The Card Apprentice - Zuo Tingyi

Gu Ming wasn’t’ very accomplished, and he was also most certainly not any disciple of Professor Gu Ziling. But he did have some relation to Professor Gu Ziling of the Eastern Wei Academy; he was his nephew. He was relying on that connection to use Gu Ziling’s name in organizing the class. Gu Ziling knew about what his nephew was doing, but it wasn’t anything uncommon, and it had no effect on him to help give his nephew a leg up from time to time.

Gu Ming’s didn’t have any significant accomplishments, but he did know how to talk. He had a special knack for misleading people. Of course, it’s not OK to recite back a book, though there was so much content to his bibliography that as long as he always added a little content it could be OK. He well understood what sort of goods the students attending this class were, and so he had quickly hit upon his strategy.

He lectured on the simple and the basic at great length – to a painstaking extreme – taking half the day lecturing on the most basic theory, and giving derivation after derivation. He covered those having a high degree of difficulty with a sentence.

It might seem to a layperson that the teacher’s content was rather detailed and rich, while an expert would scoff upon hearing him, and find him to be a fool.

But Chen Mu listened with utter absorption. His fundamentals were so deficient that he would sometimes come across something he didn’t understand, and he wouldn’t even know which book to search in or where to go for the book. Suffering without a guide for those three years, Chen Mu’s progress was extremely slow. In the eyes of a card master, those basics were a matter of course, and he would think that nobody needed such a detailed introduction. Gu Ming’s exhaustive lecturing on the basic content was actually much to Chen Mu’s liking, as many things that he had previously puzzled over without understanding them were finally becoming clear.

From then on, Chen Mu did not miss a single one of Gu Ming’s classes. Theory and practice complement one another and must be advanced together. For three straight years, Chen Mu had been relying on his own blind carving and polishing to attempt to improve on the one-star power-card. But that had given him plenty of experience. Now with both sides complementing one another, he progressed more quickly.

Where there had been a few places where he felt foggy, his grasp of the architecture of the one-star power-card was becoming more clear day by day.

“OK, this session’s classes with be complete after the next class. Oh, I have a piece of good news to tell everyone. Since this class is being jointly conducted with Eastern Wei Academy, we can participate in the annual Eastern Wei Academy advanced studies exam. After you leave, everyone make a card and bring it to me next time. If any among you is selected, there’s a good possibility of being singled out to enter Eastern Wei Academy for advanced studies!”

Although there wasn’t much substance in his belly, because he was a skilled talker, and had some charm and wit about him, his relations with the students were not at all bad.

The next day, everyone handed up the cards that they had made. What Chen Mu turned over was a one-star power-card.

Eastern Wei Academy’s so-called advanced studies exam was specifically organized to target jointly conducted specialized training classes. Its purpose was to provide students who stood out from the crowd attending the training classes a chance to proceed to regular study. But, it had gradually become a mere formality those last few years, whether because of the way the classes were being conducted or because of the school. It was not working out at all. It was embarrassing that across thirty years of the advanced studies exam, only two students had ever been selected.

Gu Ming didn’t take it seriously and was quite clear with himself about those students of his; there was likely not one among them who could make a complete card. And so, he didn’t register the names on the cards, but directly took them cards and wrapped them up inside a paper bag. Oy, tough break, eh? Yeah, but he had to teach three classes! 

After finishing all his classes, Gu Ming ran over to his uncle’s office in the Eastern Wei Academy and casually tossed the three paper bags on the desk, before going out to kick back and have a good time.

When Gu Ziling returned to his office to see these three paper bags, he couldn’t help furrowing his brow. Gu Ziling was over a half-century old, and his chiseled face had already started to show quite a few wrinkles. Although he knew that it was all a matter for lip service, the formalities must still be gone through. But how would an august professor be left to do that sort of thing?

Gu Ziling pressed the activation button on his wrist apparatus. Compared to Chen Mu’s, his device was much more refined and exquisite, only as big as the palm of his hand. It had lots of complex designs carved onto its simple silver background. The three bands were made from the naturally polished skin of the Hardy Domain’s sawtooth alligator. There were four card slots on the apparatus. One could tell at a glance that it was worth a considerable amount. 

A translucent screen popped up in front of him activated by the communications card in his apparatus, on which appeared a long list of names. The communications card had been invented just thirty years before, but it was already widely used. There were different grades of communications cards, according to their range beyond line-of-sight. The highest-grade communications cards could accomplish communications across the entire Heavenly Federation without error, but for a price not affordable by ordinary people. For now, what the ordinary resident used was generally a one-star, covering their own city. Gu Ziling wanted a slightly higher grade three-star, to accomplish regional communication.

Gu Ziling lightly tapped one of the names on the screen with a finger wearing a sapphire ring.

After perhaps five seconds, the image of a handsome youth appeared on the screen. His somewhat delayed appearance showed a bit of impassivity, and his eyes were somewhat cool. 

“Are you looking for me for something, Professor?” Zuo Tingyi asked respectfully, though with an icy tone. 

Having known the student himself for a long time, Gu Ziling said, “Come to my office for a bit.”

About ten minutes later, Zuo Tingyi arrived at the office. 

“Go through these things.” Gu Ziling pointed at the three paper bags on the desk.

Zuo Tingyi grunted assent and began to sort the cards in the bags. It was evident that Zuo Tingyi didn’t have the slightest bit of impatience, and Gu Ziling nodded his head in satisfaction. Zuo Tingyi was his favorite student. Not only was he talented and smart with excellent grades, but he was also respectful of his teacher, and did his work meticulously. Nearly all the instructors who had taught him were extremely fond of him, and he conducted himself quite well, sending significant gifts for every holiday. He was practically the perfect student in the eyes of all the teachers.

Zuo Tingyi arranged the cards one by one. These cards were mostly too awful to look at, with errors by the hundreds. Although there was no change in Zuo Tingyi’s expression, internally he was rather grudging. For this kind of trifling matter to fall on his head could really put a fellow in a bad mood.

“Reject.”

“Reject.”

This card is really off the charts! Such a simple card, surprisingly having no fewer than fifteen errors.

Another reject!

Zuo Tingyi’s forehead then wrinkled deeply.

He’d finally found a presentable card.

Zuo Tingyi let out a sigh of relief. In ordinary circumstances if a one-star power-card were to appear, he absolutely wouldn’t have given it a glance from whatever he was focused on. But in this circumstance, the insignificant one-star power-card unexpectedly caught his attention. 

After he finished sorting through the three paper bags, there remained only one card in front of Zuo Tingyi. A one-star power-card.

Zuo Tingyi was just intending to report to Gu Ziling when he thought to take a little precaution to avoid looking like a fool. All those discarded cards gave the normally moderate Zuo Tingyi some lingering concern. Don’t let some little mistake get by that he hadn’t found on the card himself. That loss of face would be a big one.

He brought the barely rescued one-star power-card cautiously to his face at once.

Yi!

He uttered a light oath while his face subtly transformed.