Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1 - A Dream?
“Qi… Qi ro…Qi rong! Wake up!”
Yichen sprang open his eyes, annoyed that he was not able to sleep in on holidays. Didn’t he put his phone on silent?
‘Someone decided to have a bad day.’ Yichen thought in his mind, half sleepy and half annoyed.
Chirp, chirp, chirp~
He heard hummingbirds chirping happily and trees swaying in the warm daylight. ‘Wow, did I really sleep till afternoon?’ he thought.
As his vision became more and more clear, he noticed that it indeed is going to be afternoon in a while and he has been sleeping outdoors while the birds are singing and tree branches are dancing with the wind.
The thing which made him get up from the hard floor in which he was sleeping and sit with his back straight was a bunch of people with long hair, chinese clothes and wooden swords.
“... …” Yichen blinked. He took both of his hands and rubbed his eyes fiercely. After some tears came out of his eyes and his vision was clearer, he looked at them once again.
“Does he even want to join here?”
“I heard he was recommended by the royal family to join.”
“Still he can’t be sleeping when we are supposed to be training!”
“You can clearly see he will not amount to anything.”
“It’s all thanks to His highness the crown price to be so kind to him!”
“Hey! Less sound, he might hear you and pick a fight with us.”
The bunch of people that Yichen saw were still standing there but this time he can clearly see their expressions of annoyance and disgust. They were clearly looking down on him and murmuring among themselves, despise can be seen in their face and it is directed towards him.
They were wearing a white training robes which were tightly fit and easy to move in, with a wooden sword in their hands. Some of them had their hair neatly tied up in a bun and others were put in a high ponytail.
Most of them were male and everyone seemed to be around 14 to 15 years old. It’s just that, without an exception, everyone had long hair and looked like they were from a martial arts chinese drama.
Yichen saw the scenery behind them and it was trees and looked like a training ground in a mountain or forestry area. It was very beautiful and generic, like a real one.
He then turned and saw the most good looking guy out of all of them standing in front of him with a distressed and displeased expression. Even though his appearance had a natural kindness to it, Yichen can easily tell the displeasure and distress behind those eyes.
The guy just silently stared at him, with a wooden sword in his hands, the same like the others’. Looking as if he is silently questioning with his kind yet stern gaze.
After a short while of staring at each other silently, Yichen silently went back to his original sleeping position on the floor and put both of his hands near his chest like a vampire who decided to rest and closed his eyes shut.
“Do you really don’t want to learn at all?” The good looking guy asked.
“... …” Yichen stayed as silent as a chicken who got caught by the neck. ‘It’s just a bad dream. It might be a side effect of reading too many C-fantasy novels.’ Yichen thought as he decided to not pay attention to these dreams and go back to sleep again.
‘Weird dream. But the duck he meant by learn?’ Yichen saw the beautiful scenery behind and it is rare to have a lucid dream with such good scenery, he thought maybe he’d take the chance and enjoy exploring.
But looking at those guys’ faces and this guy telling him to learn, he decided to just lay down like an old dog. ‘I’m on my holidays, mind you.’
Even a beautiful dream cannot make him work or study on his holidays. Just when it was quiet for a while and there were no more voices speaking, he thought, ‘finally, did that stupid dream end? Why do I still feel awake? Am I in another dream?’
He opened his eyes to find that nothing had changed, only that the guy in front of him had a look that was ten times more displeased than before and the bunch of guys behind him were sharing a look of silently horrified. ALL EYES ON HIM.
“... …” ? ? ? Why is he still having the same dream??? And all are staring at him weirdly… He quickly turned the opposite side to them, his back facing them and closed his eyes.
‘It’s a dream. It’s a dream. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up from the dream. Wake up! WAKE UP! WAKEEE UPPP!!!’ He kept on saying this in his heart, hoping he would quickly wake up from this dream because it's weird to see the other people in the dream be so… conscious and follow you. It’s creepy if you think about it. He thought, ‘In recent years, I don’t even watch any horror films. Why do I have such dreams!’
