Chapter 4: The Last One? (Please collect, collect, collect!)

  "Chen Hao?" A kindly-looking old man, who had been reporting to the Xiao family everywhere, suddenly turned cold when he saw a coarse linen-clad youth appear before him, and asked.

  Chen Hao was taken aback for a moment, wondering if he had offended the old man in some way. He hastily and carefully replied, "Yes, elder."

  "Have you ever been to school?" The old man asked abruptly.

  "No... nothing." Chen Hao's face suddenly turned bright red as he stammered in response to the old man's question.

  Schools are a privilege that only rich people's children have, for Chen Hua, it can only be a luxury.

  "Take it, this is yours, and that's also yours." The old man looked at Chen Huan with disdain, directly throwing a package to Chen Huan, then threw out a thick book, saying: "Ji Yuan, take him to the dormitory!"

  That book, Chen Huan recognized it. When Er Gouzi first entered the school to read books, he used the same book. Chen Huan took over the package, picked up the book, and still stood in place without moving, looking nervously at the old man in front of him.

  "What's wrong with you? Don't affect other disciples from reporting!" The old man said impatiently.

  "Old man... isn't that... shouldn't there be a sword and key as well?" Chen Huan arrived not too early, standing in the middle of the queue. When other disciples reported for duty, he also saw them receive a package, a sword, and a dormitory key. However, the old man gave himself an extra book, but seemed to have forgotten about the sword and key. This made Chen Huan slightly puzzled.

  "Sword? You're not even qualified. As a disciple of the Xiao family, you must be proficient in both literature and martial arts. You haven't even attended school, how can you comprehend the incantations of the skills?" The old man looked at Chen Huan with disdain and said, then waved his hand to begin processing the next registrant.

  "Thank you, old sir." Chen Huan simply didn't suspect anything and thought the old man made sense, so he bowed his head in gratitude before following that sullen-looking Xiao family disciple inside.

  After walking for the time it takes to drink two cups of tea, under the leadership of Xiao Jia's disciples, Chen Huan arrived in front of a large courtyard with the word "Xiang" written on the gate. Inside the courtyard were rows of exquisite small houses, each one independent and varying in size, with different numbers assigned to them. The houses were surrounded by a circle of bamboo fences, with a small door at the entrance. There were nearly a hundred such small houses inside the courtyard. Chen Huan examined each one carefully and discovered a pattern: the larger the number, the smaller the house. However, even the smallest ones were much larger than the shanty where Chen Huan's family lived.

  "Is this my dormitory? It's so big......" Chen Hao was secretly surprised in his heart, thinking that the newly recruited Xiao family disciples should be a few people living in one room, but unexpectedly it was a single house with a courtyard, and it looked very comfortable.

  He was just a disciple of the Xiao family, and it seemed that he had no intention of stopping at all. He continued to lead Chen Huan deeper into the courtyard, not stopping until they reached the very back. Chen Huan was puzzled, but he didn't dare ask too many questions, so he simply followed silently. After turning a few more corners, another row of small houses appeared before his eyes. Compared to the ones he had seen earlier, these were much smaller and looked extremely dilapidated. They were bare and without bamboo fences, and the one at the very end was particularly striking - its walls were full of holes, and its roof seemed to be in tatters.

  At Chen Huan's confusion, the Xiao family disciple had already led him to the front of this row of houses and suddenly turned around to face Chen Huan, saying: "Youngster, the one at the very end, the most dilapidated one, is your dormitory!"

  Chen Hao was taken aback for a moment, but he simply nodded at the Xiao family disciple and said "thank you". The Xiao family disciple snorted coldly and turned to leave.

  "Hmph, poor devil, you've offended Brother Ji Han. From now on, you'll have a lot to suffer. Becoming the worst from being the best is just the beginning..." The voice of that Xiao family disciple floated clearly into Chen Huan's ears as he turned and left, seemingly muttering to himself in a very soft tone.

  At this moment, Chen Hao's clear face first showed astonishment, incomprehension, and confusion, then revealed intense anger!

  That disciple never thought that Chen Huan would hear him, because his voice was indeed very soft and small. However, he didn't know that Chen Huan had been different from ordinary people since childhood. His hearing was several times better than ordinary people's, and his eyesight was even more astonishing - in the dark of night, he could clearly see the legs of a mosquito ten meters away!

