Roadmap to the Boundless Sky-Chapter 229: Notice

At around 2 p.m., Chen Chuan returned from the gathering. Soon, he heard a familiar knock on his door. When he opened it, he saw Cheng Zitong standing outside with a huge grin.

How should he put this? It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he was beaming. His smile was practically blinding.

Chen Chuan felt a faint stir in his heart.

“Mr. Cheng,” he greeted Cheng Zitong and let him in.

With a briefcase in hand, Cheng Zitong walked in and grinned as he said, “Xiao Chuan, I’m here today to tell you that the main campus has approved your application to go to Central City.”

Even though Chen Chuan was prepared for it, he still couldn’t control the joy filling his heart.

“When I got the news at noon, I wanted to tell you immediately, but you were out at your gathering, so I’ve been waiting for you to come back,” Cheng Zitong said with a smile.

“Sorry for the trouble, Mr. Cheng,” Chen Chuan said sincerely.

“It’s no trouble at all. This piece of news gave me the excuse to have a whole feast. See? I just came back from the cafeteria.” Cheng Zitong stroked his round belly and sat down on the sofa before taking out the form from his briefcase.

He handed it to Chen Chuan. “Take a look.”

Chen Chuan took the form.

The main campus of Martial Valor University, in conjunction with the Resolution Department, has verified that this student has fulfilled all requirements for admission. He is hereby authorized to study at the main campus. This permission takes effect on the date the student receives this notice.

The back of the form had stamps from the main campus, Resolution Campus, and the examination committee, along with signatures from more than a dozen people in charge of approving applications.

It was just a flimsy piece of paper, but it prevented most students from going to Central City and made the place out of their reach.

With it, Chen Chuan held the key to changing his fate.

After reading it twice, he looked up and asked, “It said that the permission takes effect on the date I receive this notice. Does that mean that I can go to Central City now?”

“That’s true, yes. With the notice, you can go to Central City whenever you want, but the semester is coming to an end, and plenty of things happen at the end of the year. It’s the same for Central City too. It’d be a bit rushed to go now.

“I would suggest not being so hasty. Celebrate the New Year before going. You might have to stay there for a long time, so take the time to get ready and wrap up everything on this side.”

Chen Chuan nodded.

Cheng Zitong laughed again before producing a stack of tickets from his briefcase and putting them on the table. “These are the entry tickets for this year’s tournament. I prepared them for you.”

“Thank you, Mr. Cheng,” Chen Chuan said and accepted them without hesitation.

“Alright. Go do your thing. I’ll be leaving now. It’s almost the end of the year, and I’m swamped with work. I’ve been so busy being happy today that I still haven’t touched any work.”

Cheng Zitong put his sunglasses on and left with a spring in his steps while humming. He seemed truly happy.

After sending him off, Chen Chuan went back to grab the notice and decided to share this piece of news with his family immediately. So, he grabbed his long-neglected crossbody bag from his closet and put the notice inside.

Then, he changed into another set of clothes, put the bag on, and walked out of the dorm. As he walked outside, the sun shone on him, making him feel warm all over. Even though November was quite cold, the sun remained bright and dazzling.

Chen Chuan grabbed his bicycle from the parking lot and got on before cycling back home. On his way out, the students who saw him greeted him, and he returned their greetings. After he left the campus, he sped up and rode all the way back.

Once he parked his bicycle in the courtyard, he went inside. Since it was a day off, his entire family was at home. Nian Fuli listened to the radio, tapping his fingers and nodding his head along with the opera being played. Nian Mo and Nian Lu were playing with wooden blocks, while Yu Wan was knitting a sweater. When she saw him, she asked happily, “You’re back, Chan’er? Have you eaten?”

“I have,” Chen Chuan said with a smile.

“You don’t have anything to do at the university, do you? If you don’t, why don’t you stay with us for dinner?” Yu Wan asked.

“Sure,” Chen Chuan agreed.

Then, Yu Wan resumed knitting.

“Aunty,” Chen Chuan called out to her gently.

