Deep night, light breeze, melting moon.
The gentle-tempered man in a blue robe smiled and introduced himself as Chen.
It was as though the contours of the entire National Teacher's Manor had softened with him.
The young woman with her hair tied in a bun said he was her master.
Rong Yu said nothing and walked straight through the gates, seemingly leaving them standing outside.
The old man, who believed he had long ago cultivated a pair of fiery golden eyes, became even more convinced that this refined man surnamed Chen was the National Teacher's Manor's gatekeeper.
This man had surely been a renowned expert in the martial world for years, or else how could he be qualified to guard the gates of the National Teacher's Manor? It made perfect sense.
The gatekeeper surnamed Chen then led them through the gates. They went around an exquisitely beautiful glazed screen wall, passed through another gate, and rounded another screen wall before entering the manor's first courtyard. There was a Wutong Tree there, moonlight filtering through its branches and leaves to spill across the courtyard like shattered silver all over the ground. They did not continue to the second courtyard, instead turning through a gate on the left into a quiet garden with another sky within it. Small bridges crossed flowing water, elegant pavilions and towers dotted the grounds, and now and then came the sound of fish swishing their tails against the water in a pond filled with graceful lotus leaves.
Along the way, they chatted casually about this and that. For instance, he asked why those young men believed studying was useless and told them to explain carefully. He said that he thought studying was useful—the less one was a Reading Seed, the less one came from wealth and rank,