A black-canopied boat swayed gently through the waterways.
Inside, tea simmered and incense burned. A refined, kindly old man played the zither with deep concentration, its notes lilting and lovely. Jia Huan listened, entranced, occasionally glancing at the lovers huddled beneath umbrellas along the streets, savoring a different sort of charm.
When the piece ended, Jia Huan rose and bowed respectfully.
"That sounded like music from heaven. Thank you, Uncle Li."
The old man opposite him was Li Shouzhong, father of his eldest sister-in-law Li Wan and former Chancellor of the Imperial College.
Shame crossed Li Shouzhong's face as he said with a bitter smile,
"Huan, that student of mine had lost every shred of conscience. He was worse than dogs and swine. I regret it day and night."
Had it not been for the young man before him, not only he but everyone under heaven would have been deceived by Gu Sihui's hypocritical face. He had spent his life teaching and nurturing students, only to produce such a vile disgrace. He regarded it as the shame of his lifetime!
"Uncle, let's leave the past behind." Jia Huan waved a hand.
Li Shouzhong nodded and personally poured him some tea. "Please."
He had certainly misjudged them. He had thought that, apart from his own grandson and his late son-in-law, the descendants of the Jia Family's two ducal households were all idle wastrels without ambition. If even Jia Baoyu could be called a Kirin Child, then the Jia Family was sunk so deeply in wealth and privilege that it would never wake.
Never had he expected a concubine-born son of Rongguo Mansion to rise so suddenly, his official career blazing like oil poured onto a raging fire, unstoppable. Though he served in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he understood courtesy well and