"OK."

This was his answer.

Lin Wenruo finally got a response. The corners of his mouth, which had been slightly raised, curved into an exaggerated arc, but his eyes dimmed slightly.

Lin Wenruo smiled brightly. "That's right. There's nothing wrong with letting go of love between men and women. Our generation..."

Zhao Rong interrupted with a sincere expression: "Okay, I will tell Su Xiaoxiao the truth."

Lin Wenruo was stunned and his smile slowly faded.

Zhao Rong suddenly felt a little guilty, but he had already made the decision to give it a try, so he no longer wavered.

You have given me so much, so I will give it all back to you. As for whether you want it or not, it has nothing to do with me.

Well, so I’m not a bootlicker, I’m just repaying a debt of gratitude.

Zhao Rong, who felt that he was a responsible man, said seriously, "I will tell that stupid girl to stop reading those messy books. She keeps thinking about nonsense and asking me weird questions. I will tell her to listen to Wen Ruo more. Women should be more reserved and aloof. It's just one less dog licking her. What's the point of getting him back? She is a fox...fox...silly girl who talks nonsense but looks okay. There are a lot of dogs licking her. She even says 'she actually cares about him'. She is just greedy for others' licking. How hypocritical!"

Finally, the words were smoothed over and Zhao Rong breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't feel any guilt at all for his double standards.

I just apologized to Su Xiaoxiao who was probably sleeping in bed at the moment but had her reputation ruined by someone else. I thought about giving her some compensation next time.

I just don’t want to disappoint Brother Wenruo. After all, he advised me with good intentions, but I chose to go against him.

Thinking of this, Zhao Rong looked at Lin Wenruo, whose smile had frozen.

Lin Wenruo ignored the strange words in Zhao Rong's words, bent down and took out two unopened bottles of wine from under the table, threw one to Zhao Rong, opened the other, filled a cup, raised it casually, and squinted. "So Ziyu still wants to go find her."

Zhao Rong pretended to be stupid and said, "Well, I will go to Su Xiaoxiao tomorrow morning and convey Wen Ruo's advice."

Suddenly, Zhao Rong saw that the man in front of him, who always had a smile on his face, completely stopped smiling for the first time tonight.

Just like that time in the carriage, I asked him why he did so many things.

At this time, Lin Wenruo had a serious expression and bright eyes.

He said sincerely. "Tzuyu already has the answer in her heart. When Qingchi just said those words to persuade you to let go, what Tzuyu was struggling with in her heart was actually what she really wanted to do. Don't worry about what Qingchi just said. Those words were just to make Tzuyu more clear about what her true feelings are, instead of continuing to hesitate."

"Go find her! Leave tomorrow, don't delay. I believe that the woman who can make Zi Yu's heart beat must be extraordinary, and we can't let other men get her."

Zhao Rong was stunned. He looked at the man in front of him who seemed to have light in his eyes. He was speechless. After a lot of effort, he managed to utter: "She, she is my wife!"

Lin Wenruo smiled again and said, "Oh, it's still a couple quarreling, why don't you go and comfort her!"

For the first time ever, Zhao Rong felt a little shy when being stared at, so he quickly drank and used the wine jug to cover up his embarrassment.

But then he was teased by Lin Wenruo again.

"Hey, Tzuyu, you've already decided to go find her, so why do you still have that 'hesitant' expression? I thought you just listened to me."

Zhao Rong choked again. "Well, this is just a pity that I can't walk through a sea of ​​flowers like Wen Ruo without getting a single leaf on me."

Lin Wenruo put down his wine glass and chuckled. "Why should I envy him? He is just a heartless person."

Although this was said in a joking manner, it was accompanied by a sigh. After saying it, he lowered his head and took a sip of wine.

But Zhao Rong was in high spirits at the moment, and asked curiously: "How did Wen Ruo manage to marry so many women without making them jealous? How do you handle so many women?"

Lin Wenruo raised his eyebrows and slowly stretched out his right hand.

Zhao Rong looked puzzled as he looked at the slender, white hand in front of him that was as fair as a woman's.

The owner of the hand slowly retracted three fingers, leaving only two slender fingers standing upright in front of Zhao Rong.

One middle finger and one index finger.

Lin Wenruo blinked.

Zhao Rong was puzzled at first, then he looked at the two slender fingers carefully.

The next second, two fingers suddenly hooked inward.

Zhao Rong suddenly opened his eyes wide, and suddenly understood, with an expression of disbelief in his eyes.

Seeing Zhao Rong's sudden strange look, Lin Wenruo was a little confused. He hooked his finger again, and seeing Zhao Rong's look was even stranger, he could not help but said helplessly: "I asked you to come closer. It's better to speak softly about this kind of secret."

"Wen Ruo is absolutely right. You'd better speak softly." Zhao Rong lowered his voice, then leaned forward and quietly moved closer.

If you look from a distance at this time, you can see a handsome Confucian scholar in the pavilion whispering in the ear of another ordinary Confucian scholar. But after just a few words, the latter suddenly straightened up and stared at the other with a stern face.

