Chi Jingxi was Marquis An Huai’s first wife^[1]TL’s note: Polygamy was practiced among Ancient Chinese noblemen to increase the chance of producing a male heir. A nobleman’s first wife had to come from a family of equal status. If she … Continue reading ‘s son. He was the fifth born child. But because he was the third son, he was called Chi Sanshao, which meant the third young master.

His father was the Ten Thousand Households Marquis^[2]TL’s note: ten thousand households had to pay special taxes to him in charge of Huai Nan Province. His mother was the first wife’s daughter of a high-ranking official in the Imperial court. His sister, who shared the same mother, was now the wife of the designated heir to the imperial throne. His family and background were indeed unparalleled in Chao Ge city.

Not to mention that he was the Little Marquis the current Emperor chose to honor by granting him a name and a title. 

Chi Jingxi had two older brothers and a younger brother. As a family tradition, their first names should include a character from 伯(Bo) 仲(Zhong) 叔(Shu) 季(Ji), but he was the exception.

It was said that when he was born, Marquis An Huai was attending an imperial banquet celebrating the new year. When the news reached him in the Imperial Palace, Marquis requested the Emperor’s permission to leave for home.

No one expected an Imperial Order would follow him to the Marquis’s mansion the second day, granting his newborn son a name chosen by the Emperor.

Marquis An Huai led his whole family to kneel down and received the Imperial order hurriedly. Hence, The name Chi Shuyuan was changed to Chi Jingxi.

The news that the Emperor had granted a name to the Marquis’s newborn son was soon circulating throughout Chao Ge City by the afternoon.

A Name granted by the Emperor was a heavenly honor second to none. The people of the Chao Ge City, whether lowborn commoners or highborn officials, were equally shocked that his granted name included a character 京(Jing) from the dynasty name.

Born with this unique honor, he was raised and doted on under the favorable attention of the entire household and outside world. It was well known that the Emperor favored him. His presence was often requested in the Imperial court, so the Emperor could check on his academic progress. And he was a frequent guest on imperial hunting trips or any activities that include the imperial princes.

When he reached fifteen, the Emperor again issued an imperial order, permitting Chi Jingxi to inherit his family’s Marquis rank. Henceforth, he was the youngest Marquis, unprecedented in the history of the Shao Jing Dynasty.

This Chi Jingxi was not only the main male character’s rival in love but also the number one villain in this novel, a detail that was still fresh in Wen Yantong’s memory.

The main male character was an imperial prince. In the struggle for the imperial throne, his rivals would all meet bad ends.

Even the Marquis An Huai, who had bathed in the imperial favor for half his life, didn’t survive this war of succession. Chi Jingxi was the sole surviving member of his household and became the main obstacle in the main male character’s path to final glory.

In the end, he planned to set fire to Chao Ge city. In the process, one of his subordinates betrayed him, and his force was ambushed. He fought to the bitter end, killed by several arrows piercing his armor.

He failed to win the main female character’s favor in his rivalry with the main male character and lost to the same man in the war of succession.

But he was still a successful villain. After all, he was the hero’s nightmare. The hero went to great lengths to secure his downfall, and before achieving this, a great deal of blood was shed.

But for now, this famed Little Marquis was a much sought-after figure in Chao Ge city.

Wen Yantong couldn’t afford to offend him.

She was a little worried that her glare might cause her trouble and decided it was better to leave right now.

Turning to see her roommate walking past carrying a lot of books, she was pleased and walked over to him.” Ran Er^[3]TL’s note: Er was appended to the name to indicate intimacy., please wait.”

Her shout immediately attracted the attention of many people. After realizing who it was, jeering looks appeared on those bystanders’ faces.

Ignoring them, she ran to the boy and followed him along.” Ran Er, Why do you carry this heavy load? Let me help you.”

Her roommate Zhang Jieran was a shy fellow. Feeling it was inappropriate to address him in this fashion, he corrected her with flushed cheeks.” My name is Zhang Jieran.”

“I know that.” Wen Yantong acted like he was her intimate friend and picked up several books from his arms without invitation.” I called you like this to announce our friendship. Where are you going?”

Glancing at the books in her hands, Zhang Jieran moved his lips but decided against asking for his books back.” We are going to move to another hall. The scholar asked us to take these away.”

“Move to a new hall?” Wen Yantong was surprised.

The gossiping lowlife wanted to use Wen Yantong to curry favor with Chi Jingxi. Rolling up his sleeves, he suggested.” He dares to ignore Sanshao. Now I will bring him back to teach him how to behave.”

