Behind the inner gate was another courtyard, where several large carriages were lined up neatly. Strangely, the beasts pulling the carriages were not ordinary horses, but several tall deer. Their long antlers were as white as snow, and the strangest thing of all was the colour of their fur: it shimmered in rainbow hues, dazzling and beautiful.
It was Xiao Bangchui’s first time seeing such strange and beautiful animals, and she could not help staring for a long while. Suddenly, she heard a burst of mocking laughter from not far behind her. A voice, neither loud nor soft, sneered, “Where did this little beggar come from? I could smell the stink from far away.”
Laughter broke out. Xiao Bangchui turned around and saw several little boys sitting in a small pavilion in the courtyard. Every one of them was neatly dressed, with red lips and white teeth. They were staring at her and laughing, whispering to each other and making faces. One look was enough to tell they were saying nothing good.
She had wandered outside with her master for years and had seen plenty of human coldness and warmth. She had always followed the principle of not causing trouble. These boys were dressed in fine clothes and were clearly children from wealthy families. Better to avoid trouble where possible. She pretended not to hear them and turned back to continue looking at the deer.
“Country bumpkin. He’s never even seen rainbow deer before. Look, his eyes are about to fall out from staring.”
The mocking laughter behind her continued. Xiao Bangchui silently moved away in another direction. There was no one in the northwest corner, so she walked over, sat down on the ground, and let out a long breath.
There were already more than ten children gathered in the courtyard. The youngest looked only six or seven, while the oldest girl was a head taller than everyone around her. These should all be children who had passed the first test. Xiao Bangchui thought of the bustling crowd outside. There had been so many people, yet only this small group had been chosen so far. If even the first selection was this difficult, what would the second one be like?
She remembered the hoarse voice that had appeared beside her ear during the first test. It had sounded like an old man. Was he still following her now?
“Old sir… old sir? Are you there?” she called softly. “Thank you for reminding me just now.”
No one answered her.
Xiao Bangchui looked around but still could not find any suspicious figure. She spoke again, “Old sir? Are you gone? What did you mean by telling me to hold my breath? Old sir?”
Still, no one answered. Xiao Bangchui scratched her hair. Had she imagined it just now?
The pitch-black inner gate suddenly opened. This time, three travel-worn children came in one after another. They looked about the same age as her, and their clothes were covered in patches. Although they were a little cleaner than her, they were not much better off. Two girls walked in front, and a boy followed behind. They seemed to know each other. One of the girls was chattering nonstop.
“Ah!” The chattering girl suddenly cried out and ran to the rainbow deer, full of excitement. “Could this be the legendary immortal beast?! Sister! Look!”
Her exaggerated reaction was naturally mocked by the rich boys in the pavilion again. A boy in green mimicked her in a strange tone, “Sister! Look! Wow, I’ve never seen one before! An immortal beast!”
The girl’s face flushed red from being laughed at. Her lips moved as if she wanted to retort, but the boy beside her gently pulled her aside and whispered, “Ignore them.”
The three of them turned around and saw Xiao Bangchui, dressed in rags, sitting in the corner. They all froze for a moment, probably not expecting to see someone here just as poor and patched-up as themselves.
“Are you alone?” the girl asked with a bright smile as she walked over. “Can we sit with you?”
Xiao Bangchui nodded and wiped the brick beside her with her sleeve. “Sit.”
“My name is Baili Gelin. I’m ten years old. This is my older sister, Baili Changyue. She’s twelve. Oh, and he’s our younger brother, Ye Ye. Haha, isn’t his name strange?”
Changyue. Gelin. People who would give their daughters such elegant names probably were not ordinary farming folk. Besides, their surname was Baili, an extremely rare surname. She felt as if she had heard it somewhere before… But why did these sisters look so destitute? And they said the boy beside them was their younger brother. Could he not be their biological brother? Even his surname was different…
Xiao Bangchui silently studied the three of them. Although the sisters were dressed in rags and covered in dirt, they were beautiful, and there was a natural grace in their every movement. They did not look like daughters of an ordinary household. The boy named Ye Ye was also clear-eyed and refined, completely different from the dull, muddy children of the countryside.
“Who’s your younger brother?” Ye Ye rolled his eyes at Baili Gelin. “I’m a year older than you. You should be calling me older brother.”
