Autumn's Breeze

Exactly a week has passed since the day Chen Jun Tian accidentally saw something that he shouldn't have but life still goes by as if nothing had happened that day.

It was around ten minutes until the morning classes begin as he walked to Yun Lin Academy. The sky was still blanketed with last night's grey clouds as weak rays of a sallow sun illuminated the picturesque scene.

Jun Tian knew for a fact that whenever the seventh month of the lunar calendar comes to an end, each morning became dimmer and colder but he was only wearing a light blue hanfu with silver serpent patterns as silly him forgot to wear his winter coat.

Suddenly, a single golden leaf pirouetted through the autumnal breeze as it blew past his face and landed lightly onto the concrete sidewalk that was still damped from the night's rain. He could feel icy wind blowing against him as he reached down and picked up the beautiful yet dead leaf, holding it tightly in his warm palms. He simply do not know why he had always felt as if there is something incredibly nostalgic about the annual cascade of scarlet leaves.

Maybe it was because he met her during this time of the year...

Seasons change, flowers wither but no matter what he does, his love for her will forever remain. He then held the delicate leaf into open air and let it be whisked away by the grip of the cold wind as the sweet smell of fallen blossoms mixed with the scent of mud after rainfall soon took over the atmosphere.

"Senior brother Jun!" Someone shouted loudly just when he was about to get back on his way and he immediately knew that this was going to be one hell of a morning.

"Good morning, young master Fei." Jun Tian greeted as his eyes carefully observed the youth's figure.

Qing Niao was wearing a light green hanfu with golden embroidered magpies on the hem of his sleeves and belt. He also wore a darker green outer coat with more embroidered magpies and fluffy white furred collar but his long messy golden brown hair covered almost half of his face, hiding one of his amber-coloured almond-shaped eyes.

"I-I'm s-so late for class!" Qing Niao stuttered, trying to catch his breath from the running and completely oblivious to the blue cladded youth's examination. "My alchemist teacher is going to be so mad at me!"

"There is still a few more minutes before class starts." Jun Tian slowly shook his head as he spoke.

This boy, just how careless can he be? Well, it couldn't be that bad, right? After all, Fei Qing Niao was still considered a slightly above average student in term of intelligence at the academy...

"Huh?" Qing Niao let out a sigh of relief. "I really thought I was late!"

Jun Tian was going to let him off and head to school but then he saw the silver watch pendant hanging from the green cladded youth's belt and mentally face palmed himself. "Why didn't you check your watch?"

"W-watch?" Seeing that Qing Niao was completely dumbfounded, the blue cladded youth was very speechless as he took in a deep breath and mentally face palmed himself once again.

"Yes, don't you have a watch?" Jun Tian pointed at the small watch pendant. "The one on hanging on the left side of your belt."

"Oh! I've completely forgotten about it!" Qing Niao's eyes widened in surprise when he saw the the small pendant hanging from his belt.

It wasn't just a normal silver watch that he could get for a few taels at any small jewellery store in Tao Yuan city but it was actually that new model made from white gold that costs approximately twenty thousand taels and one could only buy it from the original Xia Jing jewellery shop in the capital city of this celestial kingdom!

Jun Tian never had the money to buy such an expensive accessory but he does keep track of fashion trends and all those sorts of things in his spare time. He knew that Qing Niao came from the Western Forest's Fei clan but he did not know that the Fei clan owns many gold mines and oil excavations that benefited all of their descendants so he could not believe his eyes at all when he saw the small pendant.

In the well-known Yun Lin Academy, only he wears plain clothing while others have many silk brocades and valuable ornaments in their closet.

Chen Jun Tian mentally laughed at himself as he remembered that there was a time in his childhood when he was mad at his parents for not being able to afford the same things that the other children of great aristocratic clans possessed. It was one of those times when he wished he could afford to buy as many things as he wanted. He was only around ten years old back then but as he grew older, his thoughts became more mature and he realised that his clan could not possible afford all of these superfluous items for him. Some members of his Chen clan hardly make enough money to live on and it is extremely difficult for any of them to make a social ascension once again but Jun Tian was not discouraged by this. In fact, he became a very ambitious person who had always wanted to work harder in order to return his clan back into its original state.

As the two young men walked to the academy together, Jun Tian managed to get a closer look at the green cladded youth's appearance and regardless of his messy golden brown hair, Qing Niao doesn't even look half as bad as everyone else pictured him. He has delicate amber-coloured eyes and bright red lips, almost similar to a female. Despite being a little bit on the skinny side, he has smooth and tender pale skin so if he takes in a few more kilograms then all would be fine. There many rumours saying that he's ugly but Jun Tian genuinely thought that Qing Niao was more beautiful than some of the girls from those privileged clans and with a better hairstyle, he wouldn't be the laughing stock of the academy anymore.

That morning, the two young masters arrived exactly on time and parted ways for their respective classroom. Grand Elder He wasn't substituting the literature class again since Jun Tian's main literature teacher finally came back from her one month in seclusion and she was quite cheerful to be back. Nothing in particular happened that morning except for a few glances here and there from the other students because they saw Jun Tian and Qing Niao came into the academy together.

As for He Kai, there were rumors that the headmistress threatened to give him extra essays to write if he causes another ruckus in class so he hasn't been much active these past few days but that didn't stop him from messing around with the other kids, who obviously couldn't fight back, in the hallways during recess and lunchtime. Jun Tian was not shocked to see that no one moved an inch to help them but instead, they would just stand on the side, watching He Kai bullying those unfortunate souls.

Young master Chen understands their pain more than anyone else but he also couldn't do anything about it except watching them helplessly getting beaten up. He felt extremely useless...

If only he was strong like Ma Zheng Min then he could defend himself and those who are being bullied by He Kai so he made a mental note to improve martial arts skills. He was a prodigy in casting spells and curses but he was only a small fry when it comes to any type of combat such as fist fights or sword wielding. His father has taught him a few special moves from his Chen clan but he was only interested in casting spells so he didn't have the time to cultivate his foundation in martial arts.

After the morning classes ended, Jun Tian was on his way to his usual lunch spot behind the Serene Moon courtyard with his only friend Hu Wu Yi, the young master of the Northern Ranges' Hu clan's first household.

As the two of them walked by the main courtyard, someone has caught Jun Tian's interest. For a second, he thought he could see the mysterious girl from that night standing under a wisteria tree as yellow and red leaves slowly fell down onto the ground with a few being stuck on her luscious black hair.

"Ah Jun, you're not coming?" Wu Yi noticed that his friend wasn't moving at all.

The young man also looked at the direction of the wisteria tree but he frowned in confusion as he did not understand why that violet-eyed girl came to his academy nor why was Chen Jun Tian looking at her with such passionate gaze but he knew that something big is definitely going to happen as he noticed another person walking up to the girl, making his eyes shined with excitement. Tsk Tsk... A good show is about to start!