Chapter 28: Mid-Autumn Festival
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The sun was setting in the west, with the orange glow spilling over the parade ground.
After half a month of intense training, the students in the military training were gradually getting used to life in the military region. Although everyone was tanner with rougher skin, their mental wellness was better and their body was stronger.
They just finished their swimming training this afternoon. Other than the students who couldn’t swim, the rest of them passed.
Two weeks of training finally ended, and the tensed atmosphere was very much relaxed.
Mo Wen sat on one of the parallel bars in the parade ground. He held a dried leaf to his hand and put it to his mouth to blow a soft note.
A simple piece of a dried leaf was like a musical instrument in the hands of Mo Wen. The classical, elegant notes were continuously spouting out to form a melody with poetic abundance.
The world of Mo Wen in that lifetime was similar to the ancient feudalistic society where girls would practice needlework, weaving, farming, and other life skills, while boys were into poetry, books, equestrianism, and archery, hoping to get scholarly honor in the imperial examinations after studying the Four Books and the Five Classics.
As for the sons and daughters of influential families, they would practice the Four Arts of the Chinese scholar: the playing of a stringed instrument, the playing of the strategy game of Go, Chinese Calligraphy and Chinese painting. Mo Wen was from the Mo Clan which was the most ancient martial arts family in which he was greatly influenced by the ancient cultures. He was highly proficient in the Four Arts of Chinese scholar and his equestrianism and archery skills were one of the best.
However, what he liked most was not the different musical instruments, but the blowing of a special rhythmic tune with dried leaf. In this feudalistic society, this was viewed as unorthodox; however, since he was a Miracle Physician, he wasn’t bothered about it.
In the past, he used to frequent the mountains and the forests, tasted different herbs, and was constantly away from the mundane world. Whenever he felt lonesome, he would just pick up a leaf and blow a tune.
“Mo Wen, when did you learn to play that tune? It was really good.”
A sudden voice came from Mo Wen’s back. Perhaps he was too focused, or perhaps he didn’t have the Inner Qi Cultivation of the past, but Mo Wen didn’t notice anyone approaching him.
Mo Wen turned his head around subconsciously. He saw a slender and elegant girl dressed in well-ironed uniform, who appeared to have lost some of her delicacy, but gain some firmness, standing behind him.
She was none other than Qin Xiaoyou. At this moment, she seemed to look a bit like a formidable and brave female soldier.
“Qin Xiaoyou.”
He met Qin Xiaoyou a few times during the first half of his first month of military training. At the time when the region distribution of the military training was done, the school had arranged for the students to be distributed according to their faculties. The Medical Faculty and Business and Management Faculty were distributed to the military region of the 19th Army Corp.
Therefore, Qin Xiaoyou was in the same military region as Mo Wen. However, Qin Xiaoyou was in the female battalion whereas he was in the male battalion. Other than Qin Xiaoyou, the other classmates of his were placed separately in the military region of the 19th Army Corp. Mo Wen wouldn’t have known that if Qin Xiaoyou hadn’t told him.
After all, he was not familiar with his classmates and didn’t know many of them.
Qin Xiaoyou scrutinised Mo Wen curiously as it was the first time, after being his classmate for three years, that she knew that Mo Wen could blow a tune and even blew it so well.
“When did you learn to blow a tune? Wow, I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover.”
“There is a lot more that you don’t know.” Mo Wen replied while smiling.
“Cocky.”
Qin Xiaoyou glared at Mo Wen irritably, but to think of it carefully, she indeed didn’t know much about Mo Wen. In her impression, Mo Wen was a reserved and quiet person. Although they had been good friends for three years, she was usually the one who confided in him while he was always the quiet listener.
So, other than knowing that he was from a single-parent family, she didn’t know much about Mo Wen.
“Why are you here today? Aren’t you supposed to be busy with the concert?” Mo Wen asked curiously.
He knew that Qin Xiaoyou was very busy. He heard that she was responsible for the organization of the female battalion’s performance during the Mid-Autumn Festival. He had not seen her for days.
The next day was the Mid-Autumn Festival.
“It is not a concert, but a festival. It has been arranged a long time ago.”
Qin Xiaoyou said this confidently while staring at Mo Wen. It might be a headache for the male battalions to put up a performance, but it was a piece of cake to the female battalion.
She put both her hands on the parallel bars, leaped up, and flipped her body nimbly before sitting next to Mo Wen on the horizontal bar.
