Chapter 3 Let’s get straight to the point
Chapter 3 Let’s get straight to the point
Nine days ago, Gu Zhuo had a conversation with Professor Liu in the library and then stayed indoors.
On the tenth day, the sun did not rise as usual, and the knocking on the door and the spring rain echoed throughout the mountain courtyard.
Gu Zhuo put down the willow branch in his hand, washed his hands with the pool water, and opened the door.
The person standing outside the door was still Professor Liu.
Unlike the day of the conversation, his face looked a little pale today. I don't know if it was because of the late spring cold in the early morning or for some other reason.
Before Gu Zhuo could extend his hand to offer a towel and hot tea, Professor Liu spoke first.
"Feel sorry."
Professor Liu smiled, his smile full of bitterness, and said apologetically: "I couldn't get the Tongsheng Pill thing done for you. Those people were more troublesome than I expected. I really don't have the face to let you entertain them."
Gu Zhuo's expression remained unchanged. He shook his head and said, "Thank you for your hard work, sir."
Professor Liu sighed, leaned against the door frame very naturally, tilted his head to look at the slanting wind and drizzle outside the eaves, and looked even more exhausted both physically and mentally.
"What hardship? I deserve it. After all, it's just like how I didn't take Lin Wanyi seriously at first, thinking I could settle the matter quietly, but I ended up adding fuel to the fire and it got bigger and bigger."
He paused, then continued, his voice full of self-mockery: "Not only did I fail to get the job done, I also made a complete mess of the situation."
Gu Zhuo thought about it and said nothing.
At some point, the spring rain became angry. The whistling cold wind bent the bamboo forest in the mountains and carried raindrops over the eaves, falling on the door like arrows.
With Professor Liu's level of cultivation, he could naturally stop the sudden storm with a wave of his sleeves.
However, just as his fingertips trembled slightly and he was about to perform Taoist magic, he suddenly found that Gu Zhuo was standing beside him, and he happened to be able to protect him from the wind and rain, adding to his pain.
As my thoughts turned, the storm arrived.
In the end, Professor Liu did nothing and let his clothes get wet, looking utterly miserable and cold.
Gu Zhuo was safe and sound.
"But the matter of Tongshengdan is different after all...or you are different."
Professor Liu turned around, no longer leaning against the door frame, looked into Gu Zhuo's eyes and said seriously: "No matter what, I will stick to this for you to the end."
At this point, he seemed to be suddenly filled with emotion: "To be honest, with your qualifications and talents, everything the academy has given you in the past three years is what you deserve. If you change to another academy, you will definitely be given the same or even better treatment. It is you who chose Changzhou Academy, not the academy that chose you. It is Changzhou Academy that needs you to appear and revive its former glory."
Gu Zhuo said softly: "It's all just a matter of time."
Professor Liu thought he understood this sentence.
"Maybe. After all, with the reputation and heritage of the academy, even if Wangjing becomes the secondary capital today, it will not continue to decline. There will always be a day when it will rise again, perhaps in a few decades, or perhaps in a hundred years. That's all. It's just that people live in the present, and everyone wants to witness success with their own eyes."
He recalled the scenes from three years ago, smiled bitterly, and said, "That year, it happened to be my turn to be in charge of enrollment, and I met you and became your mentor. This incident brought me many benefits, and my status rose rapidly... The whole academy thought that I had a good eye, but I knew that I did nothing, I was just hit by a pie in the sky."
Gu Zhuo said: "Maybe."
Professor Liu lowered his head, looked at his wet hem, and suddenly said, "Actually, there are still some things I haven't told you, or I don't want to tell you, but I feel that if I keep it a secret... I'm a little sorry for you."
Gu Zhuo looked at him calmly without saying a word.
"I thought you were going to tell me to shut up..."
There was a hint of self-mockery in Professor Liu's smile. He looked up at the Changzhou Academy shrouded in wind and rain, then lowered his voice and spoke a long speech at an extremely fast speed.
"Even if you really challenge Lin Wanyi and win, and solve this problem for the academy, I will not give you the Tongsheng Pill. As for the reason, I cannot tell you clearly. If you have a reason to have the Tongsheng Pill, then you should firmly refuse it and remain unmoved. This may bring a glimmer of hope for the situation."
The words stop here.
No matter how you listen to it, his words are from the heart. They are the truth he spoke out based on the friendship they had in the past, regardless of his own situation.
Gu Zhuo thought it was his turn to ask questions.
He looked at Professor Liu and asked, "If I insist on refusing, what will you do?"
