"Nngh."
Startled by the voice, the old Confucian scholar nearly fell out of his reclining chair.
He hurriedly opened his eyes.
He was met with a face that was at once familiar, yet somewhat strange.
Images flickered through his mind of a stubborn young scholar.
The figure from his memory merged with the man standing before him.
"Shao'an?"
Strange, because he hadn't seen the man before him in nearly a hundred years. Familiar, because the stubborn streak from his youth was unchanged.
"It is I, your student."
Yan Shao'an smiled and bowed again.
He stepped forward and helped the old scholar to his feet.
The old scholar chuckled. "You rascal. You never once came back after leaving the mountain. Your reputation just kept growing and growing. I've heard so much about it my ears are about to fall off."
The middle-aged scholar chimed in, "Of course! The Dean has already hung your name, Shao'an, at the very top of the list of outstanding students. I'm green with envy."
