Chapter 127: Scholarly Spirit

Chapter 127: Chapter 127: Scholarly Spirit

Song Jing organized the content for the presentation. Ji Huan then polished it, focusing on making it more conversational and story-like, before finally handing it over to Li Guanchun for proofreading.

By the time they were finished, it was nearly evening.

Everyone passed the script around to read. Perhaps they were swept up in the spirit of it, but they all grew impassioned, eager to set off immediately.

Lu Yu was more rational.

"It’s already so late. No matter which village we go to first, it’ll be pitch-black by the time we get there. Who are you going to tell the story to in the dead of night, ghosts?"

Wu Rongying, who had been quiet until now, also spoke up. "There’s no need to rush. We can spend tonight making preparations. I suggest everyone gets a copy of the manuscript and memorizes it. We’re going to more than just one or two places, and we can’t rely on Song Jing to do all the talking."

He turned to Song Jing. "What do you think?"

Song Jing said humbly, "Brother Wu, your thinking is thorough. Thank you for offering to share the burden."

Seeing that Song Jing’s attitude toward him was unchanged, and that he hadn’t grown arrogant from everyone’s admiration, Wu Rongying’s expression softened slightly.

Li Guanchun led everyone to begin the great undertaking of copying the script.

A play script was different from a simple notice; it was a much larger task. However, Ji Huan couldn’t stay to help. She had to hurry back to Dafeng Village.

The Zhang Family brothers had come by horse-drawn cart this time, so at least she wouldn’t have to trudge back on her own two feet as she had on the way there.

Zhang Wu was the type who got dizzy just looking at words, so he eagerly volunteered to take Song Jing and Ji Huan back.

Unexpectedly, there was someone even more desperate to avoid writing than he was.

Lu Yu, that ruthless fellow, turned the tables on him and pushed him back into his seat. "Trying to slack off? No way! Get back to copying!"

The Zhang Family’s cart was of the most common type. Instead of a proper carriage, it just had an arched, oilcloth canopy with a cloth curtain for an entrance.

Worried Ji Huan might be cold, Song Jing borrowed a new quilt from the Lu family and brought it onto the cart for her to wrap herself in.

Lu Yu had learned to drive from his brother-in-law, but this was his first time actually driving with passengers on the road. The journey was, to put it mildly, an arduous and bumpy one...

Despite the cold weather, Ji Huan was sweating from sheer terror.

She and Song Jing had started out sitting on opposite sides of the cart, but after all the lurching and bouncing, they were now squished together.

Just then, another violent jolt sent Ji Huan tumbling from her seat without warning.

Song Jing rushed to catch her and was pulled down as well, his upper body landing on top of her.

Cushioned by the quilt, Ji Huan didn’t feel any pain.

Their eyes met. Song Jing quickly pushed himself up and moved to the side. He paused for a moment before helping Ji Huan up.

Neither of them said a word. They ended up just sitting on the floor of the cart, holding onto the seat bench for support. It was actually much more stable that way.

That lout Lu Yu, completely oblivious, lifted the curtain, poked his head in, and asked them excitedly, "So? How’s my driving? Pretty good, right?"

Ji Huan glared and pointed at him, her voice rising an octave. "Don’t look back! Watch the road, for crying out loud!"

’Reckless driving makes loved ones weep. If I’d known I was getting such an unreliable driver, I would’ve rather walked back.’

Lu Yu turned back as told. Seeing the road ahead was flat and clear, he turned around again and boasted dismissively, "This is nothing. I could do this with my eyes closed—"

Before he could finish, a shoe came flying right at him, hitting him square in the face.

Lu Yu yelped, clutching his nose as he pointed an accusing finger at Song Jing. "You heartless monster!"

Song Jing, holding the other shoe, asked calmly, "Are you going to turn back around? Are you going to get out?"

Fuming but not daring to talk back, Lu Yu sullenly pulled his head back out.

Did you think he would focus on driving after that?

Nope. For the rest of the journey, he channeled his inner tragic heroine, pouring out an endless stream of grievances to Ji Huan.

"Back at the dinner table, did you think I was bullying him by making him drink?"

"Now you see the truth, don’t you? I’m the one who’s always being bullied, okay!"

"He’s been bullying me since we were kids... Just look at him now! Throwing a shoe at me! You’ve got to do something about him..."

He kept babbling on outside, and Ji Huan was left speechless.

