Chapter 127: Bribes (1)
Sima Yuli. She sat quietly in the dormitory bathroom, looking into the mirror.
‘…Should I quit?’
Everyone has a purpose in life.
Whether that was personal advancement, filial piety toward parents, love for a spouse, or responsibility for a child.
However, Sima Yuli had none of those.
No, to be exact, they had ‘disappeared’.
“Whew…”
She picked up a gourd and splashed water over her head.
Of course, she had not lived in frustration and despair from the very beginning.
Her family clan, though not very wealthy, was somewhat well-known in the local region.
And her parents who believed in and supported her, the only daughter of the family.
Sima Yuli, who had entered the Ascending Heaven Academy based on their trust and love, wished to surely repay the grace of her parents who raised her someday.
…However, as tragedy always does, it visited suddenly one day without any warning.
If only her parents had not been murdered by unidentified masked men, leading to the complete downfall of her family, Sima Yuli would have strived until the end.
“…”
At the end of her thoughts, her vision was always dyed blurry.
At that moment when Sima Yuli was staring at the ceiling with a blank expression,
“Hey! Why aren’t you coming out!”
A shrill voice was heard from outside the bathroom.
Shen Shilin. She was the very cadet who shared a room with Sima Yuli.
“Are you using the bathroom all day? Do you live here alone? Huh?! You crazy bitch!”
At her voice which was gradually tinged with annoyance, Sima Yuli hurriedly came out of the bathroom.
“S-Sorry.”
“Ugh, so annoying. Hurry out!”
Shen Shilin shoved Sima Yuli and entered the bathroom.
Her grumbling was continuously heard until she closed the door.
“Beggar bitch. A bitch who should have rightfully been a maidservant, what’s she… Look at her washing morning and evening just because she’s a cadet in appearance. Ugh, disgusting. Hey! Put two towels and scented oil in front of this, alright? And put all your discarded clothes in the laundry basket by the window. Oh, and when you see the maids, tell them to take the laundry immediately. Or else, carry it to the laundry place yourself and wash it!”
“Yes…”
Sima Yuli, who had her bathroom snatched away less than fifteen minutes after entering, came out with drooping steps and wiped the moisture from her body.
Then she gathered the laundry, as if she had become Shen Shilin’s handmaid.
At this point, Sima Yuli did not even have the luxury to feel self-deprecation.
‘I won’t be able to pay the tuition for next semester anyway… Is it right to just leave the academy at this point?’
But even if she left the Ascending Heaven Academy right now, she had no place to go.
Her parents had passed away, and the retainers had scattered with what little remaining property there was; on top of that, she had heard that the house left behind was teeming only with creditors who came to collect penalties for the canceled business.
Under a situation where she could literally neither go here nor there, Sima Yuli was living day by day on borrowed time in the dormitory from which she was scheduled to be evicted.
Soon, as the lecture time approached, Sima Yuli gathered her things.
At that moment,
Thud—
Shen Shilin, who came out after finishing her bath, bumped her shoulder as she passed by.
She looked down at Sima Yuli with a gaze as if looking down at a bug.
“Hey. You washed before me, yet your start is slow? You slug-like bitch.”
“S-Sorry.”
“If you’re sorry, just check out of the room. So I can use the bathroom alone. Ah, what on earth is wrong with this academy, constantly telling me to share a room with a beggar while talking about fairness and equality? I just want to pay more money and use a single room. So annoying—”
At that moment, other cadets appeared beside Shen Shilin.
Song Yu, Tai Zhenzhe, and Jin Xizhi. All were close to Shen Shilin.
The main quartet who ostracized and bullied Sima Yuli had all gathered.
“What is it, Shilin? Are you going to school with the beggar girl today? How unusually merciful of you.”
“Oh~ Sima Yuli. Good choice. For a beggar bitch, it’s the best policy to attach herself under a rich young lady early on and act as a maid. What are you doing? Quickly snatch her bag and carry it for her~ Why are you so clueless?”
“Sniff, sniff—but what is this? Ah, her head smells. She must not wash her hair properly. Since she walks around with only water on it, her hair quality is in this state.”
The sarcasm pouring from everywhere stabbed her heart deeply like a knife.
“…”
Sima Yuli bowed her head with a dispirited expression.
Then Jin Xizhi giggled and yanked her hair.
“Hey, why do you keep ignoring people’s words? Shall I spill a soup bowl over you again later?”
“Uh… S-Sorry. It’s not that… it’s just that I didn’t have time to wash today…”
“What? Then are you saying Shilin used the bathroom for too long?”
“I-I didn’t mean it that way…”
Sima Yuli turned her head with a flustered expression.
At that moment,
Slap!
Shen Shilin’s palm slapped Sima Yuli’s cheek.
Sima Yuli raised her tearful eyes and waved her hands.
“N-No, Shilin. I didn’t mean it in the sense that you used the bathroom for too long, it’s j-just…”
If she could not clear up the misunderstanding right here and now, she would continue to be bullied even after returning to the dormitory.
Therefore, Sima Yuli desperately explained her intention.
But Shen Shilin merely opened her eyes wide as if puzzled.
“Huh? What? I didn’t hit you because of that though?”
“Eh? Th-Then why?”
“What do you mean, why? I just hit you. J~ust because.”
Shen Shilin grinned and struck Sima Yuli’s cheek with her palm once again.
Then the other cadets beside her also burst into laughter.
“Wow, Shen Shilin is truly vicious. She is practically a member of the Demonic Cult. Anyway, women’s fights are indeed scarier.”
“Look at this beggar girl’s dumbfounded expression. What a sight.”
“Ah~ Yuli! Smile! You have to smile! Manage your face! Manage your face! Or you might get beaten up once more!”
