Chapter 1601 – Letters from Home

Year after year, year after year.

In a flash, it was another ten years.

Su Dao, three years ago, ended up old, when he left, it was in the winter of that year, he struggled, wanting to get through that winter, wanting to live for a few more months, to take a look at the next year’s willows.

Only, his mind can understand the heaven and earth, but his body, but can not change the alternation of life and death, in that winter is thick, in that snowflakes fluttering all over the city, the whole Su city river after the thin ice, he looked at the snowflakes falling from the sky, as if it was eternity.

Wang Lin pushed the wooden chair he was on and walked on the streets of Su City, Wang Lin, who was already close to forty years old, was filled with a sense of stability and vicissitudes, he wore a white tunic and silently pushed Su Dao along.

This year’s winter was particularly cold, the snowflakes that were falling down, blown by the cold wind, fell on the two of them. Early in the morning, a burst of bells from the distant Su Mountain Temple rose leisurely, and under that droning sound, one could wash one’s mind a bit.

“Lin’er, master is leaving …… Master has no heir in his life, your three senior brothers have inherited a lot of truth from me, only you are the only one, who is similar to my thoughts ……

I know, the saying of cause and effect, you already have some understanding, although still hazy, but you will eventually understand, you want to pursue, but also not just cause and effect.

This mansion, I am giving it to you.” Su Dao’s voice was weak, caught in the wind, and fell into Wang Lin’s ears, who was silent, his eyes showing sorrow.

Su Dao, accompanied him for seventeen years, these seventeen years, Wang Lin grew from that eighteen or nineteen year old teenager to middle age, following Su Dao, Wang Lin learned a lot, learned a lot, and understood a lot.

The snow was huge, and under the sound of that bell, it covered the gaze ahead, paving over this heaven and earth, this Su City, and this street where Wang Lin and his duo were.

Crunching wooden chairs to promote the sound, seems to be weak and imperceptible, only two lines on the ground wheel out of the mark, as life, look back, long long, can see the starting point, but in the absence of closure of the present, but can not see the end of the place.

Snowflakes fall, cover the two lines of marks on that ground, gradually fused together, even the starting point can not be seen.

“Send me …… to Su Mountain …… outside the city,” Su Dao’s pale voice, even weaker, but his eyes are bright, looking at the sky and the earth, as if he saw the end of himself.

Wang Lin silently nodded his head, pushing the wooden chair, under that creaking sound, slowly walking forward, towards the end of Su Dao.

Snow, getting bigger and bigger, facing the wind, letting that snowflake fall on his face, on his hair, letting it melt and become cold, passing into his heart. Wang Lin pushed the wooden chair, out of this ancient street, out of the Su City, far away, he saw outside the Su City, that small mountain.

The mountain was not high, but there was a god.

This God can not be seen, but when you close your eyes, you can visualize the mountain’s grass and trees within your mind, and you can feel the mountain’s breath in the cold wind, and this is enough.

To be along the green stone paved mountain road on the top after, Su Daozheng slowly closed his eyes, he vaguely, some can not support, but his slightly closed eyes, is to reveal as seventeen years ago, the same bright awn.

Eyes for the window of the heart, his Su Dao’s body will decay, but his thoughts, the trajectory of his life’s existence, is because it has appeared, it will never dissipate.

“Carry me on your back, go …… there.” Su Dao’s voice became weaker and weaker, Wang Lin walked to his body, carried Su Dao behind his back, followed the direction he pointed out, walked out of this green stone mountain road, under a blanket of white snow, toward a place in the mountains where it seemed like no one would go, step by step.

At the end of that place, there is a lonely grave, that grave exists there in the snow, as if waiting for something, seems to have waited for decades until today.

In front of this grave, Su Dao sat there, looking at the tombstone, his eyes did not have tears, but a softness.

“I’ve come …… You said you wanted to look at me all the time, so I buried you here, so that you can always look at the bottom of the mountain, me at home.” Su Dao murmured, touching the tombstone, his pale face gently pressed against the monument, forgetting the cold on it.

Or rather, the coldness of that monument, in his heart, it turned into warmth.

Slowly, he closed his eyes, with a soft smile on his face, and lost his breath ……

Su Dao, Return to the Ruins.

Wang Lin stood there for a long, long time, he turned around, his eyes looked at the bottom of the mountain behind him, in this position, he could see Su City, he could see within Su City, Su Dao’s mansion.

A thick melancholy filled Wang Lin’s heart, he was confused, this world, he was always pondering, what kind of existence was it.

Was it his past life, was it his reincarnation, or was it a dream. Just whichever, can not go to explain all the phenomena clearly, as if in the middle of the true and the false, the circle that has existed permanently for all eternity, so that people can not find the starting point and the end point, can not be distinguished.

In this seventeenth year half a month later, Su mountain above that lonely grave beside, there is one more grave, they, no longer alone.

The third year after Su Dao’s death, Wang Lin was thirty-nine years old.

