Lin Wenruo looked at the face of the young scholar in front of him in silence.

His appearance could only be considered decent, but he had a pair of bright eyes. They were not like the dazzling stars like those peerless geniuses that Lin Wenruo had seen, but contained a little light, like a lamp in a dark room that had been there for a thousand years.

When you look him in the eye and talk to him, he will always look you in the eye, and you can be sure that he is listening to you carefully, no matter how carelessly you speak.

Lin Wenruo already knew this when he first met him.

Lin Wenruo closed his eyes, raised his head slightly, exhaled the foul air in his chest, and straightened his slightly relaxed waist and shoulders. He suddenly opened his eyes, stared at the calm eyes in front of him, and nodded heavily.

The "Wenruo Horse Racing" planned that night had failed, but they had not lost yet.

In the distance, Lan Yuqing, who was looking at Lin Wenruo with a smile, suddenly froze her smile, which she slowly restrained. She slightly narrowed her eyes and looked up and down at Zhao Rong beside Lin Wenruo. But the next second, she looked away and glanced at the green smoke curling on the high platform.

The ancient bell hidden in the woods not far away was rung, it was already two quarters past noon.

Mr. Liuyi stood up and looked around on the platform.

Gradually, the noisy voices in the lecture hall subsided.

The old man's voice was like a loud bell. "The third round of the Confucian-Taoist debate has officially begun. Please come to the stage!"

Zhao Rong immediately turned around, without looking at anyone, and walked forward without saying a word.

Behind him, Lin Wenruo, Su Xiaoxiao and everyone from the Lanxi Lin family stood up and watched him, gazing at his thin back as he went on stage.

Zhao Rong gently grabbed his robe with one hand and slowly walked up the stairs.

He could feel countless eyes on him.

At this moment, there are only two protagonists on the field.

A young Confucian scholar wearing a plain white Confucian robe, and an old man with a wrinkled face wearing a Nanhua scarf.

The platform was spacious, with only a desk in the center, an incense burner, and two black cushions.

When Zhao Rong arrived at the platform, the old man in the Nanhua scarf was already there waiting.

Zhao Rong lifted up his robe, knelt down across the table opposite the old man, and looked him in the eye.

Those were a pair of calm eyes.

Zhao Rong smiled at him, and the other party smiled and nodded.

Then Zhao Rong stopped smiling, turned his head to glance at the incense burner that was slowly emitting white smoke, sniffed it gently, and seemed to think the smell was good, so he couldn't help but tilt his head back and sniff a few more times.

Below the stage, Lan Yuqing had been paying attention to Zhao Rong since he stood up to go on stage. When he saw him step into the curling smoke, a smile unconsciously appeared on his lips. Now seeing that Zhao Rong was still sniffing hard without knowing the danger, he couldn't help but snort with a smile, staring at his profile without blinking, as if expecting something.

On the other side, where the Lanxi Lin family was, a man with a still bloated face was staring intently at the scholar on the stage who had drunk his apology wine last night.

On the high platform, Mr. Liuyi was whispering something.

Lan Yuqing didn't hear a word he said, but stared intently at the expression of Zhao Ziyu who was sniffing the incense and listening attentively.

Only ten breaths passed, and the young scholar still had a calm expression.

Lan Yuqing couldn't help but frown.

The next second, in her sight, the young scholar suddenly turned his head and looked towards her, with the corners of his lips raised in a strange smile.

Lan Yuqing was so frightened by this sudden scene that the jade ruyi in her hand fell straight to the ground with a clinking sound. When she came to her senses and looked again, Zhao Ziyu had turned his head away from her, but the smile on his cheeks still remained, reminding her that it was not an illusion.

At this moment, in Lan Yuqing's eyes, that smile was more dazzling than the scorching sun at noon!

She had a cold face and frowned. She did not try to pick up the fallen jade at the first time. Instead, she slowly turned her head and locked her eyes on Lin Qingxuan, one of the people in the group in front of her on the left.

The latter still looked up, staring intently at the stage, as if he didn't notice her gaze. However, under her cold gaze, at a certain moment, he suddenly closed his eyes, swallowed his saliva, then pursed his lips into a line, and continued to look at the stage without moving.

