Imperial Treasure

Chapter 613 - 400: Qin, Character

Mo Ke’s reputation seemed to surpass Sui Yi’s by a great deal, as her appearance alone caused a considerable stir. This was simply because Sui Yi was rarely seen, while Mo Ke followed the rules meticulously and attended classes on time. Despite her aloofness, she treated others with kindness. Thus, her popularity was high, and she was even considered the idol of the Archaeology Department. This overshadowed any charm from the Literature Department with her transcendent aura reminiscent of a saintly figure.

Her elegance could not be fully described by simply labeling her a lady of high society.

When she arrived, she spoke softly to Sui Yi; her glance fell upon the piece of rice paper, her eye color deepened momentarily, then in a gentle voice, she recited, "The distant mountains of Jiang send forth pure words, a pond of clear springs calms the autumn thoughts..."

Her gaze subtly swept over the somewhat famous Wang Jingqiu and Jiang Muxiu at the school.

Although she was usually indifferent, there was now a slight playfulness in her demeanor, as if she had seen something that delighted both body and mind.

Jiang Muxiu slightly furrowed his brow.

Sui Yi had already finished discussing the form. When he saw Mo Ke approaching, he nodded in greeting and handed the form to Jiang Muxiu.

As the two were about to leave, Wang Jingqiu said to Mo Ke, "Classmate Mo has a profound understanding of Chinese literature but chose only the Reading Club. Perhaps in the future, there will be opportunities for our Ancient Style Society and the Reading Club to interact."

These words sparked quite a bit of agitation among the listeners. Competition is a driving force for progress—and with their youthful vigor, the Reading Club and the Ancient Style Society were destined to be compared in certain aspects.

However, Wang Jingqiu’s competitive spirit really stood out. The previous "High Mountains and Flowing Water" tune she played was aggressively progressive and lacked some inherent subtlety, not everyone present was as familiar with the musical rhythm and importance as Sui Yi and Mo Ke, and few could distinguish it, though Wang Jingqiu’s skill in playing the zither was undeniably adept.

"Probably not," Mo Ke said indifferently, her finger lightly touching the guqin beside her, only gently plucking the strings.

"Because I also plan to join the Ancient Style Society."

Her voice was soft, yet the note she played on the guqin lingered and resonated deeply.

The scene fell silent once again, and Wang Jingqiu’s face turned pale and incredulous.

Jiang Muxiu looked at Mo Ke and formally asked, "Why join the Ancient Style Society?"

"For her,"

Her? Mo Ke’s fingers pointed at Sui Yi.

Sui Yi remained silent, then said, "To complement each other?"

Mo Ke: "Yes."

The crowd: "...."

Such high-achieving beauties are surprisingly down-to-earth.

Jiang Muxiu looked at Sui Yi, who appeared bright and at ease, a slight smile forming on his lips as he passed a form.

"Welcome to both of you."

After Mo Ke and her companion left, Jiang Muxiu stood up, "I have other matters this afternoon, I’m leaving first."

And with that, he really left.

Leaving as lightly as the breeze...

"Really strange, he suddenly said he wanted to host the interview, sat for a whole morning, and then left..."

"Exactly, he never used to bother with these things, let alone join the Ancient Style Society."

"Hey, what about that paper?"

"Which one?"

"Sui Yi’s..."

"Oh my gosh, that guy couldn’t have been..."

After the conversation, Teng Yan’s side fell into a brief silence, while Wang Jingqiu’s side was surrounded by a few of her close friends.

Mo Ke is joining the club!!

Wang Jingqiu’s expression became somewhat severe.

Mo Ke... Her name was frequently mentioned by their professors, once saying that the most literarily cultured person at Beijing University had gone underappreciated by joining the Archaeology Department...

Although this carried a complaint about the Archaeology Department, it also put significant pressure on the Literature Department’s students.

"She can’t be deliberately opposing us from the Literature Department, can she? She already joined the Reading Club and those people are feeling the pressure; now she’s coming to the Ancient Style Society—it’s like setting the stage for a showdown!"

As the saying goes, ’a mountain cannot accommodate two tigers,’ and people in the Literature Department sincerely did not want to lose to the same person on both fronts.

Who knows how outsiders would mock the Literature Department in the future, not to mention those old fossils in the department had long been eager to smear the Archaeology Department...

So what happened?

"Senior Jiang is being a bit unreasonable, isn’t he? Everybody else had to go through an interview and a test, and Mo Ke just touched the guqin strings and passed?"

This person clearly knew nothing about music, and as soon as they spoke, Wang Jingqiu’s face fell: "Her playing the guqin, even my master might not be able to match... Don’t say such things in the future, or you’ll be laughed at..."

That powerful?

Isn’t Wang Jingqiu’s master that well-known zither master...

Compared to Mo Ke’s guqin, I think her calligraphy is even more extraordinary."

The speaker was a quiet girl who had come along to see what was happening, a treasure of the Literature Department. Compared to the prominent and high-profile Wang Jingqiu, she was so quiet she could disappear into the dust.

Her innate talent and brilliance exceeded Wang Jingqiu’s, like a gentleman scooping up a handful of clean water...

That was well acknowledged.

Even Wang Jingqiu respected her for it.

Besides, she was a sophomore, from the same era as Jiang Muxiu, and a senior worth respecting.

"Zimu, her calligraphy... is it good?" Wang Jingqiu was skilled at the guqin but not necessarily steeped in calligraphy, merely feeling that those two lines of text were extremely tidy and compelling at the moment, without giving them a second thought afterward.

