A cry of "Granduncle!" rang out. Though the voice had grown much deeper than before, it still stirred memories in Yi Shuyuan.
A Bao came running excitedly, just as he had when chasing Hui Mian along the field ridges. He had grown taller and older, but his expression was much the same.
"Granduncle—"
A Bao called again as he rushed up to the entrance of Moon Province Academy.
"Mm!"
Yi Shuyuan answered, feeling a swell of emotion himself. Yet as A Bao drew closer, his steps involuntarily slowed.
After nearly ten years, Granduncle's face had grown somewhat hazy in his memory. But the instant he saw him again, A Bao remembered everything. Granduncle had hardly changed at all.
Seeing A Bao looking rather dazed, Yi Shuyuan could not help smiling.
"You've grown up!"
A Bao was no longer the little boy he had once been. Now he also knew that Granduncle's learning reached heaven itself. Once he came close, he straightened his clothes and cap, then solemnly bowed with his hands clasped.
"Granduncle!"
As Yi Shuyuan spoke, he pulled A Bao beneath the entrance shelter.
"It's raining."
That tug not only brought Yi A Bao under cover, but seemed to draw together the eight or nine years between them, sweeping away all his nervousness.
"It's fine. The rain isn't heavy!"
A Bao patted his clothes with a series of smacks, brushing off the scattered raindrops. He also removed his scholar's headcloth and shook the water from it, though his attention naturally shifted to Stoneborn, who was still fast asleep.
"Granduncle, who's this child? Did you start a family while you were away?"
Yi Shuyuan did not know whether to laugh or cry.
"Don't talk nonsense. His name is Mo Shisheng, and he's my disciple."
A Bao nodded, though he took