  "Xiao Jihan... who is he?" Chen Haung suppressed the anger in his heart, step by step walking towards that dilapidated house.

  No wonder I didn't have a key, with such a house, the door is all broken and worn out, where would the key come from?

  He just didn't know why he had offended that person named Xiao Jihuan as soon as he entered the Xiao family. He didn't even know this person!

  "Huh?" Just as Chen Huan was about to enter the house, a girl of similar age to him walked out of the house next door, which was only slightly better than his own. She seemed to know Chen Huan and looked quite surprised.

  "I know you, it's strange... how did you end up living here? This should be the last place to live! You seem to be the first one who passed the Xiao family test?" The girl looked very clever, with a pair of big eyes full of confusion, seemingly unable to understand why Chen Huan was arranged to live here.

  "Who's last?"

  "Hmm, didn't you know? The people living here are all the last few in the test scores. The better the test score, the better the house. You saw those numbers when you came in, right? Those are ranked according to the test results... I... I barely passed the test... thought I was the last one... didn't expect... but it shouldn't be like this, you should be the first one, right? Strange, really strange... Oh, my name is Li Xiaoling... oh no, I should call myself Xiao Xiangling now. What's your name?" The girl chattered on and on, she knew Chen Huan, but only knew that coarse linen shirt, as for his name, she had no idea.

  From the girl's words, Chen Hao understood one thing: the better the test scores, the better the accommodation.

  Being arranged here means that one's test scores are the last. But I clearly passed the test first, how did I become the last?

  Chen Hao's mind involuntarily flashed a name, Xiao Jihan!

  However, Chen Huan was confused by the girl's subsequent words and vaguely guessed that once he entered the Xiao family, his original name would be changed.

  "My name is Chen Hao!"

  "Chen Hao? Xiao Xianghao doesn't sound as good as Chen Hao..."

  "Do we have to change our name? I don't quite understand the rules of the Xiao family," said Chen Hao.

  "Hehe……The Xiao family rules, there's nothing I don't know. Let me tell you!" The girl had a smug smile on her face, looking very cute, and said: "Once you become a disciple of the Xiao family, you will be given the surname Xiao, all with the surname Xiao. The disciples of the Xiao family are also divided into inner door disciples and outer door disciples, like us, we are outer door disciples. This is also something that started only 24 years ago."

  "Disciples outside the family, apart from changing their surname to Xiao, also have a generational character. 'Thousand autumns and ten thousand generations, eternal good fortune' is the generational character for disciples from the first generation to the eighth generation. We are eighth-generation disciples, so our names have the two fixed characters 'Xiao Xiang'. My original name was Li Xiaoling, so I'm now called Xiao Xiangling! Don't like it? Can't be helped, this is the Xiao family's rule, unless..." Chen Xiangling said with a smile.

  "What if?"

  "Unless I become the Xiao family's guest, I can restore my original name." When the girl said the two words "guest", her eyes were filled with yearning and respect.

  "Ke Qing? What's that?" Chen Hao asked in puzzlement.

  Xiao Xiangling was speechless for a moment, it seemed that this guy in front of her really knew nothing about the Xiao family. Fortunately, one of the things she liked to do most was to answer questions and dispel doubts for others. She patiently explained: "The Xiao family's guest king is an existence second only to the head of the Xiao family. Only those who have reached the pinnacle of a 9th rank Wu Huang can become the Xiao family's guest king, at which point they are no longer restricted by the Xiao family and can restore their original name."

  "But... that's too difficult, I just want to become an inner disciple, it's enough. Inner disciples can't change their surname, but they can change their name freely, without following the outer door's generation character. Do you understand?"

  "I understand."

  Is it Xiao Jia Ke Qing? No matter how difficult it is, Chen Huan will definitely become Xiao Jia Ke Qing and restore his original name!

  "Is there anything else? I, Xiao Ling'er, know everything... Hehe!" Xiang Ling was very pleased with herself for having the opportunity to show off, and she loved this feeling.

  "Do you know Xiao Jihan?" Looking at Xiaoling's face that seemed to really know everything, Chen Huan asked the question in his heart.

