Flowing Spring Jade - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My elder brother and I are twins, a boy and a girl.

We look about seventy percent alike, but our personalities couldn’t be more different.

I grew up traveling with our mother on business.

I’ve got friends across all walks of life-an unapologetic social bandit.

My brother, though, is brilliant yet painfully shy, spending his days shuttling between home and the academy.

Even with such a gentle temper, lately he’s been wearing a constant frown and is dead set against returning to the academy.

I pressed him again and again until he finally told me everything.

It turned out someone at the academy was jealous of the praise he kept getting from the teachers.

Seeing his delicate, almost feminine looks and soft disposition, they spread rumors behind his back that he was a cut-sleeve, and that he’d peeped at classmates changing.

The rumors were so detailed they sounded almost real.

My brother may have the pen of a poet, but he’s hopeless at arguing, and he couldn’t clear his name at all.

“It’s my fault. I can’t even prove the truth.”

Xie Jiaoyu, mortified, buried his face against me and wouldn’t lift his head.

“Liu Fei, I don’t want to go back to the academy. If I do, I’ll only drag down our parents’ reputation-and yours.”

Absolutely not.

He earned his way into the best academy through sheer talent. Why should he surrender a bright future over a scoundrel’s slander?

I pried him out of my arms and briskly wiped away his tears.

“This isn’t your fault, so you’re not the one who should leave. But you can rest for a while.”

“Leave this to me. I promise, it won’t be long before no one dares bully you again.”

Chapter 2

My friends from every corner of society taught me plenty of useful skills.

Like disguise.

Xie Jiaoyu and I already looked alike. With a few small adjustments, even our parents wouldn’t be able to tell us apart.

So I stepped neatly into his place.

And swaggered into Qinghua Academy.

Since my brother doesn’t care for socializing, all I had to go on were his sparse descriptions. I knew very little about the academy.

I’d planned to lie low at first, figure out the lay of the land, then make my move.

But on my first day, trouble came to me.

I had just found my seat and hadn’t even sat down when a dragon-tail inkstone slammed onto the floor right beside my foot.

I frowned and looked up, meeting a pair of phoenix eyes blazing with anger.

“Damned cut-sleeve, what are you staring at?” The young man with a five-colored braid by his ear glared at me. “Who said you could sit this close to me? Get to the back-this young master orders it!”

Dragon-tail inkstone. Five-colored cord.

I knew who he was.

As the most renowned academy in the capital, Qinghua Academy only takes two kinds of students.

Either prodigies of talent and learning, or scions of the noblest houses.

Ling Wumei was the latter.

Even among those highborn brats, he was the most exalted-someone no one dared to offend.

Not only because the Xunyang Ling Clan holds a preeminent position, but also because…

My gaze slid to the two standing beside Ling Wumei.

If my information was right, the tall, silent one was Chen Xuan, the Young General of Yongning General’s Mansion.

And the refined hypocrite who looked as if he meant to restrain Ling Wumei yet didn’t take a single step was likely Mu Baishu, the heir apparent of Chengping Marquess Mansion.

Ling Wumei could strut around the power-packed Qinghua Academy not just on his own pedigree.

His two childhood friends, both from illustrious houses, were no pushovers either.

The three of them were as close as brothers; offending Ling Wumei meant offending all three families.

So everyone kept a respectful distance from Young Master Ling, terrified of provoking that little madman and getting splashed with filth.

But he was all but yelling in my face. I wasn’t about to swallow that.

“Young Master Ling, what a show of force. But the academy rules say status doesn’t matter within these walls. Even a prince or royal grandson sits with commoners.”

I kicked the inkstone out of the way and sat calmly in my seat.

“What is it? Do you look down on the academy rules, or do you think you rank even higher than…?”

The words were barely out when, before Ling Wumei could react, both men beside him turned to me.

Chen Xuan’s eyes went cold, while Mu Baishu snapped open his folding fan, hiding a faint smile behind it.

“Wumei was only teasing you. We’re all schoolmates. Must Young Master Xie be so aggressive?”

I rolled my eyes at the three of them, gave an exaggerated shrug, and raised my voice.

“Oh, sure, sure-whatever you say goes. There are more of you, and you’ve got the clout. I wouldn’t dare offend you.”

Mu Baishu’s smile froze.

Ling Wumei was so furious he nearly sprang at me; if Chen Xuan hadn’t pinned him in time, he might have clawed my face.

He exploded, “Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like that? Shameless damned cut-sleeve! Just you wait-this young master will have you thrown out of the academy within a month!”

I arched a brow and grinned, my tone insolent.

“Fine. I’ll be watching, Young… Master.”