But Chi Jingxi wasn’t interested. He said impatiently.” You are a little noisy.”

Scared, this lowlife shut his mouth.

Chi Jingxi ignored him and turned to leave.

The people nearby didn’t spare the lowlife, making fun of his embarrassment. Gritting his teeth, he pinned the blame on Wen Yantong.

Oblivious to the fact that she had offended the lowlife unwittingly, she stood before the window, looking worried.

Moving to a new hall meant that the first group of female students enrolled in Song Hai Academy will come soon.

The current Emperor loved to shake things up.

A few days ago, a new imperial order was issued, ordering academies to admit female students. Once the new order was announced, applications from the top officials’ daughters poured into various academies, indicating their enthusiastic reception of the new imperial order.

Boasting a long history, Song Hai Academy was established by the founding Emperor of the Shao Jing dynasty. He ordered successive emperors to send two princes to attend Song Hai Academy to guarantee the continuity of Song Hai Academy’s tradition.

As the top Academy in Chao Ge city, naturally, it should take the lead to carry out the Emperor’s new order.

Students in Song Hai Academy fell into two categories. One was students with powerful families, like Chi Jingxi. Another was students with wealthy families, like Wen Yantong.

The Academy originally created two halls called “Ru Ren^[4]TL’s note: 儒仁, means Confucius Compassion” and “Jin Qian^[5]矜谦, means conservative modest,” to teach the students from commoners’ families and officials’ family separately. With the incoming female students, the Ru Ren Hall will be emptied to make room for them.

This was more or less expected. The shocking news was that the Academy had decided no distinction will be made between commoners and officials. The students will be assigned to different places based on the examination results.

Wen Yantong didn’t expect to be transmigrated into a novel to face this^[6]TL’s note: some schools in China still divide students into different classes based on their academic performance!

A while ago, she had already experienced firsthand how the lessons were like in this novel world with scholars talking about some abstract verses like” For the Heaven and earth we dedicate our hearts, for the people, we dedicate our lives.”

With uncomprehending looks, she would often perform the trick of snoring while maintaining an upright sitting position before the lecturing scholars.

She would rather be assigned to the worst-performing students’ hall than take an exam to avoid wasting time and energy.

Wen Yantong sighed, figuring that those girls wouldn’t come until more than ten days later. Who knows, she might have already returned home in Chang’an city by then.

While thinking this, her worries gradually melted away, to be replaced by a sense of hunger.

Song Hai Academy’s dining hall served excellent food. Wen Yantong found herself eating a lot every time she dined there. Now it was mealtime. She went there with her wooden bowl and chopsticks in high spirits.

Many dishes were served today. Wen Yantong chose a plate of meat and vegetables and took her seat in a less crowded spot.

While she was in the middle of her meal, the gossiping lowlife appeared.

That lowlife was still mad at Wen Yantong. When he saw her, he carried his plate to sit adjacent to her while mocking her with other people.

“Our Academy has a capable fellow, who is capable of sleeping while standing or sitting. I don’t see the difference between him and a pig!”

“It is said he has quite an appetite.”

“Then he is indeed the pig incarnate?”

“Perhaps, judging by his looks, you can see his parents must look like pigs.”

These jibes were now going too far. But Wen Yantong chose to ignore them; instead, she started to eat her food with increasing speed.

The lowlife thought she didn’t dare to talk back. So their rude remarks became even more outrageous.

Wen Yantong finished her meal as if what they said was none of her business. But when she was walking past the lowlife with her wooden bowl in a calm manner, she suddenly paused.

“Ah—Pi!” Wen Yantong caught him off guard by spitting in his food and sprinted for the door.

The lowlife angrily pounded the desk.” Wen Yantong, you are dead!”

At this moment, Wen Yantong had already made it to the door. While running, she turned to shout back.” You think you are the only one who can talk in foul language?”

Then she started to recite a popular insulting sentence she learned somewhere on the internet.” Your mother chased after me through ten blocks of streets, claiming I look like your daddy! So you are now badmouthing your daddy in the dining hall, you fool!”

Before she could finish, she suddenly ran into someone, plunging her face into a soft fox leather jacket.

Then she lost her balance. Before she fell, she quickly grabbed the person’s cape and clung to it.

In this way, she saved herself from the further humiliation of doing a split in full public view.

After regaining her balance, she quickly released her grip and sat on the floor. But her heart skipped a beat when she saw the red cape out of the corner of her eyes.

Raising her head, she saw the grim looks on Chi Jingxi’s handsome face.

My, I am in trouble.