"Time truly does fly."
"At first, I didn't even recognize him. Thank you for reminding me, Brother Ox. But..."
As she spoke, Verdant Green Maiden reached up and grabbed Old Yellow Ox's ear again.
"Can't you find another way to remind me next time? What if I'd lost my footing just now and really fallen?"
As she spoke, she tightened her grip.
Old Yellow Ox instantly let out a startled cry as Verdant Green Maiden dragged him away from the city gate.
On the street inside the city, Su Shi watched the woman and ox leave.
"My lord?"
"My lord!"
The servant beside him called to him several times.
Only then did Su Shi turn back to him. "What is it?"
The servant said, "We still need to report to the prefect of Hangzhou. We mustn't be late, or who knows how those people will slander you this time? It's only a peasant girl and an ox. There's nothing worth looking at."
Hearing this, Su Shi shook his head and laughed.
"No, no, no!"
"You don't understand. The myriad faces of life are what's most worth seeing."
"As for those officials who hear the wind and declare it rain, pay them no mind! What do they know about how to conduct oneself?"
Enough wagging tongues could melt gold.
Su Shi couldn't control what those people said.
He only needed to keep his conscience clear!
That was what his mother had taught him. He had heard that, in her younger days, she too had been influenced by a very learned lady.
That was how she had raised him to have this temperament, teaching him to be broad-minded and free-spirited.
Thinking of this, Su Shi lowered his head to look at the golden longevity lock hanging at his waist, then sighed again.