Chapter 771 Afternoon Tea

The tea in the bone china cup is steaming, and the golden light floats in the water waves that have not subsided. From the reflection after the white light, you can see the skylight on the top of the central patio that has been cleared of fallen leaves for the first time in a long time. Birds at home.

This is the principal's office, a two-story building that looks extraordinary but has something wonderful inside. Perhaps due to the limited height of the building and the solid construction, this was one of the very few houses that did not collapse in the fierce campus battlefield that night. But the only regrettable thing is that most of the originally green trees outside the building were taken away by the hot wind, and the entire building became a lonely black fortress in the wasteland.

In the quiet principal's office, only the sweet sound of running water hitting the porcelain can be heard. Hidden beneath the sound of the water are the tiny footprints of squirrels climbing over the bookshelves and the sound of sunlight flowing on the glass outside the skylight.

On the edge of the hollow-carved guardrail on the second floor of the office, the principal stood up straight, with his left hand in his trouser pocket and his right hand holding a teapot. He was pouring a half-full cup of black tea in front of the empty seat opposite him. There was a smell of musk in the air. The smell of grapes.

The sun shone on the side of the principal. Today, he did not dress in black as usual, but put on a slim-fitting brown suit vest. The cuffs of his two white shirts were rolled up, revealing a little of the old beauty underneath. The warm golden light fell from the top of his head and shone particularly brightly on his silver hair. The light spots attracted the red squirrels surrounding the bookshelves on the four walls to stand and look into the distance.

The warm and fragrant tea fell into the bone china cup on the opposite table. The principal watched the dazzling red tea flowing down like a column in the sun. The reflection on the water vaguely reflected a figure downstairs outside the guardrail.

When the black tea in the second bone china cup was nearly half full, the teapot stopped pouring, and the brown and almost bloody stream of tea disappeared, along with the figure downstairs.

"Qimen is exquisite, produced in China, the best black tea, the favorite tea of ​​the Queen of England and the royal family. It is also known in China as 'Qimen is the most fragrant and has the highest reputation and fragrance', so it is popular among the people. There are also many people who are willing to call her the 'Black Tea Queen'." said the old man.

He put down the bone china teapot, looked at the boy not far away and nodded slightly, "You're late."

"Afternoon tea is at two o'clock, isn't it?" the other party asked.

Angers didn't speak, he just chuckled and raised his hand to indicate that he was not far away.

On the second floor of the office, Lin Nian, who was wearing a dark green spring uniform of Kassel College, glanced at the vertical wooden clock next to the tea cabinet. The hour and minute hands on the dial were offset by one, and the time had reached two o'clock in the afternoon. At one minute, the second hand moves slowly clockwise downward.

"Busy with schoolwork? Is the new teaching building still a little far from the dormitory?" The principal held the chair with his right hand and looked at Lin Nian with a smile, "Or is the infirmary a little far from my office?"

"Sorry, Su Xiaoqiang vomited during lunch. I sent her to the infirmary, which delayed her for a while." Lin Nian walked to the glass tea table and sat on the chair that the principal had already pulled out for him.

"Oh." The principal who just sat down was stunned for a moment by Lin Nian's explanation.

".headmaster?"

"Maybe it has been two years since you came to Kassel College, but I still have to explain that there will be no extra credits for giving birth while studying at our university." The principal leaned on the chair with his arms folded and hesitated, looking at Lin. Year, "Even the 'S' class cannot make an exception."

"headmaster."

The tone of the second salutation became depressing.

"It's just that she caught a cold again, not any other messy reasons. Although it's hard for mixed races to get sick, hasn't the principal heard of seasonal colds?" Lin Nian lowered his head and picked up the tea cup while trying to excuse himself with some embarrassment. Explain to Su Xiaoqiang.

But when he looked up and saw Ange sitting opposite him looking at him with a faint smile, he realized that this old man was just teasing and teasing himself.

"Afternoon tea is a leisure time after a meal. It's reasonable to talk about some entertainment, isn't it?" Ange picked up the tea cup and took a sip, "The black tea is very good. It tastes best now. Try it."

