Chapter 17: The Stormy Murderous Transfer Student (3)
Chapter 17: The Stormy Murderous Transfer Student (3)
Let’s break this down.
Cheon U-rin is the nephew of a Junior Compiler at the Hanlin Academy.
He—or rather, she—is preparing for the provincial examinations and likely comes from a powerful family. Her overall aura was far from ordinary, after all.
And this courtesan called Hyang-hyang is a member of the Hao Clan.
The fact that the Hao Clan had approached me was a bit unexpected, but looking at the bigger picture, it was understandable.
The Yeon-gyeong Academy is located on the Grand Historical Record Street near Guang'anmen in Beijing, and the long commercial district leading up to it is lined with high-end taverns. It makes sense, given that it's an area where the nobility and government officials congregate.
It’s only natural for the Hao Clan to have a presence in such a place. It’s also not strange for them to keep a close eye on the grandson of a major "corporation" wandering around their place of business.
But what came next was the problem.
That Hao Clan member was treating Cheon U-rin with deep respect, calling her "Little Miss."
‘She’s from a much more prestigious family than I thought.’
I quickly scanned Hyang-hyang’s attire.
It was a typical, flamboyant courtesan’s palace dress, but I noticed subtle details found only among the descendants of noble families.
‘Gold thread embroidery and a jade pendant. Even the rings and earrings—every single accessory is a high-quality, handcrafted masterpiece!’
In this medieval era without automated machinery, small ornaments like those were 100% handmade. Their value could be judged by the level of craftsmanship. Right now, that woman was walking around wearing the equivalent of a decent-sized building.
She wasn't just some random low-level grunt. Whether in terms of martial arts or status, she was high up there.
And a ten-year-old kid had such a high-ranking Hao Clan member acting all submissive and flustered?
"Hyeon-hwi. Can you keep today’s matter a secret?"
"Um... huh? What?"
I had missed what she said because I was busy putting the puzzle pieces together.
When I looked back, Cheon U-rin had an awkward expression on her face.
"I’m asking if you can keep Hyang-hyang’s slip of the tongue a secret. Can I ask that of you?"
"Don't worry about something like that. I won't say a word."
"You were surprised, weren't you? I didn't intend to reveal it like this. I'm sorry."
"Surprised? Whatever your relationship with the Hao Clan is, it has nothing to do with me."
"What? No, not that. I mean the fact that I’m a girl."
"What about it?"
"Huh?"
"Hmm?"
I was wondering what she was on about when a thought finally occurred to me.
To me, a kid is a kid; at that age, as long as they’re wearing clothes, it’s hard to tell if they’re a boy or a girl anyway, so I just brushed it off. But by the standards of this era, this was a massive problem.
I might be a modern person far too enlightened to care about outdated notions like the separation of the sexes, but this era was the "outdated era" itself.
Just the fact that she was trying to take the civil service exams while hiding her status and gender was a crime. In other words, she was risking her life to prepare for these exams.
Furthermore, the crimes of a child this age were classified as the crimes of the entire family. This meant her entire family was conspiring to throw this girl into the examination hall.
And that meant the information she gave me yesterday was a lie.
"The part about being the nephew of a Junior Compiler at the Hanlin Academy was a lie, wasn't it?"
"Wow, you're incredibly quick on the uptake... How did you know?"
"There's no way the government wouldn't know the family composition of a Junior Compiler. There's no way he'd be able to pass off a daughter as a son to send her to the exams."
To make that possible, you’d have to gag everyone from the midwife to the maids from the moment of birth and raise her as a boy. Such a scheme would never succeed. The risk-to-reward ratio was nonsensical.
What would they even gain from such a deception? Even if she somehow passed the palace examination, she’d start as a mere scholar at the Hanlin Academy at best. The benefits of disguising a daughter as a son for the exams were...
‘Wait!’
There are people who would take such a risk to disguise a daughter as a son.
The Imperial Family.
All types of royalty who cannot inherit the throne. Whether they were from a collateral branch or a Prince of the Blood, any royal would have a motive.
They aren't allowed to hold government office.
If the child is a daughter, the family line of the Prince’s manor effectively ends. Once a daughter marries out, it becomes difficult for her descendants to be recognized as imperial relatives after three generations, and even the land granted to the manor is reclaimed by the state.
If that was the situation, and if the Prince was a father who cherished his daughter dearly, he would have a motive. He might think that raising his daughter as another family’s son and sending her out into the world would be better for her future. Especially if she seemed brilliant enough to hold office.
The actions of high-ranking power players who have both the power and the motive to do such things always lead to the unexpected.
"I’ll keep my mouth shut about today, no matter what. Alright then, I’m off."
"Huh? Wait, Hyeon-hwi!"