Yu Wan looked up.

Chen Chuan turned to Nian Fuli and called out to him too, “Uncle.”

He removed his crossbody bag and put it on the table. When Nian Fuli saw that, he instinctively dialed down the radio’s volume.

Chen Chuan took the notice out and handed it to Yu Wan. “Aunty, this is the admission notice from the main campus of Martial Valor University. I’m going to study in Central City.”

“Central City?”

Yu Wan was in a daze as she tried to grasp what Chen Chuan had said. She raised her hands to grab the notice, but halfway through, she pulled them back to wipe them on her apron. Only then did she pick it up.

When she saw the words on the admission notice, her heart and body filled with a great sense of joy, but also a feeling that she had something precious snatched from her hands. Tears rolled down her eyes.

Nian Fuli stood up too and went to Yu Wan to hug her shoulders. He cast a glance at the notice and mumbled, “Central City...”

Then, he chuckled. “When I was a soldier, my company commander always said that his greatest wish was to go to Central City to see the world. Xiao Chuan, you hit the jackpot when you got into Martial Valor University. Now, by getting to go to Central City, you’re treating that jackpot as your stepping stone.”

He tightened his hold on Yu Wan’s shoulder. “Yu Wan, the kid has become successful. You should be happy.”

“Yes. I should be happy. What do you want to eat, Chan’er? I’ll make it for you.” Yu Wan wiped away her tears.

Chen Chuan smiled at them. “I’ve eaten plenty of good food on campus and outside, but I still love your chicken soup the most.”

“Oh...” Yu Wan stood up and wiped her tears away again. “I’ll make it for you right now.”

“Whenever there’s a day off, Yu Wan always makes a pot of chicken soup for you, regardless of whether you come back or not,” Nian Fuli said.

“I see,” Chen Chuan said before taking out the tickets he got from Cheng Zitong. He handed them over. “I got some tickets to this year’s tournament, Uncle.”

“That’s good stuff you got there.”

Nian Fuli took them. Even though he had become a constable brigade commander, he still didn’t have any shortcuts to get the tickets. It was also a pity that after being promoted, he could no longer brag about getting the tickets to Wei Laohu.

Chen Chuan then turned to Nian Mo and Nian Lu. “Come on, let’s go out and play.”

“Okay!”

His cousins didn’t understand what they had talked about, but the moment Chen Chuan said he was going to play with them, they cheered and ran over to him. They grabbed his trousers and gave Nian Fuli puppy-dog eyes.

Nian Fuli shooed them off. “Go play with your cousin.”

“Yay! Let’s go!”

Chen Chuan bent down and picked them up before heading out.

Nian Fuli went out as well and watched as Chen Chuan set Nian Mo and Nian Lu down. Then, his children skipped out of the courtyard. Yu Wan came over and stood by his side to watch.

“When we brought Xiao Chuan back, he was about Xiao Lu and Xiao Mo’s age, wasn’t he?” Nian Fuli suddenly said.

“Yes. He was so tiny back then.”

Nian Fuli considered it before saying, “He was young, but it has only been a few years since then. It feels like in just a blink of an eye, he’s already spreading his wings to fly.”

“I just remembered my sister. She went far away too, back then. I hope that Xiao Chuan won’t walk down her path.”

“Xiao Chuan isn’t the same. He has his own thoughts and plans,” Nian Fuli said.

Yu Wan hummed and watched the swaying branches of the trees beyond the courtyard before crossing her arms and saying in a daze, “When I was a child, my mother told me that children are like the kites in the sky. You watch them fly, but you can never find the heart to let go of the string keeping them bound to you.”

Nian Fuli turned to shield her from the wind and motioned for her to go in as he said, “Alright, now. Let’s go in. It’s cold outside, so you shouldn’t stand here. When our kids grow up, they’ll have their own ways to live too. You shouldn’t worry about them.”

***

Chen Chuan brought Nian Mo and Nian Lu to a children’s playground nearby and played with them for an entire afternoon before buying them lots of snacks.

