Chapter 19 – Recognition (iii)
This holiday, Xi Wei was very happy because he not only had a younger brother, Caesar, but also a cousin, Brian. The Queen Mother and Berg Wang Shu gave birth to two alpha boys one after another, and on this rare occasion, Wang Shu also brought his child to the palace for a short period of time. Xi Wei stayed with his family every day, feeling very relaxed and happy.
Cousin Brian was an active child, his two little hands were always caught in some chaos. On one occasion, Xi Wei handed him a miniature mech toy; he seemed particularly interested in machine armor, just like Berg Wang Shu. Once he had the toy in his arms, he absolutely refused to let go. If someone dared to touch his toy, he would burst into tears, and Caesar, as if he didn't want to be outdone, would soon follow him in crying.
As long as the two alphas were crying, they were louder than anyone else, and as soon as they met each other, they would start to growl and cry. Their cries were enough to make King Trent frown, and he refused to be near the queen’s palace. Even the captain of the Royal Guard, Craig, quietly escaped far away. This made Uncle Berg very annoyed, and in the end he simply took Brian back home. Only after this would Caesar finally quiet down and stay obediently in his mother’s arms to drink nutritious milk.
Queen Anna reluctantly looked at Xi Wei and said, “Why is your brother always crying? You rarely cried when you were young.”
Xi Wei touched his brother’s head and smiled, "Maybe it's because he is an alpha? Alphas are naturally strong, so from a young age he would also cry louder than others."
Anna said, "Klaire is an alpha as well, but he never cried when he used to play with you, instead he liked to hold you."
” …… ” Xi Wei’s face turned a bit embarrassed and he could not help but say, “Mother, when Klaire and I were children, we still did not understand anything. Don't talk about it anymore please."
Anna laughed, “Fine, I will not talk about it."
Xi Wei sat beside Caesar who was drinking milk, the second princess Alicia was painting quietly on the table, and the third princess Xii Lin was busy playing with her doll's hair. All four of her children were around, it was the happiest Queen Anna had been for some time.
Unfortunately, Xi Wei soon had to go back to school. Queen Anna hated to part with him, but still, she prepared a lot of food for him to eat, and clothes for him to wear; all of it was stuffed into a few boxes of luggage. Xi Wei took the initiative to hug her and said, “Mother, rest assured, the school is safe and I have good relations with the students. I'll be back again on the next holiday.”
Anna nodded and touched her son’s head gently, “When you come back next time, you'll be one year older, and Caesar will have already learned to speak.”
Xi Wei said with a smile, “Yes, at that time, I'll get to listen to him calling me elder brother."
He pinched little Caesar's face while speaking. Caesar grabbed his hand, put it into his mouth, and suck on it for a while, however, once he found out that it was not tasty, he let go of his brother's hand and turned to look for food. Xi Wei smiled, took his hand back and bowed respectfully to his mother, saying “Mother, I'll be going back to school now.”
Anna nodded, “Yes… take good care of yourself.”
Watching her son turned around to leave, Anna could not help but lose her good mood a little.
Xi Wei rarely made her worry. He was obedient and sensible since a young age, and had also been taking care of his younger brother and sisters really well as their big brother. He was like the most intimate little protector of Queen Anna. St. Paul’s Academy had an annual holiday policy, so she would not be able to see him again until next year. The next time we meet, how much more taller will he be?
Although Caesar was the alpha prince that Anna had hoped for, the one with the biggest hold on her heart was her eldest son, Xi Wei. When she thought of Xi Wei having to be sent out of the palace and married to an alpha once he grew up, Anna felt an unwillingness brewing in her heart.
***
Different from the warmth and joy that Xi Wei experienced with his family, Klaire was in dire straits during the entire holiday. General Byron invited a tutor for him in order to improve his academic performance, and because Jamie and him were of the same age, he was also called by the general to come and attend classes with Klaire. That chatterbox beta always had something to say, and every day, the word “why” would hang in his mouth. It was giving Klaire a headache, but fortunately, the time for them to go back to school soon came.
The moment he saw Xi Wei in the dormitory, Klaire felt a strange kind of fond feeling - out of all of his peers, he felt the most relaxed when he was with Xi Wei.
