Inside the bamboo forest courtyard.

Zhang Huizhi turned his head and looked in the direction of the north room for a while. There was a dull boy looming inside the door with his head down copying books and practicing calligraphy.

The young Confucian scholar from Siqi Academy was quiet for a moment, then turned to look in the direction of the kitchen on the west side.

There, a few poor old servants with missing arms, legs or disfigured faces got busy at the greetings of the simple women passing by, chopping wood, boiling water, getting wine and cooking.

From time to time there were gasping and coughing sounds.

Zhao Rong seemed to have noticed the movement in the kitchen. He glanced at one of the old servants who seemed to have been disfigured by the fire and was coughing due to firewood smoke.

The disfigured old servant seemed to be suffering from a serious respiratory illness. From time to time he took out a copper pipe with a pipe hanging on it, took a few puffs, and breathed a sigh of relief with his face flushed.

Several other old servants are similar, each has his or her own faults and is dying of age.

"Brother Hui, if you don't want to worry about all the food and drinks, let's have a few drinks and chat. Besides, we have other things to do later, so we won't stay at Brother Hui's place for dinner."

Zhao Rong couldn't help but give a sincere suggestion.

Zhang Huizhi seemed to have come to his senses and withdrew his gaze from the kitchen. Then he looked at Zhao Rong in a daze for a while and shook his head firmly.

"Tzuyu finally came to my brother's place...he must have a good drink and good food...otherwise, brother, he will feel guilty. Tzuyu can just enjoy it in peace and don't have to worry about the kitchen, Zhuojing will settle down on his own.

"

He raised his half-lidded eyes, fully woke up from the drowsiness of his recent sleep, and comforted Zhao Rong.

The latter took a look at the sky and saw that there was still some time before the afternoon scheduled time.

"Okay, then I'll listen to my brother Hui."

Zhao Rong smiled.

At this time, Xiao Qian'er, who was standing behind him, quietly pinched the soft flesh of Zhao Rong's waist, and then, without getting any reaction from him, she hummed and walked towards the kitchen.

"I'm going to help Sister Yun Niang."

Hum, in the past, she was no longer polite and virtuous in front of outsiders. Brother Rong'er just selectively ignored her and even brought out "other people's wives"...

Xiao Qian'er is a little aggrieved.

Zhao Rong made a slight 'hiss' sound in his mouth. The little girl was neither gentle nor heavy. He would have to repay her little butt twice as much when he turned around.

He secretly said,

He glanced at the back of the little girl who secretly and stubbornly ran to the kitchen to help.

"Tzuyu, what's wrong with you?"

Zhang Huizhi glanced at the young Confucian scholar's face and expressed concern.

"Ah, it's nothing. By the way, what were we talking about just now?"

Zhao Rong looked back and changed the topic.

Zhang Huizhi did not answer at first, but picked up the wine pot on the table and handed a pot to Zhao Rong.

Sitting on the couch under the bamboo forest, in the autumn breeze, two Confucian scholars from the academy each held a pot of exotic wine and raised their hands to invite each other.

"Tzuyu praised me for cultivating myself and managing my family, but I am ashamed of myself as a brother."

"What should we not do? We Confucian scholars care about others. The first thing is to be thick-skinned. After receiving praise, we should be humble again, but we can't be really humble. We have to think in our hearts, 'Who doesn't know?'

Of course, you can’t say it verbally, but what if it happens?”

“…”

"Tzuyu is so witty."

"I wouldn't tell most people this secret. Come on, let's go together."

“…”

A crisp sound of wine glasses clashing sounded on the table.

“Hiss…this wine from Huizhixiong’s house is spicy enough!”

"This is hometown wine brewed by an old servant in a humble house. Does Brother Ziyu like it?"

"Not bad, it tastes good. The last time I drank this kind of wine was..."

"Oh? Yes?"

The young Confucian scholar nodded, "Last time."

Zhang Huizhi: “…”

Wearing a black Confucian robe, he was speechless for a moment, then nodded and said: "Tzuyu, if you like, wait a minute, the old servant at home will bring you a special dish."

"Oh? Then I have to give it a try."

Zhang Huizhi nodded, glanced at him, and suddenly said:

"Tzuyu, can you show me the jade on your waist?"

Qingjun's jade token? This is not acceptable. If she knew that another man touched her jade token, she would definitely be angry, the most difficult kind to coax.

The young Confucian scholar wanted to shake his head, but after touching a few hanging objects around his waist, he asked again, "Which jade is Brother Hui talking about?"

