The bike leisurely meandered towards the school, Lan Jue sitting straight atop it so as not to wrinkle his finely pressed suit.
The fine black bike had been procured for him by the The Wine Master. He had always been a fan of antiques. Apparently this bike the Wine Master had been riding was a relic from Former Era China. The brand name – Forever – could be made out on it’s crossbar. It was a good name, denoting it’s quality. The bike was veritably soundless as it rolled along.
A soothing, cool breeze caressed his face. Occasionally he would ring the bell, and the crisp ding ding ding would waft upon the wind. It was certainly a novel experience for Lan Jue.
Today, in order to appear more the professor, Lan Jue had chosen to wear a pair of black-rimmed spectacles. Naturally they were lens-less*, but they lent a certain air of culture and gentleness. His clean and kept face wore a genial, elegant smile. It was a scholarly look, contrary to what one might expect.
From far away he could make out the towering sign of the National Eastern University. The front gates of the campus were tall, and made of fine wrought metal. In fact, they were composed of an alloy, though it was difficult to determine which with the naked eye.
The National Eastern University. The letters were bold and brazen, written in a forceful hand that demanded attention. They caused Lan Jue to think back on that old geezer, reclining easily on his deck chair. He couldn’t of been the one to write this, could he?
And yet Lan Jue knew clearly that though the man looked older than God, he’d probably go another hundred years before kicking the bucket. He was the world’s greatest scientist! Was there anyone else who understood the workings of the human body better than he?
It wasn’t long before Lan Jue and his antique Forever bike arrived before the campus’ lofty gates.
He’d arrived just as the students were showing for morning lessons. The school’s gates were thrown wide to accommodate the occasional maglev vehicle. As the levitating cars drew near they would slow, rapidly shifting from speeding bullets to full stop. Before the gates they would be scanned, and only then were they permitted entrance.
Aside from the maglevs, pricey high-altitude verti-cars were also seem from time to time. Like their inexpensive cousins, they also had to stop and get scanned before they could enter. In fact, the air above the university was entirely devoid of verti-cars or other traffic. At least, not on the campus. Such were the rules, and any who dared break them ran the risk of being shot out of the sky.
ζ
A number of the maglevs arrived at the gate and went no further. Parking on campus cost a pretty penny, so most of students were sent to school by family. They would be dropped off at the gate and walk in from there.
Dumb-mutt Jin was such a student. His family’s maglev arrived at the gates and descended until he could jump out. He slipped his backpack over his head and walked towards the gate.
The backpack was something that survived the inevitable march of progress. Personal inter-dimensional pockets existed, but only for those students whose families were particularly well off.
Dumb-mutt Jin’s family was middle class at best. A maglev itself was an achievement.
He made his way through the gates, nodding his head to the rock and roll blasting through his headphones like he did any other day.
He wore a black school uniform that was fairly well kept, but the white shirt beneath was undone to the third button revealing his underwhelming pectorals. He wore a diamond earring in his left ear that lead the eye to his pink spiky hair. It made him look rather like a rooster. He certainly didn’t look the part of a model student.
Mecha Pilot. Junior. Problem child. Those were the words to describe Dumb-mutt Jin. His name was actually Jin Tou, but his emphatically miserable behavior earned him the moniker Dumb-mutt. He was like a cur, they said, biting anyone he came across. And with his current academic record, graduating was starting to look like a crazy pipe dream.
As he made to traverse the gates Dumb-mutt Jin looked up in time to see something that stopped him in his tracks.
A man in a pressed suit rode towards the school on an ancient two-wheeled bicycle. He was a few meters away from the school when he threw his right leg over the back of the bike, balancing on his left foot perched atop the pedal. He swept by like that, standing to one side as the bicycle rolled on. His casual entrance, fine suit and gaunt stature was quite the attention-grabber.
Dumb-mutt Jin had fostered an interest in novelty items, and his eyes grew wide at the sight. He immediately pinched thumb and forefinger together, placing them in his mouth to produce a shrill whistle.
The man soon pulled up the university’s gates and dismounted.
“Hey brother, not bad! Where’d you get the wheeler? Pretty sweet ride. All mechanical, right? Manpowered?” Dumb-mutt Jin appeared a fan of the past, and walked a circuit around the man.
The man offered a refined smile, and gave a reserved nod of his head. “It’s called a bicycle. All manpowered.”
“It’s got character! Lemme get a ride on it.” Dumb-mutt Jin moved closer still in zeal.
“I’m afraid not,” the suit-clad mad responded with a shake of his head.
“Pfft,” Dumb-mutt spat disdainfully. “Well that’s not fair, ya stingy bastard. Whatever.” As he spoke, he turned and entered the campus. He wasn’t a good student, true, but making trouble before the university gates was just plain stupid.
ζ
Lan Jue followed the chicken-head punk depart with his eyes, a laugh bubbling unbidden from his chest. Memories of his own time as a student came rushing back, and it appeared this university had it’s own problem kids. The exaggerated hairstyle reminded him of a young A-Cheng, who’d experimented with something similar. But, sadly, that ended when his mother came storming into the school with a pair of scissors. Snip, snip!
“Beep! Attention unregistered vehicle, you are prohibited from going further.” An emotionless digitized voice pulled Lan Jue from his reverie. Two men in uniform were already watching as he approached.
The two men were clearly campus security, and were clad in uniforms made to look like military fatigues. Both were quite tall, and quite burly.
“Unregistered vehicle, you are not permitted to enter the campus grounds. Please await processing, and produce your student identification for inspection.”
Lan Jue certainly wasn’t as old as Zhou Qianlin had tried to assert. Freshly shaved he looked quite young, no different than a post-graduate student.