He nodded at Xiao Bangchui in greeting. “I only met them a year ago. None of us had anywhere to go, so we simply became companions and looked after each other.”
“What’s your name?” Baili Gelin sat beside Xiao Bangchui and familiarly linked arms with her.
“Xiao Bangchui. I’m ten too.”
“Pfft…” Baili Gelin burst out laughing. “Xiao Bangchui? How can someone have a name like that? What’s your surname?”
Was this name really that funny? Xiao Bangchui pulled her arm back from Baili Gelin’s grip. “I don’t have a surname. My master picked me up, and he gave me this name.”
Baili Gelin hurriedly apologised. “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it…”
“See? Sharp-tongued as ever, offending people all day long.” Ye Ye lightly knocked Baili Gelin on the head, then said, “She always speaks without thinking. Don’t take it to heart. You have a master? Does he teach you immortal arts?”
Xiao Bangchui nodded. “Mm. Master teaches me the mystic arts, but unfortunately, I have no talent and haven’t learned them.”
“Don’t be modest.” Ye Ye smiled. “Anyone who can pass the first selection of Chufeng Academy can’t have poor talent.”
The first selection… Actually, she herself did not know how she had passed it… Xiao Bangchui touched her head. She thought again of that hoarse voice. It probably had not been a hallucination. Who exactly was he? And what was the reason for telling her to hold her breath?
Perhaps because the laughter on their side was growing louder, the rich boys in the pavilion began mocking them again.
“A group of beggars gathered together. What a grand scene. Are you discussing how to beg for food together?”
Disgust appeared on Baili Gelin’s pretty little face. She muttered, “They’re so annoying.”
“Why bother with them?” Ye Ye crouched beside her. “They’re probably sons of powerful and wealthy families. Let them flap their mouths. Who knows, maybe not a single one of them will pass the second selection.”
“What is the second selection like? Do you know?” Xiao Bangchui asked, seeing that he seemed to understand quite a lot.
Ye Ye shook his head. “Think about it. Even a small place like Lugong Town has selected this many people. Across all the lands of the Central Continent, how many must there be altogether? Every year, only a few dozen people can enter Chufeng Academy. Doesn’t that mean they choose one in a hundred thousand, even one in a million?”
As soon as he finished speaking, a black shadow suddenly shot over from behind and struck the back of his neck. Ye Ye groaned in pain and could not hold himself up, falling to the ground. Something rolled down beside him with a clatter. It was a five-tael ingot of silver. The boys in the pavilion waved their arms, made faces at them, and laughed loudly.
“A reward for you! A bunch of beggars muttering away. Why aren’t you kneeling to thank us?”
They had gone too far. Xiao Bangchui frowned and was about to get up when Baili Changyue, who had been silent at the side, bent down, picked up the silver, and walked step by step towards the pavilion.
“Changyue!” Ye Ye grabbed her. “I’m fine. Don’t go.”
“You were hit.” Baili Changyue’s brows furrowed slightly. Her tone was cold, completely different from her lively, smiling younger sister.
“It doesn’t hurt. Don’t cause trouble!” Ye Ye held onto her and refused to let go.
As they were speaking, the pitch-black inner gate opened again. A little girl in luxurious clothes and with stunningly beautiful features walked in. The children in the courtyard could not help secretly glancing at her. The little girl looked proud, her back straight, walking in without looking sideways, like a little phoenix. The boys in the pavilion also stopped making trouble. Before long, a boy in yellow ran out, said something to her, and invited her to sit in the pavilion with them.
“She looks like the daughter of some prince or noble,” Ye Ye said with a pained smile. He pulled Baili Changyue back down beside him. “I’m fine. With that explosive temper of yours, if you rush over there, there’ll definitely be a fight. Why invite trouble?”
He snatched the silver from her and threw it far away without even glancing at it.
“Does it hurt?” Baili Changyue reached out and gently rubbed his neck. “It’s swollen.”
“It’s not broken.” He shook his head. “Look, perfectly fine.”
Baili Gelin giggled and made a face at him. “Thick-skinned!”
