Chapter 53: Dad Sure Knows How to Flex!

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Dad Sure Knows How to Flex!

Zeng Shilin’s laughter echoed around the main hall before bursting out the window, startling away two chirping magpies.

Zeng Anmin slowly clenched his fists, pursing his lips to hold back a smile. He had a feeling that his father was about to start showing off.

"Hahaha!" His father’s laughter went on for quite a while.

Qin Shoucheng stared at the continuously laughing Zeng Shilin, frowning for a moment before his expression shifted to one of relief. He leisurely picked up the freshly brewed tea the servants had prepared and took a light sip. A look of intoxication graced his face. "The Lushan Cloud Mist tea of my Liangjiang Commandery is deeply fragrant. Truly worthy of a land renowned for its exceptional talents."

He assumed his father was thrilled by his daughter’s talent. Therefore, his words carried a pointed implication, using the tea as a metaphor for the person. He figured that the old man shouldn’t just keep laughing, but should praise the girl so he could have a turn to smile too.

After sipping his tea, Qin Shoucheng looked at Zeng Shilin with anticipation, patiently waiting for him to finish laughing.

Gradually, Zeng Shilin caught his breath, though the smile on his face was still unstoppable. His laughter squeezed a few wrinkles into the corners of his eyes. "Not bad. Despite being a girl, she doesn’t lose to most young men."

Then came silence. After a long while, a blue vein bulged on the back of Qin Shoucheng’s neck.

"Is that it? Nothing else? Are you patronizing me?" he thought indignantly.

Having spoken, his father returned to his nonchalant demeanor. He reached out to lift his teacup’s lid, picking it up to take a sip. "However, this Lushan Cloud Mist hasn’t been steeped for an adequate hour, so while the aroma is full..." Pausing here, he frowned and murmured, "...it lacks a bit of its true essence. It’s just average."

It was an equally pointed remark. With that, his father set the teacup back down. CLICK. He gently replaced the lid, then looked at Qin Shoucheng with a beaming smile. "Let it steep for a little while longer."

Zeng Anmin had truly had his eyes opened. These two old foxes spoke in such convoluted circles. He could vaguely sense the underlying meaning of their words, but if he were actually forced to join their conversation... he would need a lot more time to mature.

"Hm?" Qin Shoucheng frowned deeply upon hearing Zeng Shilin’s words.

"What does this old thief mean? Is he looking down on people?" he thought angrily.

However, before he could speak, Qin Wanyue’s eyes flickered from the side. She slowly looked up at Zeng Shilin, curtsied gracefully, and spoke in a soft voice. "Mr. Zeng, you have a profound understanding of the way of tea, and as a junior, I naturally admire you. However, although this Lushan Cloud Mist may not have the sweet aftertaste of an over-steeped brew, its current flavor should still be incomparable to other teas."

After speaking, she lowered her head slightly, her voice dropping even softer. "Mr. Zeng, with your foresight to reflect on the past and understand the future, why must you care so much about the superiority or inferiority of a tea’s aroma?"

Zeng Anmin subconsciously glanced at the submissive and demure Qin Wanyue. This girl truly came from a scholarly family; she spoke with such dignity and grace.

"Let us set the way of tea aside for now," Qin Shoucheng spoke up at this moment. He looked toward Zeng Shilin and took a deep breath. "I wonder if our past agreement still holds?"

Past agreement? Zeng Anmin looked at his father with a blank gaze.

"What agreement? Don’t tell me it’s a marriage arrangement?" he thought in panic. He instinctively glanced at the demure Qin Wanyue. She had an exquisite face and a lovely figure. She was tranquil, gentle, and fragrant. It was an indescribable, quiet charm hidden deep within her soul that inadvertently exuded the very essence of life.

"Ahem... this feudal era is truly sickening... hell yeah," he thought to himself.

"Of course I remember. Isn’t it just comparing our descendants’ talents? Back then, I was young and naive, coaxed and lured by you into agreeing that the loser would have to bray like a donkey," Zeng Shilin said expressionlessly.

Ah? Zeng Anmin was initially stunned before slowly turning to look at Qin Shoucheng. A subtle look of intriguing pity emerged in his Dan Feng eyes. Fortunately, this gaze went completely unnoticed by the older man.

