Chapter 74: Blue Moonlight (Part 3)

Chen Wenjian opened his eyes. The night was not over yet, and a ray of dawn appeared on the horizon. The light in the room was dim and shining, illuminating the floating dust like water.

He held his forehead and sat up, his mind moved slightly, and he turned to look at the left side of the bedside - a butterfly was curled up on the carved railing, surrounded by silver light dust, exactly the same as the young man dressed in fancy clothes in his dream.

Chen Wenjian wanted to laugh for no reason and stretched out his index finger to fiddle with Chen Yunli's wings, but he lifted half of his butterfly wings and flapped them open as if he had predicted it, then spread his wings and flew into the air.

"Where are you going?"

Watching him fly out of the bed, Chen Wenjian couldn't help but get out of bed and followed him and asked.

"I've had enough sleep, so I'm going out for a walk and getting familiar with the environment. You can continue to sleep, I'll be back soon." Chen Yun left his mouth, his voice in his original state clear and bright, with a little childishness.

There's nothing we can do about it, since he's just a newborn baby.

"That's fine. I usually get up at this time too. Morning classes at the academy will start in half an hour."

Chen Wenjian took a step with his long legs, walking faster than Chen Yunli could fly. He opened the doors and windows before him, letting the thin light of the early morning mixed with the wind flow into the house.

Chen Yunli flew around him, and when he reached out to touch her again, she dodged nimbly and walked out the door gracefully.

In late spring, the wind still carried moisture and the fragrance of flowers. As a butterfly instinct, Chen Yunli followed the fragrance out of the yard and found a circle of lush weeds and unknown wild flowers scattered among them beside the spring.

The spring water is clear, the bluestone paving is edging, and the water surface is sparkling. At first glance, it looks frosty white, like a full moon falling into the world.

He landed on a red flower as big as a bowl. A few drops of dew rolled on its furry heart. He tasted it and found it had a faint sweetness. He couldn't help but suck up the remaining few drops.

As Chen Wenjian approached, he saw him using his large wings to move in and out of the pistil. He smiled and said, "Jian Ling also needs to absorb dew and drink honey?"

Chen Yunli, who was addicted to the flower dew, was startled, and small and soft scales exploded on his wings. He calmed down only when he recognized his voice.

He flew up calmly, circled around Chen Wenjian and stopped at his temple. In the reflection of the water, it seemed as if he was wearing an exquisite and lively hair accessory.

"Doesn't this world allow Jian Ling to have her own hobbies? Then I've turned into a butterfly, so what's wrong with drinking some floral water?"

"Floral water?" Chen Wenjian laughed. "So you like the dew on flowers. Do you have a favorite type?"

Chen Yunli spoke hastily, and it was difficult to correct the usage of the word now, so he could only bite the bullet and reply, "I just drank the dew from this kind of flower. I don't have it yet. I will taste it more in the future, and maybe I will have it."

"good."

Chen Wenjian smiled softly and squatted down by the spring to wash himself, not even trying to pull the hair out of his head. As he pulled out his hairband and pretended to tie it up, Chen Yunli flew away and squatted on the wild grass at his feet.

A low and solemn bell sounded from a distant mountain, causing the morning mist to roll and the birds to fly.

"Morning classes are about to begin." Chen Wenjian wiped the water off his face and reached out to Chen Yunli, "Let's go, I'll take you to the academy."

Chen Yunli pounced into his palm and asked, "Are you a disciple of the academy?"

"Didn't you hear what I said in front of the bookshelf last night?" Chen Wenjian stood up slowly and put him on his shoulder. "Songfeng Academy has the largest library in the world. The collection is vast and comprehensive. Many historical records and ancient books whose names have never been circulated are hidden here."

Chen Yunli understood: "No wonder you studied so hard to get in here. You came here for those history books, didn't you?"

Chen Wenjian picked up his clothes and walked out of the grass, walking along the stone path to the other side of the bamboo forest, where there was a stone plank bridge leading up the mountain.

"Entering the library is indeed my goal, but not every student in the academy reads all the books. The academy holds a small exam every year, a major exam every three years, and a student exam every five years. Those who place in the top three in the small exam can read books from the first three floors of the library, the top three in the major exam can read books from the fourth to sixth floors, and the top three in the student exam can read books from the seventh to eleventh floors. Only those who pass the student exam and choose to stay in the academy to teach for ten years are eligible to read the classics on the twelfth floor."