Lan Jue smiled, and spoke to the uniformed guards politely. “Good morning, to the both of you. Please excuse me, but I haven’t got a student ID. This is actually my first day reporting to the university. I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the rules.” As he spoke, he pulled out a dark blue envelope from the basket affixed to the back of the bicycle. He opened the document and produced the letter of appointment.
One of the guards took the red paper from Lan Jue’s grip, while at the same time whipping free some instrument from his waist. He drew the apparatus over the document, scanning it. Only afterward did he open it to read.
“Etiquette teacher? What’s an etiquette teacher?”
The letter of appointment was real and, despite the query as to his curriculum, he was permitted to enter the university unmolested, along with his bicycle.
As was expected, students and teachers operated under different rules, and teachers were given a designated area to park their vehicles free of charge. Lan Jue decided, by the way, to register the antique bicycle for entry.
In contrast with the strange alloy of the university’s gate, the interior gave the distinct impression of communion with nature, all fresh and new.
Old trees grew together in to a towering canopy that shaded the campus grounds, guarding the roads and walkways. Each area was unique in it’s foliage, and it was clear even at a glance that they were all painstakingly kept. The fragrant smell of mowed grass, the heady fragrance of fresh flowers, both mingled together and filled the nostrils. Walking the meandering paths of the campus was like reconnecting with nature.
What a wonderful place! Lan Jue silently praised.
The buildings, layout and tenets of the school were all in line with it’s teaching ideology. And, of course, the preferences of the administration.
But more than that Lan Jue felt drawn the National Eastern Campus and it’s adherence to nature. If he had to describe it; tranquil. That would do it.
Earlier whilst being directed through the campus he’d easily found the teaching affairs office where he’d registered. He was given his office key, as well the key to his apartment. He was indeed treated like an honorable associate professor.
Stepping out the teaching affairs office, laden with his things, he freed a hand to push his glasses up on his nose.
“I guess I’m a teacher!”
The quality of the NEU was well appreciated, and the pursuit of knowledge was rigorous. The dean of the teaching affairs office had subtly hinted that it didn’t matter what connections got him in to the university, and he didn’t know how he’d managed to get the administrators to agree to the so-called Etiquette Classes, but he wouldn’t be paid for doing nothing. As a result, his first class was scheduled for this afternoon, and the school would broadcast the advertisement for this elective course. Further the Teaching Director himself would attend the class to determine for himself whether Lan Jue had what it took to teach. If he didn’t, he’d have to face the administration, and have his class cut.
Simply put, his first test at the National Eastern University was just around the corner!
Recalling the stony visage of the dean, Lan Jue’s face couldn’t help but suffer a brief twitch. Why was it all deans of the world seemed exactly the same – or, at least, shared the same face, like they were cut from the same mold.
The thought turned over in his mind, although it was none of their business he certainly couldn’t allow himself to be dismissed. Otherwise he’d never hear the end of it from Zhou Qianlin.
It had been ages since Lan Jue had felt this eager about something. He still had the morning, how would he prepare?
The NEU was vast, and separated in to numerous areas. The most significant of these was the R&D Department, a place only teachers and graduate students were permitted to enter. Three large, white, circular buildings sprawled across it.
The rest of the campus was standard, separated in to various area like the Mecha Combat department, and the Mecha Manufacturing and Service department.
The departments themselves were separated in to many smaller units. To put it simply, the Mecha Combat department had units dedicated to combat exercises and mecha application.
Mecha Manufacture and Maintenance, meanwhile, dealt largely with research and mecha building.
The NEU was laid out so that the further reaches of the campus were considered of higher status than the front. After all, it’s how they displayed worth.
These two departments took up an area of roughly 150 hectares, and was separated in to the teaching building, research labs and so on.
Lan Jue had been assigned an office here, in the third teaching building with all the other elective courses.
What were known as elective courses here where all after school courses, mostly set up by students according to their interests and needs. Things like art, music and others. And now, etiquette.
The students themselves you could separate in to various ranks, and the difference between the status and future prospects of exceptional and average students was tremendous.
Teachers were no different. The income inequality and status of normal course instructors versus elective teachers was just as vast. This was especially true for post graduate and research instructors.
And so it was that all elective teachers were huddled here in the third teaching building. It was an open office, shared among some ten or more teachers. Their dormitory was nearby as well, in a small building behind the one their office occupied. It was without a doubt the shabbiest structure in the entire university.
Compared to teachers of normal subjects elective instructors weren’t treated very well, but when examined against other normal professions outside of the campus they still were paid quite handsomely. After all, of all the universities in the Eastern Alliance the NEU enjoyed the most appropriated government funds. Teachers benefited from that.
In the end, though, it wasn’t the salary that was an elective teacher’s greatest source of income. It was bonuses. How much was earned depended on how many students attended the class. Joining an elective required payment, of course, and a portion of those profits were given to the teacher in question. The better their class, the more students they got, the more money they earned. It was a decent incentive method.
As for the dorm, Lan Jue didn’t much care. He had no intention of living there. And so he went directly to the offices.
The door of the Number Three Teaching Building’s offices was cast open. It had been a difficult place to find in the round campus, and his bicycle required a fair amount of effort to maneuver.
Knock, knock. Lan Jue rapped his fist against the office door. He smiled at the milling instructors as he made his way inside, nodding in greeting.
“Hello everyone,” he began politely. “I’m the new etiquette teacher, Lan Jue.”
Few occupied the office at the moment, and to Lan Jue’ surprise the majority were women. The office was approximately three hundred meters with a few dozen desks. Nearly half lay empty. Of the occupied cubicles only eight teachers were present. Two were male, the rest women. Most appeared in their twenties, but for one older woman.
Every eye turned to Lan Jue. Regardless of gender each took in his tall, lithe frame and gentle demeanor. His gentle smile and elegant conduct immediately set people at ease.
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