Si Xiu didn’t say anything further; he simply placed the notes back onto the bookshelf.
There were many people curious about the Crown Prince, and plenty of noble students within the academy desired to get close to members of the imperial family, so Xie Shian’s behavior wasn’t particularly strange.
However, before Xie Shian left, Si Xiu offered a reminder: “The notes are just for reference. Tea culture trends change every year, and everyone’s tea-drinking habits are different.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you, Senior.” Expressing his gratitude, Xie Shian left with the Crown Prince’s notebook and headed straight to class.
Once class ended, Xie Shian rushed back to his dormitory at the earliest possible moment, placed the Crown Prince’s notebook inside a vacuum-sealed bag, and then stored it separately inside a box.
After layering protection over protection, Xie Shian hid the storage box deep inside his wardrobe, blocking it from view with his clothes so that it was tightly and securely guarded.
Just as Xie Shian was finishing up hiding the item, he heard a commotion out in the hallway, as though his fox-like neighbor had returned.
Opening his door to take a look, Xie Shian saw the neighboring door wide open, with Xia Zuo and two other boys standing in the hallway talking amongst themselves.
“It’s too much! Even if they’re seniors, they can’t just snatch items like that. Just because they didn’t want to wait for custom orders, they come and grab our ready-stock items,” one of the boys complained indignantly.
Xia Zuo offered a cautionary reminder: “Don’t say things like that. We’re freshmen, some things aren’t appropriate for us to voice out loud.”
“It’s not just once or twice either. Every single time, it’s us first-years who have to make concessions,” the other boy chimed in with grievances.
Just as Xia Zuo was about to stop them, his peripheral vision caught sight of Xie Shian next door. Instantly readjusting his expression, he turned around, offered a slight nod, and said, “Good afternoon, student Xie Shian.”
Seeing a new classmate present, the two boys restrained their expressions somewhat, performed a greeting bow, and one of them apologized: “Sorry, we were speaking a bit too loudly and must have woken you up.”
It was currently the academy’s midday break period, and their lack of voice control during their conversation earlier could indeed disturb others.
Returning the greeting, Xie Shian recalled what his fox-like neighbor had mentioned that morning about visiting the workshop, and asked, “You guys just came back from the workshop?”
Xia Zuo nodded, offering a tactful warning: “Some seniors were picking out items there today. If you’re planning to go to the workshop, it’s best to go another day.”
Mentioning the workshop was all it took to set the boys off again. One of them grumbled dissatisfiedly, “Yeah, watch out for senior upperclassmen cutting the line and snatching things at the workshop.”
Listening to the two boys bounce off each other, Xie Shian pieced together what had happened:
After finishing his exam that morning, Xia Zuo and his friends had gone to the workshop to buy some items, coinciding with the arrival of a newly released batch of brooches. Just as they had selected their favorites and prepared to pay, several second-year seniors walked in, took a fancy to the exact same items, and directly cut the line to buy them instead.
Because those seniors were in their second year while Xia Zuo and his group were mere first-year freshmen—with a disparity in family backgrounds as well—they had no choice but to swallow their grievances and go pick out alternative items instead.
Every accessory piece in the workshop was unique, and even custom orders required production time. With the banquet coming up the day after neither, Xia Zuo and his friends had gone out of their way to buy ready-stock items, only to have them bought out from under them by seniors.
“Senior Iderson has been way too aggressive lately, ever since his family officially partnered with the Grand Duke’s household,” the boy complained.
The friction between first-year freshmen and second-year seniors was nothing new; accumulated minor incidents made it difficult to reconcile.
Xia Zuo swiftly changed the subject: “I still have a few brooches in my wardrobe that were custom-made previously. You guys can check if there are any you like to pair with your formal wear first.”
With that, Xia Zuo turned his gaze to Xie Shian and asked, “Shian, do you have enough accessories? The banquet is the day after tomorrow.”
Xie Shian replied, “I still have plenty in my wardrobe, more than enough.”
In reality, Xie Shian didn’t care about the banquet at all. The weekly banquets held fixedly by the school were essentially no different from classes; he could just go, check in, sign-in, find a corner, and kill time.
Paying no mind to the banquet, Xie Shian stuck to his schedule and attended his classes. By noon on the day of the banquet, while lounging on the sofa browsing the forum, he suddenly stumbled upon a post right on the front page—
[Topic Thread: Just went to Palace No. 5 for class, I think I accidentally ran into His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.]
[Thread Content: Didn’t dare take pictures, only caught a glimpse of a cloaked back. Everyone who had class in Palace No. 5 today should have seen him. Was that really the Prince?]