Chen Yunli pondered, "It's so strict. The gentleman who made the rules probably doesn't want the disciples to read books beyond their knowledge range in advance, so as not to affect their future learning progress?"

Chen Wenjian glanced at him in surprise. "I thought so too, but that gentleman never came out to explain, and no one knows who he is. Furthermore, many in the academy believe that this rule is intended to prevent the leakage of the contents of the high-ranking library collection. But none of this matters. Whether there are doubts or not, it doesn't prevent everyone from abiding by the rules."

"That's true."

Chen Yunli muttered, and suddenly a strange fragrance hit his nose. He looked forward and saw that Chen Wenjian had already walked onto the pier. There were two kinds of vines wrapped around the right guardrail. One was green, with fine branches and leaves covering the railing, and the other was purple, with thick branches and leaves pointing towards the sky.

But they all bloom the same kind of small blue flowers, which are clustered together and hung one by one in the shade of branches and leaves, emitting a rich fragrance.

Chen Yunli couldn't help but fly off Chen Wenjian's shoulder and cling to the flower spike closest to him. The flower spikes swayed and the fragrance became stronger. He felt dizzy as if he had drunk alcohol, and the dust around him was floating even more.

“Crack.”

Suddenly, there was a crisp sound above his head, and Chen Yunli woke up suddenly, only to find that he and the bunch of flowers he was holding fell into Chen Wenjian's palm.

He pinned the tassels with their green stems pointing downwards to his collar, and the tassels blended seamlessly with the pattern on his collar, as if they were an original decoration on the clothes.

In contrast, Chen Yunli, who was lying on top, was not eye-catching at all. Instead, he added a bit of elegance to his plain and boring student uniform.

"If you like me, I'll keep it for you. But the fragrance of this flower can be intoxicating if you smell it too much, so be careful."

Chen Wenjian touched his soft tentacles. He listened to Chen Wenjian's voice, which came and went, as if it was from another world, and it echoed. He knew that he was drunk.

Chen Yunli stubbornly clung to Hua Sui and said, "It's okay. I'm not drunk yet. I'll go down after a while."

Chen Wenjian glanced at the dust beside him, which had changed from silver to light red, and curled the corners of his lips slightly, pretending to believe it.

"Okay, then you stay here. If you feel sleepy, you can sleep on my shoulder."

"Uh-huh."

As Yidie and the man were talking, the second bell rang throughout the mountain. The sun slanted through the clouds, illuminating the entire mountain with golden light, and more and more people came to the mountain road.

When acquaintances greeted Chen Wenjian, he responded to each greeting, but neither of them was very warm, which perfectly demonstrated the Confucian idea that the friendship between gentlemen is as light as water.

The mountaintop is vast and boundless, supporting an ancient palace reaching into the clouds. Pine and cypress trees are planted all around, and the wind blows out the solemn sound of pine waves, cleansing the ears and mind, and refreshing the mind and eyes.

There is a stone tablet outside the academy, with a lamp under the tablet and the words "Songfeng" written in seal script on the tablet. The surface of the tablet is rough and mottled, and the lines that appear and disappear from time to time show the passage of time. Only the solitary lamp is always burning.

Chen Wenjian climbed up the forty-nine steps and saw a wide lecture platform at the entrance.

This is where the disciples do their morning lessons. Every day a teacher will explain the classics and ancient books here. Any academic difficulties can be consulted with the teacher during this period. It is the most important part of the daily life of the academy.

There were long tables neatly arranged on the ground with cushions behind them. Chen Wenjian chose one at the edge of the middle row and knelt down. He first ground the ink and copied the difficult problems he encountered yesterday onto the cushions. Then he took out a book from his sleeve and continued reading from the same point he had left before.

Everyone does this, and it has almost formed a special pattern for morning classes.

Chen Yunli lay on the flower spike in a daze for a long time. Perhaps his body had adapted to the special nature of this flower. He slowly sobered up from his drunkenness. By then, the sun was already at its zenith.

A thousand people sat on the lectern, listening to a female teacher explain the final chapter of the "Baiwen Shilu." The teacher, wearing a high hat and a wide belt, and a spotless blue robe, walked among the students as she lectured. If someone didn't understand, she would stop and explain. No one dared to be distracted during the class.

When passing by Chen Wenjian, the female teacher stopped for the first time when the student had no doubts.

