This final spring rain was not heavy. The falling raindrops landed on the lake, setting off waves of ripples. After spreading out in waves, they fused together and one could no longer tell which was rainwater and which was lake water.
The girl holding the oiled paper umbrella stood on that trail. Actually, that was a wooden bridge that was not too spacious.
When one watched this rainy scene while standing on the wooden bridge, it was actually extremely beautiful. However, the young girl's mind was not on this.
Many things were narrated in these few days of letter exchange. But, from start to end, there were some things that the youth who had not arrived in the Divine Capital refused to say clearly. The young girl also knew that it was definitely a painful topic, so she did not persist either.
But missing out on key information made it difficult for her to do what she wanted to do.
The young girl also could not help but sigh as she looked at the lake.
Actually, even if she knew everything, she felt that it would be very hard for her to have a method to resolve this problem too. After all, the matter of killing several cultivators without authorization had been blown up now. Even if the imperial court had the intention to suppress it, they could not suppress it now too. If there was no suitable reason, then it may be presumed that the foreign land cultivators would not be willing to drop the matter. This problem was still at its most difficult step. How to resolve it had always been difficult.
It was just that, would there really be such a thing as a reason for murder that no one could find any problems with?
The young girl fell into thought again and could not help walking towards the heart of the lake. She was completely unaware and just walked along with her thoughts.
When the scholar at the lakefront saw this scene, he frowned and was somewhat unhappy. Since the girl said before that she was not going to the heart of the lake, why was she heading there now?
Thinking of his teacher in the heart of the lake, he wanted to move to stop the girl. But after thinking for a moment, he let it go.
……
……
There was a wooden table in the pavilion at the heart of the lake. There was a chessboard on the table with black and white pieces mingled on top of it. There was a small stove by the side, a small iron pot was placed on the stove and white vapor filled the mouth of the pot.
There were two people who were currently seated facing each other and talking.
One of them was casually wearing gray long robes, his head of black hair just casually scattered behind him like that. His face was fair without any beard and he was handsome. He just looked middle-aged, but there was some archaicness in his eyes. But seated opposite him was an old man dressed as a scribe. His hair and beard had long already turned white, his face full of wrinkles.
The old man picked up a black piece and pondered for a moment before slowly placing it on the chessboard. Then, he reached his hand out and picked up the teacup by the side, casting a rather provocative glance at that middle-aged man sitting opposite. Only then, did he say complacently, "Your defeat is set in stone. You'll definitely be losing to me in this game."
The middle-aged man glanced at the chessboard and did not care at all. He just glanced outside the pavilion absentmindedly.
The old man was a little angry as he said, "Can you be more serious when you're playing with this old man? Even if this old man wins you like this, how can I go out and boast?"
The middle-aged man smiled and said, "You old fogey, who knows how much of my reputation you've damaged on a daily basis. Now, you're fussing over this?"
The old man gave a cold laugh, "Does your reputation still need this old man to damage? All the bits and pieces can be investigated."
Having been friends with the old man in front of him for many years, he knew that he was like this whenever he met him on normal days. The middle-aged man did not mind it and just smiled. Then he casually grabbed the fish food from the box next to him and threw it out of the pavilion. After that, he dusted his hands, a little melancholic.
As the middle-aged man's close friend for many years, the moment the old man saw him like this, he naturally knew what he was thinking and said with a grin, "These children in the depths of autumn this year have still failed to enter your sights?"
The middle-aged man said as a matter of course, "I'm not picking cabbages by the street side, how can it be so simple? I've hand-picked over these years before taking in 71 rascals. I have to put more effort into this last one no matter what."
The old man said in surprise, "Those guys have become rascals now?"
The middle-aged man gave a cold laugh.
The old man stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Didn't you take fancy on a girlie previously and let her enter the academy via special exemption?"
"I merely glanced at that girl from afar and felt that she was pretty, rejuvenating my eyes. Later, I learned that she's from White Deer's Xie Clan. Just nice, I owed White Deer's Xie Clan a favor over a book a few years ago. So I exempted her from the tests and conveniently repaid this favor, lest they pester about it."
The middle-aged man watched the swimming fish in the lake outside that came for the fish food, feeling a little distressed.
The old man said with vicissitudes of emotion, "Your casual action has affected god knows how many people in the imperial court and the public. If they knew that it was because of this lousy thing, they will probably feel heartache over the skygold currency that they spent."
Back then, when Xie Nandu entered the academy after being exempted from the examinations, it already shocked both inside and outside of the Divine Capital. Many people even speculated about the relationship between the Xie Family and the academy dean. But in the end, did not expect that it was actually due to such a reason.
The dean smiled slightly and said, "The world is always like this. It was originally a small thing, but they had to think so much."
The old man asked again, "Then how do you view the other thing?"
The dean had a blank look, "What thing?"
The corners of the old man's mouth twitched. Could there be someone else in this world who was better at playing dumb than this man in front of him?
Maybe there was.
But if this man in front of him made up his mind and started to play dumb, then no one could make him get serious.
The old man still wanted to speak when he saw that there was a young girl who already slowly walked into the pavilion.
