DDT - Chapter 102

Chapter 102: Tycoon's Daughter (10)

Literature class was held four times a week. The literature teacher had studied abroad; his surname was Cao, and his full name was Cao Yu. Before going abroad for advanced studies, he had majored in history. During his ten years in J Country, he had seen too many people and things. When he first left, J Country had not yet gotten involved in the dispute between the Japanese and the Dragon Kingdom. But unexpectedly, after just a few years, news came from home that the Japanese Army had invaded and the Dragon Kingdom was in chaos. His family told him to stay in the peaceful J Country and study hard, to wait until the Dragon Kingdom stabilized before returning, and not to worry about them.

Fortunately, although Cao Yu's hometown had also been trampled by the Japanese Army, his family was well-off and had packed their belongings in advance to evacuate the city, thus escaping disaster.

Later, as the war progressed, his family migrated all the way to the relatively stable Huaping City and settled there for the time being.

Although J Country was peaceful, when Cao Yu heard the news of the Dragon Kingdom's repeated defeats, he could no longer remain calm. Because his major was world history, he was not the kind of highly sought-after scientific research talent needed in a time of war, so his return to the country attracted no attention whatsoever.

In an era of war, studying history was a joke, utterly useless, a fact that earned him much ridicule at the time. Few people in J Country itself even chose to study world history or their own country's history. For a foreigner like Cao Yu to study such a pointless discipline during wartime was simply incomprehensible.

After quietly returning to the Dragon Kingdom, Cao Yu rushed to Huaping City and successfully became a literature lecturer at Huaping Academy.

When the course first began, a student asked why someone who studied history was teaching literature. Cao Yu replied that history and literature were inherently one and the same, inseparable. They contained each other. For history, literature was indispensable. Without literature, a nation would cease to be a nation, it would cease to exist, and history would have nothing to verify. Literature is a spiritual force, a spiritual weapon. If this weapon is used well, it might achieve unexpected results in the chaos of war. History can bear witness to the miracles of literature.

At first, the students were dismissive of the literature class taught by this history teacher. Most of them were either planning to leave Huaping City as soon as possible and continue south, willing even to flee into the deep mountains and old forests to escape the war, or they were thinking of stirring up some kind of trouble, aimlessly and meaninglessly. Even more were just numb and indifferent. The long years of turmoil had stripped this group of young people of their brilliance and confidence. They believed the nation was on the verge of collapse and the city would fall sooner or later, so they adopted a defeatist attitude, letting things fall apart.

But after attending Cao Yu's class, the students, who had initially been just going through the motions, gradually became captivated by the history of the Dragon Kingdom he spoke of. It was an era they had never seen, a prosperity they had never experienced.

This group of children had been born at the wrong time. In an era of war, what prosperity was there? What stability? Most of them had fled with their parents from one ruined city to another since childhood. Some had witnessed the brutal and bloody reality of the battlefield at a young age, while others had experienced the pain of losing loved ones. Perhaps they hadn't even had a full meal until they arrived in Huaping City.

They had never seen a night market, never released a festival lantern…

Only a small number of children who had grown up in Huaping City or were from local wealthy families had not experienced the ravages of war.

These young people were completely enthralled by the prosperous age they had never seen or heard of. The beautiful poems, the magical couplets, the legends of each dynasty, the lives of every historical figure, the emperors of every era, and the orally transmitted unofficial histories—all of it radiated a captivating charm.

The once sparsely attended classroom gradually filled up. Word spread among the students, from one to ten, from ten to a hundred. The reputation of this teacher named Cao spread among them. Even lecturers and students from other majors came to audit his class. The large lecture, originally held twice a week, was increased to four sessions at the students' strong request, and every class was packed.

Cao Yu was using his knowledge and experience to help these lost youths find their way. He said he was a lighthouse, there only to illuminate the path for his students on their long journey through history.

What path forward did these students have before? They were as numb as walking corpses. Now, they had found a good teacher and friend who parted the clouds and let the sunlight in. They could actually see hope, as if they had been enlightened.

Bit by bit, Cao Yu was subtly influencing these future pillars of the Dragon Kingdom. Who said only guns and cannons could save the nation? If the youth had no passion, no direction, no hope, then even the best equipment was useless.

Just like the current New Government army—a bunch of feeble dandies.

Cao Yu had now been teaching at Huaping Academy for four years and had accumulated great prestige among the students. Without even saying a single explicit word, he had incited them to protest and demonstrate, creating a lot of trouble for the New Government.

The students were always extremely enthusiastic about literature class. With more than twenty minutes to go before the lecture, the classroom was basically full. Lecturer Cao didn't like to run overtime and would dismiss the class as soon as the time was up. Therefore, to hear more of the lesson, the students would tacitly arrive early. Usually, once the room was full, Cao Yu would begin his lecture.

In the large classroom, students chattered about recent events as a few more trickled in from outside.

Chi Junluo had no pen, only a textbook, while Yi Shuhan had brought a notebook and a fountain pen.

Cao Yu was organizing his materials at the lectern. He glanced up toward a corner of the classroom and saw that a certain person who usually slept through class was now sitting upright in her seat, full of energy, and saying something to the girl beside her. He raised an eyebrow.

Perhaps because Chi Junluo was overly perceptive, she immediately sensed someone looking at her. She looked up and, sure enough, it was Lecturer Cao Yu.

