第12章 逃课生的第一名

For the next period of time, two strange things circulated in Nuoding Academy.

First, that newcomer Xiao Wu from Dorm Seven fought like her life depended on it. She kicked whoever provoked the working-study students.

Second, that Luo Yan from Dorm Seven basically never went to class.

He slept in a tree today, studied potato stewed with pork in the cafeteria tomorrow, and squatted by the edge of the playground the day after tomorrow to watch ants move house.

Yet every time roll call came around, he would pop up from somewhere you could never possibly imagine, answer "Here", and then mysteriously vanish.

Tang San and Xiao Wu both got used to it.

Tang San followed Yu Xiaogang to cultivate as usual, while Xiao Wu went looking for Luo Yan to "find some fun" whenever she had nothing to do.

It was a pity that Luo Yan acted as if he had saved up all his fun, refusing to make a move easily and only ever saying, "The time hasn't come yet."

As the end of the term drew near, the academy organized final exams.

Tang San and Xiao Wu were both preparing diligently.

Xiao Wu claimed with her mouth that "I'm not scared at all", but in reality she was secretly cramming theory in the dormitory every day.

Needless to say for Tang San, he was a hardcore grinder in his past life, and in this life he even had Yu Xiaogang giving him individual tutoring.

Luo Yan was still playing truant.

On the day of the exam, he arrived fashionably late, and when he sat down in the examination room he even gave a couple of yawns with half a melon seed shell hanging from the corner of his mouth.

On the day the grades came out, Dorm Seven was surrounded by a circle of people.

Wang Sheng held up the report card, his fingers shaking fiercely: "First year, ra... rank one... Luo Yan."

"What?!" Xiao Wu snatched the report card away, her eyes blown wide round.

Tang San also wore a rare look of astonishment. He leaned over to look and confirmed it several times.

Luo Yan was lying prone on his bed, turned over, and lazily stretched out a hand to make a "V" sign.

"You skip class every day! What right do you have to rank first?!" Xiao Wu refused to accept this, pouncing over to scratch him.

"Because I'm smart."

Luo Yan buried his face into the pillow, his voice muffled: "Smart people don't need to go to class. Classes are prepared for fools."

"Who did you call a fool?!" Xiao Wu grew even angrier.

To the side, Tang San quietly picked up that report card and carefully examined Luo Yan's scores in every subject.

Full marks for theory, full marks for actual combat observation, and in martial soul knowledge, he only had a single point deducted.

"Where was this one point deducted?" Tang San asked.

"That question asked, 'If you encounter a century-old spirit beast in the wild, what is the correct course of action?'"

Luo Yan turned over and looked at him with a smile: "What I wrote was, 'Ask it if it wants to eat melon seeds.'"

Tang San was silent for a second and put down the report card.

"You really deserved to have that deducted."

Xiao Wu had already jumped onto Luo Yan's back, shaking him fiercely: "If you dare score higher than me on the next exam, I'll hang you outside the door of Dorm Seven to make an example of you!"

"Don't, don't, don't, I was wrong, Sister Xiao Wu! I'll score two points less next time!"

"You still dare to have a next time!"

The dormitory became a scene of complete chaos. Tang San shook his head, turned around, and walked out.

The sunlight was just right, and tomorrow the holiday would begin.

Tang San was packing up his belongings: "Xiao Wu, Luo Yan, are the two of you not going home?"

Xiao Wu leaned against the bed, a trace of desolation emerging in her eyes that was vastly different from her usual lively and cheerful self: "I'm not going home. Perhaps I'll just stay at the academy."

As for Luo Yan, he abruptly blurted out a sentence: "I'm an orphan."

Tang San opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

He looked at Luo Yan's face that was forever smiling, and suddenly felt that it was a bit unreal.

This person played truant, cracked melon seeds, and treated everyone as a source of amusement, as if not a single thing in the wide world could make him take it seriously.

Yet thinking back now, he truly had never once mentioned a home, mentioned parents, or mentioned matters from before he came to Nuoding Academy.

Could it be that all those smiles were just something a child who grew up all alone had figured out for himself?

Tang San had lived two lives and understood this feeling all too well. The more painful things were, the louder one had to smile.

Because if you didn't smile, certain things would crawl out from the depths of your heart.

He thought of those long winters in Holy Soul Village.

His dad was blacksmithing while he sat alone on the threshold, listening to the dogs barking in the village and practicing the Mysterious Heaven Skill over and over again.

No one asked him if he was cold, and no one asked him if he was hungry.

Luo Yan was probably just like this.

No, perhaps even earlier.

He squatted in the forest all by himself for four days, going off to kill spirit beasts on his own, and he could even smile as he said: My martial soul flew out and took a bite out of it.

Just how many things had this person hidden behind those jokes?

Precisely what kind of vicissitudes of life had he experienced to make him choose to respond with a smile when the world kissed him with pain?

So, were we... the same?

Luo Yan watched as Tang San's expression shifted from heavy to sorrowful, and then suddenly veered toward relief and... recognition?

