Chapter 5 – Seatmate  

lilina

Editor: Kittsune

At first, Qiu Ming Yan didn’t get what Song Xiao meant by his words. She stood there, stupefied for five whole seconds before she reacted, her whole body trembling in anger.

“Song Xiao, what do you mean by that! Are you calling my mother a maid?” Song Zheng, who sat by the side, suddenly screamed at him.

Song Zi Cheng was unsure as to what kind of expression he should keep on his face. He felt his son’s arrogant and bossy side was very funny, but on the other hand, he felt that Song Xiao had gone too far, so he spoke up to address the situation: “Xiao Xiao, how could you say something like that! Ming Yan, there’s no need to argue over what the child said, he has lost his memories. You should sit down and eat.”

“Xiao Xiao, Auntie knows that you don’t like her very much, but you’re already a teenager, so you can’t just…” Qiu Ming Yan panted for two breaths after she sat down, but she couldn’t stop herself from speaking up, continuing to talk till tears ran down her face.

When Song Xiao saw her crying as she took a seat, the crease of his brows tightened, and he turned to look at Song Zi Cheng to say: “Father, how could a concubine eat on the same table as the owner of the house…”

“Song Xiao!” Song Zi Cheng immediately spoke up to stop him. Seeing his son pursing his lips tightly, he felt the slightest regret for speaking so loudly.

Before, Song Xiao would not even utter a few sentences to him. It was rare for him to be willing to talk, and it would be bad if he were shocked to silence, “Cough, you are not allowed to say anything about something like ‘concubine’ anymore. Let Assistant Si get you some normal books tomorrow.”

With Song Zi Cheng’s interruption, Qiu Ming Yan couldn’t continue to cry any longer. After all, she hadn’t married into the household, and did not have the authority to fight at the dinner table. And so, she only clenched her teeth and planned to find Song Zi Cheng after dinner to complain tearfully while bringing up the topic of marriage.

There’s no order within the house, and since the head of the house paid no mind to it, then Song Xiao would also leave it be, raising his rice bowl to continue his meal.

He was originally brought up in a family with literary reputation, an official of the third highest rank, and became part of the imperial family in the end. Naturally, his whole body emitted a noble-like atmosphere, and the way he had his meals was as elegant as it was clear and dignified, the sight warming the heart and delightful to the eye.

Seeing the way Song Xiao ate his meal, the pair of mother and daughter on the side, who ate without savouring their food, felt even more furious than before.

After finishing his dinner, Song Xiao followed Song Zi Cheng into the study.

“Son, do you still remember what you learned in middle school?” Song Zi Cheng then gave the books from the third year of middle school to Song Xiao after he found them, “There is only one month left before the start of the new term, and if you forget even the basics, how can you possibly pass the entrance exam?”

Song Xiao took a book with《Ninth Grade Chemistry》written on the front cover and flipped through it, “Matching and equalizing chemical equation… Periodic table of the elements…” He could understand what each word meant, but was clueless on what they meant when put together.

“Sheng Meng High School has an entrance exam, and they divide your class by your grades,” When Song Zi Cheng saw the puzzled look on his face, he knew that Song Xiao didn’t even understand what was written on the book, “Tomorrow, tell Assistant Si to get you a home tutor, and let him cram into you the subjects that you have forgotten. I shall talk to the principal; I’ll go and pay him a visit in a few days.”

Home tutor? He must be talking about private school teachers. Song Xiao understood what his father meant and nodded in response. After a thousand years, knowledge had grown more than a thousand times. What he really needs right now is a teacher to teach him what he lacks.

“Many thanks to father.” Seeing his father with a face full of smiles, Song Xiao felt a little dazzled. The father in his previous life had never paid so much attention to him, only annually coming to the exam school to check on his homeworks. But because of Song Xiao’s highly retentive memory, he was able to memorize any book he laid his hands on, and not long after his father felt that there was no need to keep checking in on him and left him be.

magic “Foolish child,” Song Zi Cheng tentatively raised his hand and patted Song Xiao’s head, making Song Xiao widened his eyes in astonishment. His short hair was soft to the touch, and seeing that he didn’t try to get away, Song Zi Cheng couldn’t help but keep on patting his head, “Call me papa. If you keep on calling me father, you’ll make me older than I already am.”

