With a bundled quilt propped behind him, Neo sat leaning against it, a number of documents spread out before him.
Seeing Kallen return, he looked up and asked with a smile,
"Was the mating successful?"
"Is this how you behave when you're with Miss Elisa?"
Neo rolled his eyes at Kallen and said,
"I don't believe you're this serious and proper when you're with your fiancée."
"She's a good partner. What's the background of the old man in the next bed?"
"Him? He's a jar of Vien miso."
This was a local Vien saying. The Vienese ate all sorts of dishes mixed with miso, so calling someone "Vien miso" meant he was someone who coasted along.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, but some miso only gets mixed with coarse flatbread, while some gets served at the Queen's table. He's coasted along very well: a good teacher, a good wife, and good children, too.
"How should I put it? Anyone who can manage that is impressive in his own right, just like Richard."
"His student..."
"That girl really has potential... no, potential isn't the word anymore. She's already outstanding. The Neulen Families are very prestigious in the Principle God Church, but her father married a woman he shouldn't have and had her, which resulted in both father and daughter being expelled from the family early on."
"A woman he shouldn't have married?"
"Her father married his stepmother, while her grandfather was still alive, no less.
"Heh, never mind those old scholars in the Principle God Church. Even ordinary society finds that sort of behavior hard to accept."
"Yes."
"Anyway, she's good, isn't she? Oh, I mean the girl."
"Yes."
"She's just not very pretty, but that doesn't matter. Having a partner of the opposite sex who isn't all that attractive is actually