The Schoolhouse

The old scholar tree that, in the blazing summer, had seemed like a great cool parasol was gone. Iron Lock Well had been enclosed on private property, and the sweet well water the old folks had longed for was no longer drinkable. Immortal's Grave had lost so much of its cricket song. Old Porcelain Mountain, whose slopes creaked beneath one's feet, could no longer be climbed. Thankfully, in spring, Taoye Lane still had tree after tree of peach blossoms—deep red was lovely, and pale red was lovely too.

In life, every gathering was bound to end in parting. Thankfully, every parting also led to another gathering.

Today, many people who had left their homeland had returned to the old schoolhouse.

Before returning to the academy, Li Huai, Lin Shouyi, Dong Shuijing, and Shi Chunjia had arranged to revisit the schoolhouse together today. There was no particular reason—they simply wanted to look around and sit for a while.

Dong Shuijing had asked someone to find a clerk from the county office's household registry division, borrow the key, and open the door. Ordinary people might not know what Dong Shuijing was capable of, nor understand where his title of Dong Half-City came from, but the millet wine he sold had long since been shipped all the way to the Great Li Capital City. It was said that even immortal family ferries, flitting through the white clouds like birds, carried this wine aboard. That rolling source of wealth was plain for all to see.

Of the four old classmates who had once studied here, Li Huai and Dong Shuijing had come carrying water. The shoulder poles, buckets, rags, and other such items had all been taken from Li Huai's ancestral home. Shi Chunjia carried a basket on her arm, with everything packed inside.