Takeo

A wooden bird broke through the sea of ​​clouds, fell from the sky, and landed in the lakeside courtyard of the academy. Liu Ye saw the wooden bird falling and quickly got up to take out the letter from the wooden bird.

Xie Nandu opened the letter, read it, thought for a moment, and then began to reply. This time, he did not ask about those things at the beginning, but asked if he could make roasted sweet potatoes from Tianqing County.

Soon I finished writing the letter, waited for the ink to dry, put it in an envelope, and handed it to the maid Liu Ye.

Liu Ye took the letter and quickly found a place to send it, but when she came back, she learned a lot of news.

When she returned to the courtyard again, Liu Ye shouted excitedly: "Miss, there is good news."

Xie Nandu sat in front of the window, looking at the lakeside. The lake was being blown by the wind and rippled, which made people feel calm. At this moment, he was listening to his little maid yelling, and he was not angry. He just frowned and asked :"what news?"

Liu Ye quickly said everything she heard and said excitedly: "Many masters want to accept the young lady as their personal disciple. Now it's up to you, young lady, to make your own decision."

She also mentioned the names of those masters. All of those names were famous in the academy.

In fact, not only in the academies, but also in the entire Daliang Dynasty, the masters in these academies are all first-class scholars. They may not have any official position in the Daliang Dynasty, but I don’t know how many there are in the Daliang Dynasty. Officials come from their families.

Xie Nandu shook his head and said, "He is not my favorite teacher."

Liu Ye was originally very excited, but was quickly poured down by a basin of cold water, and she could no longer be excited.

"Does the young lady have a husband whom she would like to become a disciple?"

Liu Ye said: "I think as long as the young lady is willing, the masters in the academy will be happy for the young lady to become their disciple."

This girl from the Xie family is a genius. The dean has already proved it once with his actions. The masters have seen it again with their own eyes these days. Now, they naturally want to accept this girl as a disciple.

Although they didn't know what the girl's upper limit was, they knew very well that the girl's lower limit couldn't be lower.

Xie Nandu did not return to his maid Liuye, but looked towards the lakeside, where the wind was blowing again.

……

……

The team went all the way north and soon crossed the Weishui River. The prison car was still bumpy as before. Chen Chao had been drowsy all day. It wasn't that he didn't want to wake up, but every time he acted sober, the guy named Weng Quan would chatter incessantly. .

He really couldn't take it.

Only every time the wooden bird appeared, Chen Chao would briefly become more energetic.

He opened his eyes, spread out the letter, and glanced at it quickly, but he soon frowned, a little confused about the content of the letter.

What is called Tianqing County’s roasted sweet potato? Does he know how to make it? Is there anything he can’t do?
Although he thought this way, he still read the letter patiently and then started to reply.

"What's the situation in Shendu? I'm afraid the commotion that has been caused before can't stop. I'm going to Shendu soon. I don't want to die in that dark cell. You asked me about my life experience. I'm sorry, but this really can't be done yet. Tell you."

"You helped me in Shendu, I will keep it in mind, and I will definitely repay you when I have the opportunity in the future. However, the matter is too big. If you are going to be involved, please get out as soon as possible... I heard that that The academy is on the bank of Nanhu Lake. You are now a student of the academy. This is really a great thing. However, I heard that in the academy, being the dean’s disciple is the truly amazing thing. I think you are so amazing, so you must be able to do the same. ? But if it fails, I will definitely not laugh at you. After all, we are friends now..."

After the letter was taken away by the wooden bird, Chen Chao looked up at the sky, feeling a little dazed.

After a while, he decided to take the initiative to talk to the talkative man, "What is the academy like?"

Weng Quan was startled and frowned: "You don't know about the academy?"

Seeing that he was about to gain momentum, Chen Chao quickly said, "I have never been to Shendu, and I have never seen an academy."

Weng Quan chuckled and said: "I have only been there once, when I was on business in Zuowei. The academy is located on the bank of Nanhu Lake and occupies a huge area. There are probably more than a thousand students every year."

More than a thousand people sounds like a lot, but when you think about the entire Liang Dynasty and the entire country, there are only more than a thousand people, so it doesn't seem like a lot at all.

"Where's the dean? How many disciples do he have?"

Chen Chao was too lazy to listen to those who were not interested in him, so he went straight to the point and asked the most direct question.

Weng Quan frowned and said: "What, you still want to be the disciple of the dean? Even if you are not an imperial prisoner and not a scholar, why would the dean accept you as a disciple? You have to know..."

"Okay, okay, I beg you, can you just answer my words and don't talk about this here..."

Chen Chao wished he could give himself a slap in the face. If he had known about it, he would not have asked.

