In Tonglin Town, the townsfolk hurried about spreading the news. Of its several hundred households, nearly half followed Uncle Kang along the neatly repaired mountain road toward Monkey Mountain.
But scarcely had they left when carriage after carriage followed behind-the scions of aristocratic families from the various prefectures and provinces had also arrived that day.
At a shout from Uncle Kang, the townsfolk, most dressed in hemp cloth, pulled their sun-darkened children to the roadside and let the carriages go ahead.
The children did not know who the newcomers were, but the sight of the coachmen made them instinctively retreat behind the adults.
The fabric of those coachmen's clothes alone cost enough to clothe their entire families, let alone the young masters and young ladies of aristocratic birth sitting inside the carriages.
The adults saw things differently from the children. Looking at those carriages, they thought of how wealthy and powerful these aristocratic families were, and how they could not afford to offend them.
The children understood little of that, so they only looked at the surface, thinking how lovely these outsiders' clothes were.
Occasionally, they glimpsed small figures through the carriage curtains, and their heads sank even lower. Their short hemp shirts could not compare at all with the silk and brocade worn by those young masters and young ladies.
Some children suddenly no longer wanted to go to Monkey Mountain. To enter Dragon Field Academy, they would have to compete with those aristocratic children. How could they possibly compete?
At that moment, a boy also wearing a short hemp shirt, half a head taller than the other children, not only refused to hide but raised his head to stare at the passing carriages. "Father, are they going to join Dragon Field Academy too?"
"Yes, they're going too."
Holding