Chapter 95: Open Class

In the early days of the Federation, there was turmoil within it. It was Jiang Family that joined forces with several other larger families who quelled the turbulence and established a relatively fair and just system of governance, a democratic one in which the people and the military ran the country together, rather than an empire like the other two realms. Yu Jinli had got a lot of information which gave him a thorough understanding of the interstellar history, but very little of which was about Earth. He simply learned that all humans here migrated from Earth. However, it was not known if that Earth was the one on which he had lived. It seemed that he couldn’t get a definite answer until he was there. Yu Jinli was a bit down, but just then, a rich fragrance drifted over which drew his attention instantly. “Little chestnut, come and eat.” Jiang Mosheng carried a plate of nicely colored sweet and sour pork ribs in his hand towards the table and said. Yu Jinli’s eyes were already attracted by the ribs, like a puppy captivated by bones. He walked over, following the fragrance of the dish by instinct. Sometimes, even his sect-brother and master shifu felt strange why a koi fish like him who was supposed to prefer water plants turned into a carnivore after he turned into human. Was there a genetic mutation? Or was he affected by his human body? But no matter what they thought, Yu Jinli still loved meat. Of course, other than that, his favorite food was chestnuts, otherwise he wouldn’t have come up with a name, Yu Jinli. (Translator’s notes: The Chinese character for li in Yu Jinli is the same as that for chestnut.) Unfortunately, up to now, he had never seen anything similar to chestnuts in this world. The thought of chestnuts made him realize that he hadn’t had them for a long time, and he really craved some. “What’s on your mind?” Jiang Mosheng saw Yu Jinli look at the dishes on the table with watering mouth, whose eyes were a little empty. Clearly, Yu Jinli was in a trance. That made Jiang Mosheng chuckle. Jiang Mosheng’s voice was quite deep and cold, with a metallic feature, but when he spoke gently, that voice turned into a powerful weapon which could kill his “enemy” without shedding a drop of blood. With his heart pounding faster and faster, Yu Jinli covered his chest at a loss. It felt as if his heart would burst out anytime now. Why the sudden pound? Is he sick? Yu Jinli, who had never been sick before, couldn’t help but think. This is what happens to humans when they are sick. Their bodies become very strange. But he recalled that when he was treating his golden coattail, his golden coattail’s heartbeat got slower and slower. Why is his getting faster and faster? That confused him. Seeing that Yu Jinli was still in a daze, for a moment, Jiang Mosheng didn’t know whether to blame himself for a lack of charisma or to blame the little one for being inattentive. Of course, he wouldn’t blame the little one. Going over and taking Yu Jinli’s hand in his, he brought him to the dining table, pulled out the chair for him and placed him in his seat. After that, he helped the little one fill up the bowl. He was one step from feeding him. If members of Divine Beast were here right now, they would definitely be struck by another display of affection. “Ah Sheng?” Yu Jinli seemed to have just come back to his senses. Then, he saw himself sitting by the dining table, with a bowl full of food in front of him. Instinctively, he called Jiang Mosheng as if he didn’t understand what had happened. He was clearly some distance away from the dining table just now. Why did he sit down all of a sudden? It seemed like teleportation, but he shouldn’t have been able to do that with his current cultivation level. “Eat. You have classes in the afternoon,” said Jiang Mosheng smilingly as he stroked Yu Jinli’s head with affection. “All right. Ah Sheng, your dishes all taste great.” No longer bothered about how he came to sit here, Yu Jinli’s attention was once again drawn to the dishes. He picked up a large piece of pork rib and sent it into his mouth. A sweet and sour taste spread across his tongue which gave him extraordinary satisfaction. “Eat as much as you like.” Jiang Mosheng had been busy picking food for Yu Jinli and urged him to eat more. The little one was too skinny, who didn’t gain any weight even after months of good life in Jiang Family, which made Jiang Mosheng distressed every time he looked at his tiny body. It seemed that he still had to learn more about cooking, so as to feed the little one and help him put on some weight and then it should be his turn to “eat”. While Jiang Mosheng was deep in thought, Yu Jinli was eating happily without any distractions, not realizing that he was about to be “eaten” after he was fattened up. After lunch, Yu Jinli took a good nap in Jiang Mosheng’s dormitory, and then went to his afternoon class full of energy. Being a spirit beast, it wouldn’t affect him even if he didn’t take a nap at noon, but now that he had a human body, he followed human’s routine. Now, if he didn’t rest at noon, he would be in low spirits in the afternoon. So, under Jiang Mosheng’s half-guidance and half-compulsion, he also became a nap person. After arriving at the classroom, Yu Jinli found that there were only a few students in the classroom. “Ah Ye, where is