baiyuyi 40: Choice of Transportation

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Chapter 40: Choice of Transportation

Laoban was wearing elegant, white and pale blue robes befitting a cultivator, even letting his long, white hair half down, half drawn up into a top-knot to complete that austere, scholar look.

However…

“… Well, I guess Laoban wouldn’t be Laoban without the ratty jeans and knock off brand shoes… Ouch!” Yuan Chenglei hummed consideringly before yelping as Laoban lightly knocked on Yuan Chenglei’s head with his knuckles.

“What are you saying,” Laoban sighed.

It wasn’t really a question.

Still, going to a big, multi-sect cultivator meeting and dressing lazily like this… Well.

Yuan Chenglei shrugged. He supposed only people who still had something to prove would care that much about making sure they really LOOKED like cultivators, and since Laoban was a bigshot among bigshots, he can dress however the damn hell he pleases.

Who’s going to dare look down on Laoban for what he wears?

People who don’t enjoy living. The answer is people who don’t enjoy living.

Yuan Chenglei decided to bite the bullet to satisfy his curiosity and asked, “Laoban … you’re not going to dress up a bit more for this?”

Laoban chuckled and tapped his finger against his face.

“I did, didn’t I?”

Wait, no, it’s a very lovely silk face mask, with white, icy bamboo and feathers embroidered on it, but that’s… no, that is technically ‘dressed up’ compared to normal, but…

Yuan Chenglei sighed.

He himself was dressed in a simple, white cotton shirt in the tang style with a hanfu outer robe that didn’t even hit his knees.

Yuan Chenglei was relieved he wasn’t going to be forced to attend in full hanfu regalia, sure – he’d be tripping over the hems all night otherwise – but he couldn’t help but wonder if this was okay.

Come on, the white shirt might be somewhat traditional at a glance, but it was a cheap thing from a nearby street stall usually sold to tourists he had bought recently for pajamas, and he was also in jeans and his sneakers!

The only thing authentic was the robe that Laoban gave him!

Yuan Chenglei resisted the urge to rush outside to at least buy better pants and footwear that would be more fitting to wear to a meeting of cultivators, but it’s not like he could outdress his Master, right?!

And again. Laoban is wearing ratty jeans and knockoff brand shoes.

Normally, Yuan Chenglei wasn’t one to fuss over what he’s wearing, even to a nice-ish party (he’s never been invited to a really nice party before, what, you think he’s a second generation rich or something?), but currently, he was stuck facing the dilemma of being horribly underdressed when going to a big cultivator meetup.

Which, again, normally wouldn’t bother him too much, but this wasn’t just a big cultivator meetup.

This was a BIG cultivator meetup!

And his +1 (or rather, he’s the +1 here) was a BIGshot who hadn’t appeared publicly at a cultivator event in ages.

This wasn’t just Yuan Chenglei being overly self-conscious – there is NO way that he, as Laoban’s disciple, wasn’t going to be scrutinized from what he was wearing to how he BREATHED.

… Forget it, at least he’ll be comfortable.

Besides, Yuan Chenglei only knew about cultivation fashion from web novels.

Who’s to say how actual cultivators dressed in this day and age?

There are probably some who might show up in suit and tie rather than hanfu.

“Jing-mei, are you going to be alright by yourself?” Yuan Chenglei asked as Laoban prepared for them to go.

He had thought that Zhao Jinjing would be upset about being the only one left behind, but she was surprisingly agreeable.

Zhao Jinjing just squeezed his hand.

“En.”

Her voice was small, and Yuan Chenglei was a little concerned, but she didn’t say much else and merely smiled at him.

Yuan Chenglei didn’t know it, but Zhao Jinjing was still afraid of cultivators. Although she had initially felt a little left out when Laoban had said she was staying behind, when she actually thought about going, her limbs trembled.

She wasn’t ready to go somewhere with a large crowd of unknown cultivators just yet.

Yuan Chenhlei may not know it, but he could tell there was anxiety of some sort eating away at her, so he said, “Don’t push yourself too hard while training, okay? Maybe we can spar when I get back?” and patted her on the head.

After coaxing her to talk things over with Laoban, she seemed to have become slightly less tense, but as Yuan Chenglei and Laoban got ready to attend the Mingling of Many Sects, she became tense again.

She was just a middle-schooler.

