This is an extremely simple old woman.

She was wearing a neat white linen dress, and her gray hair was meticulously groomed, tied into a bun at the back of her head and passed through with a silver hairpin. She had no other ornaments. It was simple, but not casual, giving people a very capable and neat feeling.

Although her face was covered with wrinkles, her complexion remained rosy. What made Fu Xiaoguan feel that this old woman was different was the subtle dignity in her eyes and the faint aura she exuded as she sat there.

It seems that she is the mistress of a big family in Guanyun City.

Fu Xiaoguan walked into the pavilion, bowed to the old woman, and said, "I, Fu Xiaoguan, greet the old lady."

The old woman had been looking at Fu Xiaoguan since he stepped onto the steps of the pavilion. Her face was serious and she would occasionally narrow her eyes, probably to see Fu Xiaoguan more clearly.

At this moment, Fu Xiaoguan was standing in front of her. She tilted her head slightly, still looking at Fu Xiaoguan's face, her gaze calm and without any ripples.

"sit."

"Thank you, Madam!"

Su Su looked around and saw that the old lady didn't call her, so she pouted slightly and sat down next to Fu Xiaoguan.

The woman who had just brought Fu Xiaoguan in took a small copper pot and went to the foot of the cliff, where there was a gurgling spring, which gathered on the bluestone platform below to form a bowl-sized spring.

"I heard that this afternoon is the first day of the literary gathering. Since you are Fu Xiaoguan, why are you here?"

"Madam, I have already finished answering that question. I have nothing else to do, so I came back."

"Oh..." The old woman nodded meaningfully. Nangong Dongxue returned to the pavilion with the small copper kettle and placed it on the stove. Still looking at Fu Xiaoguan, the old woman asked again, "I've heard that Jinling is a place of prosperity, talented people, and a gathering place for the world's literary spirit. With Mr. Fu's talent and reputation, it should be easy for him to win the first place in the literary gathering here."

Fu Xiaoguan smiled and shook his head. "Old Madam, you're really flattering me. Since ancient times, there has been no one who is the best in literature. Although I have a reputation for talent, I dare not claim to be invincible. Jinling and Guanyun City each have their own merits. Jinling is indeed a flourishing literary style, but Guanyun City is also experiencing a rise in literary spirit. Jinling's literary style is centered around the sacred learning, which has its advantages, but also its disadvantages."

The old woman seemed to be interested. "Oh... tell me about it."

"Sage learning has been around for a thousand years, and this legacy can be considered profound. But from another perspective, it is also a constraint—it has endowed Jinling's literary style with a profound depth, but it has also placed a shackle on the Yu Dynasty, making it difficult for its literary achievements to make further progress."

Nangong Dongxue suddenly looked up at Fu Xiaoguan, then took a few pear blossoms from a bamboo basket beside her and put them into the copper pot.

Fu Xiaoguan continued, "It's incredibly difficult to break these shackles of confinement, but the Wu Dynasty didn't have this problem. Although sacred learning had long been introduced to the Wu Dynasty, it truly flourished after the vigorous promotion of Master Wen Xingzhou. Although the students of the Wu Dynasty study sacred learning, they don't blindly worship it, so they're free from these shackles. They can see beyond the foundation of sacred learning. This is why the future is promising, unlike the difficult times of the Yu Dynasty."

The old woman smiled and said, "You are from the Yu Dynasty."

"This is a point of view, and has nothing to do with where people are from."

"According to you, the future of the Wu Dynasty is more promising than that of the Yu Dynasty?"

"It's hard to say."

"Why?"

"Because theology is dead, while people are alive. Theology is merely a tool, and tools depend on how people use them."

The old woman's eyes lit up. She looked away and remained silent for a few breaths before asking, "I have a very difficult problem in my mind that I've been unable to resolve. I think it's because I'm in this situation. Let me tell you about it. Just think of it as someone I can talk to. If you can help me solve this problem, that would be even better."

Nangong Dongxue looked up at the old woman again and wondered if she needed to step away.

"To be honest, my family is very large, but I only have one son. When he was your age, he was very absurd and did many stupid things. Fortunately, he became sensible after he grew up..." The old woman suddenly raised her head and looked at Fu Xiaoguan again, "I heard that you were also very absurd in the past?"

Fu Xiaoguan touched his nose. He was really being blamed!

"To be honest, old lady, I used to be... not very reliable."

"Oh...you and my son are quite similar in this respect."

"Of course, my son became the head of the household. He managed the household quite well, then married and took in a concubine. His wife gave birth to a son and a daughter, and his concubine also gave birth to a son. My grandchildren have now grown up, but problems have also arisen."

"Such a large family fortune should naturally fall to the eldest son and grandson, but my eldest grandson is an ignorant person. So my son wanted to make the child born to my concubine the next head of the family. Unexpectedly, the wife took action and killed the child."

"This kind of drama-like situation has happened to me. These days, I have been thinking that if this eldest grandson could wake up like his father, even if the family business cannot be expanded, it would be good to be able to maintain it. But because of what the main wife did, my son has become extremely dislikeful to this eldest grandson."

The old woman sighed, and Nangong Dongxue poured four cups of brewed tea and handed them to her.

"My son is a love-struck man, much like the one you described for Yan Ruyu's painting. He fell deeply in love with a woman when he was young, but they couldn't be together for various reasons. This shouldn't have been a big deal to me, but at this critical juncture, I heard from my son that he and that woman actually have a son who's now living away from home!"

The old woman looked at Fu Xiaoguan. "I heard that you are also the illegitimate son of the current emperor... This is quite similar. My son wants to take his illegitimate child back, offer sacrifices to the ancestral temple, and include him in the family tree. His intention is obvious. He wants to pass this huge family business to his illegitimate child. I want to ask you, if the current emperor wants to pass the throne of crown prince to you, what do you think?"

Fu Xiaoguan was startled, but then he heard the old woman say, "I was talking about hypothetical situations, because your situation is similar to what I'm facing."

"Madam, if it were me, I would definitely not do it."

The old woman frowned and asked, "Why don't you do it if it's a quick way to success?"