Chapter 24: Jiang Lai and Zhang Suannai

Just as they were speaking, the main door opened again.

A boy with short, choppy hair and a baby face walked in, carrying bags upon bags of things. Seeing the two people poking their heads out from the living room, he quickly stopped in his tracks, pursed his lips, and then said somewhat reservedly, "Hello."

"Hello, hello."

Meng Chunqiu appeared very enthusiastic.

"Huh?"

The boy was stunned for a moment upon hearing his voice, then glanced toward Chen Shu; clearly, he had previously assumed Meng Chunqiu was just accompanying Chen Shu to register.

"Hello, classmate."

Chen Shu nodded to finish his greeting first, then pointed to the door beside him: "There are three rooms in total. I just chose room number two, and this is the only one left. Take a look; if you like room number two, we can switch. I haven't started tidying up yet anyway, I just put my luggage inside."

"I'll take this one!"

This classmate said hurriedly.

He had just walked past the entrance to room number one, so he retreated back to it, unlocked the door, carried his bags inside, and came back out very quickly.

"You guys..."

"My name is Chen Shu, 'Chen' as in the ear-east Chen, 'Shu' as in comfortable." After Chen Shu finished speaking, he glanced at Meng Chunqiu beside him, "He is a man, staying in room number three."

"My name is Meng Chunqiu, 'Meng' as in the Imperial Family's Meng, 'Chunqiu' as in the 'Spring and Autumn Dream', pleased to meet you."

"Jiang Lai, 'Jiang' as in ginger, 'Lai' as in to come and go."

"So it is Brother Jiang, Brother Jiang has a good name..." Meng Chunqiu stood up again and cupped his hands toward Jiang Lai, "A pleasure, a pleasure."

"Uh..."

Jiang Lai looked at Chen Shu, somewhat bewildered.

Chen Shu only nodded at him.

So Jiang Lai also hurriedly and clumsily cupped his hands, saying to Meng Chunqiu: "Please take care of me in the future."

"Jiang Lai, where are you from?"

"Yujing."

"You're both from Yujing?" Chen Shu said, "I'm from Yuanzhou, I came from far away, you guys will have to take care of me."

"I'm not familiar with Yujing either." Jiang Lai scratched his head.

"It's fine, I'm familiar, I'm very familiar. If you encounter any problems in Yujing, just look for me!" Meng Chunqiu repeated, "As long as you are in the right, I can settle anything!"

"Brother Meng is truly..." Chen Shu cupped his hands to him, "awesome."

"Brother Chen is truly... straightforward in speech."

"Jiang Lai, which academy are you in?" Chen Shu asked Jiang Lai; compared to Meng Chunqiu, he still felt Jiang Lai was a bit more normal, "Sit, sit, don't just stand there."

"The Martial Academy." Jiang Lai sat down, feeling embarrassed to be too close to them.

"Martial Academy? Which department?"

"Martial Artist Department, majoring in Modern Combat."

"Impressive!" Chen Shu gave a thumbs up and immediately said, "If I get bullied at school in the future, I'll come to you!"

"This..." Jiang Lai hesitated for a moment, scratching his neck, "If you provoke someone, I can take the beating for you. I am very good at taking beatings."

"That's great!" Chen Shu slapped his thigh immediately, "That's exactly what I need!"

"..."

Jiang Lai looked at Chen Shu, then looked at Meng Chunqiu.

He wanted to speak but stopped.

After a moment of silence, ultimately feeling it was bad to have an awkward silence during their first meeting, Jiang Lai racked his brains and finally thought of a topic: "Do your academies have entrance tests?"

Only after asking did he remember he hadn't asked which academy they were in, so he stared at the two of them expectantly.

Meng Chunqiu answered first: "We don't have tests, the Literature Academy doesn't have much to test."

Chen Shu replied: "I saw on the forum that there are tests. I'm in the Traditional Cultivation Academy, Spell Principles. They test Spirit Power Talent and Cultivation Rank. How about you guys?"

"We only test Physical Fitness."

