On the Heavenly Screen
Li Xi was painting with a serious expression when he suddenly burst into laughter, lifting the paper he had just finished drawing from the table.
Only when he raised it did Li Yu see what was on the paper.
It wasn’t calligraphy practice, nor was it an essay. Instead, it was covered with little figures!
Li Yu was shocked.
Li Yu was furious.
Li Song’s eyes sparkled like stars.
If this person were by his side, he would have grabbed him and given him a good beating. He had hired the empire’s finest teacher to instruct him, and what was the result? It was truly infuriating, enough to make the heavens and people resentful, and it enraged him to no end.
“Please calm your anger, Father,” Li Shi hurriedly clung to the Emperor’s leg, seeing that the Emperor was about to draw his sword.
When Li Xi was young, he also loved clinging to this imperial elder brother’s leg, shamelessly and without restraint. But back then, he was still small, soft, and adorable. However, Li Shi, being so grown up, imitated his uncle by clinging to the leg, only to achieve the opposite effect. Not only did he fail to appear soft and adorable, but he nearly pulled the Emperor’s pants off.
Li Shi: …I didn’t mean to.
The Emperor was so furious he felt like killing someone, pointing at the Crown Prince and saying, “You, you, you, what are you trying to do?”
At that moment, the clear and crisp voice of the Imperial Grandson rang out in the hall: “Grandfather, Father, look, how interesting!”
On the paper, vivid little figures were drawn with charcoal. The first picture depicted a child accidentally breaking something in front of a man wearing a crown, being beaten by the man. Beside it were the words “Exiled to the Western Regions,” clearly spoken by the crowned man.
The second picture showed the child leaving the city surrounded by a crowd, with the caption explaining that the journey westward had begun.
The third picture depicted encountering bandits on the grasslands, where the child was unexpectedly captured by the bandits, followed by a story of outsmarting them.
This style of drawing was unheard of and unseen before. The expressions of the little figures on the page were exaggerated, lively, and vivid, especially the man wearing the crown. At first glance, it was the Emperor, and upon closer inspection, it was still the Emperor. The way he glared in anger was exactly like the Emperor.
As descendants of the Li Tang imperial family, they had seen the paintings of Wu Daozi and appreciated the artistry of Yan Liben. But where did this unrefined drawing skill come from?
Have some taste, will you!
Li Shi wanted to laugh, but he didn’t dare. He also had to grab his son to prevent him from speaking recklessly.
But could the little chubby boy manage that?
Of course, he couldn’t.
What Li Xi had drawn was called a comic strip, which appealed most to children. Li Song, only five years old, couldn’t recognize many characters and had never seen a picture book before, but the lively and vivid comic strip instantly captured his heart.
The little chubby boy exclaimed excitedly, “Grandfather, Grandfather, Uncle’s drawing is so good! Look at that chubby little kid in the corner, is that me? Is it me? Is it me?”
Li Song truly lived up to being a little chubby boy who knew how to find joy in himself. In the second picture of “Farewell,” he found his own tiny figure and cheered with delight.
Was a drawing as small as a sesame seed worth getting so excited about?
Li Yu thought disdainfully. At least his own figure in the drawing was relatively large. As for the appearance…
It couldn’t be called ugly, as the expressions of everyone in the drawing, including Li Xi’s own, were exaggerated.
Li Yu snorted through his nose, “It’s so small, I couldn’t see it clearly.”
Indeed, he truly hadn’t seen it clearly, because in the blink of an eye between the grandfather and grandson trio, Li Xi had already taken that piece of paper away, then lowered her head to continue drawing.
Interrupted, the little chubby boy hadn’t seen the rest of the drawing in full. Just as he was about to continue looking, he was interrupted by his grandfather. The little chubby boy stared in disbelief at the fleeting drawing, first shocked, then angry, and finally let out a wail and burst into tears.
“I didn’t, I didn’t finish watching. I didn’t finish watching. After being captured into the bandit’s den, what happened next?” The little chubby boy pouted and wailed as he cried.
Li Shi was getting a headache from the noise of this grandfather and grandson pair, but he asked something different: “Uncle’s kind of drawing is truly unheard of and unseen. Is this telling a story? It’s quite vivid and interesting.”
Li Yu huffed: “He fabricated things out of thin air, spread rumors, and offended me, which is why he was enfeoffed to the Western Regions. Did such a thing happen? This is slander, this is smearing my reputation!”
The Emperor was practically wearing “I’m not convinced, you’re toxic” on his face.
Li Shi timidly spoke up: “Actually, stories often differ from reality itself, and he didn’t say that man was… you. When telling a story, exaggerating a bit enhances its interest. I think about eighty or ninety percent of the plot here is probably made up. For example, he was never actually kidnapped by bandits either.”
He probably wasn’t kidnapped by bandits, right…
Li Yu: “But still…”
The little chubby boy had already tugged at Li Yu’s hand: “Grandfather, look, what is Uncle doing?”
Hmph, at least he didn’t speak ill of me.
In the scene, Li Xi continued drawing, completely absorbed, when the door was pushed open from the outside.
The scene suddenly switched to the person who had pushed the door open—this was Bai Cha, the palace maid by Li Xi’s side.
Bai Cha brought in a bundle of things: “Your Highness, the servants asked me to bring this to you.”
Li Xi opened it to find a cloth wrapping a set of knitting needles. The craftsman had put in some effort, polishing them well, uniform in thickness—the skill of artisans in this era was truly unmatched: “Reward!”
Nowadays, when she gave instructions, she didn’t relay them through a third person but directly told the craftsman what she wanted. At the time, the expressions on the craftsmen’s faces were fearful and reverent, and they worked with even more care than usual.
“Weren’t you washing wool and winding wool yarn a few days ago? Now it’ll come in handy.”
Bai Cha’s face flushed red. After all, she was a senior maid; playing around with a bunch of junior maids, what kind of image was that? “Your Highness is joking, I wasn’t playing with them.”
Li Xi: “They’re still in the room next door. I’ll go take a look.”
With that, she dashed outside.
Bai Cha called out “Ah!” and hurried after her.
A few days ago, the wool had been delivered. The maids had been busy all day, fetching hot water from the courier station. Through washing, drying, and combing, they obtained several large bags of wool. And the few maids who had mastered the method of spinning wool into yarn had been processing the wool into wool yarn these past few days.
The tool currently used for processing wool yarn was a specially made rod with small hooks, also crafted by artisans.
This was the benefit of bringing artisans along when traveling.
Li Xi had seen them using the tool. The wool had already been combed until fluffy. First, they would pull out a strand with the hook, quickly spin the rod, and the thread hooked at the top would spin along with the spindle. Then, slowly pulling it back, one strand winding around another, the thread wouldn’t break.
Using this method, the wool was continuously twisted into a single strand of yarn. The process itself was not complicated, but it required the person doing it to have enough patience. In terms of patience, these maids undoubtedly surpassed other women, so they were the first to learn. The young servant girls who accompanied them saw this and followed suit. Soon, all the maids and older women who had come along were engrossed in the game of twisting wool yarn.
Author’s Note:
See you tomorrow! Please add to your collections!
Today, there are still ten small red envelopes. It’s almost the end of the month, and nutrient solutions will expire. Is there anyone willing to toss some my way?