Chapter 268 - 266: Heart-to-Heart Talk Between Master and Disciple (2)

Chapter 268: Chapter 266: Heart-to-Heart Talk Between Master and Disciple (2)

Staring at her seemingly innocent student in shock, Professor Xiao was at a loss for words. For eight years, Zhou Lian had been so pampered in her marriage that she’d never had to lift a finger. ’After investing so much of himself, how could Li Jincheng bear to give all that up? How could he possibly be willing to?’

"So Jin Chen is a great man brought to heel by matters of the heart!" After a long moment, Professor Xiao finally let out a breath and murmured the words. This Li Jincheng was a student of Ge Yunqi. Her husband had once said the man was almost unnervingly brilliant, a deep strategist who walked the line between righteous and unorthodox. Yet from her perspective, he just seemed like one of those husbands from Sichuan Province who was completely wrapped around his wife’s finger!

Thinking of her husband, Zhou Lian smiled sweetly. She looked at Professor Xiao and said, "Professor, you really don’t have to worry about me. I’m doing very well. The Imperial Palace has tried to recruit Jin Chen into the government many times, but he’s flatly refused. I once asked him out of curiosity, ’Don’t all men want to hold the world’s power in their hands and sleep in a beauty’s lap at night?’ He just smiled and told me, ’A man is meant to cultivate himself, manage his family, govern the state, and bring peace to the world. But my heart is very, very small—so small it can only hold one person.’ Then he said, ’I won’t take power, and I can’t. I’m afraid I’d become the kind of man who would plunge the world into chaos for the woman he loves!’"

Professor Xiao looked at Zhou Lian in astonishment. When Zhou Lian gave a firm nod, the professor recalled discussing the matter with her husband. She had never, ever expected Li Jincheng to be this sort of man. ’It seems my husband was right,’ she thought. ’Li Jincheng is a man completely lost to love, and only for Zhou Lian.’

"How did you two meet? Did you fall in love on your own?" No matter how serious she usually was, Professor Xiao was still a woman with a woman’s penchant for gossip, so she asked out of curiosity.

Hearing her professor’s question, Zhou Lian couldn’t help but laugh. "No," she said, amused. "Jin Chen and I were introduced through a matchmaker. It was a standard arranged marriage, ordained by our parents."

"Matchmaking? An arranged marriage? You two are certainly full of surprises!" Professor Xiao said with a laugh.

Zhou Lian looked at her curious professor and said nonchalantly, "Professor, Jin Chen and I are from the countryside. Back then, the separation of the sexes was taken very seriously in our hometown. We only met alone twice before our wedding. The first time was when he visited my parents’ house. My older sister asked me to take him for a walk, so I just showed him around the entrance to the village. The second time was a month before the wedding when we went to the county seat to buy things. Aside from those two occasions, I never spent any time alone with him."

"Weren’t you worried?"

"Worried about what? All the girls where I’m from went through the same thing. Marriage is really just a gamble. If you win, you get a lifetime of happiness. If you lose... well, you just have to bear it. What other choice is there?" Recalling her past life, Zhou Lian looked at Professor Xiao with a resigned sigh. ’A woman’s life is so hard. It’s not just now. Even in later generations, in that era of so-called self-liberation, divorce rates climbed every year, and in the end, it was still women who were hurt the most. There’s nothing to be done about it. The social climate has always been this way; it’s not something one person can change!’

Looking at Zhou Lian, Professor Xiao was a little incredulous. ’But then again,’ she thought, ’it makes sense. This student of mine is exceptionally bright, so it’s only natural she’d be so perceptive. I’m the one who’s been short-sighted.’ ’No wonder my husband once told me, "Your student is sharp and clever. She may look innocent, but she’s worldly-wise without being worldly-weary. You don’t need to worry about her. Between her and Li Jincheng, it’s anyone’s guess who has the upper hand!"’

"Zhou Lian, what are your plans for the future?"

