by AkumaMR
11.17.02
Chapter 1: Darn Them Chinese Soap Operas
DISCLAIMER: I own naught but the totally random combination of Roman letters following.
NOTES:
"Today is the day. You will each choose an opponent and fight using the techniques I've been teaching you for the past month," the master announced. Everybody paired up, except for Huang and Ying. Huang was popular enough, but he was so strong nobody wanted to fight him for fear of breaking half the bones in their body. Ying was the best student in the class, and so they got stuck together.
"You're gonna wish that you were never born," sneered Huang. "I'm going to pound you into oblivion and back."
Ying made no comment. Huang was much stronger, but you only won if you had the brains. Huang was, to put it simply, an idiot.
The match was over all too fast. Huang ended up pinned to the floor with his arm twisted painfully behind his back.
"Ying! This is NOT a class for WRESTLING!" The instructor's sharp voice cut through the hall. Everybody stopped because it was always fun to watch the instructor yell at someone, as long as it wasn't yourself.
"Sorry, sir. I promise it will not happen again."
"Hmmph. We'll see about that." He looked at everyone else, who had been gawping at them for the past minute. "What are you all looking at? Get back to work!" Immediately, everyone did. You didn't want to mess with the master. Rumor was if you got him mad enough, he would turn purple and start to blow steam from his ears. Ying and Huang were the only ones who openly annoyed him.
After an hour or so of bouting, the master made an annoucement.
"Tomorrow we will begin the basics of swordplay. Make sure to be here on time. Class is dismissed."
An audible sigh could be heard as the cluster of boys ambled home. Huang had half of the class and a good number of towngirls following him, whereas Ying wandered off alone.
---
Back in his room at the inn, Ying relaxed on the couch, staring at the ceiling, reminiscing about his first day in the class.
---
He had been leaning against a wall in the tall open room the class was held in, watching a small group of young men waiting for class to begin. They were chatting amiably, the main subject being Ying, the new student.
"I heard that the new student is from the farther reaches of the Kingdom, " whispered one boy, "He's supposed to be rolling in money."
"I heard that he isn't really Chinese at all, even. He's actually the son of the Emperor of Mongolia in disguise, to find out all the Middle Kingdom's martial arts secrets - a spy."
"I heard that he's a street urchin that got hit by a cart and the Emperor gave him a place in our class because he felt sorry for him." Every now and then, between comments, everyone would turn and glance at Ying. Each time, Ying would glare at them with steely eyes, sending shivers up and down their spines. He could hear every word and inwardly laughed at how wrong they were.
"Well, whoever he is, he looks really stupid and weak." It was Huang, all brawn and no brain at twenty-one, three years older than his teacher. "I bet I could beat him into the ground and he wouldn't know what to do." There was a smirk on his face as he hissed out the last sentence loud enough so that anyone hear. He flexed his muscles to make the point.
"Class begins now, WHY aren't you lined up?" A young man, his hair tied back out of the way, strode into the room. With one glare, everyone scrambled into a perfectly straight line. Ying calmly strolled to the end of the line.
The master of the class began counting off names and people.
"...Zhi, Qian Hou, Zuo You, Huang Hua, Dong Xi, Nan Bei, -"[1] He stopped as he reached the end of the line, at the new student. He gave the newcomer a quick glance up and down and asked, "New student, I presume; state your name and age!"
"Ying Hua, sir, 17," Ying said without hesitation.
"Good. I like that attitude."
The tall boy from before whispered to his neighbor, "Sucking up already. Geez - he's such a -" He jumped when the teacher whipped around to yell at him.
"Huang! How many times do I have to tell you NOT to speak unless spoken to by ME?" The teacher quickly strode over to Huang and boxed him on both sides of his head. "Is this a way to set an example to fellow classmates?"
"Sorry, sir!"
"That's better, but work on it." With that he turned back to Ying.
"Welcome to this martial arts class. Here you will hopefully learn something on the subject of martial arts. You do nothing unless told to and you do not stop unless ordered to. Here you will experience discipline, and hopefully learn something about it. I am your instructor, Chang Wufei. You obey only me, understand?"
Most of the other boys in the class had already heard the speech at least ten times, and they tired of it. They put up with it only because the teacher was who he was. Their parents probably experienced one of the proudest moments in their lives when their boys were chosen to be taught martial arts in a royal class. They were all nobles' sons, of course. Some of the students were older than Master Chang, but they all obeyed him, for he was who he was. His martial arts ability was rumored to surpass the Emperor's, now that the old man had passed the prime of his life. But that was expected, since he WAS the Emperor's son.
"This week I will test you on the "Twelve Descriptions". We'll see how much of last week's lessons you remembered and how much fled out of your brainless skulls." Then he turned to Ying.
"Cherry blossom, eh? Such a womanly name. Let's just call you Ying. That comes off as ying as in hawk, at least. Heh, when you get old people will call you Lao Ying anyways.[2] No matter. Today you will sit out and observe the rest of the class. Observation teaches more than anything else. That is your first lesson."
With that, he left Ying and began quizzing each of the students on the "Twelve Descriptions". No one in the class remembered any of them. Master Chang made the class repeat them so many times by the end of the day even Ying had learned all of them by heart, they ran through his head as he made his way home: Yi: In motion, move like a thundering wave. Er: When still, be like a mountain. San: Rising up, be like a monkey. Si: Land swiftly and lightly like a bird. Wu-- [3]
Wu, like in Chang Wufei.
Ying talked to himself as he walked, "I wonder how his name is written. Maybe it's like Wuya except not," he pondered, and chuckled. "Maybe it's Wufei like 'flying fog'. What a stupid name. Maybe it's Wufei like 'no flying'?" And so he went, all the way back to the inn. [4]
"Would you like to save and exit?" the innskeeper asked, as he approached the front desk.
Without questioning such an odd inquiry, Ying nodded and disappeared.
---
"So, Xiaoming, how was it?" [5]
"Not bad," said a Chinese girl, logging off and shutting down the computer she sat at. "I hacked some private rooms, and in one there was a dude prancing around as the emperor's son teaching a martial arts class and calling himself Chang Wufei." She took off a wired pair of goggles and leaned over to hit the power button on the CPU.
"I see," replied her brother, chuckling. "Did you set him in his place?"
"Nah, too much effort. Besides," she said, taking the wires off her neck and packing up the rest of the MVR (Multiplayer Virtual Realities) equipment, "his PC (Player Character) was kinda cute. I hacked his profile, too, and that's what he actually looks like."
"Whatever. It's time for you to go to real martial arts practice and if we don't leave now we'll be late again."
"Yes, sir, Dage!" Ying jokingly saluted. "Right away, sir!" [6]
Yumemiruon to Chapter Two-->