Rogue, watch my sword

"Report."

"Why are you late again?"

"I... Well..."

"Stomachache this time?"

"Uh... no, not this time. My head doesn't hurt either."

"Then why are you late?"

"Teacher, the thing is, just now on the way here, I saw an elderly lady having difficulty moving around. As a new generation high school student who respects the elderly and loves the young, our teachers have always taught us to help elderly ladies cross the street."

Unfortunately.

Despite reminding himself not to be late today, Chen Yu still arrived late. After using all sorts of excuses, he even resorted to the tactic of helping an old lady cross the street.

Naturally, no one, not even the homeroom teacher, believed such excuses. The other students burst into laughter.

The homeroom teacher, Liu Fangting, glared at Chen Yu. In her mind, she thought that she should visit this boy's home at some point, as her previous phone call had proved ineffective.

"Come in."

"Wait, you, come to the front and translate the text about Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin that we're going to discuss today."

To give Chen Yu a hard time, Liu Fangting asked him to translate a classical Chinese passage.

"Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin?"

Chen Yu furrowed his brow.

This text was just taught today, and now she wants me to translate it. Is she trying to make things difficult for me?

However, Chen Yu had studied this passage in his past life and remembered it fairly well. After a moment's thought, he began to translate, saying, "After defeating the State of Zhao, the State of Qin moved north and was about to reach Yan's territory. Yan's Crown Prince Dan was very frightened, so he found his thug, Jing Ke..."

"Wait a moment, a thug?"

"Yes."

"Are you saying Jing Ke was Crown Prince Dan's thug?"

"Isn't he?"

Chen Yu nodded.

"Uh, well, go on."

Liu Fangting had initially wanted to correct Chen Yu, stating that Jing Ke was Crown Prince Dan's retainer, not a thug. However, upon further reflection, she realized that there wasn't much difference between a retainer and a thug. Essentially, both served the nobility.

Referring to Jing Ke as a thug wasn't too far off the mark.

"So, Crown Prince Dan found his thug, Jing Ke, and said to him, 'Although I wish to pay you a salary every day, the State of Qin is about to reach us, and we won't be able to pay your salary anymore.'"

"Salary?"

Liu Fangting was dumbfounded. "Since when did salaries come into this?"

"I think there might have been."

"Clearly, Crown Prince Dan said, 'Though I wish you to serve me faithfully for the rest of your life...' How could it be about paying a salary?"

"Oh, Miss Liu, 'though I wish you to serve me faithfully for the rest of your life' is Crown Prince Dan's formal language. Actually, they had to pay Jing Ke a salary since they kept him as a thug. If Crown Prince Dan didn't pay Jing Ke a salary, would Jing Ke have joined him? So, since Crown Prince Dan paid Jing Ke a salary, Jing Ke, as an employee, had to do tasks for his employer. Therefore, when Crown Prince Dan wanted Jing Ke to do something for him, he first declared that since he paid him a salary, Jing Ke had to do something for him. However, Crown Prince Dan couldn't say it so explicitly, so he used respectful language like 'though I wish you to serve me faithfully,' which is just a formality. He could only serve him if he was paid."

"Alright, continue."

Liu Fangting was somewhat bewildered by Chen Yu's explanation, but upon closer thought, it actually made sense.

Crown Prince Dan couldn't have shown such deep respect and servitude to his retainer. It was clearly a polite formality.

"Then, Jing Ke felt awkward receiving a salary every day, so he said, 'Okay, I'll help you get rid of the King of Qin.'"

"Get rid of the King of Qin?"

Liu Fangting wanted to say something more, but she opened her mouth and then remained silent.

Even though it sounded odd, it wasn't necessarily a translation error.

However, while Liu Fangting remained silent, the entire class burst into laughter at Chen Yu's translation.

"Get rid of the King of Qin, hahaha."

"What's this? Chen Yu even mentioned receiving a salary before."

"Amazing, I didn't expect Chen Yu to be so humorous."

Even Lu Xue, who was usually reserved and didn't often smile, was caught off guard by Chen Yu's translation, and she couldn't help but suppress a laugh.

"This guy, I didn't expect him to be so funny."

The translation continued.

Chen Yu couldn't remember the exact wording of "Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin", so he improvised, speaking as he thought.

"However, although they wanted to get rid of the King of Qin, it wasn't that easy. Jing Ke told Crown Prince Dan, 'I don't have any proof, so it's difficult to get close to the King of Qin. If I could hold General Fan's head and show it to the King of Qin, he would definitely summon me. However, Crown Prince Dan shook his head and said, 'General Fan defected to me; how can I betray him?' Jing Ke didn't say anything and thought to himself, 'If you don't want to be the bad guy, then I'll be the bad guy.' So, Jing Ke went to see General Fan himself..."

Liu Fangting glanced at the textbook and carefully listened to Chen Yu's translation, then nodded.

This kid was indeed clever, with a unique talent for literature.

His translation wasn't incorrect, actually.

Although Chen Yu didn't stick to a word-for-word translation, his approach was the most advanced. This type of translation is known as "paraphrasing". It captures the original meaning most effectively.

The essence of translation is truly in "paraphrasing".

However, Chen Yu wasn't concerned with whether it was paraphrasing or something else. He continued his translation as if he were narrating the story of Jing Ke's assassination of the King of Qin.

At this point, Chen Yu described how Jing Ke took Qin Wuyang to meet the King of Qin.

"Qin Wuyang was rumored to have killed people when he was only twelve years old, and it was a famous story outside. But as soon as he saw the King of Qin, this guy's legs started trembling. Jing Ke thought to himself, 'Darn it, I've been done in by this lousy teammate.' So he said, 'Qin Wuyang is from the countryside and has never seen the grandeur of the capital, so he's nervous in the presence of the emperor.' Then he stepped forward. When the King of Qin opened the map, Jing Ke saw his chance. He shouted, 'Rogue, watch my sword...'

In this manner, Chen Yu managed to complete the entire translation of a classical Chinese text by improvising the story.

By this time, the entire class was already rolling with laughter. Even their homeroom teacher, Liu Fangting, couldn't resist laughing several times. If it weren't for maintaining a teacher's image, she might have burst out laughing.

"Alright, go back to your seats."

"Thank you, Miss Liu. Miss Liu, what do you think of the translation?"

"The translation was pretty good."

"Since it was pretty good, can we let the lateness slide this time? What do you think?"

"You're making deals with your teacher now?"

"Miss Liu, I promise I won't be late again."

"Hurry back. If you don't, I'll visit your parents later."

"Yes, yes."

Chen Yu didn't waste any more time and hurried back to his desk.

"Hey, hey, classmate, you had me laughing so hard today."

"Lululu, you know, you look quite lovely when you laugh."

"Hmm, where were you looking?"

"I didn't see anything..."

"You pervert, if you look again, I'll gouge out your eyeballs."

"Okay, okay, I won't look. I won't look anymore. You're so bossy."

Chen Yu pouted, opened his textbook, and attentively listened to the lesson.