Central Domain, Royal Academy, twenty days ago. It's late afternoon.
At the Royal Academy in late spring, students and teachers who had been practicing for half a day had gone back to their houses to rest.
However, at this moment, a black carriage drove slowly through the gate of the college. After the college guard checked the ID of the man in black on the military horse behind the carriage, he waved to let him go.
Men in black on four military horses followed the carriage into the academy.
The carriage drove lightly, bypassing the garden, crossing the square, and arrived in front of Dean Xia Yuan's small courtyard.
The carriage stopped, and the man in black dismounted and knocked on the courtyard door.
The curtain of the carriage was slightly lifted, and Tang Qiuyu, who was wearing a red skirt, got out of the carriage, stretched out her hand, and then came out Xia Wutong, who was wearing a yellow skirt.
After the master and apprentice returned to the Central Territory, they felt bored after staying for a few days, so they went on an excursion to the Royal Academy not far from the Imperial City.
The courtyard door opened, and the dean's housekeeper looked at the black man outside the courtyard and frowned.
After all, the dean is the uncle of the current emperor and the dean. He enjoys the highest authority in the five regions. No one dares to be so rude and disturb him at this hour.
But when he saw Xia Wutong standing in the spring breeze, his old eyes suddenly lit up.
He quickly stepped forward to greet her: "I didn't expect the little princess to arrive. I'm so far away from you, but I still hope to see you."
After saying this, he greeted Tang Qiuyu and walked in to welcome the master and apprentice. Four men in black stood outside the courtyard, and the military horses were tied under the tree beside the courtyard wall.
Entering the inner courtyard, I saw that the peach blossoms and pear blossoms in the garden have finished withering, new leaves have grown on the trees, and there are thin green grains like beans in the flowers, vying to grow.
Xia Yuan, who was sitting in the garden pavilion, was making tea and discussing Taoism with Nalan Kunxuan, the elder of the academy's sword pavilion.
When he saw the housekeeper Feng Bo leading Tang Qiuyu and Xia Wutong into the garden, he stopped chatting and greeted the master and apprentice with a smile.
"Grandpa Huang, Wutong is here to see you." Before the person arrived, the voice came first.
Xia Wutong approached and blessed Xia Yuan lightly, and Tang Qiuyu also stepped forward to salute the two of them.
Xia Yuan took Xia Wutong's little hand, pointed at the old man opposite and said, "This is the elder Zhilan Kunxuan of the Academy Sword Pavilion. He is an elder from the Tianshan Sword Sect and is the oldest person in the academy."
Xia Wutong and Nalan Kunxuan were also blessed. They opened their mouths and asked: "Elder Nalan, I know Nalan Yu and he is also a disciple of Tianshan Sword Sect. Are you his elder?"
Nalan Kunxuan stroked his beard and smiled: "That boy is my junior, the little bastard of our Na family. I didn't expect that the little princess actually knew him."
Xia Yuan asked the master and apprentice to sit down, picked up the teapot and washed the cups.
After pouring the tea, he asked: "The spring scenery is quite beautiful. Why do you, the master and the disciple, come to see me instead of going for a spring outing? Could it be that you, the emperor, have some decree that you want to convey?"
Xia Wutong first replied to Nalan Kunxuan: "I met Brother Nalan through a junior disciple who practiced in Prajna Temple. The two of them are good friends."
Then he replied to Xia: "Master and I just came back from Fangcun Mountain. We always felt bored staying in the imperial city, so we wanted to come to Grandpa Huang's place to stay for a few days. You won't leave Wutong, right?"
"You masters and disciples went to Fangcun Mountain?" Xia Yuan's beard twitched.
Looking at Tang Qiuyu, he said: "Mr. Tang, you took this little girl to that place when you asked. Apart from a few old monks on the mountain, they are the Taoist priests on the north slope."
Tang Qiuyu smiled slightly and replied: "Because I have a friend who is practicing in the mountains, I went there with Wutong to stay for a few days."
Xia Yuan nodded thoughtfully and said: "Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. You can take Wutong around for a while, which is a kind of practice for you master and disciple."
