Celestial Silver Spoon - Chapter 23

“Is that the security guard? Fighting with a student?” Ye Chen asked.

“No, it doesn’t seem like it. Let’s go check it out,” Yixuan said, quickening her pace to support Ye Chen as they headed towards Xie Wan and the others.

Unexpectedly, not only did this group fail to reach a verbal agreement, but they also ended up in a brawl. As soon as the fight broke out, the Shengze College building erupted in chaos! Someone saw what was happening and raised the alarm, setting off Shengze’s most sensitive nerves. However, it was still class time, so students couldn’t just leave their classrooms. The glint from their glasses reflecting the sky showed how eager they were to join in.

“Isn’t that Ms. Xie?” Ye Chen asked when they were within thirty meters of the crowd.

“Yes, and it seems like those are students from the school,” Yixuan said, frowning.

“Everyone stop!” Ye Chen shouted. Xie Wan and the security guard paused in surprise, but the groups kept fighting. Ye Chen was shocked; even the students from the school weren’t listening to him.

Ye Chen and Yixuan moved closer to the crowd.

“Stop it!” Ye Chen broke free from Yixuan’s grasp and stumbled forward, grabbing the arm of someone wearing a school uniform and yelling. That person swung a punch at Ye Chen’s eye, causing him to duck quickly. The sudden movement brought a sharp pain to his stomach, and he fell to the ground crouching.

“Are you okay, Ye Chen?” Yixuan ran over and helped him up. Ye Chen rose to his feet, took a few steps back, and said to Yixuan, “It seems they might not be students from the school.” Hearing this, Yixuan looked at the fighting crowd more closely and said, “They… they’re…”

“What about them?” Ye Chen asked, noticing the strange expression on Yixuan’s face.

“They’re the same group I saw this morning,” Yixuan said, tightening her grip on Ye Chen to prevent him from rushing forward to join the fight.

As Ye Chen and Yixuan were talking, Xie Wan was thrown to the ground again.

“Stop it!” Ye Chen reached out with his left hand to grab the tall boy’s arm. The tall boy swung back, aiming to hit Ye Chen, but Yixuan quickly pulled Ye Chen aside, causing the boy’s hand to swing towards Yixuan’s face.

Yixuan closed her eyes as the tall boy’s hand came at her.

“Ah!…” After a scream, both sides stopped fighting. They looked at Yixuan, whose face had no trace of being hit, but the tall boy was nowhere to be seen.

The handsome boy looked at Ye Chen, feeling as if he had seen him before, yet not quite recognizing him. After all, photos often differ from reality, and who knows when the photos they had were taken.

As the scream faded, a golden light retracted into Yixuan’s hair. It turned out the light was emitted by the Qilin hairpin in Yixuan’s hair, and the tall boy must have been struck by the energy it released.

“Xixia, are you okay?” Ten meters away, a person leaned against a flagpole, dumbfounded, his veins bulging with blood, making his face flush red. Xike shifted his gaze from Ye Chen and ran towards the tall boy.

“Not okay… definitely not…” The tall boy slowly turned his head to look at the handsome boy, then awkwardly collapsed to the ground like a robot.

“Ah! What’s wrong with him?” Yixuan exclaimed in surprise upon witnessing this.

At that moment, Ye Chen, along with Xie Wan, the crooked-faced security guard and others, seemed like they were dreaming, standing in bewildered silence.

“Hey!…”

“…Oh…”

“I’m asking you a question, what’s going on!” Yixuan shook Ye Chen’s arm.

“I can’t reveal any secrets!” Ye Chen quivered as he looked at Yixuan, half-joking, half-serious.

“Goodness! How could I be confused in broad daylight?” The crooked-faced security guard stood still for a moment, removed his large cap with his right hand, and wiped the sweat off his face with his elbow, baffled.

With June approaching, the sun in the sky spewed scorching rays onto the earth. The sky seemed devoid of clouds, excessively clear. Shengze College basked in the slightly searing sunlight, appearing quite composed.

“What exactly are you here for?” Xie Wan pressed, taking advantage of the situation.

“What we’re here for is none of your business!” a slightly darker-skinned boy standing next to the handsome boy shot back as he pinched the tall boy’s philtrum.

“You…” Xie Wan was at a loss for words. She tapped the crooked-faced security guard, who was overwhelmed and nearly stumbled to the ground. He straightened up and said, “Kid! Do you think Shengze College is a place you can come and go as you please? Haven’t you checked Baidu? The security of Shengze College is famous! Do you know where we graduated from? We graduated from Jiushan Yun Temple!” He put his cap back on, swaying a bit to show off, “Actually… we’re lay disciples of Jiushan Yun Temple!”

Listening to the first part, Xie Wan felt confident. But by the end, she was exasperated and placed her hand on her forehead.

However, upon hearing that the crooked-faced security guard claimed to be a lay disciple from Jiushan Yun Temple, the eyes of the dozen or so people lit up, only to darken again. They recalled that the guard had only managed a few cat-and-mouse moves during the scuffle. Besides, the reputation of Shengze College wasn’t established solely by them.

“What, you don’t believe me?”

“Brother, pleased to meet you! From Jiushan Yun Temple, huh? What’s your generation¹? Fu or Hui?” The chubby boy teased the crooked-faced security guard again.

Standing to the side, Ye Chen listened intently to both conversations while Xie Wan thought to herself, “Go ahead and keep bluffing.”

“Uh… I am… I’m from the Hui generation!”

