Only when he could no longer see that young girl's back view, no longer see her covered in wind and snow, did Chen Chao raise his eyebrows and lowered his head. Looking at his boots, he rubbed them at the doorway and took another look at the end of the alley before turning around, wanting to return to his own courtyard.
It was just that when he was turning around, the man who had been sitting opposite on the doorstep the entire time suddenly smiled and said, "Kid, in the end, you failed to keep such a beautiful wife? I said it a long time ago, a tiny household like yours can't keep her. The old saying is right, there are three treasures in the world: an ugly wife, barren land, and a tattered cotton coat. That wife was too pretty. Marrying her will be trouble."
Chen Chao frowned, "So this is the reason you married Aunt?"
Although he had never treated this man as an elder, Chen Chao still had the deepest respect for that woman who had always taken care of him.
The man tilted his head. Only after making sure that his wife was not eavesdropping, did he narrow his eyes and said with a smile, "You half-grown kid, what the hell do you know? When marrying a wife, one should look for stability. Pretty or not is secondary. As long as she's stable enough, that will do."
Chen Chao silently thought about the woman's robust body and thought to himself: indeed stable enough.
The man immediately noticed that the youth in front of him was not in good spirits. So he asked curiously, "You wouldn't have lost your chastity after just one month, right?"
Chen Chao was taken aback and then immediately cursed under his breath.
Hearing the cuss, the man did not get angry, but laughed instead. Rubbing his hands, he was about to get into an argument with the youth in front of him.
Chen Chao who had long seen through what the man was thinking plopped down on the doorstep and waved his hand.
Not interested.
Chen Chao who had always been full of energy like a young tiger was a little tired for the first time.
The man reached his hand out to dig out the vegetable residue between the crevices of his teeth. Then, he randomly wiped it on his sleeves before clicking his tongue, "Kid, spring hasn't arrived yet and you're done already?"
"Can't I have eaten too much?"
The youth retorted perfunctorily. Actually, it was not very convincing.
The man lifted his head and looked into the distance as he muttered, "You're still not going to take a look? I reckon that she has walked very far away."
Chen Chao did not talk, he just rubbed his forehead.
A little tired.
A moment later, he raised his head to look at the man. Some words were stuck in his throat and he could not ask.
For the first time, the man did not make fun of this young man that he had always been at odds. He just said meaningfully, "Do you feel that your heart is empty? Like it's not the same as before?"
Chen Chao furrowed his brows and retorted, "No."
The man gave a cold laugh and did not expose this kid's tough appearance, but fragile interior. He just reached his hand out and stroked the new year couplets that he had just glued on last year. It could only be blamed that the man did not pay much attention when he was mixing the glue, so he could not flatten this new year couplet no matter how he tried, making him a little annoyed. Thinking about how there were still another two to three hundred days to the new year, he immediately reached out and tore it down.
Crumpling it up into a ball, he casually threw it into the courtyard.
Very soon, a woman's scolding sounded out in the courtyard. It sounded a little unpleasant to hear. Either way, it was the kind that did not hold back at all.
The man felt a little embarrassed. He raised his head and cursed, "You fat sow! Give Your Father a break! Otherwise, Your Father will give you a dressing down in a bit!"
The courtyard momentarily became quiet.
When the man looked at the youth sitting opposite on the doorstep again, that kid had a gloating look.
The man gave a cold snort, "Kid, you saw that? This is f*cking masculinity!"
Chen Chao nodded his head and said sincerely, "Your mouth is really tough."
Hearing this, the man said in all seriousness, "My toughest place isn't my mouth."
"Then what is it?" Chen Chao had a curious look, somewhat confused.
The man let out a cold laugh. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he glimpsed out of the corner of his eye that the woman in the courtyard had already come out with a rolling pin. Hence, the man just left behind a smile that had a tinge with an implicit meaning and prepared to close the door.
Picking up that large bowl at the doorstep that had long already become empty, when he turned around, the man smiled to himself and said, "If you don't say your goodbyes properly when parting, who knows how many nights you'll be tossing and turning."
The man who finally managed to close the door before that woman came over let out a sigh of relief. Being beaten up was no big deal. But, if that kid saw it every time, he would become a joke!
……
……
Next to the carriage, the two people who were already covered in snow were looking over at the alley at this time.
The young man held it in for a long time, but he still failed to hold it in and said with some anger, "Sir, that country bumpkin was so rude, why didn't you teach him a lesson?"
Lin Yuan took a look at his grumpy disciple and shook his head as he said with a smile, "Since you've read so many classics, you should have the temperament of the sages, right? If you want to fight with the country bumpkin that you speak of just because of those few words, wouldn't all your reading have been for naught?"
