zhenying quickly changed the subject.

"Stolen? How could he be so careless?" Zhang Miao was surprised. "He’s about to take the imperial examinations. Why did he lose it now?"

"Where can I find the pen seller? I’ll look for him later and bring a couple back if I can." Xun Yi asked for the location, seeing that the class was about to end, and quickly jumped back over the wall with Liu Zhenying.

"Take a leave for me this afternoon. I’ll go to the Wenqu Temple to check it out." Without waiting for Liu Zhenying’s response, Xun Yi did a backflip and jumped out of the academy.

Liu Zhenying hadn’t even had a chance to speak when he saw Xun Yi leave: "Too hasty? Why are you so interested in this today? You’ve never shown such interest before."

Liu Zhenying couldn’t understand and had to return to the academy to help Xun Yi with the accounts.

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Chapter 2! Please recommend! Mobile users, please visit http://m.piaotia.net

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