Imperial Treasure

Chapter 614 - 400 Qin, Zì

Mo Ke seemed to have obtained a reputation even greater than Sui Yi’s, at least her appearance caused quite an uproar, simply because Sui Yi was too seldom seen, whereas Mo Ke at least played by the rules, attending class on time.. Plus, although she was detached and indifferent, she was also gentle with others, which made her quite popular, and she was implicitly recognized as the Archaeology Department’s most reputed beauty, with a transparent and enlightened aura that even surpassed the ancient charm of any Chinese Literature Department student.

The term "Daughters of high-ranking officials" doesn’t suffice to encapsulate her elegance.

And there she was, speaking to Sui Yi in a quiet whisper, lowering her gaze only to see a piece of Xuan paper, her eyes momentarily pausing, and then softly saying, "Jiang’s distant mountains produce clear poetry, a pool of spring water reflects the quiet thoughts of autumn..."

Her gaze faintly swept over Wang Jingqiu and Jiang Muxiu who were both subtly well-known within the school.

Usually simple and indifferent, she now seemed to have the hint of a playful interest, as if she had come across something that delighted her heart and soul.

Jiang Muxiu’s brow furrowed slightly.

Sui Yi had already finished discussing the forms, and upon seeing Mo Ke approach, nodded in acknowledgment, handing the forms to Jiang Muxiu.

As they were about to leave, Wang Jingqiu turned to Mo Ke and said, "Classmate Mo, your knowledge of Chinese literature is profound, yet you’ve only joined the Reading Society, perhaps in the future our Ancient Style Society and the Reading Society may have opportunities to spar."

These words stirred up quite a commotion among the students, competition being the driving force for improvement; they were young and vigorous, and it was true that the Reading Society and the Ancient Style Society would occasionally compete in certain aspects...

However, Wang Jingqiu’s competitive spirit was indeed strong; her previous performance of "High Mountain Flowing Water" was actually aggressively paced and lacked a bit of the inherent gracefulness, but not everyone present had an intricate understanding of musical rhythm and sentiment like Sui Yi and Mo Ke, so very few could discern this, although it was hard to deny Wang Jingqiu’s mastery of the zither.

"Probably not," Mo Ke responded indifferently, her fingers touching the nearby Guqin and delicately plucking a string.

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

Her voice was soft, yet the sound of the string resonated deeply and enduringly.

The atmosphere fell silent once again, with Wang Jingqiu’s expression turning pale and incredulous.

Jiang Muxiu looked at Mo Ke and asked in a by-the-book manner, "Why join the Ancient Style Society?"

"For her," Mo Ke replied.

Her? Mo Ke was pointing at Sui Yi.

Sui Yi was silent, then spoke, "To complement each other?"

Mo Ke: "That’s right."

The onlookers: "...."

Even a top female student has such an approachable side,... it unexpectedly feels down-to-earth.

Jiang Muxiu looked at Sui Yi’s bright and relaxed demeanor, his lips instinctively curving into a smile, and passed over a form.

"Welcome to you both."

After Mo Ke and her companion left, Jiang Muxiu stood up, "I have other matters this afternoon, so I’ll be leaving now."

And with that, he really did take his leave.

He departed as lightly as a passing cloud...

"It’s really strange; he said he would come to host the interviews, sat there all morning, and then left..."

"Exactly, he has never bothered with such things before, let alone join the Ancient Style Society..."

"Hey, what about that piece of paper just now?"

"Which one?"

"The one from Sui Yi..."

"Oh no, this guy couldn’t possibly be..."

On Teng Yan’s side, a brief silence had fallen after the conversation, while on Wang Jingqiu’s side, she was now surrounded by a few of her friends.

Mo Ke was joining the society!!

Wang Jingqiu’s expression became quite solemn.

Mo Ke... her name had been frequently mentioned by their professors, who once expressed that the most literarily cultured person at Beijing University, a hidden gem, had actually joined the Archaeology Department...

Although this implied a complaint about the Archaeology Department, it also put a lot of pressure on the students of the Chinese Literature Department.

"She’s not intentionally being contrary to our Chinese Literature Department, is she? She joined the Reading Society and already those guys are feeling the pressure. Now she’s coming to the Ancient Style Society—is this not a play on a joint stage?"

As the saying goes, there isn’t room for two tigers on the same mountain, and the people of the Chinese Literature Department really didn’t want to lose to one person on both fronts.

Who knows how others might ridicule the Chinese Literature Department in the future, not to mention those old fossils in the department had long been itching to lambast the Archaeology Department with scathing critiques...

And now?

"Senior Jiang is being a bit unfair, isn’t he? Everyone else has to go through an interview and evaluation, but Mo Ke just touched the zither strings and she’s in?"

This person clearly lacked musical knowledge, and upon saying this, Wang Jingqiu’s face fell: "Her zither playing is such that not even my master can rival it... Don’t speak of such things in the future; otherwise, you’ll be the laughingstock..."

Is she that impressive?

Wang Jingqiu’s master is that well-known Zither Master, isn’t she...

"Compared to Mo Ke’s zither playing, I find her calligraphy even more extraordinary,"

The speaker was a girl who had come along with them to watch the excitement, yet had been very quiet all along and was also a treasure of the Chinese Literature Department; unlike the high-profile Wang Jingqiu, she was so quiet she could sink into the dust.

Recognized for her talent and genius surpassing even Wang Jingqiu, she was as refined as a gentleman scooping up clear water...

That was commonly accepted.

And Wang Jingqiu was willing to concede only to her.

Moreover, she was a sophomore, of the same era as Jiang Muxiu; a senior deserves respect.

