Outside the maple forest of Lanzhou Ferry, there was a man and a woman, standing ten steps apart, staring at each other.

A few breaths ago, the two were still walking side by side, chatting and laughing.

But at this moment, the atmosphere between them was a little weird.

Zhao Rong's smile disappeared and his face became expressionless.

Zhu Weirui stood with her hands behind her back, her lips curled up, her teeth white and her eyes bright, like a blooming orchid.

Neither of them spoke.

After a moment of silence, Zhao Rong nodded slightly, then put his hands into his sleeves, turned and walked towards Zhu Weirui.

Zhu Weirui had a smile on her face and was staring at him intently. When she saw Zhao Rong approaching, the curve of her mouth became even wider.

The woman in a scholar's robe and tied-up hair opened her red lips and prepared to speak again, but immediately, Zhao Rong walked past her without stopping and said a word.

Zhu Weirui turned his head and saw the tall figure of a man in front of him, walking directly towards Lanzhou Ferry.

She blinked and said in a clear voice, "Mr. Zhao, wait for me."

Zhao Rong paused, thought for a moment, turned around, clasped his fists and bowed, lowering his eyes, "Mr. Zhu, please respect yourself. You are the teacher and I am the student. I am not worthy of being called Master."

After saying this, he turned around, left directly and walked into the maple forest.

Zhu Weirui put down her hands behind her back, lowered her head and patted her sleeves, then continued walking towards Lanzhou Ferry.

at this time.

Zhao Rong walked in the maple forest, his steps a little hurried.

“Hahahahahahahaha—!”

His heart was filled with the laughter of a sword spirit named Gui.

Zhao Rong's expression was calm, "Have you laughed enough?"

“Hahahaha…” Gui was a little out of breath, “Wait wait, let me laugh for a while longer, hahahaha…”

"Please keep your voice down, it's creepy."

Gui smiled and said, "Zhao Rong, I'm so angry, aren't I? I thought Zhu Weirui was a flower-crazy person with no sense of direction, but it turns out that Master Zhao himself is an idiot. Hahaha, don't hold it in, just say it out."

"Angry?" Zhao Rong turned his mouth away. "That's it? I'm not angry. I guessed it. But it's okay this way. It's a bad impression anyway. Just don't think of me as a great man. I can't bear it."

Gui nodded, "Okay, then I'll laugh for a while, hahahaha..."

The corner of Zhao Rong's lips twitched.

He raised his hand and rubbed his face.

…

At Lanzhou Ferry, dozens of tables were neatly arranged on the open space.

The students of Ruexing Hall were all waiting quietly. Almost all the seats were occupied, but there was a seat at the rear right that was empty. The students around were doing their own things and no one paid any attention.

At the front of the open space, there is also a long red lacquered table, on which are neatly placed the four treasures of the study, elegant objects and curios, but the most numerous are the stacks of white paper, ranging from ordinary calligraphy rice paper to the exotic fragrant flower curtain paper popular among the literati in the mountains. There is everything, neatly stacked in the upper right corner of the table for easy access, with at least one stack of each type of paper.

At this moment, there was no one behind this carefully prepared red lacquered long table.

Mr. Zhu had not arrived yet, and the students in the open space were quietly busy with their own things, either practicing calligraphy or flipping through calligraphy copies. Even Fan Yushu, who in Zhao Rong's impression was always slacking off in class and who could only be divided into serious and not serious slacking off, seemed to be concentrating and writing with his head down.

The students of Ruxingtang are all gearing up and seem to be eager to try.

Yu Huaijin, who was in the front row and closest to the long lacquered red table, looked around, turned around and nodded slightly.

All the students in Shuexing Hall took Zhu Weirui's calligraphy class very seriously.

Besides the fact that she was one of the few talented and beautiful female teachers in the academy which was mostly filled with men, she was elegant, scholarly, and approachable, and the calligraphy she taught was a novelty in itself. Zhu Weirui also liked to set up some small tests and interactions in the calligraphy class to add some spice. Calligraphy was not like the other arts, as there was a daunting Yu Huaijin, so all students had a chance in this new art.

Therefore, Zhu Weirui's calligraphy class was very popular among the new students in Mochi Academy, and was not as controversial as it was among the academy teachers and older academy scholars.

However, what makes Mo Chi students quite troubled is that Mr. Zhu, who seems kind and pleasant during class, is very ruthless when it comes to grading homework or test papers.