After what felt like an eternity, he opened his eyes and he was horrified to find out he was still in the exact same dream and others are all having some sort of indescribable expressions when they are looking at him.
“How much longer are you going to fool around?” The good looking guy asked him in a tone which felt like he was suppressing his anger.
“... …” Yichen silently sat back up, unable to wake up or ignore this, he had no choice but to play along and see just what was happening. ‘Is this what people call sleep paralysis or something?’
“Why are you all standing here without practicing?” A rough male voice was heard behind the bunch of guys standing.
“Good morning master.” The young guys quickly bowed and made way for the older guy to come through.
“Taizi Dianxia¹. You are here too? Why are you all standing here, what’s—” the older man’s rough voice abruptly stopped as he looked down at Yichen who was sitting on the floor, his hair and clothes messy from sleeping.
“Good morning master.” The good looking guy greeted the older man and continued, “I heard the other disciples say that Qi rong was not practicing but slacking off by sleeping in the training grounds. They were unable to practice but were too scared to wake him up. Hence they called me for help.”
“And then?” The older man’s voice was a little annoyed, he raised an eyebrow and asked the good looking guy.
“And then he woke up and looked around. Then he went back to sleep on the floor. We also don’t know what to do.” The good looking guy sighed as he said.
“What else to do? Give him a good beating so he understands that the training grounds are not the place to sleep in. Much less to disturb others’ training.”
“But… Master—”
“There are no buts. Hey, you. Don’t think you’ll get privilege just because you are recommended by the royal family. If you want to become an official disciple, you have to obey the rules and work hard. Or else you’ll be kicked out regardless of who you are.”
“This is the rules of the Tai Cang Mountain!” The Older man looked at Yichen intimidatingly and said in a strict tone.
Everyone was as quiet as a mouse and looked at this scene with shock and admiration. Even the good looking guy looked at Yichen with disappointment.
“... …” Now Yichen was even more confused about this situation. Is this dream some kind of the result of the mixture of novels he has read before? Lucid dreaming?
Just when Yichen decided to get back up on his feet, he skidded on his long clothes and fell back down. ‘Ugh.’ He looked at his right hand palm which got scratched when he used it to balance while landing on the hard floor, it was filled with scratches and blood flowing out.
“It hurts.” He mumbled to himself in a low voice as he patted the dust off his hands. ‘Wait.’
“It hurts ???” Yichen opened his eyes wide in shock and confused at what happened just now. He fell down, he got hurt. Now it’s painful???
“Why are you so clumsy? It’s just a small hurt, go wash your hands and start your practice!” The older guy saw all these and pulled Yichen up by his shoulder and supported him to stand straight. “This is why you should wear your training uniform. If you wear such extravagantly layered clothes to the grounds, it's only natural you will get hindered by it.”
The older guy sounded like he was having a headache by seeing stupid and spoiled children who don’t even know how to do basic things. “You guys! Have you seen enough? Go practice now, quickly!”
“Yes master.” All the other younger guys ran away and stood in order and started to swing their wooden swords and do exercises without any complaint.
“Master, I’ll take him to apply medicine.” The good looking guy said as he pulled Yichen by his long ancient chinese clothes. “I’ll advise him and bring him to practice.”
“Fine. you both make it quick.” The older guy didn’t want to say much and just waved his hands at them, telling them to go and he went to train the younger guys’ by correcting their postures and giving them examples.
“Qi rong. Come with me.” The good looking guy said as he pulled Yichen’s hand and brought him to one of the wooden houses near the training grounds.
‘Qi rong… QI RONG???’ Yichen wondered why he was calling him by this name as he realised who’s name it was and widened his eyes.
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Chapter 1 - Done.
Notes:
¹ - Taizi dianxia - Your highness the crown prince.
Mini scenario:
Yichen: why are they asking me to learn at my H.O.L.I.D.A.Y.S ? ? ? (Sleepy tone)
Yichen after sometime: DID YOU JUST CALL ME QI..QIRONG ? ? ? ! ! ! (Shocked screeching)