Chapter 99

Song Yao was dozing off at the table. He felt cold in the middle of the night and stumbled in the darkness as he crawled into bed.

Just as he climbed halfway onto the bed, he heard a series of crisp cracking sounds. Before he could react, one of the bed legs broke with a “bang,” and the bed collapsed, causing him to roll onto the floor.

In the darkness, Mei Ruochu’s concerned voice came, asking him what happened.

Grumbling, Song Yao got up from the floor, “Probably because this bed is old and fell apart!”

“What about you tonight, Song Brother?”

The beds in the double room were single beds, and they were both almost adults. It would be uncomfortable for both of them to sleep together.

Song Yao understood Mei Ruochu’s implication that she didn’t want to sleep with him. He also found it strange that Mei Ruochu didn’t take off his belt when sleeping. So, he didn’t want to sleep with him either.

“I’ll go out and see if anyone else is still awake.” Song Yao limped out and knocked on the door next door.

At that hour, most people were already asleep. Besides, Song Yao didn’t have many friends, so even if someone was still awake, they wouldn’t bother with him.

Failing to get help, Song Yao returned. As he entered, he stumbled over the threshold — he lowered his head and saw that the threshold had somehow cracked.

He got up from the floor again, dragged the bedding down, and made a makeshift bed on the ground.

The next morning, it was time for class. Song Yao, feeling sore all over, got up, changed out of his clothes reeking of alcohol, and accompanied Mei Ruochu to the classroom.

Unexpectedly, just a few steps out, the sole of his shoe suddenly fell off. Still groggy from his hangover, he didn’t have time to react and immediately fell flat in front of everyone.

Coincidentally, he fell right in front of Song Li and the others.

If someone else fell like that, Song Li and the others would surely rush to help, but Song Yao… not only did they not help, but they also burst out laughing.

In the end, it was Mei Ruochu who helped him up from the ground.

Covered in mud, Song Yao realized it was time for class and he didn’t have time to change, so he reluctantly entered the classroom.

The students had just settled down when the teacher arrived.

Seeing the disheveled Song Yao, and then glancing at Mei Ruochu, who represented Hongle Academy beside him, the teacher’s face darkened.

Song Yao also realized that with someone from Hongle Academy present, this wasn’t a normal situation. His unkempt appearance was like smearing mud on his own academy’s reputation, making him even more embarrassed.

Later, the teacher allowed some time for the students to do morning reading, then gave Song Yao a meaningful glance. He conscientiously went out to tidy himself up.

Qingzhu is divided into four classes: Class A, Class B, Class C, and Class D. Song Yao was in Class A, the kind that had already finished studying the examination books and could take the imperial examination at any time.

These students had already memorized the Confucian classics by heart, so they didn’t need much time for morning reading.

After a quarter of an hour passed and Song Yao hadn’t returned, the teacher started the class as usual.

The previous day, he had assigned homework, so the students passed it forward according to their seating order for him to evaluate.

The students were all conscientiously doing their own tasks, and the classroom was quiet. The teacher didn’t need to pay special attention. Occasionally, he looked up and first saw Mei Ruochu helping Song Yao tidy up his desk, then saw him seemingly adjusting his clothes around his waist?

He didn’t pay it much mind, thinking that the students from Hongle Academy were indeed courteous, not making fun of others, and helping their new classmate, Song Yao. They truly displayed the demeanor of gentlemen.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and Song Yao finally finished tidying up.

The dormitory was very close to the classroom, so it didn’t usually take that long.

But during these two quarters of an hour, he had a tough time—just after leaving, the half of his shoe sole that was hanging on fell off completely.

Fortunately, it was already class time, so there weren’t many people outside the academy. He simply took off one shoe and hobbled back to the dormitory barefoot. Then he experienced a series of inexplicable mishaps, such as his headband breaking, his wallet tearing, and his clothes ripping.

When he returned to the classroom, before he could even sit down, the chair he sat on suddenly collapsed. He ended up sitting on the floor!

There was a muffled laughter in the classroom, and the teacher’s expression became even more serious.

After changing to a new chair, Song Yao took out his homework from his bag to hand it in.

He realized he had forgotten to sign it, so he hurriedly tried to write his name, but the seemingly good pen produced a blob of ink on the paper.

Although this was just regular homework, since they were all preparing for or had already taken the imperial examination, the teacher was very strict with them, requiring them to answer questions according to the imperial examination standards every time.

He hesitated to hand it in, so the teacher came down to collect it. When he saw the glaring ink blob and thought about all of Song Yao’s behavior that morning, the teacher was infuriated to the point where his face turned ashen. If Mei Ruochu wasn’t there, he would have undoubtedly scolded him.

Under a series of continuous misfortunes, Song Yao felt like each day dragged on like a year. Finally, it was time for dismissal.

Facing one mishap after another, Song Yao naturally first suspected if someone was playing tricks on him.

After school, he went straight to the dormitory and compared all the items that had malfunctioned that morning. The broken parts of all the damaged items were irregular, not cut or broken by external force.

This result only added to Song Yao’s frustration.

It wasn’t just embarrassing anymore; it felt like he was cursed! Having performed poorly in the provincial examination due to bad luck, if this streak of bad luck continued, wouldn’t it ruin his chances in this year’s final examination as well?

Later, Mei Ruochu returned and brought him dinner.

Suppressing his frustration, Song Yao thanked him and absentmindedly took a few bites. Unfortunately, he bit into a chicken bone that pricked his gums!

With a cry of pain, Song Yao spat out the bone, which was tinged with a bit of blood. He was so irritated that he felt like flipping over the dining table!

At that moment, the dormitory supervisor came to inform him that Ling Qingming wanted to see him.

This must have been because the teacher had reported him. Ling Qingming valued his reputation greatly and was probably going to reprimand him!

It wasn’t like he had intentionally embarrassed Qingzhu. Song Yao felt both aggrieved and unjust!

He told the dormitory supervisor that he would go in a moment, while Mei Ruochu calmly changed into clean clothes from his belongings.

Perhaps his expression had become too solemn, so Mei Ruochu loosened his belt, took off his outer garment, and came over to pat his shoulder, comforting him, “Song brother, don’t be like this. Actually, I’ve had my share of misfortunes too. During the provincial examination, a gust of wind knocked over my candlestick… It nearly caused a fire. So, since then, I’ve been studying the concepts of fate and fortune in the Book of Changes diligently. Let me accompany you to see Senior Ling. He shouldn’t give you a hard time.”

His words became the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Song Yao suddenly lifted his head, gritted his teeth, and said, “You caused the fire during the provincial examination?”

Although the two seemed to have no secrets between them, the matter of the provincial examination was embarrassing, so Song Yao didn’t reveal it intentionally.

Mei Ruochu looked bewildered, but Song Yao abruptly stood up, grabbed him, and walked out. “I got it. It must have been you. You should come with me to explain to Senior Ling!”