When the young man heard this, he frowned and asked, "Doesn't that mean that as long as the other party is weaker, they can provoke a powerhouse to his face without any misgivings?"
He was asking about the situation before, but also not just about the situation before.
Lin Yuan smiled and said rather profoundly, "In your view, those books that I've read and those principles that I've read might not necessarily be right, nor must they make sense. Therefore, where the bottom line lies in your heart, determines the things that he can do. The principles in the books differ from man to man. We're not sages either, we'll always make mistakes.
The young man thought about it and asked, "Then, does Sir mean that if I go and teach him a lesson now, I'll be in the right too?
Lin Yuan could not stifle his laughter and shook his head and said, "Although your reasoning can convince you, it doesn't necessarily convince me."
The young man understood it, so he became somewhat gloomy.
Lin Yuan patted his shoulder and said softly, "Boyue, actually, if you can beat me, is it important whether or not your reasoning can convince me?"
The young man was stunned before immediately losing heart as he said, "Sir's words don't make any sense."
Lin Yuan chuckled. This scholar whose reputation in the Divine Capital's Xie Clan was not considered low was rather happy.
The young man suddenly asked, "Sir, have you seen what that person's aptitude is like? Is it the same as rumored?"
Ever since it spread that the leader of White Deer's Xie Clan's current generation was a young girl with superb character and talent, many rumors had long appeared in the Divine Capital's Xie Clan. They said that when this young girl was born, there was a phenomenon in the sky, that a white deer ran across the Xie Clan's ancestral shrine, and also that a foreign cultivator visited and wanted to bring this young girl away...
Either way, there were many rumors. It was impossible to distinguish the truth from the fake for some time.
Lin Yuan recalled that stubborn teenage girl previously and said with vicissitudes of emotion, "Her temperament is already very stable. There are few rivals among her peers. As for talent, how can it be discerned by looking with two eyes? But, presumably, she won't be a mediocre person too. Otherwise, why would both White Deer and the Divine Capital expend such a herculean effort? I presume that there's no issue over at the academy's side too."
The young man said, "The Wei Clan produced a remarkable character in this generation. They were long taken away by foreign cultivators for cultivation. After all these years, who knows whether or not they can still remember that they are surnamed Wei."
Mentioning this, the young man was actually a little sarcastic.
In the present imperial court, it had already gradually become clear that the Xie Clan and Wei Clan had divided the world into two. But, compared to the Xie Clan, the Wei Clan was on much closer terms with those foreign cultivators. Many of their descendants were cultivating in the foreign cultivation sects. The Wei Clan had also been castigated for this.
The present Divine Capital was naturally not too peaceful either.
"This Xie and Wei struggle shouldn't determine a victor within a short time."
As the Xie Clan's retainer, Lin Yuan naturally held no feelings for the Wei Clan. But if say that the struggle between these two major families would have the curtain fall in a short time, he did not believe it.
The young man nodded his head. The two families had already fought for close to a hundred years. If no third party intervened, it would probably not be so easy to determine the victor.
"It's hard to determine a victor in the current situation. So the chess pieces have to be placed faster."
Lin Yuan spoke to himself, saying something that was confusing. The young man could not understand.
He wanted to speak up but dispelled this notion very quickly.
"Can this person break the stalemate? Hard to say, but presumably, people have high expectations. It's just that..."
It was just that Lin Yuan felt that there was no meaning whether or not he said the words at the back, so he simply stopped talking.
Then, he ignored his disciple's look of anticipation and waved his hand, indicating that that was it.
After that, Lin Yuan remembered the man with the strange temper again and frowned, muttering to himself, "I keep feeling that I've seen you somewhere. But, I just can't remember where."
The young man still had a temperament that could not hold it in. He was about to open his mouth to ask again, but before he could open his mouth, he saw that young girl with a head full of snow as she walked out of the alley holding a sweet potato.
She even took a bite of the sweet potato while walking.
Seeing this scene, the young man was somewhat absentminded.
While Xie Nandu hastened her footsteps and arrived before the horse carriage.
She held the remaining half of the sweet potato in her hand.
Lin Yuan clasped her hand and said, "Miss, please board the carriage."
Xie Nandu nodded her head and was just about to board the carriage and enter.
The young man suddenly smiled and said, "My name is Xie Boyue, I'm a Xie Clan descendant too. In terms of seniority, we're in the same generation."
There was still half a sentence that he did not say.
Xie Nandu glanced at him and said softly, "Got it."
When she entered the carriage, Xie Nandu turned her head and looked at the alley. But it was still empty.
She furrowed her brows.