Qin Shoucheng smiled with ease, his face regaining a look of smug satisfaction. "It’s rare that you still remember..."

"Ah!" However, before he could finish, Qin Wanyue quickly interrupted him. Her small mouth fell open, and her pretty face was filled with astonishment. "I... I knew nothing of this. Mr. Zeng, you absolutely must not take it seriously!"

She then abruptly turned her head to Qin Shoucheng, saying anxiously, "Father, how could you? Today, the two of you are the leading figures of the Great Saint Dynasty’s Confucian Dao. How can such crass and reckless matters be brought up again?!"

"Hehe." Zeng Shilin merely chuckled softly. He waved his hand to quell Qin Wanyue’s urgency, his voice laced with a touch of weathered reminiscence. "It’s fine. Your father and I are as close as brothers. As for what happened back then...

"Thinking about it now, even though we were both a bit frivolous, it was a fragrant memory worth savoring, much like a good tea." At this point, a hint of sighing melancholy surfaced on Zeng Shilin’s face. "At our age now, we can no longer muster the flamboyance of those years."

Qin Shoucheng also smiled inexplicably.

"Sigh." His father let out a soft sigh. He looked at everyone, his gaze revealing a trace of weathered reflection and aftertaste. His voice, carrying a profound sense of contrasting the past with the present, drifted slowly into everyone’s ears. "I’d buy osmanthus flowers and carry wine as we did back then... yet it feels nothing like our youthful wanderings."

The main hall fell silent for a moment.

"What a beautiful line!" Qin Shoucheng praised subconsciously. The more cultured a person was, the more they resonated with such exquisite poetry.

His expression mirrored Zeng Shilin’s weathered nostalgia. Indeed, he could criticize Zeng Shilin’s character and attack his conduct, but having lived for nearly sixty years, he had never once disparaged Zeng Shilin’s sheer brilliance.

Beside him, Qin Wanyue’s eyes were filled with absolute amazement. She parted her red lips, her face displaying nothing but admiration. Her voice was very soft as she genuinely savored the verse, speaking from the bottom of her heart. "Mr. Zeng, you are full of wisdom and extensively learned. A casual sentence from you can stir up such heartfelt emotions.

"Once you comprehend the Path of the Saint in the future, it will only be a matter of time before our Great Saint Dynasty gains another Confucian Saint!"

"Hehe." His father’s expression remained indifferent as he shook his head. "I did not come up with this line." With that, he pointed at Zeng Anmin in the corner, his voice steady. "It was something my unworthy son realized and expressed from the depths of his feelings when he broke through to the Sixth Grade."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions on both Qin Shoucheng and Qin Wanyue’s faces froze simultaneously. Such a calm sentence had revealed a piece of explosive information.

Broke through to the Sixth Grade?!

SWISH!

The father and daughter snapped their heads up in unison, their gazes landing on Zeng Anmin’s slightly innocent face. The entire room fell into an extreme silence, with only the faint sound of their breathing rising and falling.

"Ahem." After a long period of silence, Zeng Anmin coughed. He knew it was his time to take the stage. Mainly, it was his father’s silent stare that made him feel as if there were thorns in his back. Embarrassed, Zeng Anmin held out his finger. "It was just a fluke."

As he finished speaking, a cluster of pale blue aura instantly lit up between his fingertips! It blurred like swirling smoke! While it couldn’t compare to the vast and imposing Array that Zeng Shilin had used to bind Qi Xianlin that day, it did not lack conciseness and power. It was the unmistakable sign of Vast Righteous Qi condensing—the hallmark of breaking through to the Sixth Grade!

The final sliver of hope in Qin Shoucheng’s heart shattered completely, and his face stiffened. Qin Wanyue, on the other hand, looked bewildered, her fair little hands clenching tightly together before suddenly relaxing. Her eyes carried an unconcealable brilliance as she looked at Zeng Anmin. "Quan Fu..."

However, for some reason, her throat was so dry that she couldn’t bring herself to utter another word.

CLACK! A sharp, jarring sound drew everyone’s attention.

It turned out to be his father leisurely lifting the lid of the teacup on the table. He picked up the cup and gently blew on the rising steam. After taking a slow sip, a look of immense enjoyment appeared on his face as he spoke in a drawn-out voice, "Now this is what you call an intoxicating tea aroma!"

No one spoke; silence filled the entire hall.