Chapter 118: Silent Observer (2)
Half an hour later.
In front of the guest house.
A large bus was parked by the road. Su Yu had already taken his leave from Chen Hao. Before leaving, he told that fellow to cultivate hard in the capital and promised to visit when he had the time. There was no need for him to say his farewells to anyone else.
Under the guidance of a city guard, Su Yu climbed onto the bus with his saber and luggage. The bus was already occupied. Apart from the four experts and one driver, there were six youngsters on the bus.
Without Su Yu, Nanyuan wouldn't have even one high-tier student. Meanwhile, Tianshui had six of them. The gap between the two cities was obvious.
The students only shot Su Yu a glance when he entered the bus. Nobody bothered greeting him and nobody was talking either. These were all geniuses. Each of them was a prideful person. They did not care about a genius from Nanyuan, not even if that genius was a high-high student. None of them believed that he was better than them.
"Everyone is here. We can set off."
With Li Yunfeng's order, the bus started moving. It was very quiet on the bus. There were two main reasons for that. Firstly, the students weren't familiar with each other. Secondly, with the experts present, they were somewhat nervous and did not dare to speak freely.
After all, these were three Cloudbreach and one Skysoar experts. It would be disastrous if the students left a bad impression on them. Since they weren't saying anything, Su Yu naturally didn't bother taking the initiative to greet them either.
After a while, one of the students, a handsome and gentle-looking young man suddenly turned to face Su Yu and softly said, "Su Yu from Nanyuan?"
Su Yu nodded. The gentle and handsome young man said, "Let's get to know each other. I'm Hu Zongji from Tianshui, fresh Mental Tempering Stage, and one Divine Character. I'm a high-middle student."
"Su Yu, not in the Mental Tempering Stage yet."
Su Yu gave a simple introduction. There was no need for him to further introduce himself. He might create some unnecessary trouble if he insisted on introducing himself as a high-high student.
But Hu Zongji smiled and said, "I heard you got a high-high evaluation?"
"Yeah."
That attracted the gazes of the other students. Su Yu's expression was unchanged. He did not say anything else.
Hu Zongji continued, "I heard that the Mark of Culture used for your test was damaged? The Nanyuan proctors have all been punished. Is that true?"
"I guess. I didn't ask anyone about it."
Hu Zongji smiled and said, "What a pity. If I've known that, I would have taken my exam at Nanyuan as well. Maybe I can get a high-high evaluation there."
Su Yu smiled and gave a perfunctory reply, "Yeah,that's true. The exam was quite easy. Even that Wu Lan fellow from the capital also got a high-high evaluation."
Hu Zongji's expression shifted at the mention of Wu Lan. But he quickly smiled again and said, "Wu Lan is a genius from the Wu Family of the capital. It is normal for her to get the high-high evaluation."
Su Yu acted like he didn't understand the meaning behind Hu Zongji's words and nonchalantly said, "Yeah."
Hu Zongji raised his brow and said, "I heard you have been accepted in advance by a teaching assistant in the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy?"
"Yeah. But I don't know the details about that. I did hear about it from someone else though."
Su Yu was speaking the truth. Bai Feng had not confirmed anything about accepting him as a student before leaving Nanyuan. Of course, he had mentioned it in passing, but nothing was confirmed. Eventually, news of that started spreading.
Hu Zongji was somewhat unhappy to see Su Yu replying perfunctorily. But his unhappiness vanished quickly as he said, "Su Yu, we will be fellow schoolmates at the academy. Only by helping each other would we be able to stand tall in the academy. I heard that the capital fellows are rather discriminatory toward outsiders like us.
"Su Yu, are you interested in joining our Tianshui Club?"
.
"Tianshui Club?" Su Yu asked in surprise, "I'm from Nanyuan, a small city. I don't know all that. Can you tell me more about this?"