[1L: It was the Prince. I ran into him over there today too; His Royal Highness is back to take makeup exams.]
[2L: The banquet is tonight. Will His Royal Highness be coming too?]
[3L: Replying to the floor above—he probably will, right? After all, it’s rare for the Prince to visit the school, and since he’s already here…]
[4L: The Prince came back last night; he probably won’t be staying for many days either.]
Xie Shian stared at this thread for a long, long time, repeatedly verifying its contents.
The Crown Prince has returned to school.
The banquet commenced at six o’clock, with students from all grades participating and mingling with one another—a long-standing tradition of Luoxi Academy.
Luoxi Academy had even gone so far as to construct a luxurious banquet palace built in a circular ring shape, with its outer perimeter divided into five regional banquet halls, its inner core housing an open-air garden and pool, and a vast expanse of garden forests encircling the outer ring corridor.
Each grade had its own dedicated passageway entrance. Finding the freshman-exclusive path, Xie Shian was just about to step inside when he spotted a familiar long-haired boy not far ahead.
The person was dressed in a familiar deep-red formal coat, with his black hair secured by a hair ribbon and a thick notebook in his hand.
“Shirt buttons unfastened, deduct one point.” The long-haired boy recorded the infraction in his notebook.
Standing right beside the long-haired boy were two first-year students, honestly standing there taking their punishment.
Silently lowering his presence, Xie Shian took a step back, unconsciously slowing down his breathing.
It was a senior from the Inspection Department handing out point deductions.
Just as Xie Shian lowered his head, intending to find an alternate route through the garden to enter, a male voice called out from not far away: “Xie Shian.”
Resigned to his fate, Xie Shian stopped in his tracks, obediently held out both hands, and said, “Senior Si Xiu, I’m wearing my gloves, and my buttons are all fastened.”
Having just finished deducting points from the two students, Si Xiu approached Xie Shian, reopened the notebook in his hand, and stated: “Incorrect formal wear accessories, deduct one point.”
“Incorrect accessories?” Xie Shian didn’t quite catch the meaning.
Raising his gaze, Si Xiu’s eyes landed on the brooch pinned to Xie Shian’s left chest, explaining, “The Ktuolan brooch has two clasps; the chain needs to be kept in a natural drape. Banquet etiquette class should have taught you that.”
Looking down at his own chest, Xie Shian replied, “I haven’t taken that class yet; it’s scheduled for next week.”
This brooch was simply one he had picked out from his wardrobe because it looked nice, assuming it functioned like ordinary brooches where fastening the clasp was enough without paying attention to anything else.
Quickly readjusting the brooch, Xie Shian asked, “Senior Si Xiu, is this okay now?”
“Mhm.” Si Xiu closed his notebook.
Hurriedly detouring around Si Xiu, Xie Shian stepped into the banquet hall first.
A considerable crowd had already gathered inside the hall. Given that everyday classes required black formal wear, most students opted for light-colored formal attire paired with all sorts of accessories for the banquet, gleaming brilliantly under the illumination of crystal chandeliers.
The entire hall sparkled; the floors and walls shimmered in luxurious gold, and tall-stemmed crystal glasses on the long tables were stacked into pyramid shapes, with light refracting off jewelry and crystals everywhere.
Plucking a beverage glass at random from a table, Xie Shian took the spiral staircase up to a small second-floor platform where fewer people were gathered.
The evening breeze blew in from the terrace. Walking over to the terrace railing, Xie Shian looked down toward the central garden, spotting quite a few students clustered together chatting below.
When Xie Shian cast his gaze further into the distance, on the other side of the garden lay the third-year banquet hall.
Observing the opposite side from afar, Xie Shian occasionally lowered his head to take sips of his drink, until a familiar voice sounded from behind him.
“Good evening, student Shian.” Xia Zuo walked over carrying some desserts. “We were chatting downstairs just now and saw you up here all by yourself.”
“I just came up to catch some breeze.” Finding an excuse, Xie Shian was about to say more when his peripheral vision caught the dessert in his neighbor’s hand—it looked rather like ice cream and seemed quite appetizing.
Xie Shian eagerly asked, “What delicious treat is that?”
“Snow Cloud Fruit Crumble Tart, a specialty of the Ater Empire.” Xia Zuo extended the dessert plate in his hand toward Xie Shian. “This must be a newly developed crumble tart style from the cafeteria; it has a subtle shimmer on top.”
“Is it good?” Xie Shian asked the question he cared about most.
Since the outdoor snack tables featured the exact same dessert, Xia Zuo simply fetched another portion and handed it to Xie Shian.
