"Someone recommended by Literary Scholar Wen must be a dragon or phoenix among men." Shen Tang looked extremely interested, but in an instant, a faint worry crept onto her brow. She sighed. "It's just that a talent like this still has a bright future ahead of him. To follow me to Longwu..."
Shen Tang trailed off.
She had the essence of tea artistry firmly in hand.
Xu Xie hurriedly said, "If my unruly younger cousin can follow Lord Shen, it will be a blessing for him. His parents both died when he was young, so I raised him as half a son. It's just that he's unruly and won't obey discipline. I'm also worried he might cause trouble for Lord Shen..."
Shen Tang asked, "Wen Zhu's cousin from the same clan?"
"Yes, he's sixteen this year."
Shen Tang furrowed her brow. "That's far too young... Longwu is no place for a child like him. He might not be able to bear the hardship."
Xu Xie: "..."
For some reason, hearing this from Lord Shen felt rather amusing. If her sixteen-year-old cousin was a "child" in Lord Shen's eyes, then wasn't Lord Shen herself, who was barely fourteen, an infant?
He smiled. "Lord Shen needn't worry. If he can't endure even this little hardship, then he should stop going around shouting about 'sealing the wolf at Mount Juxu' and 'watering his horse in the vast sea.' Otherwise, he'll just make people laugh."
With things put that way, refusing to take the young man in would make an enemy of Xu Xie. So Shen Tang agreed. On the surface, she and Xu Xie raised their cups and enjoyed themselves together—Xu Xie drank wine while she drank tea. Deep down, she smiled faintly, concealing all her schemes without a trace.
Although Xu Xie