Upon hearing the security guard claim to be from the Hui generation, the chubby boy clasped his hands and said, “Amitabha! Well, well. Just to let you know, it’s said that monks of the Hui generation from Jiushan Yun Temple lived about 1,200 years ago during the early period of the Tang Dynasty². Do you know Patriarch Huineng?” Clearly, this chubby boy was well-informed. Seeing no response from the security guard, he added, “Brother, you’ve lived for over 1,200 years. Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”

The crooked-faced security guard, missing the point entirely, replied absentmindedly, “Had enough, had enough…”

The chubby boy was delighted to hear the security guard’s answer, clearly mastering the art of leading someone into a verbal trap.

Xie Wan, Yixuan, and the four other security guards listened to the crooked-faced security guard lament that he’d had enough of life. They thought he was totally ridiculous!

“Boss! Aren’t you just in your thirties? How can you say you’ve had enough? Aren’t you going to get married?” said one of the security guards with a face full of acne as he walked up to the crooked-faced guard.

“Yeah… you brat! You tricked me!” The crooked-faced security guard finally realized he’d been played by the chubby boy, and he was furious! It reminded him of something a girl he pursued ten years ago had said: “Big Bear, do you know how bears die?” Finally, after ten years, he realized the answer: bears die of stupidity! Overcome with a mix of anger and sadness, he squatted down and started crying loudly.

Perhaps he was reminded of the three roses he had given his girlfriend when she was in college. The number three sounded like “scatter” in Chinese, yet he still held the roses confidently and proclaimed, “I love you; I’ll wait for you to come back!” His girlfriend replied with the infamous line, “Big Bear, do you know how bears die?” Big Bear shook his head, and she took the roses, left in tears, and didn’t return for ten years…

Everyone present was astonished by the scene: this couldn’t be real, could it?

“Brother, take heart! That person passed away over a thousand years ago; crying won’t help now.” The chubby boy’s sarcastic remark made the crooked-faced guard cry even harder.

“Sigh… Men don’t cry easily, only when they’re truly heartbroken! Captain, you should get up!” The acne-faced guard sighed, leaning down to help him up. Suddenly, the crooked-faced guard sprang to his feet, stopping his tears abruptly.

Everyone was again amazed: this was over the top!

“Kid! I’m sending you to reincarnation today!” shouted the crooked-faced guard, swinging his stun baton at the chubby boy. The chubby boy managed to backflip twice to dodge, breaking out in a cold sweat from the scare.

“Seriously? What did I even do?” the chubby boy asked himself, horrified, as he watched the spirited crooked-faced guard.

People often make mistakes inadvertently. A careless action, a casual look, or an unintended word can sometimes lead to dire consequences. And when those consequences come, they come with great force.

The crooked-faced security guard was in hot pursuit of the chubby boy inside the school, while Xie Wan, feeling helpless, made her way over to Liu Zixu’s car.

“Mr. Xing, why hasn’t Xie Wan returned yet?” Liu Zixu asked, her head resting on a small pillow on the seat, her eyes slightly opening, indicating she had probably taken a nap.

“Just… oh… she’s coming back,” Mr. Xing replied, initially wanting to tell Liu Zixu about the recent events but refraining, considering her still recovering health.

However, just as Xie Wan was halfway to the car, she turned back and ran toward them.

“Ye Chen, let’s go to the car. The miss has returned,” Xie Wan said to Ye Chen.

“Miss? You mean Madam President? Isn’t she still recovering from her injuries?” Ye Chen asked with urgency.

“Yeah, Xie-Jie³, weren’t you guys in the hospital just yesterday? How come you’re back already?” Yixuan supported Ye Chen as she spoke.

“Ye Chen! Ye Chen! Did you say his name is Ye Chen?” The handsome boy’s ears were sharp enough to catch Xie Wan’s deliberately lowered voice.

The handsome boy set aside the now-awake tall boy and strode toward Xie Wan.

“What do you want!” Yixuan boldly stood in front of Ye Chen, glaring at the handsome boy. The bell of Shengze College chimed, marking noon. The scene below the vast sky laid bare everything-whether it was firm attributes or kind nature, picturesque scenery or unpredictable human nature, everything was exposed in the clear daylight.

“Greetings to my senior brother! I’m here on behalf of Senior Uncle Zichen!” The handsome boy clasped his hands in salute.

“Senior Uncle Zichen? What about our master? What about him?” Ye Chen asked anxiously.

“Our master… he was murdered a year ago,” the handsome boy said hesitantly.

“What? What? Master was killed? Who dared to do such a thing? Tell me, tell me now!” Ye Chen was visibly shaken, grabbing the handsome boy’s shoulders and shaking him as he shouted.

“Calm down, Ye Chen. Let him explain slowly,” Yixuan said as she tugged at Ye Chen’s arm, trying to pull him away from the handsome boy.

Ye Chen’s arms fell to his sides, and he stared blankly for a moment before blinking, glancing at Yixuan. His throat moved as if he wanted to speak, but he was choked with emotion.

“Senior brother, Senior Uncle Zichen saw the news about Shengze College on TV and sent us here. We should have arrived sooner, but the train was delayed by a landslide in Tiangu Province. Are you alright? We heard you were injured,” the handsome boy said quickly.

Footnote:

1. Generation(辈分):In certain Chinese traditions, this term refers to a naming convention used in martial arts schools, religious sects, or familial lineages. Members of the same generation share a common character in their names, indicating their rank or seniority within the organization or family.
2. The Early Period of the Tang Dynasty(初唐时期): The Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) was one of China’s most prosperous and culturally significant periods, with its early period traditionally considered as the reigns of Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong, spanning from 618 to around 649 AD.
3. -Jie(-姐):In Chinese culture, using “xx姐” (pronounced as “xx jie”) to address someone is quite common, especially in Mainland China and other Chinese-speaking communities. The term “jie” means “older sister” and, when used in this context, typically carries a sense of affection and friendliness. It indicates respect and amiability towards the person, similar to calling someone “sis” or “big sister” in English.