“Papa…”

“Ai, good son…”

Qiu Ming Yan, who was holding a midnight snack as she stood outside the door, bit her lips hatefully as she heard the laughter of the father and son echoing from within the room.

On the second day, Si Da Shu had already found a home tutor. Ding Hui was a young woman in her twenties who was a research student in A city’s best university. She decided to work as a home tutor during her summer vacation to earn some money for her tuition fees.

Upon entering the house, she realized that this house belonged to a rich family and couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive. Children of wealthy tycoons were not easy to serve; she taught one a few days ago, a child with a head full of yellow strands and a face full of contempt, and he had quit after just a few days.

Song Xiao walked down the stairs. Hearing that he’d be meeting his tutor, he allowed Auntie Chen to pick slightly formal clothes for him to wear. He put on a white shirt and a pair of black trousers, with a small necktie to go along with the outfit.

“Xiao Xiao, this is Teacher Ding, a graduate student of A University,” Si Da Shu smiled as he spoke to Song Xiao on the stairs, “Teacher Ding, this is Song Xiao. He has just graduated from middle school.”

Ding Hui raised her head and saw the young boy descending down the spiral staircase, and for a moment, she suddenly froze. He stood tall and dignified, and his every step measured and calm. Although his delicate chin was raised slightly, he didn’t seem arrogant, rather it looked natural and refined. In that moment, she felt like she was looking at an actual prince.

Song Xiao knew that women in this present time were allowed to study alongside their counterpart, and he respected this woman who could achieve her masters. Walking forward to greet Ding Hui, he nodded his head as he said: “Greetings, teacher.”

“Hello to you too, little prince.” Ding Hui suddenly smiled. It was hard not to like such a handsome and polite young man. As long as she could see this face every single day, then this job was very much worth it. She wouldn’t even mind much even if they were to lower her salary.

“Our Xiao Xiao was in an accident, and he was unable to remember anything from before the accident, so it would be best if Miss Ding started teaching him from the very basic.” Si Da Shu said after accompanying the two of them into Song Xiao’s study, still feeling anxious.

“Please rest assured.” Ding Hui waved her hands in objection. An hour later, she finally understood what “Teaching from the very basic” meant!

“You should at least know the ‘Quadratic formula’ right? Hey, you do know the formula right?” Ding Hui stared at the boy who was giving her a blank look and felt the urge to pull out her hair. This meant that she had to start teaching him from the elementary school level!

Ding Hui brought out all the books from elementary school till third year of middle school that were in Song Xiao’s bookcase and started teaching him from the very beginning.

“Wow, you actually understood this pretty quickly, could it be that you remembered something?” Ding Hui felt very interested in the amnesiac state that she would only see in dramas, so she felt she should try and learn more about it.

Song Xiao lifted his gaze from the book, giving her a quick glance before continuing to read it, not paying her any mind. This woman was not bad as a teacher, but the only problem would be that she was not professional enough. She would always pat his head without saying a single word, and sometimes she would just stare at him while smiling to herself.

Time passed very quickly, and even though Song Xiao holds a highly retentive memory, the information from elementary up to third year middle school was just too much, so he could only roughly swallow what he could manage to. Up until the start of the high school term, he still hasn’t grasp the knowledge of third year middle school…

Ding Hui expressed that without the knowledge from third year of middle school, to even study the high school curriculum would be like reading a heavenly book, so she insisted that he finish studying them.

Just like that, a delay of a whole week passed before Song Zi Cheng brought Song Xiao to the school to register.

The entrance exam had long since ended, and the classes were already sorted out. Thankfully this kind of school was much more lenient to the wealthy who could fish out a fortune to attend school, so they allowed Song Xiao to independently take the exam.

Song Xiao’s scores had always been poor, so the teacher who was in charge of the class assignment, held the test papers containing a thoroughly mashed score without feeling the slightest bit of surprise. Holding a form, she asked him: “Do you have any particular thing that you’re very good at?”

“I am quite decent at playing the lute, chess, calligraphy and painting. What I am best at is playing the Changxiao[1].” Song Xiao answered seriously.