“Your skills are quite good.”
Even though Qin Xiaoyou was a girl, she was able to persevere through hardship. After half a month of training, she seemed be more experienced and candid, and although a little tanned, she gained a little indigenous, wild beauty.
“I was one of the top ten in the female battalion for the four hundred meters steeplechase.”
Qin Xiaoyou made a light snorting sound and lifted her chin slightly, looking a little like a proud swan with an extended neck.
Mo Wen smiled a little. Although Qin Xiaoyou was a girl, she was very competitive. She was the class monitor in the high school and the Chairperson of the Student Council. She was actively participating in class and school activities, and her results were always one of the best in the cohort.
“Mo Wen, Cheng Hao was also in the military region of the 19th Army Corp. Regarding the fight you had with him…” Qin Xiaoyou paused before continuing worriedly. “Anyway, you just have to be careful. Try to avoid him as much as possible.”
The fight at the canteen was known to almost everyone in the whole military region. Qin Xiaoyou knew of this through a very well-informed friend of hers. The matter seemed to involve Cheng Hao and the target was obviously Mo Wen.
Looking at the furrowed brows of Qin Xiaoyou, Mo Wen laughed without commenting. Cheng Hao was nothing in his eyes. Even if Cheng Hao didn’t pick on him, he would’ve taken revenge on him, except the chance for the revenge had not surfaced yet.
Qin Xiaoyou was irritated to see Mo Wen being apathetic about it. Others seemed to be worried about him but he regarded trivially about it.
“He is a casanova who is capable of any imaginable misdeeds. Aren’t you afraid of him?”
“Why should I be afraid of him? Will he not bully you if you are afraid of him?” Mo Wen uttered, amused.
“That’s true too. That bastard, why is he always against you?” Qin Xiaoyou asked.
Qin Xiaoyou was a little baffled as Cheng Hao seemed to enjoy making life difficult for Mo Wen. He had been bullying Mo Wen since high school and had nearly reaped Mo Wen of the chance to go to the university.
“Because he was jealous and therefore hated me,” Mo Wen laughed.
“Jealous and hateful?” Qin Xiaoyou blinked her eyes and looked perplexedly at Mo Wen.
“He must be jealous that I could befriend the prettiest girl in Yi Zhong, but he couldn’t,” Mo Wen said earnestly.
Qin Xiaoyou was momentarily troubled and glowered at Mo Wen.
“Go away.”
He seemed to be saying that she was at fault. She had many friends, yet Cheng Hao was not picking on anyone except him.
“Perhaps you have a problem with your character,” Qin Xiaoyou concluded.
However, she didn’t know that the reason why Cheng Hao was picking on him had something to do with her. If he didn’t help her secretly, she might have been tricked into the hands of the casanova, Cheng Hao long ago.
“Perhaps Cheng Hao’s skull was too big, so one of his nerves went haywire,” Mo Wen analyzed seriously, raising his eyebrows.
Qin Xiaoyou couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Anyway, you better be careful. I can’t talk to you anymore, I have to arrange some affairs later.”
She jumped off the horizontal bar and something flickered in her eyes.
“Oh yes, will you be performing on stage for the Mid-Autumn Festival tomorrow?” She asked, while grinning at Mo Wen.
“I will not.”
Mo Wen was not interested in participating in any performance.
“Then I better get going.”
Qin Xiaoyou flashed an astute smile and turned to walk away elegantly.
That night, Mo Wen was, again, walking out of the dormitory alone to an isolated corner of the parade ground to practice the Dragon Tiger Fist.
After half a month of practice, his body condition had improved, so it was easy to promote the progress of the practice, especially with the complement of daily intense training of the troop and the nutritional food.
“Mo Wen, you don’t have to so diligent.”
Wang Yuan’s voice sounded from behind him. Ever since knowing that Mo Wen was also an ancient martial art practitioner, he often mixed around with him. After all, they belonged to the same kind of people with the same lingo, especially when Mo Wen’s Cultivation was higher than his and had better knowledge of the Practice than he.
After a few days of interacting, he realized that some of Mo Wen’s explanations were helpful in his own practice; some of his explanations were even more incisive than his Master’s.
Therefore, he would also practice whenever Mo Wen was practicing. However, Mo Wen’s diligence was astonishing to him, as he used to boast of his own diligence, but it paled in comparison to Mo Wen’s.