In Sumeru, pretend to be a scholar!

In the early morning, Baoshang Street awakens with bustling vitality as the first rays of sunlight filter through the leaves of the sacred tree.

On the street, several breakfast shops were busily attracting customers.

At a stall with a Liyue sign, steaming hot steam rose from the bamboo steamer, wafting the delicious aroma of steamed buns and shumai. The stall owner, speaking in a Liyue accent, called out, "Freshly steamed shrimp dumplings, a bite will refresh your mind!"

Not far away, the rich aroma of coffee and toast wafted from a Fontaine-style breakfast shop, where the owner greeted passing gilded tour groups with a smile.

There are also local stalls in Xumi selling spiced baked flatbreads and bean soup, their aroma mingling with the morning breeze, attracting many young people in academic robes to queue up to buy them.

Tourists, scholars, and vendors mingled among the crowds, some rushing to finish their breakfast before heading to the academy, others sitting down leisurely to eat and chat.

Of course, those rushing around are mostly young scholars, while those leisurely are either tourists or scholars with laurels.

The laurel wreath is a symbol of status that can only be worn by scholars in the Chancellery who have obtained the title of "Habantha".

Scholars at this level are no longer bound by the rules of the usual ecclesiastical councils.

Let alone leisurely eating breakfast at the stall, even if he brought breakfast into the lab to eat, no one would say anything.

What if this is a special ritual to increase the success rate of their experiments?

Wang Yan was also in the crowd. His eyes swept across the crowd and he actually spotted a somewhat familiar figure.

A young scholar, seemingly unable to lift a finger, stood in front of a breakfast shop, wearing headphones, and appeared to be ordering food.

Wang Yan subconsciously moved closer to it.

As soon as he took two steps closer, the other person suddenly turned his head and stared at him.

Upon seeing Wang Yan, his eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a hint of scrutiny.

"What terrifying perception." Wang Yan thought to himself, and without hiding anything, he stepped forward confidently. "Hello, are you Secretary Elhesen?"

Elhesen's eyes remained calm: "Who are you?"

He was quite famous in Sumeru, after all, he had served as the acting Great Sage. Even though he has now retired, his resume still stands.

However, because Elhesen dislikes being disturbed, ordinary Sumerian people would not intentionally approach him even if they saw him.

Just like when he was queuing to buy breakfast, no one dared to talk to him.

But Wang Yan is clearly no ordinary person.

First of all, he did not have any reverence for the "great sage".

Secondly, as a former player, Wang Yan knew that Elhesen was not a bad person. If he made contact with him, at worst he would be ignored, and there would be no worse outcome.

Therefore, Wang Yan could greet Elhesen openly and naturally.

"I'm a friend of Tinari's, and he's mentioned you before," Wang Yan introduced himself. "My name is Wang Yan, and I'm from Liyue. I came to the Order of the Lied to study and further my knowledge of ancient scripts and languages."

Upon hearing this, Elhesen nodded slightly: "Hmm, hello (in the Red King's language)."

"Hello, Your Excellency the Scribe (in Remuria's words)," Wang Yan said in a low voice.

Elheisen's pupils contracted, finally revealing a hint of surprise: "It's been a long time since I've met such an interesting scholar. Are you an exchange scholar from Liyue?"

He switched back to Common Tongue.

Wang Yan shook his head: "I don't have a certificate from Liyue Academy... I came here on my own."

"Hmm...I see." Elhesen glanced at Wang Yan. "Whom did Tinari recommend you to?"

"Huh?" Wang Yan was taken aback, somewhat puzzled. "How did you know that Tina Li wrote me a letter of recommendation?"

"That guy is cold on the outside but warm on the inside. You are a capable person, and the fact that you can still hear about me from him means that he approves of you. Since you don't have a student status in Liyue, the best way to enter the Order of the Gods is through a letter of recommendation."

"In conclusion, the fact that you're here most likely means you got the letter of recommendation from him, and the fact that you look at me without expectation suggests that the letter of recommendation wasn't written for me."

El-Hysen easily laid out the logic.

"Impressive, it's for Senior Farusan," Wang Yan said.

Elhesen nodded: "Falusian... although you majored in mechanical arts, you are familiar with the investigation of ruins and have also studied ancient scripts."

"Haha, Tina said the same thing," Wang Yan said with a smile.

"Hmm... I look forward to seeing you at the Order of the Fathers. I'll be going now."

Elhesen was a typical daydreamer. It was almost time for work, and he had no intention of chatting with Wang Yan for long. He nodded, picked up his breakfast from the stall owner, and headed towards the academy.

Wang Yan watched his retreating figure and thought, "He really is... unconventional."

"Hey, are you buying or not? If not, don't block the way," a person in line behind Wang Yan said, dissatisfied.

Wang Yan quickly apologized, "Yes, yes, boss, what did the clerk buy just now? Give me one too."

As he spoke, Wang Yan handed over a twenty-yuan Mora coin.

He didn't know the price of breakfast here, but twenty mora was definitely more than enough to buy it.

Sure enough, the shopkeeper took the money and gave him one ten-dollar Mora, one five-dollar Mora, and three one-dollar Mora coins in change.

For two Mora, Wang Yan obtained something resembling a chicken roll.

Take a small bite, and you'll find it filled with broth, with a rich and delicious aroma.

"Hmm, as expected of Elhesen, the taste is alright."

Wang Yan continued eating with a smile, while walking towards the Menaka shop.

...

Menakali Shop.

Khalid, who had just arrived at the store, checked the time, then looked at Wang Yan and gave him a strange look: "Why are you here so early?"

Wang Yan certainly couldn't say, "I'll just do it as a formality."

He smiled and said, "The accommodation area was bustling with people early this morning. I couldn't fall back asleep after waking up, so I had breakfast at Laibao Shopping Street. Since I had nothing to do, I came over here first."

"Haha, is that so? Then come in first. A scholar has booked a time this morning," Khalid said with a smile.

As Wang Yan entered the room, he asked curiously, "A scholar's appointment?"

In his view, translating ancient texts is the work of scholars, so why does it sound like he's doing the work for scholars now?

Khalid smiled and said, "Because translating ancient texts is often a thankless and arduous task. Many scholars need ancient texts as references for their papers, but translating them themselves is time-consuming, so they pay others to translate them."

For classical Chinese translation work, there are actually only two major clients.

One is a wealthy merchant who collects antiques. These people love to acquire rare and unusual items that others don't have, and then show them off to their friends.

If an antique has inscriptions recording a story, then it becomes even more interesting to boast about.

The other one was the scholar Khalid mentioned.

Not all scholars who need classical Chinese are paleography specialists. Often, classical Chinese is needed for other purposes, such as the analysis of ancient architecture. In such cases, scholars are not proficient in classical Chinese and have to do the translation themselves, which is time-consuming and laborious. Therefore, it is better to find someone to help with the translation, which can ensure accuracy and save time.