Hu Xiaotian said, "Everyone faces that day. Everyone grows old, just as everyone dies. No one can escape it!"
Wen Chenghuan gazed at Hu Xiaotian, an exceedingly strange smile appearing on his face. "Yes! You will die too. Sooner or later, you will die!" His voice brimmed with venom.
Unaffected by his gaze, Hu Xiaotian respectfully handed him a second cup of wine. Wen Chenghuan accepted it without hesitation and drained it in one gulp. "Fine wine. I never imagined I would taste wine this good before I died."
Hu Xiaotian said, "If you like it, Grand Tutor, I can have some delivered to you every day."
Wen Chenghuan shook his head. "There is no need. The more beautiful things a man encounters before death, the more he clings to this world, and the more he fears dying. I have already resolved to die. Why must you devise every possible means of shaking my resolve?"
Hu Xiaotian said, "I am not trying to shake your resolve, Grand Tutor. I am acting out of respect for you."
Wen Chenghuan burst out laughing. "Respect? The victor becomes king, the loser a bandit. A victor would actually respect a loser? Hu Xiaotian, are you humiliating this old man?"
Hu Xiaotian shook his head. "You certainly did not ask me here to hear me insult you, Grand Tutor. And regardless of right or wrong, victory or defeat, you remain someone I respect."
Wen Chenghuan nodded, seemingly believing his words. He pointed at the empty cup. "Pour!"
Hu Xiaotian filled his cup again.
Wen Chenghuan reached out and lifted the cup in his trembling hands, but his shaking spilled a good deal of the wine. He poured all the remaining wine onto the ground and said despondently, "Such fine wine, yet my two sons can