"Then you must be very good at fighting?"

"It's alright..."

That meant he was very good at fighting.

Chen Shu could see that Jiang Lai was a very humble young man.

Meng Chunqiu on the side frowned, looking at Chen Shu, then at Jiang Lai—

One appeared to be studying Spell Principles, but everyone knew he was actually pursuing that whole Ancient Cultivator set, while the other was a pure martial artist. And he, a contemporary talent who was well-read in ancient poetry and fond of wielding a brush to compose poems, felt a bit out of place.

What is going on with Yujing Academy, how did they assign the dorms?

Jiang Lai also fell into silence once again.

Chen Shu took out his Mobile Phone; the courier company had just sent him a text message, and the last package had arrived.

At the same time, there was a reply on instant messaging from Teacher Shi Qian.

Shi Qian: Have you registered?

Shi Qian: I've confirmed I will be teaching your class's Spell Principles. The schedule is already out.

Shi Qian: Just asking if you're scared.

Chen Shu: /shivering

After sending that, he opened the courier app.

Over a dozen packages.

All of them were essential daily necessities.

Chen Shu did a quick calculation; he definitely couldn't carry them all by himself. It wasn't that they were heavy, he just didn't have that many hands.

After a moment of thought, he aimed his gaze at Jiang Lai and Meng Chunqiu.

Thus, the two saw him suddenly stand up and cup his hands toward them, using the same tone Meng Chunqiu had just used: "Brother Meng, Brother Jiang, meeting is fate; you both just arrived, right? Why don't the three of us go out together to stroll around the campus, look at the scenery, and familiarize ourselves with the school in advance? Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Jiang Lai was stunned, not yet having reacted.

"Smack!"

Meng Chunqiu slapped his thigh: "Excellent! Although I have already come to Yujing Academy to visit many times, what Brother Chen says is absolutely correct. I will take you two to stroll around the school right now... Come to think of it, our dynasty's Grand Ancestor loved coming to Zhi Garden to visit back in the day; that jacaranda tree in front of the administration building was planted by the Grand Ancestor himself."

"Brother Meng has a very rich store of knowledge."

"Brother Chen, you flatter me; it is written on the sign at the entrance of Zhi Garden."

"So that's how it is."

Meng Chunqiu and Chen Shu walked out of the dormitory, with Jiang Lai following silently behind.

The two talked and laughed as they walked, and even agreed that Meng Chunqiu would play the host later to go to the Commercial Street to have lunch together; it was quite a happy scene.

This happiness would last until they reached the entrance of the express delivery station.

……

The campus layout of Ling'an Academy was somewhat different from Yujing Academy, but the dormitory conditions were the same—they were all built at the same time, and even the floor plans were similar.

Ning Qing also arrived at the dormitory door.

She swiped her card and entered.

A girl was lying on the sofa in the living room; hearing the sound, the girl jumped up in a flash and turned her head to look at the door.

Ning Qing's expression was calm as she met the girl's eyes.

This girl had a stunning face, with her bangs parted in a three-to-seven ratio, her hair neither long nor short, tied casually into a ponytail at the back of her head. She wore a cropped tank top on her upper body and a pair of very casual dark green cargo pants on her lower body, revealing a slender waist, with a pair of long, powerful legs; her outfit was cool, and she possessed a rather heroic and spirited temperament.

While Ning Qing was looking at her, she was also looking at Ning Qing, and her eyes lit up as she spoke first:

"Oh my! So pretty! Are you from this dormitory?"

"Yes."

"Then we are roommates."

"Hello."

"Hello, hello! You're quite polite! Let me introduce myself first; my name is Zhang Suannai, and you can also affectionately call me..." Zhang Suannai smiled kindly, "Granny."

"……"

Ning Qing frowned slightly, subconsciously not wanting to entertain such jokes, but remembering Chen Shu's instructions, her stiff face softened a little.

But she still stared at Zhang Suannai expressionlessly:

"Ning Qing."

"Ning Qing? That's a nice name."