"Sister Zimu, her calligraphy... is it that good?" Wang Jingqiu excelled at the zither but hadn’t necessarily immersed herself in calligraphy; she only felt that the two lines of calligraphy were very striking and forceful, and hadn’t looked much further...

"I can’t say for certain..." Su Zimu stood under the tree, leaning against it, with sunlight filtering through the green leaves, falling in specks upon her lifted eyelashes.

"But I’ve never seen better calligraphy than this,"

Su Zimu’s voice was gentle, like herself, a spring that was a whisper soft as a spring breeze.

Wang Jingqiu rolled her eyes, a rare occurrence, "The Archaeology Department must be possessed or something, no wonder those old fossils always look like they’re on their period~"

Her words revealed her true nature.

Hmm, the ladylike poise couldn’t be maintained much longer, luckily no one was paying attention to them at that moment.

Su Zimu merely smiled and didn’t say anything, checked his phone, and said, "I have a cousin who’s returned to Beijing, and his school is nearby too, we’re going to have dinner together later.."

"Is he handsome?"

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

It seemed that no one from the Su Family was unattractive.

"Take me with you?"

"It seems like he’s already got someone in his heart."

"Then forget it, stealing someone else’s love is a skilled job, and I’m not good at it~"

On the other end, Jiang Muxiu walked along the tree-lined path, unfolding the xuan paper..

Mountains in Jiang providing a sanctuary for poetic verse, a clear spring reflecting autumn thoughts.

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

But the meaning inside..

Jiang is his surname, offering poetic verse to the sanctuary could be interpreted as paying homage to the ancestral hall in the mountains, which signified the meaning of Muxiu. The rest of the sentence was even easier to understand.

Jiang Muxiu had a bitter smile, the two lines held both their names, complementing each other with hints of teasing and indifference.

It was only that Miss Wang had not discerned it..

————————

Sui Yi always knew that their dorm, despite its mix of cold dishes, cold decor, and cool tones, which usually kept it quiet for hours..—as long as Xia Yan was not around.

After all, this girl was akin to a hot meal.. She could be described as having the heat and energy of a hot dog, such as spinning the roulette at the club recruitment and only getting into the anime society after several tries, but this did not diminish her joy one bit.

In her words, it was an astonishing stroke of luck to get into even one club, given the difficulty of society recruitments!

If you’re lucky, you should celebrate, and celebrating.. basically means dining out.

So...

—Hotpot!!

Right by the entrance of Beijing University, there was a well-decorated and upscale traditional hotpot restaurant buzzing with noise, mostly new students. There were those from Beijing University and others from different schools, all choosing this place.

Hotpot could even be considered a quintessence of Chinese cuisine.

—Effortless, delicious, spirited!

It was just the thing for the younger generation to bond over.. (Ah, the nostalgia, when I first started university, we also had hotpot for dorm gatherings..)

Thus, Sui Yi and company sat at a large table in the living room, just the four of them.

It seemed their dorm was rather unique, with just four people. Other dorms had six...

Some tables were bustling with a dozen or more people~

And as the three of them were rather reserved~~they stood out a bit in this bustling hall...

Xia Yan, on the other hand, was generous, piling up a heap of dishes in no time, which Liang Bing couldn’t even attempt to stop...

She resigned to supporting her forehead in resigned dismay~

Even with her toes, she could tell that these two beauties beside her surely wouldn’t eat that much~

Though it was not a buffet hotpot, leftovers weren’t just a waste; they were also environmentally unfriendly, as the many slogans on the wall shone bright..~~

Actually, Liang Bing was somewhat worried, afraid that Sui Yi and the other might not fancy the style of hotpot... For instance, the moment the dishes were served, a group walked through the entrance.

As soon as they came in, one of the female students covered her nose, "Ew, such a strong smell~ So many people, how unsanitary~~ And it’s so cheap; you get what you pay for, and who knows, it might even be expired~ We might as well go to Xixiang County in the east corner~ or if not, the Western restaurant in Dongye~"

PS: Xixiang County is an upscale private restaurant, where even a plate of cabbage and tofu costs in the triple digits, and a glass of water at the Western restaurant in Dongye also costs dozens...

Liang Bing was putting chicken wings into the hotpot with her chopsticks and upon hearing this, she flinched and cast a glance at the two across...

"Um.. maybe we should.."

The chopsticks slipped, and the chicken wing dropped, but Sui Yi caught it easily with another pair of chopsticks, asking her, "Left or right?"

The split hotpot.. Left for spicy, and right for non-spicy.

"Left, please," said Liang Bing, somewhat flattered.

Sui Yi dropped the chicken wing on the left side and added some cabbage into the plain broth on the right.

Xia Yan beamed, "Geez, Ah Bing, who knew that beneath that prim exterior lies a fiery and bold soul~"

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

Upon hearing this, Mo Ke gave a charming smile, "It’s human language, I understood it."

Liang Bing: "Are you two ganging up on me? Sui Yi..."

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

What didn’t you expect? Alluding to what was said above.. Fiery and bold~~

Liang Bing: "..."

Xia Yan laughed heartily, and Mo Ke, whilst chuckling, quietly picked up a piece of tofu skin with her chopsticks... into the plain broth.

The spicy side was off-limits...

In fact, it turned out that her heart was as genteel and delicate as it got, not fiery at all.

Unlike Liang Bing, yeah, that’s right!

Xia Yan jestingly interjected, unchallenged in her silly, sweet innocence, while Liang Bing intermittently scolded her, only to be counterattacked with the nickname Nanny Liang. Mo Ke would occasionally tease Xia Yan and then join her in teasing Liang Bing, making for merry banter..

A small crowd, but actually quite interesting. (To be continued. If you like this work, please head over to qidian.com to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can read at m.qidian.com.)