Perhaps because there was now a little beauty in the pavilion, none of the children wanted to upset her, so the rich boys temporarily quieted down. Gradually, just as Ye Ye had said, more and more children passed the first selection. Seeing the sun sinking in the west, the first selection was almost over. It was said that these large carriages pulled by rainbow deer would take the children who had passed the first selection to another place for the second selection. Those who were not chosen would be brought back home by carriage.
Xiao Bangchui tightly gripped the evil-repelling fragrant bead on her wrist. If she did not pass the second selection, where would the carriage send her? Her master had left. She no longer had a home. If she failed the second selection, perhaps she would never have a chance to find her master and eldest senior brother. What would happen to her master? And what would happen to her? Would she have to wander the world alone?
She was lost in thought when the pitch-black inner gate opened again. A timid little boy walked in. He looked seven or eight years old, also dressed in rags and covered in dirt. But unlike Baili Gelin and the others, he had none of their casual boldness. He walked into the courtyard with his shoulders hunched, not daring to raise his head. Whenever he accidentally bumped into someone, he bowed and apologised again and again. He must have been a child who had suffered all kinds of hardship.
Xiao Bangchui suddenly felt a pang of discomfort. If she failed the second selection and lost her master, perhaps she would become like this in the future. She would know nothing, have no way to make a living, and could only force a smile and survive alone, crushed by life into servility, afraid whenever she saw people.
The little boy nervously found a corner and shrank into it. Before long, perhaps because he noticed the gorgeous and beautiful little girl sitting in the pavilion, even he could not help looking up a few times. His timid appearance was too conspicuous. The rich boys in the pavilion immediately could not sit still. One child jumped up and shouted, “Hey! What are your filthy dog eyes looking at?!”
The little boy suddenly cried out, “Ah!” and pointed at the little beauty.
“You… you…” he stammered. His face flushed red, as if he was both angry and anxious, and his whole body trembled slightly.
“You know him?” a boy in white in the pavilion could not help asking.
The little beauty frowned unhappily. “How could I know a beggar like this? This beggar has some nerve! How dare he point at me with his finger!”
The boys in the pavilion immediately burst into an uproar. Someone picked up a stone and hurled it at him, shouting, “Get lost!”
The fist-sized stone struck the little boy right on the forehead. Blood instantly streamed down his face, and he cried out with a heart-rending wail.
But the more he cried, the more stones were thrown at him. In just a few hits, his head was bleeding badly, and he crouched on the ground, his sobs growing weaker and weaker.
“That’s too much!” Baili Gelin’s eyes blazed with anger. “Is no one going to stop them?!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Xiao Bangchui had already run over. She grabbed the loudly sobbing boy and hauled him up, snapping, “What are you crying for?! Useless!”
After being shouted at by her, the child cried even harder. Snot, tears, and blood mixed together, making a complete mess of his face.
The sound of wind came from behind her head. Xiao Bangchui nimbly dodged the stone flying towards her. She turned around and stared coldly at the boys in the pavilion.
“Today, I’ll teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents.”
She rolled up her sleeves, breathed into her palm, bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it with force. There was a sharp smack, and one boy in the pavilion immediately had his face swollen by the stone. He clutched his face and screamed.
Everyone was stunned. Most likely, no one had expected this little beggar to dare hit the children in the pavilion. After all, the ones sitting inside were either children of great local wealth or sons of princes and nobles.
Xiao Bangchui moved extremely fast. She was no good at learning mystic arts, but her fists and feet were genuinely excellent. When she threw stones at people, every throw landed perfectly, each one striking a cheek. For a moment, cries and screams filled the pavilion. The boy in white, who seemed to be their leader, was so furious he lost his senses. He pointed at her, his hand trembling nonstop, and could barely get his words out.
“You… you have some nerve… Do you k-know who I am?!”
“Here’s your silver back!”
Xiao Bangchui picked up the five-tael silver ingot they had thrown earlier. With a twist of her wrist, the silver smacked across the white-clothed boy’s face with a loud crack. Even more impressive was that after hitting his face, the silver did not fall. Instead, it bounced up and landed right on top of his head, not off by even the slightest bit.
In the pavilion, apart from the little beauty whose face had turned green, no one was still standing. Every one of them was clutching their face or holding their head and wailing. Xiao Bangchui clapped her hands, waved her fist towards the pavilion, and sneered.
“Feel good?”
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