Chapter 126: First Class (2)
A night when spring rain fell.
As Chui was looking out the window of the official residence,
knock, knock, knock—
someone knocked on the front door.
“Come in.”
After Chui’s voice resounded, the door opened.
The maid Ying’er smiled brightly as she saw Chui.
“Hello, Assistant Instructor Ximen.”
“What is it? The cleaning should have been finished.”
“Ah! Yes! That is, a letter has just arrived for you, Assistant Instructor!”
“The mail collection time is noon the next day.”
“I know that… but I still wanted to deliver it quickly! In case it is an urgent matter.”
Collecting and delivering mail in bulk at noon was for the convenience of the maids.
However, Ying’er seemed to want to be of help, even in a small way, to the one she served.
“Thank you.”
“…!”
Ying’er paused upon seeing Chui’s smile.
His smile, which had felt scary when they first met, now looked very warm.
At the same time, Ying’er’s heart ached.
To think such a fearsome burn scar was on the face of such a good-natured and kind person.
How much did it hurt, and how much would it hurt in the future?
Thinking of that point, tears welled up in Ying’er’s eyes for no reason.
‘Oh my, I am so silly. How dare a mere maid sympathize with someone…’
But Ying’er had already made a firm resolve in her heart.
Although she did not know how much longer she would serve him in the future, she would assist him with all her heart and soul as much as possible while serving him.
Meanwhile, Chui accepted the letter Ying’er handed over.
After Ying’er left the room with quick steps, Chui opened the letter.
-Hello, pretty?
The sender was not written, but he could tell immediately who had sent it.
-I bought a house in this vicinity as you ordered.
Chui had originally intended to part ways with Gyeon Sul even before entering the Ascending Heaven Academy.
But Gyeon Sul had stubbornly clung to Chui, saying he did not want to separate, and in the end, it turned out like this.
-You didn’t specify what kind of house to buy, so I just bought it according to my taste! This house is really nice. So if you don’t like residence life, commute from here! I’m bored~ the nights are lonely~ since I can’t even return to my hometown now… Boohoo~
After that, it was mostly whining contents.
The only useful content was just a line or two at the end.
-Anyway, I’ll be waiting here continuously, so if you have anything to request, feel free to contact me anytime! Ah, and Junior Sister said she’d also help if there’s anything needed!
With those contents, the letter ended.
“He looks a bit foolish, but… his caution is good.”
Chui carefully scanned the contents of the letter again.
Nowhere in the letter was there any mention of ‘water bandits’ or ‘Yangtze River Water Bandit Union’.
It merely appeared to be a letter throwing flirtatious remarks at a lover.
Yet, within this, all the information Chui needed was contained.
1. The things Chui had ordered Gyeon Sul to do before entering the Ascending Heaven Academy were well implemented.
2. Those instructions were to buy a large mansion near the Ascending Heaven Academy and conceal important things, including money, inside it.
3. An official investigation was taking place at the Happy Forest, which Chui and Gyeon Sul had set fire to before leaving. However, as long as they did not return there, there seemed to be nothing to worry about.
4. Contact with Jeok-hyang of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union was possible through the purchased mansion, allowing them to borrow the power of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union at any time.
The house Chui bought near the Ascending Heaven Academy was a secret meeting place to contact the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union, as well as a distraction to evade the investigative net of the government and the Martial Alliance.
Toss—
Chui threw the letter into the fireplace.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…
Upon touching the embers within the ashes, the letter slowly began to burn from the bottom.
Leaning back in his chair, Chui recalled tomorrow’s matters.
‘…So, without violating the school rules, I am to raise the average of the quizzes by more than ten points?’
The roster of the students taking the class came into view.
Those who dragged up the average score were four in total.