The other cadets, including Shen Shilin’s clique, cast glances as they walked past.
Sneers, contempt, indifference, and glances of relief that it was not they who stood in that position.
Under such a situation, Sima Yuli bowed her head deeply once again.
‘Should I really quit…’
But what could she do if she left the academy?
If she left, where would she have to go right now?
Tears welled up in her eyes.
Sima Yuli recalled her childhood.
When did it start? That she could not lock eyes directly when facing people.
She, who had been extremely shy and lacked confidence in everything since childhood.
Her parents, who had paid a huge donation to the Ascending Heaven Academy to gift an opportunity for change to their daughter who was afraid of even stepping outside her room.
Even up until then, Sima Yuli had held onto hope.
She had harbored the expectation that if she could enter the Ascending Heaven Academy, where only the top-ranked rising stars in the world gathered, she would be able to change her timid and gloomy self.
…But everything had come to naught.
After her parents, her only allies, vanished from this world, the traces where she could feel her parents’ warmth had remained solely as one semester’s worth of tuition for the Ascending Heaven Academy.
Now, the remaining time she could spend at the Ascending Heaven Academy had become no different from the final legacy left by her parents.
She could not just waste this in vain.
‘Right. Let’s hold out just until this semester…’
Sima Yuli closed both eyes tightly.
Although she had no money to buy new textbooks or prepare class materials, she still decided to hold out steadfastly.
‘Anyway, in a situation where I can’t even advance, let alone graduate, receiving credits will be of no use.’
Of course, even if she wanted to receive good credits, that was impossible from the start.
In a situation where she could not even prepare a single bribe envelope to slip into an instructor’s or assistant instructor’s back pocket, what kind of credits was she talking about?
Even Sima Yuli, who was ignorant of the ways of the world, was aware of the reality that most instructors and assistant instructors lecturing in the Vermilion Bird Hall secretly received bribes through the back door and appointed cadets’ credits according to that amount.
‘…Still, I should at least obtain a letter of recommendation so it will be advantageous when I leave the Ascending Heaven Academy and look for work later.’
But does anyone just write a recommendation letter?
That was also written purely in the order of the thickness of the bribes.
Under the current situation, the only thing Sima Yuli could do was merely attend.
Of course, for her, who was being severely ostracized by the other cadets, even this was a huge mountain.
…Soon, the lecture room drew near.
Sima Yuli walked warily and opened the back door of the lecture room.
Since it was a common occurrence for a water bucket or a sand box to pour from above as soon as she opened the door, she was always cowering.
Creak—
Fortunately, this time no trap was installed above the door.
Sima Yuli hesitantly made her way to the very back row of desks, cautious of any cadet who might trip her.
And she pulled back the chair in the shady and cornered spot where she always sat.
At the very moment she sat down on the chair,
Splat!
The sensation on her buttocks was strange.
“…”
Sima Yuli slowly lowered her gaze.
Thick filth was smeared on her uniform pants.
Seeing that a terrible odor emanated from it, it seemed to be dog feces.
Right at that moment,
“Oh my? Yuli? What is that on your butt? That smelly stain! Did you just poop in your uniform pants?”
Shen Shilin shouted so loudly that the lecture room shook.
The surrounding cadets began to snicker.
“Oh dear, Yuli. Did you poop again? I taught you so many times that poop is to be done in the latrine.”
“Leave her alone. I guess the Sima Clan doesn’t teach how to control one’s bowels.”
“What a pity. It seems your parents blindly believed in the Ascending Heaven Academy too much when they were alive. They don’t teach such basic things here.”
Then, even the other cadets around the lecture room began to laugh or click their tongues.
There were even those who spat out curses at Sima Yuli while covering their noses.
“…”
Tears began to fall in drops from the eyes of the bowed Sima Yuli.
Where there is a group, there is bound to be one person who gets ostracized.
Why is that?
Why do humans surely ostracize someone?
Is that truly a nature that humans are born with?
Sima Yuli hurriedly stood up from her seat.
But Shen Shilin kicked Sima Yuli’s chest, making her sit back down on the chair once again.
“Hey. The lecture is about to start, where do you think you’re going?”
“Shilin… let me… just wash this off and come back… please…”
“No way. The assistant instructor is about to arrive soon. Were you always this impolite? Last time, you went to get a chair and didn’t return. You can’t keep skipping lectures like that.”
Shen Shilin browbeat Sima Yuli with a smirk on her lips.
“Sit here quietly and squash it until the lecture ends. Understood?”
“…”
“If you think it’ll smell, you can just cover the chair tightly. What are you going to do with that huge butt of yours otherwise, right?”
Right at that moment,
Creak! Thud—
the lecture room door opened and Ximen Qing appeared.
“…”
Several cadets who had been sneering at Sima Yuli quickly turned their heads with tense expressions.
But the four of them, including Shen Shilin, merely kept grinning.
Sure enough,
“…”
Ximen Qing took no action even upon seeing the tearful Sima Yuli.
He merely walked silently past her and mounted the podium.
‘Ah…’
Even the final hope Sima Yuli had harbored was shattered to pieces.
She directed her tear-filled face downward and gripped her knees tightly with both hands.
Meanwhile, Shen Shilin was winking as she looked back at her friends.
“See. I told you the bribe we paid last night definitely worked.”
Song Yu, Tai Zhenzhe, and Jin Xizhi giggled, showing a thumbs-up.
Right at that moment,
“Shen Shilin.”
Ximen Qing, standing before the podium, opened his mouth.
“Song Yu. Tai Zhenzhe. Jin Xizhi.”
Soon, through his bangs, Ximen Qing’s eyes flashed red.
“That is all. The four called, step forward.”