The room was dark except for the moonlight shining through the window.

The person who returned home at night pushed the door open and walked towards the desk in the dark room.

A candle suddenly lit up, and the bright yellow candlelight opened up a world.

The night returnee picks up the pen and writes without thinking under the lamp, and finishes it in one go.

The pen stops, the words are completed, and the lights go out.

The wind fills the dark room.

…

In the early morning, the sun rises.

Zhao Rong got up early, completed his daily morning exercises and lessons, ate the breakfast brought by the servants, packed up his things, put on his book box, tied his sword around his waist, and strode out.

Just as he stepped out of the door, he suddenly stopped, glanced at the desk in the room, and turned away.

On the desk, there was a carefully folded piece of poetry lying quietly. A few wisps of breeze were lingering around, but the poem paper did not move at all.

Zhao Rong came to Su Xiaoxiao's yard, called out a few times, and then waited. After about a quarter of an hour, Su Xiaoxiao came out of the door happily, carrying her small bookcase on her back.

Zhao Rong curled his lips and turned away.

Su Xiaoxiao saw this and hurried to catch up. "Wait for me, wait for me."

Zhao Rong didn't even turn around. "Why are you so slow? Every time you say five minutes, it ends up taking more than a quarter of an hour."

Su Xiaoxiao said confidently, "You are the same. Every time you coax me into thinking it will take half an hour, but in the end it's over in less than five minutes."

"I want to practice peerless magic, how can I have so much time to fool around with a stupid girl like you who hasn't even grown all her hair yet?"

Su Xiaoxiao took a few quick steps, looked at Zhao Rong's profile, tugged at the corner of Zhao Rong's clothes, and said hopefully, "Well, Zhao Rong, can you take a little longer next time?"

Zhao Rong frowned. "Su Xiaoxiao, you are too greedy!"

The corner of his clothes was tugged again.

Zhao Rong turned his head and saw the little fox demon's expectant eyes, but then he remembered something and said unhappily, "Seeing my mood, you always make trouble midway. Can't you cooperate with me? I'm very busy. I have to travel during the day and practice in my free time. As a result, I have to take time out to serve you at night. You still make trouble... How do I know whether the child born by Yingning and Wang Ziqi is a human or a demon?"

There was a pause. "Can't it be a half-demon?"

Su Xiaoxiao said seriously: "There are no half-demons."

Zhao Rong nodded. "What Su Huxian said is absolutely right. You can tell the story later."

The little fox demon, who loved to listen to the stories of fox fairies and scholars, panicked instantly, and hurried to coax Zhao Rong, but finally shamefully signed a series of humiliating treaties.

Zhao Rong nodded with satisfaction.

The two of them walked for a while on the winding corridors of the mansion carrying book boxes. They were a little lost, so Zhao Rong called a servant of the Lin family to lead the way. Soon they arrived at a quiet and elegant house. Su Xiaoxiao stayed outside waiting, while Zhao Rong followed the servant in.

Inside the house, in a room of low-key elegance, Lin Wenruo was sitting upright on a chair reading a book, wearing only a white inner garment. Behind him, a pretty maid was helping him tie up his hair. But just when she had done half of it, a servant came to the door and bowed his head to report a few words.

The maid who was helping the master to tie his hair was surprised to see that the master, who was sitting on a chair and reading seriously, immediately looked up and stood up when he heard someone coming, threw the book in his hand casually on the table, and strode out the door.

Lin Wenruo, with his hair down and wearing only a single piece of clothing, walked quickly to the reception room and stood outside the threshold, looking inside. Zhao Rong, who was carrying a bookcase on his back, was looking up at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall with his back to him. Lin Wenruo looked back at the door of the house and saw Su Xiaoxiao, holding a small bookcase and circling around a fruit tree.

A hint of disappointment flashed across Lin Wenruo's eyes. He sighed lightly, then smiled naturally and walked into the hall.

"Tzuyu is here."

Zhao Rong turned around and saw the visitor dressed like this, and couldn't help but smile. "Did I come at the wrong time and disturb Wen Ruo and Jia Ren's sweet dreams?"

Lin Wenruo raised her eyebrows. "Ah, they are so clingy. Qing Chi was going to get up early, but they dragged me to now. Well, Ziyu should also experience this kind of trouble, right?"

After saying this, he looked at Zhao Rong sincerely.

Zhao Rong didn't respond, but frowned and said seriously: "Wen Ruo, Confucian scholars like me should focus on serious matters, how can we indulge in the land of tenderness? This is what you told me last night!"

Zhao Rong said righteously, "No, I have to save you. Wen Ruo, go pick out a few of the most clingy ones and I'll take them away for you. You can't let them stay by your side and harm you anymore."

Lin Wenruo nodded: "Ziyu taught me a lesson. I was indeed a little slack. However, Ziyu is a person who can do great things, and I can't let them harm Ziyu. I'd better go back tonight and teach them a lesson."

There were two people in the hall, one was sincere and the other was upright. After looking at each other for a while, Lin Wenruo couldn't help but interrupted first, and the two of them burst into laughter.

Lin Wenruo looked Zhao Rong up and down. "Did Ziyu come to say goodbye to me?"

Then he smiled. "Tzuyu, please wait a moment. I have prepared a farewell gift for you."

After saying that, he clapped his hands.

Just as Zhao Rong was about to speak, he saw eight maids in elegant skirts coming in from outside the door.

They may be holding a tray or something else in their hands.

They lined up and stood in front of the two of them.

Zhao Rong raised his eyebrows.

Lin Wenruo walked forward.

On the tray in the hands of the first maid was a small incense burner and a dark black embroidered bag.

Lin Wenruo picked up the embroidered bag and handed it to Zhao Rong with a smile.

