Lu Fengzong looked at the flamboyant Du Shu, a trace of approval and nostalgia flashing in his eyes.
Once upon a time, he too had been this wild and high-spirited.
If the spring breeze had any tenderness for flowers, could it grant him youth once more?
Sadly, time flowed away, never to return. He could only look to Du Shu for traces of his own bygone youth.
He did not think Du Shu was boasting.
Du Shu sat just to his right, and he could clearly feel Du Shu's soaring spirit and love for commerce.
With such a firm goal, coupled with his talent, ruling the myriad races through wealth was not beyond possibility!
"Good! I will marshal the strength of the entire sect to help Shopkeeper Du realize this ambition!" Lu Fengzong encouraged him.
"Splendid! I am not alone on my path!" Du Shu laughed heartily.
The atmosphere of the meeting grew ever more enthusiastic. Lu Fengzong swept his hand and declared, "Tonight, we will hold a banquet at the Sky-Reaching Tower and drink until we drop!"
"Drink until we drop!" everyone cried in unison.
The meeting soon ended, and everyone gradually dispersed.
Du Shu returned to his residence.
It was already late in the twelfth lunar month, and the cold wind howled.
As he walked along the bluestone path, the chrysanthemums on either side stood with their branches sparse and bare. The wind spread scraps of petals over the stones, then blew them deep into the flower beds.
A subtle fragrance drifted through the air.
The plum blossoms not far away had already bloomed.
There were white ones, pink ones, and red ones.
The white were like snow, the pink like rosy clouds, and the red outshone fire.
Du Shu inhaled the plum blossoms' fragrance deeply and murmured,