The sparrows' cries were chaotic and shrill, chirping away without a trace of melody.
But they did not affect the mood of those inside the window.
"I will certainly keep Your Excellency's teachings firmly in my heart," Lin Zhengren said with great humility. "The books say that the more one knows, the more one feels one's own smallness. The more I receive Your Excellency's instruction, the more I feel as though gazing up at a towering mountain."
Some words sounded exceedingly pleasant, even when one knew they were not sincere.
Du Ruhui reservedly stroked his beard, then sat back down and sighed. "It is a pity that one kind of rice feeds a hundred kinds of people. That Jiang Wang was also a talent born of our Zhuang Kingdom, yet he has not the slightest regard for the state. What a pity indeed."
"I do not think it is a pity at all. Talent without virtue is a scourge upon the world!"
Lin Zhengren declared with righteous severity, "Everyone calls Jiang Wang a hero, but in truth, they simply cannot see through his essence. At root, he is merely a man who bullies the weak and fears the strong, who curries favor with those above and tramples those below—a treacherous petty man who permits himself to wrong others but will not permit others to wrong him, narrow-minded and vengeful over the smallest slight!
"Before those stronger than himself, his mouth is full of justice, virtue, and rules. Before those weaker than himself, he holds their lives and deaths in his hand. When has he ever shown mercy!?
"Back when he was still utterly unknown, he sent his stepmother to my clansman's bed, shamelessly insisting on a marriage alliance with the Lin Clan and fawning over me in every way.
"But