As the night deepens, the stars appear vast.
As the night watchman's sound gradually faded away at the alley entrance, Lin Feng was not sleepy at all. According to the military order, she would set out with the army tomorrow, accompanying her master to escort the "Princess" whom she had never met to Shiwu for marriage. How long would it take to go back and forth? What was the terrain of Shiwu like? How many fierce battles would she encounter along the way? These thoughts lingered in her mind, disturbing her sleeplessness.
Yu Zi, who lived in the same room, was sleeping soundly.
The latter's faint snoring could be heard in the darkness.
Lin Feng tossed and turned, and finally climbed out of the bed carefully. Relying on the protection of Wen Qi, he casually put on a windproof cloak and wrapped himself in it. He lit a small lamp and walked around the courtyard at night to relax. From a distance, he saw that the light in the teacher's courtyard was still on. He paused and knocked on the door lightly: "Teacher, are you asleep? I am restless and have something to ask you."
"Not yet, come in."
When Lin Feng entered, he saw the teacher with long, slightly damp grey hair, sitting in front of the window playing chess. The candlelight made his features look gentle and kind, completely different from his usual seriousness when teaching. Lin Feng sat down opposite him.
"Teacher, are you still awake at this hour?"
Chu Yao dropped a chess piece. The sound of the chess piece hitting the chessboard was crisp and decisive, making the night even quieter. He said, "I slept for a while, but was awakened by a nightmare..."
Hearing this, Lin Feng lit the stove, waited for the water to boil, and took a jar of something from the shelf on the side. His movements were not affected by the slightly dim candlelight in the room. Not long after, he served a pot of tea with a slight floral scent.
Chu Yao also shifted his attention away from the chessboard.
He said with a smile: "As we age, we tend to lose energy. Once we wake up, it's hard to fall asleep again..."
Lin Feng didn't believe it, and said coquettishly: "This is the student's filial piety, teacher, please give it a taste..."
Chu Yao had no choice but to take two sips.
But the smile at the corners of his lips could not be relaxed.
Lin Feng: "Teacher, is there something on your mind?"
She rarely saw such a teacher, as if there were unresolved emotions condensed in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows. Even an outsider could tell at a glance that he was worried. Chu Yao did not make up an excuse: "I do have something on my mind."
"Because of the students? Or because of the lord?" He considerately did not ask whether it was because of the two old friends in Yonggu Pass.
Chu Yao just smiled and said, "You are not very old, but you are old enough to go out on your own to study and gain experience. Why should I worry about you? As for the master, it goes without saying that she didn't bring bad luck to others, so that person's ancestors blessed him and he escaped. I am worried about the way of scholars..."
"Is there something wrong with the teacher's way of writing?"
As his studies deepened, Lin Feng became very aware of the importance of the literati's way to scholars of literary talent.
Chu Yao's situation is rather special.
There's no guarantee that something might go wrong.
Chu Yao took a sip of tea, exhaled, and whispered, "No, I just feel... it's too cumbersome now. 'Bright Willow' is out of control and can't be used unless it's in a desperate situation... What use can it be used for on a daily basis?"
Lin Feng said: "But..."
She didn't understand why the teacher suddenly worried about such a thing. Didn't he tell her before that the perfection of the way of a scholar depends very much on luck, and it is better to go with the flow than to force it? Chu Yao shook his head to stop Lin Feng from expressing his doubts, and laughed at himself.
"We have to think about how to make it perfect." These were still unfamiliar areas to Lin Feng. She could only be a listener and listen to her teacher muttering, "Alas... Even though the conditions for perfection are harsh, I hate internal affairs the most..."
Lin Feng: “…???”
What does the perfect scholar's way have to do with whether the teacher likes internal affairs? At this time, her eyes fell on the chessboard. The black and white pieces were already in a stalemate. Compared with the conservative white pieces, the black pieces' offensive was swift and bold.
she…
I seemed to vaguely understand the teacher's mood.
In the words of the master, the teacher is in a career crisis and is eager to improve his competitiveness... Thoughts like these swirled in Lin Feng's mind. But he dared only think about it in his heart and dared not speak it out loud, so he could only hint at it.
"Then...should the teacher tell the Lord about this?"
Chu Yao said: "This won't work."
Lin Feng: “…”
Chu Yao said: "Don't be arrogant because of your favor."
Lin Feng: “…”
Is this how the word is used
Before Lin Feng finished his complaints, he heard another reminder from his teacher: "By the way, when you go to Shiwu, if you meet a Shiwu boy who looks good and can speak well, Lingde, kill him and bring back his head."
Lin Feng didn't ask any further questions.
but-
"What is this person's name?"
“I don’t know.”
"Where does this person live?"
“I don’t know.”
"Then who is this person?"
Can you let your own teacher remind you again and again in private
"He's not an important character." Chu Yao said casually, but the content shocked Lin Feng. "If nothing unexpected happens, he should be the only son of the Queen of Shiwu King Court, the next king of Shiwu. However, Shiwu King Court has a special custom. Before reaching adulthood, they will travel incognito for a period of time, and only those who pass the test are eligible to inherit the tribe. Take this opportunity to kill him."
Lin Feng hesitated to speak.
"Teacher...how do you know him?"
Chu Yao said: "Because I dreamed about it."
Lin Feng was shocked: "Did you dream about it?"
"Just now, the Way of the Scribes was activated again."
This was also the real reason for Chu Yao's nightmare, which made him upset for a long time, and playing chess could not relieve his boredom.
"This dream had two levels. In the first level, this guy appeared in the dream and ordered people to throw several buckets of stinking corpse water into the river. Downstream of the river was where the lord led his troops... In the second level, he was on the verge of death and was saved by you... Immediately afterwards, many of the troops developed strange rashes... "
Lin Feng's face wrinkled into a ball: "So, this person is using the students to get close to the lord? What do you think of the lord?"
"I'm sick and look a little weak."
Lin Feng guessed: "Is there something wrong with the food and water?"
This is the most feared thing when leading troops outside.
There are countless examples in history of people who suffered from acclimatization problems due to food and water, which affected their combat effectiveness and even caused them to lose their lives.
Could it be that this guy was using me to poison the food
Lin Feng asked again: "My lord, how did you do later?"
“I don’t know.”
He couldn't even see what the young man looked like clearly, and could only see a vague outline. However, his intuition told him that this time it was far from the end of the road, and the lord was most likely fine. He just didn't know why the Scholar's Way suddenly gave a warning.
But since there had been a warning and the young man had appeared in his dream, he might as well kill him to prevent future trouble.
The Queen of the Ten Crows Royal Court has lost her son, and the tribal forces behind her will no longer support the Royal Court as before, and may even have irreconcilable conflicts with the Royal Court due to uneven distribution of interests. Their chaos will also be conducive to peace on the border.
Lin Feng assured with a serious look.
"Teacher, please rest assured that I will cut off this boy's head with my own hands and bring it back to you.