everybody?” asked Yu Jinli as he sat down. “Who knows.” Leaning on the table, Liu Xingye looked like he hadn’t had enough sleep. If he hadn’t been woken up by Ah Su, he would have been one of the students who didn’t show up in class. The bell rang, but the teacher who usually walked in on time was late too, which made Yu Jinli feel a little strange. “Ah Su, why is the teacher late as well?” Yu Jinli asked Liu Yuansu in a small voice, afraid that he would disturb others, though no one was really studying besides the two of them. Liu Yuansu took his eyes off the book and answered: “Master Huang Qi is here to give an open class. The teachers are probably there.” “Open class? What is that?” Hearing an unfamiliar term, Yu Jinli asked on the principle of asking if he didn’t know something. “An open class is a big class where all the classes get together.” Liu Yuansu explained patiently. “Then why don’t we join them?” asked Yu Jinli again. He remembered hearing about a class where all classes got together from Miss Xu. Then why didn’t their class go? Liu Yuansu’s lips curled up in an ironic smile at his word. It was true that all the classes attended open classes together, for every time the person who came to lecture was a big shot in Card Forger world. At first, students of Class F had been to the open class, but each time, they were mocked by students of other classes. Worst of all, they were powerless to refute back, because they had nothing against what they were accused of, which made them both angry and helpless. Over time, they stopped attending open classes tacitly. They belonged to a class which was abandoned anyway. Even if they went to the open class, they wouldn’t understand the lecture. Moreover, they would be ridiculed for it. So, they might as well do nothing and wait for graduation obediently. However, Liu Yuansu didn’t intend to speak to Yu Jinli about that. He could tell Yu Jinli was an innocent soul, who was also the most studious student in Class F. Even though the teachers never answered any of Yu Jinli’s questions, he still listened during class with an optimistic and serious manner. Sometimes, he even tried to find answers to his questions on textbooks during class breaks when everyone else had gone to play. Such a good student shouldn’t have been in Class F. “There’s only a few of us here. We can’t go.” Finally, Liu Yuansu made up an excuse. “But... if we don’t, we’ll know less than others,” said Yu Jinli with a slight frown. If they didn’t go this time, they wouldn’t learn anything about this open class. That meant they would be one more step behind other classes, which was quite a pity. “Even if we do, we won’t understand the lecture and won’t learn anything.” Liu Xingye, who woke up when nobody was paying attention to him, spoke as he shrugged at Yu Jinli. Yu Jinli always felt that something was wrong with Class F, that a normal class shouldn’t be like this. But since he had never been to another class and didn’t know what a class should be, he became even more confused. “You want to go, little chestnut?” Liu Xingye asked when he saw the frown on Yu Jinli’s forehead. “I do.” Yu Jinli answered honestly. He had never been to an open class before and was quite curious about it. “Let’s go, then. Ah Su, are you joining us?” Liu Xingye suddenly stood up as he spoke, which drew the attention of the rest of the class who looked over in surprise. “Whatever,” said Liu Yuansu casually. But his act of closing his textbook had made his intentions clear. “Let’s go then. We have half an hour before the open class starts,” said Liu Xingye as he checked the time. An open class usually lasted for two hours. In order to ensure that the students had ample time to prepare, as well as to keep the lecturer from being too rushed, each open class started half an hour later than normal class time. Therefore, students of Class F would make it to the open class if they go there now. “Ah Ye, are you really going to the open class?” Gao Ziqi said in surprise after he heard Liu Xingye, with a bit of worry and indecision in his eyes. “Sure. It would be to those bastards’ liking if we didn’t go, wouldn’t it? I figured it’s better to go there and give those bastards a hard time than to let them call it what they want, so that they can’t even listen to the lesson.” said Liu Xingye with his hands in his pockets, a bit cocky. If one listened carefully, one could tell there was a hint of hatred in his tone. Gao Ziqi and Du Jingxuan listened to him and found what he said made sense, so they followed suit and said: “We are going, too.” Other students who were in the classroom heard them and voiced their agreement. Though students of Class F weren’t as talented or as good learners with a lower grade of inner focus, they were united as a team. Probably because they were all in the same boat, it was easier for them to understand each other. “Then, let’s go,” said Liu Xingye. “Wait.” At that moment, a clear voice rose, which stopped the students who were heading out. “Have you guys forgotten what happened in the last open class? Have you forgotten why we don’t go to open classes afterwards? Why do we have to go there and let those people mock us?” Zhou Zixu was a bit agitated. Obviously, he had recalled something not so pleasant. The students were silent when they heard him. They hadn’t forgotten. Nor would they ever forget.