"Principal, you know that I don't know how to drink tea, just like I know whether you are someone who can make such a joke." Lin Nian picked up the tea cup and put it down again, his mentality seemed to have undergone some subtle changes.

"I don't want to leave an overly rigid and serious image in the minds of my students. It is also necessary to appropriately enhance your impression of me as an old guy with a bit of humor."

"But your overall image, principal, has also dropped a bit in my impression at this moment."

"I think this impression point can definitely be added back in the future, as long as we have enough time to work together." Ange put down the teacup with a smile, "It was just a joke before, you probably didn't go to school before coming here. Forum, right?”

"Night Watch Forum?" Lin Nian smelled a bad feeling from the old guy's smile, and took out his mobile phone and started searching. The principal smiled silently and continued to sip tea and wait for Lin Nian's reaction.

"Shocking!" Another surprise this month! The 'S'-class girlfriend retched in the cafeteria and rushed to the bathroom. The 'S'-class escort accompanied her the whole time and seemed nervous. What is the secret here?

After reading the title of the popular post on the Night Watch forum, Lin Nian closed the mobile browser and turned off the screen, then took a long breath, picked up the black tea cup and drank it all.

"If you want to go find someone to cause trouble after drinking tea, there is no need to do so. An afternoon tea will not be interrupted because of such a trivial matter. After living with him for two years, you should know his temper, right?" Angers Weilin New hot black tea mixed with it every year.

"I know, but wanting to kill his whole family is another thing." Lin Nian looked at the gradually filling tea cup and said, "And drinking black tea is not a rush, but I heard that black tea reduces fire."

"Herbal tea reduces internal heat, while black tea doesn't have much effect on raising internal heat or reducing internal heat. Its main function is to nourish the stomach." The principal said, "Perhaps you can give your little girlfriend a try if you have time. I heard that she has been feeling unwell recently. How good."

"She has been suffering from insomnia due to illness recently. It would be better to drink less tea." Lin Nian shook his head.

"Recommend traditional Chinese medicine physical therapy. Although Western medicine is quick to work, for a weak girl like Su Xiaoqiang, taking a large amount of medicine will eventually wear down the body. At this time, the medicine from your hometown can gradually improve her lesions until she is cured." He gently scraped the tea surface with a bone china lid and said, "I know a very good Chinese medicine doctor in XZ. He once checked the pulse of the Empress Dowager Cixi. He is considered a 'dead legend' in the field of Chinese medicine."

"Dead legend?"

"If there was a professional course in health care, then he would undoubtedly be the best in the world or even the best in mankind. Relying only on medicinal diet may also have some blood factors, allowing him to live so long that he has lived through the entire Qing Dynasty until today." Angers Said, "Countless emperors have approached him and wanted him to be the court physician, but only Emperor Qianlong succeeded. He lived to be 90 years old as an ordinary person before passing away. He was also the longest-lived emperor in Chinese history, so he also has 'Shiquan' My friend's reputation as an old man was indispensable for achieving this. After the death of Emperor Qianlong, he went into seclusion and no longer had any contact with the world. When he came out of China, the Empress Dowager of Cixi had to use human power to remove him from the country because her time had come. Find it and send it to the palace."

"Why XZ?" Lin Nian asked a question that didn't seem to be relevant, but Angers nodded in affirmation. "I also thought about why it was XZ, so I went to XZ specifically. It was also my first time. After meeting him once, I also understood the true meaning of the Chinese idiom 'Hefa Tongyan'. If the 'immortal' in your Chinese legend has an entity, it is probably the myth of the impression that previous generations had on him, right?"

After a pause, Ange shook his head slightly, "But it's a pity that 'immortals' do not exist. At least those giants who moved mountains and reclaimed seas in history were dragons hiding in the shadows. The reason why my friend came before Going to XZ is not just to escape from the world, but to seek true 'eternal life'."

