Chapter 38 (2/2)

So all afternoon, the lecture hall was very quiet. Every half an hour, there is a rest time lasting for one burning incense stick. The students either go to the concierge room or drink to quench their thirst, and then return to the lecture hall when it is over. They are usually very self regulated.

After the bell rang, everyone was relieved. The students dispersed, some went back to their dorms to organize their things while others went straight to the dining hall.

After the meal was over, the students went to the shower room to wash up. Candles were lit in each room, and they all planned to read a while before the lights were turned off.

Only then did Mao Badou find out the previous scripts and pile them up in front of Xue TingRang.

“You will know what to do after reading these.”

Xue TingRang looked at him helplessly, and said, “Badou, I don’t need it anymore. Towards these…” He paused before saying, “I’m not too interested.”

Whether it was a dream that lasted for more than 70 years, or the ten or more years of Xue TingRang’s life, he had never read this so-called script, and he knew that these things could be classified as pornographic material. It’s just for the less educated people to read and pass the time.

The whole story is narrated in vernacular, telling some short stories of strange phenomena, gods and monsters, koans, legends, etc. He also knows that these are some unscrupulous scholars who wrote in order to support their families, and these stories are not true.

So when Mao Badou told him that after reading these books he would understand what he needed to understand, Xue TingRang listened but didn’t take it to heart.

“Just take a look.”

“But I’m really not interested in these.”

When the two were pushing and pulling, Li Datian leaned over, picked up a copy and said: “alright stop, Ting Rang doesn’t want to read it, so just show me one.”

“Datian, how come you want to look at this.”

Li Datian honestly smiled at Xue TingRang: “Just to pass the time. I feel dizzy from studying and reading these will help me clear my head.” He said to Mao Badu again: “Hey, this is all new? Why haven’t I seen it before? How much did you spend to buy it.”

“This is not a new release. I specially picked out these books from my collections to help open Ting Rang’s eyes. Look at his inattentiveness. It really angers me.”

Things already became like this, so Xue TingRang could only pick up a copy: “I will try one first.”

Only then did Mao Badou smile satisfied, and went to ask Chen Jian if he wanted one. Chen Jian looked cold, but he was actually honest. Finally, he had made a few friends, and everyone treated him well, so because he didn’t want to disappoint, he also picked a copy at random.

Since then, four teenagers in a room seemed to be sitting cross-legged and reading at night, but they were actually doing private things.

During the night, the school official who was in charge of the night patrol, took a look through the open door, and then nodded before moving on to the next room.

Until the sound of the bell rang out at the second quarter of the hour, as if they were awakened from a dream, the few people blew out the oil lamp, undressed, and laid down.

Xue TingRang laid on the bunk, still thinking about what he’d read in the script.

Mao Badou didn’t make any false statements. This script was really about the relationship between men and women. It’s like the book “Return to Thinking of Dreams” he had read before. It was about a scholar who lived in a temple and studied hard. He met the nun Wangchen in the nearby nun’s nunnery by chance and was shocked at first sight. He, regardless of the norms, pursued her and embraced the beauty.

This Wangchen had beauty that could overwhelm the city. She was originally a girl from an important family, but because of the chaos in her home, she had no choice but to escape under the protection of the ancient Buddha. But even after surviving, some people still wanted to take her.

In order to win Wangchen’s favor, the scholar climbed over the courtyard wall, chanted poems and talked about qin6. He showed his talents vividly and tried his best to please her. The little nun was teased so much that she couldn’t sleep well at night, and finally in a favorable situation, the two received each other’s love.

Xue TingRang only read until the part where Wangchen injured foot when she was going down the mountain and carrying the water. When the scholar saw her, he wanted to carry her back to the nunnery. Unfortunately, there was a heavy rain at this time. There was a cave halfway, and the two went to the cave to shelter from the rain. The little nun’s clothes were soaked, and the scholar lit a fire to keep her warm, but he himself was shivering with cold. He, being a gentleman, turned his back, not daring to look around.

Unexpectedly, the little nun screamed behind him. The scholar thought that something happened to her, but he happened to see the little nun half undressed. It turned out that it was Wangchen who mistakenly regarded the straw rope as a snake.

What will happen next?

Xue Tingtang was itchy, but was forced to turn off the lights.

He turned over, still thinking.

Suddenly, he saw the fire light next to him and was shocked, only to realize that the fire light was shining from under the blanket on Mao BaDou’s side.

“Badou, what are you doing?”

Mao Badou bent into a shrimp shape and wrapped himself in a quilt, but an oil lamp was lit inside his quilt.

“Are you not afraid of burning the bedding?”

There was a low muffled laugh from the side, but it was Li Datian from Mao Badou’s side who spoke.

“Ting Rang, don’t worry about him, he is super skilled. He used to hide in the quilt and read a book every time after the lights were turned off. He has never burnt the quilt and was never caught by the night patrol school official.”

Xue TingRang looked over there, and saw that there was another faint light in the darkness over there, and it came from the usually well-behaved Li Datian who was now doing bad deeds.

“You guys really are!”

“I’m having an itch, and I can’t sleep without finishing the story.”

Xue TingRang laid down again, but the scene of the scholar pursuing and seducing the nun appeared in his mind.

Pursue?

All scholars have read the phrase “a beautiful lady matches a proper gentleman”, but it is the first time that Xue TingRang learned that there is such a method of pursuit.

In the darkness, there was a whirring sound.

Xue TingRang knew where he put his own things. He touched the oil lamp and took it into the bed. He did not learn from Mao Badou or Li Datian. He happened to be next to the wall, so he turned his back like this, put the quilt on his shoulders, lit the fuel lamp, and carefully held it in one hand, illuminating the small print on the book.