"Oh boy, look at the time. I need to get back, circulate my energy, wash up, and go to bed!"
There is a saying that a gentleman does not walk a dangerous path. Even Confucius and Zhu Xi agreed on that. There’s always a reason behind ancient words of wisdom with such public credibility.
If I got involved with royalty—royalty that was friendly with the Hao Clan and currently committing a crime in real-time—there would be no such thing as a peaceful future for me.
Cheon U-rin was now deleted from my friend list.
If this were the modern world, this was a crisis on the level of factory-resetting my phone and immediately putting it in the microwave to blow it up.
"Wait! I think you’ve misunderstood something...!"
I felt a hand frantically trying to grab my sleeve from behind, but it was pitifully slow. My training wasn't so lacking that I’d let my sleeve be caught by a frail royal who had never even learned martial arts.
I quickly dodged with a fluid movement and ran toward the Yeon-gyeong Academy.
‘I hope no one heard us...’
Thinking back on what I said to her makes shivers run down my spine.
A position of being pushed aside is no reason to stop trying...? My god.
If word got out that I said that to a collateral royal, and that the person in question was deeply moved, it would be instant treason. I’m not joking. In this country, there has been a rebellion involving collateral royals in almost every reign!
I was glad this was an era without smartphones. At least I didn't have to worry about a recording leaking.
I walked briskly back to my quarters and ended the day shivering in fear.
*
"I am deeply sorry, Little Mi... Young Master."
"If I were to follow the rules strictly, it would be only right to pull out your tongue, but considering our past goodwill with the Hao Clan, I’ll let it slide this once."
"Your grace is immeasurable. Yes, yes..."
Hyang-hyang, her face pale with fright, bowed repeatedly.
Cheon U-rin looked down at her, massaged her temples, and finally let out a deep sigh.
"He seems to have noticed."
"Pardon...?"
"This isn't something you can handle. Send word to the Pavilion Lord of the Plum Blossom Pavilion. Tell her I’ll be visiting soon."
"Yes, yes, Young Master."
Cheon U-rin walked for a long time after leaving Hyang-hyang behind.
She veered off the path leading to the Yeon-gyeong Academy and walked for a while longer, winding through alley after alley.
Finally, she arrived at the gate of a massive siheyuan. Without hesitation, she pulled the handle and stepped inside.
"You’ve arrived, Young Master."
"Where is my uncle?"
"He is inside. Shall I announce you?"
"No need. I’ll go myself."
She walked across the outer courtyard toward the main hall. As the servants who spotted her bowed and moved aside, she pushed the door open and entered without hesitation.
In the main hall, a scholar was quietly grinding ink.
The door closed behind her. The sound of servants walking quickly through the outer courtyard faded away. Soon, all signs of other people vanished completely.
"I met Peng Hyeon-hwi."
"How was he? To achieve great things, one needs many friends."
"He was surprising."
Cheon U-rin gave a light laugh and pulled up a chair across from him.
"He is quick-witted, and his insight is even deeper than his wit. I haven't met the other children of the Hebei Peng Family, but he harbors a great dream, and he seems to have the talent to achieve it."
Cheon U-rin slowly retraced his thought process after he had fled.
—First, seeing me receive such lavish treatment from a Hao Clan member, he must have assumed I was the child of a high-ranking official.
If that was all he understood, he should have clung to her more closely instead of running away. So, he must have gone one step further.
—Next, he must have realized my gender and been flustered.
The daughter of a high-ranking official attending the academy disguised as a son. If you only hear that much, it sounds like a romantic encounter straight out of a heroic novel. That, too, was no reason to run away.
Therefore, Peng Hyeon-hwi’s thoughts must have gone one step further than that.
—Why is she disguised as a male?
—Why is she trying to take the exams?
—How could she hide her gender in this cutthroat Beijing... in the society of the nobility?
—What would cause a family with that much power and influence to disguise their daughter as a son and send her to another family?
Royalty.
His thoughts had reached that point.
In that fleeting moment, in the time it took for less than five exchanges of dialogue, Peng Hyeon-hwi had developed his thoughts to that extent. It was a flow of logic achieved after hearing only two sentences.
This was...
‘A prodigy.’
In the society of warriors, in the Martial World, a "prodigy" usually refers to talent in martial arts. Those who can acquire martial arts faster, stronger, and more flexibly are called prodigies.
But it is different in the world of the literati.
In the world of those who hold the power of life and death with their tongues instead of swords, and settle life-and-death duels with the tip of a brush instead of internal energy. In that world, a prodigy is defined by the speed of their thoughts and their judgment.
From that perspective, Peng Hyeon-hwi was a prodigy of the literati.
Cheon U-rin had received such an evaluation at the age of four. She had lived up to that evaluation, refining herself so thoroughly that she had never once heard herself called lacking.