"It's basically a hometown club," Hu Zongji explained. "Each year, there will be some of us joining the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. Since those capital fellows are discriminatory toward us, we can only stick together. As for Nanyuan...cough, cough. There is no Nanyuan Club in the academy.
"But Nanyuan is near Tianshui and you're the only high-high student of Nanyuan in so many years. You can consider joining us. Don't worry. Although there is an issue with your exam, you're still a high-tier student. But your cultivation at the ninth-stage Source Opening Realm is not bad. With my recommendation, you will be accepted."
A beautiful young woman nearby said, "Hu Zongji, did you ask the club before inviting Su Yu? What if they reject him? You will only end up offending both sides."
Hu Zongji smiled and said, "That won't happen. My elder brother is the vice president now. With a word from him, this won't be an issue."
"True."? The beautiful young woman nodded. She looked at Su Yu and smiled, "Hello. I'm also a preparatory student of the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. My name is Tong Wei. You can consider Hu Zongji's invitation. It will only benefit you."
Su Yu smiled and said, "Thank you. But I still know too little about the academy. Thank you for the advice. Maybe I should wait until I'm in the academy before deciding. I don't want to bring any trouble to Student Hu."
Hu Zongji dismissively said, "What's there to think about? This is for your own good."
Su Yu had the same smile as he said, "I know. Thank you, Student Hu. But it's better to wait. I will ask Teacher Bai Feng's opinion before doing anything. I will feel guilty if I end up bringing some trouble your way by accepting your invitation."
Su Yu was polite yet firm. Since he still knew nothing about the academy, he wouldn't join a club so easily.
Hu Zongji was clearly unhappy about it, but he still forced himself to smile as he said, "Forget it. When the time comes, don't regret this. Without my recommendation, you won't be able to join."
Su Yu merely smiled silently. It didn't matter. He never intended to join their club in the first place. He didn't know if Hu Zongji was inviting out of kindness or some ulterior motives, but there was no need for him to harp on the topic.
The experts who were seated at the front ignored the students. Their eyes were shut as they rested. Li Yunfeng was the exception. He was constantly alert as he kept scanning their surroundings through the windows.
He couldn't be bothered to join in the conversation. Those were merely a bunch of wimpy brats that were trying to one-up each other. That wasn't even worthy of his attention. He was treating their interactions as a source of entertainment to pass the time.
Joining the Tianshui Club wasn't necessarily bad for Su Yu, but it wasn't anything good either. As an outsider, he would be charged a membership fee for joining. Of course, he would also receive some benefits and help after joining. And Hu Zongji would be rewarded for introducing a high-tier student to the club.
In the future, if Su Yu made some contributions to the club, Hu Zongji would also receive some benefits as the person who had referred him in. Although Hu Zongji had not mentioned all that to Su Yu, that was all common knowledge. Strictly speaking, he wasn't really trying to trick Su Yu.
Li Yunfeng did not care about the little politics these brats were playing. He couldn't be bothered to explain anything to Su Yu since it was up to him whether he wanted to join or not. Furthermore, Hu Zongji was Hu Youhui's grandnephew. That kid was the reason Hu Youhui had abandoned his post previously.
...
With Su Yu's refusal, silence returned to the bus.
The other four students had not said a single word since Su Yu got on the bus.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Li Yunfeng announced, "We will be reaching Yue City in about one hour. We will grab lunch there and pick up a few of their students before moving through two other cities for the students there. After that, we can start heading straight to the capital."
They were in charge of escorting the high-tier students of five cities to the capital. Other teams would be in charge of the high-tier students of the other cities. If everything went smoothly, they would reach the capital by the next evening.
The next day, on the 30th of July.
"Yue City..."
Hu Zongji was suddenly feeling talkative again. He said, "Big Brother Li, how many high-tier students does Yue City have?"
"Three." Li Yunfeng answered, "Two Great Xia War Academy students and one Great Xia Cultural Research Academy student."