A small follower was following behind Xi Wei, naturally it was his roommate Aiden. Xi Wei helped Aiden to carry his luggage, both of them were talking and laughing all the way upstairs. Aiden’s body was a lot better now that he had been nursed back to health during the holiday, and his face showed a ruddy complexion. Meanwhile, Xi Wei did not really change much. When he caught sight of Klaire, he reached out and rubbed Klaire’s head, saying with a smile: “Your hair is longer ah!”
“……” I really want to beat him. Still rubbing my head, hasn't his rubbing addiction been cured?
***
From the 35 children in the class, no one had to repeat the year, which made teacher Kelly very pleased.
For all of these classmates to successfully pass the exam, Carlo's part in it was not small. He always seriously looked after the students during self-study class. If someone was sleeping or playing games secretly, he would come over and say to their faces “Don't play anymore, exams will be here soon.”
Actually, many people in the class were particularly annoyed by him, and in private, there were also many of them who would criticize him for being too serious. However, Carlo still did what he thought he should do. In his mind, he recognized it as his responsibility as the Class's President. Even though he was still small, he already had this “I am the most correct” strange self-confidence.
***
The school started officially the next day. Xi Wei discovered that the difficulty of the second grade course of Saint Paul’s Academy was similar to that of the fifth grade course in his previous life. Since the children of this future world started their education relatively early, the level of official education in the Empire was also three years more advanced compared to Xi Wei's last life. Xi Wei had noticed that his classmates were obviously much more sensible now after they entered school than they were before.
They did not change classrooms even after ascending to the second grade, but some of the teachers did change, and they also got one more course.
The newly added course in second-grade was called a fighting class. As soon as he heard the name, Xi Wei was instantly interested in this course.
On Wednesday afternoon, the group of classmates were arranged to attend an afternoon fighting class. The sturdy teacher, Tony, brought all the students to a large classroom dedicated to the fighting class and showed everyone the sturdy muscles on his arm. He whispered, “Do you know why there is no elevator in the student's dormitory building at St. Paul Academy?"
None of the children answered, Tony went on to say: “It's to allow you to exercise more! You have to climb the stairs every day so that you won't develop the lazy childhood habit of flying directly into your room in three seconds!"
Teacher Tony's sight swept around his audience sternly, “In this era of science and technology, to rely on high technology has become the inertia of human thinking. However, having a strong physique is also very important. If your body is not strong, you will rely on the robot everyday and become too lazy to go do your own activities, etc., and once you are old, you can only lie in the hospital every day to replace your various necrotic organs! The purpose of my fighting class is to let you develop a habit of training since childhood. Training will lead you to build a strong physique, which is good for you! Did you hear that?"
Everyone said, “I heard it.”
Tony frowned, “Have you not eaten yet? Louder!”
The crowd shouted in unison, "I heard!”
Tony nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly asked, “Yes, your class seems to have two omegas right? Student Aiden has poor health, your class teacher has told me that he does not need to do this class. The other omega, stand up!"
The teacher was forthright in character and his voice was loud. While holding his almost deafened ears, Xi Wei stood up calmly, "It’s me.”
Tony teacher waved his hand, “You are an omega? Then you can go to rest.”
Xi Wei refused, “Teacher, I am in good health, I can attend this class.”
Tony said, “You do not need a lesson in fighting, as an omega, learning this is unnecessary for you. When you grow up, you'll just have to learn how to take care of your children.”
Hearing this, many of the students were laughing, but Xi Wei ignored them, “There was no rule that said an omega could not attend this class. Physique is also very important to an omega, only in good health will one be able to take good care of their alpha in the future, isn't that true?"
” … ” Seems a bit reasonable? But what is this about taking care of alphas?
The group of alpha students stared at Xi Wei, feeling a weird feeling in their heart.
Teacher Tony was also startled. He had taught in so many classes and usually, most omegas who heard that they could skip this class would feel very happy to sit aside and watch. Of course, there were some who were interested in the fighting class, but they were only able to persevere for a few days. These kind of omegas had quite a big courage.
