The Myriad Flowers Piercing Swordplay Part II

‘It may be possible that he is a martial artist. I will check it out later,’ Bai Zhe thought.

“What are you looking at, buddy? If you want this body, you better eat more,” Bai Qing Yun said.

“Stir-fried vegetables and rocks boiled with salt cannot help me build muscles,” he answered in a level tone.

“I am sorry. Should I buy us some meat for dinner?” Bai Lian Hua thought that Bai Zhe might want to eat some meat because he only got to eat boiled rice with vegetables and rocks boiled with salt last month.

“You should use the money I gave you from the doll sewing job. I do not want you and Dad to pay more just because I want to eat meat,” said the boy.

“That’s being a man. I will go take a shower. You better eat and get going so you will not be late. And pay attention in class, okay? So, you won’t end up being poor labourers like us.” The father took a towel and placed it on his shoulders before entering the bathroom.

“Well, did you get any other job?” Bai Lian Hua asked her son.

“Probably a job at the same construction site. It was just a job watching over things at night. Also, I won’t be alone. There will be ten other workers there. You don’t need to be worried. I have to patrol the site and when I am not on patrol, I just study and do my homework,” he answered.

“All right, but don’t do this so often that you do not get time to rest,” she advised out of consideration for him before affectionately stroking her son’s hair.

“Yes, Mum,” said the boy. When her hand touched his hair, Bai Zhe felt warmth like when he was with the masters who had raised him from when he was little in Da Xian. He used chopsticks to pick up the side dishes and place them in his rice bowl and shovelled the food into his mouth like the original Bai Zhe usually did so he could please Bai Lian Hua.

“There’s no need to rush. Oh, right. Can you go see Uncle Fu after school? When I was walking home yesterday, he told me that his delivery man’s vehicle flipped over and he is still at the hospital, so he needs someone to cover the job. Plus, the package for delivery is costly. He trusts no one except our family, but your dad and I have to work at that time, so I’d thought of having you take this job. The work does not require a lot of labour. Are you free this evening? If you’re not, just say so and I will tell Uncle Fu to find someone else,” Bai Lian Hua said.

“I’m free. I can go,” he answered.

“All right. I will call him.”

Bai Zhe used the same method to go to school after breakfast. The difference today was that when he ran into his schoolmates, they tried to stay at least 2 metres away from him.

‘Stay away from him. Yi Han tried to get into a fight with him yesterday. Now the boy is in hospital. Yi Han’s friends did the same thing, and he exposed their drug use. They got suspended and have been sent to rehab. All his classmates said he might be into some dark magic.’ The sound of gossiping was low, but Bai Zhe could hear each word clearly.

‘Things being like this isn’t too bad. According to Bai Zhe’s memories, these people aren’t that impressive,’ he thought.

An ambulance drove into the school at the same time that he was entering the main gate. Then, the ambulance personnel hurriedly rushed into the building. All the students who had come to school early kept their eyes on them. It was certain that everyone was curious about what had happened.

Not long afterwards, a boy was carried down from the building by the ambulance personnel. He was screaming in pain. His hands and legs were bound to prevent him from falling from the stretcher while he was being moved.

The flashback of Yi Han’s situation popped into everyone’s mind like déjà vu. They looked at the boy who was carried onto the ambulance, then turned to Bai Zhe, while trying to get even farther from him.

‘Shit. That guy looked at me.’ One of the boys gave a great start when he saw Bai Zhe looking his way.

Bai Zhe observed the reactions of the people around him. He saw that they all were trying not to avoid his gaze and flee from that area. He shrugged his shoulders once, without any care for the eyes of those around him, and walked toward the school building.

He found that Bai Zhe’s desk, which had been scribbled on by those who had bullied the owner of this body, was gone. No. Rather, it had been changed. From listening to extremely low-volume conversations of his classmates, he learned that the desk that he had inscribed with the qi character had been moved using a special method to the school’s trash incinerator in order for it to be burned because it was believed that the desk was cursed by black magic. The schoolboy who had been sent to the hospital that morning had been trying to write on Bai Zhe’s desk. Thus, he had been affected by qi character like Yi Han.

Furthermore, Bai Zhe’s desk had been set about 2 metres away from other desks. Seeing that though, he could not care less. The boy walked over to sit in his chair, hung his bag on a hook on the side of the desk, brought out his book, and started to read it.

The bell rang not long after that. His homeroom teacher came in and talked with the students. However, it was obvious that the teacher got quite uncomfortable when Bai Zhe stared at her.

After homeroom, the teacher fled from the room, and 5 minutes later, the teacher of the Rune language subject, which was the first class of the day, entered.

She was a thirty-something female teacher. Her name was Xue Ren. She had short slightly permed brown hair and wore a form-fitting white shirt and blue pleated skirt, which made her long legs look even more attractive. Though she was wearing glasses, they were very stylish glasses and did not appear dull when paired with her beautiful, sharp features. She could be deemed a beautiful woman. All of the male students paid great attention in her class.

“We will continue from last time. Everyone opens your book to page 29.” Xue Ren started teaching immediately.

She started talking in Rune, which was the universal language of this world and continued using it throughout the class. At first, Bai Zhe tried hard to memorize as much as possible. However, it was not long before he realized that Rune was exactly like the language that the people living in the western kingdom of the continent of Da Xian used. Thus, it did not take too much time for him to understand it.

Though Xue Ren felt a little uncomfortable due to the rumours about Bai Zhe, she was still a teacher, so she called on him to answer questions or have a conversation with him in Rune language. She found that today, he could actually reply to her fluently. It could be regarded as a major improvement, even though some of his vocabulary was old-fashioned.

“Good job, Bai Zhe. You may sit. Everyone, we are now halfway through our class. I have a little surprise for you,” said Xue Ren. The teacher brought out a paper bag from a high–end brand, and a mischievous expression appeared in her eyes.

“Wow, are you giving away high-end stuff?” one of the female students asked with excitement.

“Uh-uh. No. This is actually a pop quiz.” She beamed while taking a pile of quiz papers out of the bag. This was in contrast to her students, whose expressions became bleak like they were taking bitter medicine when they heard the word ‘quiz’.

Bai Zhe was able to do the quiz. He had been able to do at least 9 out of 10 parts without breaking a sweat. This was the first thing he would do for this life. That was to have better grades. They would allow him to pass the entrance examinations for a good high school in the near future.

After the quiz, the Rune class ended. Some students had collapsed, face down onto their desks, while some tiredly leaned back in their chairs, as if they had used all of their energy for the quiz.

Bai Zhe’s other classes went smoothly. Bai Zhe was able to learn everything from the teachers very quickly because he was already a gifted learner.

When the school bell rang, he gathered his books and notebooks into his schoolbag and placed the bag onto his back before hurriedly exiting the school since he had to go to Uncle Fu’s antique shop. It was almost the time of the appointment that his mother had made.

Bai Zhe jumped from one roof to another, then jumped down into an alley where no one was around and walked toward Elder Fu’s—or Uncle Fu, according to this body’s memories—antique shop.