What makes the students even more frustrated is that there is no fixed judging standard for calligraphy. It seems that the papers are graded based on Mr. Zhu's subjective opinions.

For them, after the answer sheets are handed out, they cannot figure out what is good about the good words of others that have been marked, and what is bad about the bad words of others that have been marked.

The neat characters you write carefully, stroke by stroke, may not be as good as those written casually by others.

However, these did not dampen the enthusiasm of the students at Shuxingtang for classes. After all, looking around, everyone around them seemed to be a layman with similar level, unable to appreciate the art, and just taking their chances in handing in the paper. So they just had to happily do their best, and maybe they would win a prize for nothing.

It’s not that there aren’t any such things, but they happen a lot.

Just like winning the lottery, I’m full of anticipation.

The hours ticked by, and not long ago, a bell rang from the distant mountains and forests, and it was almost time for class.

Yu Huaijin looked at the long table in front of him which was temporarily empty, then turned back to look at the entrance.

Along with her, many male students, including Wu Peiliang, were eagerly waiting for the opportunity.

Looking forward to that elegant orchid figure.

Crackling——

At this moment, at the entrance of the maple forest into the clearing, there was a sudden sound of trampling dead leaves.

Most of the students in Shuexingtang put down their work and looked back.

I saw a figure appear at the entrance. It was... Zhao Ziyu?

Everyone, including Yu Huaijin, was stunned.

He watched Zhao Rong roll up his sleeves and walk through the back rows of seats with a calm expression, returning to the empty seat where he had left. Along the way, he turned his head and smiled at Li Xueyu who was looking at him sideways, causing the latter to quickly move away.

Why are you back?

At this moment, before everyone had time to think about it, there was another slight sound coming from the entrance of the maple forest, and then an elegant figure in Confucian clothes appeared.

Zhu Weirui walked out of the maple forest and looked around the open space. His clear eyes paused slightly in the direction of Zhao Rong, and then he smiled brightly at the students of Ruxing Hall.

"Sorry, I'm a little late. I was delayed on the way."

She raised the corners of her mouth slightly, met the students' gazes, walked through the seats and came behind the long red lacquered table.

Many students looked at each other in bewilderment, and then they suddenly understood that they had met Ms. Zhu halfway, and their excuse for asking for leave was untenable, so they were rejected by her?

Wu Peiliang chuckled.

At this time, seeing Zhu Weirui taking his seat, Yu Huaijin stood up, and the students of Xingtang followed him, standing up and saluting, and singing loudly in unison.

"Good morning, Mr. Zhu."

"Everyone, please take a seat. Xuanji, is everyone here?"

Yu Huaijin glanced back at the expressionless Zhao Rong, then turned back and said, "Everyone is here, the teacher can start teaching now."

Zhu Weirui nodded slightly.

Suddenly, a strong wind from the river blew, and the clothes of everyone on the open space fluttered. Some students on the tables forgot to press down the paperweights, and the rice paper flew all over the sky, but fortunately, they were held down in time by the students behind the tables.

The river wind is noisy.

Zhu Weirui rolled up her sleeves, reached out her delicate hand, casually picked up a brush, and wrote quickly on a piece of rice paper for a while.

She put down her pen, picked up a corner of the paper with two slender fingers, and shook her wrist in the wind. Ten ink words actually fell out. The river breeze came again, blowing the ink words away into the wind.

When they looked, they saw a five-character line floating in the air: The orchid boat crosses the river in autumn, and the waves capsize without any wind.

The five-character verse suddenly disappeared.

In an instant, the students on the open space of Lanzhou Ferry only felt that the sound of the wind between heaven and earth suddenly stopped, and the noisy sounds of waves and maple leaves also disappeared.

The world became quiet.

Just look at the river and the mountains and forests, the waves and the forest waves are still rolling.

At this time, Zhu Weirui's clear voice came clearly.

"Everyone, do you think this wave of waves and forests is beautiful?"

The students looked away, thinking that the female teacher was giving them a lecture, but since they were familiar with each other's personalities, they were not afraid and responded to the teasing with laughter.

"Mr. Zhu, it looks great."

"It looks good, very pleasing to the eyes."

"I think you look just as good as me, sir."

"What a coincidence, I think so too."