His parents, also many years ago, he was picked up from the mountain village, just parents used to the life of the mountain village, for the city of Su is very uncomfortable, live for a few months, then still returned home, in that mountain village, living an ordinary life.

In the winter of the year when Wang Lin was thirty-nine years old, Wang Lin stood in the courtyard, looking at the snowflakes that drifted in, and received an imperial decree from the Emperor of Zhao.

This was the fifth holy decree in these three years after Su Dao’s death.

The contents of the five imperial edicts were roughly similar, but the words were more ornate than one at a time, and all of them said that they wanted Wang Lin to go to Kyoto and become an imperial teacher.

Twenty years of time, Wang Lin’s name, rose among the scholars of Zhao, and even though he had never left Su City in those twenty years, every year, the students of the imperial examinations would come to visit and listen to the teachings.

All of this was related to Su Dao, but likewise, it was also greatly related to Wang Lin himself. In these twenty years, some dignitaries, some scholarly students, were all convinced by Wang Lin’s words under their visits.

The world knows that Wang Lin is the inheritance of Su Dao, especially after the death of Su Dao, this point is even more deeply rooted in people’s hearts.

However, everything is not absolute, there are still a large number of people who do not recognize Wang Lin’s existence, they believe that Wang Lin does not deserve to be called a great scholar, with the Emperor of Zhao being the main one.

Such voices were only scattered before Su Dao’s death, but in these three years after Su Dao’s death, they were getting more and more numerous and higher and higher. Eventually, within these three years of Wang Lin’s silence, it turned into a sea of questioning voices.

Wang Lin didn’t pay any attention to this kind of thing, he lived a peaceful life, keeping company with Da Fu.

Wang Lin’s silence made those questioning people even more unrestrained, they recognized that Wang Lin was a disciple of Su Dao, but they thought that Wang Lin was a person who was selling his name and not worthy of being called a Confucian. Under the impetus of those who were interested, slowly this matter became more drastic, and even the entire country of Zhao had such voices.

In this regard, Wang Lin still ignored, he watched the sunrise and sunset, watched the alternation of spring and autumn, sensed heaven and earth, understood cause and effect, looked for signs of life and death and truth and falsehood, and pursued the beginning and end of everything.

Even though he himself was in a state of confusion, he was constantly experiencing life. He didn’t want to pay attention to those messy things, and he was even more unwilling to prove anything; they didn’t mean anything to him, like children playing and passing out verbal arguments.

However, the more silent he was, the higher the outcry, and even more fatal, was Su Dao’s remaining three disciples, in addition to that year’s Su San, who was already old and terminally ill, but the remaining two, but both stood out and questioned Wang Lin.

In this way, the scholars of the State of Zhao were in turmoil, and even spread to the ordinary people, the flurry of voices, like a storm, sweeping across the State of Zhao.

Some people even found out Wang Lin’s examination papers from twenty years ago, and criticized them, making wild accusations in the name of Wang Lin being a mere scholar.

Under such chaotic cries, the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth imperial edicts from Zhao’s Kyoto came like snowflakes, pointing directly at Wang Lin.

Even more excessively, it spread to Wang Lin’s parents, his parents are already old, originally could be peaceful in their old age, and be admired, but now, under this constant clamor, even the walkers in the mountain villages somehow knew about this matter, and under the rumor, the finger pointing in the mountain villages made Wang Lin’s parents’ hearts rise up with an angry gas.

The old man is already old, this anger, Wang Lin’s father fell ill.

In the winter of this year, Wang Lin stood in the courtyard, holding a letter in his hand, which was written by his mother and sent by his fourth uncle.

In the letter, Wang Lin was told that his father was fine.

Looking at the family letter over and over again, within Wang Lin’s calm eyes, there was slowly a hint of anger.

“Some of it, it’s too much.” Wang Lin folded the family letter and placed it into his arms, looking at the falling snowflakes and slowly spoke.

He had no intention of proving anything, even if Zhao’s clamor was high, it wouldn’t make him fluctuate half a bit, the word “Confucian” was a false name, he didn’t care.

He is like an old man, just want to go slowly to sense the heaven and earth.

But everything, there is a degree, Wang Lin’s bottom line, is his parents. His parents’ anger, his parents’ pain, and his parents’ sorrow were his Wang Lin’s anger, his Wang Lin’s pain, and his Wang Lin’s sorrow.

“Da Fu, make arrangements, I’m going to lecture for ten years, within ten years from today, welcome people from all over the world to come to Su City to discuss with me. But if there is one person who asks himself to surpass me, he will take this mansion from my hands.” Wang Lin flung his big sleeve and turned to leave.

Behind him, the already old Dafu, still as twenty years ago, his expression showed excitement, he was equally angry these three years, in the past those who were respectful to him, not only gradually alienated him, but also cold words appeared.

Today, when he heard Wang Lin’s words, he was pleased with the expectations, and hurriedly went down to arrange this matter.

“Hmph, it’s still my family’s son’s bravado, ten years of lecturing, hehehe, I’d like to see what expression those previous strife callers have after failing over and over again.”