The teacher in charge of class assignment stared at him. This child is not modest at all, and seeing the Xing Hai entertainment head behind Song Xiao, she wrote “performing arts oriented”, and assigned him to the first class of the Special class.

After all, he has a father that mingles around in the entertainment industry, and even if his academic performance isn’t good at all, he could still enter an art school in the future.

The so-called Special class wasn’t actually a class where the top students were gathered. In fact, it was a class where students with only one redeeming speciality or specially recruited children were gathered. To speak frankly, it’s a class filled with rich second generations.

The teacher in charge of the class was a female teacher in her forties, and she looked very experienced in her field: “I am the teacher in charge of this class, Teacher Jia. Let your parent help you prepare your room, you should follow me to class. You’ve already missed a whole week of class, and you shouldn’t miss any more of it.”

Teacher Jia dragged Song Xiao away without saying another word, leaving Song Zi Cheng and Si Da Shu, who were each holding big and small bags, to stand there bewildered. The principal who accompanied them here smiled proudly as he said: “That teacher is someone that I managed to grab from the city, and she is extremely responsible. There’s nothing to worry about as long as the child is under her care.”

Looking at the disappearing back of the teacher, Si Da Shu bit the corner of his lips. Just as he said, that teacher seemed to be nothing like a teacher that belonged in an aristocrat school, but resembled his high school teacher instead.

Song Xiao carried his schoolbag along with his newly received books and followed the teacher into the class. It was currently the self-study period, so a teacher wasn’t needed in the class.

Teacher Jia stood on top of the platform and used the chalkboard eraser to hit the tables: “All of you, raise your head. This is our new student, Song Xiao. Please welcome him, everyone.”

The sound of clapping resounded, and Teacher Jia allowed Song Xiao to introduce himself.

“Hello everyone, my name is Song Xiao. It’s nice to meet you, I hope everyone as my classmates would kindly advise me in the future.” Sheng Meng high school had a unified uniform, which was a modified western suit. Therefore Song Xiao who wore a short-sleeved shirt, felt strange as if he was wearing formal attire.

The class was silent for a few seconds.

“Che, where did this nerd come from? To actually use a word like ‘schoolmate’….” The boy seated on the front row curled his lips in disdain.

“So cool!” A girl couldn’t help but exclaim. The class was suddenly buzzing with noise, which instantly covered up the voice of the boy.

“Oh heavens. Between him and the class president, who do you think is more handsome?”

“The two of them should belong in different categories. This one obviously belongs in the second, the gentle boy category…”

“Be quiet!” Teacher Jia howled vigorously, causing the class to fall silent, “There are still a few empty seats, you’re free to pick any of them. This period is almost finished, and none of you are using this time to hurry up and finish some of your homework. All of you sure are free aren’t you?”

Song Xiao swept his gaze across the room. Because this was an aristocratic school, there weren’t many students within each class; there are only thirty-something people in his, with every two seats positioned together.

There were only three seats left open, and each already had one seat occupied. One of them was a boy with thick eyes, only that his hair was very oily; one look at him and you could tell that he hadn’t bathed for a few days. Another was a girl who kept on eyeing him with a pair of eyes that was emitting some kind of light…

Song Xiao couldn’t stand a seatmate that hadn’t bathed at all, and there was a saying that goes “men and women should not touch hands when they give or receive things”, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to sit with the girl. All he could do now was to move his gaze to the last seat.

He seemed like a clean and tall-built boy, but Song Xiao was unable to see what he looked like because he was sound asleep on his desk. The only thing that he could observe was the back of his well-proportioned head and a length of his slender and fair neck.

Song Xiao walked forward to sit next to him.

Feeling someone approaching him, he who had slept through troubling times woke up instantly, raising his head to look at the person who dared to sit by his side. Song Xiao also turned his head to look at him, and at their first exchange of looks, both of them froze simultaneously.

Song Xiao looked at the appearance of the youth in front of him, and almost cried. Those straight eyebrows, star-shaped eyes and thin lips… it’s definitely the unparalleled handsome face of the Emperor of Jing Yuan!

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Translation Note

[1]長簫 : A kind of Chinese vertical end-blown flute that is typically made out of bamboo. The character ‘簫’ is the same as Song Xiao’s 簫.