After saying this, he looked at Xia Wutong lovingly and said, "How about it, would you like Grandpa Huang to arrange a place for you in the academy? You were originally a student here, but I prepared your yard." ."
Xia Wutong shook his head and said with a smile: "Don't bother Grandpa Huang to worry about it. I'll just go find Junior Sister."
"Junior sister?" Nalan Kunxuan, who was sitting next to him, was startled, and then asked: "Is it the one from Qingcheng or the one from Phoenix Mountain? I remember that the little princess transferred her place to two little girls. ."
"It's the one from Qingcheng, Shangguan Wushuang, and her master is my uncle." Xia Wutong replied cheerfully.
When Xia Yuan heard this, he couldn't help but smile and jokingly said: "It's fake that you came here to see Grandpa Huang, but it's true that you came here to play with your little junior sister, right?"
After hearing this, Xia Wutong blushed and said coquettishly: "Grandpa Huang knows how to make jokes. Emperor Father also knew that I was coming here and asked me to bring you snacks and fine wine from the palace. He said that you like to drink from the palace." Brewed wine.”
After saying this, he placed several boxes of cakes on the table and piled more than a dozen jars of wine at Xia Yuan's feet.
Xia Yuan was amused when he looked at the wine jars piled on the ground. He reached out and grabbed a jar and placed it on the table. He patted it open. In an instant, a strong aroma of wine wafted in the garden.
"Old man, we can have a nice drink tonight."
Xia Wutong looked at his happy expression and said quickly: "My father said that you should drink this wine slowly, not all at once. He doesn't have much wine like this. If you want to drink it, you have to drink it." It won’t be available until next year.”
At this point, Tang Qiuyu couldn't help but cover his mouth and chuckle.
Xia Yuan blushed, waved his hand and said: "What do you know, little baby? I asked Uncle Feng to take you to the little girl's residence in Qingcheng. In the evening, I will ask Yingbinlou to cook some dishes for you. Hurry now. Leave and don’t bother the old man.”
As if he had expected Xia Yuan to say this, Xia Wutong clapped his hands and stood up, blessing the two old people.
He smiled and said: "Then Wutong is leaving. Grandpas, although the wine is good, don't be greedy."
Before he finished speaking, the man had already stepped out of the pavilion.
Tang Qiuyu shook his head, said goodbye to the two old people, and walked out of the pavilion.
Xia Yuan and Nalan Kunxuan laughed together.
Uncle Feng, who was guarding outside the pavilion, led Xia Wutong and Tang Qiuyu outside.
Xia Yuan looked at the two people's backs and smiled: "In the blink of an eye, this little girl has grown up, and she is still at the fifth level of the Golden Core."
"Lao Xia, why doesn't Princess Wutong come to the Royal Academy to practice? Doesn't she think the conditions here are not good?"
Nalan Kunxuan looked at the backs of master and disciple, puzzled.
"That's not true. I guess this little girl is just like her master. She is a master who can't stand it. You haven't seen how old her master is, and he is already distracted. I think back then when you and I were the same age... ....”
After speaking, he shook his head, drank the tea in the cup, picked up the wine jar and poured wine into the cup.
Nalan Kunxuan nodded, thoughtfully. "It seems like she doesn't want to be a flower in the greenhouse."
...
It was half past midnight, and the young lady who had taken a nap dragged a bamboo chair and leaned against the terrace of the wooden house. She was quietly going downstairs to dress up, looking out at the spring scenery.
Just when his soul was wandering out of his body and his mind was at a loss, a soft call came from outside the hospital: "Junior sister, come and open the door quickly."
The young lady was stunned for a moment. When she came to her senses, she didn't expect that anyone would come to visit at this hour.
He walked down the steps and walked quickly to the courtyard door. When he opened the door, Tang Qiuyu and Xia Wutong were standing outside the door. In the distance were the dean's butler Feng Bo and four men in black.
"Uncle, senior sister, it's you, please come in."
The young lady's eyes lit up, and she reached out to hold Xia Wutong's little hand while saying hello.
Tang Qiuyu turned back and nodded to Uncle Feng, and said: "Uncle Feng, please arrange the food and accommodation for these four guards these days. I will call them when I leave."
Uncle Feng nodded in agreement, and then asked the four men in black to leave together.