Puberty was enough to make kids her age confused and disoriented. How much more of an emotional maelstrom was Zhao Jinjing experiencing?

Yuan Chenglei could only support her from the side.

“I won’t be reckless like you,” Zhao Jinjing retorted in response, swatting at Yuan Chenglei’s hand lightly.

… Well, at least his presence seems to bring her back whenever she starts getting a little too into her head, even if it’s due to mild annoyance.

But Yuan Chenglei couldn’t really say anything in response.

It’s true, he’s the one out of the three of them under this roof that keeps getting in trouble.

“… I really hope I don’t get caught up in anything else tonight,” Yuan Chenglei said glumly as he and Zhao Jinjing inadvertently started a lazy game of slapsies as he continued to try to ruffle her hair and she swatted after his hand.

Of course, it was two cultivators playing a game of slapsies, so for a mundane person, it looked rather intense and vicious.

“I think you just jinxed yourself,” Zhao Jinjing said, but she also had a slightly worried look on her face.

Haa… it wasn’t easy being fate’s punching bag sometimes… well, he was being a bit melodramatic, but Yuan Chenglei couldn’t help agree with Zhao Jinjing.

A bigshot’s newbie disciple, with said bigshot showing up for the first time in ages, and said newbie having gotten entangled with quite a few big names already.

With all the settings in place, it would be more surprising if SOMETHING didn’t happen around Yuan Chenglei.

He would really like for it to not be as dangerous of a situation as the one with the Phantom Raisers …

“I suppose we should get going,” Laoban said, calling Yuan Chenglei from the back door of the bookstore, “Or else we’ll miss the connection.”

Connection?

Yuan Chenglei blinked, but even though he didn’t really know what was going on, he ruffled Zhao Jinjing’s hair, letting her get a smack in, and said his goodbyes before following Laoban out the door.

The only safer place than being by Laoban’s side was Laoban’s bookstore, so he wasn’t worried about Zhao Jinjing’s safety.

“Laoban, what connection?” he asked.

“They’ve decided to hold the meeting in a fancy hotel in uptown, so we’ll have to switch trains on the way.”

Yuan Chenglei’s mind blanked.

“… We’re taking the subway?” Yuan Chenglei asked as Laoban strode casually among the pedestrians, “Like this?” He gestured to their outfits.

Even if hanfu street clothes were trending, it was still nowhere near common to see people dressed in traditional, period clothes. And say what you will about the jeans, but Laoban definitely looked like an immortal cultivator even while wearing them.

“Is there a problem? The train is a perfectly acceptable form of transportation for the short distance we’re going.”

No, that’s, well, Yuan Chenglei still takes the bus himself, but … oh, there’s hardly anyone looking at them.

As Yuan Chenglei looked quizzically at the people passing by, Laoban just chuckled.

“Cultivators don’t avoid the public eye simply through luck, you know,” he said, eyes twinkling.

So this is some recognition inhibition thing? Come to think of it, Expert Jiayi had some sort of jade charm that did something similar.

Look, Yuan Chenglei’s been through a lot in the past few days. It can’t be helped that he’s forgotten some things here or there.

“Still, you’d think going to a cultivator’s meetup would mean we’d get there a different way,” Yuan Chenglei grumbled.

They had to be the only cultivators going to this Mingling of Many Sects using public transportation.

“My train pass will go to waste if I don’t use it when I’m able,” Laoban replied, but Yuan Chenglei secretly thought it was going to waste anyway.

It’s not like Laoban often gets out of the bookstore, after all.

While Yuan Chenglei was thinking somewhat impolite things behind his back, Laoban chuckled lightly and said, “Besides, although there aren’t any specific regulations against flying swords, it’s best to follow the no-fly zones in the city. I’d like to follow the law as a city dweller.”

“Rather than no-fly zones, isn’t the larger problem having a weapon with a live edge? No, in the first place, what size aircraft laws would you have to follow for flying on a sword?” Yuan Chenglei couldn’t help but retort.

“Recently aircraft size has been determined by range, so I wonder if a cultivator on a sword wouldn’t be considered a large-sized aircraft. Since you can go any distance as long as you have the qi for it,” Laoban mused.

“… … Again, if you can cloak yourself and avoid detection, does it make sense to have to pay attention to flight laws?” Yuan Chenglei asked.

Laoban’s eyes crinkled in amusement.