Zhao Rong took it curiously, pulled the rope, and immediately smelled a strange fragrance, with a deep milky aroma, but also a refreshing coolness. The blood in his body began to surge uncontrollably, as if a hungry shark smelled the freshest blood.

A closer look revealed a pile of brown-red sawdust inside the bag.

This reminded him of the incense that Lin Wenruo had lit in the carriage yesterday. However, the bag of spices in his hand had not been lit yet. Just smelling it directly was better than the incense that had been lit yesterday.

Zhao Rong took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, then looked up at Lin Wenruo.

"Ziyu, Zhongnan is rich in various spiritual objects. The bag of spices in your hand is one of the best agarwoods, called Qinnan, which is extremely rare. I don't know the exact price because our Lanxi Lin family never sells this thing and only leaves it for the family members to use."

"The fragrance of agarwood can help ignite blood and qi and stimulate meridians. It is one of the top auxiliary materials for the Qingxu and Zhenyi stages of the Dengtian Realm. However, we usually don't waste it on the Qingxu stage, but use it as a breakthrough material for the Zhenyi stage to open up the Great Circulation and enter the Fuyao Realm."

Lin Wenruo smiled and said, "Yesterday in the carriage, I saw Ziyu like incense, and then I saw Ziyu practicing hard, so I remembered this thing. This small bag is all the inventory in the family treasury, which should be enough for Ziyu to break through from the Zhenyi stage to the Fuyao stage."

"But I see that Ziyu is still in the Gold and Stone Stage. If she wants to use this item, she must be in the Clear Void Stage. To enter the Clear Void Stage from the Gold and Stone Stage, she needs to find a breath of innate energy. I can't do anything about this. She can only rely on herself. It's hard for external objects to help."

After saying this, Lin Wenruo walked to the second maid and picked up a rosewood box from the tray.

Lin Wenruo turned to face Zhao Rong and opened the wooden box. There was a purple handkerchief inside. He gently lifted the handkerchief, revealing a strange stone the size of a baby's fist with a smooth surface.

The whole body of the strange stone is light green, and there seems to be a dark green liquid flowing inside, moving around unsteadily, just like a living thing.

"Zhongnan is rich in Lantian jade, and the jade in the box comes from a thousand-year-old mine deep in Zhongnan Mountain. It is the best of Lantian jade and has reached the level of spiritual jade."

Lin Wenruo walked to the window and placed it under the sunlight. After three breaths, wisps of green smoke actually rose from the Lantian Lingyu and floated in the hall.

"I heard that Ziyu is going to Linlu Academy. All the scholars in the academy need to wear jade, and this piece of spiritual jade seed material can be used to polish it into a new jade pendant, or as an advanced material for an existing jade pendant."

Lin Wenruo smiled softly. "When I was studying at Siqi Academy, many of my classmates asked me to buy Zhongnan jade, but I didn't sell any. I only gave a few pieces to my close friends."

Lin Wenruo handed the Lantian Lingyu to the silent Zhao Rong and winked at him. "Tzuyu, take this jade and make a name for yourself in Linlu Academy."

Zhao Rong glanced at him, took the Lantian Lingyu, and lowered his head to admire it. He was also a jade lover, and he couldn't help but let it go when he saw a good jade.

Seeing this, Lin Wenruo turned around and went to the other maids.

"Tzuyu, this ancient zither is called Mingyu. It has the sound of jade colliding. I saw you liked it last night. I'll give it to you after I give it to you. You must practice playing the zither well. Don't be as disorganized as you were last night."

"Zi Yu, I heard that you were going to the Great Canal in the east and were planning to take a boat to Duyou City. I just happened to..."

“Tzuyu, this ivory paper cutter…”

"Tzuyu, this blue and white brush washer..."

"Ziyu, these two rare ancient books..."

A man with long hair and wearing only an undershirt walked up and down the hall, giving gifts to his friends who were about to leave.

Zhao Rong listened quietly without saying anything.

After a while, it seemed that everything that needed to be said had been said. Lin Wenruo sighed and came to the last maid.

There were no treasures on the last tray, but just two glasses of wine.

Lin Wenruo said apologetically and picked up a glass of wine. "Qing Chi has something important to do this morning, so I can't see Brother Ziyu off. I can only drink a farewell glass here. I hope Ziyu won't blame me."

After saying this, he picked up the wine glass and gestured to Zhao Rong.

Zhao Rong glanced at the man in front of him, then turned to look at the gifts on the tray.

Although it is certain that these gifts are not the most valuable treasures collected by the Lanxi Lin family.

but.

They are definitely the most thoughtful farewell gifts for Zhao Rong.

Zhao Rong smiled slightly, and picked up the remaining wine glass in front of everyone's gaze.

Seeing this, Lin Wenruo raised his glass and prepared to drink it all.

After finishing this glass of wine and seeing Zhao Rong off, he would start to fully prepare for the Confucianism-Taoism debate ten days later.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened in the hall.

Zhao Rong poured the wine in his hand horizontally in front of him and spilled it all on the ground.

Lin Wenruo was stunned.

Then, Zhao Rong put the agarwood spices and Lantian jade in his hand back to their original places, and stretched out his hand to push away all the trays in front of him.

"Wen Ruo, I don't want these things."

Lin Wenruo frowned and was about to speak when Zhao Rong's words came over.

"Who told you I was leaving?"

Lin Wenruo blinked, glanced at Zhao Rong's book box, then turned his head to look outside the open door, where Su Xiaoxiao was jumping and picking fruits under a fruit tree while holding a small book box.

Zhao Rong raised his eyebrows and said, "Didn't I promise Su Xiaoxiao that I would accompany her to go shopping in the city today? I came over to say hello to you."