After entering the small courtyard, the young lady saluted Tang Qiuyu again, and then led the master and apprentice up the steps to the terrace. Xia Wutong dragged a chair and the three of them sat down around the table in front of the terrace and watched With such simple facilities and a low wooden house with only two floors, Xia Wutong opened his mouth.
"Isn't your master here?" Tang Qiuyu spoke first.
The young lady was stunned, turned to look at Xu Jingyun's room and replied: "Master is resting... Do you want me to wake her up?"
Tang Qiuyu shook his head and said, "Let her sleep a little longer, and let's drink tea and chat."
"Do all the accommodations in the Royal Academy look like this?" In Xia Wutong's opinion, the wooden house in front of him was not as good as the house on Phoenix Mountain.
The young lady smiled lightly: "Most of the houses in the college look like this. The dean said that we are here to practice and not to enjoy. Of course, some students spent their own money to renovate it."
"Dean Xia said it well. Cultivation is not meant for enjoyment."
Tang Qiuyu took out the tea leaves and put them on the table. The young lady took them and put them into the purple clay pot. At the same time, she took out the tea leaves and lit the small stove.
"Junior sister, are you used to living here?" Xia Wutong said, staring into her eyes.
"There should be a lot of new knowledge taught in the academy. Even the elders of the Tianshan Sword Sect are in the academy. If you, junior sister, have any needs in swordsmanship, I can help you introduce them."
"Elder of Jiange?" The young lady's eyes flashed, and then she regained her composure and replied: "No need for the time being, the academy will arrange for us to practice."
Xia Wutong looked at her doubtfully and asked, "Junior sister, aren't you practicing swordsmanship? The Tianshan Sword Sect is the inheritance of a large sect."
"I know that if I encounter trouble, I will go to Elder Nalan."
The young lady picked up the kettle and put it on the stove which was already lit.
"It's been several years since we last said goodbye on Phoenix Mountain." Xia Wutong thought about that competition with the young lady, looked at her with a smile and said, "Let's have another fight some time?"
"What's the fight for? Can't you two let us, fellow apprentices and sisters, live a peaceful life for a few days?"
Tang Qiuyu glared at Xia Wutong. She knew that her apprentice wanted to fight back to where he was before, so she stopped him with words.
"When did Senior Sister and Wutong come? They didn't even call me." While they were talking, Xu Jingyun walked out of the room.
Tang Qiuyu smiled at her, pointed to the stool next to him, motioned for her to sit next to him, and said: "When did you want to come see your senior sister? Every time I come to see you, why do I feel like you are the senior sister. "
Xu Jingyun sat down next to Tang Qiuyu, took her hand and replied with emotion: "Didn't I just come to the Royal Academy with Wushuang for a few days?"
"Well, I think you are used to staying here and don't want to leave, right?" Tang Qiuyu joked with her.
"I heard that your master and apprentice have gone to Fangcun Mountain. Wushuang is clamoring to find you and Mr. Mo there in a few days. I just thought about you coming back."
Xu Jingyun glared at her and replied softly, but looked at the young lady who was making tea.
Tang Qiuyu was stunned, turned to look at the young lady and asked, "Wushuang, do you want to go to Fangcun Mountain to find Li Ye?"
The young lady who was pouring tea for Xu Jingyun nodded and replied softly: "We haven't seen him since he went to Tianshan Mountain. I don't know if he looks different now? So, I want to go and see him."
Hearing what the young lady said, Xia Wutong, who was holding a teacup, couldn't help but have two red clouds fly over his face.
Tang Qiuyu glanced at Xia Wutong, and then said slowly for a long time: "I know your story, but this college is busy with homework, can you go away?"
"It should be okay to ask for a leave from the dean, right? The homework is just for practice, and it won't have much impact if it comes later." Xu Jingyun looked at Tang Qiuyu and replied calmly.
"That's true. Cultivation is not something that happens overnight. No matter how anxious you are, it won't work." Tang Qiuyu couldn't help but feel filled with emotion when he thought of this trip between himself and Xia Wutong.
"But, I still want to go to Fangcun Mountain!" The young lady looked at me and said softly.