“If a cultivator intends to live among mundane people, learning and respecting their laws is the basics, you know,” he said, and Yuan Chenglei found he didn’t really have anything to say to that.

Right, just because he’s a cultivator now doesn’t mean he can automatically think himself above the mortal law. Not when he has Laoban as a Master who lives among mortals.

Besides, it’s not like Yuan Chenglei is ready to cut his ties with the mortal world either.

… He just didn’t think that cultivators would have to worry about aviation laws. But, well, it wouldn’t be funny if someone collided with a plane midair.

For the plane, anyway.

“So since all these cultivators are meeting up in J City, does that mean they’ll be taking public transportation too? Since you’re the bigshot in this city, they’d have to follow the city laws or risk pissing you off, right?”

“Hm… well, I wonder. There are a lot more cultivators who are familiar with mortal laws these days, but there are still some who don’t have any common sense whatsoever, either cultivator or mortal, so who knows. Even more so this time, since what brought everyone here was the Jianghu and their auction, so there are all sorts of people coming into the city.”

Laoban paused for a second, contemplating, before he continued to say, “Well, even if other cultivators take mortal transportation, there probably aren’t going to be too many who take public transportation. I’m sure they’d rather use fancy imported cars or helicopters instead of taking the subway.”

… Right, a lot of cultivators who mingle with mortals are actually super rich. Why would they bother with the buses or subways if they were rich?

Even rich mortals would feel like they’re ‘above’ public transportation.

“So how do you think Chef Gaojie is going to get there?” Yuan Chenglei asked, deciding to ignore that a hotel you could arrive to with a helicopter is probably a hotel he’d never, ever, in a million years dream of being able to enter.

His poor commoner heart wouldn’t be able to take it if he thought too hard about how many rmb a room there would cost.

Laoban snorted quietly as they successfully switched trains.

There were a lot more people in suits now – they really were going to the rich side of town, aren’t they?

“Gaojie? He’s going to be taking the method of sending someone else from his sect as a representative so he won’t have to go. Despite how he is, he technically is a Sect Elder, after all.”

Yuan Chenglei thought for a moment.

“If you had a sect, would you have sent someone else out for this instead?” he asked.

“Hm, well, I wonder.”

So that’s a yes.

Well, if Laoban didn’t prefer avoiding this kind of meeting and was basically a hermit among cultivators, he probably would have joined up with a sect a long ago.

“So why bring me? Is it so I can take your place next time?” Yuan Chenglei joked.

It really was a joke, seriously, even he knew that he’d never be asked to be a representative of anyone, so please stop looking at him like that, Laoban…

Laoban just let out a really long sigh, only speaking when they had arrived at their station.

“… It’s better to bring you around and show other cultivators your face. This way they’ll at least know who you’re affiliated with. I have no idea what kind of situation you’ll get yourself in next time, so it’s better to take some precautions here.”

It’s not like Yuan Chenglei’s TRYING to get into trouble!

Rude.

… But he will gladly accept the help that comes with the recognition of being Laoban’s disciple.

Nice thinking!

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<a/n: Was confused about how majestic a cultivator could look with ratty jeans, so had to work out Laoban’s outfit [here]. Also had some ghost game shenanigans with Ghost Scholar [here]

slapsies is the game where Person A holds their hands over Person B’s hands with their palms facing Person B’s, and person B has to try to flip their hands around to slap the back of Person A’s hands. It’s a game of reflexes, and if Person A moves their hands too soon 3 times, Person B gets a free slap in on Person A. Offense/defense switches on a successful slap, minus free slaps. It’s also called red hands, or the slap game, or slap jack, or … there are a lot of variations. It’s an easy game to think of.
… Actually, I think I grew up with it being slap jack, but slapsies is way sillier, especially in this setting, so slapsies it is.
Anyway, Yuan Chenglei/Zhao Jinjing aren’t really playing it. It’s just Yuan Chenglei trying to ruffle Zhao Jinjing’s hair while she tries to slap his hand, but they basically turned it into a game to see if Zhao Jinjing can smack him instead of Zhao Jinjing seriously trying to stop Yuan Chenglei from messing up her hair.
It was easier to just name it as a legit game with all the nuances it implies, both about their relationship and why they’re even doing it, than go through with the explanations to convey all of that AND give an accurate scene showing that they’re just horsing around like siblings/cousins do when they’re waiting for their parents to stop talking so they can LEAVE already, gods.>