  "Xiao Jihan?" Xiaoling was slightly startled, a hint of envy flashing in her eyes. "Of course I know him," she said. "The number one master among the seventh generation disciples of the Xiao family's outer sect, and the most promising talent to become an inner sect disciple after the seven generations. But I've only heard of him, never seen him in person. Do you know him?"

  "I don't know!" Looking at Xiaoling's envious expression, Chen Hao's suppressed anger suddenly flared up again, and he clenched his fists tightly, saying in a cold voice. After finishing speaking, he ignored Xiaoling's confusion and walked directly towards the old hut.

  ……

  Pushing open the broken door that could be kicked off with one foot, Chen Huan walked into his own dormitory. Fortunately, the room was still quite clean, although there were many holes on the four walls and a few small "skylights" on the roof, but compared to the slum he used to live in, the ventilation and lighting were much better, it was simply "four-sided ventilation, five-sided lighting", and it wasn't so damp!

  A simple wooden bed with a pile of bedding on it. Some simple household items are placed in the corner, and there is nothing else.

  He simply laid out the bedding, fetched a few buckets of water from the spring pool 100 meters away from the dormitory, filled up the water tank, and took off his only set of coarse linen clothes. He folded them neatly and put them at the corner of the bed. After wiping his body clean, he changed into a set of clothes provided by the Xiao family, which were all milky white in color, soft to the touch, and felt very comfortable on his skin. On the left chest, there was an embroidered black "Xiao" character, below which was an embroidered number, "99"!

  He was the last one, which means that this year's total number of Xia family disciples is ninety-nine!

  People rely on clothes and horses rely on saddles. Chen Huan changed into this set of clothes, and suddenly the whole person looked much more spirited, no longer showing any signs of being a poor boy. Originally looking delicate and full of spirit, he now appeared even more handsome.

  One after another, until the evening hours, the Xiao family disciples who rushed to report finally all arrived and were arranged in the new members near Chen Hao's broken house. What Chen Hao didn't expect was that out of a total of ten broken houses, except for himself, they were all girls, and he became the only man here...

  And it's the last one!

  Why did I become the last one after being the first to pass the test?

  When the Xiao family first selected and recruited him, they didn't mention whether he had attended school or not. Why did becoming a disciple of the Xiao family involve this?

  Goodbye!

  Everything is that inexplicable Xiao Jihan!

  ……

  "All new members, attention! Gather at the Xiao family's martial arts arena in one minute. Do not be late! All new members, attention! Gather at the Xiao family's martial arts arena in one minute. Do not be late..."

  Just as Xiaoling and the other eight girls were chattering nonstop, Chen Hao was alone in his room staring at that book which he couldn't read except for the numbers, when a stern voice entered everyone's ears. The voice wasn't loud, but it seemed to sound right next to their ears.

  Chen Hao hastily walked out of the house and followed Xiaoling and others in quick steps.

  "Chen Hao... what's wrong with you just now?" Little Ling'er asked, unable to hold back her question after seeing Chen Hao.

  "Nothing. Sorry... Let's go!" Chen Hao changed the subject and said.

  ……

  The martial arts arena, on the high platform. Xiao Guan, dressed in black, still stood with his hands behind his back, his sharp eyes gazing at the new members arriving one after another. He was quite satisfied in his heart, because this year's intake of disciples as a whole exceeded any previous year, and there were several outstanding young men, especially that coarse linen-clad youth named Chen Huan, who made Xiao Guan both shocked and delighted.

  His gaze swept through the crowd, as if searching for someone, but that person never appeared. When he saw Number One appear, his eyebrows furrowed slightly, what's going on?

  Number one should be that coarse linen clothed boy, didn't he... report for duty?

  Xiao Guan's heart rose with a thread of doubt, and he turned his head to look at the old man sitting behind him.

  This old man was the one in charge of receiving new disciples, the sixth elder of the Xiao family, Xiao Bo, second only to the position of Xiao family guest, but a more important existence than Xiao family guest.

  Because, being a guest is about freedom, and for the Xiao family, it's just a formal and moral constraint. If they're happy, they'll stay; if not, they can leave whenever they want. But the elder is a real member of the Xiao family.

  What's heavy and what's light will be clear at a glance!

  It was Xiao Guan, the chief instructor of the outer disciples of the Xiao family, who was one level lower and directly under his command.

  "Six Elders, why is the first name incorrect?" Xiao Guan turned around and asked.