Chapter 994: Chapter 584: Yourong Returns North, Ziyu Cultivates Himself
In the lake of my heart, Gui suddenly felt that so matters would still be best said by Zhu Yourong.
What it said to Lingfei Zhao and Qian’er Zhao, Zhao Rong would sotis not listen at all.
The only person who could truly guide Zhao Rong seed to be Zhu Yourong.
This was so when Zhu Yourong first stood up for the little one, and it was so when Zhao Rong sought death at the bamboo grove courtyard not long ago, and now, in scolding Zhao Rong, it was still so.
Moreover, there were things Zhao Rong kept to himself that he wouldn’t typically share with them, and only in front of this Mr. Zhu could he speak freely without repression.
This must be… the confidant who truly understands.
It seems that between the Peach Blossom Sword Master and the won he knows, there isn’t just romance, but also serious, reliable relationships.
The sword spirit nodded, gaining a new understanding of the ‘swordsmanship’ of the Peach Blossom Sword Master.
“Actually, I know all of this.”
Zhao Rong lowered his gaze, staring at the jade hand of Zhu Yourong as she held his sleeve, pausing before exhaling: “I’m just… a bit despondent. From last night to now, I’ve felt sowhat dispirited.”
Hearing this, Zhu Yourong beca increasingly worried. Sotis the difficulty between knowing a principle and truly enacting it is worlds apart, as the sages say, it’s easy to know but hard to act.
The sages are like this; how can ordinary people avoid it?
Especially for soone like Zhao Rong, who has already achieved unity of knowledge and action as a Confucian scholar. The more he embodies unity of knowledge and action in everyday matters, the harder it is to bring him back once he loses his drive and feels disheartened or self-doubtful.
Because he understands the principles others talk about, perhaps even more than others.
In short, he knows too much and subconsciously, arrogantly, cannot accept others’ principles, only trusting what he understands and dwelling on what he cannot.
So, at tis, a gentleman full of learning is not as good as an illiterate commoner, for the latter knows to cherish and love his beautiful wife and concubines, holding onto them dearly, so why overthink things?
Sensing this, Zhu Yourong’s expression softened, and she gently tugged Zhao Rong’s sleeve.
“What are you despondent about, Ziyu?”
Her tone was gentle, no longer serious or oppressive.
Zhao Rong did not answer, suddenly looking up, his words shifted, “Yourong, have you ever thought about traveling far and wide?”
Zhu Yourong nodded directly, “I have thought about it, and I have done it. My ho and the place where I grew up learning is not in Wangquezhou. I’ve traveled to many continents, and finally, I walked all the way here. I’ve seen enough of the roads, landscapes, and people, and I grew tired, so I stayed at Linlu Academy to teach. I just didn’t expect…”
“Didn’t expect what?”
She lowered her gaze lightly, “I thought the people I t along the way were already quite diverse, leaving no surprises, but I didn’t expect to et a very special person at the academy, and his handwriting as well.”
Zhao Rong was taken aback and then realized she seed to be referring to him.
He suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, coughed twice, and then continued:
“I envy you a lot, being able to read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles, finding a quiet ‘place of return for the heart’ where you can set up a desk for reading and writing… I’ve only roughly traveled through half of Wangquezhou’s scenery, the paths, the people I t are still too few… I haven’t had the life I wanted.”
Zhu Yourong’s tone was gentle, “Ziyu, what kind of life do you want?”
“The life I want is…” he muttered to himself.
“Mm.”
Zhao Rong was dazed for a mont, and a faint smile slowly erged on his calm face.
This is the smile that appears when one is asked about the most cherished and delightful things.
“I want to abandon everything and travel, carrying just a small bookcase with my favorite books in it. With it, I’ll walk over mountains, across waters. If you ask where I’m headed, I wouldn’t know. I just wish to keep moving forward, to all those places called afar, leaving behind footprints or a pile of campfires that lit up the nights… If there’s a path ahead, I’ll walk it, if not, I’ll forge a new one. If I encounter the sea, I’ll stay by the shore a few nights; if mountains, I’ll climb to see the sunrise; if rivers, I’ll take a bamboo raft downstream. If I find human settlents, I’ll put down my bookcase and stay a few days, chopping wood and fetching water in the morning, reading and writing at night…”
In the darkness, in the vision of the woman in the Confucian robe, the young Confucian scholar was bowing his head, describing his wanderlust while feeling his way along the adjacent wall, his steps pacing back and forth in the narrow, dim mausoleum passage.
He walked and stopped, as if before him was the vast ocean and behind him the night campfire, lost in so waking dream.
Zhao Rong turned back smiling, saying, “There is no place that can hold . When I wish to leave, I leave. When I wish to stop, I stop. If any place bores , I carry my bookcase on and continue. If I fall in love with certain scenery, I put down my bookcase and chop wood to build a house…”
Zhu Yourong quietly listened.
Before long, he gradually fell silent, seemingly realizing his current position in the pitch-black, cramped tomb passage, imrsed in a life full of discontent.
The light in his eyes and the smile at his lips dimd. He raised his head to look above and softly recited a phrase from a book: “Wherever the heart wishes, simple shoes walk forward, life as a reverse journey, navigating with a single reed.”
After a mont, Zhao Rong lowered his head, returning to normal, addressing Zhu Yourong, who was watching him intently:
“These… are thoughts that have been buried in my heart for a long ti. Sotis I think about them when I’m bored, sotis after midnight dreams, and sotis even in serious settings doing serious things, they just pop into my head… Such a life might seem a bit naive and idealistic… But actually, when I first woke up after drinking a certain cup of wine, that was what I wanted to do, feeling that the world was vast, everything restarting, that no one, no thing could constrain , wishing to go wherever, to tour the profound realm…”
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