Black Six Class

Minglu Academy and Jixia Academy both stood ten li outside Chang'an City, the former to the south and the latter to the north.

Jixia Academy wanted distance from the bustle, so it had raised lofty mountains from level ground, filling its grounds with mountains, streams, and forests of stone, accompanied by pines and bamboo.

Minglu Academy stood right in the midst of the bustle.

Villages, farmland, and gullies surrounded it. Outside the academy stretched six li of fruit trees: peach, pear, jujube, and persimmon.

Whenever the fruit ripened, students and farmers would climb the trees to pick it. These trees had been planted for the poor and needy to take what they needed.

In those days, fruit was a scarce resource. There was no chance of any rotting on the branches or falling to the ground.

Beggars and farmers alike cherished those six li of orchards. Whenever persimmons ladened the branches, they picked them and dried them into persimmon cakes, giving them hope for the entire winter.

In his previous life, a child trafficker had taken Wu Junji south by a roundabout route, having heard of a family there that could not produce a son. By the time the trafficker brought him to their door, they had already adopted one.

Wu Junji was good-looking, and the trafficker did not want to sell him cheaply, so he kept raising him while searching. Before he found a buyer, the trafficker got married. Two years passed without a child, making it all the more necessary to keep Wu Junji.

In the third year, the trafficker's own son was born, and he began looking for a buyer again.

Before Wu Junji escaped, the trafficker had intended to shove him into a family surnamed Zhang as a foot-warming boy.

Jiangnan was wealthy, but he had met few kindhearted people there. After escaping, Wu Junji made his way north while finding ways to keep himself alive.

In the modern world, he had been a northerner. His body, his mind, even his soul drew him northward.

After countless twists and turns, it took him ten years to reach Chang'an.

He had planned to beg for food in Chang'an, but unfortunately, Chang'an City had no room for beggars, so he settled in Minglu Academy's orchards.

He watched over the fruit there for two years.

The students at Minglu Academy were not the sharpest. Every scheme he tried on them landed. One gullible young master from a wealthy family had been conned into floods of tears and thumped his chest, promising to secure him residency in Chang'an.

He had even said he wanted to become sworn brothers with him.

Just when he had hooked himself a sucker and life was about to improve, Heaven told him: You're the Crown Prince.

From then on, nothing was his to decide.

After all those twists and turns, his connection with Minglu Academy had been renewed.

Yu Sheng had brought the academy's teachers to wait at the main gate early.

From afar, they saw an ornate carriage approaching.

A muscular, well-built man eight chi tall led the little Crown Prince down from the carriage. He wore a warm yellow straight-hemmed robe and a silver belt adorned with the five venomous creatures and a fierce tiger. His hair had been swept neatly up, revealing his rounded features.

The baby fat on his face curved plumply outward. Any thicker, his brows would have lost their shape; any paler, his eyes would have lost their spirit. Even at his tender age, he already displayed the bearing of the imperial family.

The black-and-gold die at his waist had been carved after the old man hammered out the meteorite again, then strung with black tourmaline beads into a pendant for him.

"We commoners pay our respects to Your Highness the Crown Prince. May Your Highness live a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand thousand years!"

Yu Sheng led everyone from the academy in bowing.

"Rise."

"I've come to study, not to put on airs. There is no need for such ceremony, teachers."

"Take my things to the Qu Courtyard."

The Qu Courtyard was a collective name for twenty-eight residences, each housing four people. All its residents were students who had opened their heavenly eyes.

Yu Sheng took him on a tour of the entire Minglu Academy. The academy was divided into four Black Class classrooms and thirteen Earth Class classrooms.

Recently, Emperor Zhou's relentless slaughter had left many court positions vacant. The newly elevated dignitaries who filled them, upon learning that the Crown Prince would attend Minglu Academy, had approached Yu Sheng in advance to arrange admissions.

They had specifically insisted on being placed in the same class as His Highness the Crown Prince.

So Yu Sheng had opened Black Five Class and tossed all the latecomers with connections into it.

He was too embarrassed even to say it. Who is His Highness the Crown Prince, and who are you? After what happened at Jixia Academy, you still dare ask to share a class with him? What sweet dreams are you dreaming!

Wu Junji was short. Standing on the ground and looking into the classrooms, he could see nothing but rows of desk legs.

So Li Jiu carried him. When they reached the sixth classroom, he looked in from outside. Well now-every face was familiar!

White King was gnawing on a large marrow bone, Mu Zhao was blowing on peach blossoms for fun, Xiong Yu was picking his teeth with a human hand bone, Lang Xi was combing his tail, and Gao Hu was dozing.

There were also the heirs of other countries, paired off with their General Summoning companions, and his old acquaintance Chen Yu.

Twelve people, each busy with their own business. Nobody cared what the teacher at the lectern was saying.

The instant Wu Junji appeared, twelve pairs of eyes turned toward the doorway in unison.

Such a welcoming salute of stares was rather overwhelming.

Wu Junji looked up. Black Six.

If Black Five was a class of well-connected entrants, Black Six was an all-star lineup of imperial heirs.

Yu Sheng gestured politely. "Your Highness, your classroom is elsewhere."

Wu Junji stared at this roomful of demons and monsters, the corners of his mouth rising frame by frame. His human emperor fortune erupted with a boom!

The people and demons in the room reacted like startled cats, clattering into defensive stances and watching him warily.

Wu Junji stared straight at them, all smiles, his tone dripping with official formality.

"I've come to study, not to put on airs. I think this place is quite good. I like them."

The old man had once told him that Great Zhou's grudge against the Demon Domain could only be avenged on the Demon Domain battlefield four years later.

As for the imperial heirs of other countries, he could not act rashly against them either.

That's fine. A little horseplay between children doesn't count.

Things aren't what they used to be. Let's have a little fun~

Author's note: Writer's block is so painful. Good night.