CH 8

Chapter 8: Crippled

Although Zhang Jieran seemed to be timid, he was man of his words. He helped her make an appointment for a carriage to Chang'an, the carriage would set off in just two days.

After Wen Yantong received the ticket, she sincerely thanked him and prayed in her heart that Zhang Jieran would have a smooth career and land a high official position.

After confirming the departure time, Wen Yantong started to plan her escape and walked around the academy for a long time, looking for a place without floor tiles. translate(d) by puretl . com / do not steal / re po/st

However, Songhai Academy was so lavish, and walking for half a day, she still couldn't find a place without floor tiles. Besides, this academy was grand; people who were unfamiliar could easily get lost if they didn't pay attention.

The female dormitory was built during the autumn vacation, and now the ‘Ruren’ School was being cleaned up, preparing for the women to enter the academy.

Wen Yantong stood on the side and watched for a while. She couldn't help but let out a deep sigh. The small cannon fodder was just out of luck, she was only a year short of time. If she had arrived a year later, she could have followed the emperor's new order to enter Songhai Academy, but it was a pity fate had messed with her.

After a moment of pity for the little cannon fodder, Wen Yantong walked along a thick wooden board, found a remote place. Seeing no one was around, she pried off the tiles against the wall.

On the other side of the wall was the lively street. She wanted to dig a hole in the wall, put her luggage in the hole, and take it from outside after she slipped out. This would save her the trouble of trying to run out with a large baggage.

Wen Yantong dug for a long time, and finally dug a sufficiently sized hole. She first covered the hole with leaves, and then went back to grab her packed luggage and put it into the hole.

In the end, there were still too many things, and the luggage had difficulty fitting into the hole. Wen Yantong was afraid that someone would find out, so she hurriedly kicked it a few times before everything fit into the hole.

After everything was prepped, Wen Yantong went back to her dormitory, and washed her hands. She took out the cassia seeds hidden under the pillow and poured them into the teapot. After adding some well water, she took it to the pantry and asked the kind woman to help make a fire to boil her mixture.

When she brought it back, she found there was no one in the room. She poured herself a cup of the cassia seed tea, with the aroma of herbs on the tip of her nose, and waited for it to cool down.

This was the last step. As long as she drank this, she would have an excuse to leave Songhai Academy. Then, she would pull out her luggage and get on the carriage, and ride all the way back to Chang'an. And with that, she will no longer have to live in fear.

Wen Yantong became happier the more she thought about it, and finally cracked and laughed out loud. But before she could enjoy her happiness, she heard Teacher Zhao's voice, "What are you enjoying, sitting in the room alone?"

As soon as she heard Teacher Zhao's voice, she couldn't be happy anymore. Wen Yantong stood up and asked, "Why did you come here, teacher?" translate(d) by puretl . com / do not steal / re po/st

Teacher Zhao took a deep breath as soon as he entered the door, "It's getting colder and colder these days, I'm afraid the first snow is coming."

Wen Yantong glanced at the hot tea on the table, gritted her teeth and asked, "Is there something that the teacher needs of this student?"

When Master Zhao approached, he saw the hot tea, and glanced at Wen Yantong reproachfully, "Not only did you not offer tea, you stopped me at the door and interrogare me with questions. Where did you learn your etiquette?"

Wen Yantong grimaced, "It was the student who had neglected."

After Mr. Zhao sat down, he added a cup of tea to himself, took a sip, and sighed, "There’s herbs in this tea?"

She also walked over and nodded, "I soaked in some medicine to supplement my body."

"You children from wealthy families, although inferior to those princes and nobles, are much better than ordinary people." Teacher Zhao continued, "You should know the reason for my visit today."

Wen Yantong shook her head, she was unable to guess.

Teacher Zhao looked at her with a blank expression, and said directly, "You are stupid, so I won't use roundabout sentences. Someone saw you get off the Mu Residence's carriage two days ago. Is this true?"

When Wen Yantong heard it, she realized that it was Cheng Xin who caused her trouble.

She nodded, "It's true."

"Who was on the carriage?" Teacher Zhao asked.

"His Fifth Royal Highness, Young Master Mu, and the Young Marquis." Wen Yantong answered truthfully.

"These three young masters in Chaoge City are all very important young masters. When you are with them, you must always remember your identity, know the gap between you and them. Don't do anything arrogant and cause trouble, understand?" 

Teacher Zhao's words were very clear. Wen Yantong naturally understood, so she nodded hurriedly and replied, "This student knows and will keep it in mind."