Mr. Cao gave a slight nod, naturally averting his gaze and continuing with what he was doing. Chi Junluo also looked away, habitually tapping the desk a few times with the fountain pen she had just acquired.

Yi Shuhan glanced at Chi Junluo's right hand. This habit of subconsciously tapping the desk with her hand or whatever was in it when thinking felt incredibly familiar.

Before she could think further, Mr. Cao at the lectern cleared his throat. The class immediately fell silent. Everyone focused, ready for the lecture.

Chi Junluo adjusted her posture. This wasn't the first time she had met this Mr. Cao. At the Secret Party meeting in Wanxing Restaurant, this same Cao Yu had been sitting right beside the party's leader, Zhou Hua.

Searching her memory more carefully, the original host had also seen Cao Yu a few times over the past years, but their missions had never overlapped.

This Mr. Cao was truly remarkable, trying to use history and literature to change the Dragon Kingdom, to save it, to revive it.

And now, he was halfway there.

Chi Junluo pushed aside the memories of Cao Yu in her mind. When she came to, she saw Yi Shuhan resting her head on her right hand, propped up on the desk, her large eyes staring at her in a daze.

Chi Junluo: ???

Looking at the heroine's fair and tender cheek, she really wanted to reach out, poke it, and give it a squeeze.

Before she could react, her right index finger had already gently touched Yi Shuhan's soft cheek.

The sensation under her fingertip was difficult to describe in words. If she had to use one word to explain it, the word "happiness" suddenly flashed through Chi Junluo's mind.

???

Yi Shuhan also snapped back to her senses. In all her life, this was the first time someone had been so bold as to poke her flower-like, jade-like face with a finger!

The scene was, for a moment, extremely awkward.

Chi Junluo was, after all, much older and had experienced four worlds. Her face didn't flush, her heart didn't race. She calmly redirected her right hand, letting it land on the notebook next to Yi Shuhan's hand.

Taking the notebook, Chi Junluo uncapped the fountain pen and, with this obviously expensive and valuable instrument, swiftly wrote a few lines in it.

Curious, Yi Shuhan leaned to her left, moving closer to Chi Junluo to get a good look at the handwriting in the notebook.

The vigorous and powerful script displayed an inexplicably strong aura, the ink seeming to press through the paper. The forceful hook at the end of each character's final stroke once again struck Yi Shuhan as familiar, though she couldn't remember where she had seen this style of writing before.

Chi Junluo set down the pen, very satisfied with her work. It was a poem, and not a very common one. It was a rather obscure piece of classical poetry.

Yi Shuhan didn't understand why Chi Junluo had written this, but she would soon find out what it meant.

Chi Junluo capped the pen, used the end to circle a few characters, and began to explain their "use" to Yi Shuhan in a low voice.

Of course, it wasn't their ordinary "use."

She was teaching the heroine the Secret Party's communication code.

This secret code was used by extracting specific words or short phrases from classical poems, songs, and verses, and then rearranging them in a special way to convey the intended meaning.

Not everyone could use this code, as it required mastery of a vast amount of the Dragon Kingdom's classical poetry and also strong computational skills.

Therefore, the Secret Party was very confident in using this code, even being able to transmit highly confidential messages anytime, anywhere.

The original host was very smart and capable, having mastered this code in only about six months. Most members in the organization could only decipher relatively common and simple codes. Those who had truly mastered it were all the most solid core members of the Secret Party.

Now, what Chi Junluo was teaching Yi Shuhan was the introductory level of the code. As long as she memorized it and learned to apply the corresponding formulas, she could decipher times and locations.

On the stage, Mr. Cao was lecturing about the past. Below the stage, Miss Chi was teaching… math?

Deep down, Yi Shuhan's most direct impression of this secret code was that it was a math problem wrapped in the gorgeous skin of classical literature!

Throughout the entire long lecture, Yi Shuhan barely managed to learn the most basic methods for decoding time and place.

Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief that class was almost over, Chi Junluo swiftly flipped open the Dragon Kingdom literature textbook on the desk and gently tapped a poem from over a thousand years ago with her pen.

"This book was personally compiled by Mr. Cao Yu. Its contents are very interesting. You should read more of it."

After assigning the "homework" for the secret code lesson, Chi Junluo conveyed different information within a single sentence. From this moment on, Yi Shuhan's special training had already begun. She had to get used to memorizing large amounts of information at any time and picking out the useful parts.

The bell rang outside the classroom. Mr. Cao gave a final concluding remark and nodded slightly, indicating that class was dismissed.

The students looked disappointed. They hadn't had enough yet, how could class be over?

People began to leave the classroom one after another. After lunch, there were other classes in the afternoon. Chi Junluo, however, was thinking that since she, as a section chief, had already taken Yi Shuhan in, she should take her to the Secret Party's base as soon as possible to do some basic filing work.

Once Yi Shuhan had packed her things, Chi Junluo led her in the direction of Wanxing Restaurant.

Yi Shuhan had been wrestling with all sorts of strange poems and formulas all morning. Now, her mind was completely filled with the last poem Chi Junluo had pointed out to her.

"My longing is as deep as the sea, the past as distant as the sky. A million tears stream down, enough to break a grieving heart.

I long to see you, but there is no way. I try to let go, but it's a fight I cannot win. If fate did not bind us in a past life, then let us wish to be joined in the next."

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