’What does he mean, "do something about him"? As if Song Jing is my responsibility.’

’Besides, Song Jing didn’t do anything wrong. What is there to "do something" about?’

Song Jing, for his part, felt a little awkward as well.

Lu Yu was a half-baked driver, unskilled but recklessly bold. He had kept Ji Huan on edge the entire trip, and to top it off, he wouldn’t even watch the road, chattering nonstop instead.

When Ji Huan had shouted at him, Song Jing knew she was genuinely scared. He happened to feel a pair of clean shoes under the seat bench and had instinctively thrown one at Lu Yu.

But after throwing it, he felt a pang of regret.

It wasn’t that he felt bad for Lu Yu, but that he shouldn’t have shown such an ill-mannered side of himself in front of Ji Huan.

But Lu Yu, out for revenge, kept on blabbering and tattling for the whole trip, even bringing up the time Song Jing beat him up when they were first starting at the private school.

Thankfully, he didn’t say why, but even so, Song Jing was still filled with regret.

’He regretted not throwing the other shoe in his face too.’

They were only halfway there when night fell.

An oil lamp was lit and hung from the edge of the canopy, providing a faint light.

Worried the horse might fall into a pit, Song Jing moved to sit outside the canopy to help Lu Yu navigate.

The wild wind howled, feeling like a knife against his face. Although the cloth curtain didn’t block much wind, it was still much better inside than out.

Ji Huan tried to give the quilt to them, but when she passed it out, Song Jing just stuffed it back in.

"You keep yourself wrapped up. The two of us will be fine."

Lu Yu put on a strange, high-pitched voice. "Exactly! We’re two grown men, we’re not afraid of freezing. But if you were to catch a cold and get a headache, someone would be heart... OUCH!"

His voice, now back to normal, demanded furiously, "What’d you elbow me for? I wasn’t wrong! Aren’t you just... MMPH! MMPH!"

After Lu Yu’s mouth was stuffed with who-knows-what, Ji Huan’s ears finally had a moment of peace.

Song Jing cleared his throat and said to her from behind the curtain, "He just likes to spout nonsense. You... you shouldn’t take it to heart."

Of course, Ji Huan wouldn’t take it to heart. On the contrary, she found this Lu Yu fellow rather amusing.

"Are you going back to town tonight?"

It seemed none of his fellow students were planning on going back tonight. From now on, Song Jing would probably be staying at the Lu family’s home.

As she expected, Song Jing said, "We already arranged it. For the time being, we’ll all be staying at Lu Yu’s place. It’ll be more convenient for us to come and go together."

Ji Huan smiled. "You all remind me of a poem."

"What poem?"

Ji Huan cleared her throat and recited "Qinyuan Spring" for him.

"...We were classmates in our youth, all in our prime, filled with scholarly spirit, bold and sharply keen. We judged the state of our nation, our words a fiery stream, and saw the lords of old as nothing but dirt and dust..."

’What was this "scholarly spirit"?’

’Ji Huan had once thought it referred to those angry, bookish nerds who rigidly stuck to old rules and couldn’t adapt.’

’But today, seeing these students working together and striving for the common people, she finally understood. This confidence, this spirit—this was the true "scholarly spirit."’

’Even if some of their ideas were naive, even if what they could do right now was limited, they dared to dream and they acted on it. That was enough.’

’A young scholar should not only have the grand ambition to "cultivate the self, regulate the family, govern the state, and bring peace to the world," but also the practical attitude of "if one cannot sweep a single room, how can one sweep the world?"’

"...Eagles cleave the vast sky, fish glide in the shallow deeps, and all creatures compete for freedom under the frosty heavens. Musing on this boundless expanse, I ask the vast, grey earth: who rules over all destiny?"

Song Jing silently repeated the verses to himself over and over again, finally shaking his head in self-reproach. "Compared to such ambition and spirit, what we are doing is not even worth mentioning."

Ji Huan didn’t think so.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. As long as you have the courage to face hardship and the boldness to forge ahead, even a stream can one day become a great river. That same great man also said: ’To find the greatest heroes, look to our own time.’"

There was silence from outside for a moment—just a moment—before Song Jing let out a clear, unrestrained laugh.

It was a laugh of lightheartedness and joy, one that completely opened his heart and revealed his ambitions to the world.

"You’re right. To find the greatest heroes, we must look to our own time."