When Hu Zongji heard that, he said in a regretful tone, "There's only one cultural research student from Yue? Why has it fallen to Nanyuan's level?"
Yue was a strong city. In the past years, they would always produce several high-tier cultural research students each year. This year, Tianshui had three high-tier cultural research students and three high-tier war students.
Li Yunfeng said, "It's already good that they even have one. The difficulty of this year's exam was actually higher. It's not like you don't know that the capital has been reducing the quota."
"Was the difficulty increased?" Hu Zongji shook his head, "I didn't feel anything. I mean, even Nanyuan managed to produce a high-tier student this year..."
Su Yu merely shot him a glance without saying anything. The way that fellow kept making snide remarks about Nanyuan was really annoying. But Su Yu decided to stay silent. He would not lower himself to argue with that person.
When that fellow was speaking to Li Yunfeng, his gaze had been constantly moving toward Researcher Hu. At times, Researcher Hu would open his eyes to look at that fellow as well. Su Yu could see that they both shared a surname and were probably related.
Therefore, there was no need for him to create trouble for himself during this trip. However, he wouldn't forget this either.
"Nanyuan..." Su Yu muttered to himself.
Hu, since you look down on Nanyuan, just wait. After a while when I learn more about the rules of the academy and get myself a teacher as my backer, we'll see what happens. Why do you have to keep making snide remarks about Nanyuan? Did we steal anything from your family or something?
Su Yu was actually a petty person. Just look at Zhou Chong from back home. He had talked bad about Su Yu, but Su Yu couldn't be bothered to dirty his own hands. Instead, Chen Hao had suddenly decided that Zhou Chong was a good sparring partner and gave that fellow a few beatings. Were those beatings really a result of Chen Hao's own desires?
In the bus, Su Yu remained silent, acting like he couldn't understand the meaning behind Hu Zongji's words.
It was unknown if Hu Zongji was doing it intentionally, but he shifted the topic and asked, "Big Brother Li, did any high-tier students from Beifeng perish during the attack?"
"No. The cult members were killed shortly after the attack. The high-tier students had been remaining deep in the convoy. There are some deaths among the regular students settled around the high-tier students though."
"Oh, that's good to hear. Those dead students are probably middle and low-tier students..."
He had barely finished his words when Hu Youhui opened his eyes and gazed at him sternly.
Hu Zongji stiffened. At that moment, Zhao Li opened his eyes and said, "Shut up if you don't know what to say. If you keep disturbing my peace, I'll throw you off the bus. You can walk to the capital."
Then, Zhao Li shut his eyes again. This time, Hu Zongji shut his mouth for real.
Su Yu was happy to see that. Served him right!
That fellow talked too much. From what he just witnessed, that fellow was probably not intentionally making those snide remarks toward Nanyuan earlier. He could very well be a fool who spoke without thinking.
In fact, if those from Beifeng heard his earlier words, a lot of them would find it offensive.
"Looks like there are stupid students in the cultural research academy as well..."
Su Yu muttered to himself. Then again, that was understandable. These people who came from powerful families had not experienced the cruelty of society. They would probably learn after suffering some setbacks.
The Hu Family was probably quite powerful in Tianshui. It was obvious since one of them was an intermediate researcher who was also a Cloudbreach expert. And that might not be the only powerhouse they had in the family. There was a reason for Hu Zongji's arrogance.
In fact, with his background, he could already be considered polite for not being arrogant enough to directly pick fights. Su Yu comforted himself that he shouldn't bother himself with what an idiot had to say. And if he really wanted to do something about it, he would wait until he learned more about the academy.
For example, he could do something like secretly tell the Beifeng students that a certain Tianshui student had claimed that their dead students deserved it...Just imagine what would happen. Tsk tsk.
"I'll see."
Su Yu decided to keep observing before committing to anything. This was his first time away from Nanyuan. He still knew too little. He had to prioritize learning the rules of survival outside Nanyuan. He had no intention of losing his life without even knowing what happened.