-Shen Shilin of the Shenshi Merchant Alliance: Excellent / Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding / Excellent / Excellent / Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding…
-Song Yu of the Song Family Manor: Good / Excellent / Excellent / Excellent / Excellent / Excellent / Excellent / Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding / Excellent / Outstanding…
-Tai Zhenzhe of the Dajing Bank: Good / Excellent / Excellent / Good / Excellent / Excellent / Outstanding / Outstanding / Excellent / Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding…
-Jin Xizhi of the Yingjun Escort Agency: Excellent / Good / Excellent / Excellent / Good / Excellent / Outstanding / Excellent / Outstanding / Excellent / Outstanding / Excellent…
Among the evaluation criteria of Outstanding, Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, most of their grades were either the Outstanding or Excellent grade.
These four were the cadets whose sum of credits obtained so far was the highest.
Chui’s gaze directed toward the bottom of the roster.
-Sima Yuli of the Sima Clan: Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding / Outstanding / Excellent / Good / Fair / Poor / Poor / Poor…
The name of the cadet who was eating away at the average score the most.
However, there was a peculiar point in her grades.
At the beginning of the semester, the grades she achieved in the first six exams were all Outstanding grades.
Even that haughty Shen Shilin had missed the Outstanding grade three times.
It was also confirmed that from the seventh exam, when Sima Yuli’s grades began to plummet, the four at the top had rapidly raised their grades.
If it were a general assistant instructor, they would have passed it over roughly, saying it was a crowd of rabble so it made sense that the deviation was severe, but Chui was looking at this phenomenon a bit differently.
‘Raising the class average might become easier than I thought.’
In fact, the method of raising the class average was simple.
One just had to expel the low-performing cadets from the class and lead the class focusing on the high-performing cadets.
However, Chui knew a much simpler method than that.
‘…It’s a trick I often used when I was in the military and in the assassin sect.’
Was Chui not someone who had served as a military commissioner in the army, and as the Red Yaksha of the Abyssal Valley?
Countless methods of drilling subordinates flashed through his mind.
‘And Sima Yuli. I need to pay special attention to this cadet in the future.’
As Chui was contemplating which one to choose among the three thousand twenty-one ways that draw blood and the one thousand nine hundred ninety-one ways that do not,
knock, knock, knock—
someone knocked on the front door again.
Opening the door,
“…?”
Ying’er’s face was visible in Chui’s eyes.
Ying’er had a somewhat embarrassed look.
“Excuse me, Instructor Ximen. A guest has come to find you.”
“A guest? There is no one who would come to find me. And isn’t the visiting time for guests at the residence only until the First Watch (19:00–21:00)? It is the Fourth Watch (01:00–03:00) now.”
“T-That is true, but…”
“…?”
Despite Chui mentioning the residence’s rules, Ying’er appeared hesitant.
“Because customarily, they are someone who always visits at this hour…”
“…”
Chui could immediately understand what Ying’er was saying.
Bright daylight aside, there were few who traveled late at night.
Thieves, escaped convicts, spies, lechers, arsonists, assassins, hunters… and black merchants who distribute bribes.
“Tell them to come in.”
As Chui nodded, Ying’er bowed her head and ran down the hallway.
Soon, Ying’er guided an elderly man to the front of the room.
“Then, elders, please have your talk.”
Ying’er bowed her head once more and closed the door.
“…”
Chui looked at the man beyond the candle flame.
A middle-aged man wearing a black cape and a bamboo hat on his head.
He offered a friendly greeting with an easygoing attitude.
“You must be the newly arrived assistant instructor? How are you adjusting? I am the middleman Wang Hengbu. We will see each other often in the future, so you can just call me Brother Wang comfortably.”
“A middleman. Between whom and whom do you stand?”
“Why, between our newly appointed assistant instructor and the parents who want to establish a close relationship with the assistant instructor, of course. Hahaha—”
Chui’s prediction was correct.
Wang Hengbu—he was a black merchant who delivered parents’ bribes to the instructors or assistant instructors.
In short, it meant he was a ‘bribe courier’.
He stroked his beard and smiled.
“Hahaha—since we’ll be seeing each other for a long time in the future, let’s skip the formalities, and you can check the goods right away.”
Wang Hengbu set down the large bundle he was carrying on the floor.
Then, sitting in a kneeling posture in front of Chui, he untied them.
The cloth was unfolded, and the items inside were clearly revealed.
The first thing Wang Hengbu picked up was a dagger set with several gems on its hilt.