After the higher-ups saw her approaching the three young masters, Teacher Zhao was specially asked to remind her. This was not the first time; after the small cannon fodder got Cheng Xiao's cloak, she was reminded.

These precious young masters, although they looked to be free-ranged in the academy, are actually being monitored very closely.

Seeing that Yantong was obedient and reasonable, Teacher Zhao didn't say much. After drinking a cup of tea, he got up, and left.

Wen Yantong sent him away, and the tea was almost cold, she simply sighed, then drank two more cups. She then sat waiting for the effect of the medicine to kick in. translate(d) by puretl . com / do not steal / re po/st

It may be that she drank herbal tea for the first time, the effect emerged quite quickly. Wen Yantong felt a severe stomach pain and hurried to the water-closet.

The thatched hut of Songhai Academy was cleaned every day, and there were even separated compartments. After Wen Yantong ran back and forth three or four times, the pain had somewhat lessened, but her face was still frighteningly pale. When she looked in the mirror, she felt that her appearance was ready, so she ran to find Teacher Zhao.

Who knew that Teacher Zhao was also squatting in the hut. Wen Yantong couldn't wait, so she ran outside Teacher Zhao's hut and cried, saying that her stomach hurt so bad that her intestines were about to be pulled out.

Teacher Zhao, who was squatting inside, felt the same, and shouted for her to go to take his identity card from the room and go out to get some medicine. He asked her to grab a pack for himself too.

Wen Yantong didn't expect it to be so simple. If she knew earlier, she wouldn't drink those cups of herbal tea!

She grabbed Master Zhao's identity card and went straight to the gate of Songhai Academy. As long as she showed the sign, the guards guarding the door let her out. And she successfully made it out just like that.

Wen Yantong was so happy that she could barely close her mouth. She hurriedly followed the wall to find the position where she had dug the hole, and pulled the luggage out. pure tl . com is the original tler / don’t re-post

Unexpectedly, the luggage was still too big and got stuck. Wen Yantong had no choice but to lean on the wall with one foot and pull the package out desperately. The people on the opposite street watched in awe.

Now that things had come to this point, naturally, she no longer cared about her face. She just needed to leave, the quicker the better. So, she gritted her teeth and used all her strength. 

Just when Wen Yantong was about to succeed, there was a sudden noise not far away. It was followed by exclamations and the random sounds of horse galloping; it seemed to be approaching quickly!

She jumped in shock, and when Wen Yantong turned her head to look, she saw a carriage was out of control. The horses in front were rampaging like crazy, and the carriage was about to hit her. Wen Yantong was stunned with fright. She hesitated for a moment before subconsciously trying to dodge, but her femur was slammed into by the carriage frame and was thrown into the air.

When Wen Yantong fell to the ground, her head knocked against the wall, and she was immediately dizzy. Her whole face wrinkled in pain, after slightly recovering from her light concussion, the screams and roars around her were intertwined, and the neighing of the horse was like a sharp thorn that pierced straight into her legs.

Her leg hurts!

Wen Yantong felt as if her right leg seemed to have been chopped off, and the pain was excruciating. She rolled on the ground, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the overturned carriage, and several people were holding big knives in their hands, as if they were killing people.

Frightened and scared, she crawled towards the wall, only to find that her palm was covered in blood. She didn’t know if she had cut her hands or if it was stained from something else… There was someone lying beside her, who was screaming like a pig being slaughtered, causing Wen Yantong's ears to ache.

Even though her leg was in unbearable pain, she stretched out her intact left leg and kicked away the person who was screaming.

Wen Yantong couldn't help but hiss in pain. Fortunately, the turmoil didn't last long and was stopped by a young man in a black cloak. The surroundings slowly calmed down.

She was in so much pain that her mind was a little unclear. She shouted for help over and over again, until finally, in the chaos, a woman in a light yellow dress stood in front of her and asked, "What's the matter with you?" pure tl . com is the original tler / don’t re-post

What's wrong? Can’t you see that I’m injured?

Wen Yantong resisted the urge to curse and shouted, "My leg! My..."

Before she finished shouting, the slaughtered-pig next to her got up and shouted, "I'm even worse! My whole body hurts! I can't hold on anymore!"

Wen Yantong really wanted to get up and kick this dumbass to death with her left leg. Unfortunately, she was now half-crippled, lying on the ground, and unable to move.

She had no choice but to grab the woman's dress with her blood-stained hands. She slowly wrote the word "dying" on it while tremblingly, and cried, "He's pretending! Save me first!"

After shouting, she tilted her head and pretended to faint.