Weng Quan glanced at Chen Chao with resentment, but did not continue to talk nonsense, but got to the point and said: "The dean once said that he would imitate the deeds of the saints. The Confucian sage claimed to have three thousand disciples, but he had 72 idlers. You know, what's the use of idle people..."

Chen Chao twitched the corners of his lips and said softly: "It's 72 Sages."

"He's an idler."

"Forget it, keep talking." Weng Quan glanced at Chen Chao again, a little dissatisfied, but continued: "The dean feels that he does not have so much energy, so he will not accept three thousand disciples, and is only planning to accept 72. Disciples, it seems that we have accepted 71 of them now.”

Chen Chao asked: "In other words, there is only the last spot left?"

Weng Quan nodded and said with emotion: "It is said that the last one is the most important, otherwise the dean would not have refused to accept the last disciple for so many years. He probably wanted to find a peerless genius and train him well. .”

Chen Chao was thoughtful.

"You don't think you can win the favor of that dean, do you?"

Song Lian didn't know when he came here again. He seemed to have listened to the previous conversation between Chen Chao and Weng Quan.

Chen Chao muttered: "I think there is still a chance."

Song Lian did not refute, just said: "If the dean likes you, your matter will certainly not be a problem, but the question is, is it possible?"

Chen Chao didn't speak, but his thoughts were racing.

……

……

"If it doesn't work out, I won't laugh at you..."

Xie Nandu looked at the crooked words on the paper and thought about the way the young man was holding back his smile while writing the letter. He felt a little angry and wrote a letter to ask him what he wanted to do, but the guy actually laughed at him.

When she was angry, she didn't even bother with the wind chimes blowing from the lakeside, let alone find the sound pleasant.

The maid Liu Ye stood in the distance, looking at her young lady like this, and wondering who was the one who wrote the letter, who could make the usually calm young lady become like this.

Although she also wanted to know the content of the letter, she did not dare to go over and read it. As a maid of the Xie family, she had received very strict training since she was a child. She knew that no matter how good the relationship with her master was, she had to follow the rules and obey the rules. Otherwise, the end will be tragic.

After calming down and sending letters one by one, Xie Nandu stood up and wanted to go out for a walk.

"Miss, it's raining. I need an umbrella."

There is some light rain in the city today. I think spring is about to pass and early summer is about to enter. The willow branches and leaves by the lake are getting darker. At this moment, many students are walking on the stone slabs by the lake, walking slowly, and they are still admiring the scenery. scene.

The oil-paper umbrella covered Xie Nandu tightly, and no one else knew when he went out. Therefore, no one noticed the girl wearing an ordinary gray gown along the way. The maid Liu Ye held up the umbrella and whispered: "Miss, I should have gone out for a walk more often, but after studying in the courtyard all day, I felt so bored for the young lady. The lakeside scenery is so beautiful, and the young lady should have come out to see more of it."

Xie Nandu said nothing, but looked at the path leading to the pavilion in the middle of the lake in the distance. At this moment, there was only a scholar with a kind face, standing by the path in the rain, and there were no students on the path.

She thought about going to the small pavilion in the middle of the lake, so she came to the trail.

The scholar looked at Xie Nandu and determined that the girl was going to the center of the lake, so he said apologetically: "My husband is drinking tea with his friends in the center of the lake. If this girl doesn't have to go to the pavilion in the center of the lake, can he come back in half a day? ?”

The students who wanted to go to the center of the lake before were probably persuaded to leave by him in this way.

It's just that there are many dignitaries in this academy, and I don't know what method the scholar used to make those people leave willingly.

Xie Nandu stopped, listened to the scholar's words, and was silent for a moment.

After a moment, she shook her head and said, "I won't go to the center of the lake, but just take a look at the lake on that trail."

The scholar thought for a while, nodded and said with a smile: "Since the girl insists, that's fine, but I still ask the girl to go alone."

In just a moment, the scholar remembered the previous story and knew the identity of this girl. He thought that since he had such a fate, what else could he say?
So he stopped blocking it.

Liu Ye raised her head and was about to ask where in the world such a truth could exist, but before she could speak, Xie Nandu shook her head, reached for the oil-paper umbrella, and said, "Go back."

Liu Ye didn't dare to object, so she could only agree.

However, she still looked worriedly at Xie Nandu, who was already heading towards the center of the lake. Looking at the back of her young lady, her face was filled with worry.

The young lady’s identity is unusual. What should we do if something happens here?

The scholar noticed her worry and smiled: "Don't worry, I'm here."

The scholar seemed ordinary, but there seemed to be something special about him. In short, when he spoke, he made people feel inexplicably at ease.

Liu Ye felt a little more at ease, but still couldn't help but said: "Nothing can happen to my young lady."

The scholar still smiled and said: "How could something happen to her in the academy?"