"It’s hard to say..." Su Zimu stood under a tree, leaning against it, sunlight filtering through the green leaves, dappling her uplifted eyelashes.

"I’ve never seen better calligraphy than this."

Su Zimu’s voice was gentle, like her person, a clear spring, soft-spoken, as refreshing as a spring breeze.

Wang Jingqiu, uncharacteristically, rolled her eyes, "The Archaeology Department must be possessed, which explains why those old fossils always look like they’re on their periods~"

These words revealed her true nature.

Well, she couldn’t keep up her ladylike pretense much longer, fortunate for them nobody was paying attention at the moment.

Zimu just smiled and didn’t say anything, checking his phone, he said, "I have a cousin coming back to Beijing. He’s studying nearby. We’ll have dinner together later..."

"Is he handsome?"

"Not really," Zimu thought for a moment and added, "but quite good-looking."

It seems the Su Family members aren’t bad-looking at all.

"Hook me up."

"Seems like he’s already interested in someone."

"Then forget it. Stealing someone’s heart is a skill I’m not good at~"

Elsewhere, Jiang Muxiu walked along a tree-lined path, unfolding a piece of xuan paper...

Words from the mountains and rivers in the Jiang, a pond reflects the quiet thoughts of autumn.

These words were the best he had ever seen in his life...

But the meaning behind them...

’Jiang’ is his family name, ’words from the mountains and rivers’ could mean the ancestral temple in the mountains. ’Entering the distant mountains to reach the ancestral temple’ represents Muxiu, and the following part is easier to understand.

Jiang Muxiu had a bitter smile. Two lines of words, representing two people’s names, were complementary in rhythm and tone, with a hint of teasing and indifference.

It’s just that Miss Wang couldn’t see that...

————————

Sui Yi always knew that even though their dormitory’s setup was a bit too cold in terms of meals, color schemes, and general atmosphere, it could often stay quiet for hours on end...—as long as Xia Yan wasn’t there.

Fortunately, this girl was like hot food...you could describe her energy and vitality as a hot dog. For instance, among the twenty-something groups she tried, she only got into the anime society... yet, it didn’t lessen her joy a bit.

As she put it, so many clubs with tough entry requirements, but I still managed to get into one! How lucky is that!

Luck is good, so we must celebrate. Celebrations mean... basically, a gathering over a meal.

So...

—Hotpot!!

Right outside the gates of Beijing University, there is an upscale old-brand hotpot restaurant. The hall is buzzing, mostly with new students. There are students from Beijing University as well as other universities who all choose this place to eat.

And hotpot can be considered a quintessence of Chinese cuisine.

—Effortless, delicious, warm!

It’s very suitable for the younger generation to grow their relationships... (Oh, how I miss those days; when I entered university, our dormitory gatherings were also all about hotpot...)

So, Sui Yi and his friends sat at a table in the living room, a fairly large one, just the four of them.

It seems their dormitory is kind of special, just four people, other dorms usually had six...

Some tables had more than a dozen people, quite lively~

And adding in that the three of them were generally quiet~ so they seemed a bit out of place in the busy hall...

And Xia Yan, ever generous, ordered so much food in a rush that Liang Bing couldn’t stop her in time...

She could only stand by, facepalming~

Even without thinking too hard, she knew the two beauties beside her definitely wouldn’t eat much~

Although this wasn’t a buffet hotpot, not finishing food would not only be wasteful but also environmentally unfriendly, with all those eye-catching slogans plastered on the wall...

Actually, Liang Bing was a bit worried that Sui Yi and the other friend wouldn’t like the style of a hotpot place... For instance, just as the dishes arrived at their table, a group of people walked in.

As soon as one of the female students walked in, she covered her nose, "Oh dear, it’s so smelly here~ So many people, it’s unhygienic~~ And it’s so cheap, you get what you pay for, maybe the food’s even expired~ We better head over to the Xixiang County on the east corner~ If not, we could go to Western Wild Restaurant~"

PS: Xixiang County is an upscale private restaurant, even a plate of cabbage and tofu costs three digits, while a glass of water at Western Wild Restaurant costs dozens...

Liang Bing, who was just putting chicken wings into the hotpot, trembled when she heard this, and sneaked a look at the two across...

"Um... shall we...?"

Her chopsticks slipped, and the chicken wing fell. A pair of chopsticks casually caught it, and Sui Yi asked her, "Left or right?"

Yin Yang pot... left spicy and right not spicy.

"Left," Liang Bing somewhat flustered.

Sui Yi placed the chicken wing into the pot and scooped up some cabbage for the white, non-spicy side.

Xia Yan was thrilled, "Wow, Ah Bing, didn’t expect you to be so prim and proper on the outside, yet so bold and spicy on the inside~"

Liang Bing, "Xia Yan, are you even speaking human language?"

On hearing this, Mo Ke chuckled, "She is, I understood."

Liang Bing, "Are you guys teaming up against me? Sui Yi..."

Sui Yi, "Hmm? I didn’t expect that either."

What didn’t he expect? Pick up the line above... bold and spicy~~

Liang Bing, "..."

Xia Yan laughed heartily, and Mo Ke – still laughing – quietly picked up a slice of tofu skin for the white pot.

The spicy pot was definitely not for them...

In fact, it turned out their hearts were as gentle and beautiful as they were, not fiery at all.

Not like Liang Bing, yeah, just like that!

Xia Yan joked and played the fool, ultimate sweet and naive, Liang Bing scolded her occasionally, been called back as Nanny Liang, Mo Ke sometimes played dark tricks on Xia Yan, sometimes helped her play tricks on Liang Bing, isn’t it fun...

Fewer people, actually quite interesting. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)