"Hey, can you hurry up? You're all dawdling around. I still have a competition to attend later!"
"Coming. Of course I'll be quick. If someone's treating and I'm not enthusiastic, there'd have to be something wrong with my head."
"Good, everyone's here... Junxuan, why are you acting like a girl? Can you get anything done or not?"
The youths leaped down through the air, flattening the reeds beneath their shoes. Once on shore, they laughed and urged him on.
"What do you mean, acting like a girl? Nonsense. I'm a scholar, the Wen Family's seed of learning. I need to have grace. Grace, understand?"
"Ooh, how disgusting."
"The Jianghuai stretched vast and mighty, reeds growing in thick clusters, misty waves boundless, fishing boats racing across the waters... Faced with such a scene, Scholar, aren't you overflowing with poetic inspiration? Compose a poem for us right here."
"My stomach hurt today, and the waterway made me dizzy. I'll write one another time. Why are this thing's legs so tall? Shiyun, you ought to write King of Huai a letter suggesting that Water Spiders automatically crouch down once they reach shore. Improve their level of service." Wen Junxuan grabbed the side rope, swung his legs, stomped twice in mid-air, and only after finding the wooden rod along the railing did he slowly climb down from the Water Spider's back. "By the way, you said you were entering a competition. What competition?"
"Yeah, why is there a competition too?"
The youths recalled what had been said earlier.
"Ha!" Wen Shiyun planted one foot on a stone, tossed his hair in the wind, rubbed his thumb, and fanned ten red tickets out in his hand. "Of course it's the first Hero Combat Tournament. I'm on the 'starting roster,' and I've got insider tickets! What