"Gongsun Long, the one who said a white horse is not a horse?"
Hearing who the visitor was, Chen Cuo looked surprised. He had spotted the older man and the younger one long ago, and sensed the strange fluctuations they gave off, unlike ordinary flesh-and-blood mortals. But he truly had not expected the visitor to be this master of the School of Names.
Still, by his reckoning, this master of the School of Names was supposed to vanish from history this very year. Judging by his age, too, he differed from the historical accounts of his contemporaries.
Then Chen Cuo considered his own unusual journey back through time. Ripples spreading from his presence could eventually produce a butterfly effect; that was hardly impossible. Besides, if the visitor was willing to come calling and was not an impostor, it was a good thing in the end. His theory of Rise and Fall needed a man renowned throughout All Under Heaven to fan its flames.
Sure enough, word of Gongsun Long's visit was soon picked up by watchful eyes. Though Chen Cuo had persuaded those scholars to leave the estate, many still clung to hope and were unwilling to go far. Some kept watch outside themselves; others stationed people there. They had meant to hear of any development at once. If another opportunity like today's arose, and Mr. Chen expounded on some subject inside, they could arrive first and seize the advantage.
Little had they expected to land such a big fish before the next day!
News that a great master of the School of Names had visited Mr. Chen soon spread without wings, sweeping through all of Chenggao!
More people took an interest, and letters went out one after another.
"Mr. Chen of Chenggao?" Lord Chunshen, Huang Xie of the Chu