Chapter 122: The Fake Page Boy

“Dr. Ge,” she called.

Dr. Ge turned, saw her, and broke into a warm smile. “Miss Lin, what a coincidence meeting you here. How did you come to this place?”

“My second brother studies here,” Lin Sangqian replied. “But today I came to find Master Ge.”

“Is that so? So you are here for my older brother,” Dr. Ge said. “Then let us go in together.”

Only then did Lin Sangqian notice he was carrying a lunch box—he had come to bring food to his brother.

“Ah, so you are brothers after all,” Lin Sangqian said in surprise.
Though they both bore the surname Ge, she truly had never considered it.

With Dr. Ge leading, they went inside. He knew the way well and ushered them directly to Master Ge’s room.

“We can really come in like this?” Lin Wenyan asked uneasily. “Perhaps we should wait outside.”

“It’s all right,” Dr. Ge waved it away. “My brother is not one to care about such formalities. As long as you don’t damage his books, he’ll never raise a hand.”

Lin Sangqian remembered that on her first visit to Hai Xing Academy, when she saw Master Ge, he had been sunk so deep in books.

“He should still be teaching now. Let us wait a little while.”

The book-page, who also knew Dr. Ge, brought tea for them.

After less than half an hour, Master Ge finally returned. His face looked pleased, and he was murmuring to himself, as if speaking to unseen thoughts.

“Brother, you’re back.”
“Master Ge.”

Master Ge’s eyes fell on Lin Wenyan and Lin Sangqian. Smiling, he asked, “You two are family of Yanbei, aren’t you?”

“How did you know?” Lin Sangqian asked, her eyes widening. They had visited Hai Xing Academy before, yet they had not spoken with Master Ge then. On their first visit they had been with Lin Yanbei, and at that time Master Ge had paid them no attention at all.

“Because you two look somewhat alike,” Master Ge said. “That boy Yanbei is remarkable! I have just read the essay he wrote—this child is destined to become a great man. I must cultivate him well, and I will not let a good seedling be wasted. Ah, luckily you did not send him to Ruwen Academy; otherwise I would have lost an excellent student.”

Master Ge went on and on without pause, while Lin Sangqian stood there, dazed.
She had thought Master Ge a man of few words. Who would have expected him to be so talkative?

“Ruwen Academy? The one founded by that Tanhua fellow?” Dr. Ge asked.

“Tut!” Master Ge spat out without mercy. “That ‘Tanhua’ fellow! A man like him? If the Son of Heaven saw him in a golden-hall examination, he could kill him with one slap!”

Lin Sangqian couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh, right. You came for Yanbei, didn’t you? I’ll go fetch him.”

“No need, Master. In truth, we came today mainly to discuss one matter with you,” Lin Sangqian said.

“Hm?” Master Ge was momentarily taken aback. “What matter could you have with me?”

Lin Sangqian did not beat around the bush and spoke plainly.
At first Master Ge hesitated, but with Dr. Ge adding a few words of persuasion beside him, he agreed.

In truth, it was not such a great matter.

Soon came the day of the match between Ruwen Academy and Hai Xing Academy.
The ten students chosen to represent Hai Xing rose early, put on fresh clothes, and prepared to set out under the lead of Master Ge and Master Sun.

They knew they carried Hai Xing’s honor today, so all of them were lively and alert; some even held books and reviewed passages.

Master Ge came before Lin Yanbei and, smiling broadly, asked, “Yanbei, are you nervous?”

“I am not, Master,” Lin Yanbei replied with a shake of his head.
In literacy and poetry recitation, he was full of confidence; he would not disgrace Hai Xing nor Master Ge.

“Good. You are the finest student under my guidance. Today you must leave Ruwen with no trace of resistance! Hah, ha, ha…” Master Ge laughed as though victory were already theirs.

Lin Yanbei looked at his master in helpless amusement.

Then he noticed several pages standing behind them. Among them was one he had never seen in school before.
The page was quite young, perhaps just over ten years old. He kept his head lowered and wore a hat, so Lin Yanbei could not clearly see his face.

Yet after watching a while, Lin Yanbei still recognized who it was.
He turned his head and swallowed a smile.

How dare he disguise himself as a page and slip in! Truly audacious.

That page, of course, was Lin Sangqian.

Her earlier visit to Master Ge had been to ask him to allow her, on this day, to disguise herself as a page and go with them to Ruwen Academy.
She was genuinely worried.

Had she gone there openly, Hou Tianlu and Lin Shuimei would certainly have used the pretext that she was an outsider and driven her away.
At that moment, Master Ge and the others would have been powerless to help.

So she had only this way: pose as a page and slip inside with them. Then, depending on what Hou Tianlu and Lin Shuimei did, she would adjust on the spot.

Of course, if they did nothing at all, that would be best.
But Lin Sangqian knew very well that was unlikely.

After breakfast they set out for Ruwen Academy.

Since there was still some distance between the two schools, Hai Xing Academy had hired several carriages to take the students over; otherwise they would likely have been exhausted by the time they arrived.

Master Ge deliberately placed Lin Yanbei and Lin Sangqian in the same carriage. The three of them were alone inside.

Only after getting into the carriage did Lin Sangqian remove her hat.

“It is really you,” Lin Yanbei said, touching her head. “You, little sister.”

“You recognized me already, second brother?” Lin Sangqian smiled. “I never even raised my head.”

“How could I fail to recognize my own sister?”

“Heh-heh. I was afraid Hou Tianlu and the rest might do you harm, and besides, I wanted to see how capable my second brother truly is.”

At that point, Lin Sangqian suddenly thought of something and turned to Master Ge.

“Master Ge, from what you said before… does that mean Hou Tianlu is not actually a Tanhua Candidate? Were you just guessing, or do you truly know?”

Though she had only guessed from his appearance that he did not look the sort to have obtained the Tanhua rank, she did not state it as certainty.

For all his public claims that he had been a Tanhua seventeen years ago and declined office to return to his village, she had only heard rumors.

“Not a guess,” Master Ge said with contempt. “He is no such person. He is nothing but a braggart.”

“How do you know?”

Master Ge was silent for a moment, then said, “Because I am the one who was the Tanhua seventeen years ago in the metropolitan examination.”