Chapter 4628 — A Grown Daughter Is Hard to Keep
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Seeing that Wei Zhao had nothing more to add, Shangguan Tianxia did not press him further, and turned the conversation instead: "What do you make of the North Island's Triplex Pavilion as it stands now?"
Wei Zhao thought it over and answered in four words: "Talent in abundance."
"Heh, that isn't wrong, exactly. Since you joined the Welcoming Pavilion, these past two years the Triplex Pavilion has indeed thrown up no small number of striking figures. Did you know that the old relics on the Council of Elders have coined a designation for the lot of you?" Shangguan Tianxia said with a smile.
"What designation?" Wei Zhao asked, startled.
"The Golden Generation," Shangguan Tianxia said, smiling.
"Uh..." Wei Zhao was briefly left speechless. A designation, no less—the grandees of the Council of Elders truly did have far too much time on their hands.
"Exaggerated, perhaps, but not far off the mark. Your cohort of newcomers is outstanding and dazzling in its own right—quite apart from you, Xiao Che and Meng Zhou are both fine, and Xu Lingchong's strength has happened to advance by leaps and bounds these two years, so he too stands as a representative figure of your Golden Generation. Then there are others like Yu Jiang, all of them looking rather promising, and one called Ma Dangfeng—hasn't he been making a stir lately as well? Do you think these people have what it takes to be a Golden Generation?" Shangguan Tianxia named them one by one.
That he could remember these names at all was in itself an acknowledgment of their strength. In times past the Triplex Pavilion would produce the occasional prodigy brilliant beyond measure, but never a clustered eruption like this, and one of Wei Zhao's caliber in particular was a thing seen perhaps once in several centuries.
Because of this suddenly risen Golden Generation, the great majority of people took a most favorable view of the future of the North Island's Triplex Pavilion; once the Golden Generation truly came into its own, North Island's Triplex Pavilion would surely flourish anew.
"Among them, Xiao Che is the only one I know inside and out. He is genuinely a talent of a kind rarely seen, the sort who gathers strength in silence before the eruption. As for the rest, I do not know them well—perhaps they met with some stroke of fortune, but their rise has always struck me as a little strange." Wei Zhao offered his assessment honestly.
"Heh, aren't you the same yourself?" Shangguan Tianxia could not help laughing.
"In oneself and in others, the two feelings are never quite the same. Perhaps it is only my imagination," Wei Zhao said with a shrug.
Shangguan Tianxia smiled, neither confirming nor denying. By now the flavor of the tea had grown exceedingly thin. Tea-drinking is a matter of knowing when to stop, and plainly he was loath to bring out any more Dewtip—that was the apple of his eye. He said at once to Shangguan Lan'er: "Little Lan'er, take Wei Zhao to the study and let him pick a piece of calligraphy."
"All right!" Shangguan Lan'er promptly dragged Wei Zhao off into the study.
A moment later Wei Zhao emerged with a peculiar expression, a long, exquisitely mounted scroll slung across his back. He bowed deeply to Shangguan Tianxia and said, "My thanks for the Pavilion Master's great kindness. Your disciple shall take his leave first."
"You may come often hereafter. Few are the people for whom this old man will bring out the Dewtip; you count as one," Shangguan Tianxia said with a faint nod, then added: "Not that it will be every time, of course. There is not much of the stuff left."
"Understood. With those words from you, this disciple will certainly not stand on ceremony." Wei Zhao smiled, and in high spirits was seen out the gate by Shangguan Lan'er and Little Curl.