"He is obsessed with the dragon race's lifespan, which is long enough to last throughout human history, but he is not so crazy that he will do it at all costs. He is constantly seeking the secret of life extension through methods other than purifying his bloodline. He does not hesitate to try and make mistakes again and again, and does his best. Explore all the mysterious culture of the Dragon Clan, including alchemy, elixirs, spiritualism, etc., just to find an answer: Dare to ask whether immortality can be achieved with a human body in this world."

"In a human body?" Lin Nian whispered.

"I have also lamented this." Ange looked at Lin Nian, "And I admired and shocked him in front of him for his ideal. He only answered me with one sentence, but that sentence The words are extremely obscure and difficult to understand. It seems to be some lost ancient language that he learned from the Dragon Clan civilization when he was seeking the secret of immortality. I have not excavated it from the Dragon Clan's ruins so far. When I asked him, he just smiled and said nothing. Retelling. I am keenly aware that that sentence may be the essence and wisdom he has gained in this life, but I have no chance to understand it, which is a regret of mine."

Looking at the curious light flashing across Lin Nian's eyes, Ange lowered his head and thought for a while, then read out a really convoluted and extremely long paragraph. Lin Nian was stunned and said, "That's about it." , it’s very long, I only remember the pronunciation, but I can’t decipher it. Um, what’s wrong?”

Ange noticed that Lin Nian's expression suddenly looked strange and he stared at him.

"No, it's nothing." Lin Nian shook his head, thinking that it would be better not to tell the truth to the principal. If the principal knew that the essence of life left by the XZ master was just a sentence of Wenzhou dialect, the old man would probably feel lost in an instant. In the end The key is that this sentence is still a swear word.

"Although I couldn't understand and seek knowledge of the meaning of that sentence, I still learned the reason why my friend avoided the world during my exploration." Angers quickly put aside his obsession and regret and continued, "According to his In other words, there should be a dragon vein hidden in XZ. It is possible to explore the largest and most mysterious dragon vein in the past. During World War II, the German head of state also flocked to it after learning about the fragments of dragon civilization, but in the end he returned with regrets. But I heard that he has made great breakthroughs in recent years, and it is probably only a matter of time before he finds that dragon vein. There is no guarantee that you will have the opportunity to be sent to the local area by the execution department to perform tasks in the future."

"Does the principal know such a powerful person?"

"I've lived a long time, so I've seen a lot. Although I'm probably just a child compared to my friend, it's considered a long life for a normal person. But you know, the things we see never have to be certain. Depending on my age, if a child is forced by the times, he can encounter stormy seas and turbulent winds, and only then can he meet the soft, fragrant red earth and grass on the road. I have experienced them all, and there are still many unknowns. Wonderful things are still waiting for you." Ange looked at Lin Nian with a smile and seemed to mean something.

"A truly legendary figure who lived through the entire Qing Dynasty, an old man who is more than three hundred years old." After hearing everything, Lin Nian's voice became slightly lowered, and his eyes drifted towards the cup.

"Does being old bring you discomfort?" Angers asked.

"No, if that's the case, wouldn't it mean that I also feel uncomfortable with the principal?" Lin Nian immediately shook his head.

"Maybe you are just unfit for those overly old people, but believe me, that friend of mine must be an exception." Ange's tone was slightly calmer, "He has tried and missed many things in pursuit of immortality, and as an exploration of immortality technology A cutting-edge master, any failure he left behind will be a masterpiece as shocking as the four great inventions to future generations. No matter what the reason was for being abandoned by him, those future generations who discover these 'masterpieces' will be as lucky as rain. Serve as truth.”

"For example, orthodoxy." Lin Nian said, "The so-called 'dragon marrow' is also one of his trials and errors?"

"There is a high probability that he was once a member of the orthodox, even an 'elder', but it is a pity that he chose to leave. Nothing can stop a man from running towards the ideal sea. The ripples of the white sails blown by the sea breeze are his entire life For him, immortality is the white sail." Angers turned the bone china cup holding the black tea, "The Orthodox tried their best to save him, but he dismissed it. For him, for the older generation From an orthodox point of view, there is no difference between hybrids and humans, hybrids and dragons, or even humans and dragons. What they value has never been the so-called 'orthodoxy' or 'family'. What they value is the entire hometown, the land, and the family. Family, compatriots.”