Zhang Huizhi stretched out his hand and pointed at the Linlu jade wall around Zhao Rong's waist, staring at it, "This is the jade wall with this identity. My brother also has a Si Qi one. I want to see the difference."

Zhao Rong was slightly stunned and nodded happily, "In this case, no problem."

He untied the jade wall from his waist and handed it to Zhang Huizhi.

The latter took it and at the same time took off his own Siqi identity jade wall, lowered his head and looked at it together.

Zhao Rong didn't think much and smiled, "Actually, there's not much difference. I've seen the Jade Wall of Scholars from Siqi Academy before. They all have the same function, identification... a life-saving thing in times of danger... to facilitate the location of the academy teachers.

The position mark... In addition, I heard that some fellow scholars will also temper it as a life object, but this scholar's jade wall is only temporary and is not convenient for tempering. "

He paused, then laughed and said:

"Speaking of which, I passed through Zhongnan Mountain before and got a piece of Lantian Spiritual Jade from a good friend, which can be used to temper the scholar's jade wall. I have been keeping it in my bag to eat ashes..."

"I heard from Wen Ruo that his Lantian Lingyu is highly sought-after among the scholars at Siqi Academy. I don't know if it's true."

Zhang Huizhi temporarily put down the jade wall in his hand and raised his head, "Oh? This Brother Wenruo that Ziyu is talking about is the new head of the Lin family in Lanxi, Zhongnan...Lin Wenruo?"

Zhao Rong nodded and said with a smile:

"It's him. Does Brother Hui know him?"

He said, paused, and nodded:

"Yes, Wen Ruo is also from Siqi Academy. It's not surprising that Brother Hui knows him. The jade wall of the Siqi scholar I met before belongs to Wen Ruo. At that time, I also asked for it from him. I looked left and right.

After taking a closer look, now that I have Lin Lu Yubi, I find that they are actually the same."

Zhang Huizhi nodded and glanced to the south, "Junior Brother Lin is two years younger than me, but his name is very familiar to me. Now, as long as there are scholars from the dynasties under Wangquezhou Mountain in Siqi Academy who are still pursuing official careers,

Who doesn't know his name..."

The young Confucian scholar who was dressed in black today had a look of yearning on his face.

"Junior Brother Lin has inherited the position of the head of an eight-hundred-year-old noble family at such a young age. The most important thing is that he is not simply maintaining his status, but making further progress..."

"I heard that Junior Brother Lin seemed to have used a very dangerous debate between Confucianism and Taoism to destroy a thousand-year-old Taoist temple in Zhongnan Kingdom with the help of a very powerful friend... I don't know the details, but I heard that he

Now he has become the real helmsman of Zhongnan Kingdom in the south. On behalf of the emperor’s herdsmen, he implements new laws and displays his ambitions, and Zhongnan Kingdom is flourishing..."

Zhang Huizhi withdrew his gaze, and under Zhao Rong's inexplicable smiling gaze, he said seriously:

"This can no longer be summed up with a simple sentence about one's background. This Lin Wenruo, Junior Brother Lin, and his close friend must all be among the best and can afford this fame. It's a pity that we can't see their true appearance."

"When the late Emperor was still alive, he was reading the newspapers in the royal study, and he lamented several times in front of me, when will we in Dali be able to raise scholars and raise a Lanxi Lin family. Alas, I am ashamed of the Confucian scholars in Dali.

"

Zhang Huizhi sighed and shook his head.

After Zhao Rong heard the words "a very powerful friend" from his mouth, he blinked and smiled without saying a word.

Zhang Huizhi is not a fool, on the contrary, he is very smart and perceptive.

He was suddenly startled, glanced twice at the young Confucian scholar in front of him, frowned slightly, and said tentatively:

"really?"

Zhao Rong straightened his sleeves, raised his head, smiled, and said modestly: "Brother Hui, you are so complimentary...Well, among men, dragons and phoenixes, who doesn't know that?"

“…”

Didn’t you say that the following words were from your heart? Good guy, you just said it directly...

Zhang Huizhi leaned back slightly, looked at Zhao Rong carefully for a few more times, choked for a while, and then sighed:

"I didn't expect to see her true appearance."

…

Just when two Confucian scholars were drinking and chatting happily in the courtyard.

In the Western kitchen not far away, Zhao Qian'er, Yun Niang and several old servants were busy preparing dishes.
To be continued...