“Look. Is it not brilliant? Indeed, a martial artist must have a good blade. But as for a blade, as long as it has a blade and a hilt, it’s fine. If you pluck out these gems one by one whenever you need to, it would be perfect for making an emergency fund.”
He held the dagger, swung it in the air a few times, and then put it down.
Next was a thick book.
“This book is an erotic album that is popular these days. Oh, it was extremely explicit. My face was burning hot while looking at it. But you see, if you suppress your embarrassment and flip just halfway through this book? Ta-da—a bookmark appears like this. It is a bookmark made of a bank note with a hefty sum written on it.”
Wang Hengbu flipped through the naked figures drawn on the pages and picked up the next item.
It was a crate of apples.
“Apples, which are good for the body and taste delicious. They say that if you eat an apple every morning, you won’t need a physician. But that’s only for ordinary people like me~ Since you, our assistant instructor, are a precious person, normal apples won’t nourish your body. Here, if you remove the ordinary apples on top… Look. What kind of apples are beneath the crate? They are apples made of pure silver. Hahaha—”
After the crate of apples came clothing.
Wang Hengbu lifted a robe made by layering cloth over deer hide.
“If I were to describe this robe in one word… it’s second-hand, second-hand. The owner wore it a few times. So, a tiny trace of daily life might be on it. Let’s see… Oh dear, why would they send something like this as a gift? There is a grain of rice stuck to the collar here, a stain from soup splashing on the hem, a mud stain on the back, and dozens of exchange slips inside the pocket… Well, since it’s second-hand, isn’t it inevitable that there would be little traces of daily life like this? Traces of daily life that arose purely out of forgetfulness, that is. Hahaha—”
Besides this, petty bribes continued to follow.
The last, final remaining bribe was a single key.
Wang Hengbu placed the key into Chui’s hand and said.
“There should be a carriage placed over by the southern gate of the Ascending Heaven Academy. It’s a cart that is not very big, but it is filled to the brim with cash.”
“Is that mine?”
“How could it not be? Usually, transporting cash in a carriage to offer as a bribe is called the ‘cartload bribery’ method… but handing over the carriage entirely like this is something even I have never heard of. It is the most sophisticated expression of sincerity I have ever seen in my life. I pride myself on being an elder in this field, but my word…”
Wang Hengbu clicked his tongue and pushed all of these in front of Chui.
“Anyway, do you know what these are called?”
“Bribes.”
“Oh my! That’s a dangerous thing to say! Here, repeat after me. ‘Sincerity’.”
“Sincerity.”
“That’s right, well done, our assistant instructor.”
Hearing Chui’s answer, Wang Hengbu wore a good-natured smile.
Not a bribe, but sincerity.
Even the impression of the deliverer looked exceptionally kind and friendly.
“It’s all an expression of sincerity. Why is a human called a human? Isn’t one only a true human when living in harmony among people? This is all with the intent for everyone to live well together. It is good for you, Assistant Instructor, because you get an emergency fund outside of your salary, and with this, you can make another ‘expression of sincerity’ to those above you to climb up and up. It is good for our cadets because they get good grades. It is good for the parents because they see their children succeed. It is good for me because my clients are happy. Isn’t it a win-win for everyone?”
“Who sent all of these?”
“Aha, a natural question. You must know clearly who showed sincerity and who did not.”
Wang Hengbu handed a list to Chui.
Chui, who read it, nodded his head.
“The names of the cadets taking the class are all evenly distributed.”
“Lest it be too many, I set aside the prominent names separately at the top. It will be easy to read.”
It was as Wang Hengbu said.
At the top of the list, four familiar names could be seen.
Shen Shilin of the Shenshi Merchant Alliance, Song Yu of the Song Family Manor, Tai Zhenzhe of the Dajing Bank, and Jin Xizhi of the Yingjun Escort Agency.
The moment he saw the names and backgrounds of the four cadets whose grades were good and whose expressions of sincerity were clear, Chui made up his mind definitely.
“…”
To choose one method each from the three thousand twenty-one and the one thousand nine hundred ninety-one methods and combine them.