"But he still stayed away from everything and gave up everything." Lin Nian said.

Angers raised his head and smiled, "I met him after 1900 (Xia Mourning). He also had quite a lot of opinions and hostility towards the orthodoxy of the late Qing Dynasty. When talking about this, I asked him why he didn't go back to help orthodoxy. To correct everything that was wrong? The answer he gave me was simple and left me speechless.”

"He said: I am already old. If I don't find immortality, then I will die. The real enemy is still sleeping. If immortality cannot be brought to every compatriot in my hometown, how can they fight against the terrible sleep that is waiting to happen? Will the Dragon Clan engage in a protracted war that spans centuries? It is better to leave the development of political power and customs to the young. The older generation does not have the power to determine the direction of future customs. All we can do is to ensure that we can still Just have a future.”

Lin Nian was silent, but he felt that he could say in Wenzhou dialect, "Dragons are born from dragons, people are born from human beings, if dragons can live forever, why can't people live forever? Damn it to me!" The old man who spoke did have such a free and easy spirit.

"But having said that, when the Second World War broke out and China became a battlefield, he still opened a refuge in XZ and got involved in the world. This almost caused trouble and killed him. Later, he met another Some people encounter certain things that further confirm their ideal of seeking immortality. But we won’t talk about that today.” Halfway through his words, Angers stopped playing with the tea set and stopped talking about the topic.

"He gave me a very traditional way to contact him. I don't have to worry about signal problems in the vast XZ. I can give you this way. You can write letters to each other and say that you are Hilbert Jean Angers' friend. It's simple. Explain some of Su Xiaoqiang's physical problems, and he will be happy to help you prescribe some nursing care prescriptions."

"Is the principal so proud?"

"We have not been together for a long time but have experienced a lot. In his words, he and I should be regarded as the 'three pillars of life', although I still don't know what that means." The old guy smiled proudly.

"Well," Lin Nian thought to himself, it was still the same as before in Wenzhou dialect. He should pretend not to understand some things.

"Anyway, thank you, principal." He did not refuse Ange's kindness and could not refuse, and nodded gently, "Xiaoqiang's health has indeed not been very good recently, and he gets sick easily, but the diseases he gets are not serious, but they affect his mood very much. and daily life.”

"If Su Xiaoqiang needs to take leave due to illness, you can ask me for a note and submit it directly to the dean of the department. It will not affect your final grade." The principal also nodded.

"Is this considered a back door?" Lin Nian smiled bitterly.

“Strictly speaking, it doesn’t matter. Department deans, professors and tutors are very busy and face hundreds of students every day, so some factors may be mishandled or neglected. But I usually just tell me the difficulties directly.” I have a lot of time to deal with it properly, but very few students are willing to trouble me. In fact, I don’t bother me and I am quite free most of the time." Ange turned his head and said with a chuckle.

"It's so fresh and refined to talk about going through the back door and turning away the shopkeeper. It's not unreasonable for you, principal, to get to where you are today under the supervision of the school board." Lin Nian gave great recognition to the exquisite speaking skills of the old man in front of him.

"Su Xiaoqiang will be fine. I think we need to worry more about other people than her at this stage." Angers said.

"Who?" Lin Nian asked.

But after asking, he found that Angers pushed the waffles sprinkled with rose water on the table in front of him, and the answer was naturally self-evident.

"I?"

"No, it's you." Ange took back his hands and folded them on the table and looked at Lin Nian, "You guys participated in the 'Kuimen Project' two months ago and came back victorious."

Lin Nian was silent.

"By the way, you did a good job with that vote." Angers added, "Especially you, Lin Nian."

What do you mean that one vote was done well? Isn't this topic too full of worldly atmosphere? Lin Nian originally thought about it in his heart, but after taking a look at the faint beauty under the principal's sleeves, he felt that there was nothing wrong with it.

In short, the topic inevitably turned to the right direction.