Ning Yao ordered several dishes to go with wine from the innkeeper and asked for another room while she was at it. The innkeeper glanced at Chen Ping'an. Chen Ping'an said nothing.
Why look at me? Heaven and earth bear witness, we didn't conspire over anything. Besides, what could I say? Do I own the inn?
The Final Disciple shot his master a sidelong glance. His master looked sidelong at the street outside. Night lay heavy over a journey through a foreign land, lending it a touch of loneliness.
Once they sat down in the room, Chen Ping'an poured his master a bowl of wine, then looked at Ning Yao. She shook her head, so he poured only one for himself.
At the hardest point in his life, it had been the boy Zeng Ye from Book Scroll Lake, the ghost Su Xinzha, and a few others who had accompanied Chen Ping'an along that stretch of mountain-and-water road.
Perhaps finding the silence a little heavy, the old scholar picked up his wine bowl and lightly clinked it against Chen Ping'an's. Then he spoke first, like a master testing his disciple's learning. "There's a line in 'Unlocking Obscurity.' Ping'an?"
Chen Ping'an had just taken a sip. Since his master had mentioned "Unlocking Obscurity," the answer was easy to guess. He hurriedly set down his bowl. "Master once said, 'Wine throws the spirit into disorder.'"
The old scholar smiled. "And do you know why your master warned the world that way back then?"
Chen Ping'an said, "I'm guessing Master was poor and couldn't afford wine, so you were sour about people who bought it without blinking at the price?"
The old scholar slapped the table and burst out laughing. "What makes a student you can be proud of? This does!"
Unlike Zuo,