Thinking of this, Feng Rugu opened his eyes, then closed his left eye and looked at Ruyi with his right eye.

After his vision was impaired, he could only see a blurry phantom image,

In the phantom image, he could vaguely glimpse the outline of Ruyi in his youth.

When Feng Rugu first picked up little You Hongchen, he was quite troubled.

Sending him back to Fengling was impossible. Master and his wife may not be in the mountains, who knows where they were wandering at this time; Senior Brother was still in seclusion, Junior Sister Yan had even less patience than himself; if he handed the child to the middle and lower disciples of Fengling, little Hongchen knew nothing and might end up being teased by them.

Sending him to Jing Sanchai or Han Jing for temporary foster care was a good solution.

But a problem arose - this child was so good, what if those two became attached to him and refused to return him? What should he do then?

In the end, Feng Rugu could only accept this picked-up son.

He sighed, wrote the character "人" (person) in ink on white paper, and asked You Hongchen who was kneeling on a small stool beside him: "What is this?"

You Hongchen shook his head.

He could understand people talking, but couldn't speak well himself, his mind was even blanker than the white paper.

Feng Rugu propped his head and sighed: "This is the character '人'."

You Hongchen nodded, his eyes confused.

Feng Rugu pinched the red mole on his earlobe and tugged lightly: "Listen to my lesson, you can't just bring your ears. '人' - repeat after me."

You Hongchen opened his mouth and pronounced vaguely: "...'人'."

Feng Rugu pointed to the hurrying crowd outside the inn: "These coming and going beings are all '人' (people), you are a person, I am also a person. Living things that look similar to you and I, that can move, are all '人', but '人' is just an external appearance, unrelated to the inside. Some people have a divine nature, some have a beastly nature, so don't judge people by appearances..."

At this point, Feng Rugu realized from You Hongchen's clear yet puzzled gaze that he had said too much.

No matter what he taught now, the child wouldn't understand. It was better to let him practice writing the characters first, then slowly teach him the meanings.

Feng Rugu composed himself and silently wrote down a passage from the "Scripture of Purity and Tranquility": "Calm the spirit and nourish the energy, tranquil thoughts, still the body and mind, the divine light shines slowly, without obstruction or hindrance, pure and unified, not bound by time, the mind follows the stillness", placing it in front of You Hongchen.

"Pick up this brush and trace the characters." He placed the thin, transparent "Jingchuan paper" over the white paper with wet ink, pushed it in front of You Hongchen, and handed the brush to his palm, instructing: "You must remember the characters. I will test you when I return in the evening."

You Hongchen looked at him and mumbled: "Write."

Feng Rugu: "Yes."

This time You Hongchen understood: "...must...remember."

Feng Rugu smiled and stroked the hair on his forehead: "Good boy."

After arranging this, Feng Rugu planned to go out and wander for a while, and incidentally find out if there were any good song houses in the city, order a pot of local fragrant tea, and collect the song scores to record the local customs.

However, after drinking a pot of clear tea at the tea stall outside, his heart still felt somewhat heavy.

...His eyes were filled with the image of You Hongchen kneeling at the table's edge, clumsily gripping the brush, writing alone the characters he didn't actually recognize.

Feng Rugu, who had been undefeated since he started learning the sword, struggled for a long time but was ultimately defeated by the phantom image in his mind.

He went to the pastry shop and asked the owner which pastries and fruits were most loved by the city's children. He bought a large assortment and returned to the inn before dark.

You Hongchen was in the same state when Feng Rugu left and when he returned.

Feng Rugu opened the door silently and walked behind him, peeking over to see how his homework was going.

He thought he hadn't made any noise, but unexpectedly, You Hongchen, like a little beast skilled in hunting, silently and suddenly grabbed Feng Rugu's collar with his backhand, followed with his right arm, and pressed Feng Rugu face down onto the table.

Feng Rugu was first caught off guard, and second, didn't expect You Hongchen to be so strong. When pressed down, his and You Hongchen's level of surprise was almost the same.

You Hongchen was startled and let go.

"I—I thought someone would hit me." He got anxious and started speaking incoherently, "Person, behind me, will..."

Feng Rugu managed to understand some of it.

Since childhood, he and a group of children were raised as sacrifices in a closed room. His animal instincts far exceeded his human nature, so he was always on guard behind his back; this was not difficult to understand.

What made Feng Rugu pleasantly surprised was that You Hongchen actually used the word "person".

But being pressed down by a child was embarrassing enough. Feng Rugu quickly stood up, tidied his clothes, put on airs and coughed, raised his hand to scratch the tip of his nose, rolled his shoulders, put the pastries on the table, and changed the subject: "It's fine, it's fine. Let me see how your character practice is going."

He looked down and raised his eyebrows.

On the table, apart from the paper he first left and the soaked thin paper, there was nothing.

But You Hongchen's fingers were stained with ink, and the small stack of half-coin-priced fine rice paper had disappeared without a trace.

Feng Rugu: "Little one, where's the paper?"

"...Remember." You Hongchen answered irrelevantly.

Feng Rugu: "Huh?"

You Hongchen gestured: "Ate it. Remembered."

...He thought that eating the traced characters meant remembering them.

Feng Rugu was stunned for a while, then laughed loudly.

You Hongchen just watched him laugh, his puppy-like eyes staring straight at Feng Rugu, as if even his laughter was something to be admired and appreciated.

After laughing enough, Feng Rugu sat down and lightly tapped You Hongchen's head with his fingertips: "'Remembering' is done with this."

Saying that, he moved his hand to You Hongchen's naturally crimson lips and tapped again: "This is for tasting delicacies, drinking fine wine, reciting poetry, and kissing beauties."

You Hongchen listened in a daze and raised his hand to touch the ticklish corner of his mouth that Feng Rugu had touched.

Feng Rugu said a long string of words, but he could only understand a few: "...kiss...'person'."

"Beauty," he added. Feng Rugu's narcissistic problem acted up again. He shamelessly pointed to himself, "...that is, yours truly."

Hearing this, You Hongchen, who was kneeling, put his hands on Feng Rugu's knees and obediently kissed Feng Rugu's cheek.

He humbly asked: "Is this how to use it?"

Feng Rugu was stunned for a moment, then laughed heartily.

Children say the darndest things, he wouldn't take it to heart.

"You learn this quite quickly." He tapped on the paper, "Let me see, how much have you actually remembered."

To his surprise, You Hongchen's way of holding the brush was exactly the same as his own, not at all like the "grabbing" commonly seen in beginners.

He didn't need to copy at all, and the characters he wrote were quite similar, just not skilled with the brush, with a soft wrist, barely managing to imitate the form.