When they left the snack shop, Nian Mo licked the candied fruit in his hands before asking, “Are you leaving and not coming back for a long time, Chen Chuan?”

“You know?” Chen Chuan asked with a smile.

“Qian’er did the same thing when he left. He played with us for a long time, but it’s also been a long while since he came back.”

Nian Lu corrected Nian Mo, “You can’t call him by his nickname. Mom said that it’s rude.” 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

“If he doesn’t give me nice treats, I’ll call him by his nickname. I’ll only stop when he does.”

Chen Chuan laughed. Nian Mo was too realistic. Chen Chuan then cast a glance at the sky. The sun was already setting, so he brought his cousins back home. Before dinner, he asked Yu Wan, “Aunty, is Nian Qian coming back this year?”

“I don’t know. He usually sends us a telegram at this point of the year, but we haven’t received it yet. Seriously, that boy is so irresponsible. Fuli, shouldn’t you send him a telegram to ask?”

“I’m not going to. Ignore him. We’ll celebrate the New Year as usual,” Nian Fuli said.

Chen Chuan laughed inwardly, because he knew that Nian Fuli was just being stubborn. He might actually be sending a telegram every day while waiting for Nian Qian’s reply.

After dinner, he stayed overnight and only went back to the university in the morning. Since he was bound to go to Central City, he didn’t need to think about anything else and used this period of time to get stronger.

A day later, though, the Admission Department posted the list of students heading to the main campus at the entrance.

In the past, only the recommended students went, and the normal students had nothing to do with the list, but it was different this time. One of the names was different from usual.

Martial Valor University first-class sophomore, Chen Chuan.

This instantly caused a commotion on campus, because only the recommended students had been able to go to the main campus for years.

The first-class students and second-class students had long since accepted that this was a right reserved for the recommended students, and it had nothing to do with them. All of them had given up on going to the main campus.

But after Chen Chuan’s name appeared on the list, everyone felt that things had become different from that moment on. The commotion caused by this reveal made even some of the alumni come back and look at the list.

Tai Dongwei stood under the display window containing the notice and stared at the name as well as the stamp on it. “I really wasn’t expecting this. Say, do you think that students like us will be able to go to Central City in the future?”

Beside him, Deng Fu quipped, “Us? We’ve already graduated. We no longer have that chance, but Geng Zheng might. He has the unrestricted defense permit too. No other senior is more outstanding than he is, so his chances aren’t bad. The only problem is that we joined the Mutual Aid Group before, and that will knock off some points for him.”

After some thinking, Geng Zheng said firmly, “I want to go.”

His family needed medicine from Central City to get cured. He couldn’t get the medicine from the Mutual Aid Group anymore, so while he could get some of the medicine from the black market, he had to go to Central City to actually save his family.

Tai Dongwei continued staring at the notice and subconsciously said, “I’m really envious of him.”

“Don’t. There’s no point. He got to go through his own effort. If you could kill the Mutual Aid Group and bring Black Orchid to its knees, you would’ve been able to go to Central City too,” Deng Fu said airily.

“I know about the Mutual Aid Group, but I thought the central government is the one who took down Black Orchid,” Tai Dongwei said in surprise.

“Do you really think that it had nothing to do with Chen Chuan? Let me put it this way. Could Chen Chuan really not have anyone supporting him when he went to the courtroom to face off all powerful families with ties to Black Orchid? Just think about it,” Deng Fu said meaningfully.

Tai Dongwei and Geng Zheng were both stunned, but after some thinking, they couldn’t disagree with Deng Fu.

A moment passed before Geng Zheng said, “Black Orchid may have fallen, but I heard that other companies have taken over their assets. Do you think that another Black Orchid and Mutual Aid Group will appear?”

“Oh, definitely,” Deng Fu answered without hesitation.

“What should we do, then?”

“What else? If worse comes to worst, we kill them too,” Deng Fu said.

“Doesn’t it mean that nothing has changed?”

Deng Fu turned around, put his hands into his pockets, and walked into the crowd. “It hasn’t, but also, everything has changed.”