The courtyard was not large, but it was square and orderly, neat and efficient. Rough bluestone slabs paved the ground—flat, slip-resistant, and free of standing water on rainy days.
The rooms had gray-tiled roofs and white walls. The doors and windows were made of plain solid wood, their grain clear and free of elaborate carvings. The windows were pasted with clean plain paper.
The interior was well lit and sparsely furnished. There was only a sturdy solid-wood desk without ornamentation, just right for reading and practicing calligraphy.
Along the inner wall stood a wooden hard bed, laid with clean, simple bedding, neat and tidy, along with a mosquito net.
The whole place was elegant and plain.
Lin Xuan lay on the bed and let out a breath. Several days spent sitting in a carriage had left him feeling stifled.
Though he had often gotten out and walked alongside the escorting troops during the journey, he had still felt uncomfortable. Only now did he finally feel somewhat settled.
He opened the Gentlemanly Conduct Commander-in-Chief Li had given him.
He had thought it would be a Confucian classic, but the very first page read: "First govern yourself, then govern others."
There was also a slip of paper, its handwriting vigorous and powerful: "First cultivate virtue, then cultivate skill."
It was most likely Li Baisheng's personal annotation. It seemed this Martial Saint of Great Jin had high expectations of him.
"He who wishes to defeat others must first defeat himself—"
Lin Xuan turned the pages, reading every word carefully.
The next day, he was ready early and arrived at the Drill Ground before the Hour of the Rabbit.
Lin Xuan was not the earliest. Five or six people were already standing on the Drill Ground, and when they saw him, they could not