In a carriage that was being urged towards Lanxi.

In the darkness, a tense man suddenly collapsed backwards, leaning loosely on the velvet pillow.

A hand reached out and groped on the wall of the car.

The next second, the hand forcefully opened the curtains, and the small window suddenly let in light, making the interior of the car bright and clear.

Lin Qingxuan tilted his head and looked out the window. That was Lanxi, where he grew up.

The carriage passed the crowd who were queuing to hand in their name tags to the Lanxi Lin family, passed them directly, and slowly drove into the manor.

The car stopped, Lin Qingxuan hastily wiped the sweat from his forehead, took a deep breath, and hurriedly got out of the car to look for the young helmsman of Lanxi Lin's.

It is urgent and there is no time to lose.

…

The sun sets in the east and dusk approaches.

Zhao Rong said goodbye to Lin Wenruo with a smile, and at the fork in the gallery, the two prepared to separate.

Suddenly a figure walked out from the shadow of a tall building not far to the left.

Zhao Rong looked at it curiously.

Lin Wenruo, who had his back to the figure, saw Zhao Rong's gaze behind him and couldn't help but look back.

It was dusk, the light was dim, and the figure was walking slowly in the shadows.

Zhao Rong took a few looks at the person who came. Although his face was a little unclear in the darkness, he still recognized who it was because of his familiar figure and gait. He subconsciously glanced at Lin Wenruo.

Lin Wenruo no longer had the smile on his face when he said goodbye. He looked serious and frowned as he looked at the person who came.

The man in the shadow was about to step into the sunset where Zhao Rong and the others were. He spoke with a hoarse voice, "Lin Wenruo, I..."

"What did you call me?" Lin Wenruo asked coldly.

"...Master, I have something...Can he go first?" In the shadows, the man seemed to tilt his head and look in the direction of Zhao Rong.

Zhao Rong coughed lightly, and prepared to turn around and leave, not wanting to get involved in the affairs of these two brothers.

But a voice immediately sounded and stopped him.

"What's something you don't want Tzuyu to know?"

Lin Wenruo said impatiently, "If you have something to say, please say it!"

The man walked out from the shadows, his steps slowed down a bit, and he remained silent.

His eyes were fixed on the man among the two people standing in the sunset, whose face was somewhat similar to his.

He returned in a hurry at noon and anxiously looked for him in the manor for the whole afternoon, but there was no sign of him!

Later, I heard a servant say that he saw the master carrying wine and a distinguished guest to the back mountain for fun.

Tomorrow is a debate on Confucianism and Taoism that will determine the survival of the Lanxi Lin family, and you actually still have time to go out drinking with others! ?

The man in the shadows suddenly looked at Zhao Rong.

It’s this poor guy again!

Lin Wenruo, if you try to curry favor with him like this, can he really guarantee that he will help you win the Confucianism-Taoism debate tomorrow?

And Sister Yuqing is the same. She is so afraid of him that she wants me to drug him!

What's so great about this guy? Just because he can write two good poems? No matter how good his poems are, how good is his debate? There are so many debate masters in Zhongnan Kingdom, who is he?

You both take him so seriously, yet one of you wants me to kneel down and apologize to him, and the other wants me to humble myself and approach him to drug him!

If it's for the Lanxi Lin family, I'm willing to bow my head and apologize to him! But if I, Lin Qingxuan, a seven-foot-tall man, are asked to kneel down to him?

You all go to hell! I won't kneel!

Zhao Rong, who was a low-grade horse but was mistaken for a high-grade horse, saw that the atmosphere was a bit awkward and depressing, so he decided to run away immediately.

"Wen Ruo, I have something else to do. I'll leave first. You guys can chat slowly."

After saying that, he turned around and left without waiting for Lin Wenruo to speak.

After this outsider left, only the two Lin brothers were left.

The man who was about to step out of the shadows stared at Zhao Rong. When he saw him walking away, he withdrew his gaze and was about to speak, but was suddenly interrupted by a scolding.

"What's the matter? Tell me quickly!" Lin Wenruo walked to the railing beside, put his hands behind his back, turned his back to him, and urged.

The man narrowed his eyes and spoke hoarsely, "Today, I am in Fengqi Tower..."

When Lin Wenruo heard about this one of the most famous brothels in Luojing, he frowned and interrupted in a cold voice: "You are bothering me with these bullshit again, Lin Qingxuan, I tell you, if you dare to fool around in that kind of place again, I will break your legs!"

At dusk, the setting sun stretched the shadows of the buildings and pavilions longer and longer. The man who had been "chasing" the shadows and was about to step out of the darkness suddenly stopped when he heard the cold voice.

The golden sunset and the dim black formed a clear horizontal line.

One is on this side, one is on that side.

One hides in darkness, the other basks in light.

It seems... it has always been like this since I was a child, the man in the shadow thought.

Lin Wenruo suddenly turned around and asked, "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"No... I'm okay." The man spoke softly, his face hidden in the darkness, blurry and unclear.

Lin Wenruo hesitated for a moment, pursed his lips and asked, "Are you really okay?"

"It's just a small matter. No need to bother you." The man's expression was unclear and his voice was calm.

Lin Wenruo put his hands behind his back, slowly turned around, glanced at the man, and left without saying a word.

