"Hui" means wisdom. It is a name that cuts both ways. People always say that too much wisdom brings early ru…
"Hui" means wisdom. It is a name that cuts both ways.
People always say that too much wisdom brings early ruin, but he scoffed at the notion. Born of the Gongshu bloodline, the true heirs to the artisans' craft, he was admitted to the Inner Sect at the age of twenty and taken in by Elder Peng. Talent, intellect, and a masterful touch, he possessed them all. Where was the ruin in that? He was perfectly worthy of the name Hui. What ruin could there be?
It was deep spring in the mountains, and the Dragonbane Wood was just sprouting fresh leaves. It was his turn to patrol the forest with Chu Ying, a disciple of Elder Crane.
They came across a Dragonbane tree scarred by lightning, which sparked a sudden debate on whether the ultimate pinnacle of mechanics lay in Ingenuity or Simplicity.
"This dead trunk," Chu Ying asked, "if it were yours to fashion into a device, where could the Ingenuity be found?"
"The tree is dead," Gongshu Hui replied flatly. "There is no Ingenuity to be found."
Chu Ying laughed. "No Ingenuity? Just watch."
Saying that, he pushed the dead tree over and buried it beneath the soil. "Come next year, the trees nearby will grow all the better for it."
Gongshu Hui thought to himself that this man was rather clever.
A clever man has no business doing foolish things.
So when Chu Ying announced he was leaving the mountains to wander the world with Elder Crane, Hui did not say a word to stop him. He only said that if Chu Ying did not return in three years, the largest Dragonbane tree on the cliff would belong to him.
Chu Ying laughed heartily. "Deal! And if I don't come back, you can bury me right under it!"
Gongshu Hui shot him a glance, thinking the remark was utterly foolish.
A clever man would never do foolish things.
When the letter from the Lodestar Swordmaster finally arrived, Gongshu Hui stood staring at the notches carved into the tree, feeling a rare moment of hesitation.
Yet he also knew it was nothing more than a Dragonbane tree.
Besides, withered wood knows no second spring. Only by cutting away the decay can the new sprouts find room to grow.
A clever man never regrets.