She lowered her eyes to look at Chen Wenjian, who nodded in greeting. Her gaze then turned to Chen Wenjian's collar, lingering on the string of flowers and Chen Yunli for a moment, a hint of a smile appearing in her eyes.

"Poetry is about observing the changing world, the passage of time, hearing and seeing, feeling its beauty and ugliness, and integrating it with one's own joy and happiness. It is a literary form that connects nature and humanity." The female teacher walked forward, holding the poetry book behind her back. "That's all for today's class. I have a topic for you to write a poem about. Please submit it to me before sunset."

Chen Yunli fluttered his wings, flew to Chen Wenjian's shoulder and squatted down, then moved to his ear and asked, "She won't see me, right?"

Just as Chen Wenjian was about to answer, he heard the female teacher utter three words in a sonorous and powerful voice: "Flowers and butterflies."

Chen Yunli froze.

Chen Wenjian chuckled and said, "Yes, she saw you."

Chen Yunli: “…”

After the morning classes, the disciples have free time until sunset. They can go to the library to read, study with classmates, or ask questions to the teacher.

Chen Wenjian naturally chose the first option and went straight to the library as soon as the class was over.

On the way, Chen Yunli asked him, "Chen Wenjian, which floor of the library can you go to now?"

"I haven't taken the exam yet. Before I get top three in the quiz next month, I can only enter the first three floors." Chen Wenjian turned a small corner and skillfully pushed aside the oncoming crabapple branches.

Chen Yunli nodded. "Then take me around all three floors. I'll sense for you if there are any books or items related to the white shadow in the moon."

"That's exactly what I meant."

The library is located deep in the crabapple forest. Surrounded by the shadows of the flowers, it looks lazy and exquisite. Only when you enter the door do you realize how spacious the space inside the building is.

Floors one through three had the smallest collection of books, half of which was books, the other half calligraphy and paintings, antiques, and potted plants. Even so, these three floors combined had a hundred bookshelves, each holding no fewer than three hundred books. To call it a vast sea of books wouldn't be an exaggeration.

"Other people's collections of three thousand books are just empty talk, but Songfeng Academy's collection of three thousand books is just the beginning." Chen Yunli was stunned. "It's worthy of being the place with the largest collection of books in the world!"

"How is it?" Chen Wenjian asked in a low voice, avoiding the other classmates. "Can you sense it?"

Reminded by him, Chen Yunli quickly tried: "Hmm... I don't feel anything. Maybe this place is too big. How about you walk along the bookshelves one by one, and 'pass by' those calligraphy and paintings as well? That way I can sense it more clearly."

"good."

According to him, Chen Wenjian pretended to be looking for a book as he walked between the bookshelves. Occasionally, when kind classmates asked him for help, he would politely decline, trying not to make his actions too conspicuous.

Chen Wenjian walked from the first floor to the second floor and found nothing.

Chen Yunli couldn't help but feel a little anxious. "There are over 3,000 books and so many other items here. Could it be that there's really nothing related to him? Who is that person, and why is he so mysterious?"

"Don't worry," Chen Wenjian soothed gently. He was much more patient than he was. He must have developed his concentration through his previous, relentless search. "Let's go to the third floor. If there's nothing, there's a treasure house open to all disciples in the academy, which houses all the rarest items in the world. If that doesn't work, we can search the upper floors after the quiz. We'll always find something."

His words of advice were also spoken in a leisurely manner, soothing Chen Yunli's inner anxiety.

Seeing him calm down, Chen Wenjian smiled again and said, "I had already planned to spend my entire life in this library. Now that I have your help, I don't know how much effort I can save in the future. I am very happy. Don't worry."

"You have a really good attitude." Chen Yunli smiled and flapped his wings, "Okay, then I..."

His unfinished words came to an abrupt end. At this time, Chen Wenjian had also reached the third floor, and was greeted by a splash-ink landscape painting hanging between two bookshelves.

"Chen Wenjian." Chen Yunli's voice was a little dazed, and then it turned into ecstasy: "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Go forward! Look at the bookshelf on the left!"

Chen Wenjian understood something from his tone and quickened his pace instantly: "Did you sense it?"

"Yes, it's very clear, like a light suddenly turning on in the dark night!" As he got closer, Chen Yunli's perception became stronger and stronger. "Look at the third row of the bookshelf, the third book from the left!"

Before he finished speaking, Chen Wenjian had already pulled out the book. On the faded cover were printed a few words - "Legend of the Exiled Immortal on the Yuman River".

Wait a minute! This seems to be... a storybook?