Holding his fork, Xie Shian dug out a small piece from the top of the dessert tart and tasted it. The flavor was indeed quite pleasant, prompting him to nod and say, “Better than ice cream.”
“I’ve tried making fruit crumble tarts myself before, but they usually melt halfway through. The small kitchens in the dorms are still way too inconvenient,” Xia Zuo said with a hint of distress.
Silently recalling the public kitchen on the first floor of his dormitory—which was roughly the size of an entire single apartment—Xie Shian hadn’t expected that kind of setup to be considered a “small” kitchen.
His fox-like neighbor continued chatting idly about desserts. Mid-sentence, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of Xie Shian’s face. Pausing abruptly, he asked tentatively, “Shian, how are you feeling right now?”
“What do you mean, how am I feeling?” Xie Shian scooped up another bite of the dessert tart.
“Your neck—” Xia Zuo continued observing, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.
Xie Shian was wearing a high-collared shirt that covered most of his neck, but in the exposed patches of skin, a large expanse of abnormal red marks had appeared, strikingly noticeable under the moonlight, and the redness was even spreading toward his face.
“Looks like you’re having an allergic reaction.”
Xia Zuo hurriedly led Xie Shian upstairs to the lounge, summoning a senior for assistance.
“Good evening, my dear.” The lounge door swung open to reveal a blonde-haired boy standing at the entrance, wearing the red formal coat denoting the Inspection Department.
Xia Zuo stood up, offered a bow, and blurted out, “Senior Ellis, my friend seems to be having an allergic reaction. Could you please take a look?”
“My absolute pleasure.” Holding a miniature medical scanner, the blonde senior approached the sofa.
Xie Shian was resting lying down on the sofa. As the blonde senior drew closer, the first thing he noticed was the floral fragrance emanating from the other person, likely some kind of perfume.
Observing the large red patches spanning across the neck, Ellis remarked, “My dear, it would be best to unbutton your shirt.”
Lifting a hand to unbutton his collar, Xie Shian paused momentarily and asked, “Senior, will I get points deducted if I unbutton my shirt?”
Ellis gave a soft chuckle and said patiently, “My dear, of course exceptional circumstances won’t result in point deductions. The school rules aren’t that rigid.”
Reassured, Xie Shian undid the top two buttons of his shirt, revealing that the red marks had already crept up toward his collarbone.
Switching on the medical scanner, Ellis aimed it to scan Xie Shian’s neck while inquiring, “My dear, we need to trace the allergen. What have you eaten tonight?”
Xie Shian pointed to the table nearby: “I only ate this, and drank some beverage.”
Sitting on the table was a plate containing an unfinished fruit crumble tart and half a glass of drink.
Picking up the dessert and drink, Ellis pressed a few buttons on the scanner’s light screen. He quickly arrived at the answer and said with regret, “My dear, I’m terribly sorry—you’re allergic to Snow Cloud Fruit.”
Adjusting the angle of the scanner so that it targeted Xie Shian’s neck and setting it to automatic mode, Ellis offered words of comfort: “Don’t worry though; this is the newest model of medical scanner, you’ll recover in no time.”
Since Senior Ellis had other matters to attend to, he left the scanner behind in the room and departed shortly after.
Xie Shian lay there obediently without moving, watching Xia Zuo remain by his side. “I’ll be fine resting by myself,” he said.
“Get some rest first. If you need anything, you can press the emergency button in the room.” Leaving a glass of water on the table, Xia Zuo didn’t linger long before taking his leave as well.
Left all alone in the lounge, Xie Shian lay back as the miniature medical scanner diligently continued its work, emitting tiny streams of blue light onto his neck, producing a warm and soothing sensation.
Boredom setting in again, Xie Shian opened his wristband to browse the forum, hoping to see if there were any new posts concerning the Crown Prince.
However, flipping through several pages yielded no new posts about the Crown Prince; presumably, the Prince hadn’t shown up at the banquet yet.
Just as Xie Shian was browsing the forum, a knock sounded at the door, prompting him to respond, “Please come in.”
The door was pushed open gently, and footsteps approached the sofa step by step.
Assuming Xia Zuo had returned, Xie Shian didn’t look up until he caught a faint woody scent drifting over, giving him a sudden ominous premonition. Raising his head in a hurry, he found himself staring at a deep-red formal coat and long black hair cascading down the person’s back.
Quickly putting down his light screen, Xie Shian anxiously blurted out in explanation, “I had an allergic reaction so I had to use the scanner and unbuttoned my shirt, please don’t deduct points!”