"……"

"Oh my! You're so cold! Not a bit of a freshman's shyness..."

As Zhang Suannai spoke, she walked closer to Ning Qing and looked her over carefully. The more she looked, the more she felt this new roommate was truly beautiful, almost catching up to herself. She nodded to herself, very satisfied; at the very least, the average attractiveness of this dormitory would not be dragged down:

"What year were you born?"

"00."

"Me too! But I skipped a grade; I'm a sophomore this year, one grade ahead of you." Zhang Suannai reached out to pat Ning Qing on the shoulder, "You have to call me Senior Sister."

Ning Qing did not dodge her movement, but given her personality, she naturally did not like others doing this.

She had seen people who were overly familiar before, quite a few of them, but her face usually carried its own resistance field, and no one had ever been so tactless as to pat her shoulder the first time they met.

However, she didn't say anything.

Chen Shu said: Be a little gentler.

Soon, she felt the reward of being gentle.

Zhang Suannai said to her with a grin: "Choose a room! There are three rooms in total; I've already taken the best one, Room 3. There are also Room 1 and Room 2; both rooms are about the same size and have the same orientation. I suggest you choose Room 2. You can't really tell with Room 1 right now, but it wasn't renovated well, and the wall seams are prone to leaking during heavy rain. The senior sister last year reported it for repairs several times, but no one came. It seems someone came to fix it after the holidays, but I don't know if it's fixed."

"Thank you."

Thus, Ning Qing chose Room 2, took her things inside, and took the opportunity to tidy up the room simply.

She only came out half an hour later.

Zhang Suannai was actually still standing outside waiting for her, pacing back and forth in the living room with her hands behind her back and her head down, looking very bored.

But the moment she saw her open the door, Zhang Suannai immediately raised her head, a smile blooming on her face. That smile was very approachable, even having a hint of kindness:

"All finished?

"Are you hungry?

"You haven't eaten yet, right?

"Let's go! Granny will take you to the cafeteria to eat!"

"……"

Ning Qing looked at her expressionlessly, really wanting to use violent means to solve the problem.

However, she still held back.

Seeing this, Zhang Suannai said in surprise: "Eh? You have a good temper!"

"……"

So she knew that doing this would make people angry, and it wasn't that she was annoying without knowing it.

Ning Qing was even angrier.

Zhang Suannai looked at Ning Qing blankly, then scratched her head and said nonchalantly: "Looking at your eyes, it seems like you want to hit me..."

"A little bit."

"Don't be like that, right? We're roommates."

"..."

"Fine, fine, I actually don't care either. There are plenty of people who want to beat me up, one more won't make a difference." Zhang Suannai loosened her shoulders, "The reason I work hard at cultivation is precisely so that all those who want to beat me up can't defeat me. Up until now, this has become an important way to motivate my progress."

"How are the results?"

"What results? The motivational results? They're quite good. If I don't work hard at cultivation, I'll be beaten to death, so I'm very diligent now," Zhang Suannai said, "Look, I'm still perfectly fine."

"Oh."

Ning Qing turned her head, her gaze indifferent.

"Sword Sect..."

She had already guessed Zhang Suannai's background.

The Sword Cultivator system was born over four thousand years ago, inheriting from the Spirit Cultivator system and preceding the Martial Cultivator system; the Sword Sect is the pioneer and representative sect of the Sword Cultivator system.

After taking the baton of "dominance in the cultivation world" from the Spirit Cultivators, it can be said that for the nearly one thousand years that followed, the entire cultivation world was led by Sword Cultivators. Sword Cultivators are also the cultivation system that has dominated the cultivation world for the longest time in history; even the Buddhist Sect and Daoist system, which have the benefit of faith, cannot compare to the Sword Cultivators.

It was not until over three thousand years ago that the dominant position of the Sword Cultivators was replaced by the Martial Cultivators.

The number one sect also changed from the Sword Sect to the Ming Sect.

The later Sword Sect has also always been one of the major sects in the country, and has had several trends of revival, but because its reputation is too poor, none have succeeded.