The old man frowned. Looking at the girl holding the oiled paper umbrella, he was just about to speak when the dean already waved his hand. He looked at this young girl who walked into the pavilion thoughtfully.
The young girl arrived before the table. The raindrops on the oiled paper umbrella dripped down the umbrella surface and the dean raised his brows. After the raindrops fell, they originally should have fallen on the chessboard. But at this moment, it hovered in midair bizarrely and did not fall.
The drizzling outside also suddenly stopped.
The surface of the lake instantly became tranquil.
The old man opened his eyes wide in astonishment. He had completely never seen this kind of sight before.
It was just that, thinking about how the man in front of him was the academy's dean, a lot of doubts went away.
Time slowly trickled by, but that young girl did not come back to her senses the entire time. The dean was not in a rush either, he just waited like this.
The old man did not dare to speak either, he just looked at that metal pot that was emitting white vapor.
It was unknown how long had passed.
The oiled paper umbrella trembled slightly. The dean reached his hand out and those hovering raindrops already landed in his teacup.
Xie Nandu returned to her senses and looked at the two people in front of her with some uncertainty.
She put the umbrella away very quickly.
The old man saw that face clearly and instantly knew the girl's identity.
He wondered to himself why was it so fateful.
"What are you thinking about?" The dean looked at the girl in front of him with a slight smile, his voice gentle. At this moment, he had quite the demeanor of a great scholar.
Xie Nandu bowed slightly and said softly, "I've disturbed Sir."
She was not willing to talk about that matter and she also did not know the identity of the man in front of her.
She turned around and was about to leave.
The dean suddenly said, "I heard that many teachers in the academy want to be your teacher now, what do you think about it?"
As the dean of this academy, if he wanted to know something, there was nothing that could be hidden from him.
Xie Nandu did not speak. It was also unknown what she was thinking about.
The dean already took the initiative to open his mouth and say, "I've taken in many disciples in this lifetime. Now that I'm already old, I want to accept a final one. You and I are fated..."
"Many thanks for Sir's kind intentions, it's just that this junior has no such intentions..."
Xie Nandu shook her head and was about to leave again.
The dean raised his brows.
That old man practically could not stifle his laughter anymore. His whole face was flushed and he was holding it in badly.
If this current matter spread out, most likely, there would be another topic to jest about over a cup of tea or after a meal for the countless people on those major streets and small alleys.
The dean glanced at the old man.
Only then, did the old man cough and said, "Do you know who this person is?"
Xie Nandu shook her head, "I don't know."
A very honest answer.
The old man said leisurely, "Since you entered the academy to study, if you want to acknowledge a teacher, this person in front of you is naturally the best..."
The dean frowned and felt that this old man in front of him was beating around the bush too much. He said straightforwardly, "I'm this academy's dean."
Finished saying this, he waited for the girl in front of him to panic, and then kneel down excitedly to acknowledge him as her teacher. Thinking up to here, the dean already started to imagine the scene of how he would help her up and then say words of encouragement from the sages' classics.
But after waiting for a moment, that girl did not do anything. She just looked at him.
The dean was taken aback, he also did not expect that it would be such a scene.
While the old man started to hold back his laughter again.
"Sir, this joke isn't funny."
Xie Nandu turned around and was about to leave.
It was just that when she turned around this time, that scholar had already arrived outside the pavilion. Seeing his own teacher signaling, he hurriedly said with a smile, "Greetings, Junior Apprentice Sister."
The scholar smiled slightly and said, "The one in the pavilion is indeed my teacher and he's also this academy's dean."
The scholar was level-headed, his tone warm. When he spoke, it naturally became a spring wind, making it very hard for people to doubt him.
Xie Nandu was stunned.
While the dean picked up that cup of rainwater on the table and downed it in one shot. Finished drinking it, he laughed loudly and said, "My wish is fulfilled today!"
……
……
The bumping prison wagon made Chen Chao feel very bored. These few days, the only thing that he could do was to wait for that letter from the Divine Capital. He originally also wanted to write a letter to ask how his old friend, Mi Ke, was doing now. But thinking about how the skygold currency would not be a small sum, he gave up on it.
Weng Quan was still as talkative as always. But no idea why, Chen Chao faintly felt that he was getting somewhat used to it. Then, thinking about how he might even develop a liking for that fellow, he wished to go to that Court of Judicial Review's prison right away and stay there.
The wooden bird still arrived very quickly. After he finished reading the letter, he immediately replied. Watching the wooden bird leave, he was somewhat absentminded.
In the following days, such days were repeated like this.
Waiting for the wooden bird to come, watching the wooden bird fly away.
It suddenly began to drizzle.
This bunch of martial artists had long tempered their physiques, why would they care about this? They just pushed on with their journey.
Later on, there were increasingly more passes. They practically had to stop several times a day.
Another few days passed, no more letters came.
No idea how long had passed, the roads stopped being bumpy. Only after glancing at the ground, did he discover that the current road was a rarely-seen smooth. Chen Chao looked ahead and seemed to vaguely see a majestic and huge city.
He perked up.
Because that enormous city was the Divine Capital.