Tony frowned, “Well, since you want to learn, then follow everyone to learn. If you cannot stand the pain, you can always go to rest aside.”
Xi Wei smiled, “Yes, teacher!"
***
In fighting class, as the name suggested, the teacher would teach you some fighting skills so that the children could protect themselves when faced with a critical moment. Besides, this kind of fighting skill might also come in handy when operating the smart machine armor in the future.
The alphas and betas in the class were obviously very much interested in the combat class. Everyone put on loose white clothes with a light yellow band around their waist, and stood in a row with their hands behind, listening with serious attention.
Teacher Tony said, “This band on the waist will reflect your fighting skills. Once you reach an appropriate level, you can participate in the martial arts examinations, and it will be upgraded if you pass it! Now, the light yellow strap you use is the lowest level of entry. Level up! Upwards, there are red belt, blue belt, green belt, and the highest level is the black belt!”
While talking, the man tied a black belt around his waist. He looked tall and burly, and his exposed arms' muscles gained envious looks from the children.
Listening to his explanation, Xi Wei privately thought that the imperial fighting technique's upgrade system seemed similar to the karate he had studied before, with black belt being the highest level. He met a karate master who accepted him as a disciple by chance in the past life, and after intense training, he advanced to black belt when he had yet to reach eighteen years old.
However, in the past life he was an orphan who grew up in a muddy pile after all. He fell and bumped into many obstacles numerous times which molded his body foundation to be really good. On the other hand, Xi Wei was an omega in this life. He also had always been pampered in the palace, so his current body certainly was not as strong as Ji Ran's. Xi Wei did not feel worried about it though, body condition could be gradually improved by doing exercises, moreover, he still remembered those fighting skills. He believed that it would not be too difficult for him to learn it again.
After introductioning the rules in the fighting class, Teacher Tony issued the first instruction: “Okay, now I will teach you the first action, follow my movement.”
He taught the most basic action in fighting techniques- Parallel stance and and straight punching.
“Stand side by side, head up, put out your chest, stand firmly on the ground. Close four of your right hand's fingers together, then put your thumb on top of the index finger and gently clenched it. The strength of your fist should be focused in the place where your index and middle fingers meet your palm. Note that your wrist should be relaxed, it will give more strength to your palm and will not sprain your wrist."
Tony finished explaining, then looked at the children, saying, “I’ll give you a demonstration.”
“- Ha!”
With a loud shout, teacher Tony did a standard straight punch at the front of the sandbag hard. A “bang” sound was soon heard, and the heavy sandbag actually moved a meter away from him! One can imagine, if his punch hit someone's nose, it must have been smashed and fractured.
The children were shocked and looked up at him in admiration.
Toni took back his hand, smiled and said, “Come on, everyone follows me.”
He clapped his hands and dozens of sandbags magically fell down from the classroom's ceiling, with one hanging in front of each of them. The sandbags used by the students were only one-third the size of the one Tony had before, and were lighter in weight.
“Stand in front of the sandbag. Once I have counted one, two, and three, shout aloud and release the energy from your body!”
“One, two, three – Ha!” The children punched following the teacher's example, and the sandbags in the classroom were suddenly pushed around. Some children’s hands were hurt after hitting those sandbags, and they looked about to cry. Meanwhile, at this moment Klaire stood frozen in place – because, he just saw a very familiar figure.
Standing in a textbook-like striking stance, his body leaning forward as he punched with arm full of power, throwing punch after punch onto the sandbags without delay. His movement was simple and neat, like a dormant beast in the forest- once he encountered a crisis, he would be as unstoppable as a tiger!
Ji Ran…
Once upon a time, he had seen this natural punching practice numerous times in the apartment where the two of them lived together. This beautiful, smooth move which compelled other people to lock their gazes on it.
Today, he actually saw this action again. Although the movement was limited due to height, but that decisive simple punching posture was exactly the same as Ji Ran's!
During this moment, while the students were frowning because of their hurting hands, a punched sandbags was suddenly hit until it moved one meter away. The culprit was the childhood friend standing beside Klaire- the First Prince Xi Wei!
Proof-read by: Kleepart
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