My Wife Is A Sword Immortal-Chapter 720 - 442 I Have the Great Dao, Do You Have Wine?

Chapter 720: Chapter 442 I Have the Great Dao, Do You Have Wine?

At the end of the dilapidated alley, in an old restaurant, a corner of the dimly lit hall.

The dinner party on the table was nearing its end, yet none of the guests seemed in a hurry to leave; instead, all eyes were fixed on Zhao Rong’s face.

They quietly awaited the answer to this amusing yet profound paradox.

Facing the expectant or solemn gazes of Zhao Xifu, Zhu Yourong, and Yu Huaijin, Zhao Rong thought for a moment, "Is my answer really that important?"

He was talking about his answer, not theirs.

Zhu Yourong and Yu Huaijin understood his meaning and exchanged glances.

Zhao Rong, who had been sitting somewhat relaxedly, suddenly straightened up.

His hands braced on his thighs, shoulders raised, he carefully stared at the empty wine pot on the table and spoke with a serious tone:

"You know that feeling, right? Sometimes when facing a tough problem, you think and think, and nothing seems right, but you are fixated on it. In that process, there’s always that spark of Spiritual Light, an exciting solution that pops into your head."

He paused, "Although, in the end, most of these fleeting brilliant ideas are not the real answer. The real answer is found after searching tirelessly and at the moment when you least expect it, in the dim light of dusk. When everything finally falls into place, the answer calmly appears in your head, and your heart calmly says..."

’Oh, it’s this.’ Zhao Rong looked at the empty wine pot, nodding and mimicking a bland tone.

Then, he looked up at the audience with a smile, "At this moment, the real answer doesn’t matter anymore. I think the most joyous and precious thing is the fascinating ideas that emerge in the process. Even if they don’t solve the problem after trying, they’re interesting but useless, who can say they won’t shine brightly in some future challenge?"

Zhao Rong was reminded of a debate on Confucianism in Zhongnan Country when he decisively defeated Tao Yuanran in ’The Debate of Being and Non-Being.’ He remembered that Qing Yuanzi’s rough theory of ’Using Nothing as the Basis’ had inspired Zhao Rong’s victorious ’Unity of Body and Function’ argument. Although this example might not be quite appropriate...

At this point, only a few such as Zhu Yourong and Huaijin could keep up with Zhao Rong’s train of thought and understand his meaning.

The master and disciple duo fell into contemplation.

Zhao Xifu, however, waved his hand grandly, "Don’t feed me that nonsense, you scholars and your frivolous talks have nothing on me. I’ll give you a phrase too: ’Having heard the Great Dao in the morning, one could die in the evening.’ It means, cut the crap and speak up; I still have to hurry up and die, I need to understand some things before I do."

Zhao Rong couldn’t help but twitch his lips... Was that phrase really meant to be used this way?

Before he could even comment, the shopkeeper suddenly turned his head, looking at the silhouette of the stoic old servant in a green robe and the dark alley through the doorway, and haughtily said:

"After dealing with it for so many years, I want to figure out what the heck it really is."

His comment was abrupt and left everyone around momentarily confused.

Zhao Xifu turned back to face Zhao Rong and earnestly asked for the third time that night, "You brat, I’m asking you one last time, why... why?"

Zhao Rong was curious, "Well, even if I don’t know, if I told you, would you believe me? How do you know I’m definitely right?"

Zhao Xifu hummed and didn’t reply, just looking at the young Confucian Scholar.

Zhao Rong glanced at Zhu Yourong and Yu Huaijin, who were silent with hesitant expressions. They seemed to want to join in asking, yet hesitated due to his recent words and preferred to think independently.

Zhao Rong nodded slightly, intending to refuse Zhao Xifu’s request.

If Zhu Yourong and the other lady insisted on asking, he might reveal the answer, but this Zhao Xifu, whom he had only just met tonight, was not someone he was familiar with—especially not after having been difficult and continuously calling him ’brat.’

Zhao Rong felt it wasn’t worth wasting his breath on him, unless that decent sister Xia spoke up.

At that moment, Gui suddenly said, "Tell him everything you know."

Zhao Rong frowned, asking urgently in his Heart Lake, "Why?"

"......"

Heart Lake was utterly silent, Sword Spirit no longer spoke. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

Zhao Rong felt puzzled but maintained a calm expression, glancing at the calmly watching Zhao Xifu. Gui had been silent all night, and now he abruptly burst out with this...

Still, Zhao Rong thought that the Sword Spirit, bound intimately with him, would likely not harm him.

The next second, the young Confucian Scholar nodded and spoke bluntly:

"Well, that random book you asked about, which I don’t remember anymore, indeed had some answers written in it. I’ll mention them for you to heed, but I don’t guarantee they’re correct."

He spoke seriously, leaving some room for error.

Zhao Xifu suddenly stood up, picked up the empty wine pot, and walked towards the main entrance.

Reaching the door, he looked at the night outside and closed the wooden door.

The shopkeeper stood under the Copper Bell, leaning against the wooden door from the left, one hand hanging down holding the skewed empty wine pot, and with his arms crossed, he looked at Zhao Rong and the others and nodded.

Signalling them to continue.

Zhao Rong sized up the odd Zhao Xifu and his wine pot, perhaps thinking of a possibility; he coughed lightly and joked:

"I have the Great Dao, do you have the wine?"

Zhao Xifu looked at him without speaking.

Zhao Rong blinked, and remained silent.

The two men stared at each other.

Zhao Rong felt that there’s no harm in trying to ask for some wine since he was going to speak anyway; perhaps Gui’s reason for prompting him to speak was exactly this...

After all, in the Summer Insect Pavilion, besides the Ice Lady Wine, those legendary three cups of wine, as Yushu had said, were something countless guests dreamed of acquiring, yet they seemed always out of reach.

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