Lan Yuqing glared at Lin Qingxuan relentlessly, her breathing becoming heavier. Suddenly, a slender figure that she was very familiar with entered her field of vision.

Lin Wenruo, looking slightly haggard, walked up to Lin Qingxuan and stood beside him, shielding him from the biting gaze of a woman who once treated him like a brother and was willing to find a "smooth road" for him not long ago.

Lin Wenruo did not look at the woman in purple. In fact, he had not looked at her for a long time and would never look at her again.

Even though she was so close to him at this moment, he would look away; even though he was standing at the foot of Mount Taibai soon and she handed him a white silk, he would close his eyes and stretch out his hand; even though he brought the "guests" to climb the mountain tonight and asked the owner of the mountain to die and see her off, he would lower his eyes.

He would not, could not, look at her again.

Lin Wenruo and Lin Qingxuan stood side by side, speechless for a moment, watching intently the third conversation on the podium that was about to begin to determine the fate of the Lanxi Lin family and the thousand-year-old national fraud of the Zhongnan Kingdom.

The importance of this conversation to Zhongnan Kingdom is beyond description, as it involves many things.

It determines the future fate of countless people here, it determines how Zhongnan Kingdom will appear in front of neighboring countries in the future, and it determines whether the unique large business in the northern mountains of Wangque Continent that can sell Zhongnan Mountain spiritual objects will be named Lin or Lan.

The Lin brothers silently looked at the Confucian scholar on the stage.

"Can we win?" My brother's voice was low and hoarse.

"I definitely can." The elder brother's voice was gentle and mellow, just like the promise he made to his younger brother in the Lin Family Ancestral Hall last night.

But in fact, Lin Wenruo knew that Lin Qingxuan simply wanted to hear this sentence as a reason to convince himself.

"If we win, can she not die?"

"No one wants her to die, except herself."

"The tree bears fruit."

"I know."

"Was Chongxu Temple really responsible for Dad's death?"

"I don't know. Maybe he couldn't stand the criticism after the failed reforms. Maybe he just felt guilty for the people whose families were destroyed because of him."

"What about you? Will you be the same as him?"

Lin Wenruo didn't say anything.

Lin Qingxuan said softly: "Brother, I understand."

Lin Wenruo turned his head and looked at his brother's profile.

Suddenly, he raised his right hand and gently placed it on Lin Qingxuan's shoulder.

This was the first time in seventeen years that the two Lin brothers had been close to each other.

On the high platform, Mr. Liuyi finished reciting the rules of Qingbian, which he had already said twice before but had to reiterate.

The third round of discussion officially began.

Zhao Rong stood up and saluted first, saying to the old man in the Nanhua scarf, "I am Zhao Rong, with the courtesy name Ziyu. I am from Qianjing, the capital of the Great Chu Dynasty, and a student of the Imperial Academy of Qianjing."

Suddenly, the whole audience fell silent. This was the introduction segment that deserved applause.

Suddenly, a burst of applause rang out in the silent venue.

Su Xiaoxiao raised her hands, tilted her little head, curved the corners of her lips, narrowed her eyes, and clapped hard, but then looked at the people around her strangely. Why didn't they speak?

Lan Yuqing, Qing Jingzi and others were surprised. Aren't you the direct disciple of the headmaster of the academy? What kind of medicine is Lin Wenruo selling?

Lin Wenruo coughed lightly.

Lin Qingxuan sighed.

Chen Muzhi's old face turned red, feeling a little embarrassed.

Most of the audience members looked puzzled. Was the Lanxi Lin family originally planning to give up the third game?

The old man in the Nanhua scarf still had a calm expression. He stood up to return the greeting and said slowly, "I am Tao Yuanran, a guest official of the Louguan Taoist sect, a Taoist scholar of the Wangque and Taiqing four prefectures, and a Taoist gentleman."

“Wow!”

The whole place exploded, like an evil dragon raising its head in a deep blue lake.

The lecture platform was bustling with noise.

This is a gentleman among the hundreds of schools of thought!