"You have to move faster than that young master." Chunhua urged him, standing close beside him as she guided him through the busy streets, escorting him to the imperial college.
Mei Deng struggled behind her, too tired to move his feet, though they had barely covered a distance, he likened their walk to a journey of a thousand steps.
"You know, if my car was here, I wouldn't have to struggle so, and the AC unit...Aish!. Why is a Minister's son walking anyway?!." He retorted, fixing his straw hat to shield his eyes from the sunlight.
'Young master says the weirdest things, and what is this car he keeps talking about?.' Chunhua nervously scratched the side of her neck, perplexed by his strange shift in personality.
"It's because, young master once bribed the carriage driver to take him to a fighting ring, instead of the imperial college." Chunhua told him, her face turned sour as she remembered the Ill day.
"Your father almost gave you corporal punishment that day." She added, pouting. It was evident, that Chunhua was the closest thing Yu Xiaoguang had to a sincere friend.
"Father keeps grudges too long, it's bad for his health if he doesn't release his anger. When I come back from the college I'll pick up some fruits guaranteed to keep his blood pressure low." He announced with a proud face, taking pride in helping others.
Some younger men, of age 18 at best, were up front, trekking together in a group, all wearing the same uniform as Mei Deng.
"Who are they?. Classmates?." He asked with interested eyes, he figured he'd learn more about the city from his peers, at least some sensitive things he was sure Chunhua would not reveal to him.
"Yes, they're also students of the imperial college, but your status in society outwits theirs..."
"HuaHua, I'll join them and catch up on those notes I missed." Mei Deng told her, already walking towards their direction. He picked up the pace and outran Chunhua, who failed to tame the notorious Mei Deng.
"Young master!. Your father!. You'll be punished!." She cried after him, afraid that he had not shed his skin and changed his old ways.
Mei Deng merely waved to her, bidding her farewell, as he mindlessly rushed to the younger men, without looking where he was going.
*Bump*
He collided against the weakest one in the group, knocking him down to the street, his scrolls scattered abroad.
"Can't you see where you're walking mister...." The youngster scolded, gathering his scrolls, failing to realise who it was that knocked him over.
"Let me help you up." A familiar voice sounded from behind him, resting his arm of this youngster's shoulder.
He swiftly looked over his shoulder at the hand, widening his eyes as he trailed his vision to discover this person was non other than Yu Xiaoguang himself!.
"Shòuxíng!." He exclaimed, so shocked that all the scrolls he had gathered fell from his panicked hands.
(N/B: This is a provocative name, the classmates have given him. It translates to beast or animal like.)
"Brother Chen!." The other cried out, taking three cautious steps back, shouting from a safe distance.
"Shòuxíng is back from suspension?."
"He has no decency, to bully brother Chen on the streets!."
"In uniform, the scholars will have him punished for sure this time. Might even expell him."
Instead of lending a helping hand, these classmates safely analysed the situation, hoping to get witnesses who saw how Yu Xiaoguang tried to bully their classmate.
"I don't have any money on me, and if you do touch me, I'll have my father report you!." Brother Chen fearlessly said, using empty threats to hopefully drive away the older man.
"Yes!. Just because you're destined to fail in life, does not mean you can take advantage using brute strength!." One of his classmates concurred from a safe distance, ready to take to his heels at any time.
'What's this?. I look like a white lotus compared to them, I would never even dream of hurting a fly, just who is bullying who here?.'
Mei Deng crouched down and gathered the scrolls, not minding the bad things his classmates said about him. Once he finished, he even helped brother Chen to stand from the floor.
"Let's go, I'll carry your scrolls for you." He told him, "in hopes to let byegones be byegones." A thin lipped smile escaped his mouth.
"Haha, what's this?. The great Shòuxíng now wants to turn a new leaf?. Or is he looking to run off with brother Chen's projects?."
The other boys laughed, making fun of Mei Deng's effort to fit in. But Mei Deng was not fazed by their childish antics, he had been through middle School, and highschool.
He understood how important it was to fit in with his peers, and also how important it was to look cool while doing it.
"I don't need to, because..." He took a ceremonial pause and pointed at himself, taking a comedic pose.
"I shall rank highest in all the exams this year!. Just you wait and see." He announced so loudly, that even the stall vendors and passerbys had to stop and see who was speaking so flamboyantly.
"Isn't that Young master Yu?. Is he being naughty again?."
"Who shall rank highest?. He should get real and find a job while he still has his youth."
The bystanders didn't help to boost his morale in the slightest, but Mei Deng was confident in himself and would not be put down by anyone.
All for his Yaoyao.
*********
His classmates gave him a five step walking distance, stealing glances to see if he would actually run off with brother Chen's projects to pass off as his own.
Mei Deng honestly just wished to apologise for colliding against the smaller man, in hopes to build close friendships.
They walked by a very famous wonton shop, and decided to have a quick snack, since they had so much time on their hands.
"You can stand over there and keep watch." Mei Deng was told, his classmates were ostracizing him so openly, they looked like the villains bullying him.
He looked around the place, observing everyone and everything, reminding himself that he really had reincarnated. An old man stood out to him, one that chowed down his bowl of wonton soup and dumplings without stopping to rest.
'That oldie reminds me of my younger self, when noodles were placed in front of me.' he reminisced, cracking a smile.
"I hear, that the new scholar is a rare talent, that even the emperor himself had to send a personal recommendation letter for him, to some ancient mountain." Someone in the group said, bringing up the hot topic at the college.
"Some say he's a cultivator, and an Alchemist." Another chipped into the conversation.
"New scholar?." Mei Deng sheepishly asked, still new to everything around him.
"Pssh!. We don't expect someone like you to keep up, but I'll tell you anyway. The imperial college is having a new scholar arrive in two days time. It is said, that anyone he praises, shall surely succeed in life."
"Ah!. So if I want to rank highest, he'll need to merely praise my efforts?." He asked, voicing thoughts.
His classmates stared at him wide eyed and lips parted, they had never expected to hear such blasphemous things from the lowest ranking student each year.
"That shall be the day a dog can eat a tiger!." His classmates mocked, shifting their attention back to their meal, making jest of him at intervals.
Mei Deng shook his head at them, and continued to observe that uncle who was eating way fast. His vision zoned in on the oldie, and the sight caused him to him to gasp.
"Uncle!." He yelled, dropping his and brother Chen's items to the floor, running fast to the old man, who was silently choking on his food, his upper body jerking violently.
Without wasting time, he proceeded to administer the five and five first aid method to relieve the uncle.
Mei Deng stood to the side and a little bit behind the choking uncle. He placed one arm across the uncle's chest for support and bent him over at the waist. So that his upper body was parallel with the ground.
He kissed his fist and delivered a back blow between the uncle's shoulder blade and the heel of his hand.
Then landed the second one, the uncle coughed hard, jerking under Mei Deng's firm grip.
His petrified classmates who had no prior knowledge that the old man was choking, thought that their classmate was beating up an old man.
"Hurry!. Let's report him to the teachers!." Brother Chen cried, slinging his bag over his shoulder, gathering his scrolls in his hands.
The others nodded and spared no time to tell on Yu Xiaoguang, for allegedly trashing an old uncle at a wonton soup shop!.