Everyone responded, and it was quite lively.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Weirui shook his head with a smile, "Everyone, stop joking. I'm serious. Have you noticed anything about Lang Tao and Lin Tao?"

No one answered, many people shook their heads.

Zhu Weirui glanced in the direction of Zhao Rong, only to see that he was staring at the table with his head propped up, ignoring her.

Zhu Weirui bit his lip, but soon retracted his gaze and said with a smile: "Mr. Si, in the last class, didn't you ask us to listen to the sound in silence? Then this class is just right. We won't listen to the sound, but just watch the waves. The waves of Linhai and Lidu, sir, I can see the writing style."

She paused to let everyone digest the thought, then continued, "In today's class, I will first talk about brushstrokes. Recently, I have been observing calligraphy and have gained some insights into brushstrokes. Brushstrokes are the principles of using the brush and the basis for forming characters. They refer to the intention and momentum of calligraphy..."

As she spoke, Zhu Weirui used the river and forest views to explain the basic strokes of calligraphy in simple terms, most of which were based on experiences she had summarized.

Everyone listened with great interest...

In the audience.

Fan Yushu glanced at Zhao Rong and asked curiously, "Ziyu, didn't you ask for leave? Why are you back? Does Mr. Zhu know you?"

Zhao Rong was slowly placing paper, ink, brush and inkstone. Hearing this, especially the last sentence, he paused and turned around and said sincerely:

"When I thought about leaving you here alone, Yushu, my conscience hurt. Halfway through the journey, I couldn't stand the pain any more, so I came back to accompany you."

Fan Yushu was stunned when he heard this, then sighed, "I didn't expect Tzuyu to have a conscience. I wrongly blamed Tzuyu before. I'm sorry."

At this point, his expression changed, and he looked at Zhao Rong with sparkling eyes, hoping, "Then Ziyu, next time your sister-in-law comes to see you on a day off, can you take me with you to hide for half a day?"

"No." Zhao Rong blinked and said decisively.

Fan Yushu's expression changed, he turned his head with a stern face, and stopped paying attention to this good brother who betrayed his teammates at the critical moment, and began to listen to Zhu Weirui's lecture seriously.

Zhao Rong saw this and looked at him for a few seconds, wondering, "Hey, you're really listening to the class? This is not like you."

"Why doesn't this look like me? What's not like me? What do I look like in your eyes? Brother Ziyu, please don't disturb me while I'm studying. I'm different from you."

Fan Yushu said this seriously, as if he was going to draw a clear line and turn over a new leaf from now on.

Zhao Rong sighed with emotion, and then felt bored. What the female teacher said was quite interesting, but it was only for beginners, and he really couldn't listen to it. Zhao Rong felt that he had to do something meaningful in this class.

He looked at Fan Yushu's profile and said seriously, "Brother Yushu, let's chat. Tell me about Duyou City."

Fan Yushu listened to the class seriously and ignored the idiot, not wanting to do anything meaningful with him.

Zhao Rong opened his mouth and was about to say something else, but when he saw that many students around him were frowning, he closed his mouth, realized that something was wrong, smiled apologetically, and stopped talking.

The students around him shook their heads and stopped looking at him.

During the lecture, Zhu Weirui glanced in a certain direction from time to time, and saw that someone seemed to be distracted after listening for a while and his mind was not on the topic.

However, she was not annoyed. Instead, at a certain moment, her eyes lit up slightly.

The morning sun gradually rose, and soon, Zhu Weirui's teaching came to an end. She looked at the people in the audience and suddenly said:

"That's all for today's brushwork. Everyone, take a break. By the way, we'll follow the old rules and have a class test. It's very simple. In one stick of incense, you hand in a piece of calligraphy that you are most satisfied with. I will mark it and select the best one."

Many students looked up and their eyes lit up when they heard this.

Zhu Weirui smiled and said, "I know you guys are craving for the first prize again, but it's okay, I guarantee you'll like the prize this time."

After saying this, she took out a small emerald green bamboo tube from her sleeve and gently placed it on the desk.

Zhu Weirui was quiet for a moment, looked around, and noticed the curious gazes from the students of Ruxing Hall, including Zhao Rong who looked up.

She nodded in her heart and smiled: "This bamboo tube contains water from the Zhengguan Well. I just happened to get some recently. How about using this as a jackpot?"

Before Zhu Weirui finished speaking, a cry of surprise suddenly rang out from the open space.