The emotional changes roiling within those pitch-black eyes were far too fast, shifting from sympathy to understanding, from understanding to empathy, and finally freezing in a gaze that was both profound and warm.

Luo Yan:?

What on earth was this guy imagining in his head?

Tang San looked at Xiao Wu and Luo Yan and said, "Then... might I invite the two of you to come and play at Holy Soul Village? Though my family is truly very poor, and we don't have anything good to treat you with."

Xiao Wu akimboed with both hands, glaring at Tang San with her large eyes: "You've been saving every bit of your monthly subsidy and begrudging yourself the expense, yet you're afraid you won't be able to entertain us?"

Tang San looked at Luo Yan's face, which was struggling to maintain a relaxed expression, and abruptly reined in those roiling emotions he had just experienced.

He understood now.

Luo Yan didn't need sympathy, didn't need "I understand you", and didn't need anyone gazing at him with that sort of warm expression.

What he needed was for the matter to be turned over in a hurry, returning to that previous rhythm of joking around and acting carefree.

Tang San sighed inwardly, then put on a relatively bland expression.

"Speaking of subsidies," he said, his tone lightening, "someone seems to still owe me six silver coins that he hasn't returned."

Xiao Wu was slightly stunned, following his gaze to look at Luo Yan.

The expression on Luo Yan's face froze for three-tenths of a second.

"What six silver coins?"

Tang San reached out a hand, palm upward, and looked at him with a smile: "On the fifteenth of last month, when you went to the cafeteria to buy that bag of salt-baked melon seeds, you didn't have enough money and had me front it for you first."

"...Did that happen?"

"You said 'I'll pay you back tomorrow'."

Luo Yan's gaze began to wander: "Then what about later?"

"Later you never brought it up again."

Xiao Wu instantly put on a different face. That slight trace of desolation from just now was swept away, replaced by the excited expression of I've caught you now, and she stood off to the side with her arms crossed to watch the show.

Luo Yan took a deep breath, then put on a heartbroken expression, clutching his chest as he fell backward onto the bed boards: "Tang San, oh Tang San, why is your memory so good? I even split that bag of melon seeds with you in half; logically speaking, you should only be collecting three silver coins from me."

Tang San remained unmoved: "That half you split with me was only shoved onto me after I stopped eating the salt-baked flavor."

"Even if you ate it, it was the thought that counts!"

"You shoved it on me forcefully."

"That was friendship!"

"Then can friendship settle the account first?"

Xiao Wu was laughing so hard off to the side that even her rabbit ears were shaking: "Hahahaha, Luo Yan, look at you getting your comeuppance!"

Luo Yan lay on the bed, gazing up at the ceiling with an expression of utter despair.

His fingers groped under the pillow, fishing out a few copper coins. He counted them—four.

He groped in another pocket and fished out two more.

He sat up, spread the six copper coins out in his palm, and solemnly handed them over to Tang San: "Pay this much back first."

Tang San lowered his head to glance at those six shiny copper coins, then raised his head to look at Luo Yan's expression of this account has been cleared and I carry zero burden in my heart.

"They're silver coins."

"I know, right?"

"What you gave are copper coins."

"Aren't they both the same? They're money anyway."

Luo Yan blinked. "Look, copper coins and silver coins are both round, they both have characters on them, and they can both buy things. The difference isn't that big."

Xiao Wu squatted down and poked the copper coins in Luo Yan's palm: "The difference is huge, okay? A single silver coin can be exchanged for ten copper coins."

"That's why I said I'd pay this much back first."

Luo Yan was completely righteous. "The rest will be paid in installments. Divided into... six installments. No, ten."

Tang San sighed, took those six copper coins, and tucked them into his pocket: "Fine, ten installments. One silver coin per installment."

...Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about installments?"

"What you said just now was 'divided into ten installments' totaling six silver coins, with ten copper coins per installment."

"Right, ten! Ten copper coins make a silver coin! I only owe you six, which is sixty copper coins! If I divide it into ten installments and pay ten copper coins every installment, I'll have to pay you back a gold spirit coin?! Are you running a usury loan?"

"Wasn't it you yourself who said they were pretty much the same just a moment ago?"

Luo Yan was blocked by this remark and couldn't reply for ages. In the end, he buried his face into the pillow and muffled: "...I was wrong. I shouldn't have thought about swindling your money back when you were still little."

The corners of Tang San's mouth curved upward.

Xiao Wu had laughed her fill off to the side. She jumped over, sat at the foot of Luo Yan's bed, and asked while swinging her legs: "Then why did you borrow his money to buy melon seeds? Where was that week's subsidy of yours?"

Luo Yan lifted half his face out of the pillow: "I bought something else."

"Bought what?"

"I won't tell you."

"You definitely squandered your money again!"

"I did not."

"Then where did you spend it?"

"I said I wouldn't tell you."

Are you kidding me, you jerk! If I let you know that I buy Whale Gum every single time, would you even let me live?!