She was a genius. She possessed a depth of thought, wit, resourcefulness, learning ability, and perception that were far beyond her years. All the Confucian scholars of the "Pure Stream" faction who saw her praised her unreservedly and were preparing a "Great Plan."
Even for someone like her, it had taken the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to retrace Peng Hyeon-hwi’s logic. And Peng Hyeon-hwi had achieved it the instant he heard the words.
‘Interesting.’
Until now, everyone under the age of twenty, including those her own age, had been fools. Her world had been colored in gray. The entire Central Plains denied her, persecuted her, and sought her life.
The reactions of those who recognized her talent were usually one of two things: they either tried to eliminate her out of fear, or they smiled to exploit her.
Because she could see through all of it so clearly, Cheon U-rin had always lived with a smile on her face. She lived hiding her hatred beneath that smile. She lived hiding everything except for that smile.
And then, an interesting fellow appeared.
"If I help him become the Head of the Peng Family, will the future Head of the Peng Family help me?"
"It is certainly possible. However, the ways of the Martial World are generally different from those of the literati, so intervention may be difficult."
"Would that difficulty be a more arduous challenge than the outer walls of the Forbidden City?"
"It... it would not. I will look for a way."
At Cheon U-rin’s words, the man put down his brush and swallowed hard. Looking at him, Cheon U-rin smiled brightly.
"Then I shall trust you and wait, Uncle."
"However, I worry it might be dangerous. How much do you think Peng Hyeon-hwi realized?"
"He ran away after realizing I was royalty."
"Doesn't that mean his caliber is only that much?"
"No one is a vessel large enough to dare contain the name of royalty. How can that be a flaw?"
"...I apologize. You are right."
The man quietly bowed his head in apology. The very act of measuring a vessel to contain royalty was an insult to the Imperial Family.
So, Cheon U-rin smiled and shook her head.
"And strictly speaking, it seemed more like annoyance than fear. Who in Beijing would be happy about getting entangled with royalty?"
"That is true."
"Then I shall return to the academy and stay in the quarters. Stay safe until I visit again."
"...Stay safe."
The man concluded with a deep bow toward Cheon U-rin’s retreating back.
"Your Highness."
The Emperor’s only daughter. Princess Yeonhwa, Ju Woo-rin.
The last legitimate descendant, the sole survivor of the tragedy six years ago, who was said to have been poisoned at the age of four by a crazed Noble Consort.
A mad Noble Consort and a profligate Emperor dancing to her tune. A Crown Prince moving like a puppet beneath them.
The one who survived outside the shadows of all the officials of the Beijing Imperial Palace, who numbered in the hundreds and thousands.
The last remaining hope of the Pure Stream literati.
A child who had no choice but to be raised as a boy, and who would likely have to live as a man until the moment she died. A child who had to become Emperor to rightly guide this Imperial City, which stood on the brink of a precipice.
Watching her leave the outer courtyard with light, rhythmic steps...
"Put Peng Hyeon-hwi under surveillance."
"Will surveillance be enough?"
"Would you cut him down if necessary? Incurring the wrath of the Hebei Peng Family would bring more loss than gain. Just watch him from a distance."
"Yes, I shall follow your command."
"Send gold to the Hao Clan. Tell them to scrape up as much information as possible on Peng Hyeon-hwi and report back."
The man gave orders to the servants with tired eyes and sat down in his chair with a sigh.
*
This is driving me crazy.
I was lost in agony, with Scholar Yu’s recitation of the classics as background music.
I felt a gaze so blatant it made the left side of my face sting, and I was too scared to even turn my head in that direction.
With eyes sparkling so much I could almost hear a vroom sound, a member of the Imperial Family was staring at me.
"Hey, Hyeon-hwi."
"Yeah?"
"Did you have a fight with Cheon U-rin yesterday? What’s up with him?"
"He looks weird to you too, right?"
"Of course."
I tried to organize my thoughts while hearing the royal sitting behind me snickering.
Should I celebrate the success of my plan to build a network by befriending the children of Princes and high-ranking nobles? Even as I tried to cool my head with positive thinking, nothing improved. My head felt hot.
‘This is seriously driving me crazy.’
I really shouldn't get close to a royal hiding a secret about their birth. It would be better to just be friends with Joo Hoe-seong. At least he’s a 100% verified royal.
As soon as Scholar Yu left, the royal who was hiding her identity, status, and gender walked over with a beaming smile.
"Hyeon-hwi, shall we take a walk?"
Usually, a cross-dressing girl event in an academy setting should start with a heart-fluttering, surprise coming-out, shouldn't it?
Why does she look like a walking execution rack for treason in my eyes?
This is seriously driving me crazy.