Young Master Su Yu
Su Li's carriage first went to the Qingya Vegetarian Restaurant. In the back courtyard of the restaurant, inside Su Li's side room, she put on the mask given to her by Bai Piwu, dressed in the men's clothes that Bailu had prepared for her long ago, and then styled her hair into a man's topknot, securing it with a jade crown.
Dressed in men's clothes, Su Li looked like snow in white, with sharp eyebrows extending to her temples and eyes like twinkling stars—a truly jade-like, exceptionally handsome young gentleman!
After changing her clothes, Su Li stepped out of the inner room, only to find a delicate, fair-skinned young servant standing outside, smiling at her with squinted eyes.
Su Li looked at the young servant and blinked, saying, "Lingdang, why are you disguised too?"
The "young servant" spoke, but with a female voice, "Ah, master saw through me at once, hehe! This mask was made for me by Bai Piwu earlier to help me carry out missions. The master instructed that since you might face many inconveniences alone in the academy, I should disguise myself as your disciple to accompany and protect you."
Hmm, and also to ward off wolves.
"Good, good!" Su Li was very pleased with Xiao Zetian's arrangement. After all, she was still a woman; even disguised as a man, there were times it was inconvenient in the male-dominated Wutong Academy. Now, having Lingdang disguised as a boy by her side made things much easier.
Su Li cleared her throat and used the method Bai Piwu taught her to change her voice to a male tone, becoming a truly gentle and talented scholar!
But although Lingdang was disguised as a man, her voice remained female. It turned out Bai Piwu only taught Su Li how to change her voice; others who were given masks were not taught much else.
Su Li then taught Lingdang the voice-changing method. Lingdang's voice became that of a tender young boy. She said to Su Li, "Master, you're really amazing! Bai Piwu taught you the secret to voice changing. I begged him for a long time, but he wouldn't teach me!"
"Oh?" Su Li raised an eyebrow. She didn't expect that Lingdang's genuine respect and kindness toward Bai Piwu would make him repay her in this way.
Su Li still remembered Bai Piwu saying he was an orphan, with no parents, drifting through the martial world until he was taken in as a disciple by her master.
It seemed he was truly a child lacking love from an early age; just a bit of warmth and respect made him wholeheartedly good to others.
"Alright, we're dressed now. From now on, I am Su Yu, the senior scholar of Wutong Academy, and you are my disciple and book attendant, called Dangdang," Su Li thought for a moment.
Thus, Su Yu, the young scholar, quietly took his book attendant Dangdang and boarded another carriage from the back door of Qingya Vegetarian Restaurant. The carriage headed toward Wutong Academy, just a street away.
Arriving at Wutong Academy, Su Li and Lingdang got off the carriage. The two stood at the academy gate, looking around. They saw a gathering of talented scholars and a lively, thriving atmosphere.
For some reason, many students had gathered at the academy gate, whispering among themselves as if discussing something.
Su Li took a few steps forward and overheard one student say, "Today, the legendary senior scholar of mathematics is coming to our Wutong Academy. I wonder what kind of person he will be."
Another student said, "I heard that the senior scholar was personally invited by Dean Gu. He must be an extraordinary expert! But, hehe, a math expert, I guess he must be at least fifty years old, maybe even bald!"
Su Li's face turned black with embarrassment. She instinctively touched her hair—hers was black and thick, definitely not bald!
Wutong Academy was very large, and Su Li didn't know the way. Just as she was about to ask for directions, the academy's mathematics teacher, Wang Shili, came out, his face full of anger, saying, "It's just a new teacher, what's there to look at? Everyone, get inside!"