"That's it?"

“Isn’t that enough?”

The ordinary scholar sneered. "I know that Master Lin is handsome, but there is no need to show off in front of me. This is a unique skill of reincarnation, and I can't learn it. In front of Master Lin, I just feel ashamed."

The handsome scholar coughed lightly, still holding up the two fingers, and spoke apologetically. "Ziyu, I was just kidding. Besides, most of the outstanding women nowadays are judged by their inner qualities. Ziyu is a gentleman who hides his talents and acts according to the situation. If he doesn't make a sound, he will be amazing..."

The more Zhao Rong listened, the more strange it seemed. "What else are you going to say?"

Lin Wenruo stopped immediately, glanced at Zhao Rong's face, and said seriously: "Actually, there is no trick."

After saying that, he closed his middle finger.

"First, I don't have a relationship with them. I'm the master, and they should obey me."

Then, the index finger was put away again.

"Secondly, don't we Confucians advocate that women should follow the Three Obediences and Four Virtues? My Lanxi Lin family is a family of scholars and scholars, and we govern our family according to Confucian ethics. There is no need for me to worry about this. It's you, Ziyu, whose ideas are very strange."

Zhao Rong thought about it and nodded, realizing that he still had many remnants of ideas from his previous life. However, he did not feel the need to force himself to change them all at once, and just let things take their course.

Zhao Rong raised his eyebrows and sighed, "I didn't expect that we who study Confucianism would have such benefits."

Lin Wenruo reacted instantly. "You are so good, Zhao Ziyu. I thought you were a loyal person, but I didn't expect you to be so fickle. Now you haven't even eaten what's in the bowl, and you're only looking at what's in the pot."

"Don't talk nonsense, I'm just asking, besides." Zhao Rong put his knowledge into practice. "Can the affairs of a scholar like me be called fickle?"

Lin Wenruo; “…”

Everything was quiet all around and the night was getting darker, but the two people in the pavilion were talking more excitedly about sex and everything.

From the folk customs far away in the rivers and lakes to the national policies in the temple.

From the experience of catching cicadas in summer to the interesting things about reading in childhood.

The light of the cup was reflected in the glass, and the wine wet my silk shirt.

Zhao Rong looked drunk and jokingly asked, "You are trying to get me drunk. How do you feel about that?"

Lin Wenruo was a person of high cultivation, so it was difficult for him to get drunk. Upon hearing this, his eyes left the overturned wine glass on the table and turned to Zhao Rong. He saw that Zhao Rong's eyes were hazy, but there was a smile on his lips, and it was unclear whether he was drunk or sober.

The two of them met at the Drunken Old Man Pavilion and got drunk together at the Lakeside Pavilion.

Some words.

One person has not spoken, the other has been waiting.

Zhao Rong exhaled heavily, put down the wine pot, supported his knees with both hands, and leaned forward. "Hey, Lin Wenruo, tell me what happened."

Lin Wenruo looked at the drunk and frivolous man in front of him and was silent for a while. "It's okay, your wife is important, don't delay the business."

"Lin Wenruo, why are you being so fussy? Just say what I tell you to say. Why be so polite? Besides..." Zhao Rong burped. "Besides, I may not help you. If it's too dangerous and I can't even save my own life, I will definitely run away. Even if you give me your concubines, I won't help you."

Zhao Rong laughed and said, "Then I can only wait for this young master to return after completing his studies, and then I can collect your body and burn some paper money for you."

Zhao Rong shouted, "Lin Wenruo, how many concubines do you have? Do you have more than ten?"

Lin Wenruo ignored Zhao Rong's nonsense. He glanced outside the pavilion, turned around, and spoke calmly, "Qing Jingzi and I have decided on the Confucianism and Taoism debate in front of the king and 100,000 people. Including today, it will be ten days later."

“At that time, the King of Zhongnan, all the civil and military officials in the court, the people of the whole city, and countless Zhongnan hermits and monks in the mountains will all watch this debate.”

Zhao Rong tilted his head: "What rules?"

Lin Wenruo briefly explained the rules, but did not explain every detail.

"Three people from each of the Confucian and Taoist parties will have three debates. Each person can only go on stage once, and no matter whether they win or lose, they must leave. The party with the most wins in the three rounds wins. Qingjingzi and I must participate, and there is no limit on the number of other people. The rules are similar to the Qingtan, but there are some changes. There are no assistants on each side of each debate, and only one person can debate with another."

Zhao Rong nodded drunkenly.

Because of the special national conditions of Zhongnan, the culture of pure discussion is prevalent, and the whole country loves to discuss and debate. Pure discussion also has a general process, and Zhao Rong has a little understanding of it.

"I already had candidates, but one of them can't come." Lin Wenruo gently put the luminous wine glass on the table. "It's from Chongxu Temple."