Professor Liu's smile was full of self-mockery. He said, "It won't be a big deal. The worst result is that I will be reduced to my original form, lose everything I have now, and become an ordinary teacher again. Do I deserve to die for this?"
After saying this, he patted Gu Zhuo's shoulder, opened the oil-paper umbrella beside him, and walked into the rain.
At this moment, a voice sounded behind Professor Liu.
"Since you are not guilty of a capital crime... lend me your umbrella."
"Ok?"
Professor Liu turned around in astonishment, his eyes full of surprise. Gu Zhuo took the oil-paper umbrella from him, stepped into the seemingly endless spring rain, and said without looking back: "I'm going to see Lin Wanyi."
……
……
As the current secondary capital and the former capital, Wangjing has gone through ups and downs for three thousand years. Even though it has become a little desolate and dilapidated in recent decades due to the emperor's decision to move the capital, it still looks prosperous.
Cheung Chau Academy has a long history and great reputation, and its location is naturally superior.
For Gu Zhuo, this is undoubtedly a good thing.
He did not have to brave the storm and spend more than half an hour to reach the street where the dignitaries gathered and knock on the door of the Lin family mansion - the current court's control over practitioners is stricter than in the past. The most obvious rule is that practitioners without government permission are not allowed to travel freely in the city by using their practice.
Holding the large oil-paper umbrella, he walked in the heavy rain of a spring morning, brushing past the hurried pedestrians and carriages on the street. Occasionally, the wheels of a car rolled over a low-lying area and splashed dirty water, which was about to fall on his clothes, but suddenly fell down for no reason, looking like a series of tiny waterfalls.
Similar scenes continued to occur until Gu Zhuo raised his head slightly, his gaze passed over the umbrella eaves, through the dense raindrops, and fell in front of the gate of the Lin Mansion.
Half a quarter of an hour later, he followed an old servant of the Lin Mansion through the long rain corridor and came to a library in the backyard. He looked at the silhouette cast by the faint yellow light inside the building.
The silhouette is a little thin, but there is no sign of weakness. It even appears strong for no reason, just like the wisps of rain floating in the spring breeze outside the corridor.
Judging a person's appearance by their silhouette is obviously a baseless thing.
However, even with just a hazy glance through the window paper, the woman in the library exuded a beauty that made people subconsciously stare at her carefully.
I don't know when the old servant left.
The sky was dark and the rain had been falling, already soaking the grass outside the porch.
Everything seems so peaceful.
Gu Zhuo looked at the wooden door for a moment, then knocked lightly.
Then a soft "hmm" sounded from behind the door, which sounded a little casual.
Gu Zhuo pushed the door open and walked in, his eyes naturally falling on the girl holding the Taoist Canon.
The girl was facing him sideways, and although her full face was not revealed, one could tell that she had thin eyebrows and beautiful eyes. Her black hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, with a few strands occasionally falling on the side of her face. The dim light, as clear as water, still showed off her outline, making her look even more beautiful.
However, what attracts the most attention is not these, but the girl's eyes, which are as clear as water drops dripping from the eaves after rain, and like the bright sunshine in a spring afternoon, which can easily make people sink into them unconsciously.
The room was very quiet.
Not long after, Lin Wanyi put down the Taoist scriptures in his hand and poured a cup of hot tea for the guest who had been waiting for a long time.
Gu Zhuo took the hot tea, took a sip politely, and put it down.
The moment the teacup met the wooden table, Lin Wanyi's voice rang out.
"If you have something to say, just say it."
"it is good."
The two finally looked at each other. Outside the building, the wind and rain grew stronger and stronger, and the lights flickered continuously.
The silhouettes inside the building are tangled and indistinguishable.
They are the two most famous young people in Wangjing today. Although they had no connection or grudges with each other in the past, they have become enemies because of Changzhou Academy, and there is no possibility of easing the situation.
In everyone's eyes, there was bound to be a war between them.
The outcome of this battle will not only determine the superiority of Gu Zhuo and Lin Wanyi, but also the feud between Lin Wanyi and Changzhou Academy that has lasted from many years ago to today.
No matter how you look at it, there is no possibility for these two to stand side by side, because they have already taken their own sides...
At this moment, two voices were heard in the library.
Gu Zhuo looked at Lin Wanyi and asked calmly, "Do you want me to stand on your side?"
Lin Wanyi smiled and asked directly: "Why don't you come over to my side?"
The words fell at the same time.
The storm has not stopped.
The scene suddenly became quiet.
(End of this chapter)