The sky seemed to be getting darker.

Lin Qingxuan lowered his head slightly, staring at the horizontal line dividing light and darkness under his feet, only to see it being pushed farther and farther away by the setting sun.

Instead of stepping over it and walking up the winding gallery bathed in the sunset, he turned and walked on the dim path among the trees.

The pace is getting faster and faster.

He loosened his right hand, whose nails were dug into his palm, reached into his arms tremblingly, and took out the small porcelain bottle containing some white odorless powder. He held it tightly in his hand. It was a little slippery because of the leakage of some liquid.

But his mind was no longer on that.

He puffed out his cheeks and clenched his teeth.

He wanted to return to his house quickly.

He needs to prepare well.

He had to sincerely admit his mistake to his brother, and then let him take him to apologize to Zhao Ziyu.

He wanted to ask Zhao Ziyu to drink the glass of apology wine he carefully prepared!

Lin Qingxuan tightly grasped the porcelain bottle in his hand.

You all must die!

He roared in his heart, but for some reason, thinking about such a happy thing, tears couldn't be stopped from rolling down from the corners of his eyes.

He raised his hand silently to wipe it, and the sticky liquid overflowing from his palm mixed with the hot tears and smeared his face.

But his hands kept moving, wiping all the time, his steps getting faster and faster, running along the secluded path in the manor, avoiding the bright fire and returning to his residence.

The last rays of sunset are being released and are about to disappear into the row of mountains in the distance.

The man who was walking hurriedly and impatiently past a secluded pavilion near the water suddenly stopped.

The whole person did not move at all.

He slowly turned his head and looked at the lonely tree in the open space in front of the pavilion.

"What's the result?"

He walked to the tree in a daze and looked up at the ginkgo tree that they had planted twenty years ago.

The evening breeze blew by, and the lights in the distance cast some faint light. The ginkgo nuts among the ginkgo leaves swayed slightly along the branches.

He loosened his clenched right hand and casually stuffed the small porcelain bottle back into his arms. He stretched his hand upward, but suddenly retracted it halfway, rubbed his right hand vigorously on his clothes in front of his chest, then reached out again and touched two round ginkgo nuts on the tree. He lightly covered them with three fingers and stared at them without blinking.

The tree was getting taller and taller. He remembered when he, his father and his brother had just planted it, he held a shovel and moved over to measure it. At that time, it was only as high as his eyebrows, but now he had to tiptoe to reach it.

He remembered that his father smiled and said that this was planted for his grandson, next to the pavilion where he often came to study, and he would watch it every day until it bore fruit. Every time he talked about this, he would rub his and his brother's pigtails with one hand each, look down at the two of them, grin and say: You two boys, grow up quickly and get married, and give me more fat grandchildren.

And every time this happened, the brother who worshipped their father would nod his head seriously, and I, who was loved by my father, would turn my head to avoid his warm palm, hold up the wooden sword in my hand, and stubbornly say that I would ride a horse to fight in the world in the future, and would not get married and stay at home.

But now the ginkgo tree has produced ginkgo fruits, but where are the people who were standing by the tree back then?

That year, my father hanged himself. After that, my brother and I chose different paths and drifted further and further apart. Every year, I came here less and less frequently. Later, I had forgotten about it except that I would suddenly remember it in the middle of the night and make sure to come and see it again. However, I would forget about it the next day because of various things.

Until now, I don’t even know when it bloomed. When I saw it again, it had already borne fruit!

It was unknown how long the man stood under the tree. At a certain moment, he left in a daze.

…

An ancestral hall filled with countless tablets.

Lin Wenruo was standing in front of the door holding a bottle of wine. He placed the sweet-scented osmanthus wine, which he had been holding for the entire afternoon since it was unearthed, on the steps and walked in slowly.

Facing the tablets of the ancestors of the Lanxi Lin family, the tall scholar stood quietly in the center, silent.

…

It was late at night. Tomorrow would be the much-anticipated Confucian-Taoist debate. Zhao Rong was preparing to rest early. Just as he was about to go to sleep, he heard someone knocking on the door.

He was wearing a robe and opened the gate. He saw two men standing quietly outside the door. They were the Lin brothers, followed by a maid holding a tray.

Zhao Rong touched his nose and invited them in.

Lin Qingxuan stared at Zhao Rong for a moment, suddenly smiled apologetically, reached out and picked up a glass of wine from the tray of the maid beside him, and raised it with both hands.

"Qingxuan was ignorant before and offended Master Zhao. Qingxuan has deeply realized his mistake. I hope Master Zhao will forgive Qingxuan!"

After saying that, he raised his head and drank the wine without waiting for Zhao Rong to react. Then he picked up the only remaining glass of wine on the maid's tray, held it with both hands, and handed it respectfully to Zhao Rong.

Zhao Rong raised his eyebrows but did not take it immediately. He glanced at Lin Wenruo who was behind the man handing over the wine. The latter smiled helplessly when he saw him looking at him.

Zhao Rong understood a little bit, glanced at Lin Qingxuan who was standing in front of him with a sincere look, was silent for a moment, took the wine glass with both hands, drank it all, and turned the glass over to signal.

The man who was passing the wine and had already made peace with his brother took a look at the wine glass, raised the corners of his mouth, and his expression was extremely sincere.