Li Damo's small courtyard looked, from the outside, like nothing more than an ordinary yard enclosed by earthen walls and bamboo fences.
But inside were blue roof tiles and white walls, bright, simple little paper windows, and a level, clean rammed-earth yard. It looked very comfortable.
At that moment, Xu Taiping and the others were sitting beneath the grape trellis in the front courtyard.
They only had to look up to see blue skies and white clouds through the gaps in the grape leaves.
"Young Brother Taiping, have a cup of plain tea. I hope you won't mind."
Just then, Li Damo brought over a pot of tea and a plate of small pastries, set them on the table, and poured Xu Taiping a cup.
Xu Taiping accepted the teacup and set it on the table.
"You're too kind, Brother Li."
Cuicui, meanwhile, grabbed a pastry and said:
"I won't stand on ceremony."
Li Damo smiled and said:
"There's more when you finish. No need to snatch."
As he spoke, he turned his gaze toward Xu Taiping and asked somewhat hesitantly:
"Young Brother Taiping, did your aunt send... send any other words for me?"
Xu Taiping pretended to think back before saying:
"Aunt also said that once this busy spell at home is over, she'll have some free time. If a friend visits, she can make him milk-sugar rice dumplings."
"For those milk-sugar rice dumplings, she'll add brown sugar syrup, drizzle on freshly fermented sweet rice wine, then pour over some osmanthus honey."
Those words of Xu Taiping's.
Naturally, he had heard them all within that Divine Soul Mark.
After hearing this, Li Damo's hand holding the teapot suddenly began to tremble. His eyes reddened slightly, and he seemed about to speak, only to stop.
Clearly, what Xu Taiping had