Payback

I could understand the embarrassed feeling of LS - there seems hardly a possibility of payback.

Of course the King would not mind giving his students a treat and never expect something in return. Nonetheless, we were brought up by the old school and, in our concept, we should be the ones to invite our teacher for lunch.

Well, maybe a little story could make me less uneasy:

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A long-graduated student visited his famous teacher, who was about to die. The student was all tears and said, "Sir, you were so kind and taught us that much. How could I ever payback ?"

"You do not have to," the teacher smiled, "At least, not to me. Just remember this: When you become a teacher, treat your students like how I treated you, and ask them to do the same for their students."

And that's the original meaning of passing on the torch (薪火相傳).

PS. On my way back, I could not resist thinking of the elder brother of the King, and a famous sayings of Xun Zi (荀子): 口能言之，身能行之，國寶也。

That's quite irrelevant, I know.