Zhou Lian looked up at the clear sky, a gentle breeze stirring. She smiled, the picture of carefree ease. "Professor, I don’t have any major plans. I just want to do what I love and love the person I want to love. Life is short. As long as my conscience is clear and I’m true to myself... it’s best to enjoy the moment!"

"Do you really think that way?" Professor Xiao asked, looking at her in surprise. She had always thought this student of hers was the most conventional, rule-abiding person, but it turned out to be the complete opposite!

Grinning at her professor, Zhou Lian’s demeanor turned playful. "Professor, you can’t have forgotten that my favorite is Wei Jin literature, right? I enjoy the literature of the Tang and Song dynasties, but the free-spirited ethos of the Wei Jin period is what I love most!"

Professor Xiao smiled self-deprecatingly. ’I really am getting old,’ she thought. ’I didn’t even properly understand my own student’s temperament.’ Zhou Lian loved Wei Jin literature; she should have realized it sooner. A person who loves the literature of that era would naturally be one who reveres the ideal of "casting aside the classics to embrace Laozi and Zhuangzi, scorning ritual to prize personal freedom." How could a person like that possibly be a stickler for rules!

"Zhou Lian, you have officially graduated from my tutelage. It was I who was being too stubborn!" Looking at the beaming student before her, Professor Xiao had never felt so gratified in her entire life. Her one and only student was living the ideal life—magnanimous, free-spirited, enlightened, and worldly-wise without being cynical.

Gently supporting Professor Xiao as they walked, Zhou Lian said casually, "A teacher for a day is a parent for a lifetime. Whether I’ve graduated is for you to say, Professor."

As they walked slowly, Professor Xiao suddenly stopped and looked at Zhou Lian in shock. "Did you say you never went to school before you took the university entrance exam?"

"That’s right. In that era, people in my hometown were just barely getting by. Who had the luxury of thinking about school? When I was a teen, the village held literacy classes at night. I attended for half a year and learned to read and do basic arithmetic. After I married Jin Chen, things changed. He’s a student of Master Yunqi, and he’s incredibly smart. Our house was filled with books, and he wouldn’t let me do any chores, so I had nothing to do but read to pass the time. He’d tutor me whenever he was free. Later, he decided he wanted me to go to university, so he got me a complete set of textbooks. I did nothing but study for about a year. It’s not so strange that I got in, is it?" Zhou Lian said this all very casually. ’With the boost from my past life, if I still couldn’t have gotten into Beijing University, I would have just found a block of tofu to end it all!’

But Professor Xiao didn’t know all this. She had only known that her student was gifted, but she never imagined she was this intelligent. ’Still, no matter how smart she is, she’s my student,’ she thought. Thinking of this, Professor Xiao looked at Zhou Lian and said with a smile, "I have nothing left to teach you. But I hope you don’t settle for a mediocre life just teaching at the university. That would be such a waste!"

"Professor, it’s fine like this for now. These things have to be done slowly. Since I love it, I’ll definitely work hard to become better. You can rest assured!" Zhou Lian understood her professor’s point. ’But you can’t build Rome in a day. Even in the future, traditional studies are still just a niche interest, far from becoming mainstream.’

With a sigh, Professor Xiao shook her head in resignation. ’She’s right. My student is just a university lecturer, not even a professor yet.’ She patted Zhou Lian’s arm gently. "It is I who got carried away. You just continue to be yourself and do what you love. That’s what’s most important."

Zhou Lian smiled without a word. ’Just because it didn’t work out in my past life’s future doesn’t mean it can’t work in this one,’ she thought. ’Li Xiu and I have the memories of two lifetimes, not to mention we also have Ping’an. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. With me, Li Xiu, the Ping Family, the Sun Family, the Wang family, and the Lan Family, I refuse to believe we can’t become the new backbone for traditional Chinese studies. When I think of that future, that era of instant gratification where everything was driven by profit... Well, since Providence has shown us such favor, Li Xiu and I must do something worthy of this second chance.’