Lin Wenruo narrowed his eyes and did not tell the whole story of the cause and effect of the candidate being leaked. At this point, there was no point in saying more. Moreover, this matter was extremely tortuous, with all kinds of coincidences and necessities interspersed in it. The bloody storm in it could not be explained clearly in a few words.

For now, just take care of the present and ensure that the details of the candidates are not leaked before the debate day.

Lin Wenruo glanced at Zhao Rong again. "Time is already tight, there are only ten days left, but we are still short of a candidate..."

Zhao Rong understood the whole story, but he did not respond to Lin Wenruo's question. Instead, he continued, "What is the price? What is the price of this Confucian-Taoist debate?"

Lin Wenruo said slowly: "This is a bet, the winner takes everything on the table. Chongxu Temple is betting on their position as the state religion. If they lose, the Taoist priests will never be able to interfere in the government of Zhongnan Kingdom, and all the Taoist temple lands under Taibai Mountain will also be handed over to the Lanxi Lin family."

"We can add more weight to the gambling table as long as both parties agree."

Zhao Rong tilted his head and suddenly asked another question: "Why would Chongxu Temple bet with you? If we ignore you and stay as still as a mountain, won't we be invincible?"

Lin Wenruo's mouth curled up. "Because I convinced the king. Everyone thought that I forced the king to decide the Confucianism-Taoism debate at the Spring Festival. Little did they know that the king had actually tolerated Chongxu Temple for a long time, but was afraid of its power. I just handed the king a knife, which was me, Lin Qingchi, and the Lanxi Lin family behind me."

"The dispute between Confucianism and Taoism is the best outcome that the king and I can strive for!"

Zhao Rong rubbed his eyes. Although he was only in the Gold Stone Stage of the Ascension Realm, his physique was slightly stronger than that of an ordinary person. The words he had just spoken had sobered him up a lot, so he slowly calmed down and stopped talking nonsense. "Too risky."

Zhao Rong exhaled lightly, then asked curiously, "How did you convince the king? I heard that the king is fond of alchemy and is very close to Chongxu Temple. He is even a registered Taoist priest of Chongxu Temple."

"First of all, before he became a Taoist priest, he was a monarch. Although I learned the art of slaying dragons, reforming the country to make it strong and the people rich is more beneficial to him as a monarch. Even if his imperial power is restricted by me, a hundred years later, when I, Lin Wenruo, am gone, this land that has been revitalized by the new law reform will still be passed on to his descendants, and will still belong to his Zhu family. So regarding Zhongnan Kingdom, my interests are the same as his."

"Secondly, he is practicing alchemy and cultivating Taoism just to seek immortality. Ha, it's just cultivation. What Qing Jingzi can give him, I, Lin Qingchi, can also give him."

Zhao Rong frowned and said, "You know that the king under the mountain cannot enter Haoran, not only because it is written into the "Xuan Emperor Law", but also because the king is attacked by the dragon's energy, and is naturally in conflict with the spiritual energy, and cannot attract the spiritual energy into the body. How can you help him to seek immortality in spite of the world's disapproval?"

Lin Wenruo smiled softly. "I just made him a promise like Qing Jingzi did. He actually knew that this was impossible, but how could a mortal resist the temptation of immortality? Sometimes people just need an excuse and a wish to live. I can give him these easily. Besides, isn't the Confucian scholar's understanding of the Haoran Realm much better than that of the Taoist priest? Do you think the hope I gave him is greater or the hope the Taoist priest gave him is greater?"

"In the end, even if we lose the battle between Confucianism and Taoism, it won't have much impact on him. He will still be the king of Zhongnan. At most, he will never be able to raise his head in front of Chongxu Temple again. Compared with a future where the mountain above his head is removed, I don't need to teach him which one to choose."

Zhao Rong was silent. He stared into his eyes and said word by word, "You haven't told me what will happen if you lose. What is the weight you put on the gambling table?"

Lin Wenruo slightly avoided the gaze of the scholar in front of him. "It's nothing, it's just that the Lanxi Lin family moved out of Zhongnan Kingdom. Ziyu doesn't need to feel too burdened."

Lin Wenruo looked back at Zhao Rong. "Zhao Ziyu, you don't have to feel guilty. If you can stay and help me, Qing Chi will be grateful; but if you choose to leave, Qing Chi will have no complaints."

Lin Wenruo raised his glass and suddenly smiled confidently. "Besides, who am I, Lin Qingchi? I still have some tricks up my sleeve. Even without Tzuyu, I think I have a good chance of winning."

Zhao Rong did not speak, but lowered his eyes slightly, silently looking at the scholar in front of him with a bright smile but lonely eyes, and asked the last question of the night, which might also be the last question of their lives.

“Is it worth it?”

Lin Wenruo was stunned when he heard this, then burst into laughter. "If there is a way in Zhongnan, Wenruo will not change it!"

The happy man raised his glass to invite him.

"It's none of my business. I won't disappoint the moon. I'll pour my cup. Please do as you please."

A close friend, good wine, smoke-filled pavilions and the bright moon, are enough to last eternity.